Charles Tournemire: An Organist’s Best Friend
Tournemire’s L’Orgue Mystique is an indispensable resource—especially for organists who are feeling “stuck” in their improvisation.
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Archives for May 2021
News From Belgium • Re: Choral “Our Father”
Including an update on the Sacred Music Symposium.
(Holy Trinity Sunday) • An Astonishing Hymn!
Hymns by Monsignor Knox often make reference to “the friendless”—have you ever been without a friend?
PDF Download • “Credo VII Polyphonic Extension” for a Girls’ Choir
We’ve decided to try an experiment, with assistance from one of my favorite composers: Giovanni Maria Nanino (d. 1607).
What A Roman Catholic Hymnal Looks Like!
How exactly does the “Choral Supplement” look in real life?
A Summer Course in Old Notation
Announcing an opportunity for graduate-level summer study in sacred music.
“Veni Creator Spiritus” + Organ Accompaniment • with English Translation by Fr. Fortescue
Did you realize there are two versions of this famous hymn?
24 May 2021 • FEEDBACK
M.B. wrote to us: “Dear Corpus Christi Watershed: please keep posting beautiful hymns! You have no idea just how helpful it is to me! God bless the work and efforts that you pour into making the liturgy more beautiful for God’s glory!”
“Part 1” • (Polyphony For Amateur Choirs)
Now that choirs are beginning to come back…
“Veni Sancte Spiritus” (Sequence) • Musical Score + Organ Accompaniment: Eighteen Versions!
The Pentecost Sequence harmonized by Father Green, Father Jones, Dom Gregory Murray, Max Springer, Achille P. Bragers, and more!
21 May 2021 • “Cheating?”
If you look in the 1952 Australian Hymnal by Father Percy Jones called The Saint Pius X Hymnal, you will see that they substitute “Confirma Hoc” from Confirmation with the Offertory antiphon on Pentecost Sunday. Thoughts? Was that cheating?
18 May 2021 • A bad translation?
My friend L.F. has informed me that the editors of the 1965 Missale Romanum seem to have deliberately deleted the part about “raising the children in the Catholic Faith.” Do you agree? See for yourself. How would you translate that passage into English? Please email me at: jeff@ccwatershed.org
On Musicianship: A Thought Experiment for Choir Directors
Teaching sight-singing is important, but let’s not forget that it’s a means to an end.
“Slanty Wampus” Doesn’t Count
From one of my composition teachers…
“Homily: Sunday after the Ascension” (EF) • Father Valentine Young, OFM
I wanted to become a Franciscan priest, and became one. But I certainly landed in places and assignments I never dreamed of being in.
PDF Download • (1 page) “Agnus Dei for Two Voices”
What is the best way to get your choir singing when they first return? Here are some tips…
Podcast: James Kennerley: Sacred Music in Education, the Church and the World
Maestro Kennerley underscores the myriad salutary benefits of music education for children and that of a community that sings together.
The Ascension Depicted in the Rabbula Gospel Book
This is one of the earliest Christian manuscripts to be illuminated with (the oxymoronic) “large miniatures.”
Being Too Hard On Priests?
…including a fancy capital “A” from a medieval manuscript.
Updated Litany of St Joseph with Chant
Chanting the Litany of St Joseph with the newly announced invocations.