The Problem of Acedia
We rarely speak of greatness in the Church anymore for fear of driving people away, yet look at all of the men who responded to the call of the priesthood because of the example of Pope St. John Paul II.
A Silver Jubilee
Many things have changed over the last quarter of a century in the field of church music and thankfully most of them have been for the better.
Liturgical Education
Perhaps I am just a Benedictine at heart but I feel the *Opus Dei* (Work of God) must truly be given pride of place in our personal lives…
Forming the Next Generation of Church Musicians
Until we start forming our youth in the Church’s treasury of sacred music we will continue contracepting our musical future to death.
Scientia Linguæ Latinæ Voluptatem Et Gaudium Affert!
Unfortunately my avocation of church musician doesn’t allow me to sidestep the Latin vs. vernacular issue any more than a house painter is able to avoid paint.
An Unpleasant Task
I realize it is hard, but perhaps this is the balance we are called to live—truth in charity.
Recruiting and Auditioning Choristers
The audition itself is very straight forward and usually takes about 10 minutes, although I know within the first minute if I plan to accept the child into the choir.
Ten “Ave Maria” Settings from Different Lands
Live recordings—music in honor of Our Lady of Fatima.
A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words
If the Holy Mass really is the unbloody sacrifice of the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ, then the music we use will be radically affected.
Take 2 Voice Lessons and Call Me in the Morning
I watched in fascination as one of the tenors strained to reach notes obviously out of his range. I had never heard the chest voice *forced* so high in the male register.
Chorister Training • Regensburg Cathedral Choir School
Here we see the result of so much hard work, one of the great Cathedral Choirs of the world!
Family Life and the Sacred Liturgy
I can’t imagine my family playing such an intimate role in the ceremonies of Holy Week, but it surely made an awesome impression on the von Trapps.
The Fully Sung Mass
if St. Augustine was right and “singing belongs to the one who loves,” then it behooves us to once again learn to love and thereby take up the Church’s eternal hymn of praise.
Do we need hymns, when we already have Psalms?
The Psalter, as Esolen notes, is the prayer book of the Church and the Psalms constitute the “foundational poems of Christian praise.”
Let Everything That Hath Breath Praise the Lord!
Point us once again to God Who is Beauty Itself!