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“What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too…” Pope Benedict XVI (7 July 2007)

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Lesson 1: The Principles of “Movable Do”

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Lesson 1: The Principles of “Movable Do”

Most people do not realize that all songs (not just Gregorian chant) can be sung starting on any pitch:

Middle Starting Pitch (Mp3)  •  Low Starting Pitch (Mp3)  •  High Starting Pitch (Mp3)

In these three examples, notice that even though I started on different pitches, the song did not change. As we will learn (below), the point to grasp is that the intervallic relationships stayed the same. Another way to say this would be: you can choose any pitch you like as a starting pitch, but you must never change the relationship of the intervals. If you want to sound really smart, you might say, “The intervallic relationships must remain inviolable.”

Singers with high voices will normally choose a higher starting pitch. Low singers will normally choose a lower starting pitch. Furthermore, our voices become higher as each day progresses. For instance, when I wake up in the morning, I can sing all the way down to a low G. But as the day progresses, my voice warms up, because I start speaking (I tend to talk too much!). As the voice warms up, it gets higher and higher. Therefore, if you pick out your starting pitches in the morning, but the Mass you’re singing occurs during the evening, you might find your pitches to be on the low side. On the other hand, if you decide on your starting pitches the night before an early morning Mass, you will probably be asking yourself, “How could I have chosen such high pitches?” The answer is that your voice was in a different condition when you chose those pitches.

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Quick Thoughts

Surprising Popularity!

One of our most popular downloads has proven to be the organ accompaniment to “The Monastery Hymnal” (131 pages). This book was compiled, arranged, and edited by Achille P. Bragers, who studied at the Lemmensinstituut (Belgium) about thirty years before that school produced the NOH. Bragers might be considered an example of Belgium “Stile Antico” whereas Flor Peeters and Jules Van Nuffel represented Belgium “Prima Pratica.” You can download the hymnal by Bragers at this link.

—Jeff Ostrowski
15 February 2021 • To Capitalize…?

In the Introit for the 6th Sunday after Pentecost, there is a question regarding whether to capitalize the word “christi.” The Vulgata does not, because Psalm 27 is not specifically referring to Our Lord, but rather to God’s “anointed one.” However, Missals tend to capitalize it, such as the official 1962 Missal and also a book from 1777 called Missel de Paris. Something tells me Monsignor Knox would not capitalize it.

—Jeff Ostrowski
15 February 2021 • “Sung vs. Spoken”

We have spoken quite a bit about “sung vs. spoken” antiphons. We have also noted that the texts of the Graduale Romanum sometimes don’t match the Missal texts (in the Extraordinary Form) because the Mass Propers are older than Saint Jerome’s Vulgate, and sometimes came from the ITALA versions of Sacred Scripture. On occasion, the Missal itself doesn’t match the Vulgate—cf. the Introit “Esto Mihi.” The Vulgate has: “Esto mihi in Deum protectórem et in domum refúgii…” but the Missal and Graduale Romanum use “Esto mihi in Deum protectórem et in locum refúgii…” The 1970s “spoken propers” use the traditional version, as you can see.

—Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

At the Council of Trent, the subject was raised whether it was correct to refer to the unconsecrated elements of bread and wine as “immaculata hostia” (spotless victim) and “calix salutaris” (chalice of salvation) in the offertory prayers. Likewise the legitimacy of the making the sign of the cross over the elements after the Eucharistic consecration was discussed.

— ‘Fr. Uwe Michael Lang, Cong. Orat.’

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