Views from the Choir Loft

Catholic Youth Choirs

Fr. David Friel · July 27, 2014

Is Recorded Music Okay for Children?

There is a prevalent notion that young people somehow need to be accommodated in the work of divine worship. As a former child, I find this to be an errant hankering.

Fr. David Friel · June 15, 2014

Gregory the Great Academy

An Interview with Matt Williams

Richard J. Clark · May 30, 2014

Mass in Honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Star of the Sea

Michael Olbash’s “Mass in Honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Star of the Sea” demonstrates the mandate of Pope Saint Pius X that music for the liturgy be Sacred, Beautiful, and Universal.

Fr. David Friel · May 4, 2014

Parish May Crownings

A strong devotional life in the parish church will naturally support and strengthen its liturgical vitality.

Veronica Brandt · February 22, 2014

Color by “Neum”ber

A Gregorian chant workbook for kids (there’s one for adults too).

Guest Author · January 15, 2014

Catholic Youth Choir Releases CD, Prepares For Tour

The Blackstone Valley Catholic Youth Choir, currently preparing for a mid-Atlantic tour, has released a new CD, “Clothed With the Sun.”

PDF Download • “Polyphonic Extension” (Kevin Allen) for Gloria III

EVIN ALLEN was commissioned by Sacred Music Symposium 2025 to compose a polyphonic ‘middle section’ for the GLORIA from Mass III, often denoted by its trope name: Missa Kyrie Deus sempiterne. This year, I’m traveling from Singapore to serve on the symposium faculty. I will be conducting Palestrina’s ‘Ave Maria’ as well as teaching plainsong to the men. A few days ago, I was asked to record rehearsal videos for this beautiful polyphonic extension. (See below.) This polyphonic composition fits ‘inside’ GLORIA III. That is, the congregation sings for the beginning and end, but the choir alone adds polyphony to the middle. The easiest way to understand how everything fits together is by examining this congregational insert. You may download the score, generously made available to the whole world—free of charge—by CORPUS CHRISTI WATERSHED:

* PDF Download • Gloria III ‘Middle Section’ (Kevin Allen)

Free rehearsal videos for each individual voice await you at #24366.

Related News • My colleague, Jeff Ostrowski, composed an organ accompaniment for this same GLORIA a few months ago. Obviously, the organist should drop out when the polyphony is being sung.

—Corrinne May

“Booklet of Eucharistic Hymns” (16 pages)

I was asked to create a booklet for my parish to use during our CORPUS CHRISTI PROCESSION on 22 June 2025. Would you be willing to look over the DRAFT BOOKLET (16 pages) I came up with? I tried to include a variety of hymns: some have a refrain; some are in major, others in minor; some are metered, others are plainsong; some are in Spanish, some are in Latin, but most are in English. Normally, we’d use the Brébeuf Hymnal—but we can’t risk having our congregation carry those heavy books all over the city to various churches.

—Jeff Ostrowski

“Yahweh” in church songs?

My pastor asked me to write a weekly column for our parish bulletin. The one scheduled to run on 22 June 2025 is called “Three Words in a Psalm” and speaks of translating the TETRAGRAMMATON. You can read the article at this column repository. All of them are quite brief because I was asked to keep within a certain word limit.

—Jeff Ostrowski

Antiphons Don’t Match?

A reader wants to know why the Entrance and Communion antiphons in certain publications deviate from what’s prescribed by the GRADUALE ROMANUM published after Vatican II. Click here to read our answer. The short answer is: the Adalbert Propers were never intended to be sung. They were intended for private Masses only (or Masses without music). The “Graduale Parvum,” published by the John Henry Newman Institute of Liturgical Music in 2023, mostly uses the Adalbert Propers—but sometimes uses the GRADUALE text: e.g. Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul (29 June).

—Corpus Christi Watershed

When to Sit, Stand and Kneel like it’s 1962

There are lots of different guides to postures for Mass, but I couldn’t find one which matched our local Latin Mass, so I made this one: sit-stand-kneel-crop

—Veronica Brandt

The Funeral Rites of the Graduale Romanum

Lately I have been paging through the 1974 Graduale Romanum (see p. 678 ff.) and have been fascinated by the funeral rites found therein, especially the simply-beautiful Psalmody that is appointed for all the different occasions before and after the funeral Mass: at the vigil/wake, at the house of the deceased, processing to the church, at the church, processing to the cemetery, and at the cemetery. Would that this “stational Psalmody” of the Novus Ordo funeral rites saw wider usage! If you or anyone you know have ever used it, please do let me know.

—Daniel Tucker