veterans day

Keven Smith · November 9, 2020

Veterans Day: Remembering Those Who Made Our Music Possible

My grandparents served in World War II and helped defeat fascism. The service, faith, and prayers of people like them made it possible for us all to be church musicians today.

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30 November 2020 • “Case in point”

The Solesmes rhythmic markings, which often contradict the official rhythm, do such damage to the antiphons of the Divine Office that—in my humble opinion—they should be abandoned. (In reality, this will never happen.) But sometimes, they do great damage to the melody of the Graduale Romanum, and I would offer the Offertory for the 1st Sunday of Advent as a “case in point.”

—Jeff Ostrowski

27 November 2020 • ACCENTS

Certain Latin words are constantly mispronounced. For example, Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana is supposed to be pronounced “Cármina” but people frequently pronounce it as “Carmína”—wrong! Another example: Nova organi harmonia is supposed to be pronounced “órgani” but many people erroneously say “orgáni.” A somewhat tricky word is incipit. In Latin, it would be “íncipit” while some believe it has entered the English language as “incípit”—but I’m not convinced…

—Jeff Ostrowski

20 November 2020 • Epiphany Sequence?

A very interesting Missale from 1759AD has a Sequence for the Epiphany, but I don’t know where one could find the musical notation. The Seqence is called: “Prompto Gentes Animo Ferte Nunc Altissimo Honorem Et Gloriam.”

—Jeff Ostrowski