Views from the Choir Loft

Sacred Music Symposium (2018)

Corpus Christi Watershed · June 3, 2018

HE SUCCESS of the Symposium has exceeded anything its founders could have hoped for. With great excitement and gratitude to God, we announce our third annual event, designed especially for (but certainly not limited to) choir directors. ¹

* * PDF Download • Testimonials from 2017|
* * PDF Download • OFFICIAL SCHEDULE for 2018

Read about what happened in 2018, and watch videos!

Not to be missed is marker 59:47 of the final Mass.

Each year we retain familiar faces while adding fresh faculty and events:

90451 Sacred Music Symposium 2018 • 2832 high

Full Resolution Poster : (PNG) • (PDF)

Excited about this 2018 event?

To receive your application, kindly email dom.mocquereau@gmail.com before the 31 March deadline. Space is limited. Thanks to a generous grant, the conference fee is just $85.00—in addition to the mandatory application fee. Purchasing the meal plan ($145) is recommended, so that you can enjoy a week of catered meals. During the same week, at the same location, the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter will be conducting an Altar Server training camp and private instruction for priests. (Information on these will be released soon.)

From the 2016 Symposium :

2016 • TESTIMONIALS from 2016|
2016 • REHEARSAL the first day|
2016 • REHEARSAL in the Church|
2016 • FINAL CEREMONY with Archbishop Gomez|
2016 • VIDEO PRESENATION explaining the goals

From the 2017 Symposium :

2017 • SLIDE SHOW|
2017 • REHEARSAL FOOTAGE|
2017 • ALLELUIA & IMPROVISATION|
2017 • HOSANNA “Live”

90283 • Los Angeles • Sacred Music Symposium 2017

90282 • Los Angeles • Sacred Music Symposium 2017

90281 • Los Angeles • Sacred Music Symposium 2017

Examples of faculty in past years: Dr. Alfred Calabrese, Dr. Lucas Tappan, Pete Avendaño, and Dr. Meaghan King.

All Symposium events will take place at St. Therese in Alhambra (1100 E Alhambra Rd, Alhambra, CA 91801) with its magnificent organ.

NOTES FROM THIS ARTICLE:

1 Those who aren’t professional musicians (but love singing) will take delight in learning from friendly conductors who are the world’s experts. Don’t let fear prevent you from attending!

Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

“Music List” • (Christ the King Sunday)

This coming Sunday—24 November 2024—is Christ the King Sunday (a.k.a. “Final Sunday in Ordinary Time”). Some have expressed interest in perusing my “ORDER OF MUSIC.” If such a thing interests you, feel free to download it as a PDF file. You’ll notice we’re learning Moreau’s “Congregational Polyphonic Enhancement” for the OUR FATHER. And the the Mode 3 ENTRANCE CHANT is utterly sublime.

—Jeff Ostrowski

“Entrance Chant” • Christ the King

Download the ENTRANCE ANTIPHON in English for the Solemnity of Christ the King (24 November 2024). It mimics the Mode III Latin version in a truly spectacular way. Corresponding to the vocalist score is this free organ accompaniment. If you’re someone who enjoys rehearsal videos, I attempted to sing it while simultaneously accompanying my voice on the pipe organ.

—Jeff Ostrowski

“Music List” • (33rd Sund. Ordinary Time)

This coming Sunday—17 November 2024—is the 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B. Some have expressed interest in perusing my “ORDER OF MUSIC.” If such a thing interests you, feel free to download it as a PDF file. You’ll notice we’re learning Moreau’s “Congregational Polyphonic Enhancement” for the OUR FATHER. For the record, our opening hymn is particularly beautiful. So is the Mode 6 ENTRANCE CHANT.

—Jeff Ostrowski

The Breviary in the Life of the Laity

Recently I have been enjoying looking through the inaugural (1927) edition of a 20th-century liturgical magazine called Orate Fratres. The July 1927 issue included an excellent article by a Chicago laywoman named Ellen Gates Starr entitled “The Delights of the Breviary: From the Point of View of a Lay Woman.” As we in the 21st century have recently undergone a (blessed!) re-translation of the missal into English, and as we await with joyful hope (please God, before Jesus comes back!) a similar re-translation of the breviary, the opening of her article reminded me of that old saying, “the more things change, the more they stay the same.” Nearly a hundred years ago, she penned words that could just as easily have been written today: “It is indeed a privilege to be allowed any participation, however slight, in the liturgical movement in the Church – the movement to bring back the classics of devotion, the Missal and the Breviary, into general use by the laity. The wonder is that they should ever have fallen into disuse. Nothing can take the place of these great universal prayers of the Church, the prayers of the Mass and the divine Office. One has only to know them to find them indispensable. And alas, how few of the laity know them!” I know that I have been tremendously nourished by regular praying of the breviary as of late, and my wish is that you and I, dear reader, may continue to nourish our interior lives with the official prayer of the Church, which present to us (in the Mass) and extend (in the Office) the fullness of Christ’s greatest gift to us – the gift of Himself – in the Most Holy Eucharist.

—Daniel Tucker

Principles vs Preferences

I ran into this idea recently: principles vs. preferences in planning out a curriculum or music lineup. In this idea, it is imperative to not misconstrue personal preferences into principles—that the music (or subject matter) is great because: “I have good taste, and I like it.” De gustibus… Education, study and docility to the Magisterium of the Church on matters of liturgical music must be present in those who make the music at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the Hours. Who knows? Maybe you might start to prefer the music that is fitting according to the principles Catholic Sacred Music?

—William J. Fritz

Liquescent Notes in the Official Edition

The official edition—the EDITIO VATICANA itself—is somewhat inconsistent when it comes to liquescent notes. If you wish to see a perfect “apples-to-apples” comparison, click here. Such “inconsistency” was not owing to ignorance on the part of Abbat Pothier: the manuscripts themselves are inconsistent when it comes to liquescent notes.

—Jeff Ostrowski

“Dom Pothier does not belong to the dim past, as the silence which surrounds his name would lead one to believe. Only a few years separate us from the time when—growing old and heavily burdened by trials—Dom Pothier was concentrating his ever keen attention on the study of manuscripts in the Belgian place of retreat where his community had found refuge. For he was the abbot; and there can be no doubt that the cross he wore during those days was a cross of sorrow, though he bore it with a smile.”

— Dom Ermin Vitry, OSB (31-OCT-1936)