Views from the Choir Loft

Father Friel • Article Archive

Ordained in 2011, Father Friel served as Parochial Vicar at Saint Anselm Church in Northeast Philly before earning a doctorate in liturgical theology at The Catholic University of America. He presently serves as Vocation Director for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.—(Read full biography).

Fr. David Friel · July 20, 2024

Society for Catholic Liturgy Conference 2024

Hosted in Houston, this conference will explore “Liturgy and the Human Imagination.”

Fr. David Friel · April 7, 2024

Summer Ward Method Courses • CUA 2024

Teaching Children the Fundamentals of Music

Fr. David Friel · March 23, 2024

Book Review: Good Music, Sacred Music, and Silence

Becoming Missionaries for the Beautiful

Fr. David Friel · March 20, 2023

Summer Ward Method Courses • CUA 2023

The Ward Method is a classical pedagogy designed for pre-K through eighth grade music classes in Catholic schools.

Fr. David Friel · July 24, 2022

Free Folio of New Sacred Music for Parish Liturgies

A gift from The Catholic Sacred Music Project and the Benedict XVI Institute

Fr. David Friel · May 17, 2022

Summer Ward Method Courses • CUA 2022

Study the Ward Method this summer in Washington, DC.

Fr. David Friel · January 9, 2022

Introductory Latin Courses • Veterum Sapientia Institute

Opportunities to be immersed in Latin are still available this spring.

Fr. David Friel · May 13, 2021

The Ascension Depicted in the Rabbula Gospel Book

This is one of the earliest Christian manuscripts to be illuminated with (the oxymoronic) “large miniatures.”

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Fr. David Friel · May 9, 2021

Virtual Sacred Music Colloquium 2021

Alongside many familiar faces, several new presenters are joining the faculty this year.

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Fr. David Friel · May 2, 2021

Summer Course in the Ward Method

CUA is pleased to announce that this week-long intensive course will be offered in person this summer.

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Fr. David Friel · April 25, 2021

The Greater Litanies & the Meaning of Liturgical Processions

Processing is one way in which we express who we are as wayfarers en route to heaven.

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Fr. David Friel · March 29, 2021

Vesting Prayers • Part 9 of 9

The Dalmatic

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Fr. David Friel · March 16, 2021

Spring Lecture Series • Society for Catholic Liturgy

Three virtual lectures have just been announced by the SCL.

Fr. David Friel · March 13, 2021

Holy Week Chants • Clergy Training

An introduction to the English chants of Holy Week for clergy

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Fr. David Friel · February 21, 2021

The Liturgical Request: “Iube, Domne, Benedicere”

Like so many of the inaudible prayers of the Mass, this short statement is rich in significance.

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PDF • SABT Enhancement (“Our Father”)

If you direct music in the ORDINARY FORM, you’ll want to download this free PDF as fast as humanly possible. While in Europe last summer, Veronica discovered this breathtaking “polyphonic enhancement” for the Lord’s Prayer. The congregation sings their part as normal, while the choir “weaves” SATB harmonies around them. My choir is definitely going to use this!

—Jeff Ostrowski

“Entrance Chant” • Sunday (17 Nov. 2024)

Download the Entrance Antiphon in English for the 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time (17 November 2024). It’s in mode 6—which some consider the “mode of peace”—and mimics the authentic version in a splendid and gorgeous 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

“Quotation” • Pope Pius X on Plainsong

In a letter to Msgr. Callegari (1897), Giuseppe Cardinal Sarto—later POPE SAINT PIUS X—wrote as follows: “If I could only make the faithful sing the Kyrie, the Gloria, the Credo, the Sanctus, and the Agnus Dei … that would be to me the finest triumph sacred music could have, for it is in really taking part in the liturgy that the faithful will preserve their devotion. I would take the Tantum Ergo, the Te Deum, and the Litanies sung by the people over any piece of polyphony.” Giuseppe Sarto, as Bishop of Mantua, personally copied (using a primitive duplicator) the sheet music necessary for the choir members, both in figured music and Gregorian chant.

—Jeff Ostrowski

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

Final Sundays after Pentecost

For those of us at a traditional Latin Mass, it’s that time of year when the sung propers for each Sunday repeat until the end of the liturgical year. What to do with the portion of your mid-week rehearsal that you normally devote to the next Sunday’s propers? I like to get a head start on propers for upcoming December feasts. We always sing Our Lady of Guadalupe on December 12 because she’s co-patroness of our diocese, and we sing a Rorate Mass in addition to Immaculate Conception. There’s also the first Sunday of Advent; it often follows Thanksgiving by a few days and we don’t rehearse on Thanksgiving. In short, there’s no reason to get bored at this time of year!

—Keven Smith

Parallel Fifths In Plainsong Accompaniment?

Parallel 5ths are forbidden in Baroque music and Classical music. However, plainsong accompaniment has its own rules and modal style. The great masters sometimes even wrote parallel sevenths! Instances of parallel fifths are too numerous to list in the Nova Organi Harmonia by the LEMMENSINSTITUUT. For example, consider this one. But one must possess a certain expertise to employ them properly. By the way, if you wish to see double parallel fifths, click here.

—Jeff Ostrowski