Help! • Seeking “Machine Gun” Singing Technique
It was without question the wildest thing I ever heard.
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Three (3) Cheerful Items • “Sacred Music Revolution”
Dallas, Singapore, Los Angeles…there’s so much good in the world!
“Seventy-Three (73) Changes” • Which Pope Pius XII Made to Holy Week
If we feel compelled to condemn these changes, let’s at least spend time learning what they are!
Three (3) Tricks Every Choir Director Should Learn
Conscientious choirmasters know it’s crucial to get “as much bang for your buck” as possible.
Question: “How Do You Read The Official Edition?”
A reader asks: “No Dotted Neumes?”
PDF Download • “Organ Accompaniment Booklet” (Passion Sunday Vespers) — 24 pages
Fulton J. Sheen considered Monsignor Knox’s English translation of the Bible to be the greatest ever created.
Four (4) Shimmery Hymns for Lent & Passiontide
“In nothing are English Catholics so poor as in vernacular hymns. The real badness of most of our popular hymns (endeared, unfortunately, to the people by association) surpasses anything that could otherwise be imagined.” —Father Fortescue
“Go!” • The Word That Changed My Life Forever
As Americans, we’re “bred from birth” to think of ourselves as little gods who already know everything and require no correction.
Vespers Booklet (4th Sunday of Lent)
The organ accompaniment booklet (24 pages) which I created for the 4th Sunday of Lent (“Lætare Sunday”) may now be downloaded, for those who desire such a thing.
PDF Download • Vespers Organ Accomp. Booklet (4th Sunday of Lent) — 24 pages
This is probably too late … but there’s always next year!
Sneaky “Salicus” Statements by Solesmes
Let there be no mistake about it: Dom Mocquereau (illicitly) added the “salicus” in hundreds of places where the official edition has none.
“The German Palestrina”
Although it’s a hideous accompaniment, I’ve added the harmonization by Monsignor Franz Nekes to this collection of nineteen organ accompaniments for the Easter Sunday Sequence: Víctimæ Pascháli Laudes. Once upon a time, Monsignor Nekes was a very popular composer, known as “The German Palestrina.”
“Lætáre Jerúsalem” • Introit (4th Sunday of Lent)
Sung according to the official rhythm of the Catholic Church.
“Solesmes Ictus” • Can It Be Justified? (Examples)
“If you begin by telling a man that in a word like 𝐷𝑒𝑢𝑠 the first syllable corresponds to the weak beat, the second to the strong beat of a modern bar, the only thing accomplished will be to bewilder him thoroughly.” —Father Bewerunge
Vespers Booklet, 3rd Sunday of Lent
The organ accompaniment I created for the 3rd Sunday of Lent (“Extraordinary Form”) may now be downloaded, if anyone is interested in this.