“Seeking Employment” • Please help!
You can download my official résumé.
Response to Mike’s Letter • “Six Concrete Examples”
“I would dismiss it as the second text writer being lazy and stealing someone else’s music…” —Michael H.
Gregorian Chant … with a drone?
It’s possible to sing Carmen Gregorianum with a drone note (a.k.a. “ison”) but is this always a good idea? I’ve heard it done very poorly. We tried singing GLORIA IX with an ison last Sunday. Feel free to listen to this excerpt (Mp3) and let me know your thoughts.
Abbat Pothier on Gregorian Chant
“There is, then, in the Church, in the Catholic liturgy, a music that, as we have just stated, is both a word and a song, a music rich and powerful, although simple and natural, a music that is not self-seeking, which does not attend to itself but comes forth as the spontaneous utterance of religious […]
PDF Download • “Credo III + Polyphonic Extension”
When I just couldn’t take it anymore, I called up a friend on the telephone and paid him $150 to teach me.
Which Hymns Are Appropriate After Christmas?
How many Catholics realize how closely the feast of the Epiphany is tied to the Holy Eucharist and Calvary?
Organ Accompaniment Booklet (25 pages)
Those who celebrate VESPERS each week may wish to download my organ accompaniment booklet (25 pages) for the 2nd Sunday after Epiphany. This was originally released about a year ago (link), but minor improvements have been made.
“O Magnum Mysterium” • Do You Sing This?
The Consilium of Pope Paul VI asked (15 March 1965): “Is it pleasing that the feast of the Holy Family be suppressed?”
Know your hymns? How Well?
Several singers from my choir recently recorded this beautiful hymn (Mp3), using famous lyrics from the Brébeuf Hymnal. How well do you know your hymns? Can you name that tune? If so, please email us. If you correctly name that tune, I’ll declare: “You really know your hymns!”
PDF Download • Msgr. Hellriegel’s “Hand-Written” Hymnal (Organ Accompaniment) — 102 pages
A major announcement on 8 January 2024!
Organ? Or SATB unaccompanied?
Pipe organ (with voices) or unaccompanied SATB? Which do you prefer? Yesterday at Mass, my volunteer choir gave you an opportunity to compare “apples to apples.” Simply click here and compare the first verse with the second. For the record, that melody is called by various names: ALTONA, VOM HIMMEL HOCH, ERFURT, and so on.
Simple “Salve Regina” • Its Origins
In the past, I have attempted to determine the origins of the “simple” Salve Regina chant. When it comes to the so-called “restored” plainsong books, the earliest instance I can find (of the simple version) is in the LIBER RESPONSORIALIS, published in 1895, a marvelous book based upon the groundbreaking research of Dom Joseph Pothier. […]
“I’ll Keep Your Secret, Choirmasters!” • (Tell Jeff)
She claimed she’d rather die than sing “womb” at Mass, since she considered it to be a medical term.
Do You Recognize This “Christmas” Tune?
Over the last 70 years, ST VENANTIUS has fallen out of favor. One reason might be that many harmonizations of it are “chunky.” I was pleased to see the Brébeuf Hymnal adopted the harmonization by Dom Gregory Murray (probably the finest ever created for ST VENANTIUS). This morning, I created this pipe organ recording. The […]
“Jesu Redemptor Omnium” • Translated into English
“Thou light, thou radiance of the Father, thou undying hope of all, pay heed to the prayers that thy servants pour forth throughout the earth…”