Views from the Choir Loft

Veronica Brandt • Article Archive

Veronica Brandt holds a Bachelor Degree in Electrical Engineering. As editor, she has produced fine publications (as well as valuable reprints) dealing with Gregorian chant, hymnody, Latin, and other subjects. These publications are distinguished on account of their tastefulness. She lives in the Blue Mountains near Sydney, Australia, with her husband Peter and six children.—Read full biography (with photographs).

Veronica Brandt · January 17, 2015

Teaching your own children

Starring the almost two year old darling of the family along with miscellaneous siblings egging her on.

Veronica Brandt · January 10, 2015

We want to be fed

What do you think of a new Catechetical Lectionary?

Veronica Brandt · January 3, 2015

Easy Organ Hymns for Catholics

There is a built in tendency for nervous musicians to rush things – I think as your heart beats faster, your perception of time is dilated. As you build more confidence your sense of timing improves too.

Veronica Brandt · December 27, 2014

A New Resolution – to read the Bible in a year

About five different plans for studying the Bible from a Catholic perspective.

Veronica Brandt · December 13, 2014

Knitted thuribles and other toys

Something I unvented (thank you Elizabeth Zimmerman) and also something else.

Veronica Brandt · December 6, 2014

The Christmas Album for 2014

Young men singing the medieval carol Gaudete in the crypt of St Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney.

Veronica Brandt · November 22, 2014

For the Carol Enthusiasts

Looking at books of Christmas carols, some out of print, some available right now.

Veronica Brandt · November 15, 2014

Advent Music

Waiting for the season of waiting.

Veronica Brandt · November 8, 2014

Preparing for an EF Sung Mass

Preparing music folders for a Missa Cantata – all the essentials and a few handy desirables.

Veronica Brandt · November 1, 2014

All Saints celebrations

An All Saints Day party with a major digression on Halloween and All Souls Day.

Veronica Brandt · October 18, 2014

The Final Message of the Synod on the Family

The official broadcast from the Vatican.

Veronica Brandt · October 11, 2014

Pope Pius XII’s First Communion Day

“Pope Pius XII was, in his own way, perhaps the boldest innovator among the Popes of the twentieth century.”

Veronica Brandt · October 4, 2014

Peace and St Francis

St Francis worked for peace through prayer. If by singing we pray twice, then this collection of music could multiply our efforts today!

Veronica Brandt · September 27, 2014

Choirs give hope

Like the precious ointment on the head, that ran down upon the beard, the beard of Aaron

Veronica Brandt · September 20, 2014

A New Book of Old Hymns 4th edition out now!

60 hymns, 92 pages. Get 25% off with code MATEY25 now through 22 September – good for all books on Lulu

“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

Lectionary Errors

If you look at the official Responsorial Psalm (PDF) for this coming Sunday, you’ll notice the current Lectionary has the wrong refrain. Why is this a big deal? Why even mention such a thing? Everybody makes mistakes, right? Here’s why it matters. The USCCB—which makes money by selling the sacred liturgical texts—has historically been ruthless when it comes to such matters. When various publishers point out errors to them, their response has been: “If you dare to correct the error, we’ll sue you.” These errors are not a matter of nuance; e.g. sometimes the previous (English) edition of the Lectionary got them right! Bottom Line: mandatory, indulgenced, liturgical texts shouldn’t be sold; they should be freely available to all Catholics.

—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