Quick Vocal Tip: The Yawn Breath
Looking for a speedy way to help your choir get into good placement for singing? The yawn breath encourages healthy phonation.
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Articles
“Homily for the Feast of Christ the King” (EF) • Father Valentine Young, OFM
In many of His parables and teachings, Christ let us know that His Kingdom on earth was always what I am going to call “an unfinished product.”
PDF Download • Extremely Simple (Yet Gorgeous) Polyphonic Funeral Mass
These rehearsal videos were recorded by one person, and he apologizes for the poor singing quality…
PDF Download • “Mass Propers for Weekdays, Commons, and Saints” (1,294 pages)
Useful links as a “follow-up” to Mæstro Clark’s article about Fr. Weber’s plainsong settings.
Heresy du Jour? • (Orig. Published in 2019)
In the early XIXth century the Duke of Wellington, speaking of infantry battles, is said to have exclaimed, “All soldiers run away. The good ones come back.”
Helping “Tone-Deaf” Men Match Pitch
(Keven Smith) • Ever had a man express interest in your choir, only to discover that he has trouble matching pitch? You may just need to unlock his high range. Here’s how I’d approach the situation • James C. McKinney is mentioned+
19 October 2020 • Feast of Father Brébeuf
When the young priest saw the burnt and bleeding body of his superior, aghast and trembling he spoke the words of St. Paul: “We are made a spectacle to the world, to angels and to men.”
Dom Pothier • “To The Eyes And To The Ears”
For years, I couldn’t understand this business about “the eyes and the ears.” What did Pothier mean? Then it hit me. • Topics include Dom Joseph Pothier, the mora vocis, Abbot Pothier’s brother (Dom Alphonse Pothier), Dom Lucien David, Dom Paul Jausions, and a truly magnificent story about Pope Pius X and Abbot Pothier, which is essential reading+
Indispensable & Accessible: Fr. Samuel F. Weber Propers in English
Indispensable and accessible: these antiphons possess sublime elegance that grace the Novus Ordo Mass with simple, yet proper reverence and solemnity.
The “Mora Vocis” • What is that?
The “Pre-NOH” editions have quite an idiosyncratic way of lengthening the neumes. • Fulsome illustrations are included examining and explaining the mora vocis of the Vatican edition; also mentioned is Dom André Mocquereau, Rafael Cardinal Merry del Val, and Pothier’s Liber Gradualis (1883)+
PDF Download • “Taste and see the goodness of the Lord” (Responsorial Psalm)
Including a written tutorial on how to perform Chabanel Psalms correctly.
How to Stay Prayerful as a Church Musician
It all boils down to recollection. This 39-page book will help. (And so will one weird trick with your computer, as the clickbaiters would say.)
“Homily for the 20th Sunday after Pentecost” (EF) • Father Valentine Young, OFM
I think we can learn something from this pagan official.
Catholic Architecture • “Modern vs. Ancient”
A picture is worth 1,000 words…
Sacred Music Boot Camp 2020
Three days of practical chant instruction and immersion in the treasury of Catholic sacred music