Views from the Choir Loft

Gregorian Chant

Fr. David Friel · May 7, 2017

Fota X Conference (and other Summer Opportunities)

Summer 2017 looks to be a blockbuster period for sacred music activity.

Fr. David Friel · April 16, 2017

Introducing the Wethersfield Institute Chant Workshop

A new chant workshop in upstate New York in June 2017.

Fr. David Friel · April 9, 2017

Square Note App

Bring your “Graduale Digitalum” wherever you go.

Fr. David Friel · March 15, 2017

Dunwoodie Chant Conference • Review of a Successful Event

I was renewed in spirit for a future filled with hope for liturgical music.

Fr. David Friel · January 29, 2017

Conference Updates

Dunwoodie Chant Conference & Sacra Liturgia Milano

Fr. David Friel · January 1, 2017

New Details on Dunwoodie Chant Conference

“Gregorian Chant in Pastoral Ministry and Religious Education” — March 10 & 11, 2017

Fr. David Friel · September 25, 2016

Turning Off the Air Conditioning

Taking Advantage of the Natural Beauty that Surrounds Us

Fr. David Friel · September 23, 2016

Dunwoodie Sponsors New Sacred Music Conference

“Gregorian Chant in Pastoral Ministry and Religious Education” — March 10 & 11, 2017

Fr. David Friel · June 22, 2016

Colloquium 2016 • Day 2

Explanatory Images from Wilko Brouwers

Fr. David Friel · May 22, 2016

Guide for Large-Scale Celebrations

10 Points from a Newly Translated Document

Fr. David Friel · May 24, 2015

A Mini History of the Sequences

At the height of their usage, there were proper sequences for nearly every Sunday and feast day.

Veronica Brandt · May 2, 2015

Taking the easy way out, relatively speaking

Starting a collection of easier propers for the Extraordinary Form. A pair of Alleluias and two Offertory antiphons to start the ball rolling.

Veronica Brandt · March 14, 2015

Gems in Latin and English

Five books providing our treasured Latin hymns with English translations to help you sing with understanding.

Fr. David Friel · November 16, 2014

Colloquium Friends & Chant Workshops

“Adventus Dona” in the Diocese of San Diego

Fr. David Friel · November 12, 2014

Restoring A Sense of the Sacred to the Mass

A Great Article over at One Peter Five

“Music List” (4th Sunday of Advent, Year C)

This coming Sunday—22 December 2024—is the 4th Sunday of Advent (Year C). 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. The English version of “Roráte Cæli” we’re singing for the ENTRANCE CHANT is magnificent.

—Jeff Ostrowski

“Entrance Chant” • 4th Sunday of Advent

Download the ENTRANCE ANTIPHON in English for the 4th Sunday of Advent (22 December 2024). Set in the first mode—just like the authentic version—this setting manages to capture the “essence” of the Gregorian setting in quite an admirable way. Corresponding to the vocalist score is this free organ accompaniment. If you’re someone who enjoys rehearsal videos, this morning I attempted to sing it while simultaneously accompanying my voice on the pipe organ.

—Jeff Ostrowski

Communion (4th Sunday of Advent)

The COMMUNION ANTIPHON (PDF) we’re singing for the 4th Sunday of Advent has a particularly gorgeous melody. The text (from the prophet Isaiah) is also quite beautiful and is cited toward the beginning of Saint Matthew’s Gospel. It certainly seems like most of the Advent antiphons come from the book of Isaiah…

—Jeff Ostrowski

“Lessons and Carols”

Seen online! Dr. Samuel Backman conducted a “Lessons and Carols” service with his choir, and someone produced this lovely vignette.

—Corpus Christi Watershed

Epiphany Proclamation 2025

Each year, without fail, someone asks me to typeset the Epiphany Proclamation, an announcement of moveable feasts chanted each year on the feast of the Epiphany. As a result, you may now find an archive of 23 such proclamations in PDF ready to print HERE.

—Veronica Brandt

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

“The following few hints on the selection of voices may be useful: (1) Reject all boys who speak roughly, or sing coarsely; (2) Choose bright, intelligent-looking boys, provided they have a good ear; they will much more readily respond to the choirmaster’s efforts than boys who possess a voice and nothing more; therefore, (3) Reject dull, sulky, or scatter-brained boys, since it is hard to say which of the three has the most demoralizing effect on his more willing companions.”

— Sir Richard Runciman Terry (1912)