I like to sing the simple tone Marian antiphons with my daughter, who hasn’t had any Latin yet. I sing first the original Latin chant, and then I sing it again, putting English words to the chant melody. That is, if I have an English version of the chant! Maria A. Trapp’s book Around the…
Anyone can learn to chant. It’s important to remember that for centuries very young boys learned to sing this by ear, simply by hearing it over and over. Now that we have so much technology to help us, anyone anywhere with the internet and the ability to read can learn chant. Lately (for several months…
Yes, even if you “can’t sing,” you should learn some of the glorious chants by heart and sing them to your babies every night. (I’ll bet you sing in the shower, or somewhere else where no one hears you. And I’ll bet you’re keeping in tune pretty well, too.) I could give you dozens of…
Seemingly simplistic or rigidly anachronistic, perhaps, the simple truth is that the Church’s music is basically Gregorian Chant. (The other forms of truly sacred music, such as polyphony and reverent hymnody, have grown directly out of it and are therefore closely related to chant.) When you play a CD of chant, what you are hearing…
Almost nothing has brought greater happiness and inspiration into my life in the last five years than my discovery of the continuous tradition of Sacred Music within the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church built the Western Civilization of the last 2,000 years, and Sacred Music is the soundtrack for all this history! To connect to this artistic glory through modern…
From a beautiful hymn from Lauds the-day-before-yesterday: “Tui precatus munere/Nostrum reatum dilue./ Arcens mali contagium,/ vitae repellens taedium.” —or— “Now join thy prayers with ours, who pray/ That God may pardon us and bless;/ For prayer keeps evil’s plague away,/ And draws from life its weariness.” Yes! That is exactly what I have been feeling.…
Yes, it really is this easy to begin chanting the ancient music of the Church! Two and a half years ago I knew NOTHING about Sacred Music, had no vocal training, and had never even sung in a choir. But I wanted to learn to sing this amazing music, and this is how I got…
Just nine days away now is that glorious feast day, that taste of Christmas in Lent, the Solemnity of the Annunciation! I sincerely hope you are planning something very special for this day (March 25th)! At Holy Mass we will sing the Gloria again, as well as genuflect/kneel during the Nicene Creed (and the ONLY other…
I believe that evangelization depends on the liturgy: both for current Catholics and for future Catholics. The Catholics already in the pews are continually being formed by the celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass: by both the Sacrament Itself and the way the Mass is celebrated. Future Catholics can be attracted into the…
When your family gathers around your home altar for prayer before bed, it’s so beautiful to close (or open!) evening prayer with a hymn. (After all, hymns are an important part of the Divine Office, the constant prayer of the Church that our priests and consecrated religious devote their lives to ceaselessly praying.) This Lent, I…
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