Square Notes: The Sacred Music Podcast: Recent Episodes
Square Notes: The Sacred Music Podcast
You’ve got questions about sacred music? Here’s your chance to learn what the Church teaches and envisions for music in the sacred liturgy.
Welcome to Square Notes: The Sacred Music Podcast with your host Dr. Jennifer Donelson-Nowicka. We address topics of interest both to priests and liturgical musicians, as well as a general audience of Catholics interested in learning more about the Catholic Church’s teachings and treasury of sacred music. Our topics range from discussion of Church documents on sacred music, to the music of certain composers or eras, Gregorian chant, the role of music in Catholic education, and techniques for directing a better choir rehearsal. We’ll interview bishops, priests, music directors, composers, teachers, philosophers, and theologians. We’ll talk to people who found a home in the Catholic Church because they heard the call of Christ in the Church’s sacred music. We’ll ask questions about how really great music programs are doing their work. We’ll introduce you to Catholics who love their faith and, through sacred music, offer all their efforts for his glory and the sanctification of all who hear them. We aim for our podcast to be thoughtful, encouraging, and informative. We hope, too, that it will inspire and motivate you to work for the renewal of authentic beauty in sacred music—whether you’re a working church musician or an average Catholic in the pews wondering what’s going on. With the prayers of our patronesses, Our Lady, Seat of Wisdom and Saint Elisabeth of the Trinity, we hope to help draw souls to Christ through the beauty of the Church’s sacred music.
Fr. Augustine Wilmeth, OSB, Prior and Choirmaster of the Abbey of San Benedetto in Monte in Norcia, Italy, joins us to discuss the rootedness of monastic life in the daily ebb and flow of sunrise and sunset, and how that changes throughout different seasons of the solar and liturgical year. We talk about the effect of singing Gregorian chant on the soul and interior life, and the beer that the monks brew.
For more information about the Abbey, visit: https://en.nursia.org/
To buy Birra Nursia in the U.S., visit: https://birranursia.com/
To learn more about the graduate program at the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music, visit: https://catholicinstituteofsacredmusic.org/events/
Burn-out, conflicts, and lots of responsibilities often afflict the church musician. Counselor Angela Rosson joins us to talk about strategies for setting up personal boundaries, positively resolving conflicts with superiors and those under our charge, and how to tell if one is getting burned out (and what to do about it).
Connect with Angela Rosson here: https://mycatholicdoctor.com/resources/doctors/angela-rossonmycatholicdoctor-com/
Learn more about the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music's summer-based graduate program here: https://catholicinstituteofsacredmusic.org/graduate-study/
Join us for a deep dive on the life and work of the most magisterial of composers, Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina. Thomas Neal narrates a biography of Palestrina, touching on the composers who influenced him, how he learned music, his various posts at the heart of the Church in Rome, his connection with St. Philip Neri, and his successful career.
Purchase Neal's newest book on "Sacred Music in Early Modern Italy" here: https://www.brepols.net/products/IS-9782503621852-1
Learn more about Neal's work here: https://www.newcollegeschool.org/page/?pid=19&staff=157
Learn more about the graduate program, Choral Institute, and McInnes Fellowship of the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music here: https://catholicinstituteofsacredmusic.org/ensembles/mcinnes-fellowship/
A board certified physician in family medicine and in functional, anti-aging and regenerative medicine, Dr. Lizbeth Alter joins us to discuss some of the basics church musicians, often short on time and money, can consider in caring for their health through food, nutrition, and navigation of the immune system.
Check out Dr. Alter on social media: https://www.instagram.com/lizbeth_alter_md https://www.facebook.com/DrAlterCompleteWellness https://www.youtube.com/@DrAltersCompleteWellness
Or on her websites: https://lizbethaltermd.wixsite.com/completewellness https://xyngeniumnx.com/
Learn more about the graduate program at the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music here: https://catholicinstituteofsacredmusic.org/graduate-study/
Fr. Mark Bachmann, OSB, of Our Lady of Clear Creek Abbey in Oklahoma joins us to describe the origins of his Abbey, its rich chant history, and a monastic approach to learning and praying Gregorian chant.
To learn more about Clear Creek Abbey, visit: https://clearcreekmonks.org/
To learn more about Laus in Ecclesia, visit: https://www.lausinecclesia.com/
To learn more about the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music, visit: https://catholicinstituteofsacredmusic.org/graduate-study/
Sarum use or rite? Where did it come from? How was it governed? What's unique about the ceremonial? How does the chant sound? What's the deal with all the processions? Can one celebrate the Sarum rite now?
Learn all about the medieval English rite in this episode with Dr. Christopher Hodkinson.
More information and registration about our Spanish-language online workshops: https://catholicinstituteofsacredmusic.regfox.com/talleres-virtuales-primavera-2026
More information and registration for the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music's Summer Chant Camp for singers ages 8–17: https://catholicinstituteofsacredmusic.regfox.com/chant-camp-2026
Join us as we tackle some of the tough questions that inform how church musicians can help their parishioners love the Church's beautiful treasury of sacred music. Dr. Margaret Hughes, a tutor at Thomas Aquinas College in Massachusetts, joins us to discuss whether beauty is something superficial and ultimately distracting from the things that really matter for the Christian, whether beauty is really a transcendental property of being, and whether it's possible to make a wrong judgment about the beauty of a piece of music.
RSVP for Dr. Hughes' lecture on Thursday, April 18th here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/lecture-how-listening-to-music-with-friends-points-us-to-beatitude-tickets-1977339170688
Dr. Christopher Berry, Assistant Professor at the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music, joins us to discuss why we should learn to make up our own chant accompaniment, how to determine the course of an organ building project, and how to fundraise for said project.
Learn more about Dr. Berry here: https://catholicinstituteofsacredmusic.org/faculty#berry
Learn more about summer graduate study with Dr. Berry at CISM here: https://catholicinstituteofsacredmusic.org/summer-courses/
Breath support, dynamics, tremulous notes, VIBRATO? How can we best sing the Church's chant with beauty, elegance, reverence, and good technique? Dr. Rosemary Heredos breaks it all down in the context of learning to sing through a semiological approach to chant, navigating working with different teachers, and transitioning to chant from singing opera.
Learn more about Dr. Heredos's class, "Advanced Seminar in Gregorian Chant: Vocal Technique and Semiological Performance Practice," June 29 to July 3 here: https://catholicinstituteofsacredmusic.org/summer-courses/
Applications for non-degree-seeking students remain open until May 1st.
Have you ever wondered how sacred music programs in America were run and what kind of music they sang in the 19th and pre-Vatican II 20th century?
Salvatore Basile, author of Fifth Avenue Famous: The Extraordinary Story of Music at St. Patrick's Cathedral, joins us to discuss how sacred music sounded in New York, especially as St. Patrick's. We discuss the impact of Pius X's motu proprio, Tra le Sollecitudini, the influence of operatic music on repertory and choice of voices, the incorporation of chant and polyphony, and the development of the music department from parochial backwater to "America's parish" in a cultural and financial world capital.
Buy Basile's book here: https://a.co/d/0haXk4DJ
Learn more about summer graduate classes at the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music here: https://catholicinstituteofsacredmusic.org/summer-courses/
Join Archbishop Cordileone for a Lenten reflection especially for church musicians and those who love the Church's sacred music. The reflection is followed by the recitation of a scriptural rosary.
For more information on other upcoming events at the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music, visit https://catholicinstituteofsacredmusic.org/events/
For access to texts to use to pray the scriptural rosary, visit: https://scripturalrosary.org
Dr. Charles joins us to bridge the gap between monophonic and polyphonic music through the practice of improvising choral music based on chant melodies. We talk about early techniques and how-to treatises from the 9th century, all the way through Baroque fauxbourdon, as well as the changes in notation that these practices prompted, and the composers in whose music one can hear training in these practices.
For more information on the class Dr. Weaver is teaching on this practice of improvising polyphony on chant, "cantare super librum," July 27–31 at the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music, visit: https://catholicinstituteofsacredmusic.org/summer-courses/
To attend the March 7th conference at St. Vitus in Northridge, California, visit https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/ticketing/music-for-worship-and-leisure
To sign up to attend Archbishop Cordileone's Lenten online "retreat" for musicians and admirers of sacred music, visit https://www.eventbrite.com/e/online-lenten-retreat-with-archbishop-cordileone-for-church-musicians-tickets-1982364153547
Martin Baker, a distinguished choral conductor and organist, joins us to share insights on his improvisation at the organ, from his time as a young child, through his winning of the Tournemire Prize at the St. Alban's Competition and his time at Westminster Cathedral, through his current work as a concert organist and composer.
To learn more and apply for the July 20-24, 2026 Organ Improvisation class Baker is offering at the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music, visit https://catholicinstituteofsacredmusic.org/summer-courses/
Learn about the musical practices, pedagogical processes, maestros de capilla, and composers of Mexico's cathedral in Puebla de los Angeles from Fernando Gil, who directed a schola cantorum there before coming to the United States. Gil, director of music at St. Peter's Cathedral in Kansas City, Kansas, takes us through the masses and villancicos from Padilla, helps us understand the context of missionary Mexico and the colonial styles, and discusses what can be applied to the pastoral context in Spanish-speaking congregations in the United States and Mexico today.
To sign up for the upcoming online workshops in Spanish offered by the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music, please visit: https://catholicinstituteofsacredmusic.regfox.com/talleres-virtuales-primavera-2026
To learn more about Puebla's cathedral, Padilla, and villancicos, check out these publications:
https://www.researchcatalogue.net/view/545314/727602 https://saintpaulsunday.publicradio.org/features/0210_missamexicana/index.html https://www.ipm.org/show/harmonia/2019-08-21/music-baroque-mexico-fernandes-padilla-murcia https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/americas/article/abs/mexico-city-cathedral-music-16001750/FC6ADFE4D5C6BBF307B9C107BDFDE992 https://elischolar.library.yale.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1012&context=yjmr https://www.internationalchoralmagazine.com/post/american-music-of-the-early-17th-century-the-cancionero-de-gaspar-fern%C3%A1ndez https://www.bowdoin.edu/news/2021/06/music-scholar-secures-funding-to-study-sacred-sounds-from-the-mexican-baroque.html https://scholarworks.iu.edu/iuswrrest/api/core/bitstreams/59761061-f248-4619-9be2-040bf1cd8f7f/content
Join us for this inspiring season opener to discuss curriculum which imprints on the child's senses, mind, and soul a longing for the source of all beauty, God himself. Musician, artist, and homeschooling mom Elizabeth Lemme shares her criteria for evaluating the worthiness of a work of art for study, and her lists of composers and painters that make up the daily fare of her children while she teaches them at her kitchen table.
Visit Mrs. Lemme's Etsy shop here: https://www.etsy.com/shop/PelicanPrinteryHouse
Learn more about the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music's graduate program here: https://catholicinstituteofsacredmusic.org/graduate-study/
"And therefore, I said, Glaucon, musical training is a more potent instrument than any other, because rhythm and harmony find their way into the inward places of the soul, on which they mightily fasten, imparting grace, and making the soul of him who is rightly educated graceful, or of him who is ill-educated ungraceful; and also because he who has received this true education of the inner being will most shrewdly perceive omissions or faults in art and nature, and with a true taste, while he praises and rejoices over and receives into his soul the good, and becomes noble and good, he will justly blame and hate the bad, now in the days of his youth, even before he is able to know the reason why; and when reason comes he will recognise and salute the friend with whom his education has made him long familiar."
Plato's Republic, Book 3, tr. Jowett.
Join Dr. Emily Thelen as she takes us on a tour of the masterfully illuminated manuscripts of the Alamire collection of Renaissance manuscripts from the Low Countries, and explains to us the Confraternity culture of Catholic society that brought about such wonderful masterpieces.
Learn more about Dr. Thelen's work here: https://independent.academia.edu/EmilyThelen
Access the Integrated Database for Early Music here: https://idemdatabase.org/page/home
Buy Dr. Thelen's book on Brussels 215-216 here: https://publications.alamirefoundation.org/en/leuven-library-of-music-in-facsimile/1164/llmf/1419/llmf-vol.-2-a-choirbook-for-the-seven-sorrows-study-studie
Learn more about the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music here: http://catholicinstituteofsacredmusic.org/
Looking for a historical and ecclesiastical framework by which to understand performance decisions about the pronunciation of Latin? Join Dr. John Pepino as he explains the origins of the Latin language and how we know anything about the pronunciation of classical Latin, describes the style and handing on of the golden age of Latin, discusses the relationship between St. Jerome's Vulgate and the Vetus Latina editions, demonstrates the pronunciation of Latin in various European pronunciations of the Middle Ages and Renaissance, and clarifies the Vatican's position on the issue.
Two books are recommended for further reading:
- W. Sydney Allen, Vox Latina: A Guide to the Pronunciation of Classical Latin
- F. Brittain, Latin In Church: The History of Its Pronunciation
To learn more about Dr. Pepino, visit: https://veterumsapientia.org/about/faculty-staff/
To learn more about the Advanced Seminar in Old Roman Chant this summer at the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music, visit: https://catholicinstituteofsacredmusic.org/summer-courses/
Join us as we outline strategies for making playing great repertoire every Sunday and feast day possible, even if you're a really busy parish music director. Prof. Christopher Berry, who will be teaching the Organ Literature course this summer at the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music takes us through some of the foundations for developing a game plan, the role the organist has in cultivating prayerfulness before and after Mass, and how to systematically work through Bach, among other topics.
Find out more about Prof. Berry here: https://catholicinstituteofsacredmusic.org/faculty/
Learn more about the Organ Literature class and apply here: https://catholicinstituteofsacredmusic.org/summer-courses/
Join Fiona Hughes, Artistic Director of Three Notch'd Road: The Virginia Baroque Ensemble as we discuss music which will help you meditate on the lives of Christ and Our Lady, as well as the Passion and Death of Christ. We talk about Heinrich Biber's Rosary Sonatas, as well as Franz Joseph Haydn's Seven Last Words of Christ.
Learn more about Three Notch'd Road here: https://www.tnrbaroque.org
Listen to Three Notch'd Road, including the mentioned album Epiphany here: https://www.tnrbaroque.org/recordings/#epiphany
Learn more and apply to the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music's Summer Graduate Program here: https://catholicinstituteofsacredmusic.org/summer-courses/
Looking for inspiration in building a Catholic school curriculum around the worship of God and the sacred arts? Join us for a discussion about the Ordinariate's Cathedral High School in Houston, Texas as Dr. Alexis Kutarna, Head of School, explains how they built both the building and structure of the school to support an encounter with Christ in the sacred liturgy, and how they build students up in Catholic culture for a formation in the truth, especially through beauty, virtue, and true leisure. Learn more about Cathedral High here: https://cathedral-hs.org/
Learn more about Dr. Kutarna here: https://cathedral-hs.org/people/alexis-kutarna
Learn more about summer graduate study, including the Choral Institute, at the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music here: https://catholicinstituteofsacredmusic.org/
Learn more about the Fons et Culmen Sacred Liturgy Summit here: https://liturgysummit.org/
What does the phrase ars celebrandi really mean and what does it have to do with the spiritual lives of priests and the lay faithful? What are means of acheiving excellence in ars celebrandi? Are there special challenges that American Catholics face in entering into the sacred liturgy celebrated well? Why is working to cultivate the reverent celebration of the sacred liturgy so important in our time?
His Excellency, Salvatore J. Cordileone, Archbishop of San Francisco, tackles these and other questions.
Join the archbishop, Cardinal Sarah, and other prelates and theologians at the Sacred Liturgy Summit this summer, July 1–4, 2025. More information is available at: https://liturgysummit.org
Join Fr. Innocent Smith, OP, as he takes us on a tour of St. Thomas Aquinas' poetry and compositions for Corpus Christi. We discuss Aquinas' training in poetics, his liturgical horarium and experience, how the commission to write texts for Corpus Christ came about, and spend time on the rich theology and poetry of his works for the feast.
Read more by Fr. Innocent here: https://dhs.academia.edu/InnocentSmithOP
Learn more about summer study at the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music here: https://catholicinstituteofsacredmusic.org/summer-courses/
Learn more about the Fons et Culmen Sacred Liturgy Summit here: http://liturgysummit.org/
Discover a genre designed for choirs with limited forces and money with our guest, Dr. Janet Hunt. We discuss the origins of the concertato motet, various composer who composed in this genre, texts set, and liturgical use of the pieces. Dr. Janet E. Hunt, FAGO, received performance degrees from Oberlin Conservatory, Southern Methodist University, and the University of North Texas. Equally proficient on organ and harpsichord, she has been a finalist in the Bodky Competition for Early Music twice, the Edinburgh Festival Harpsichord Competition, the SEHKS competition, and two appearances at the Prix André Marchal Competition in Biarritz, France. She has recorded two compact discs of works by César Franck and Louis Vierne. Dr. Hunt publishes editions of early 17th century sacred music for solo voices and organ at www.huntmusic.us, and had an article on the genre appear in the Summer, 2024 issue of Sacred Music. She is the organist at St. Anthony’s Parish in Allston, MA. Dr. Hunt recommends a few resources to help those who are developing their ability to play basso continuo. Here's a link to the free keyboard accompaniment book: https://forschung.schola-cantorum-basiliensis.ch/en/forschung/keyboard-accompaniment-1600.html The website for all things continuo is https://bassus-generalis.org Learn more about Catholic Institute of Sacred Music's summer graduate program here: https://forschung.schola-cantorum-basiliensis.ch/en/forschung/keyboard-accompaniment-1600.html
Dr. Charles Weaver joins us to outline a history of solfège and the practical and theoretical knowledge that arises from employing the early hexachordal system to understanding and singing Gregorian chant.
Learn more about Dr. Weaver here: https://www.juilliard.edu/music/faculty/weaver-charles and here: https://catholicinstituteofsacredmusic.org/faculty/
Find out more about the summer graduate courses at the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music here: https://catholicinstituteofsacredmusic.org/summer-courses/
What are the origins of the liturgical use of the Credo? Do we still have the original melodies to which it was sung? How did the singing of the Credo develop during the medieval period into the Renaissance? Dr. Harrison Russin joins us to answer these questions.
Learn more about Dr. Russin here: https://www.svots.edu/people/rev-dn-dr-harrison-basil-russin
Join the CMAA and get a subscription to Sacred Music journal here: https://churchmusicassociation.org/journal/
Find out more about the Fons et Culmen Sacred Liturgy Summit here: http://liturgysummit.org/
Find out more about summer graduate study at the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music here: https://catholicinstituteofsacredmusic.org/summer-courses/
How did we end up with a Kyriale in the Graduale Romanum, with its 18 Masses, group of Credos, and ad libitum section? Find out the specifics, as well as the general trends and conditions that brought about this organization in the liturgy.
Find out more about Dr. Andrew Kirkman and his work here: https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/staff/profiles/music/kirkman-andrew
Find our more about the summer courses at the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music here: https://catholicinstituteofsacredmusic.org/summer-courses/
Find out more about the Fons et Culmen Sacred Liturgy Summit here: https://liturgysummit.org
We're back with season 7 and we've got an inspiring story of building up people, a parish and school, and fostering vocations through a sacred music education program and some elbow grease.
Listeners can learn more about the program profiled in this episode, and access LaCour's free-use lesson plans and resources by visiting http://epiphanysacredmusic.org, or by visiting their YouTube Channel: @epiphanysacredmusic.
Find out more about the Fons et Culmen Sacred Liturgy Summit here: http://liturgysummit.org/
Find out more about the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music here: http://catholicinstituteofsacredmusic.org/
The 18th century orchestral mass repertoire comes with all sorts of questions for the liturgical musician. Is this repertoire properly called "Viennese"? Does this music really fit, in style and length, with the sacred liturgy? What does the Church have to say about this style of music? Are there any of these Masses that I can do with my choir? Dr. Erick Arenas of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music joins us to answer these questions, and to talk about the wonderful oeuvre of Johann Michael Haydn, the younger brother of the more famous Haydn.
To learn more about Dr. Arenas, click here: https://sfcm.edu/study/faculty/erick-arenas
To learn more about the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music, please visit: http://catholicinstituteofsacredmusic.org/
For Bishop Earl Fernandes of Columbus, Ohio, sacred music and the Eucharistic revival are inextricably linked. When he was consecrated bishop at age 49 in 2022, he was the U.S.'s youngest bishop, and his experience with sacred music as a young person involved a mix of typical U.S. parish music, but also special liturgical and musical experiences sought out by his parents, and this has shaped in him a deep understanding of the importance of sacred music. Join us as we discuss the role he sees for sacred music in reviving faith in the presence of Christ in the Most Holy Eucharist.
What do we know about music in the earliest liturgies celebrated in Ireland? Did sacred music and the liturgy develop as a distinguishable "Celtic rite" in Ireland? What impact did the Church in Ireland, and specifically the monastic impact of Ireland, have on the European continent? We discuss these and other questions with Dr. Ann Buckley, a visiting research fellow in the Medieval History Research Centre of Trinity College Dublin.
To learn more about Dr. Buckley and her work, please visit: https://www.tcd.ie/medieval-history/expertise/ann-buckley.php
To see an edition of the sequence for St. Patrick, edited by Dr. Buckley, click here: https://sacredmusicpodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/PATRICK_MS-78_Responsory.and_.prosa_.pdf
To learn more about the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music, visit: http://catholicinstituteofsacredmusic.org/
Having worked in Catholic classical education for decades, Mark Langley knows the place of music in Catholic education, and has built schools in which every student is enabled to learn and sing chant and polyphonic works from the Church's sacred music treasury. Join us for a discussion about where music figures into the educational structure, and some problems in the modern conception of the nature of music that prevent Catholic education from giving music its proper due.
Learn more about Mr. Langley and his work here: https://olwclassical.org/faculty/
Learn more about the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music here: http://catholicinstituteofsacredmusic.org/
Join us for a discussion with the Archbishop of San Francisco, Salvatore J. Cordileone, about principles every Catholic should learn so that they can think with the mind of the Church about sacred music. We discuss the purpose and nature of sacred music, how it sounds, what effect it has on us, and how it expresses time, culture, and emotions.
To learn more about the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music, please visit: http://catholicinstituteofsacredmusic.org/
Charles Cole joins us with clips from the recent release of the London Oratory Schola's album, Sacred Treasures of Venice. We discuss the crucial role played by Venetian music in the history of sacred choral music, and the particularly fertile atmosphere at St. Mark's Basilica in Venice at the end of the 16th century.
Learn more about the London Oratory Schola here: https://www.londonoratoryschola.com/
Purchase the new album here: https://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dc.asp?dc=D_CDA68427
Learn more about the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music here: http://catholicinstituteofsacredmusic.org/
How does the experience of Mass on Sunday at a parish affect the lives of Catholics, and what role does music play in that experience? How does sacred music bridge the gap between people of different languages, ethnicities, and backgrounds? Why does the Church spend money on beautiful things instead of only on material goods for the poor? We tackle these questions and more in this interview with Bishop Michael C. Barber, SJ, bishop of Oakland, California.
To find out more about the music program at St. Patrick's Seminary and the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music, please visit http://catholicinstituteofsacredmusic.org/.
Where did the chant editions we sing from now come from? What choices were made in the making of those editions? Are other variants of the melody possible? What are the rhythmic implications that can be gleaned from comparing the same melody in different manuscripts? Why do these questions matter to the modern Catholic singer of Gregorian chant? What's a healthy approach to integrating manuscript study and the singing of chant? We explore these questions and more with Dr. Charles Weaver, as he gives a preview of the "Advanced Seminar in Gregorian Chant: Historical Notation Survey and Manuscript Study" that he'll be teaching this summer, July 15–19, at the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music.
Find out more about the CISM summer courses here: http://catholicinstituteofsacredmusic.org/summer-courses/
Join us as we talk about the interaction between music notation and memory, and the impact of that interaction on the spiritual lives of singers of Gregorian chant. Our guest is Dr. Anna Maria Busse Berger, Distinguished Professor of Music, emeritus, from UCDavis, and we dive into some of the topics from the first few chapters of her book, Medieval Music and the Art of Memory.
Find out more about Dr. Busse Berger here: https://arts.ucdavis.edu/faculty-profile/anna-maria-busse-berger
Buy Dr. Busse Berger's book here: https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520314276/medieval-music-and-the-art-of-memory
Learn more about the graduate coursework in sacred music at the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music here: http://catholicinstituteofsacredmusic.org/
Join us as we dive into the role that bells have played throughout the history of Christianity in warding off evil and storms, signaling significant temporal and spiritual moments, and the consecration of bells in the Pontificale Romanum. Learn about the manufacturing process and the engineering behind getting bells to sound beautiful, and discover how you might support the casting and hanging of new bells in your own church tower.
Our guests are Fr. Christopher Gray of St. Mary of the Assumption in Park City, Utah, and Carl Scott Zimmerman, a campanologist and author at the extremely helpful website towerbells.org.
Learn more about the Church's teachings on sacred music, and how to put them into practice, through the offerings of the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music. Sign up for an email list to stay up-to-date on our website: http://catholicinstituteofsacredmusic.org/
Join the editor of Adoremus Bulletin, Christopher Carstens, and Dr. Donelson-Nowicka as they chat about answers to some liturgical-musical questions: Can we use the organ or other instruments during Lent? During Advent? Where should the choir be placed in a church? Is there a list of songs that are (or are not) permitted? Can paraphrased psalms be used at Mass? Should cantors be vested?
To go deeper in your study of the sacred liturgy and its music, check out our summer 2024 graduate classes or the upcoming online fall and spring 2024–2025 graduate course offerings of the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music: http://catholicinstituteofsacredmusic.org/.
What are 3 great warm-ups you'll be able to fit into your busy parish choir rehearsal schedule? What are 3 motets that most choirs don't do, but that are definitely worth learning? What are 3 polyphonic Mass Ordinaries my choir should learn? Prof. Christopher Berry, an adjunct professor of the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music answers these questions, and we chat about the answers in a preview of the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music's Choral Institute.
To learn more about the July 22–26 graduate-level Choral Institute and the audition requirements, visit http://catholicinstituteofsacredmusic.org/.
Get ready for Holy Week with an episode about Tenebrae. Frequent author for Magnificat and The Wanderer, as well as multiple books available through Ignatius Press, James Monti, joins us to discuss the structure of Tenebrae, the historical origins of the particular practices surrounding Tenebrae, and the profound meaning in the Lamentations of Jeremiah.
Learn more about the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music: http://catholicinstituteofsacredmusic.org/.
Budget crunch at your parish? Limited funding for your planned children's program? Join us for a discussion about fundraising strategies that are workable, easily manageable, and make it possible for you to build an amazing sacred music program. We also discuss models for a multi-parish children's sacred music program. Our guest is Dr. Lucas Tappan, the founder and president of the Catholic Academy of Sacred Music, founder and director of the Most Pure Heart of Mary Schola Cantorum, and the Director of Liturgy and Music for Most Pure Heart of Mary Catholic Church in Topeka, Kansas. Find out more about Dr. Tappan's work here: https://catholicacademyofsacredmusic.org/
Learn more about the "Teaching Gregorian Chant to Children" graduate course this summer, which prepares teachers to teach using the first level of the Ward Method of music instruction, by clicking here: http://catholicinstituteofsacredmusic.org/summer-courses/.
Join us as Dr. Mahrt explains the liturgical practices surrounding the Lady Mass, especially in medieval Salisbury Cathedral. We discuss the texts of the propers of Marian votive Masses as well as the tropes and chants of the Mass ordinary that developed from the daily Lady Mass. Dr. William Mahrt is a professor at Stanford University and serves on the faculty of the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music. He is the president of the Church Music Association of America and the editor of its journal, Sacred Music.
Learn more about the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music and its summer graduate program here: https://catholicinstituteofsacredmusic.org/summer-courses/
Be sure especially to check out the class Dr. Mahrt is teaching July 15 to 19, 2024 on the Proper Chants of the Mass.
What were the earliest language layers of the Roman rite, and how do we know? What is the relationship between liturgical language and everyday speech? When did the Roman rite switch from Greek to Latin? Find out the answers to these questions and more. Our guest is Fr. Nicholas Schneider, who holds a doctorate in sacred liturgy from the Atheneo St. Anselmo in Rome, and serves as an adjunct faculty member at the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music. He currently teaches as a Montessori guide for upper elementary students at Christ the King Catholic Montessori School in Mandan, ND.
Learn more about the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music and its summer classes here: https://catholicinstituteofsacredmusic.org/summer-courses/
Join us as we discuss the expectations musicians and priests should have in working together, and some best practices for working out all the practical details. Our guest is Prof. Michael Olbash, director of sacred music at the Boston seminaries of St. John Seminary and Pope John XXIII Seminary.
Learn more about the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music: http://catholicinstituteofsacredmusic.org/
As he works on finishing up his biography of French Catholic organist, improviser, and composer Charles Tournemire, Kevin Faulkner joins us to discuss Tournemire's studies with Franck, his career as an organist, his improvisations, a look at his overall compositional output, focusing on works for the organ, and how his monumental composition L'Orgue Mystique fits into the sung Mass.
To learn more about L'Orgue Mystique, check out the collection of essays entitled Mystic Modern: https://shop.musicasacra.com/product/mystic-modern-the-music-thought-and-legacy-of-charles-tournemire-eds-donelson-schloesser/
To learn more about the Organ Improvisation Seminar as part of the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music's Summer 2023 term, visit: https://catholicinstituteofsacredmusic.org/
Coming to you on April 25th, the Major Rogation Day, we're joined on this episode by Dr. Michael Foley, professor of patristics at Baylor University, to look at the origins of Rogation Days, as well as their meaning, liturgical and paraliturgical observances, and significance in our lives today.
Check out Dr. Foley's books here: https://michaelpfoley.info/my-writings
Learn more about the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music's summer course, "History of the Roman Rite," July 24 to 28 here: https://catholicinstituteofsacredmusic.org/
In the midst of Holy Week, we invite you to join Dr. William Mahrt (Stanford) for a tour in time through the lens of the Divine Office. We discuss theological thoughts on time by St. Augustine, natural vs. supernatural senses of time, the structure of the Divine Office throughout the course of one day, and the different intersecting cycles which make up the liturgical year.
To learn more about this topic, check out Dr. Mahrt's summer 2023 advanced seminar on Chants of the Divine Office: https://catholicinstituteofsacredmusic.org/.
Looking for fresh ideas about how to take your parish choir to the next level, developing a repertoire of well-prepared polyphonic motets and ordinaries, helping your singers develop their technique and musicianship, and integrate it all into the bigger spiritual picture of the offering of one's very self united to the sacrifice of Christ on the cross? Prof. Christopher Berry of St. Stanislaus Oratory in Milwaukee tackles all these topics, with advice about warm-ups, how to get through a bunch of repertoire with limited rehearsal time, and which motets and masses to start with.
To learn more about or apply for this summer's Choral Institute at the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music, please visit: https://catholicinstituteofsacredmusic.org/.
We've combined two episodes here of another podcast, A Culture of Beauty with host Sequoia Sierra, in which our host, Dr. Jennifer Donelson-Nowicka was interviewed. She's talks a little bit about her experience of growing up Catholic and discovering the Church's teachings on music later in life, discusses some key concepts about that teaching and about beauty that she finds effective in helping other Catholics see the role of these things in the spiritual life, and gives an overview of the mission and offerings of the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music.
Learn more about the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music here: https://catholicinstituteofsacredmusic.org/
The medieval practice of the giving of children as oblates to monasteries affords valuable insights into education during the Middle Ages, as well as into the development of pedagogical techniques for teaching the liturgy, Latin, and sacred music to children. Join us for an episode in which Dr. Susan Boynton, Professor of Historical Musicology and Director of Medieval and Renaissance Studies at Columbia University, helps us understand the lives and place of children in medieval monasteries, what they sang in liturgies, and how they learned to sing this repertoire. The conversation also develops into a look at the training of children in cathedral schools.
For more information about Dr. Boynton, see: https://music.columbia.edu/bios/susan-boynton
To buy the book Young Choristers, 650–1700, a book co-edited by Dr. Boynton, visit: https://boydellandbrewer.com/9781843834137/young-choristers-650-1700/
For more information about the History and Principles of Sacred Music course being offered this summer at the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music, please visit: https://catholicinstituteofsacredmusic.org/
The remarkable life and work of Mary Berry is inspirational, especially for those experiencing trials or hardships as they work to promote the Church's own vision for Her sacred music. She offers lessons in persevering in one's vocation in the face of challenging circumstances, and the holiness that can and ought to flow from a life of scholarship, singing, and teaching of Gregorian chant. This interview with a former director of Mary's ensemble, the Schola Gregoriana of Cambridge, shares with us some of these lessons we can take away from her life's story and legacy.
To learn more about the course History and Principles of Sacred Music offered this summer at the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music at St. Patrick's Seminary, please visit: https://catholicinstituteofsacredmusic.org/
Maybe you've thought about hosting a Chant Camp at your parish, or you're looking for ways to keep your young singers engaged as they grow up in the children's choir. The work of Mary Ann Carr Wilson and her apostolate Canticle is inspiring in the way it models catechesis through teaching chant, musical development, and the cultivation of student leaders. Join Mrs. Wilson for an episode in which she shares the story of her own learning and her work in teaching the Church's music to young people in San Diego.
Learn more about Canticle here: https://canticle.net/
Check out the summer courses of the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music here: https://catholicinstituteofsacredmusic.org/
Sign up for a spot in the free information session about the Ward method here: http://wardmethod.eventbrite.com
The long and impressive career of Dr. Christoph Tietze, Director of Music at St. Mary's Cathedral in San Francisco, makes for an interview that covers a lot of ground, including helpful tips for improving one's improvisation skills, steps to take if you're thinking about building a choir school, and an overview of his project on creating a collection of introits for congregational singing.
To learn more about Dr. Tietze and his work at the cathedral, visit: https://smcsf.org/
Find out more about the St. Mary’s Cathedral Choir School at St. Brigid School here: https://sfchoirschool.org
If you're interested in Dr. Tietze's Organ Improvisation Seminar this summer with the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music, you can learn more here: https://catholicinstituteofsacredmusic.org/
Questions about how to sing Gregorian chant can get a little thorny when people who love the chant and have a lot of experience singing it get together. For a newcomer to chant, these questions can seem irrelevant or overwhelming, especially when it's not clear what people are so passionately discussing.
In this interview with Prof. Charles Weaver (Juilliard), we break down the basics of one of the main school of chant performance practice, the "classical Solesmes" school established by Dom André Mocquereau. We look at the big questions Mocquereau was trying to answer, the role of the text and accents in the "classical Solesmes" school, and understanding the 2's and 3's within the context of the overall structure of a piece of chant, what Mocquereau calls the "greater rhythm."
To learn more about Prof. Weaver’s work, please visit: https://www.juilliard.edu/music/faculty/weaver-charles
To apply for Prof. Weaver's summer course at the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music, visit the Institute's website at: https://catholicinstituteofsacredmusic.org/
What was it like for a Renaissance-era composer to navigate the liturgical changes of an ecumenical council, and to have a theological outlook on Our Lady's Immaculate Conception (later vindicated as the Church's own view) that was different from that of his episcopal employer? We look at these questions, and hear about the adventurous and interesting life of lesser-known composer Juan de Esquivel in this episode with Dr. Michael O'Connor.
Learn more about Dr. O'Connor here: https://www.pba.edu/directory/o-connor-michael.html
Read some of Dr. O'Connor's articles here: https://pba.academia.edu/MichaelOConnor
Check out summer classes at the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music here: https://catholicinstituteofsacredmusic.org/
Starting from the impact of a post-war style of academic training on his compositional voice through his search for a greater capacity for expression in the use of tonality, Dr. Frank La Rocca narrates the journey he took from the influences of the severe style cultivated in universities to the freedom he experienced in the strictures of writing a cappella choral music. Accompanying this path was his reversion to the Catholic faith, and the possibilities opened up by writing sacred choral music, leading to what many listeners will recognize in the style of Dr. La Rocca's most recent Masses.
Find out more about Dr. La Rocca's work here: https://www.franklarocca.com/
Learn more about Dr. La Rocca's masses here: https://benedictinstitute.org/
Buy the recent #1 release of Dr. La Rocca's Mass of the Americas here: https://listn.fm/laroccamass/?mc_cid=0cb9d5c000&mc_eid=7669693fa1
Learn more about the composition seminar Dr. La Rocca will teach this summer, or the other classes of the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music here: https://catholicinstituteofsacredmusic.org/
His Excellency, Stephen J. Lopes, Bishop of the Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter and Chairman of the USCCB's Committee on Divine Worship, offers reflections on the work of God in the sacred liturgy, the relationship of artistic beauty to the truths of the Catholic faith and a life of charity, as well as a bit about the formation of the Ordinariate's liturgical books.
Learn more about the Ordinariate and Bishop Lopes here: https://ordinariate.net/bishop-lopes.
Learn more about the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music here: https://catholicinstituteofsacredmusic.org/.
Our Christmas gift to you is one of the most special interviews we've yet had the opportunity to present on this podcast. Naji Hakim joins us to discuss the impact of the sounds of his youth on his musical imagination, his training as a young musician, his study with Jean Langlais, succeeding to Olivier Messiaen's post at La Trinité, and his own work as an improviser and composer.
Learn more about Mr. Hakim here: https://www.najihakim.com/
And be sure to tune in to his excellent YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/user/uyiai
Keep in touch with Dr. Donelson-Nowicka here: https://jenniferdonelson.com https://www.stpsu.edu/
When listing the most stressful jobs one can think, church musician doesn't immediately come to mind. Even so, there are a huge number of stressors that lead to frequent burnout and high turnover rates, impacting parish communities, and even the spiritual lives of musicians. Join Dr. Kensley Behel, an expert in musicians' health, as we discuss the roots of these problems and what musicians and pastors can do to avoid burnout.
Learn more about Dr. Behel here: https://www.kensleybehel.com/
Keep in touch with Dr. Donelson-Nowicka here: https://jenniferdonelson.com https://www.stpsu.edu/
Have you ever wondered where and how Western musical notation originated and developed? How did it affect the learning and teaching of music? What are the limitations and contributions of notation to how the music sounds? Join Dr. Thomas Forrest Kelly, the Morton B. Knafel Research Professor of Music at Harvard University and author of Capturing Music: The Story of Notation, for a fascinating interview.
Buy Dr. Kelly's book here: https://wwnorton.com/books/Capturing-Music/
Learn more about Dr. Kelly here: https://medieval.fas.harvard.edu/people/thomas-forrest-kelly
Keep in touch with Dr. Donelson-Nowicka here: https://jenniferdonelson.com https://www.stpsu.edu/
Looking for inspiration about how to improve lackluster liturgies in your Catholic school? Fr. Christopher Smith presents myriad ideas which instill the faith in families and children, give a strong structure to the school schedule and curriculum, and bring people into your Catholic community.
Fr. Christopher Smith is pastor of Prince of Peace Catholic Church in Taylors, South Carolina.
Check out what’s happening at Prince of Peace here:
https://princeofpeacetaylors.org/
https://www.liturgicalartsjournal.com/2022/08/liturgical-arts-flourishing-at-prince.html
https://www.facebook.com/princeofpeacetaylors
Keep in touch with Dr. Donelson-Nowicka here:
https://jenniferdonelson.com
https://www.stpsu.edu/
How did the Franciscan missionaries of California engage the people they were evangelizing through music? How did their training in music enable their missionary work? What were the forms of music the missionaries used? What were the artistic cultures of the California missions like? Join us as we discuss these questions with Dr. Craig H. Russell, author of From Serra to Sancho: Music and Pageantry in the California Missions (Oxford Univ. Press).
Check out Dr. Russell's book here: https://oxford.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195343274.001.0001/acprof-9780195343274?rskey=yAse1t&result=1
Listen to Chanticleer sing mission music in their collaborative album with Dr. Russell, Mission Road: https://music.apple.com/us/album/mission-road-our-journey-back/288152035
A leading expert in the work and approach to singing chant of Dom Eugène Cardine, Dr. Edward Schaefer (Collegium Sanctorum Angelorum) joins us to discuss the basics of semiology, the older styles of neumes, and how reading from these neumes can inform our singing of Gregorian chant.
To learn more about Dr. Schaefer, please visit: https://www.edwardschaefer.net
Check out Dr. Schaefer's online introduction to semiology here: https://gregoriansemiology.com
Discover the Collegium Sanctorum Angelorum here: https://www.the-collegium.org
Sign up for the CMAA's Sacred Music Colloquium, to be held at the Collegium in Hagerstown, MD here: http://musicasacra.com/colloquium
Learn more about Dr. Schaefer's summer class at St. Joseph's Seminary here: http://dunwoodie.edu/dunwoodie-music-classes
What are the limits of music in conveying meaning? Can one "do theology" musically? Join Dr. Robert Sholl (Royal Academy of Music) as we discuss Olivier Messiaen's search for a musical language which could convey the truths of the Catholic faith.
Learn more about Dr. Sholl here: https://www.ram.ac.uk/people/robert-sholl
Check out Dr. Sholl's work on Messiaen here: https://www.cambridge.org/gb/academic/subjects/music/twentieth-century-and-contemporary-music/messiaen-studies?format=HB&isbn=9780521839815
or here: https://www.routledge.com/Messiaen-the-Theologian/Shenton/p/book/9781138248014
To find out more about or register for summer classes at St. Joseph's Seminary, please visit: https://www.dunwoodie.edu/dunwoodie-music-classes
Focusing firstly on the Psalms of Sunday vespers, Dr. Mahrt takes us through a tour of the Psalms and their antiphon pairings and how this helps us to understand the typological fulfillment of the Psalms in Christ, as well as the feasts of the liturgical year. We discuss the four senses of scripture and how singing the Divine Office opens up the meaning of the scriptures.
To learn how to sing Gregorian chant, check out the Principles of Chant course this summer at St. Joseph's Seminary: https://www.dunwoodie.edu/dunwoodie-music-classes
What can a parish music director take away from historical research in terms of performance practice? Join Prof. Charles Weaver (Juilliard, CUNY) as we discuss phrasing, rhythm, vibrato, pitch, tuning, and other issues which inform the performance of Renaissance polyphony.
To learn more about Prof. Weaver's work, please visit: https://www.juilliard.edu/music/faculty/weaver-charles
To download the app Prof. Weaver mentions, click here: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/pitch-trainer-harmonize/id965614965
To find out more about Prof. Weaver's summer class at St. Joseph's Seminary, please go to: https://www.dunwoodie.edu/dunwoodie-music-classes
We can learn so much from listening to the experiences of others, and this is particularly true when it comes to starting a new job, or just getting started in a professional field. Join us for this episode as we discuss training and formative experiences that help church musicians start off on the right foot in a new job or in the field more generally. Samuel Rowe is here to discuss his journey to Catholicism, things he learned in college and grad school that were important in his development, and how he has been working to invest his time and talents as the director of music at the Basilica of the Assumption in Baltimore.
To learn more about Sam's work, please visit: https://www.americasfirstcathedral.org/music/
To find out more about summer sacred music study at St. Joseph's Seminary, check out: https://www.dunwoodie.edu/dunwoodie-music-classes
The search for new styles or canons of artistic expression in the liturgy throughout the 19th and 20th centuries produced varied results, with some styles possessing little beauty or appropriateness for the sacred liturgy, while others captured something timeless and beautiful while utilizing a modern artistic grammar. The Beuron School, centered at a German Benedictine abbey, is a representative of the latter, and produced artworks of enduring beauty. Join Emily Sottile, the director of the Sacred Space Studio at Evergreene Architectural Arts, as we explore the ideas and canons of Desiderius Lenz and Gabriel Wüger, the founders of the Beuronese School.
To learn more about Emily's work, please visit: https://evergreene.com/people/emily-sottile/
To learn more about the summer sacred music program at St. Joseph's Seminary, go to: https://www.dunwoodie.edu/dunwoodie-music-classes
Looking for some great new repertoire for your parish choir? Join Dr. Aaron James from the Toronto Oratory as we discuss resources and tips for building up a body of pieces that your choir can sing well, and his suggestions for a few lesser-known motets that work well with amateur choirs.
Check out the YouTube page of the Toronto Oratory here: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheTorontoOratory
Learn more about Dr. James' music program here: https://oratory-toronto.org/holy-family-parish/choirs/
Find out more about summer sacred music courses at St. Joseph's Seminary here: https://www.dunwoodie.edu/dunwoodie-music-classes
Secular Music at Mass? In looking at how to deal with this issue now, it's important to understand how the Church and composers dealt with this issue in the past. Join us for an interview with Prof. Andrew Kirkman (University of Birmingham, Binchois Consort) as we look at the use of secular tunes in polyphonic masses of the 15th and early 16th centuries.
Learn more about Prof. Andrew Kirkman here: https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/staff/profiles/music/kirkman-andrew.aspx
Check out the Binchois Consort here: https://www.binchoisconsort.com
Find out more about the summer music program at St. Joseph's Seminary here: https://www.dunwoodie.edu/dunwoodie-music-classes
Are you interested in planning a really great event to introduce people to sacred music? This is the episode for you. We talk with Janet Gorbitz, General Manager of the Church Music Association of America, about the big idea behind an event, as well as the nuts and bolts of planning a successful workshop.
Janet's project-planning booklet: https://sacredmusicpodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Chant-Workshop-Planning.pdf
Check out the website of the CMAA here: https://musicasacra.com
To learn more about summer sacred music courses at St. Joseph's Seminary, please visit https://www.dunwoodie.edu/dunwoodie-music-classes
Join us for our season opener as we discuss leadership, service, formation, and what the word "pastoral" really means with the Archbishop of San Francisco, Salvatore J. Cordileone. For more information on the graduate summer sacred music program at St. Joseph's Seminary, visit https://www.dunwoodie.edu/dunwoodie-music-classes
What is the fundamental experience of music? How does a notated piece of music relate to that fundamental experience? What are the limits of musical notation in conveying sound? Why does all this matter for the Catholic musician? We look at these topics and more with Charles Weaver, who teaches in the historical performance program at Juilliard.
To learn more about the class Professor Weaver is teaching this summer, Medieval & Renaissance Music Notation Practicum, please visit: https://www.dunwoodie.edu/dunwoodie-music-classes
Join us for some good, old-fashioned love stories, the history behind finding a spouse in a Catholic choir, inspiration for lay vocations and family life, and the role singing can play in it all.
Check out summer sacred music study at St. Joseph's Seminary: https://www.dunwoodie.edu/dunwoodie-music-classes
Take a look at the mission and work of the New York Metropolitan Catholic Chorale: https://nymcc.org
We look to a great Spanish saint for inspiration in his holy life, devotion to the Most Blessed Sacrament, and his care for the sacred liturgy and its accompanying sacred arts. St. Juan de Ribera (1532–1611) is an inspiring example of establishing foundations which take seriously the role of beauty in cultivating worship in the faithful, and inspiring them to love Christ in all they do, and especially in the Eucharist. Join us for this conversation with James Monti, a true devotee of this great saint, as we look for inspiration in prayer and patronage of the sacred arts.
Articles about St. Juan de Ribera:
https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.14315/arg-2004-0108/html
https://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=4541898
Books about St. Juan de Ribera:
https://www.google.com/books/edition/El_B_Juan_de_Ribera_y_el_R_Colegio_de_Co/FmkAAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0
https://www.google.com/books/edition/Vida_del_beato_Juan_de_Ribera/eFmn2xPm3OUC?hl=en&gbpv=0
Writings of St. Juan de Ribera:
https://www.google.com/books/edition/Constituciones_de_la_Capilla_del_Colegio/9gJcQwAACAAJ?hl=en
Learn more about summer sacred music study at St. Joseph's Seminary:
https://www.dunwoodie.edu/dunwoodie-music-classes
Eminent chant scholar, Dr. Joseph Dyer, explains the Roman origins of Gregorian chant, the role of the Roman Schola Cantorum in the development of Roman chant, and what happened to that chant once it interacted with Franco-Gallican chant to become Gregorian chant. Join us for an episode which brings clarity to a complex history, and helps us better understand the roots of our Catholic sacred music traditions.
Follow Dr. Dyer's work at: https://um-boston.academia.edu/JosephDyer
Learn more about the summer sacred music study at St. Joseph's Seminary at: https://www.dunwoodie.edu/dunwoodie-music-classes
We venture east in this episode for a look at Russian Orthodox music that impacted the life and compositions of Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943). Dr. Richard Fountain, professor of piano at Wayland Baptist University and convert to Eastern Orthodoxy, shares with us some of his insights into Rachmaninoff's piano works and his compositions for the Divine Liturgy.
Visit Dr. Fountain's webpage here: https://richardfountainpianist.com
Performance credits:
The Bells at St. Alexander Nevsky Russian Orthodox Cathedral in Howell, NJ, rung by hand. www.nevskys.com. View the complete video of Russian bell ringing here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbn_Fzcxw3o
Sergei Rachamaninoff, Suite No. 1 in G Minor, Op. 5, IV. Pâques. Allegro maestoso, in G minor. (Easter): Dr. Richard Fountain, piano.
Rachmaninoff, Symphonic Dances, Op. 45 (for two pianos): Dr. Richard Fountain and Dr. James Rauscher, pianos; live recording in Harral Auditorium, Wayland Baptist University, Plainview, TX on October 12, 2010.
Liturgy: Rev. Fr. Peter A. DeFonce, celebrant; Rachmaninoff Community Chorus, Dr. Richard Fountain, director; live recording in Harral Auditorium, Wayland Baptist University, Plainview, TX on April 18, 2013
Join us for a guided tour through the liturgical changes of Reformation-era England through the lens of the composer Thomas Tallis. Our guest, Dr. Kerry McCarthy, offers a look at the challenges these times posed for musicians, for Catholics, and for the modern scholar studying them today.
Buy Dr. McCarthy's book here: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/tallis-9780190635213?cc=us⟨=en&
Learn more about summer classes at St. Joseph's Seminary here: https://www.dunwoodie.edu/dunwoodie-music-classes
What was sacred music in America like in the mid-20th century? Dr. Francis Brancaleone, former head of the department of music at Manhattanville College, shares with us his experience as a boy being educated in the Palestrina Institute of Liturgical Music in Detroit, and his research in the history of the remarkable Pius X School of Liturgical Music at Manhattanville College in New York.
Read more from Dom Guéranger's Liturgical Year here: http://www.liturgialatina.org/lityear/
Subscribe to the CMAA's journal Sacred Music here: https://musicasacra.com/about-cmaa/membership/
Access the archives of Sacred Music here: https://musicasacra.com/journal/archives/
Access previous installments of Dr. Brancaleone's Chronicle of the Pius X School here: https://media.musicasacra.com/publications/sacredmusic/pdf/sm146-1.pdf
https://media.musicasacra.com/publications/sacredmusic/pdf/sm145-1.pdf
https://media.musicasacra.com/publications/sacredmusic/pdf/sm139-2.pdf
Find out more about summer sacred music study at St. Joseph's Seminary here: https://www.dunwoodie.edu/dunwoodie-music-classes
Do some aspects of the meaning in Gregorian chant seem difficult to understand? Join us as we take a look an approach to understanding the chant through understanding the music theory it's built on. Our guest today is Dr. William Mahrt of Stanford University.
A few handouts for this episode are available here:
https://sacredmusicpodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Table-of-Modes.pdf
https://sacredmusicpodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Modes.pdf
https://sacredmusicpodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Archetypal-Melodies.pdf
Check out the brochure for the summer sacred music classes at St. Joseph's Seminary: https://www.dunwoodie.edu/documents/2021/3/Summer-2021-Brochure%2018Mar2021.pdf
Join us for our Christmas special, highlighting chants of the Christmas midnight Mass with Dominican rite and chant expert, Fr. Innocent Smith, O.P.
Innocent Smith, O.P., is a doctoral student in Liturgical Studies at the Universität Regensburg and is an associate member of DFG Research Group Metropolität in der Vormoderne. His research interests are at the intersection of liturgy and theology, including liturgical manuscripts, scholastic theology, ecclesiology, and sacred music. He is a Roman Catholic priest and a member of Province of St. Joseph of the Order of Preachers. He is presently assigned to the Priory of St. Kajetan in Munich, Germany, where he assists at the Theatinerkirche.
Dr. Jay Hershberger joins us to share the story of his conversion to the Catholic faith by way of the Anglo-catholic tradition. We also discuss his work in developing the sacred music program at the Cathedral of St. Mary in Fargo, North Dakota.
Learn more about Dr. Hershberger here: https://www.concordiacollege.edu/directories/faculty-staff/details/dr-jay-a-hershberger/
View Dr. Hershberger's YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/user/jayhershberger
Listen to our season 2 interview with Dr. Hershberger which paints a Catholic portrait of Franz Liszt: https://sacredmusicpodcast.com/se02-ep15-a-catholic-portrait-of-abbe-franz-liszt-with-dr-jay-hershberger
Fr. James Bradley, J.C.D., an Assistant Professor of Canon Law at The Catholic University of America and priest of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, joins us to discuss his musical upbringing in the church of England and his conversion to Catholicism. Possessing a masterful knowledge of canon law, the sacred liturgy, and sacred music, he shares his thoughts about musical gems from the Anglican patrimony in the life of the Ordinariate, as well as their use in the Ordinary and Extraordinary forms of the Roman rite.
Fr. Bradley's faculty webpage is available here: https://canonlaw.catholic.edu/faculty-and-research/faculty-profiles/bradley-james-rev/index.html
More information about the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter is available here: https://ordinariate.net
Information about the Spring 2021 class "State Persecution of the Church in Modernity: An Historical Study through the Lenses of Source Documents and Film" co-taught with Dr. Jacek Nowicki at St. Joseph's Seminary is available here: https://jenniferdonelson.com/classes
What is a motet? Where did this musical genre come from? What has the word "motet" meant throughout history? What can motets of the past teach us about incorporating non-obligatory texts into the sacred liturgy? How can the music and texts of motets make the other texts of the Mass, especially those of the lectionary, come to life? We explore these questions with Dr. Aaron James, the Director of Music for the Toronto Oratory of St Philip Neri, serving the music program at Holy Family Church in Toronto. He’s a graduate of the Eastman school of music, earning there both the PhD in musicology and a DMA in organ performance. He shares helpful scholarly insights which help illuminate the path for music directors as they make repertory choices. Too, we hear some recordings produced by the singers in his excellent parish music program.
The Oratory's YouTube channel is available at: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRRUmJAW2o_nh74VB3ijYxQ
The website for the music program of the oratory is: https://oratory-toronto.org/holy-family-parish/choirs/
A brave man and heroic witness for the freedom and rights of the Church in China and Hong Kong, His Eminence, Joseph Cardinal Zen, joins us for a discussion about music while growing up in Shanghai, in his formation as a Salesian, and in seminaries in China.
One of the most prominent composers of our time, Sir James MacMillan has written for concert hall and stage as well as for the Church. A devoted Catholic, Sir James joins us for the opening of season three to discuss transcendence, beauty, spirituality, and universality in music, particularly focusing on the ability of music to speak to Catholics and non-Catholics alike. Check out Boosey & Hawkes' website for more information about Sir James and his works: https://www.boosey.com/composer/James+MacMillan.
The largest recording project in history is coming to life in an excellent new app for sacred musicians and those wishing to learn to pray and sing Gregorian chant in the Mass and Divine Office. In this episode we dive into the story of the monastery, the singing of the nuns at Notre Dame de Fidélité in Jouques, France, their sister monastery in Bénin, and the exciting new Neumz project with two of the main figures behind the project, John Anderson and Alberto Díaz-Blanco.
Check out Neumz at their website: https://neumz.com
Correction for this episode: while Andy Bloomfield spent time in the abbey of Fontgombault, it was his brother Benjamin that developed the GABC chant tools.
Is there an opportunity for improvement in your parish music program? Has there been a change in personnel, circumstances, or resources that makes growth possible? Perhaps the COVID-19 pandemic has presented possibilities for progress. Maybe you are looking at how to introduce the proper chants into a parish Mass, improve the hymnody used, or build the choral program. How does one make changes in a prudent and positive manner? Dr. Mary Jane Ballou joins us to discuss these and related questions.
Dr. Ballou is Music Director at an Ordinariate parish in formation in Jacksonville, Florida. In addition to conducting and performing, Dr. Ballou is a regular contributor to the Sacred Music journal of the Church Music Association of America (CMAA) on the practical aspects of choir/schola training and management, and is a member of the CMAA’s group blog, The Chant Café.
Dr. Mary Jane Ballou's Website
Sacred Music Journal
Chant Cafe Blog
In our first roundtable discussion on sacred music we talk with experienced church musicians and CMAA chaplain, Fr. Robert Pasley, about fostering community in parish life through building up sacred music programs.
Charles Cole's Website: https://charlescole.com
Mary Ann Carr Wilson's Website: http://www.maryanncarr.com/index.html
Church Music Association of America's Website: https://musicasacra.com
Learn some tips and tricks to orient yourself along the journey from pianist-only, to organist-as-well. Dr. Crista Miller, Director of Music and Cathedral Organist at the Co-cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Houston, discusses differences in technique between the two instruments, learning to pedal, figuring out registration, and some great beginning repertoire.
For more information about her summer 2020 online class at St. Joseph's Seminary, click here: https://jenniferdonelson.com/classes
To register, click here: https://www.dunwoodie.edu/dunwoodie-music-classes
For the list of repertoire Dr. Miller recommends, click here: https://sacredmusicpodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Practical-Beginning-Repertoire-Collections-for-Organists.pdf
For more information about Dr. Miller, check out her bio here: https://www.sacredhearthouston.org/dr-crista-miller-1
The co-cathedral's YouTube page is here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4N4fjBNP595MgpsgIiqWQw
Or on SoundCloud here: https://soundcloud.com/user-545548420
Dr. Crista Miller's personal SoundCloud page has some great recordings and interviews she's given: https://soundcloud.com/cordenuit8
Are you a music director looking for ideas about what to do whilst there are restrictions on sacred music put in place in response to the COVID-19 pandemic? Check out this episode. It's not for the casual listener, and we don't go into any virology or epidemiology, but for the music director in search of music to sing and play when faced with limitations, we hope you'll find this helpful. For a link to all the resources mentioned in the episode and more, click here: https://sacredmusicpodcast.com/resources
What are the top five things that people don't understand when it comes to sacred music? In this first part of a two-part episode, we take time to give a substantive response to what many Catholics might not know or don't get right about music for the sacred liturgy. We look at liturgical and philosophical principles that have been fleshed out through the centuries as the Church has guided musicians in building up the treasury of sacred music, and spend some time on insights from Church documents.
For more information about the Summer 2020 online class taught by Dr. Donelson-Nowicka at St. Joseph's Seminary, "Principles of Sacred Music," click here: https://sacredmusicpodcast.com/upcoming-events. To register, or for an FAQ about sacred music study at Dunwoodie, click here: https://www.dunwoodie.edu/dunwoodie-music-classes.
On this episode, we discuss matters of liturgical formation, both for musicians, as well as for those we serve. Dom Alcuin Reid is the founding Prior of the Monastère Saint-Benoît in the diocese of Fréjus-Toulon, France, and a liturgical scholar of international renown. His principle work, The Organic Development of the Liturgy (Ignatius Press, 2005) carries a preface by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger.
Dom Alcuin's Address at the 2019 Sacred Music Colloquium is available here: https://sacredmusicpodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Reid-Article.pdf
Monastère Saint-Benoît website: https://www.msb-lgf.org/
Monastère Saint-Benoît Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Monastere-Saint-Benoit-816333008482594/
Are you looking for an authentically Catholic curriculum and method for teaching music to children? Something that's practical, fun, and helps children to grow in love of the Church's sacred music? This bonus episode looks at the history of the development of the Ward method, its underlying educational principles, its place in Catholic education, and the experience both of those who learn to teach with the method, as well as that of children who learn music using the method. Our guest is Mr. Kevin Collins, an NYC actor and father.
More information about the July 20–24, 2020 class "Teaching Gregorian Chant to Children," taught live over Zoom through St. Joseph's Seminary is available here: https://sacredmusicpodcast.com/upcoming-events. Registration and an FAQ are available here: www.dunwoodie.edu/dunwoodie-music-classes.
The printable book of litanies mentioned at the end of the episode is available here: http://jenniferdonelson.com/sacred-music-resources.
Franz Liszt, haunted by the spectre of God's grace, was never able to fully shake off his Catholic faith. Our guest, Dr. Jay Hershberger, the president of the American Liszt Society, shares with us a Catholic portrait of the pianist and composer's life, highlighting his story of conversion, his later years in fervent practice of his faith, his compositions about various Catholic topics and music for the liturgy, and even about his non-musical writings about the theological issues of the day.
Dr. Alan Walker's 3-part biography of Liszt is available here:
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/241476/franz-liszt-volume-1-by-alan-walker/
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/184865/franz-liszt-volume-2-by-alan-walker/
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/184864/franz-liszt-volume-3-by-alan-walker/
Check out the American Liszt Society here: http://americanlisztsociety.net
Dr. Hershberger's faculty page at Concordia College in Moorhead, MN is available here: https://www.concordiacollege.edu/directories/faculty-staff/details/dr-jay-a-hershberger/
An opinion piece published in the New York Times on May 8, 2020, entitled “Christianity Gets Weird,” highlights for readers the attraction of beauty and mystery for the young, and how that attraction leads to an embrace of the Faith, even in spite of (perhaps because of!) the countercultural nature of it all. This interview with Fr. Gaurav Shroff, a priest of the archdiocese of Atlanta, is likewise a testament to the power of beauty, mystery, and sacred music to attract.
Our first-ever bonus episode—outside our normal publication schedule and a more extended conversation than our normal episodes—features a conversation with Dr. Timothy McDonnell of Catholic University in America. Looking at the near-term future of music making in the Church, our conversation presents music directors with ideas that they can implement to improve their skills in conducting, vocal pedagogy, and ear training now, and what the current situation means for the future of our parish music programs and profession. We offer ideas that you might implement in pared-down music programs under phased restrictions, and discuss a class Tim is offering through St. Joseph's Seminary this summer that's designed to help parish music directors improve their skills.
For more information or to register for Tim's class, "Conducting and Group Vocal Pedagogy for the Parish Music Director" (July 29-31, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., live online), visit: www.dunwoodie.edu/dunwoodie-music-classes
Join us for an episode which sets the stage for a deeper understanding of the principles in Pope Pius X's 1903 motu proprio Tra le Sollecitudini. We'll take a look at the musical scene in which the motu proprio appeared and the evolution of the document, as well as provide an overview of the structure and decrees of the document. Our guest is Dr. Susan Treacy, a convert to the Catholic faith, and musicologist who has inspired many Catholic university students to love the Church's treasury of sacred music through her years teaching at Franciscan University of Steubenville and Ave Maria University.
For more information about the "Principles of Sacred Music" course offered online this summer (2020) through St. Joseph's Seminary, visit sacredmusicpodcast.com/upcoming-events.
How did medieval monks create illuminated manuscripts? What's behind the symbolism in all their visual elements? Why were they an important part of the monk's life and work? What do they have to do with my prayer life and understanding of sacred music now? Find out the answers to these and other questions in this episode with Mrs. Elizabeth Lemme of Pelican Printery House as she shares with us a little bit about her own growth in faith through this artistic medium, as well as her expertise in all their details.
Pelican Printery House is available on Etsy at www.etsy.com/shop/PelicanPrinteryHouse
More information about summer 2020 sacred music study is available at https://sacredmusicpodcast.com/upcoming-events
Sign up for the May 2020 webinar on chanting monastic vespers is available here: https://forms.gle/SH2ENj9fMxYYLEJB7
Have you ever wondered what it was like to be a Catholic musician under the reigns of King Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth I? Are you interested in learning more about what makes Tudor era polyphony tick, or how Byrd's music evolved throughout his life? Take a deep dive on the music and life of composer William Byrd with our guest, renowned expert on these topics, Dr. Kerry McCarthy.
Read Dr. McCarthy's bio here: www.byrdfestival.org/pages/guest_artists/kerry_mccarthy.html.
Buy Dr. McCarthy's books here: www.amazon.com/dp/0195388755/ and here: www.amazon.com/dp/0415978610/.
More information on the Summer 2020 Course "Conducting and Group Vocal Pedagogy for the Parish Music Director" is available here: www.dunwoodie.edu/dunwoodie-music-classes.
We welcome an inspiring and wise guest on the show to talk about the perception of beauty, the effect of beauty on the soul, and how to form oneself and children in beauty. Dr. Alice von Hildebrand focuses on what she believes are the key virtues for every person: reverence and humility. Tune in to hear her words of encouragement for musicians and parents.
To read the article we mention in the episode, "Wrong Approaches to Art," visit: www.alicevonhildebrand.org/wrong-approaches-to-art.
To learn more about the summer course offerings at St. Joseph's Seminary in New York, visit www.dunwoodie.edu/dunwoodie-music-classes. For more on upcoming webinars on chant, visit jenniferdonelson.com/conferences-workshops.
Join us for an update on the current situation with the organs at Notre Dame in Paris, following the April 15, 2019 fire. Our guest is the fantastic titular organist of Notre Dame, Olivier Latry, who gives us an assessment of the damage and what to look for in the road ahead. He also discusses the development of the instrument and its role in the sacred liturgy and the development of organ repertoire.
For more information about Olivier Latry, please click here: www.concertorganists.com/artists/Olivier-Latry/.
For more information about the Introduction to the Organ for Pianists class this summer at St. Joseph's Seminary, click here: www.dunwoodie.edu/dunwoodie-music-classes.
Dr. Nathan Knutson, the Director of Sacred Music at St. Charles Seminary in Philadelphia, joins us for this episode on the Church's esteem for the pipe organ. If you've been looking to learn about the history of the organ in the Roman rite, the basics of its construction, or the theology of its inclusion into a religion which takes the voice as its first instrument, this is the episode for you! And if you're an organist thinking about how to explain your role to parishioners, we hope you'll find something helpful here, too.
Check out the music program at St. Charles Seminary at their facebook page: facebook.com/seminarymusic/
The organ method Dr. Knutson and his wife created is available at: domenicozipoli.org/organ
Find out more soon about the summer 2020 course "Introduction to the Organ for Pianists" being offered at St. Joseph's Seminary in Yonkers, New York at dunwoodie.edu.
We're learning about one of this podcast's patronesses in this episode - St. Élisabeth of the Trinity, who described herself as "laudem gloriæ," the "praise of glory." Discover why St. Élisabeth is an excellent spiritual model for musicians, and get to know her as a spiritual friend eager to help in all your life's struggles. Our guest is an expert on St. Élisabeth, Dr. Anthony Lilles, who was just recently appointed as Academic Dean at St. Patrick's Seminary in Menlo Park, California. Dr. Lilles is a regular guest on the "Discerning Hearts" network, discussing St. Élisabeth and other Carmelites and mystics of the Church.
We're taking a look at the Catholic way of reading, understanding, and praying the book of Psalms. Our guest is Dom Benedict Andersen, who is a Benedictine priest-monk and founding member of Silverstream Priory, in Stamullen, County Meath, Ireland. He is currently preparing for doctoral studies in the area of patristics. His passions include typography, the psalms, and well-behaved pit bulls.
To donate to Silverstream Priory's project of building an oratory, click here.
Other links mentioned in this episode:
CMAA Sacred Music Colloquium, June 22–27, 2020, Tampa, FL
Gregorian Chant Workshop, March 14, 2020, Cohoes, NY
James Monti is an author in the fields of Catholic liturgy and hagiography. His books include A Sense of the Sacred: Roman Catholic Worship in the Middle Ages, The King’s Good Servant but God’s First: The Life and Writings of St. Thomas More, The Week of Salvation: History and Traditions of Holy Week, and In The Presence of Our Lord: The History, Theology, and Psychology of Eucharistic Devotion, the latter co-authored with Father Benedict J. Groeschel, CFR. He is a columnist for The Wanderer and Sacred Music. A member of the staff of the Corrigan Memorial Library of Saint Joseph’s Seminary in Yonkers, New York, he is presently working toward the completion of a full-length biography of the Irish maiden Venerable Edel Mary Quinn of the Legion of Mary (1907-1944) and a comprehensive work on the liturgical ceremonies of the Roman Rite as they were celebrated both universally and locally following the Council of Trent, during the Baroque Era (c. 1568-1799).
Join us for an episode highlighting the spiritual fruits that flow from following the Church's pastoral guidance in the celebration of the liturgy. We talk about Musicam Sacram, the document's pastoral plan with three degrees of singing, the spiritual impact of the clergy singing their parts of the Mass, and even a little bit about how to fundraise for your music program.
Our guest is Fr. Nathan Cromly, CSJ, founder and director of the Saint John Institute in Denver, Colorado. Visit the website of the Institute at https://www.saintjohninstitute.org/. His podcast, Dare Great Things for Christ, is available on all major podcast outlets.
Join us in this episode for a discussion about St. Cecilia, and the liturgies and sacred music of Rome.
Gregory DiPippo is the Editor of the New Liturgical Movement blog. He lives and works in the eternal city of Rome, sharing his breadth of knowledge of the liturgical traditions of the Church with people across the globe.
Robert Cardinal Sarah was appointed by Pope Francis in 2014 as the Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. He has said of his efforts for the renewal of the sacred liturgy that “Pope Francis has asked me to continue the extraordinary liturgical work Pope Benedict began.”
Cardinal Sarah is the author of three interview books with Nicolas Dait: God or Nothing (2015), The Power of Silence (2017), and The Day is Now Far Spent (2019).
You can follow Cardinal Sarah on Facebook and Twitter.
Robert Cardinal Sarah was appointed by Pope Francis in 2014 as the Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. He has said of his efforts for the renewal of the sacred liturgy that "Pope Francis has asked me to continue the extraordinary liturgical work Pope Benedict began."
Cardinal Sarah is the author of three interview books with Nicolas Dait: God or Nothing (2015), The Power of Silence (2017), and The Day is Now Far Spent (2019).
You can follow Cardinal Sarah on Facebook and Twitter.
Dr. Timothy P. O’Malley is the Director of Education at the McGrath Institute for Church Life, where he also serves as Academic Director of the Notre Dame Center for Liturgy. He teaches and researches at Notre Dame in the areas of liturgical-sacramental theology, catechesis, and aesthetics. He is the author of numerous articles and books, most recently, the forthcoming Divine Blessing: Liturgical Formation in the RCIA.
Read more about Tim’s work at the Church Life Journal, especially this helpful article about the participation of children in the liturgy: “The Liturgy is for (Little) Kids.”
Juilliard-trained James Wetzel is one of the most respected Catholic church musicians in New York City. In this episode, we ask James about his work as the director of music and organist at the Dominican parish of Saint Vincent Ferrer and Saint Catherine of Siena. His professional Schola Cantorum is renowned for keeping very much alive the “Church’s treasure of sacred music” for the worship of God in the sacred liturgy. James also shares his perspective and advice on how priests and music directors can take steps to build up the sacred music programs at parishes.
James’ Biography
James D. Wetzel is the Director of Music and Organist of the Parish of Saint Vincent Ferrer and Saint Catherine of Siena on Manhattan’s Upper East Side where he directs the professional Schola Cantorum in over 70 services annually. James served from 2010-2015 as the Organist and Choirmaster of midtown’s Church of Saint Agnes and from 2011-2016 was an adjunct lecturer in Hunter College’s music department. Since 2010, he has also been the Assistant Conductor for the Greenwich Choral Society in Connecticut. Additionally, he holds a post as Assisting Organist at the Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine where he formerly served as Organ Scholar under Bruce Neswick.
Mr. Wetzel is active as an organist and continuo player, having performed at the Berkshire Choral Festival and with the Collegiate Chorale, the Orchestra of Saint Luke’s, the American Symphony Orchestra, the American Classical Orchestra, the National Chorale, and the Paul Winter Consort. He is the sub-dean and chairman of the programming committee of the New York City Chapter of the American Guild of Organists, a board member of the Catholic Artists Society, and a member of the New York Purgatorial Society and the Society for Catholic Liturgy.
Born in Pittsburgh, James earned a bachelor’s degree in organ performance from The Juilliard School where he studied with Paul Jacobs and was the first person ever to graduate with a master’s degree and a professional studies certificate in choral conducting from Manhattan School of Music under Kent Tritle. He also studied privately with Donald K. Fellows and Robert Page and spent a year reading Early Christianity and Apologetics at Columbia University.
Parish of St. Vincent Ferrer and St. Catherine of Siena website: http://www.svsc.info
Rev. Fr. Jude Orakwe is a lecturer at the music department of Anambra State University (a.k.a. Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University). He is also the founder and director of Shanahan Institute of Music of Onitsha Archdiocese (for adults) as well as of the George Handel Music Academy (for the children) of St. Joseph’s Parish Odoakpu Onitsha. He directs the Archdiocesan choir and is also the music director of St. Joseph’s Parish Choir.
Fr. Orakwe has his doctorate in ethnomusicology from Indiana University, Bloomington, United States, as well as a Master’s degree in Sacred Music from the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music Rome, Italy.
In this episode, we discuss Fr. Jude Orakwe’s musical initiatives in Nigeria, his personal experiences of music and faith, and also aspects of musical and liturgical inculturation.
If you would like to financially support Fr. Jude Orakwe’s musical initiatives you can do so via Paypal, either at jorakwe@indiana.edu or jatomaria@gmail.com.
For this episode, we are joined by the renowned Catholic composer Kevin Allen. Kevin has written a large repertoire of sacred choral music for the Church’s liturgy and shares with us his insights into creating new works of art for the liturgy, as well as his advice for Catholic artists today.
Kevin Allen’s O Sacrum Convivium
Kevin Allen’s Domine Non Sum Dignus
Kevin Allen’s sheet music
Kevin Allen’s on Facebook
Kevin Allen’s choir, Schola Laudis
We’re joined by Philadelphia musician and educator Lisa Knutson for a discussion of the Jesuit missions in South America and how the missionary spirit, artistic craftsmanship, and education in beauty offered by the Jesuits in the 17th century can inspire the heart of the modern missionary to bring Christ to the poor through sacred music and music education.
The Zipoli Institute has a lot of great resources available for musicians, especially for those working with Spanish-language choirs and liturgies. Check out the work of Lisa and her husband Nathan in the Zipoli Institute here: https://domenicozipoli.org
This article from the New York Times on the legacy of the music education of the Jesuits in Bolivia is also an interesting glimpse into the continuing fruits of the work of the missionaries: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/08/world/americas/bolivia-baroque-music.html
And here are some great recordings of the music of Domenico Zipoli, SJ:
Vespers for the Feast of St. Ignatius: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRSGo6hgn3k
Sacred Opera on the Life of St. Ignatius: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARlTk7UJjbs
Listen to a bit of a concert sung by the sisters, brothers, and priests of the Institute of the Incarnate Word: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6YqTr7yPsY
Episode 7 – The Role of Sacred Art in Evangelization and Church Patronage of Art – with Dr. Elizabeth Lev
This episode is an exploration of how the Church has used art and beauty to evangelize in the past and how it can do so again today. Dr. Elizabeth Lev is a renowned art historian and dynamic speaker who communicates the awesome power of religious art and why becoming aware of this power is so important for the Church and the world today. We discuss her recently published book, How Catholic Art Saved the Faith, and how music, like the visual arts, can lead people to understand and love the truths of the Faith by presenting them with artistic beauty.
Buy How Catholic Art Saved the Faith at Sophia Institute or Amazon
Dr. Elizabeth Lev’s website: elizabeth-lev.com
Twitter: twitter.com/lizlevrome
On today’s episode, we’ll look at how choristers learned music in times past. Our guest is Charles Weaver. Charlie is on the faculty at the Juilliard School, where he teaches performance practice on plucked instruments. He has performed with Quicksilver, Piffaro, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Folger Consort, Apollo's Fire, Blue Heron, Musica Pacifica, the New York Continuo Collective, and Tenet. He is the associate schola director at the Church of St. Mary in Norwalk, Connecticut, where he has worked in the past with the student schola program, and where he continues to sing and do some directing with the St. Mary’s Schola Cantorum, specializing in Renaissance polyphony and Gregorian chant. He is also known for his careful and excellent preparation of performing editions from original manuscripts.
More information about the St. Mary’s Schola Cantorum is available here: http://www.stmarynorwalk.net/music/
A recent project for a historically-informed performance of the Monteverdi 1610 Vespers in which Mr Weaver was involved can be heard here: https://youtu.be/ifchV9VBA20
A recent recording of the St. Mary’s Schola Cantorum can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bP-qiggAd28&list=OLAK5uy_kK9s1nHuds5I54uQD6ckiVfCF9Lu-ayew
More information on the summer courses at St. Joseph’s Seminary, including “Teaching Gregorian Chant to Children” can be found here: http://jenniferdonelson.com/classes
Our guest for episode 5 is Fr. Cassian Folsom, OSB, from the Benedictine Monastery in Norcia, Italy. We’ll be discussing with him how singing Gregorian chant forms the spiritual life of the monks through the daily prayer of the Divine Office and the Mass. We also touch on the role of Gregorian chant in the spiritual life of lay people, and its role in parish music programs.
Fr. Cassian is American-born and studied music prior to entering the monastic community of St. Meinrad in Indiana. In 1998, he founded his monastic community in Rome. The community eventually moved to Norcia in 2000. Being steeped in medieval monastic tradition, the monastery is known not only for its 2015 best-selling CD Benedicta: Marian Chant from Norcia, but also for its production of artisan beer.
The monastery’s website is: https://en.nursia.org
Buy the monks’ CD “Benedicta: Marian Chant from Norcia” here: https://www.amazon.com/BENEDICTA-Marian-Chant-Norcia-Monks/dp/B00V66GNMQ
Buy the monks’ beer here: https://birranursia.com
In our fourth episode, we are joined by Professor William Mahrt of Stanford University who gives an introduction to the history, music, liturgical role, and spiritual value of Gregorian chant.
Dr Mahrt is the president of the Church Music Association of America (the CMAA), and the editor of Sacred Music, the journal of the CMAA. He’s a respected scholar of Gregorian chant and Renaissance polyphony who’s published numerous articles, and he also publishes a really helpful and interesting editorial in each issue of Sacred Music. More than all that, though, Professor Mahrt is a man who loves the sacred liturgy and its music, and has spent decades learning how to pray through the Church’s treasury of sacred music. He’s inspired countless people, your hosts of this podcast included, to really learn what the Church teaches about sacred music, and how these teachings lead us into the heart of the sacred liturgy as the communal encounter between man and the Blessed Trinity.
Dr. Mahrt’s book can be downloaded for free here: https://media.musicasacra.com/books/musicalshape_mahrt.pdf
Or a hardcover copy can be bought here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0984865209/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_LN.LCb7596EDT
To subscribe to the journal Sacred Music, click here: https://musicasacra.com/journal/sacred-music/
Episode 3 – The Role of Sacred Music in Catholic Education – with Charles Cole
We take an inside look at a British choir school, and discuss the role of sacred music in an authentically Catholic education. You’ve already heard just a bit of his work as a listener to this podcast; he’s the director of the Schola Cantorum of the London Oratory School singing the opening track for our show.
Charles Cole began his musical training as a chorister at Westminster Cathedral. He went on to win a major music scholarship to Ampleforth and organ scholarships at Exeter College of Oxford and Westminster Cathedral. He is Assistant Director of Music at Brompton Oratory where he directs the London Oratory Junior Choir which, in addition to its liturgical duties, provides the Children’s Chorus for the Royal Ballet’s productions at Covent Garden. In addition, he is Director of the Schola Cantorum of the London Oratory School, a choir of boys aged 8-18 which sings the Saturday evening mass at Brompton Oratory, as well as concerts, tour and recordings. He is a regular member of the faculty for the Church Music Association of America’s annual Colloquiums, specializing in Gregorian Chant and Choral Direction. He regularly gives choral workshops for choirs in Jerusalem, Nazareth and Bethlehem. In recent years he has given organ recitals in St Petersburg, at Notre Dame, Paris (as part of the 850th anniversary year celebrations), at the Cathedral of the Madeleine in Salt Lake City and at St Saviour’s Church, Jerusalem.
Charles Cole's Website: https://charlescole.com
Charles Cole's Twitter: https://twitter.com/schola_cantorum
London Oratory Schola Website: https://www.londonoratoryschola.com
London Oratory Schola Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/londonoratoryscholacantorum/
London Oratory Schola's CD, Sacred Treasures of England: http://smarturl.it/LondonOratory
London Oratory Website: https://www.bromptonoratory.co.uk
Episode 2 – Beauty and Catholic Culture: a Story of Conversion – with Vida and Josh Hernandez
In our second episode, we look at the power of beauty to draw people to Christ and the Catholic faith. We interview two of Dr. Donelson’s dear friends who encountered the radiance and power of Christ in the sacred liturgy, in sacred music, and through an immersion in literature and Catholic culture. Vida and Josh Hernandez were received into the Catholic Church in 2010 after a profound conversion experience and they join us to share their story.
We reference an article in Crisis magazine by Bishop James D. Conley of Lincoln, Nebraska in the interview. Check out the article here: https://www.crisismagazine.com/2013/ever-ancient-ever-new-the-role-of-beauty-in-the-restoration-of-catholic-culture
In our inaugural episode, we interview His Excellency, Archbishop Alexander K. Sample, Archbishop of Portland, Oregon.
We give a brief introduction to the show and ourselves before diving into the interview.
Archbishop Alexander Sample was appointed Bishop of Marquette on December 13, 2005, by Pope Benedict XVI, and then the Archbishop of Portland at the beginning of 2013. The Archbishop has degrees in engineering and canon law. He serves on the USCCB’s Committee on Pro-Life Activities, the Sub-Committee on the Catechism, and is on the Board of Trustees for the Catholic Near East Welfare Association and Oregon Catholic Press. His love for the sacred liturgy and sacred music were nurtured by the great Msgr. Richard Schuler of Saint Agnes Church in Saint Paul, Minnesota. The Archbishop has become known for his eloquence and pastoral ability in teaching about sacred music and the liturgy.
Since we recorded this episode, the Archbishop has released a pastoral letter on sacred music for the Archdiocese of Portland. You can read it in either English or Spanish by clicking here.
The letter he issued in the Diocese of Marquette, Michigan, as referenced in this show, is available here.
Learn more about the Archbishop and his ministry by clicking here.
Special thanks to Monica Fitzgibbons for her work in securing rights for us to use the music you hear at the beginning of each episode: Byrd's Haec Dies from the album Sacred Treasures of England, sung by the London Oratory Schola Cantorum Boys Choir, directed by Charles Cole.
Special thanks also to Kevin Collins, who is the voice of our intro and outro.