Explorez tous les épisodes du podcast Square Notes: The Sacred Music Podcast

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:

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/

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/