Square Notes: The Sacred Music Podcast

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 in...

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 s...

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 lea...

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 t...

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...

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 Excellency, Steven 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 Or...

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 abou...

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 pas...

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 in...

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...

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 Pageant...

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 intro...

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/acad...

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 Greg...

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...

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 t...

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...

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 mo...

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:...

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/...

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 t...

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://...

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 especi...