Choirbooks, Hymns, Gregorian Chant • Resources for Rodgers & Roland Organists
www.basicchant.com
Can’t find what you want?
It is a great pleasure to publish these books that contain music that are part of the Catholic culture and that we can share among Catholic musicians at churches around the world.
If you have any questions or comments, please contact us at:
noel@frogmusic.com
Frog Music Press
201 County Road 432
Englewood, TN 37329
www.frogmusic.com
How this started:
The Mass began and the choir, a rather large one, sang. But they never sang by themselves. They are between choir directors so I think that they were not quite sure what to sing aside from the music for the congregation.
Years ago this was not a problem, since the St. Gregory Hymnal and Choir Book had music for the congregation plus a section of choir music. If the choir director didn't show up you turned to the Adoramus Te, the O Sacrum Convivium or O Bone Jesu by composers the stature of Palestrina and Dubois, and you sang them. Many members could sing them from memory. The St. Gregory Hymnal And Choir Book was a great resource for the parish Catholic church.
Benedict XVI has brought attention to the pressing need to follow the documents of the church and sing Gregorian Chant and polyphony of Palestrina and other great composers.
But there are few, if any, Catholic Choir Books today that contain this music readily available for choirs to sing from. Our new series we anticipate will fill a need by combining well-loved hymns with great music, all of it eminently suited for the Catholic Church. Best-lovedd selections from the St. Gregory Hymnal and Choir Book are included. The texts are balanced between English and Latin.
CHOIRBOOK
St. Gregory Hymnal & Choirbook
This is the complete SATB edition, free to download and print.
VIDEO
Sacred, Beautiful & Universal
Organum
Write Chant
Take a Chants!
Gregorian Chant for Children
BLOGS
Hymns - Traditional Catholic Living
Sacred Music Studies
Society of St. Bede
Music for Sunday
Wendi’s Wailing from the Loft
Tonus Peregrinus
Ben Yanke
SITES
Radio Walsingham
Musica Sacra
FORUM - Musica Sacra
Chant Cafe
The Catholic’s Latin Instructor
MORE MUSIC DOWNLOADS
Brandt Lab
A New Book of Old Hymns
Musica Sacra
Many of these books may also be purchased as printed books.
NEWS
Adoremus
Chant Camp in Missouri:
It was in June, and we had about 25-27 kids, aged 7-17.
We spent five days using the Gregorian Chant Coloring Book and chant snacks and chant activities, and culminated with a Mass and pizza party.
The kids sang the simple Kyrie, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei, Godhead Here in Hiding, and Salve Regina. Best part was on the last day, when one smart alecky kid who kept asking about math and science (his favorite subjects) had an epiphany and said , “I get it now!!"
Next year I'll separate by age a bit better and we'll learn more! I just wanted to give them tools to learn, and sent them each home with the coloring book and other chants to know, such as the four Marian antiphons.
Seriously, thank you SO MUCH. You made that camp very easy to run. :)
A Catholic Organist’s Book of Hymns
The Catholic Choirbooks
Guides to Reading Square Notes
Playing the Church Organ
Custom Catholic Hymnals
Round holes, square notes —
You know how some men are really into golf? That’s how Noel Jones, an associate of the American Guild of Organists, is into Gregorian Chant! One of his books is titled: “If You Can Sing ‘Joy to the World’ You Can Learn To Read And Sing Gregorian Chant.” Just hum the carol’s first line. It is actually the scale, top to bottom: “Do, Ti, La, So, — Fa, Mi, Re, Do.”
Catholic New World
Newspaper for the Archdiocese of Chicago, Dolores Madlener
If you can sing Joy to the World you can learn to read and sing Gregorian Chant is a nifty little book for learning to sing from Gregorian notation (neumes, the 'squares and squiggles').
http://www.christeluxmundi.org
This has lots of great big diagrams to explain different features of chant notation with color coding to make it really easy.
Veronica Brandt
The Catholic Choirbook Anthology I
This is a thoughtfully edited compilation of some of the best Catholic music, all appropriate in both text and style. From Fogliano and Byrd to Stainer and Elgar this is not simply a collection for medieval music aficionados but of the most beautiful and appropriate music for the Catholic Mass. Included are famous settings by Byrd, Palestrina, and Mozart but also wondrous pieces by lesser-known composers like Remondi and Lotti. The volume contains indices by composer, piece, and part (SATB, SSA, et cetera.) English translations of all texts precede the piece. The spine and layout allow for the easy making of copies, which is handy because copying and sharing of the music is permitted under Creative Commons license 3.0.
Apologia Pro Literati Vita
This Choir book is an incredible resource and a great deal. As a busy choir director, who must manage a music program along with planning liturgies, buying music, maintaining a choral library, answering endless emails and doing everything by oneself (including, at times, cleaning the choir loft!) I have found this book to be the answer to many prayers as it solves many problems related to running a parish choir.
First - it contains almost everything a choir director, doing high quality sacred music, could want. Instead of copying scores ad nauseum or spending a lot of time ordering scores, you have everything you need right at hand. If all choir members have a book, voila! the music that is needed is at hand.
Second - It's beautiful typeset with lovely graphics. So, it's pleasant and friendly to look at - which is important.
Third - It's SO EASY TO USE.... and there are tons of online resources that you can access as well.
This choir book is also a wonderful tool for creating a repertoire - of which, each choir member can be proud.
I can't say enough good things about The Catholic Choirbook Anthology. Check it out - you'll want to own one.
Susan Carroll
Choir Director
Christ the King Parish