Readings on Sacred Music and Liturgy
  • AnimaVocis
    Posts: 196
    Peace to you all!

    I am looking for some help identifying a large series of readings (from which can be taken excerpts or read in their entirety) that would be suitable for a 9th-12th grade level, taking between 1-3 hours to complete, reading and writing.

    My High School Schola Cantorum meets once a week for about 45 minutes for rehearsal. This is the only class time that I get with them, so I am looking into ways I can offer them formation that won't take valuable rehearsal time. (Also, this will be some of the only Liturgical Formation they will receive at our school, as the Theology classes typically don't involve much discussion on Liturgical and Musical issues/items.)

    One of the small ways that I have decided to do this is to have them engage with various readings (books, encyclicals, letters, papers, etc) on the Sacred Liturgy and Music of the Church.

    Ultimately I am looking for about 36 readings/sources from which I may pull shorter readings, 6 of which would be assigned each semester for the students to read and compose a short response - all of which would take place over the course of a 3-year-cycle.

    That said, here are the ideas that I have so far:

    Catholic Hymnody at the Service of the Church
    Cirograph of JPII on the MP Tra Le Sollecitudini
    De Musicae Sacra et Sacra Liturgia (excerpts, or split)
    General Instruction of the Liturgy of the Hours (Excerpts)
    General Instruction of the Roman Missal (Excerpts)
    Let us Sing with the Lord (Bishop Kemme)
    Musicae Sacrae (excerpts, or split into 2 or 3 readings)
    Musicam Sacram (excerpts, or split)
    Sacrosanctum Concillium (Excerpts)
    Sing to the Lord (Excerpts, or split)
    Sing to the Lord a New Song (Archbishop Sample)
    Spirit of the Liturgy (Excerpts)

    I know there is so much out there, and even some of this might be above the heads of some students (I'm controlling for this in how I am assigning this to my students... i just wanted to spare you the minutiae...)

    Any thoughts of other sources would be welcome!!
  • Chant_Supremacist
    Posts: 228
    Docta Sanctorum =)
  • MatthewRoth
    Posts: 3,210
    I think excerpts from Mahrt’s collection The Musical Shape of the Liturgy would be accessible.
    Thanked by 1ServiamScores
  • David Sullivan
    Posts: 363
    Have a look at:
    Reflections on the Spirituality of Gregorian Chant
    By Dom Jacques Hourlier, a monk of Solesmes.
    It's based on talks he gave to young people.

    Used to be available from Paraclete Press, or maybe Solesmes.
  • Charles_Weaver
    Posts: 150
    I strongly second the Mahrt idea.

    You might consider Dietrich von Hildebrand's chapter on sacred music from his Aesthetics. he references a lot of different music, so it's probably best read in conjunction with some listening, but it's about on the same level as the Ratzinger, which would be my go-to in any case.
  • CGM
    Posts: 780
    Cardinal Sarah writes about Cardinal Ratzinger and the liturgy here.

    Dominican friar Aidan Nichols’s short book Looking at the Liturgy is also worth study.

    The classic, and massive, collection of all church documents on liturgical music is Robert Hayburn’s 1977 Papal Legislation on Sacred Music. I don’t believe it’s in print any more, but you can read the whole book for free at archive.org if you've got a free membership/login.

    The CMAA has its own pamphlet on sacred music here.

    One might add to that list a few diocesan-specific letters, e.g.
    — Wichita, KS (Kemme, mentioned above)
    — Marquette, MI (Sample)
    — Phoenix, AZ: Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four (Olmstead)

    Also, you (and they) might be interested in Justin Martyr’s second-century description of what Mass looked like in the early church — it looks pretty similar today!

    Finally, Ben Whitworth's Music in the Liturgy (now out-of-print) is a great overview of the topic.
    Thanked by 1ServiamScores
  • francis
    Posts: 11,175
    The classic, and massive, collection of all church documents on liturgical music is Robert Rayburn’s 1977 Papal Legislation on Sacred Music. I don’t believe it’s in print any more, but you can read the whole book for free at archive.org if you've got a free membership/login.
    I second this

    https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?kn=Papal Legislation on Sacred Music&ref_=ds_ac_d_33&sts=t
  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,486
    'The Shape of the Liturgy' - Dom Gregory Dix, O.S.B. (Anglican)
    Dix's book is exhaustive and has been used by some Catholic schools and seminaries.
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
  • Jeffrey Quick
    Posts: 2,193
    If Hayburn (you may have been autocorrected) is on line, it would make up for the insufficient index in the print version.
    You may find some useful things in the earlier volumes of Oliver Strunk's Source Readings in Music History. I recall particularly Guido d'Arezzo's explanation of his method of teaching chant.
  • francis
    Posts: 11,175
    Yes it’s Hayburn
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