A chant instruction program for children

Materials:

  • Instructor’s Guide (Order)
  • Children’s Workbook (Order)
  • Audio Library (available here for download and also on CD)

  • Wilko Brouwers, a chant master in the Netherlands, has successfully dealt with the need for modern materials to raise children’s choirs, and put together this program based on a lifetime of learning and experience. The result is nothing short of brilliant. It includes a workbook and a teachers manual. The program is simple, short, and focused mainly on having the kids sing chant, one step at a time. Maestro Brouwers worked with translator and musician Arlene Oost-Zinner to produce a translation from Dutch to English. This was a harder task than it might first appear because music and text are inseparable. But after much back and forth, a stable English version emerged. The title is Words with Wings.

    At last now parishes will have a place to begin, a method for getting started, a goal in mind, and materials that pull all of this together. This is more than a work of cultural reconstruction, though it is that. This is about the future of art in the liturgy, which is to say, the future of art and faith. It has to begin with the young if it is going to really take root in Catholic life.

    But the usefulness goes beyond the Catholic parish. Since the ancient world, people have understood that music is an essential part of education. This simple and clear program of 20 lessons allows this wisdom to enjoy a new life within any educational context.
    Instructor Book, 69 pages, Perfect paperback

    Audio Library

    The complete audio library, a companion for the book, is beautifully sung by choristers of the Madeleine Choir School in Salt Lake City, under the guidance of the School’s music director Melanie Malinka. Here are some samples:

    11: Litany of the Saints (Kyriale Simplex n. 39)

    25: Puer natus in Bethlehem (verses 1-5)

    53: Alleluia, haec dies quam fecit Dominus

    94: Veni sancte spiritus


    Download the practice tracks

    The Audio Library is available for download as a zip file, or you can play the tracks individually through this page.

    Complete audio tracks for “Words with Wings”

    01: Virgo Maria, non est tibi similis

    02: Come, let us ring out our joy to the Lord

    03: Come, let us ring out our joy to the Lord

    04: Come, let us ring out our joy to the Lord

    05: do-re-mi

    06: do-re-mi-re

    07: re-do-re-mi

    08: Sancte Gregori

    09: do-ti-la-sol

    10: do-la-la-la-la-sol-la

    11: Litany of All Saints (Kyriale Simplex n. 39)

    12: Alleluia

    13: Joseph, fili David

    14: Salve radix, salve porta

    15: Kyrie eleison

    16: Benedictus es

    17: Ad te clamamus

    18: Et in terra pax hominibus bonae voluntatis

    19: spoken: Puer natus in Bethlehem

    20: Puer natus in Bethlehem

    21: spoken: Assumpsit carnem Filius

    22: Assumpsit carnem Filius

    23: spoken: Per Gabrielem nuntium

    24: spoken: Puer natus in Bethlehem (verses 1-5)

    25: Puer natus in Bethlehem (verses 1-5)

    26: spoken: Deus, canticum novum cantabo tibi

    27: Deus, canticum novum cantabo tibi

    28: Deus, canticum novum cantabo tibi

    29: Deus, canticum novum cantabo tibi

    30: Deus, canticum novum cantabo tibi

    31: Deus, canticum novum cantabo tibi

    32: Deus, canticum novum cantabo tibi

    33: spoken: In psalterio decachordo psallam tibi

    34: In psalterio decachordo psallam tibi

    35: In psalterio decachordo psallam tibi

    36: In psalterio decachordo psallam tibi

    37: In psalterio decachordo psallam tibi

    38: Deus, canticum novum cantabo tibi: in psalterio decachordo psallam tibi

    39: “nu”: re-mi-re

    40: “nu”: re-mi-re

    41: “nu”: re-do-re

    42: “nu”: re-do-re

    43: “nu”: re-mi

    44: “nu”: re-fa

    45: “nu”: re-fa-mi-do

    46: alleluia

    47: alleluia

    48: “nu”: do, do, re-mi-re, do

    49: “nu”: do, ti, do-re-do, la

    50: “nu”: do, ti, la-ti-la, sol

    51: spoken: Haec dies quam fecit Dominus

    52: Haec dies quam fecit Dominus

    53: Alleluia, haec dies quam fecit Dominus

    54: spoken: Lapis revolutus est ab ostio monumenti

    55: Lapis revolutus est ab ostio monumenti

    56: Alleluia, lapis revolutus est ab ostio monumenti

    57: spoken: Tulerunt Dominum meum et nescio ubi posuerunt eum

    58: Tulerunt Dominum meum et nescio ubi posuerunt eum

    59: Alleluia, tulerunt Dominum meum, alleluia, et nescio ubi posuerunt eum

    60: Fiat voluntas tua

    61: Alleluia

    62: Alleluia

    63: Alleluia, alleluia

    64: spoken: Quem quaeris, mulier, viventem cum mortuis?

    65: Alleluia, quem quaeris, mulier, viventem cum mortuis?

    66: spoken: Noli flere, Maria: resurrexit Dominus

    67: Alleluia, noli flere, Maria, alleluia: resurrexit Dominus, alleluia, alleluia

    68: spoken: Dic nobis, Maria, quid vidisti in via

    69: Alleluia, dic nobis, Maria, alleluia, quid vidisti in via, alleluia, alleluia

    70: “nu”: do-do-re-mi-re

    71: “nu”: do-ti-do-re-do

    72: “nu”: do-ti-la

    73: Fiat voluntas tua

    74: spoken: Angelicos testes, sudarium et vestes

    75: Angelicos testes, sudarium et vestes

    76: Alleluia, angelicos testes, alleluia, sudarium et vestes, alleluia, alleluia

    77: spoken: Surrexit Christus spes mea; praecedit suos in Galilaeam

    78: Surrexit Christus spes mea; praecedit suos in Galilaeam

    79: Alleluia, surrexit Christus spes mea, alleluia; praecedit suos in Galilaeam, alleluia, alleluia

    80: spoken: Surrexit de sepulcro qui pro nobis pependit in ligno

    81: Surrexit de sepulcro qui pro nobis pependit in ligno

    82: Alleluia, surrexit de sepulcro, alleluia, qui pro nobis pependit in ligno, alleluia, alleluia

    83: Alleluia (do, ti, la, sol)

    84: Alleluia (la, ti, do, re)

    85: Alleluia

    86: Regina caeli, laetare

    87: Spoken and sung: Veni sancte spiritus

    88: Reple tuorum corda fidelium

    89: Et tui amoris

    90: In eis ignem accende

    91: Veni sancte Spiritus

    92: Qui per diversitatem linguarum cunctarum

    93: Gentes in unitate fidei congregasti

    94: Veni sancte spiritus