Square Notes: The Sacred Music Podcast
Square Notes: The Sacred Music Podcast
You've got questions about sacred music? Here's your chance to learn what the Church teaches and envisions for music in the sacred liturgy.
Welcome to Square Notes: The Sacred Music Podcast with your host Dr. Jennifer Donelson-Nowicka. We address topics of interest both to priests and liturgical musicians, as well as a general audience of Catholics interested in learning more about the Catholic Church's teachings and treasury of sacred music. Our topics range from discussion of Church documents on sacred music, to the music of certain composers or eras, Gregorian chant, the role of music in Catholic education, and techniques for directing a better choir rehearsal. We'll interview bishops, priests, music directors, composers, teachers, philosophers, and theologians. We'll talk to people who found a home in the Catholic Church because they heard the call of Christ in the Church's sacred music. We'll ask questions about how really great music programs are doing their work. We'll introduce you to Catholics who love their faith and, through sacred music, offer all their efforts for his glory and the sanctification of all who hear them.
We aim for our podcast to be thoughtful, encouraging, and informative. We hope, too, that it will inspire and motivate you to work for the renewal of authentic beauty in sacred music—whether you're a working church musician or an average Catholic in the pews wondering what's going on. With the prayers of our patronesses, Our Lady, Seat of Wisdom and Saint Elisabeth of the Trinity, we hope to help draw souls to Christ through the beauty of the Church's sacred music.
Square Notes is the official podcast of the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music. http://catholicinstituteofsacredmusic.org/
Welcome to Square Notes: The Sacred Music Podcast with your host Dr. Jennifer Donelson-Nowicka. We address topics of interest both to priests and liturgical musicians, as well as a general audience of Catholics interested in learning more about the Catholic Church's teachings and treasury of sacred music. Our topics range from discussion of Church documents on sacred music, to the music of certain composers or eras, Gregorian chant, the role of music in Catholic education, and techniques for directing a better choir rehearsal. We'll interview bishops, priests, music directors, composers, teachers, philosophers, and theologians. We'll talk to people who found a home in the Catholic Church because they heard the call of Christ in the Church's sacred music. We'll ask questions about how really great music programs are doing their work. We'll introduce you to Catholics who love their faith and, through sacred music, offer all their efforts for his glory and the sanctification of all who hear them.
We aim for our podcast to be thoughtful, encouraging, and informative. We hope, too, that it will inspire and motivate you to work for the renewal of authentic beauty in sacred music—whether you're a working church musician or an average Catholic in the pews wondering what's going on. With the prayers of our patronesses, Our Lady, Seat of Wisdom and Saint Elisabeth of the Trinity, we hope to help draw souls to Christ through the beauty of the Church's sacred music.
Square Notes is the official podcast of the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music. http://catholicinstituteofsacredmusic.org/
Episodes
Mentioned books
Mar 26, 2026 • 40min
SE08 EP08 - Chant Accompaniment, Organ Building, and Fundraising for Organ Projects - with Dr. Christopher Berry
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/
Mar 24, 2026 • 44min
SE08 EP07 - Developing Great Vocal Technique for Singing Chant - with Dr. Rosemary Heredos
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.
Mar 20, 2026 • 38min
SE08 EP06 - What Did American Sacred Music Sound Like in the 19th & Early 20th Centuries? A Snapshot from St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York - with Salvatore Basile
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/
Mar 18, 2026 • 56min
SE08 EP05 - Lenten Reflection for Church Musicians - with Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone
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
Feb 25, 2026 • 39min
SE08 EP04 - From Chant to Counterpoint: How to Improvise Polyphony - with Dr. Charles Weaver
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
Feb 21, 2026 • 38min
SE08 EP03 - The Art of Organ Improvisation: Insights from Martin Baker
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/
Feb 16, 2026 • 44min
SE08 EP02 - From Puebla Cathedral to Today's Spanish-Speaking Pews: The Legacy of Juan Gutiérrez de Padilla - with Fernando Gil
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: https://www.researchcatalogue.net/view/545314/727602 https://saintpaulsunday.publicradio.org/features/0210_missamexicana/index.html https://www.ipm.org/show/harmonia/2019-08-21/music-baroque-mexico-fernandes-padilla-murcia https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/americas/article/abs/mexico-city-cathedral-music-16001750/FC6ADFE4D5C6BBF307B9C107BDFDE992 https://elischolar.library.yale.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1012&context=yjmr https://www.internationalchoralmagazine.com/post/american-music-of-the-early-17th-century-the-cancionero-de-gaspar-fern%C3%A1ndez https://www.bowdoin.edu/news/2021/06/music-scholar-secures-funding-to-study-sacred-sounds-from-the-mexican-baroque.html https://scholarworks.iu.edu/iuswrrest/api/core/bitstreams/59761061-f248-4619-9be2-040bf1cd8f7f/content
Feb 11, 2026 • 55min
SE08 EP01 - Building a Beautiful Homeschool Curriculum for Art and Music - with Elizabeth Lemme
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.
May 30, 2025 • 34min
SE07 EP12 - A Feast for Ear and Eye: The Alamire Manuscripts - with Dr. Emily Thelen
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/
Apr 25, 2025 • 57min
SE07 EP11 - A Church Musician's Guide to the History of the Pronunciation of Latin - with Dr. John Pepino
Dr. John Pepino, a Greek and Latin instructor at Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary and dean of the Veterum Sapientia Institute, delves into the evolution of Latin pronunciation, tracing its journey from ancient roots to its ecclesiastical use today. He discusses St. Jerome's challenges with the Vulgate and the push against standardized texts. The conversation also highlights fascinating anecdotes about the tensions between traditional and modern pronunciations, revealing how these differences impact sacred music and contemporary liturgical practice.
