Noel Jones

The Catholic Organist's Quarterly Noel Jones

The Great Fifty Days of Easter, swiftly followed by Trinity Sunday and Corpus Christi, provide us with the greatest celebrations of the Church Year, a period when the organ can truly come into its own. Some of the church's best-loved hymnody becomes truly inspirational with well-judged organ accompani- ment. Appropriate selections of instrumental music set the tone and aesthetic for the most joyous days of the Church's life.

Finding those appropriate selections can, however, be a challenge. Publishers release new music on a constant basis in a necessary bid to maintain sales, and while there are often gems to be found, there is no doubt that the quality and usability of such a large corpus of music will always be varied.

In addition, there is more free music available online than ever before. However, much of it is contained within old editions that can be hard to read, and which are often littered with printing errors.

It is precisely because of the problem of finding consistently usable music that this Quarterly has quickly become an invaluable tool for organists throughout the United States, as well as in other countries. Noel Jones has a knack for finding music that is accessible to organists of varied levels of experience, while setting the appropriate tone of quality and solemnity that makes it uniquely suited to the celebration of the Liturgy.

Within these pages you will find a wide selection of music that will lift the experience of your parishioners, and which will do so much to create an aesthetic of solemnity and devotion. As always, all the music has been newly engraved to the impeccable standard we have come to expect from Frog Music Press. Everything is clean and clear.

I hope you enjoy the many wonderful pieces to be discovered within these pages, and that the music discovered here will do much to inspire you in your ministry as a church musician, as well as helping to inspire the devotion of those in your parish.

NEIL WESTON

Cincinnati