Pierre-Arnaud Destremau PAD Gardez l'historique de vos feuilles, retrouvez-les sur tous vos appareils, et bénéficiez du support de Pierre-Arnaud.
A portrait of Martin Szersnovicz, co-founder of Dei Amoris Cantores, whose voice carried all three albums of the Cantiamo Choir. A simple thank-you.
Leo XIV visits France on 25-28 September 2026; for the youth vigil in Paris, Ecclesia Cantic is gathering a choir of more than 2,000 singers. How to take part.
A portrait of Olivier Bardot, choir director (Stella Maris, Jeune Chœur de Paris), teacher and founder of Veni Compositor, the liturgical composition school where I trained.
Ecclesia Cantic brings together 18-to-35-year-olds around the quality of liturgical singing: gatherings, academy, composition contest, mission, and the distinction I received there in 2025.
My surname is spelled Destremau, with no second e. A light-hearted note on a misspelling everyone has made since my school days.
Building a Marian repertoire for Mass, the month of May and processions: Gregorian antiphons, an Ave Maria with a refrain, the Magnificat, beauty, textual accuracy and accessibility for the congregation.
The proper function of the Communion hymn, the responsorial form of the repeated refrain, choosing a eucharistic text, and the three mistakes that break the moment's recollection.
Preparing funeral hymns: the reception of the body, a psalm of hope, Communion, the final farewell, and how to walk alongside the family with the right touch.
The order of the celebration and its fifteen moments, from the entrance procession to the signing of the registers, with or without Mass.
Building the music of a church wedding: entrance, psalm, exchange of vows, Communion, sending forth, and telling liturgy apart from ornament.
Preparing the music for the Assumption (15 August): the Magnificat, accessible Marian hymns, a procession, for a mixed summer congregation.
Building the repertoire for a First Communion: helping children and the congregation sing together, from the entrance hymn to the eucharistic hymn.
Preparing the music for a confirmation around the Holy Spirit: invocation, Communion, sending forth on mission, with and for teenagers.
The hymns for a baptism: welcome, the hymn of light at the candle, a Marian hymn, chosen simple and joyful for a family congregation.
Telling All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day apart in music: the luminous glory of the saints on one hand, hope for our dead on the other.
Starting a parish choir: begin small and regular, choose a starter repertoire, ease gently into polyphony and grow the group.
The role of the cantor/song leader: getting the congregation to sing without drowning it out, announcing, launching, gesture, mic use and rehearsing beforehand.
A few pointers for building a coherent congregational repertoire across the liturgical year, and where to find scores you can legally sing and share.
Understanding and singing the Ordinary of the Mass (Kyrie, Gloria, Sanctus, Agnus): why to adopt a coherent setting and keep it over time.
The function of each hymn at Mass: entrance (to gather), psalm (to meditate), Communion (to interiorise), sending forth (to send), so you choose well.
How to compose memorable, accessible refrains without giving up harmonic beauty: range, rhythm, form.
Keeping a repertoire alive during Ordinary Time: a stable core, a regular rotation, one new piece at a time, following the Gospel.
A method for preparing the Advent celebrations with a parish choir, from the first Sunday to the vigil.
How to build the music of a Christmas Mass: vigil, entrance, Gloria, Communion, sending forth, and tips for welcoming a large congregation.
The Epiphany repertoire: extending the joy of Christmas by opening it to the universal, the star, the nations, light for all peoples.
A Lenten repertoire: sobriety, acclamation without Alleluia, hymns of conversion, and using this season to prepare the Easter Vigil.
Structuring Palm Sunday: the joyful acclamation of the procession then the sobriety of the Passion, how to carry the contrast in music.
The music of Maundy Thursday: the Gloria recovered, the washing of the feet, the procession to the altar of repose and the stripping, the gentle gravity of the Last Supper.
The music of Good Friday: sobriety and a cappella, the Passion in several voices, the adoration of the Cross, when stripping back makes sense.
Structuring the music of the Easter Vigil in four stages: light, the Word, Gloria and Alleluia, baptismal liturgy, and the art of contrast.
Building the music of Pentecost: Veni Creator, the sequence, a Communion hymn and a missionary sending forth, a repertoire of breath and fire.