Square Note: Gregorian Chant

Square Note is a library of Gregorian chant scores for your phone or tablet. It holds over 800 chants, written in the old square-note notation the Church has used for centuries, and it keeps growing.

You can search the library by name or browse through it, and each chant is laid out cleanly on the screen, formatting itself to fit. The app will also play the melody so you can hear how a chant is meant to be sung, and you can slow it down or change the pitch while you learn. You can bookmark the ones you are practicing, zoom in on the notes, and toggle certain markings on and off.

I was impressed by how much is packed in here. Chant can feel out of reach if you never learned to read the notation, and this app meets you halfway by letting you listen while you follow along. For anyone who has sat in Mass and been moved by chant without knowing how it works, it is a real door in.

Good for a parish schola or choir that needs scores on hand, for cantors, and for anyone who simply wants to pray and sing along with the music of the Church at home. Students of sacred music will get a lot out of it too.

It is a focused tool, so it expects some interest in chant to begin with. Reading square notes has a learning curve, and the app helps but will not do the work for you. If you just want background sacred music to play, a streaming app would suit you better.

Free, and made by the Oblates of St. Joseph, a Catholic religious order. Available on the App Store: Square Note: Gregorian Chant. A genuine gift for anyone who loves the chant tradition.