Musica Domestica, by Andrew Goldstein & David Clayton, Available for Pre-order

A two-volume songbook for Catholic families, with a pointed psalter, sacred songs and chants, and folk songs following the liturgical year, published by Word on Fire Publications

Two years ago I gave a talk to a gathering of parents and faculty of a classical academy in South Bend, Indiana. I spoke of my vision of families praying the psalms and singing songs together, with their neighbors, before the icon corner in the home. This would be part of how the Domestic Church, as envisaged by Pope Benedict XVI, could be the engine driving an authentic New Evangelization. Afterward, one of the parents, Andrew Goldstein, approached me and, as it turned out, shared the same idea. He asked me if I had a version of chants and psalms for English that used Gregorian chant. He had Volume I prepared but was looking for material for Volume II, psalms and canticles. I immediately sent him a pointed version of the Coverdale Psalter with tones that married text and music in a system I had developed and fine-tuned over 20 years. When he described his full vision to me, I knew immediately that Musica Domestica would be a gold mine for families and homes wanting to pray and sing together. Now, as a result, my hope is that we can all contribute constructively to the evangelization of the culture through song, prayer, and worship in the domestic church.

We created a website, musicadomestica.com, with accompanying resources, including musical scores, instructional videos, and recordings of the music. The arrangements are simple and easy to learn, featuring traditional chants, songs, and hymns that run through the cycle of the liturgical year. This isn’t for musical experts, but for any family that just wants to sing together. If you can sing in the shower or in the car happily when you think no one is listening, then you can sing what these volumes contain too. This is better than good clean fun - it is fun that cleanses us; it helps purify the soul! Word on Fire Publications will publish the book in February 2027 (it is available for pre-order now through the musicadomestica.com website), and I will share more information closer to the release date.

However, if you want a preview, Andrew Goldstein is presenting at the annual conference of the De Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture on the morning of Friday, October 2nd. The session, entitled Forming the Soul: Music, Liturgy and Contemplation, is chaired by Fr. Innocent Smith, O.P., and the title of Andrew’s presentation is “Musica Domestica: Forming Families to Sing With Angels.”

Later that weekend, on Saturday, October 3rd, I will be speaking at the 2026 Conference of the Diocese of Portland, Maine, entitled The Aesthetic of Ascent. Appearing alongside me will be my old friends and fellow artists Dony McManus and Henry Wingate. I will talk about why the 7th Ecumenical Council mandates that Catholics pray with images, and give directions on how to pray with them in the icon corner of the Domestic Church. I will also give several introductory sessions on how to pray the psalms at home using the method outlined in Musica Domestica.

More to come as we get closer to the release date...but in the meantime:

Here is Andrew’s version of how it happened: One night, I sat with my eldest daughter to read Little House on the Prairie. As we read these words, “Laura lay awake a little while, listening to Pa’s fiddle softly playing and to the lonely sound of the wind in the Big Woods”, my daughter turned to me and asked, “Can you play music while I go to sleep?” Truthfully, I had no answer. As a professional musician myself, I should have had every tool needed to bring music into my family’s day-to-day life. Yet I came up short on any resource that empowered me to do that, not only as a musician but as a Catholic father. So, David Clayton and I set to work to create what we ourselves needed.‍ ‍

And here are two endorsements:

“In Musica Domestica, the reader will encounter not merely a handbook of song but an opportunity for restoring memory, culture, and a rightly ordered domestic life. Against the fragmentation and passivity of modern entertainment (and church music that slavishly imitates it), this work restores to practitioners the ancient Christian understanding that music belongs first to the household and the common Christian life. Rooted in the Catholic vision of truth, goodness, and beauty, Musica Domestica unites liturgical tradition, folk inheritance, and practical instruction with unusual clarity and charity. It is both learned and humane: an invitation for families to recover song as a source of joy, formation, fellowship, and ultimately, communion with God.” - Dr. William Fahey, Chancellor, Thomas More College of Liberal Arts

“Music is at the heart of culture. Musica Domestica puts forth a bold program to renew Christian culture through communal singing. Authors Goldstein and Clayton skillfully weave theology, history, and practical instructions for bringing spiritual song into your home and daily rhythm of life. The texts of inspired psalms, hymns, and canticles echo from three thousand years of authentic Western culture right into your living room! These songs resounded in the temple of King Solomon and all the temples of Christian worship. With Musica Domestica, these songs are brought to life again in the temple of our bodies.” - Paul Rose, creator of Sing the Hours