CanticaNOVA Publications
Music Submission Guidelines

The following are the guidelines for submitting music to CanticaNOVA Publications. The more your music conforms to these guidelines, the more likely it is to prompt serious publishing consideration.

Music and Text

• should be traditional, i.e. well-written music in styles ranging from Gregorian chant to that of composers like John Rutter.
  Specifically excluded are the singer/songwriter pieces so common in American Catholic churches in the last 30 years as well as the sentimental devotional pieces that prospered in these churches in the 1940s and 50s.
• should have some point of reference to the musical and liturgical heritage of the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church.

Text

• should be God-centered, avoiding styles in which the congregation or choir are singing to themselves and/or about themselves.
• should be of high quality, avoiding trite and mundane phrasing and should not go to extreme or awkward lengths to avoid traditional English pronoun usage.

Music

• must follow all the principles of standard music theory, unless compositional style demands otherwise.

Choral Music and Congregational Music

• should respect the range of singers.
• should be a cappella or include an organ accompaniment. Brass, string or woodwind accompaniments or obbligati are also welcome. Music with piano or guitar accompaniment will usually be returned.

Submitting Your Music

If the text is not absolutely your own work, indicate the source, e.g.

Lectionary - #103 (Psalm 66)

Sacramentary - Introit for 2 Easter

New American Bible - Mt 22:34-40

text by John Doe, 123 Main St., Anytown PA 10100

Submissions by Mail

• Please send two photocopies of your work
• Include an email address (if available) in the letterhead or body of your cover letter
• Unusable manuscripts from U.S. or international addresses cannot be returned unless an envelope with sufficient postage is enclosed.
• Send your work to:

  CanticaNOVA Publications

  PO Box 1388

  Charles Town, WV 25414-7388

Submissions by Email

• We can accept most electronic files from these programs:
  • Encore 4.1.0 [no later versions]
  • Finale
  • Sibelius 6.1.1 or earlier [later versions, save file in Sibelius 6 format]
  • PDF
• Email file attachments and cover letter to:
  

  gpenkala@canticanova.com