Reddit reviews St. Joseph Guide for Christian Prayer: 2018

Yes, Catholic Book Publishing Company is the one I'm talking about. To be clear, for the OOR, it has the four-week psalter, which is the basis for the OOR. This is nice, and it will pretty much cover the whole year, but it won't cover the little changes that happen throughout the year (such as when Pss 78, 105, 106 pop up in the high liturgical seasons and other changes during feasts and solemnities -- for those I use iBreviary -- but it's only a few days each year). And the 1st and 2nd readings are only a very small selection that you choose for yourself. If are planning on praying the OOR regularly, you may wish to get to the 4-vol LOTH. But if you plan to dip in every now and then, you can use a combination of CP and an app like iBreviary (or just the app).

It does have chant notation (not in neumes aka square notes, but in standard notation) in it, though the psalms themselves are not pointed for chanting. There is a section called "Music for the Liturgy of the Hours" on pages 1709-1784. There are a few collections of psalm tones (Murray with 8 tones, Jones with 5 tones, Benevot with 8 tones); we use some of the Murray tones for singing Evening Prayer once a month in my parish (once you learn how to point psalms, you can use any psalm tones that you can find online or elsewhere). There is instruction on how to point the psalms for chanting. There are also tones and settings for the invitatory, responsories, canticles, etc, as well as an example of how to put these all together in a complete setting for Morning, Evening, and Night Prayer. Everything is in standard notation, so most musicians will be able to read it.

Most folks don't seem to look past the hymns in CBP's CP, which is where all this stuff is. There's even a section with poetry in it.

It's a good deal. Get the St Joseph Guide to CP and you'll know what pages to turn to every day of the year.

Note, I'm not sure about your level of musicianship. If you are not a musician, don't get hung up on whether or not your breviary has music in it. If you are a musician and want a breviary with tones provided for every psalm and already has psalms pointed, get the Mundelein Psalter. The hymns in it are wonderful. Note that it is in chant notation, not standard.

Don't fret about asking more questions. I'm cool with it, and (as you can maybe tell by now) I love talking about it. ;)