Views from the Choir Loft

Archives for August 2017

Andrew Leung · August 10, 2017

Learn From Children Choristers

We church musicians are called to be more childlike than other musicians.

Jeff Ostrowski · August 8, 2017

Fr. Patrick T. Brannan, SJ • My Tribute

The cardinal was informed by ICEL: “There is no doubt that Father Brannan knows his Latin and Greek; but does he know English?”

Jeff Ostrowski · August 7, 2017

PDF Download • “Hymns Ancient & Modern”

Including a magnificent hymn for two voices (“Rex Sempiterne”) appropriate throughout the entire liturgical year.

Fr. David Friel · August 4, 2017

The Scandal and Allure of the Priesthood

A Reflection on Priesthood by Archbishop Philip Tartaglia

Jeff Ostrowski · August 3, 2017

Telephone Conversation w/ Faculty

Re: 2017 Sacred Music Symposium

Jeff Ostrowski · August 2, 2017

“Chanted Angelus” • Where does it come from?

Did Dom Charpentier compose this chant? Really?

Jeff Ostrowski · August 2, 2017

Chants for the Feast of the Transfiguration

Never have I encountered so many typos in one feast!

Jeff Ostrowski · August 2, 2017

Musical Resources • Feast of the Transfiguration

“…and Who didst wonderfully foreshow the perfect adoption of Thy children by a voice coming down in a shining cloud…”

Andrew Leung · August 1, 2017

In Defense of the “Sistine Screamers”

There are a few things I would like to point out in defense of their old choral approach.

“Music List” (4th Sunday of Advent, Year C)

This coming Sunday—22 December 2024—is the 4th Sunday of Advent (Year C). Some have expressed interest in perusing my “ORDER OF MUSIC.” If such a thing interests you, feel free to download it as a PDF file. The English version of “Roráte Cæli” we’re singing for the ENTRANCE CHANT is magnificent.

—Jeff Ostrowski

“Entrance Chant” • 4th Sunday of Advent

Download the ENTRANCE ANTIPHON in English for the 4th Sunday of Advent (22 December 2024). Set in the first mode—just like the authentic version—this setting manages to capture the “essence” of the Gregorian setting in quite an admirable way. Corresponding to the vocalist score is this free organ accompaniment. If you’re someone who enjoys rehearsal videos, this morning I attempted to sing it while simultaneously accompanying my voice on the pipe organ.

—Jeff Ostrowski

Communion (4th Sunday of Advent)

The COMMUNION ANTIPHON (PDF) we’re singing for the 4th Sunday of Advent has a particularly gorgeous melody. The text (from the prophet Isaiah) is also quite beautiful and is cited toward the beginning of Saint Matthew’s Gospel. It certainly seems like most of the Advent antiphons come from the book of Isaiah…

—Jeff Ostrowski

“Lessons and Carols”

Seen online! Dr. Samuel Backman conducted a “Lessons and Carols” service with his choir, and someone produced this lovely vignette.

—Corpus Christi Watershed

Epiphany Proclamation 2025

Each year, without fail, someone asks me to typeset the Epiphany Proclamation, an announcement of moveable feasts chanted each year on the feast of the Epiphany. As a result, you may now find an archive of 23 such proclamations in PDF ready to print HERE.

—Veronica Brandt

The Breviary in the Life of the Laity

Recently I have been enjoying looking through the inaugural (1927) edition of a 20th-century liturgical magazine called Orate Fratres. The July 1927 issue included an excellent article by a Chicago laywoman named Ellen Gates Starr entitled “The Delights of the Breviary: From the Point of View of a Lay Woman.” As we in the 21st century have recently undergone a (blessed!) re-translation of the missal into English, and as we await with joyful hope (please God, before Jesus comes back!) a similar re-translation of the breviary, the opening of her article reminded me of that old saying, “the more things change, the more they stay the same.” Nearly a hundred years ago, she penned words that could just as easily have been written today: “It is indeed a privilege to be allowed any participation, however slight, in the liturgical movement in the Church – the movement to bring back the classics of devotion, the Missal and the Breviary, into general use by the laity. The wonder is that they should ever have fallen into disuse. Nothing can take the place of these great universal prayers of the Church, the prayers of the Mass and the divine Office. One has only to know them to find them indispensable. And alas, how few of the laity know them!” I know that I have been tremendously nourished by regular praying of the breviary as of late, and my wish is that you and I, dear reader, may continue to nourish our interior lives with the official prayer of the Church, which present to us (in the Mass) and extend (in the Office) the fullness of Christ’s greatest gift to us – the gift of Himself – in the Most Holy Eucharist.

—Daniel Tucker