Views from the Choir Loft

Archives for June 2018

Corpus Christi Watershed · June 30, 2018

Saint Vitus Roman Catholic Church • Los Angeles, CA

Four (4) Masses each Sunday! Established by Archbishop Gomez as an exclusively Latin Mass Parish for Los Angeles!

Richard J. Clark · June 29, 2018

Gregorian Impressions • Plainchant Settings for Organ

A new collection of organ works based on familiar and beloved plainchants

Andrew Leung · June 28, 2018

How to be a Good Choir Member?

Some tips on how to be a good teammate in a choir.

Jeff Ostrowski · June 24, 2018

(Recorded Live) • “Agnus Dei” at the Symposium

About 450 people attended the Mass on Friday night

Fr. David Friel · June 24, 2018

Novena for Our Lady of Mt. Carmel

Solemn High Mass at Philadelphia Carmel

Jeff Ostrowski · June 19, 2018

iPhone Clip • From Sacred Music Symposium 2018

This year’s Symposium has begun…with a bang!

Fr. David Friel · June 16, 2018

Sacred Music Camp in Allentown, NJ

New Opportunity for Children Grades 3–12

Richard J. Clark · June 15, 2018

James David Christie • International Performer of the Year

As both performer and teacher, James David Christie models excellence and beauty.

Andrew Leung · June 14, 2018

Raising the Musical Standards (Part 2)

Raising the musical standards leads to deeper prayers…

Jeff Ostrowski · June 12, 2018

“Come Holy Ghost” • Improvisation

Can you improvise?

Fr. David Friel · June 10, 2018

Sacred Music Camp for Children in Philadelphia

The Inaugural “Cantate Domino” Festival

Veronica Brandt · June 10, 2018

Save the World: Build More Carmels

Society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in.

Veronica Brandt · June 9, 2018

Perpetual Succour Passes the Equator

One young doctor sailing across the Pacific Ocean to raise money for the Indigenous Literacy Foundation. You do meet all sorts at Mass.

Jeff Ostrowski · June 8, 2018

“No, I was taught that in school…”

The famous wit of William F. Buckley Jr. is quite conspicuous in this clip.

Andrew Leung · June 7, 2018

Raising the Musical Standards (Part 1)

The low musical standards in churches these days…

“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