Views from the Choir Loft

Andrew Motyka • Article Archive

Andrew Motyka is the Archdiocesan Director of Liturgical Music and Cathedral Music for the Archdiocese of Indianapolis.—Read full biography (with photographs).

Andrew R. Motyka · May 8, 2013

Not-So-Ordinary Time

Ordinary Time doesn’t mean what you think it means, and even if it does, you’re probably wrong.

Andrew R. Motyka · May 1, 2013

Live for the Moment

The temporal reality of the liturgy that cannot be bound by recordings.

Andrew R. Motyka · April 24, 2013

Following the Leader

The choir director as a model for singing.

Andrew R. Motyka · April 17, 2013

Just Pick Up a Pencil and Do It.

Short and sweet regarding composing.

Andrew R. Motyka · April 10, 2013

Participating Actively despite all of that Active Participation

Isn’t this what is meant by the “active participation” that is one of the liturgical goals of the Second Vatican Council?

Andrew R. Motyka · April 3, 2013

The Choir Director as Catechist

How to feed your choir in non-musical ways.

Andrew R. Motyka · March 27, 2013

Free Communion Antiphons!

Free responsorial-style Communion antiphons for Ordinary Form Mass use.

Andrew R. Motyka · March 20, 2013

Cub Scouts, Abel, and Liturgical Music

The Cub Scout motto and how we should always render our best work to God.

Andrew R. Motyka · March 13, 2013

How Do I Get Them to Sing? Part 2 of 2

Part 2 of the congregational singing series.

Andrew R. Motyka · March 6, 2013

How Do I Get Them to Sing? Part 1 of 2

The perennial problem of congregational singing.

Andrew R. Motyka · February 27, 2013

The Church Music Director: Job or Vocation?

Is music your whole life? Should it be?

Andrew R. Motyka · February 20, 2013

Are You to Wash My Feet?

Presenting a choir piece for the Washing of Feet on Holy Thursday

Andrew R. Motyka · February 13, 2013

Lord, Have Mercy?

In which I make Prince references to describe the Ash Wednesday Kyrie.

Andrew R. Motyka · February 6, 2013

Every moment is a teachable moment

For the record, I double-checked the Missal, and learned something about the rubrics myself . . .

Andrew R. Motyka · January 30, 2013

I am not worthy

In which I forget parts of the Mass Ordinary and try to get through it anyway.

“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

“Latin has been the language of the Latin liturgy for 1,600 years. It is a sign and source of unity as well as a defense of doctrine, not because of the language so much, but because it is a language no longer subject to changes. There are so many beautiful texts which can never have the same effectiveness in translation. Lastly, Latin is bound to an extremely precious heritage of melody, Gregorian chant and polyphony.”

— Cardinal Antonelli (Secretary of the Conciliar Commission on the Liturgy)