Views from the Choir Loft

Corpus Christi Watershed

Corpus Christi Watershed · January 1, 2024

Pipeline to Heaven

The new chapel of Saint John Vianney College Seminary (SJV) is scaling new heights in beauty since its recent pipe organ installation.

Corpus Christi Watershed · December 4, 2023

Dr. Alexis Kutarna Shares Photographs of Texas Workshop With Composer Kevin Allen

Dr. Kutarna teaches liturgical music courses at the University of Saint Thomas in Houston, Texas.

Corpus Christi Watershed · November 4, 2023

Kevin Allen … for 500 Altar Servers!

Corpus Christi Watershed was sent this fascinating message vis-à-vis motets of Kevin Allen being sung in a Mass with 500+ altar servers present. If anyone has more information, we would love to hear more details about this event!

Corpus Christi Watershed · October 29, 2023

“Voces8” (Grammy-Nominated British Vocal Ensemble) • With Kevin Allen

They posed after the concert for a photograph with the composer.

Corpus Christi Watershed · October 19, 2023

Guest Article by Mæstro Jerome Cole • Organist, Composer, and Choirmaster

“My mantra is that music at Mass should help reveal the face of God to us, so that we might contemplate Jesus Christ truly present in the Eucharist.” —Jerome Cole

Corpus Christi Watershed · October 18, 2023

Brooklyn Writes Us — Re: “Slander” Article

Like it was yesterday, I remember fighting with those high school students about hymnal headers.

Corpus Christi Watershed · October 18, 2023

Letter from “Penelope” • (18 October 2023)

“I was recently asked to step in and lead someone else’s choir at Mass…” —Penelope

Corpus Christi Watershed · September 25, 2023

Composer Kevin Allen in Europe!

Can anybody tell where Mæstro Allen is?

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Corpus Christi Watershed · July 24, 2023

(Clip) • Fr. Mike Schmitz endorses “Ad Orientem”

Is celebration “versus populum” a good idea? Father Mike’s answer might raise some eyebrows…

Corpus Christi Watershed · July 22, 2023

Our Editorial Policy

Over the years, we’ve received beautiful messages of encouragement.

Corpus Christi Watershed · July 18, 2023

Corrinne May on EWTN (July 2023)

Platinum singer-songwriter Corrinne May, our contributor, recently appeared on EWTN.

Corpus Christi Watershed · June 19, 2023

“We’re In Financial Trouble!” • (June 2023)

We must avoid placing our website behind a paywall.

Corpus Christi Watershed · June 13, 2023

A Message For You! • (From Natalia Ferreiro)

Exciting news for the sacred music world—regarding something important starting next week.

Corpus Christi Watershed · June 7, 2023

Powerful Images • “Father John Brébeuf”

Stricken with terror, they fled to the mission, where Brébeuf and Lalemant were just finishing the prayers after Mass…

Corpus Christi Watershed · March 2, 2023

“Fifty-Seven (57) Sample Pages” • Brébeuf Hymnal

The last thing church musicians need is another collection of goofy, syrupy, mawkish hymns.

PDF Download • “Easter Sunday Introit”

Some may wish to download the EASTER INTROIT (PDF) in accordance with the official edition. You can hear this live version sung by women. The ‘thumbnail’ image on that video is particularly beautiful, as it shows our Savior as a gardener. (If you don’t understand why, cf. John 20:15: Illa exístimans quia hortulánus esset.) You can also hear a rehearsal video wherein I simultaneously accompany myself on the pipe organ while trying to sing it.

—Jeff Ostrowski

“Music List” • Holy Thursday

Some have expressed interest in perusing the ORDER OF MUSIC I prepared for the Holy Thursday (17 April 2025). If such a thing interests you, feel free to download it as a PDF file. Since Holy Week reduces usage of the pipe organ, I marked with an “X” all the selections being sung a cappella. The name “Maundy Thursday” comes from MANDATUM a.k.a. “the washing of the feet.” — For the record, anyone so inclined can download our music list for Good Friday; formerly called Missa Praesanctificatorum (“Mass of the Presanctified”).

—Jeff Ostrowski

“Ubi Caritas” • Knox Translation (1950s)

It seems gems in the SAINT EDMUND CAMPION MISSAL Third Edition can never be exhausted. In 1952, Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen declared the Bible translation by Monsignor Ronald Knox as “the best” (his words). I took the elegant & rhyming translation created by Monsignor Knox for “Ubi Cáritas”—courtesy of the CAMPION MISSAL—and placed it next to the musical notes.

—Jeff Ostrowski

When to Sit, Stand and Kneel like it’s 1962

There are lots of different guides to postures for Mass, but I couldn’t find one which matched our local Latin Mass, so I made this one: sit-stand-kneel-crop

—Veronica Brandt

The Funeral Rites of the Graduale Romanum

Lately I have been paging through the 1974 Graduale Romanum (see p. 678 ff.) and have been fascinated by the funeral rites found therein, especially the simply-beautiful Psalmody that is appointed for all the different occasions before and after the funeral Mass: at the vigil/wake, at the house of the deceased, processing to the church, at the church, processing to the cemetery, and at the cemetery. Would that this “stational Psalmody” of the Novus Ordo funeral rites saw wider usage! If you or anyone you know have ever used it, please do let me know.

—Daniel Tucker

Antiphons Don’t Match?

A reader wants to know why the Entrance and Communion antiphons in certain publications deviate from what’s prescribed by the GRADUALE ROMANUM published after Vatican II. Click here to read our answer. The short answer is: the Adalbert Propers were never intended to be sung. They were intended for private Masses only (or Masses without music).

—Corpus Christi Watershed

Giovanni Doni is known for having changed the name of note “Ut,” renaming it “Do.” He convinced his contemporaries to make the change by arguing that 1) “Do” is easier to pronounce than “Ut,” and 2) “Do” is an abbreviation for “Dominus,” the Latin word for the Lord, Who is the tonic and root of the world. There is much academic speculation that Giovanni Doni also wanted to imprint himself into musical canon in perpetuity because “Do” is also ulteriorly an abbreviation for his family name.

— Giovanni Battista Doni died in 1647AD