Views from the Choir Loft

Jeff Ostrowski • Article Archive

A theorist, organist, and conductor, Jeff Ostrowski holds his B.M. in Music Theory from the University of Kansas (2004). He completed studies in Education and Musicology at the graduate level. Having worked as a church musician in Los Angeles for ten years, in 2024 he accepted a position as choirmaster for Saint Mary of the Immaculate Conception in Michigan, where he resides with his wife and children. —Read full biography (with photographs).

Jeff Ostrowski · December 17, 2015

Sacred Vs. Secular • What Do You Think?

My performance leaves much to be desired, but you get the idea.

Jeff Ostrowski · December 16, 2015

“Veni Veni Emmanuel” • Original Setting (Two Voices)

This famous Advent hymn was not written in the 1800s—it goes back at least to the 15th century.

Jeff Ostrowski · December 14, 2015

Why Don’t Serious Catholics Address This?

If you want to test the USCCB policy, try this experiment.

Jeff Ostrowski · December 10, 2015

Rehearsal Videos • Victoria’s “Ave Maria” (SATB)

Including six reasons why Tomás Luis de Victoria may be the true composer of this piece.

Jeff Ostrowski · December 7, 2015

Propers for Our Lady of Guadalupe (12 December)

Providing music for the Traditional Latin Mass is not nearly as hard as some believe.

Jeff Ostrowski · December 7, 2015

Rehearsal Videos • “O Magnum Mysterium” (Victoria)

With a masterpiece like this, we must be careful not to rush in where angels fear to tread.

Jeff Ostrowski · December 5, 2015

Musical Resources • Second Sunday of Advent (Extraordinary Form)

“Gather ye together His Saints to Him; who have set His covenant before sacrifices…”

Jeff Ostrowski · December 2, 2015

Introit For The Immaculate Conception (8 December)

“Gaudens Gaudebo” is not a short Introit.

Jeff Ostrowski · December 1, 2015

The Most Important Thing A Choirmaster Can Do

Sometimes it takes decades to appreciate the genius of this or that Gregorian chant.

Jeff Ostrowski · November 30, 2015

Changing The Good Friday Prayer For The Jews

“Christianity is the perfect development of the Jewish religion…” —Fr. Leslie Rumble

Jeff Ostrowski · November 29, 2015

Musical Resources • First Sunday of Advent (Extraordinary Form)

“Arise in thy strength, we beseech thee, O Lord, and come…”

Jeff Ostrowski · November 27, 2015

Clarity Regarding The Pius XII “Turkey” Indult

Whether this rumor is accurate makes no difference, because the rules for Friday abstinence were changed in the 1960s.

Jeff Ostrowski · November 24, 2015

Our Church Music Movement: How Are We Doing?

I never dreamed that so many people love this stuff…and are willing to fight for it!

Jeff Ostrowski · November 19, 2015

PDF Download • Hymnal by Fr. John Selner (1954)

Some of the old Catholic hymnals were dreadful, but this one is splendid.

Jeff Ostrowski · November 18, 2015

PDF Download • “Liber Brevior” (1954)

This special Solesmes book contains another version of the “Chants Abrégés.”

“Entrance Chant” • Immaculate Conception

Download the ENTRANCE ANTIPHON in English for the Immaculate Conception (9 December 2024). It’s in the third mode—which some consider the most beautiful of all—and mimics the authentic version in a laudable way. Corresponding to the vocalist score is this free organ accompaniment. If you’re someone who enjoys rehearsal videos, I attempted to sing it while simultaneously accompanying my voice on the pipe organ.

—Jeff Ostrowski

How Sharp Are Your Eyes?

Just around the corner is the feast of the Immaculate Conception. The GREGORIAN MISSAL (Solesmes Abbey, 1990) is an utterly gorgeous book—there’s no question about that. But several typos did creep in. Can you spot the major typo for the ENTRANCE CHANT on the feast of the Immaculate Conception? How sharp are your eyes? If you succeed, send me an email letting me know.

—Jeff Ostrowski

“Music List” • (Christ the King Sunday)

This coming Sunday—24 November 2024—is Christ the King Sunday (a.k.a. “Final Sunday in Ordinary Time”). 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. You’ll notice we’re learning Moreau’s “Congregational Polyphonic Enhancement” for the OUR FATHER. And the the Mode 3 ENTRANCE CHANT is utterly sublime.

—Jeff Ostrowski

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

Principles vs Preferences

I ran into this idea recently: principles vs. preferences in planning out a curriculum or music lineup. In this idea, it is imperative to not misconstrue personal preferences into principles—that the music (or subject matter) is great because: “I have good taste, and I like it.” De gustibus… Education, study and docility to the Magisterium of the Church on matters of liturgical music must be present in those who make the music at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the Hours. Who knows? Maybe you might start to prefer the music that is fitting according to the principles Catholic Sacred Music?

—William J. Fritz

Liquescent Notes in the Official Edition

The official edition—the EDITIO VATICANA itself—is somewhat inconsistent when it comes to liquescent notes. If you wish to see a perfect “apples-to-apples” comparison, click here. Such “inconsistency” was not owing to ignorance on the part of Abbat Pothier: the manuscripts themselves are inconsistent when it comes to liquescent notes.

—Jeff Ostrowski

“However well equipped and trained a choir may be, all its good points may be obscured by an unsuitable accompaniment. In fact the organist can, in a large measure, either make or mar his choir. It must be owned, however, that the accompanist of Plainsong has to contend with many difficulties. […] The purist will still find his best enjoyment of the chant when it is sung unaccompanied, but to most a becoming accompaniment gives an added charm.”

— Benedictines of Stanbrook (1905)