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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 · November 8, 2023

“No Fourth Sunday of Advent” (EF)

In the Extraordinary Form (“Missale Vetustum”) because Christmas falls on a Monday in 2023, the Vigil of the Nativity of Our Lord takes precedence over the Fourth Sunday of Advent. This usually only happens about every six years or so. I will miss the 4th Sunday of Advent, but the VIGIL Mass is also quite […]

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Jeff Ostrowski · November 5, 2023

When just 13 years old, Beethoven……

Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier (WTC) was not officially published until 1801. By that time, many hand-copied manuscripts had circulated through Europe. According to Charles Rosen: “Beethoven, at the age of 13, played the entire WTC in public.” His feat was published in the newspapers of that time. In my view, both books of the WTC—with a […]

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Jeff Ostrowski · November 4, 2023

PDF • Draft Booklet “Couture Chant” (255 Pages)

This is very much a “work in progress”…

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Jeff Ostrowski · November 3, 2023

Dissonant Chord? • (not in context)

If you play nothing but the notes and chord highlighted by yellow in this passage from the “Haec Dies” Gradual, it’s quite ugly and dissonant. However, in the context of the stepwise descending bass-line, the LEMMENSINSTITUUT does not disappoint!

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Jeff Ostrowski · October 31, 2023

Cardinal Newman • “Hymn for Souls in Purgatory”

A way to avoid having the choir’s pitch sink. (Tag: 𝘛𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘪𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳)

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Jeff Ostrowski · October 31, 2023

PDF Download • “Choral Warm-Up” by Jeff Ostrowski (after Morley)

The “SSS” technique, known by every great singer. (Tag: 𝘛𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘪𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳)

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Jeff Ostrowski · October 26, 2023

PDF Download • “Hymn for the Feast of All Saints” (Released for the First Time in History!)

“Each day Father Knox would write for his students a Latin poem describing events of the previous day.” —Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

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Jeff Ostrowski · October 25, 2023

“Secret Trick” of Jeff Ostrowski • Re: Singing Amen

“Sic transit gloria mundi…” (𝑇ℎ𝑢𝑠 𝑝𝑎𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑔𝑙𝑜𝑟𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑.)

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Jeff Ostrowski · October 25, 2023

Now Available Online! • 1959 “Organ Accompaniment Book” (233 Pages)

“Occasionally, the English texts for some of the hymns are almost barbaric artistically…” —𝐷𝑜𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑛𝑎 𝐽𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑛𝑎𝑙 (1960)

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Jeff Ostrowski · October 23, 2023

Jeff As Organist? • His Attempt…

I’m attempting to record (on the pipe organ) any hymn contained in the Brébeuf Hymnal which doesn’t yet have its own rehearsal video with real voices. You can listen to my latest attempt: a hymn called DEVONSHIRE. For the second verse, I attempted to change the registration. Please let me know what you think. I […]

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Jeff Ostrowski · October 23, 2023

“Did One Man Single-Handedly Sabotage the Gregorian Restoration?” • (Part 2 of 2)

Will anyone step forward to defend this?

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Jeff Ostrowski · October 20, 2023

Playing Pipe Organ = Very Difficult!

Not every hymn contained in the Brébeuf Hymnal has its own rehearsal video. In the meantime, I’m attempting to provide pipe organ recordings for the missing hymns. Today, I attempted to record COBLENZ, with a harmonization based on Sir Richard R. Terry. You can listen to my recording by clicking here. Whenever the record button […]

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Jeff Ostrowski · October 18, 2023

PDF • “Mass Propers in English” (113 pages)

The University of Kansas has made available—as a free PDF document—this 2017 dissertation (113 pages) by Dr. Katherine Schmitz. The full title of the dissertation is: Chanting the Propers: A Comparative Study of Selected English Sources for the Catholic Mass. Dr. Schmitz is a Gregorian Chant scholar who has earned degrees from the University of […]

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Jeff Ostrowski · October 18, 2023

“Spotted” • Singaporean Sacred Sounds

I glanced at the audience to see what effect Corrinne’s presentation was making…

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Jeff Ostrowski · October 16, 2023

“Breathtaking!” • Hymn for the Souls in Purgatory

“Raising the pitch for the final verse.” (Tag: 𝘛𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘪𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳)

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Corpus Christi Watershed

President’s Corner

    “Citation Needed” • Dom Foote of ICEL
    Father Basil Foote, OSB, was organist at WESTMINSTER ABBEY MISSION (British Columbia, Canada). In 1984 he published an article called “Chanting in the Vernacular.” Twenty years later, it was republished by ADOREMUS—and that’s how it came to my attention. In that article, Dom Foote makes a claim I consider somewhat outlandish. At the very least, his statement with regard to the Latin accent needs some sort of citation. He has served on the Music Sub-Committee of the International Commission on English in the Liturgy (ICEL).
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Music List • “Corpus Christi” (Year A)

    The 28-page Singers’ Booklet is included. Our children’s choir will join us for this Mass.

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    —Jeff Ostrowski
    PDF Download • “Rubric Challenge”
    The feast of Corpus Christi is special for TLM altar boys. On that day, two of us thurifers got to walk backwards while using the THURIBLE. (That American custom, if memory serves, is not strictly described in the rubrics.) A few weeks ago on the CCW Facebook Page we posted this screenshot from a 1915 Roman Catholic hymnal. The challenge is to guess what the rubric says, which we blocked from view with a red box. So far, nobody has guessed correctly. Feel free to guess! Our email address is listed at the bottom of each page. UPDATE: The answer has been revealed as of 8 June 2026.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Quick Thoughts

    Time and Again We Are Asked…
    John Baptist Singenberger (d. 1924) was a central figure of Catholic Church music. In this utterly fascinating excerpt (Single-Page PDF), Singenberger writes: Time and again we are asked: “Is the Gregorian chant to be accompanied by the organ?” As a young student in Saint Gall, Singenberger befriended SEBASTIAN GEBHARD MESSMER, the future Archbishop of Milwaukee (Wisconsin). The two graduated together in 1861. The school they attended (Saint George’s Seminary) was a “seminary”—but in the older European sense. In other words, it provided a classical education without necessarily leading to ordination. Singenberger remained a layman his whole life, but Messmer was eventually made archbishop—by Pope Saint Pius X—of the very archdiocese in Wisconsin where Singenberger would spend his American career, giving him a powerful ecclesiastical ally.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Reminder” — Month of June (2026)
    On a daily basis, I speak to people who don’t realize we publish a free newsletter (although they’ve followed our blog for years). Since we were founded in 2006, not one of our board members has ever accepted any remuneration whatsoever—not a penny. We have no endowment, no major donors, no savings, and refuse to run annoying ads. As a result, our mailing list is crucial to our survival. It couldn’t be easier to subscribe! Just scroll to the bottom of any blog article and enter your email address.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Thee” + “Thou” + “Thine”
    Few musicians realize that various English translations of Sacred Scripture were granted formal approval by the USCCB and the Vatican for liturgical use in the United States of America. But don’t take my word for it! Here are four documents proving this, which you can examine with your own eyes. Some believe the words “Thine” and “Thou” and “Thee” were forbidden after Vatican II—but that’s incorrect. For example, they’re found in the English translation of the ‘Our Father’ at Mass. Moreover, the Revised Standard Version (Catholic Edition) mentioned in those four documents employs “Thine” and “Thou” and “Thee.” It was published with a FOREWORD by Westminster’s Roman Catholic Archbishop (John Cardinal Heenan).
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

“Gregorian chant is the sacred chant, proper and principal of the Roman Church. Therefore, not only can it be used in all liturgical actions, but unless there are mitigating circumstances, it is preferable to use it instead of other kinds of sacred music.”

— “De musica sacra et sacra liturgia” (3 September 1958)

Recent Posts

  • Time and Again We Are Asked…
  • “Citation Needed” • Dom Foote of ICEL
  • “Should the People Sing in Parts?” • Weighing the Case for SATB Hymnals in the Pews
  • Revealed • “Answer to the Riddle”
  • Music List • “Corpus Christi” (Year A)

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