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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 · 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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Jeff Ostrowski · October 15, 2023

Can Nobody Help Us?

We are still searching for someone who can obtain for us a physical copy of either VOLUME 2 or VOLUME 8 of the accompaniments done by the LEMMENSINSTITUUT during the 1940s. Jeff’s personal copies were stolen.

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Jeff Ostrowski · October 13, 2023

“Is This an Error?” • The Answer Is Complicated

Text underlay in Renaissance polyphony: Six (6) considerations.

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Jeff Ostrowski · October 12, 2023

Can You “Name That Hymn” (From The Middle)?

Purists would absolutely hate this!

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Jeff Ostrowski · October 12, 2023

12 October 2023 • FEEDBACK

One of the more colorful emails we’ve received: “Jeff, I often disagree with your articles, but let me give credit where credit is due. You are surely the only person I know who could somehow tie together John F Kennedy, Lyndon B Johnson, Senator Barry Goldwater, and sacred music!” [The article she references is called Must […]

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Corpus Christi Watershed

President’s Corner

    Eucharistic Prayer No. 2 on Sundays?

    Highlighted in yellow (on this single-page PDF file) is documentation concerning whether the 2nd Eucharistic prayer may be used on Sundays.

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    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Knox. Has. No. Equal.
    Dr. Finberg (of the University of Leicester) famously said: “No living writer possesses a greater command over the English language than Monsignor Ronald Knox.” A lifetime spent among his works would not exhaust them; always another thing to see, never once a reason to look away. Consider the marvelous way Knox Englished the famous VERBUM SUPERNUM of Saint Thomas Aquinas. The 4th verse (in Latin) means: “By being born, He became man’s companion; at this supper, He became man’s food; in dying, He became man’s ransom; in reigning, He is man’s reward.” Knox brilliantly makes the English fit the Latin meter: The manger, Christ their equal made, | That upper room, their souls’ repast, | The Cross, their ransom dearly paid, | And heav’n, their high reward at last. I believe the meaning of the French word “manger” was not absent from his thoughts when he penned that stanza.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Proportionalist Plainchant • (Documented)
    On this website, we believe: “If we don’t know where we came from, we can’t know where we’re going.” As a result, we often spend hours scanning old books of GREGORIAN CHANT (and organ accompaniments). We don’t claim those items are useful or desirable for today’s circumstances; the goal is understanding where we came from. Here is a fascinating musical score from the 19th century. At that time, it was believed that MENSURALISM (a.k.a. “proportionalism”) was the historically correct way to sing plainsong.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Quick Thoughts

    “Predictable Rhymes?” • A Follow Up
    We received considerable correspondence regarding my article, Two Ways to Defile a Hymn. More specifically, what really raised certain people’s hackles was its follow-up article dealing with the keyboard accompaniment for the CHRIST THE KING HYMNAL. But to quote Eliza Doolittle: “Have I said anything I oughtn’t?” Please examine this PDF file and see whether you agree. Were the editors of the BRÉBEUF HYMNAL incorrect to insist upon sophisticated and clever rhymes, rather than mind-numbingly predictable rhymes?
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    ‘Ould’ But Not Good
    Dom Samuel Gregory Ould (note the spelling) was a Benedictine monk at FORT AUGUSTUS ABBEY in Scotland. As musician, organist, and composer, Dom Ould was highly regarded. Moreover, he was considered an authority on Gregorian Chant. But not everything found in an old book—or, in this case, an “Ould” book—is necessarily praiseworthy. Consider this page from Dom Ould’s hymnal. Do you see the rhymes? They offend severely by ABR (“Abuse By Reuse”) and are utterly predictable. In my recent article—Two Ways to Defile a Hymn—I addressed this topic.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Reader Feedback” • 22 June 2026
    A reader wrote to us from Virginia: “I really appreciate the 23 harmonizations that you posted on CORPUS CHRISTI WATERSHED for the Daily, Daily, Sing to Mary hymn. I hope to find willing voices in our small Schola Cantorum to try the three-voice version. Carry on, sir! You’re doing the Lord’s work.” While we don’t know this gentleman personally, we note that he earned a Ph.D. (which demonstrates that our blog has something for everybody). 😊
    —Corpus Christi Watershed

Random Quote

“If a pope were only ever applauded, he would have to ask himself whether or not he was doing things right.”

— Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI (2016)

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