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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 · May 6, 2021

6 May 2021 • FEEDBACK

A reader from St. Louis, Missouri, wrote to us: “The work you and your team do is quite possibly the most valuable resource I have come across as a younger Sacred music director and organist. The Brébeuf Hymnal is my most used and referenced resource. Although my church has not adopted it yet (I will […]

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Jeff Ostrowski · May 6, 2021

Question & Answer Box • “Which Tune Is This?”

Including a live recording of a hymn about a donkey. (Not kidding!)

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Jeff Ostrowski · May 4, 2021

(Live Recording) • “Jesus My Lord, My God, My All”

There is a “hidden rule” about Roman Catholic Hymnals.

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Jeff Ostrowski · May 3, 2021

“No hymn deserves more to be reintroduced in our Catholic tradition.” —Dom Ermin Vitry

A live recording of the Church’s oldest Latin Eucharistic hymn.

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Jeff Ostrowski · May 2, 2021

Calling All Church Musicians!

Is this normal? (Answer: “yes”)

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Jeff Ostrowski · April 29, 2021

“Days Of The Week In Latin” • Feria II, Feria III, Feria IV, Feria V, Feria VI

“Feria Quinta” — which day is that? … Be honest.

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Jeff Ostrowski · April 28, 2021

“Are They Ugly?” • May 1st Propers For Saint Joseph

I fail to see how such a position can be defended…

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Jeff Ostrowski · April 27, 2021

Paul Inwood Attacks Jeff Ostrowski’s Harmonies

Paul Inwood has unwittingly committed a rookie’s error here…

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Jeff Ostrowski · April 22, 2021

22 April 2021 • SATB Plainsong?

In an emergency, we pull out random hymns from the Brébeuf hymnal. The Brébeuf choral supplement has every single verse—every single verse—written out, which makes reading SATB a breeze. Last Sunday, we pulled out an Easter hymn which is a mix between plainsong and metrical hymnody…and I think this live recording came out nicely! Please […]

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Jeff Ostrowski · April 22, 2021

22 April 2021 • ICTUS ALERT

My friends, for the record, this coming Sunday has something which is pretty rare. It is an example of Abbey of Saint-Pierre de Solesmes adding an ictus marking to their previous (1908) version of the Graduale Romanum. You can examine before and after. Do I feel better, having pointing this out? I absolutely do…

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Jeff Ostrowski · April 21, 2021

“The Fifteen Best Catholic Hymns” • Wait……

Church musicians: Is this what we’re doing wrong?

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Jeff Ostrowski · April 20, 2021

Do You Know This Easter Hymn?

We did both versions: One is quite popular, the other less so.

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Jeff Ostrowski · April 19, 2021

Why does this repeat four times?

Folks, this is pretty cool.

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Jeff Ostrowski · April 17, 2021

Not. Just. Catholics.

Talk about whatever subject you desire…except musical “style”—because doing so might get you killed.

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Jeff Ostrowski · April 16, 2021

Did Solesmes Abbey Drink The 1960s Kool-Aid?

…you be the judge…

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Corpus Christi Watershed

President’s Corner

    PDF • “Organ Interlude” (Manuals Only)
    Monsignor Franciszek Walczyński (d. 1937) was a Polish composer. If you play the pipe organ, I encourage you to try out this ORGAN INTERLUDE FOR MANUALS ONLY (1-page PDF) which he composed. Walczyński taught plainsong at the seminary in Tarnów (about 50 miles east of Kraków). With his brother Stanisław—also a Catholic priest—he initiated the Saint Adalbert Society for the Support of Church Music, which ran annual workshops for their diocese. In July of 1894 (more than a decade before the appearance of the Editio Vaticana) Walczyński lectured on “congregational singing and Gregorian Chant.” On top of all that, Monsignor Walczyński founded an organists’ school in Tarnów and the SAINT ADALBERT CHOIR at the cathedral.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    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

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

“One of his most cherished wishes was to promote congregational singing wherever possible, for he held it to be most instructive for people of all classes and a powerful means of arousing an intelligent interest in the beauties of our sacred liturgy, especially in regard to the holy Sacrifice of the Mass. He loved to dwell in this respect upon the remarkable results achieved in parishes where the congregation had been taught to sing correctly the different portions of the Mass in plain chant.”

— Cardinal Merry del Val, speaking of Cardinal Sarto

Recent Posts

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  • (Simplified Keyboard Accompaniment) • “Now Thank We All Our God”
  • Test Your Gregorian Chant Knowledge!
  • “Worst Teacher the World Has Ever Seen”

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