Views from the Choir Loft

My New Assignment—Part 1

Andrew Leung · September 24, 2015

AM VERY SAD—but happy at the same time—to announce that I am leaving my current position at St. Pius X Catholic Church, here in Conyers, Georgia. Recently, I started the seminarian application process with the Diocese of Steubenville, Ohio and have been assigned by His Excellency, Bishop Jeffrey Monforton (Steubenville’s Ordinary) to BLESSED SACRAMENT PARISH in Wintersville, OH, where I will be doing a pastoral year and continue my discernment “full-time”. If it is God’s will, I will be entering the seminary to study next fall.

I have been serving Mass and involved in church music for over ten years now. I have always loved the Liturgy of the Roman Rite. For the past five years, I’ve been singing for the Extraordinary Form Mass and have witnessed—so many times—priests falling in love with the Liturgy after High Masses. They have always described it as an “incredible,” prayerful, and peaceful experience. Please pray for me as I continue to discern my vocation to the priesthood and hopefully, by the grace of God, I can celebrate the Holy Mass one day. I hope to continue being involved in Sacred Music, even though I won’t be serving as a music director. I will do my best to keep contributing to this blog regularly.

NE THING I am definitely going to miss about Conyers is the Monastery. I have been teaching Gregorian Chant to a group of Cistercian monks who are very passionate in rediscovering their musical tradition. This past year, we have explored basic vocal techniques, Solfège, and authentic interpretation of Gregorian Chant. I was also asked to teach a GREGORIAN CHANT APPRECIATION course to the novices over the summer. I had the last class with the monks yesterday and we had a great chant rehearsal. They definitely learned and grew tremendously this year. Below is a recording of the Terribilis est locus iste (Introit for the Anniversary of the Dedication of a church) from the rehearsal yesterday:

* * Mp3 Audio • TERRIBILIS EST LOCUS by Cistercian Monks

When I first got here, all they knew was simplified chant in English. This is what they have accomplished in a year, despite the quality of my phone recorder.

Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

About Andrew Leung

Andrew Leung currently serves the music director of Vox Antiqua, conductor of the Cecilian Singers, and music director at Our Lady of China Church.—(Read full biography).

“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

“Entrance Chant” • Christ the King

Download the ENTRANCE ANTIPHON in English for the Solemnity of Christ the King (24 November 2024). It mimics the Mode III Latin version in a truly spectacular 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

“Music List” • (33rd Sund. Ordinary Time)

This coming Sunday—17 November 2024—is the 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B. 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. For the record, our opening hymn is particularly beautiful. So is the Mode 6 ENTRANCE CHANT.

—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