Views from the Choir Loft

Articles

Jeff Ostrowski · August 26, 2015

PDF Download • Rossini’s “Canticum Novum” (1935)

A Collection of 115 Motets and Hymns, with an Easy Mass for Two Equal Voices.

Jeff Ostrowski · August 25, 2015

A Most Astounding “Graduale” From 1909 … On Modern Staves!

University professors don’t sit around wondering whether they should teach the music of Tomás Luis de Victoria or Marty Haugen.

Dr. Lucas Tappan · August 25, 2015

Another Job For Your Children

Simply dive in and do it. Remember how quickly your children grew up and left home? That is all the longer it takes.

Jeff Ostrowski · August 25, 2015

SATB “Alleluia” By Palestrina • Brief, Easy, & Sumptuous

I dare you NOT to immediately assign this piece to your choir!

Cynthia Ostrowski · August 24, 2015

Christmas Gift Idea • Unbelievable Made-By-Hand Wood Carvings!

“Creating these etchings reminds me of my mother’s deep spirituality.” —John McCarthy

Jeff Ostrowski · August 23, 2015

Organ Accompaniment • “Christe Supreme”

When your choir isn’t ready for polyphony…

Fr. David Friel · August 23, 2015

Vesting Prayers • Part 8 of 9

The Chasuble

Veronica Brandt · August 22, 2015

Sacraments and family

God is amazing. Families are amazing. God working in families is amazing.

Jeff Ostrowski · August 22, 2015

The Weirdest Thing About Renaissance Motets

A priest named “Reuschius”…

Dr. Lucas Tappan · August 20, 2015

One Man I Would Give My Right Arm To Meet In Person

“This honest, magnanimous and public statement made my struggle totally worthwhile.” —Colin Mawby

Andrew Leung · August 20, 2015

The Danger of Praise and Worship

Praise and Worship can be dangerous and confusing…

Jeff Ostrowski · August 19, 2015

Musical Resources • 13th Sunday after Pentecost (Extraordinary Form)

“We have received, O Lord, thy heavenly sacrament…”

Jeff Ostrowski · August 19, 2015

Chabanel Psalms … In Dutch?

The cantors do something I never thought of in this video…

Jeff Ostrowski · August 18, 2015

Improve Your Parish’s Liturgy … Instantaneously!

“Until we are blue in the face, we could repeat what Vatican II said about Gregorian chant…”

Andrew Leung · August 18, 2015

Summer Sacred Music Workshop — Report

Report on the Summer Sacred Music Workshop in Jasper, GA.

“Music List” • 1st Sunday of Lent

Some have expressed interest in perusing the “ORDER OF MUSIC” I prepared for the 1st Sunday of Lent, Year C (9 March 2025). If such a thing interests you, feel free to download it as a PDF file. During Lent, the pipe organ is greatly reduced. Therefore, I marked a red “X” on all the pieces we’re singing a cappella.

—Jeff Ostrowski

“Kyrie Setting” we’re doing for Lent

During Lent, we’re singing the KYRIE polyphony from the Mass in Honor of Saint Noël Chabanel. There are various pieces of information (and variations) on that website. Therefore, to make it easy to find—since choirs appreciate “no hassle” scores—here are the parts: (a) The Ordinary Form musical score (PDF) is based on the EF score; (b) Soprano Voice rehearsal video is here; (c) Alto Voice rehearsal video is here; (d) Tenor Voice rehearsal video is here; (e) Bass Voice rehearsal video is here; (f) Equal Voices rehearsal video is here.

—Jeff Ostrowski

“You who dwell in the shelter of the Lord…”

The Communion antiphon for this coming Sunday is quite beautiful (PDF). I’m not sure I know any other feast which does what the 1st Sunday of Lent does. Specifically, the text for the COMMUNION is identical to the OFFERTORY, except the word “Dóminus” is understood in the Communion. The INTROIT, GRADUALE, and TRACT also use that same psalm: viz. Psalm 90.

—Jeff Ostrowski

The Funeral Rites of the Graduale Romanum

Lately I have been paging through the 1974 Graduale Romanum (see p. 678 ff.) and have been fascinated by the funeral rites found therein, especially the simply-beautiful Psalmody that is appointed for all the different occasions before and after the funeral Mass: at the vigil/wake, at the house of the deceased, processing to the church, at the church, processing to the cemetery, and at the cemetery. Would that this “stational Psalmody” of the Novus Ordo funeral rites saw wider usage! If you or anyone you know have ever used it, please do let me know.

—Daniel Tucker

Antiphons Don’t Match?

A reader wants to know why the Entrance and Communion antiphons in certain publications deviate from what’s prescribed by the GRADUALE ROMANUM published after Vatican II. Click here to read our answer. The short answer is: the Adalbert Propers were never intended to be sung. They were intended for private Masses only (or Masses without music).

—Corpus Christi Watershed

The Lofty Nature of This Goal

It is important above all that we never lose sight of our true goal as church musicians: the right worship of Almighty God. This is not a pious sentiment that should cause us to be lax about technical elements of music. Rather, the lofty nature of this goal is should motivate and inspire us to pursue the techne of musicianship with even greater zeal.

—Dr. Samuel Backman

“Thus, by the celebration of a single Mass (in which he offers Jesus Christ in sacrifice), a priest gives greater honor to the Lord than if all men by dying for God offered to him the sacrifice of their lives. By a single Mass, he gives greater honor to God than all the angels and saints—along with the Blessed Virgin Mary—have given or shall give to him; for their worship cannot be of infinite value, like that which the priest celebrating on the altar offers to God.”

— Saint Alphonsus Liguori