Views from the Choir Loft

Jean de Brebeuf Hymnal

Jeff Ostrowski · July 25, 2019

The Day Music Theory Failed Me

Readers already know I believe in the value of Music Theory…

Guest Author · July 25, 2019

Jennifer D. Behnke • “Brébeuf Hymnal Review”

“How I love the multiple settings of each text, which can be interchanged as required by seasonal and festal usage.” —Maestro Behnke

Jeff Ostrowski · July 24, 2019

Brébeuf Hymn #517 • “Veni Redemptor Gentium”

This recording was completed last night (23 July 2019).

Jeff Ostrowski · July 20, 2019

Brébeuf Hymn #156 • “Christe Redemptor”

The Soprano line was sung by a young lady in the 8th grade—and she did very well.

Jeff Ostrowski · July 18, 2019

Can Girls In The 2nd Grade Sing SATB Hymns?

If a girl in the 2nd grade can learn it after hearing it only a few times, I believe everyone is capable of learning it.

Veronica Moreno · July 16, 2019

PDF Download • “Seasonal Index” (Brébeuf Hymnal)

I can’t always recognize a hymn tune by its name, especially when the Missalette only provides lyrics. Please don’t judge me; that’s the honest truth.

Jeff Ostrowski · July 9, 2019

Hymn Harmony: Fifty Examples—Good and Bad!

We will not be considering musically absurd examples from the past.

Jeff Ostrowski · May 30, 2019

Learn To Sing SATB • “A New Approach!”

Twelve (12) hymns are already available, with tons more on the way!

Jeff Ostrowski · May 29, 2019

What Makes A “Catholic” Hymnal?

I find the following pairings reprehensible…

Jeff Ostrowski · May 6, 2019

“Common” Hymn Melodies • What are they?

Choirmasters and organists understand how crucial flexibility is.

Jeff Ostrowski · February 14, 2019

Update! • Accompaniments for the Brébeuf Hymnal

Oh, if only…if only you knew what’s going on behind the scenes!

Jeff Ostrowski · January 28, 2019

When Hymn Names Don’t Match

I submit to you that calling the same tune by multiple names in the same hymnal is unacceptable.

Jeff Ostrowski · January 2, 2019

“Mister Eye” • Do You Mind Him?

What do you think of “eye rhymes” in hymnody?

Jeff Ostrowski · December 18, 2018

The Most Popular Hymn Tunes? • A List

I could not have been more thrilled to see this list—those are exactly the tunes I love!

Jeff Ostrowski · November 24, 2018

The Only Hymn Father Fortescue Ever Wrote

…including a “Sneak Peek” at the Brébeuf Hymnal.

“Music List” (4th Sunday of Advent, Year C)

This coming Sunday—22 December 2024—is the 4th Sunday of Advent (Year C). 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. The English version of “Roráte Cæli” we’re singing for the ENTRANCE CHANT is magnificent.

—Jeff Ostrowski

“Entrance Chant” • 4th Sunday of Advent

Download the ENTRANCE ANTIPHON in English for the 4th Sunday of Advent (22 December 2024). Set in the first mode—just like the authentic version—this setting manages to capture the “essence” of the Gregorian setting in quite an admirable way. Corresponding to the vocalist score is this free organ accompaniment. If you’re someone who enjoys rehearsal videos, this morning I attempted to sing it while simultaneously accompanying my voice on the pipe organ.

—Jeff Ostrowski

Communion (4th Sunday of Advent)

The COMMUNION ANTIPHON (PDF) we’re singing for the 4th Sunday of Advent has a particularly gorgeous melody. The text (from the prophet Isaiah) is also quite beautiful and is cited toward the beginning of Saint Matthew’s Gospel. It certainly seems like most of the Advent antiphons come from the book of Isaiah…

—Jeff Ostrowski

“Lessons and Carols”

Seen online! Dr. Samuel Backman conducted a “Lessons and Carols” service with his choir, and someone produced this lovely vignette.

—Corpus Christi Watershed

Epiphany Proclamation 2025

Each year, without fail, someone asks me to typeset the Epiphany Proclamation, an announcement of moveable feasts chanted each year on the feast of the Epiphany. As a result, you may now find an archive of 23 such proclamations in PDF ready to print HERE.

—Veronica Brandt

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

These prayers were not peculiar to Good Friday in the early ages (they were said on Spy Wednesday as late as the eighth century); their retention here, it is thought, was inspired by the idea that the Church should pray for all classes of men on the day that Christ died for all. Duchesne is of opinion that the “Oremus” now said in every Mass before the Offertory—which is not a prayer—remains to show where this old series of prayers was once said in all Masses.

— Catholic Encyclopedia (1909)