Views from the Choir Loft

Archives for August 2015

Dr. Lucas Tappan · August 4, 2015

A Must Have For The Choir Director’s Shelf

This book is invaluable for the church musician.

Jeff Ostrowski · August 4, 2015

My Response To “Should Church Singers Be Paid?”

“The labourer is worthy of his hire.” (I Tim 5:18)

Fr. David Friel · August 3, 2015

Assumption Mass 1

A Solemn High Mass in the Extraordinary Form next Friday evening in Philadelphia.

Andrew Leung · August 2, 2015

Maestro Colin Mawby—The Newest Blogger

Maestro Mawby is now a contributor for «CASTAWAY» and his articles may interest you…

Jeff Ostrowski · August 2, 2015

Loading Choir Binders for 2 August 2015

Once we finish revising the scores at Goupil, this will be unnecessary.

Fr. David Friel · August 2, 2015

Vesting Prayers • Part 5 of 9

The Cincture

Veronica Brandt · August 1, 2015

Teaching chant to your children

Just a little each day. As Confucius says: “It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.”

“Music List” • 17th in Ordinary Time (Year C)

Some have expressed interest in perusing the ORDER OF MUSIC I prepared for the 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time (27 July 2025). If such a thing interests you, feel free to download it as a PDF file. As always, the Responsorial Psalm, Gospel Acclamation, and Mass Propers for this Sunday are conveniently stored at the the feasts website.

—Jeff Ostrowski

Communion • “Ask & You Shall Receive”

All of the chants for 27 July 2025 have been added to the feasts website, as usual under a convenient “drop down” menu. The COMMUNION ANTIPHON (both text and melody) are exceedingly beautiful and ancient.

—Jeff Ostrowski

Jeff’s Mother Joins Our Fundraiser

To assist our fundraiser, Mrs. Kathleen Ostrowski has drawn several beautiful sketches which she offers to all our readers free of charge. If you have a moment, I invite you download them at this link.

—Jeff Ostrowski

Pope Pius XII Hymnal?

Have you ever heard of the Pope Pius XII Hymnal? It’s a real book, published in the United States in 1959. Here’s a sample page so you can verify with your own eyes it existed.

—Corpus Christi Watershed

“Hybrid” Chant Notation?

Over the years, many have tried to ‘simplify’ plainsong notation. The O’Fallon Propers attempted to simplify the notation—but ended up making matters worse. Dr. Karl Weinmann tried to do the same in the time of Pope Saint Pius X by replacing each porrectus. You can examine a specimen from his edition and see whether you agree he complicated matters. In particular, look at what he did with éxsules fílii Hévae.

—Corpus Christi Watershed

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). The “Graduale Parvum,” published by the John Henry Newman Institute of Liturgical Music in 2023, mostly uses the Adalbert Propers—but sometimes uses the GRADUALE text: e.g. Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul (29 June).

—Corpus Christi Watershed