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Jesus said to them: “I have come into this world so that a sentence may fall upon it, that those who are blind should see, and those who see should become blind. If you were blind, you would not be guilty. It is because you protest, ‘We can see clearly,’ that you cannot be rid of your guilt.”

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Views from the Choir Loft

The Week In Review

Jeff Ostrowski · October 10, 2015

Here are some random thoughts. Take them or leave them!

(1)

Gregory DiPippo wrote a fascinating article on NLM you will want to read. I don’t want to tell you what it’s about—but believe me, you will love it! Now, here’s a fun fact: the Jogues Missal actually contains a “bilingual” manuscript (Greek + Latin) which you can better understand by reading an article I posted a while back.

(2)

As a choirmaster, in some ways it doesn’t matter what you know about music, because the main thing is dealing with people. We must cultivate relationships with our singers, who are people. Choirmasters do not have a choice in this matter. We do not conduct a group of singers; we conduct a whole bunch of individual people who (in my view) must become friends.

(3)

What would our readers think about a “Letters to the Editor” section on our CCW blog? I think that might be kind of fun, if there was enough interest…

(4)

As a blog author, one eventually realizes “less is more.” Good authors must be succinct. They must avoid repeating themselves over and over. I feel this has a bearing on the question of GRADUAL vs. RESPONSORIAL PSALM. The Gradual had a way of picking out just 1-2 really special verses (easily grasped by the human mind). The Responsorial Psalm has more verses, but somehow can leave less of an impression upon the mind.

(5)

Internet users have become more mature. Have you noticed how few blogs comments are made these days as opposed to ten years ago? These days, folks navigate to the websites they desire, blocking out the rest. Folks no longer have the time & energy required for endless flame wars. I’d like to explore this subject more at some point…

(6)

My friend wrote me an email, letting me know Kirsten Powers has become Catholic! I wrote about Kirsten Powers here. (I think that’s why my friend sent me that message.)

(7)

Here at CCW, we strive for authenticity. So many blogs out there talk down to their audiences, or try to get people riled up. One thing I hate is when blog authors frame an issue, and then—just like the 30-minute sitcoms in the ’90s—“resolve” the issue at the end of the article. In reality, most issues are complex and cannot be resolved in a 1-paragraph summary. Such an approach may be considered “proper writing” but in the end is not applicable to the real world.

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

Filed Under: Articles Last Updated: January 1, 2020

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About Jeff Ostrowski

Jeff Ostrowski holds his B.M. in Music Theory from the University of Kansas (2004). He resides with his wife and children in Michigan. —(Read full biography).

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Corpus Christi Watershed

President’s Corner

    “Music List” • 5th Sunday of Easter (Year C)
    Some have expressed interest in perusing the ORDER OF MUSIC I prepared for the 5th Sunday of Easter (18 May 2025). If such a thing interests you, feel free to download it as a PDF file. The Communion Antiphon was ‘restored’ the 1970 Missale Romanum (a.k.a. MISSALE RECENS) from an obscure martyr’s feast. Our choir is on break this Sunday, so the selections are relatively simple in nature.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Communion Chant (5th Sunday of Easter)
    This coming Sunday—18 May 2025—is the 5th Sunday of Easter, Year C (MISSALE RECENS). The COMMUNION ANTIPHON “Ego Sum Vitis Vera” assigned by the Church is rather interesting, because it comes from a rare martyr’s feast: viz. Saint Vitalis of Milan. It was never part of the EDITIO VATICANA, which is the still the Church’s official edition. As a result, the musical notation had to be printed in the Ordo Cantus Missae, which appeared in 1970.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Music List” • 4th Sunday of Easter (Year C)
    Some have expressed interest in perusing the ORDER OF MUSIC I prepared for the 4th Sunday of Easter (11 May 2025). If such a thing interests you, feel free to download it as a PDF file. I don’t know a more gorgeous ENTRANCE CHANT than the one given there: Misericórdia Dómini Plena Est Terra.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Quick Thoughts

    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
    When to Sit, Stand and Kneel like it’s 1962
    There are lots of different guides to postures for Mass, but I couldn’t find one which matched our local Latin Mass, so I made this one: sit-stand-kneel-crop
    —Veronica Brandt
    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

Random Quote

Like all other liturgical functions, like offices and ranks in the Church, indeed like everything else in the world, the religious service that we call the Mass existed long before it had a special technical name.

— Rev. Adrian Fortescue (1912)

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  • “Music List” • 5th Sunday of Easter (Year C)
  • Communion Chant (5th Sunday of Easter)

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