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“What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too…” Pope Benedict XVI (7 July 2007)

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Views from the Choir Loft

Sacred Vs. Secular • What Do You Think?

Jeff Ostrowski · December 17, 2015

Earlier today, I sat down and sight-read a beautiful arrangement of a Christmas song:

    * *  Mp3 Audio • “Live Recording” — Played By Jeff Ostrowski

My performance leaves much to be desired, but you get the idea. It’s quite a nice piece, isn’t it? My mother gave me a whole pile of these pieces when I left Kansas in 2005; there are literally hundreds more like it, and they’re all fantastic. The music is not difficult. 1

I find this music quite BEAUTIFUL—but is it sacred?

CONSIDER THE FOLLOWING photograph by Fr. Lawrence Lew:

921 Father Lawrence Lew


This, too, is beautiful—but there’s something more. It possesses a certain dignity: grandeur yet austerity, splendor yet simplicity, majesty yet gravity. It has a holiness, a power. This type of dignity can also be felt when listening to sacred polyphony. The same dignity is shown by a priest wearing sacred vestments.

I agree with Pope Saint John Paul II, who said in June of 1980:

“To the extent that the new sacred music is to serve the liturgical celebrations of the various churches, it can and must draw from earlier forms—especially from Gregorian chant—a higher inspiration, a uniquely sacred quality, a genuine sense of what is religious.”

This notion flies in the face of certain theories made popular in the 1960s. “God made everything,” some say, “so everything is sacred.” One of the drafters of SING TO THE LORD even presented a paper asserting that liturgical music need not sound “Catholic.” People like that will never forbid any styles at Mass; and by eliminating nothing, they allow any style—even rap music! (They will do anything to avoid admitting that!) But look again at that beautiful cathedral and listen to the beautiful carol. See whether you agree that “beautiful” does not necessarily equal “sacred.”



NOTES FROM THIS ARTICLE:

1   If I can sight-read something, that proves it’s not very difficult!

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 Los Angeles.—(Read full biography).

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Quick Thoughts

    Tempo?? • 𝘏𝘰𝘭𝘺 𝘎𝘰𝘥, 𝘞𝘦 𝘗𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘛𝘩𝘺 𝘕𝘢𝘮𝘦
    Once, after Mass, my pastor said he really loved the hymn we did. I said: “Father, that's Holy God, We Praise Thy Name—you never heard it before?” He replied: “But the way you did it was terrific. For once, it didn't sound like a funeral dirge!” Last Sunday, our volunteer choir sang that hymn. I think the tempo was just about right … but what do you think?
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Don’t You Agree About These?
    If you want to make Jeff Ostrowski really happy, send him an email with effusive praise about the individual voice recordings for hymn #296. [Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass] They came out dazzlingly sensational, don't you agree?
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Choral Vowels? Yes? No?
    Here's a live recording of one of the choral “warm-up” exercises my choir enjoys. It was taken during our rehearsal on 27 January 2023. It’s good to make sure each chord is perfectly in tune and balanced before moving to the next one. That only happens when each singer has the correct vowel. If you like, you can freely download that vocal exercise.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

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Never before have men had so many time-saving devices. Yet, never before have they had so little free time. When the world unnecessarily accelerates, the Church must slow down.

— Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

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