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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

Audio Samples • Can A Volunteer Choir Sing Excellent Music At Mass?

Jeff Ostrowski · June 27, 2016

E ARE BLESSED WITH a fantastic volunteer choir at our FSSP apostolate in Los Angeles. In less than two years, we’ve come so far—and I think you’ll agree we’re on the right path! Remember that many of these good folks had never sung in a choir until recently. Each week we sound a little better, and we hope to show Los Angeles that volunteer choirs can do authentic sacred music at Mass.

The microphone wasn’t placed correctly, so these recordings don’t accurately represent the beautiful choral sounds from last night—but they give a rough idea:

    * *  “Live” Mp3 • PROCESSIONAL

    * *  “Live” Mp3 • KYRIE

    * *  “Live” Mp3 • GLORIA

    * *  “Live” Mp3 • GRADUAL & ALLELUIA

    * *  “Live” Mp3 • CREDO IV

    * *  “Live” Mp3 • SANCTUS

    * *  “Live” Mp3 • BENEDICTUS & HOSANNA

    * *  “Live” Mp3 • TRINITY HYMN

    * *  “Live” Mp3 • RECESSIONAL

Our members didn’t allow nerves to get the better of them—even though the church was overflowing with people for last night’s special pontifical:

396 Packed Church


Attendance was pretty amazing, considering how hot it was yesterday. Temperatures here in Los Angeles have been quite high lately—and multiply that times two to know the heat level in the choir loft!


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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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Jeff Ostrowski

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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Corpus Christi Watershed

Quick Thoughts

Surprising Popularity!

One of our most popular downloads has proven to be the organ accompaniment to “The Monastery Hymnal” (131 pages). This book was compiled, arranged, and edited by Achille P. Bragers, who studied at the Lemmensinstituut (Belgium) about thirty years before that school produced the NOH. Bragers might be considered an example of Belgium “Stile Antico” whereas Flor Peeters and Jules Van Nuffel represented Belgium “Prima Pratica.” You can download the hymnal by Bragers at this link.

—Jeff Ostrowski
15 February 2021 • To Capitalize…?

In the Introit for the 6th Sunday after Pentecost, there is a question regarding whether to capitalize the word “christi.” The Vulgata does not, because Psalm 27 is not specifically referring to Our Lord, but rather to God’s “anointed one.” However, Missals tend to capitalize it, such as the official 1962 Missal and also a book from 1777 called Missel de Paris. Something tells me Monsignor Knox would not capitalize it.

—Jeff Ostrowski
15 February 2021 • “Sung vs. Spoken”

We have spoken quite a bit about “sung vs. spoken” antiphons. We have also noted that the texts of the Graduale Romanum sometimes don’t match the Missal texts (in the Extraordinary Form) because the Mass Propers are older than Saint Jerome’s Vulgate, and sometimes came from the ITALA versions of Sacred Scripture. On occasion, the Missal itself doesn’t match the Vulgate—cf. the Introit “Esto Mihi.” The Vulgate has: “Esto mihi in Deum protectórem et in domum refúgii…” but the Missal and Graduale Romanum use “Esto mihi in Deum protectórem et in locum refúgii…” The 1970s “spoken propers” use the traditional version, as you can see.

—Jeff Ostrowski

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 (THE MASS, page 397)’

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