Views from the Choir Loft

Archives for July 2018

Veronica Brandt · July 7, 2018

Flos Carmeli for a Carmelite Novena

A printable copy of the beautiful Carmelite sequence with English translation alongside. Time to practise ready for the Feast Day on July 16!

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Fr. David Friel · July 7, 2018

Music Conference in Rome (September 2018)

The Pontifical Council for Culture will host “Church and Composers, Words and Sounds.”

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Jeff Ostrowski · July 5, 2018

iPhone Clip • “Sight-Reading Hymns”

Can you name this hymn melody?

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Dr. Alfred Calabrese · July 4, 2018

Of Estate Sales, Prayers, and Mass Attendance

I started to realize how little time we spend thinking about these things…

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Dr. Lucas Tappan · July 3, 2018

Impressions from Sacred Music Colloquium 2018

I thought today I would share with readers some of my impressions of the wonderful events that took place.

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“Holy, Holy, Holy” transposed lower

A simple setting based on a work by Canon Jules Vyverman.

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—Jeff Ostrowski

Music List • (27th Sund. Ordinary Time)

Readers have expressed interest in examining my “music list” for this coming Sunday: 4 October 2026

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—Jeff Ostrowski

A Mystery! — Re: the “Liber Usualis”

Even after all these years, nobody has been able to explain this.

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—Jeff Ostrowski

Preface of Saint Joseph (added by the pope)

You can see the “Præfatio de Sancto Joseph” inserted directly into the priest’s missal.

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—Jeff Ostrowski

“Predictable Rhymes?” • A Follow Up

We received considerable correspondence regarding my article, Two Ways to Defile a Hymn. More specifically, what really raised certain people’s hackles was its follow-up article dealing with the keyboard accompaniment for the CHRIST THE KING HYMNAL. But to quote Eliza Doolittle: “Have I said anything I oughtn’t?” Please examine this PDF file and see whether you agree. Were the editors of the BRÉBEUF HYMNAL incorrect to insist upon sophisticated and clever rhymes, rather than mind-numbingly predictable rhymes?

—Jeff Ostrowski

‘Ould’ But Not Good

Dom Samuel Gregory Ould (note the spelling) was a Benedictine monk at FORT AUGUSTUS ABBEY in Scotland. As musician, organist, and composer, Dom Ould was highly regarded. Moreover, he was considered an authority on Gregorian Chant. But not everything found in an old book—or, in this case, an “Ould” book—is necessarily praiseworthy. Consider this page from Dom Ould’s hymnal. Do you see the rhymes? They offend severely by ABR (“Abuse By Reuse”) and are utterly predictable. In my recent article—Two Ways to Defile a Hymn—I addressed this topic.

—Jeff Ostrowski