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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

PDF Download • “Wedding Booklet” (22 pages)

Jeff Ostrowski · October 22, 2021

LEPTOMANIAC. A kleptomaniac is someone who steals constantly. Excellent choirmasters are those who steal whenever they possibly can; pilfering whatever good ideas they encounter. When I used to teach at the Sacred Music Colloquium (founded at Christendom College by Monsignor Robert Skeris, and continued by the Church Music Association of America), numerous musicians with doctorates would sign up for my classes—although I was teaching plainsong at an elementary level. I asked several: “Why are you attending these low level courses?” Each replied: “Because I want to observe how you teach beginners, and steal whatever techniques I can from you.”

I thought you might want to download a booklet I put together:

*  PDF Download • Wedding Booklet (22 pages)
—Hymns, Polyphony, Plainsong.

It’s for a Nuptial Mass this coming Saturday. There’s no pipe organ at this particular Church, so we must do only pieces which don’t require the pipe organ.

If you see anything you wish to steal … feel free!

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

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Church Music Association of America CMAA, Kleptomaniac Choirmasters, Sacred Music Colloquium Last Updated: October 22, 2021

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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

14 May 2022 • “Pure” Vatican Edition

As readers know, my choir has been singing from the “pure” Editio Vaticana. That is to say, the official rhythm which—technically—is the only rhythm allowed by the Church. I haven’t figured out how I want the scores to look, so in the meantime we’ve been using temporary scores that look like this. Stay tuned!

—Jeff Ostrowski
14 May 2022 • Gorgeous Book

If there is a more beautiful book than Abbat Pothier’s 1888 Processionale Monasticum, I don’t know what it might be. This gorgeous tome was today added to the Saint John Lalande Online Library. I wish I owned a physical copy.

—Jeff Ostrowski
Sound Familiar?

1 June 1579: “The chapter passes a rule that anyone ascending to the new organ without official permission shall be fined a month’s pay.”

26 October 1579: “The altar boys remain always separate and distinct from choirboys—the one group learning only plainchant and assisting at the altar, the other living with the chapel-master and studying counterpoint and polyphony as well. Father Francisco Guerrero postpones his departure for Rome and instead spends the entire year in Seville making ready for the trip. In the meantime he neglects his choirboys. On 16 November, after considerable complaint against their unruliness and ignorance, he engages an assistant, Bartolomé Farfán.”

—Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

“Before any seminarian is accepted for ordination, he must not only strive for chastity but actually achieve it. He must already be living chaste celibacy peacefully and for a prolonged period of time—for if this be lacking, the seminarian and his formators cannot have the requisite confidence that he is called to the celibate life.”

— Archbishop Viganò (16 February 2019)

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