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Views from the Choir Loft

“Exceeded Every Expectation!” • Mr. O’Brien’s Review

Jeff Ostrowski · June 29, 2022

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Y NAME IS BENJAMIN, and I’m a professional musician with a B.A. in Music Performance from the University of New Hampshire. I have served at a parish in New Hampshire for 10 years. I am now the Cathedral Organist & Choirmaster as well as the Diocesan Director of Sacred Music for the Diocese of Marquette, Michigan. I attended the Sacred Music Symposium 2022 … and was absolutely blown away.

What is it? All week long we took part in impressive educational talks, lectures, hands-on classes, rehearsals, etc. all relating to various aspects of the wealth of Catholic Sacred Music—be it Gregorian chant notation and style, pipe organ technique, improvisation, choral conducting technique, theology/philosophy behind liturgical music, practical tips for the professional church musician working with volunteers, and plenty of hands on experience rehearsing music you actually sing with others for Vespers and Mass during the week.

The culmination? Culminating in a glorious High Mass (at the end of the week), what we were able to experience as part of the choir providing the music for that liturgy was supremely beautiful, reverent, angelic, and prayerful. Truly a “taste of heaven,” to be honest. Every aspect of the liturgy lifted your mind and heart to God the Father, Creator of the universe, and His Son, Jesus Christ, who is our majestic King of Kings. This felt like what Mass was truly meant to be.

For whom? Whether coming from a liturgical background in the Ordinary Form or the Extraordinary Form, this Symposium helped “cover all the bases,” providing extremely helpful training that would apply to both forms in a mutually enriching educational process. I would HIGHLY recommend the Sacred Music Symposium to Catholic clergy, choir directors, organists, church accompanists, church choir members, and church cantors.

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

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Sacred Music Symposium 2022 Last Updated: June 29, 2022

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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

    Simplified Antiphons • “Candlemas”
    Anyone who desires simplified antiphons (“psalm tone versions”) for 2 February, the Feast of the Purification—which is also known as “Candlemas” or the Feast of the Presentation—may freely download them. The texts of the antiphons are quite beautiful.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    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

Random Quote

“Today the Church has made a big mistake, turning the clock back 500 years with guitars and popular songs. I don’t like it at all. Gregorian Chant is a vital and important tradition of the Church and to waste this—by having guys mix religious words with profane, Western songs—is hugely grave, hugely grave.”

— Maestro Ennio Morricone (10 Sept 2009)

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