Views from the Choir Loft

PDF Download • “2025 Booklet for Participants for the Sacred Music Symposium” — (155 pages)

Jeff Ostrowski · June 17, 2025

IGHTMARE. I think readers will agree that having to deal with customer service—especially for huge companies—is often a nightmare. Thanks to automated technology, companies have mastered the art of “dehumanizing” their customers. Even locating the CONTACT US button can raise one’s blood pressure considerably. And that’s one reason why we insist over and over again that our website and resources must remain free. At all costs, we must avoid placing our content behind a paywall. Our annual fundraiser is going well, but we haven’t met our goal yet. I believe so strongly in what we’re trying to accomplish, I’m not ashamed to beg. Please help us!

Free Download • We garner million of web-hits each year. We offer thousands of scores, articles, scans, and rehearsal videos. For instance, you can download the following booklet without providing your email address or “logging in” to get behind a paywall:

* PDF Download • BOOKLET FOR PARTICIPANTS (155 pages)
—Sacred Music Symposium 2025 • Learn more or download the poster.

Inspiration • Perhaps you will look at that booklet (which took me hours to create) and say to yourself: “I could make a nicer booklet than Jeff.” That’s precisely the point! We aren’t perfect—but we try to provide inspiration to others. Indeed, I already see an embarrassing typo on page 2. So we’re far from perfect … but we want to galvanize people’s imaginations, challenging them to achieve even greater heights!

Addendum • For the record, creating rehearsal videos for all the pieces in that booklet took forever. But—just like everything else on our website—they’re all provided to the entire world free of charge.

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

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 Michigan. —(Read full biography).

Simplest “Agnus Dei” Ever Published

Our choir is on break during the month of July. I needed a relatively simple “Agnus Dei,” so I composed this setting for organ & voice in honor of Saint René Goupil. It has been called the simplest setting ever composed. I love CARMEN GREGORIANUM (“Gregorian Chant”), especially the ALLELUIAS, INTROITS, and COMMUNION ANTIPHONS. That being said, some have pointed out that certain sections of the Kyriale aren’t as strong as the Graduale or Vesperale. There’s a reason for this—but it would be too complicated to explain at this moment.

—Jeff Ostrowski

14th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)

Our choir is on break during the month of July. However, on the feasts website, the chants have been posted for the 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C), which is this coming Sunday: 6 July 2025.

—Jeff Ostrowski

Bugnini’s Statement (6 November 1966)

With each passing day, more is revealed about how the enemies of the liturgy accomplished their goals. For instance, Hannibal Bugnini deeply resented the way Vatican II said Gregorian Chant “must be given first place in liturgical services.” On 6 November 1966, his cadre wrote a letter attempting to justify the elimination of Gregorian Chant with this brazen statement: “What really gives a Mass its tone is not so much the songs as it is the prayers and readings.” Bugnini’s cadre then attacked the very heart of Gregorian Chant (viz. the Proprium Missae), bemoaning how the Proprium Missae “is completely new each Sunday and feast day.” There is much more to be said about this topic. Stay tuned.

—Jeff Ostrowski

Pope Pius XII Hymnal?

Have you ever heard of the Pope Pius XII Hymnal? It’s a real book, published in the United States in 1959. Here’s a sample page so you can verify with your own eyes it existed.

—Corpus Christi Watershed

“Hybrid” Chant Notation?

Over the years, many have tried to ‘simplify’ plainsong notation. The O’Fallon Propers attempted to simplify the notation—but ended up making matters worse. Dr. Karl Weinmann tried to do the same in the time of Pope Saint Pius X by replacing each porrectus. You can examine a specimen from his edition and see whether you agree he complicated matters. In particular, look at what he did with éxsules fílii Hévae.

—Corpus Christi Watershed

Antiphons Don’t Match?

A reader wants to know why the Entrance and Communion antiphons in certain publications deviate from what’s prescribed by the GRADUALE ROMANUM published after Vatican II. Click here to read our answer. The short answer is: the Adalbert Propers were never intended to be sung. They were intended for private Masses only (or Masses without music). The “Graduale Parvum,” published by the John Henry Newman Institute of Liturgical Music in 2023, mostly uses the Adalbert Propers—but sometimes uses the GRADUALE text: e.g. Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul (29 June).

—Corpus Christi Watershed