Views from the Choir Loft

Andrew Motyka • Article Archive

Andrew Motyka is the Archdiocesan Director of Liturgical Music and Cathedral Music for the Archdiocese of Indianapolis.—Read full biography (with photographs).

Andrew R. Motyka · April 15, 2015

“Proper Of The Mass” (Ignatius Press) • Part 1 of 7

Fr. Samuel Weber is undoubtedly one of the modern masters of setting English chant.

Andrew R. Motyka · March 18, 2015

Garbage in, Garbage out

“Lex orandi, lex credendi” works both ways.

Andrew R. Motyka · February 24, 2015

Permission Needed to Replace the Propers?—(5 of 7)

The practical end of formal approval.

Andrew R. Motyka · February 3, 2015

Truth, Beauty, and Pop Culture, Part 1

In which I take unpopular stances about popular things.

Andrew R. Motyka · January 7, 2015

The American Idolization of Liturgy

Sometimes I wish people didn’t have so many opinions about the liturgy.

Andrew R. Motyka · December 24, 2014

Only the Dawn

Beginning with Christmas, we celebrate a new era…

Andrew R. Motyka · December 3, 2014

Holy Days of Obligation: Immaculate Conception

A few questions about obligation to attend Mass on the Immaculate Conception.

Andrew R. Motyka · November 12, 2014

Eyes on Your Own Paper

The importance of focusing on our own work.

Andrew R. Motyka · November 5, 2014

Prepared to Receive: the Importance of Disposition

Warm-ups and reverent liturgy.

Andrew R. Motyka · October 15, 2014

Weddings: Some Practical Advice – The End and the New Beginning

The rest of the Wedding liturgy, and some miscellaneous advice.

Andrew R. Motyka · October 1, 2014

Weddings: Some Practical Advice – Word and Vows

Liturgy of the Word and the Rite of Marriage.

Andrew R. Motyka · September 2, 2014

Weddings: Some Practical Advice – The End of the Beginning, Part 2

Finally getting through the Introductory Rites of the Nuptial Mass.

Andrew R. Motyka · August 27, 2014

Weddings: Some Practical Advice – The Very Beginning, Part 1

Some thoughts on the Introductory Rites for the Nuptial Mass.

Andrew R. Motyka · August 20, 2014

Weddings: Some Practical Advice – Introduction

A curmudgeonly introduction to a series on wedding advice.

Andrew R. Motyka · August 13, 2014

Important Resources for Liturgical Reform (6 of 7)

Some free resources for Cantor, Choir, and Organ for furthering the liturgical reform in your parish.

“Yahweh” in church songs?

My pastor asked me to write a weekly column for our parish bulletin. The one scheduled to run on 22 June 2025 is called “Three Words in a Psalm” and speaks of translating the TETRAGRAMMATON. You can read the article at this column repository. All of them are quite brief because I was asked to keep within a certain word limit.

—Jeff Ostrowski

“Music List” • Pentecost Sunday

Some have expressed interest in perusing the ORDER OF MUSIC I prepared for Pentecost Sunday (8 June 2025). If such a thing interests you, feel free to download it as a PDF file. Because our choir is on break this week, the music is relatively simple.

—Jeff Ostrowski

“Truly Great Processional” • (Pipe Organ)

I stumbled upon this live recording of a PROCESSIONAL I played on the pipe organ in 2002. It’s an excerpt from a much longer composition by Sebastian Bach. In those days, there weren’t sophisticated recording devices allowing one “fix” wrong notes. (Perhaps they existed, but we didn’t have machines like that.) So it was necessary to play the entire piece from beginning to end. If you’re a church organist, feel free to download the PDF score. I suppose it’s only a matter of time until some joker uses “artificial intelligence” to play music at church … but there’s something so satisfying about playing an organ in real life.

—Jeff Ostrowski

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

When to Sit, Stand and Kneel like it’s 1962

There are lots of different guides to postures for Mass, but I couldn’t find one which matched our local Latin Mass, so I made this one: sit-stand-kneel-crop

—Veronica Brandt

The Funeral Rites of the Graduale Romanum

Lately I have been paging through the 1974 Graduale Romanum (see p. 678 ff.) and have been fascinated by the funeral rites found therein, especially the simply-beautiful Psalmody that is appointed for all the different occasions before and after the funeral Mass: at the vigil/wake, at the house of the deceased, processing to the church, at the church, processing to the cemetery, and at the cemetery. Would that this “stational Psalmody” of the Novus Ordo funeral rites saw wider usage! If you or anyone you know have ever used it, please do let me know.

—Daniel Tucker