Views from the Choir Loft

Christopher Mueller • Article Archive

Christopher Mueller is a church musician, conductor, and composer. He aims to write beautiful music out of gratitude to God, the Author of all beauty.—Read full biography (with photographs).

Christopher Mueller · October 28, 2024

Gasp — Other Sacred Music Websites!

In a show of “web-ecumenism” I’d like to mention five today.

Christopher Mueller · January 4, 2024

Mueller’s Artistic Credo • “Same But Different”

“Variety within a single Mass is important for engaging the listening ears (and singing voices) of the congregation.” —Chris Mueller

Christopher Mueller · June 17, 2023

Richard J. Clark’s “Salve Regina”

“Thanks, Richard, for another accessible and mellifluous motet!” —Chris Mueller

Christopher Mueller · October 6, 2020

(Installment #10) “Catholic Hymnals” • Chris Mueller

Father Rutler makes five crucial points.

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Christopher Mueller · March 30, 2020

Repeating Repertoire? • Christopher Mueller

I’m sure I’m not the only one to feel this way: certain celebrations don’t feel right without “that piece.”

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Christopher Mueller · July 25, 2017

What really happened at the Convocation of Catholic Leaders

Beautiful liturgical music happened—in a hotel ballroom, no less!

Christopher Mueller · April 12, 2016

World Youth Day with polyphony and chant!

Help us bring polyphony and chant to World Youth Day!

Christopher Mueller · February 29, 2016

The Domestic Church and the domestic schola

The family that sings together prays together.

Christopher Mueller · January 6, 2016

On Catholic Art

It’s time to renovate and reoccupy our own tradition!

Christopher Mueller · October 12, 2015

Rediscovering “Musicam Sacram”

I encountered anew this wonderfully clear and concise document about music in the liturgy.

Christopher Mueller · September 21, 2015

A Striking Approach To Performing Gregorian Chant

A commenter had posted, “Their metrical chant is a revelation!” That piqued my curiosity.

Christopher Mueller · September 7, 2015

Liturgy And Diversity

“His answer was surprising to me, and I thought it both prudential and catholic.” —Chris Mueller

Christopher Mueller · January 3, 2013

Biography • Christopher Mueller

Christopher is a church musician, conductor, and composer…

“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