Views from the Choir Loft

Jeff Ostrowski • Article Archive

A theorist, organist, and conductor, Jeff Ostrowski holds his B.M. in Music Theory from the University of Kansas (2004). He completed studies in Education and Musicology at the graduate level. Having worked as a church musician in Los Angeles for ten years, in 2024 he accepted a position as choirmaster for Saint Mary of the Immaculate Conception in Michigan, where he resides with his wife and children. —Read full biography (with photographs).

Jeff Ostrowski · December 7, 2024

For The Record …

It strikes me as quite “Adventy”—for lack of a better term.

Jeff Ostrowski · December 7, 2024

PDF • “Advent Kyrie Accompaniment”

Kyrie XVII: “In dominicis Adventus et Quadragesimae.”

Jeff Ostrowski · December 6, 2024

Music List • (Immaculate Conception)

Readers have expressed interest in perusing the “music list” I’ve prepared for this feast.

Jeff Ostrowski · December 6, 2024

PDF Download • “Musical Outline” for the Feast of Our Lady’s Immaculate Conception

Rachmaninoff said: “Nine hours? That’s nothing. For a period of my life, I used to practice 17 hours a day.”

Jeff Ostrowski · December 4, 2024

“A Peculiar Discrepancy” • Immac. Concep. (8 Dec.)

Who can explain this?

Jeff Ostrowski · December 3, 2024

PDF Download • Pristine Scan: Father Mathias’ 1905 Kyriale Organ Accompaniment (186 pages)

Father Mathias served as organist for Strasburg Cathedral, where he founded the “Saint Leo Institute for Church Music” in 1913.

Jeff Ostrowski · December 3, 2024

Organ Accompaniment • “Kyrie IV”

This was inspired by Florentinus Peeters (d. 1986).

Jeff Ostrowski · December 2, 2024

“Promptly, Firmly, & Persistently Repressed.”

The book is called: “Cantica Sacra: Hymns for the children of the Catholic Church.”

Jeff Ostrowski · December 2, 2024

Which Gospel Acclamations?

Some have asked which version…

Jeff Ostrowski · November 26, 2024

“Entrance Chant” • Immaculate Conception

This Introit is in mode iii, which some consider the most beautiful.

Jeff Ostrowski · November 26, 2024

PDF Download • “Entrance Chant” for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception (8 December)

What is he talking about? Where can I go to hear these “aesthetically superior” interpretations? Where can they be found?

Jeff Ostrowski · November 25, 2024

How Sharp Are Your Eyes?

The feast of the Immaculate Conception contains a typo.

Jeff Ostrowski · November 22, 2024

“Music List” • (Christ the King Sunday)

Readers have expressed interest in perusing the “music list” I’ve prepared for this coming Sunday.

Jeff Ostrowski · November 20, 2024

PDF Download • “Entrance Chant” for this Coming Sunday (Christ the King) — 34th in Ordinary Time

Including three separate points on Dom Combe’s shameful and defamatory statement.

Jeff Ostrowski · November 19, 2024

“Entrance Chant” • Christ the King

The feast of Christ the King—a completely modern feast—was added in 1925.

For The Record …

For the 2nd Sunday of Advent, we are singing the COMMUNION ANTIPHON from the O’Fallon Propers (created at the splendid motherhouse of the Precious Blood Sisters in O’Fallon, Missouri). Their English adaptation strikes me as quite beautiful and very “Adventy”—for lack of a better term.

—Jeff Ostrowski

PDF • “Advent Kyrie Accompaniment”

Several readers saw the William Byrd “Choral Extension”—listed on the music list for 9 December—married to the Advent Kyrie (Kyrie XVII: In dominicis Adventus et Quadragesimae) and asked whether my harmonization was available in different keys. If such a thing interests you, feel free to download that organ accompaniment in both F-Major and D-Major.

—Jeff Ostrowski

Music List • (Immaculate Conception)

This coming Monday—9 December 2024—is the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. In the United States of America, it is a holy day of obligation. Some have expressed interest in perusing my “ORDER OF MUSIC.” If such a thing interests you, feel free to download it as a PDF file. The Offertory hymn we’re singing a cappella—set to the tune of FREUEN WIR UNS ALL IN EIN—is particularly beautiful and its text is extremely ancient. The Entrance Antiphon is also quite striking.

—Jeff Ostrowski

Epiphany Proclamation 2025

Each year, without fail, someone asks me to typeset the Epiphany Proclamation, an announcement of moveable feasts chanted each year on the feast of the Epiphany. As a result, you may now find an archive of 23 such proclamations in PDF ready to print HERE.

—Veronica Brandt

The Breviary in the Life of the Laity

Recently I have been enjoying looking through the inaugural (1927) edition of a 20th-century liturgical magazine called Orate Fratres. The July 1927 issue included an excellent article by a Chicago laywoman named Ellen Gates Starr entitled “The Delights of the Breviary: From the Point of View of a Lay Woman.” As we in the 21st century have recently undergone a (blessed!) re-translation of the missal into English, and as we await with joyful hope (please God, before Jesus comes back!) a similar re-translation of the breviary, the opening of her article reminded me of that old saying, “the more things change, the more they stay the same.” Nearly a hundred years ago, she penned words that could just as easily have been written today: “It is indeed a privilege to be allowed any participation, however slight, in the liturgical movement in the Church – the movement to bring back the classics of devotion, the Missal and the Breviary, into general use by the laity. The wonder is that they should ever have fallen into disuse. Nothing can take the place of these great universal prayers of the Church, the prayers of the Mass and the divine Office. One has only to know them to find them indispensable. And alas, how few of the laity know them!” I know that I have been tremendously nourished by regular praying of the breviary as of late, and my wish is that you and I, dear reader, may continue to nourish our interior lives with the official prayer of the Church, which present to us (in the Mass) and extend (in the Office) the fullness of Christ’s greatest gift to us – the gift of Himself – in the Most Holy Eucharist.

—Daniel Tucker

Principles vs Preferences

I ran into this idea recently: principles vs. preferences in planning out a curriculum or music lineup. In this idea, it is imperative to not misconstrue personal preferences into principles—that the music (or subject matter) is great because: “I have good taste, and I like it.” De gustibus… Education, study and docility to the Magisterium of the Church on matters of liturgical music must be present in those who make the music at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the Hours. Who knows? Maybe you might start to prefer the music that is fitting according to the principles Catholic Sacred Music?

—William J. Fritz