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 · February 13, 2017

Refutations • “Can the Latin Mass be enriched?”

The OF can enrich the EF, but not the way Fr. Stravinskas describes.

Jeff Ostrowski · February 11, 2017

Who I Am

Vladimir Horowitz was especially known for this ability.

Jeff Ostrowski · February 9, 2017

“A Trip to the Sacred Music Symposium” • (Film)

Two young ladies in high school created this video as part of a school project.

Jeff Ostrowski · February 7, 2017

Musical Resources • Septuagesima Sunday 1

“Or, is it not lawful for me to do what I will? Is thine eye evil, because I am good?”

Jeff Ostrowski · February 6, 2017

Pope Benedict XVI on this Sunday’s Introit

“The virgin mother bound his limbs in swaddling clothes; such bands held the hands and feet of God!”

Jeff Ostrowski · February 5, 2017

“The Return of the SSPX”

Reflections by a member of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter.

Jeff Ostrowski · February 3, 2017

Did we meet our fundraising goal?

The answer will amaze!

Jeff Ostrowski · January 31, 2017

Photos • Society for Catholic Liturgy Conference

After Mass, a presentation was delivered by the Executive Director of the USCCB Committee on Divine Worship.

Jeff Ostrowski · January 30, 2017

Mind-Blowing SATB Canon

“Laudate Dominum” by William Croft (†1727) is a miracle.

Jeff Ostrowski · January 26, 2017

PDF Download • “Sing the Angelus” (Plainchant)

Can you think of a better way to begin your choir rehearsals?

Jeff Ostrowski · January 24, 2017

Musical Resources • 4th Sunday after Epiphany

“But the men wondered, saying, What manner of man is this, for the winds and the sea obey Him?”

Jeff Ostrowski · January 23, 2017

More From The New Microphone

This Introit is repeated many times, depending on how many Sundays occur after Epiphany.

Jeff Ostrowski · January 17, 2017

PDF • “The Book of Ceremonies” (629 pages)

By Rev. Laurence J. O’Connell, and *published in English* in 1943.

Jeff Ostrowski · January 16, 2017

Courageous Schola Director Posts “Live” Recording

Our choir is 100% volunteers—and many don’t read music.

Jeff Ostrowski · January 16, 2017

Nine Rubrics for Mass in the Extraordinary Form

These rubrics are official; so when does your church begin the Introit?

“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

Proof Which All Can Immediately See!

“A little knowledge is a dangerous thing,” as the famous maxim goes. Over the years, I’ve observed malicious attacks on the Brébeuf Catholic Hymnal. Rather than scoring a ‘hit’ on the Brébeuf Hymnal, its attackers often reveal profound ignorance. I’ve been advised never to reply … but I break that rule today. Certain voices online assert that the Brébeuf Hymnal is “untraditional” because it includes both the Urbanite and pre-Urbanite versions of the hymns. But if only they would glance at a copy of the 1913 VESPERALE (printed by order of Pope Saint Pius X) they would see how mistaken such statements are.

—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