• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Corpus Christi Watershed

A monthly subscription fee of $4.95 gives access to the entire website. Thank you for supporting our efforts!

  • Member Log In
    • My Account
    • “Receipts + Invoices” (Subscribers)
  • Our Team
    • Our Editorial Policy
    • Who We Are
    • How To Contact Us
    • Jeff’s Mom Joins Fundraiser
    • “A New Chapter” • Subscriptions!
    • “Participation” (12 pages)
    • “Choirmaster’s Decalogue” (10 points)
  • Pew Resources
    • Brébeuf Catholic Hymnal
    • Jogues Illuminated Missal
    • Repository • “Spanish Music”
    • Feasts Website
    • KYRIALE • Saint Antoine Daniel
    • Campion Missal, 3rd Edition
  • MUSICAL WEBSITES
    • Secrets of the Conscientious Choirmaster
    • Emporium Kevin Allen
    • Miscellaneous
      • Sainte Marie Bulletin Articles
      • “Let the Choir Have a Voice” (Essay)
      • Catechism of Gregorian Rhythm
      • Sacred Music Symposium 2023
      • The Eight Gregorian Modes
      • Gradual by Pothier’s Protégé
      • Father Enemond Massé Manuscripts
      • Seven (7) Considerations
    • René Goupil Gregorian Chant
    • Saint Jean de Lalande Library
    • Noël Chabanel Psalms
    • Nova Organi Harmonia (2,279 pages)
    • Roman Missal, 3rd Edition
    • Lalemant Polyphonic
  • Donate
  • Cart
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 · August 7, 2018

PDF Download • “Sunday Vespers”

…including a failed descant from 1983.

To access this post, you must purchase Monthly Subscription or Yearly Subscription.

Jeff Ostrowski · July 27, 2018

Remarkable Quote About Low Mass

It’s disturbing to realize that Mass was offered like this in some places.

To access this post, you must purchase Monthly Subscription or Yearly Subscription.

Jeff Ostrowski · July 26, 2018

Puzzle • “Now Thank We All Our God”

Singular or Plural?

To access this post, you must purchase Monthly Subscription or Yearly Subscription.

Jeff Ostrowski · July 25, 2018

1934 Footage • Gregorian Chant in Chicago

They sure did sing with gusto in those days!

To access this post, you must purchase Monthly Subscription or Yearly Subscription.

Jeff Ostrowski · July 23, 2018

“Arundel Catholic Hymns” • Hymns Chosen and Edited by the Duke of Norfolk

“To the man of cultivated taste, they are displeasing—and in some cases even offensive…”

To access this post, you must purchase Monthly Subscription or Yearly Subscription.

Jeff Ostrowski · July 22, 2018

Brébeuf Hymnal • “Behind the Scenes”

Creating a metrical translation like that, so very literal, is stupefyingly difficult.

To access this post, you must purchase Monthly Subscription or Yearly Subscription.

Jeff Ostrowski · July 16, 2018

PDF Canon • “Non Nobis Domine” (William Byrd)

This Canon, attributed to William Byrd, was greatly admired by Beethoven and Mozart.

To access this post, you must purchase Monthly Subscription or Yearly Subscription.

Jeff Ostrowski · July 11, 2018

Rehearsal videos • “Kyrie” by Josquin des Prez (d. 1521)

Recorded by participants at the 2018 Symposium!

To access this post, you must purchase Monthly Subscription or Yearly Subscription.

Jeff Ostrowski · July 10, 2018

What Happens When A Choirmaster Gets Sad?

Our profession is not an easy one.

To access this post, you must purchase Monthly Subscription or Yearly Subscription.

Jeff Ostrowski · July 9, 2018

(Video) • Closing Mass of Symposium 2018

…recorded on a device located at the very back of Church.

To access this post, you must purchase Monthly Subscription or Yearly Subscription.

Jeff Ostrowski · July 5, 2018

iPhone Clip • “Sight-Reading Hymns”

Can you name this hymn melody?

To access this post, you must purchase Monthly Subscription or Yearly Subscription.

Jeff Ostrowski · June 24, 2018

(Recorded Live) • “Agnus Dei” at the Symposium

About 450 people attended the Mass on Friday night

To access this post, you must purchase Monthly Subscription or Yearly Subscription.

Jeff Ostrowski · June 19, 2018

iPhone Clip • From Sacred Music Symposium 2018

This year’s Symposium has begun…with a bang!

To access this post, you must purchase Monthly Subscription or Yearly Subscription.

Jeff Ostrowski · June 12, 2018

“Come Holy Ghost” • Improvisation

Can you improvise?

To access this post, you must purchase Monthly Subscription or Yearly Subscription.

Jeff Ostrowski · June 8, 2018

“No, I was taught that in school…”

The famous wit of William F. Buckley Jr. is quite conspicuous in this clip.

To access this post, you must purchase Monthly Subscription or Yearly Subscription.

  • « Go to Previous Page
  • Page 1
  • Interim pages omitted …
  • Page 121
  • Page 122
  • Page 123
  • Page 124
  • Page 125
  • Interim pages omitted …
  • Page 198
  • Go to Next Page »

Primary Sidebar

Corpus Christi Watershed

President’s Corner

    Knox. Has. No. Equal.
    Dr. Finberg (of the University of Leicester) famously said: “No living writer possesses a greater command over the English language than Monsignor Ronald Knox.” A lifetime spent among his works would not exhaust them; always another thing to see, never once a reason to look away. Consider the marvelous way Knox Englished the famous VERBUM SUPERNUM of Saint Thomas Aquinas. The 4th verse (in Latin) means: “By being born, He became man’s companion; at this supper, He became man’s food; in dying, He became man’s ransom; in reigning, He is man’s reward.” Knox brilliantly makes the English fit the Latin meter: The manger, Christ their equal made, | That upper room, their souls’ repast, | The Cross, their ransom dearly paid, | And heav’n, their high reward at last. I believe the meaning of the French word “manger” was not absent from his thoughts when he penned that stanza.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Proportionalist Plainchant • (Documented)
    On this website, we believe: “If we don’t know where we came from, we can’t know where we’re going.” As a result, we often spend hours scanning old books of GREGORIAN CHANT (and organ accompaniments). We don’t claim those items are useful or desirable for today’s circumstances; the goal is understanding where we came from. Here is a fascinating musical score from the 19th century. At that time, it was believed that MENSURALISM (a.k.a. “proportionalism”) was the historically correct way to sing plainsong.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Garnier Alleluias • “Have They Moved?”

    We received an email asking whether the “Garnier Gospel Acclamations website” has…

    To access this post, you must purchase Monthly Subscription or Yearly Subscription.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Quick Thoughts

    “Predictable Rhymes?” • A Follow Up
    We received considerable correspondence regarding my article, Two Ways to Defile a Hymn. More specifically, what really raised certain people’s hackles was its follow-up article dealing with the keyboard accompaniment for the CHRIST THE KING HYMNAL. But to quote Eliza Doolittle: “Have I said anything I oughtn’t?” Please examine this PDF file and see whether you agree. Were the editors of the BRÉBEUF HYMNAL incorrect to insist upon sophisticated and clever rhymes, rather than mind-numbingly predictable rhymes?
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    ‘Ould’ But Not Good
    Dom Samuel Gregory Ould (note the spelling) was a Benedictine monk at FORT AUGUSTUS ABBEY in Scotland. As musician, organist, and composer, Dom Ould was highly regarded. Moreover, he was considered an authority on Gregorian Chant. But not everything found in an old book—or, in this case, an “Ould” book—is necessarily praiseworthy. Consider this page from Dom Ould’s hymnal. Do you see the rhymes? They offend severely by ABR (“Abuse By Reuse”) and are utterly predictable. In my recent article—Two Ways to Defile a Hymn—I addressed this topic.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Reader Feedback” • 22 June 2026
    A reader wrote to us from Virginia: “I really appreciate the 23 harmonizations that you posted on CORPUS CHRISTI WATERSHED for the Daily, Daily, Sing to Mary hymn. I hope to find willing voices in our small Schola Cantorum to try the three-voice version. Carry on, sir! You’re doing the Lord’s work.” While we don’t know this gentleman personally, we note that he earned a Ph.D. (which demonstrates that our blog has something for everybody). 😊
    —Corpus Christi Watershed

Random Quote

The ratio of voices in modern choirs is usually wrong. Basses should be numerically greatest, then altos, then tenors, then sopranos. One good soprano can carry a high “A” against 30 lower voices.

— Roger Wagner

Recent Posts

  • Knox. Has. No. Equal.
  • “Plainsong Propers” • Fascinating 1980s Recordings
  • Proportionalist Plainchant • (Documented)
  • “First Things First” • The Order We’ve Reversed: Seven (7) Points for Consideration
  • Garnier Alleluias • “Have They Moved?”

Subscribe

Subscribe

* indicates required

Footer

CONTACT • Corpus Christi Watershed

1 (747) 218-8005
chabanel.psalms@gmail.com
Corpus Christi Watershed
8118 Etienne Dr
Corpus Christi, TX 78414

Copyright © 2026 Corpus Christi Watershed · Isaac Jogues on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

Corpus Christi Watershed is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization recognized by the state of Texas on 19 October 2006. Our statement of purpose notes that we “employ the creative media in service of theology, the Church, and Christian culture for the enrichment and enjoyment of the public.”