• 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!
  • Pew Resources
    • Brébeuf Catholic Hymnal
    • Jogues Illuminated Missal
    • Repository • “Spanish Music”
    • 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
    • Feasts Website
  • 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 · January 10, 2017

Musical Resources • 2nd Sunday after Epiphany

“May this Communion, O Lord, cleanse us from sin…”

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

Jeff Ostrowski · January 9, 2017

“Ten Commandments” • for the Choirmaster

Truth is stranger than fiction.

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

Jeff Ostrowski · January 6, 2017

PDF Download • Epiphany Booklet (FSSP.la)

To match the ancient acrostic, Erasmus changed the first line to “Herodis Hostes.”

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

Jeff Ostrowski · January 5, 2017

Best Mystery Movie Of All Time!

Every so often, we stumble across true excellence. Here’s a prime example.

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

Jeff Ostrowski · January 3, 2017

New Microphone

Please let me know your thoughts in the FB combox…

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

Jeff Ostrowski · January 3, 2017

Major Problems with “Holy Family” Feast

This feast has been moved *four times* since it was created in 1893…but that’s not my problem.

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

Jeff Ostrowski · January 3, 2017

Musical Resources • Holy Family (EF)

Communion anthem: “Jesus went down with them, and came to Nazareth and was subject to them.”

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

Jeff Ostrowski · January 2, 2017

“Table Altar” vs. “High Altar” (Novus Ordo)

It’s incorrect to say new Churches must be constructed with table altars.

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

Jeff Ostrowski · January 1, 2017

A Majestic Christmas Hymn That Isn’t Difficult

“Here lies He in the manger, alleluia, Who reigns without end, alleluia, alleluia.”

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

Jeff Ostrowski · December 31, 2016

Brave Schola Director Posts “Live” Recording…

A snippet caught by a generous alto at Candle-lit Mass in Hollywood.

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

Jeff Ostrowski · December 25, 2016

Proof Good People Still Exist

Several singers shown here helped record the Watershed polyphonic rehearsal videos.

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

Jeff Ostrowski · December 24, 2016

Christmas • When Jackie Gleason Broke Character (Updated)

I forgot something important…

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

Jeff Ostrowski · December 21, 2016

60 Minutes • “The Pope’s Choir” (Sistine Chapel)

This video sharply condemns the choir’s previous director…a dangerous game.

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

Jeff Ostrowski · December 20, 2016

Shortest “Kyrie” Palestrina Ever Wrote

Especially suited for the Ordinary Form—and did you spot the invertible counterpoint?

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

Jeff Ostrowski · December 14, 2016

Musical Resources • 4th Sunday of Advent (EF)

“Look with favor, we beseech Thee, O Lord upon these offerings here before Thee…”

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

  • « Go to Previous Page
  • Page 1
  • Interim pages omitted …
  • Page 136
  • Page 137
  • Page 138
  • Page 139
  • Page 140
  • Interim pages omitted …
  • Page 198
  • Go to Next Page »

Primary Sidebar

Corpus Christi Watershed

President’s Corner

    Calling Dr. Weaver!

    A remarkable exposition of the “mora vocis” (published in 1953 in the Netherlands) which doesn’t shy away from a certain item!

    To access this post, you must purchase Monthly Subscription or Yearly Subscription.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    SLANE • “Simplified” Keyboard Arr.

    Do you know ‘SLANE’ the hymn tune?

    To access this post, you must purchase Monthly Subscription or Yearly Subscription.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Insane Baroque-Era Dissonance!
    The sumptuous melody called “JESU LEIDEN PEIN UND TOD” appears no fewer than three times in the Brébeuf Catholic Hymnal and is harmonized with standard Common Practice Era SATB voice leading and harmonies (which is only natural). However, one who takes the time to examine what Sebastian Bach did with that tune will encounter an incredibly dissonant sound. As far as I’m concerned, there is no more dissonant sound—in the entire Baroque era—than what I highlighted in yellow on that excerpt. Please let me know if you disagree.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Quick Thoughts

    ‘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
    Time and Again We Are Asked…
    John Baptist Singenberger (d. 1924) was a central figure of Catholic Church music. In this utterly fascinating excerpt (Single-Page PDF), Singenberger writes: Time and again we are asked: “Is the Gregorian chant to be accompanied by the organ?” As a young student in Saint Gall, Singenberger befriended SEBASTIAN GEBHARD MESSMER, the future Archbishop of Milwaukee (Wisconsin). The two graduated together in 1861. The school they attended (Saint George’s Seminary) was a “seminary”—but in the older European sense. In other words, it provided a classical education without necessarily leading to ordination. Singenberger remained a layman his whole life, but Messmer was eventually made archbishop—by Pope Saint Pius X—of the very archdiocese in Wisconsin where Singenberger would spend his American career, giving him a powerful ecclesiastical ally.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

“But of all the influences which have power to restore the past, none works upon us more easily than the gift of song. Among all its mysterious qualities (and it is probably the most mysterious thing in all our common experience) music is distinguished by this, that a tune or a phrase carries with it the associations amidst which it was first, or most familiarly heard. It can bring tears to the eyes, or quicken the action of the heart, by a power not its own; it has roots in the memory.”

— Monsignor Ronnie Knox (1947)

Recent Posts

  • Why I Never Write Articles for Corpus Christi Watershed Anymore
  • Calling Dr. Weaver!
  • “A Catholic Choir Director’s Decalogue” • Jeff’s Personal Odyssey (10 Points)
  • SLANE • “Simplified” Keyboard Arr.
  • “Taking Over an Inner City School Choir” • Rebecca’s Story

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.”