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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 · May 25, 2024

25 May 2024 • FEEDBACK

We get tons of messages from readers; perhaps we should do a better job sharing them. In 2010, composer Dan Schutte published “Mass of Christ the Savior,” based upon the theme song from the My Little Pony television cartoon. Earlier today, someone under the moniker “Praying Girl” wrote as follows: “I wonder how many people […]

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Jeff Ostrowski · May 24, 2024

PDF Download • “Saint Dunstan Hymnal” (158 pages)

How close are Anglicans to Catholics, in terms of their religious practices?

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Jeff Ostrowski · May 22, 2024

Take the “Hymn Quiz!”

How well do you know hymnody? A few days ago, we recorded this really beautiful hymn as part of a Roman Catholic Spanish hymnal project we’re helping with. Can you name that tune? (We’re looking for the correct name of the melody.) If you give up—or if you want to verify your answer—click here for […]

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Jeff Ostrowski · May 22, 2024

PDF • “Propers in figured notation”

Jennifer Urquhart wrote to us: “I’m currently involved in providing music for a non-specialist choir which will sing a TLM for the Sacred Heart. Since those propers changed in 1929, the one in the figured Liber Usualis (1924) now has the wrong texts.” Jennifer placed those propers into modern notation, which you can download as […]

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Jeff Ostrowski · May 21, 2024

“Hail Redeemer, King Divine”

Click here to listen to our 100% volunteer choir singing this famous hymn without organ. By way of comparison, you can hear the same choir sing that hymn accompanied by the pipe organ if you click here. Both have advantages and disadvantages. Please feel free to email me and tell me which you like better.

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Jeff Ostrowski · May 21, 2024

Choir Members Can’t Get Enough of This Piece

An English translation of “Veni Creator Spiritus.”

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Jeff Ostrowski · May 20, 2024

ABC’s “The View” Attacks the Traditional Latin Mass

If you were arrested and charged with being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?

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Jeff Ostrowski · May 20, 2024

PDF Download • SATB “Kyrie” for Small Choirs

This SATB setting by Father Francisco Guerrero is brief but magnificent.

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Jeff Ostrowski · May 19, 2024

When Dr. Calabrese Addressed Me Personally

Including a ‘live’ recording of the Church’s oldest Latin Eucharistic Hymn, which comes from a 7th-century Irish manuscript.

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Jeff Ostrowski · May 15, 2024

Documentation • “In the Olden Days, Was Vernacular Sung During Liturgical Services?”

Including a splendid harmonization of “Holy God, We Praise Thy Name.”

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Jeff Ostrowski · May 13, 2024

Organ Accomp. • “Ascension Hymn at Vespers”

The soul-stirring hymn used on ASCENSION THURSDAY at Vespers—and also used on the Sunday which follows the Ascension—was called in the 7th century: “Jesu Nostra Redemptio.” After 1631AD, the title of that hymn was changed to “Salutis Humanae Sator.” The melody assigned by the Vatican Commission on Gregorian Chant is rather mournful (and very difficult […]

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Jeff Ostrowski · May 10, 2024

“For The First Time” • Our Choir Sings In Spanish!

That changed last week!

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Jeff Ostrowski · May 10, 2024

Hymn for the Ascension

Here is a ‘live’ recording from the Mass on Ascension Thursday (2024): Hymn for the Ascension. I could not be prouder of this parish choir, which consists 100% of volunteers. To learn more about this hymn, please visit #704 in the hymn portal. I have argued that—in addition to CARMEN GREGORIANUM, organ music, and polyphony—hymns […]

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Jeff Ostrowski · May 10, 2024

“Praise To The Lord” • Simple Accomp.

A simplified keyboard accompaniment for pianists struggling to be organists.

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Jeff Ostrowski · May 10, 2024

“Yes or No?” • Should We Give People the Sacred Music They Ardently Crave?

Some of them became “obsessed” with this SATB arrangement—𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡’𝑠 𝑜𝑘𝑎𝑦!

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Corpus Christi Watershed

President’s Corner

    PDF Download • “Our Father” (1 page)
    Dutch organist, teacher, and conductor HERMAN STRATEGIER (d. 1988) studied under Hendrik Andriessen. He composed this unison setting with organ accompaniment for the LORD’S PRAYER (“Our Father”) which a children’s choir would find both within reach and worthy of the effort. The whole thing fits neatly on a single page. Strategier eventually became organist of Saint Catherine’s Cathedral in Utrecht. He also taught at the “Dutch Institute for Catholic Church Music” (Nederlands Instituut voor Katholieke Kerkmuziek).
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    PDF • “Organ Interlude” (Manuals Only)
    Monsignor Franciszek Walczyński (d. 1937) was a Polish composer. If you play the pipe organ, I encourage you to try out this ORGAN INTERLUDE FOR MANUALS ONLY (1-page PDF) which he composed. Walczyński taught plainsong at the seminary in Tarnów (about 50 miles east of Kraków). With his brother Stanisław—also a Catholic priest—he initiated the Saint Adalbert Society for the Support of Church Music, which ran annual workshops for their diocese. In July of 1894 (more than a decade before the appearance of the Editio Vaticana) Walczyński lectured on “congregational singing and Gregorian Chant.” On top of all that, Monsignor Walczyński founded an organists’ school in Tarnów and the SAINT ADALBERT CHOIR at the cathedral.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Eucharistic Prayer No. 2 on Sundays?

    Highlighted in yellow (on this single-page PDF file) is documentation concerning whether the 2nd Eucharistic prayer may be used on Sundays.

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    —Jeff Ostrowski

Quick Thoughts

    Preface of Saint Joseph (added by the pope)

    You can see the “Præfatio de Sancto Joseph” inserted directly into the priest’s missal.

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    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “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

Random Quote

“Older priests, therefore, should receive younger priests as true brothers and help them in their first undertakings and priestly duties. The older ones should likewise endeavor to understand the mentality of younger priests, even though it be different from their own, and follow their projects with good will.”

— Pope Saint Paul VI (7 dec 1965)

Recent Posts

  • The Vanishing Art of Knowing Hymns • We Seek a Hymn “Expert” (Not Just a Hymn “Enthusiast”)
  • Preface of Saint Joseph (added by the pope)
  • PDF Download • “Our Father” (1 page)
  • Composer Isabella Quintana: “Christ my teacher, Christ my healer, Christ my Savior.” • (Guest Article)
  • PDF • “Organ Interlude” (Manuals Only)

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