• 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!
    • “Choirmaster’s Decalogue” (10 points)
  • 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 · February 7, 2023

Did Pope Francis Just Publicly Rebuke the Prefect of Divine Worship?

Arthur Cardinal Roche has not had an easy time of it lately.

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

Jeff Ostrowski · February 5, 2023

Hymn by Cardinal Newman

During the season of Septuagesima, we will be using this hymn by Cardinal Newman, which employs both Latin and English. (Readers probably know that Cardinal Newman was one of the world’s experts when it comes to Lingua Latina.) The final verse contains a beautiful soprano descant. You can hear this brief excerpt taken during our […]

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

Jeff Ostrowski · February 4, 2023

Church Music Shouldn’t Be “Headache-Inducing”

Authentic sacred music should attract people. It should not drive them away.

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

Jeff Ostrowski · February 4, 2023

Introit • Candlemas (2 February)

“Candlemas” • Our choir sang on February 2nd, and here’s a live recording of the beautiful INTROIT: Suscépimus Deus. We had very little time to rehearse, but I think it has some very nice moments. I promise that by the 8th Sunday after Pentecost it will be perfect! (That Introit is repeated on the 8th […]

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

Jeff Ostrowski · February 3, 2023

Simplified Antiphons • “Candlemas”

Anyone who desires simplified antiphons (“psalm tone versions”) for 2 February, the Feast of the Purification—which is also known as “Candlemas” or the Feast of the Presentation—may freely download them. The texts of the antiphons are quite beautiful. From “Lumen Ad Revelatiónem Géntium” you can hear a live excerpt (Mp3). I’m not a fan of […]

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

Jeff Ostrowski · January 31, 2023

Tempo?? • 𝘏𝘰𝘭𝘺 𝘎𝘰𝘥, 𝘞𝘦 𝘗𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘛𝘩𝘺 𝘕𝘢𝘮𝘦

Once, after Mass, my pastor said he really loved the hymn we did. I said: “Father, that’s Holy God, We Praise Thy Name—you never heard it before?” He replied: “But the way you did it was terrific. For once, it didn’t sound like a funeral dirge!” Last Sunday, our volunteer choir sang that hymn. I […]

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

Jeff Ostrowski · January 31, 2023

PDF Download • Belgian Book of Gregorian Accompaniments (Official Edition)

We paid to have this extremely rare book scanned professionally.

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

Jeff Ostrowski · January 29, 2023

Don’t You Agree About These?

If you want to make Jeff Ostrowski really happy, send him an email with effusive praise about the individual voice recordings for hymn #296. [Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass] They came out dazzlingly sensational, don’t you agree?

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

Jeff Ostrowski · January 29, 2023

Choral Vowels? Yes? No?

Here’s a live recording of one of the choral “warm-up” exercises my choir enjoys. It was taken during our rehearsal on 27 January 2023. It’s good to make sure each chord is perfectly in tune and balanced before moving to the next one. That only happens when each singer has the correct vowel. If you […]

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

Jeff Ostrowski · January 28, 2023

Crucial Tip For Choir Directors

Don’t listen to excuses!

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

Jeff Ostrowski · January 28, 2023

Father Herbert Thurston • “I Fear the Man With One Book”

“Sometimes there was the possibility to be faced that a particular line of research could never be followed to a successful conclusion because the evidence was now no longer available.”

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

Jeff Ostrowski · January 26, 2023

26 January 2023 • FEEDBACK

“Jeff, I wanted to personally thank you for your spiritual witness at the Symposium & often blogs that you write too. Praying that prayer in the mornings My God, my Father and my all (by Cardinal Merry Del Val), mentioning saints’ stories of Brébeuf, Jogues, John Vianney, monks who fought in WWII, their hard work […]

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

Jeff Ostrowski · January 26, 2023

Symposium Draft Schedule Released!

Those who head over to the Symposium Website will notice the tentative schedule for 2023 has been released. This is all very exciting! Very soon, we will begin accepting applications, so please make sure you have subscribed to our mailing list. If you are subscribed, that means you’ll hear announcements before anyone else. (It’s incredibly […]

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

Jeff Ostrowski · January 25, 2023

Good Friday Polyphony by L. Senfl

The editor of the Sacred Music Magazine recently made available to the public this splendid article by our own Charles Weaver. It includes an edition of polyphony for the GOOD FRIDAY “Reproaches.” Renaissance composers often set the various offices of Holy Week; e.g. readers will probably be familiar with the beautiful TENEBRAE setting by Father […]

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

Jeff Ostrowski · January 25, 2023

PDF Download • 1909 “Modern Notation” Gradual (Extremely Rare) — 712 Pages

The truth is stranger than fiction.

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

  • « Go to Previous Page
  • Page 1
  • Interim pages omitted …
  • Page 63
  • Page 64
  • Page 65
  • Page 66
  • Page 67
  • Interim pages omitted …
  • Page 198
  • Go to Next Page »

Primary Sidebar

Corpus Christi Watershed

President’s Corner

    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
    Absolutely ‘Perfect’ Voice-Leading?

    This brief passage seems (in my humble opinion) to be a delightful specimen.

    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 unity of language in the liturgy is so great a treasure for the Church that no advantage could compensate for its demise.”

— Dom Anselmo Albareda (2 January 1953), Father Nicola Giampietro, page 249

Recent Posts

  • “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?”
  • PDF Download • 1950s Hand Missal including “Priest Photographs” at Mass (944 pages)

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.”