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Views from the Choir Loft

Keven Smith • Article Archive

Keven Smith is the music director at St. Stephen the First Martyr Catholic Church, an apostolate of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter (FSSP) in Sacramento, California. He trains and directs a mixed choir that sings full Gregorian propers, ordinaries, and sacred polyphony at more than 100 traditional Latin Masses per year. Keven lives in Sacramento with his wife and five musical children.—Read full biography (with photographs).

Keven Smith · January 11, 2021

What Color Is B-Flat? Life as a Musician with Synesthesia

Musicians rely on hearing. Hearing is a sense. Synesthesia makes the senses cross over. And that’s where the fun begins….

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Keven Smith · January 4, 2021

Here’s a New Year’s Resolution: Tell Strangers What You Do

A recent encounter made me realize what can happen when we discuss church music with others.

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Keven Smith · December 28, 2020

Start the New Year Right with a Spectacular Alleluia

If you attend the Extraordinary Form, the Alleluia for the Octave of the Nativity will enable you to start the New Year with a bang.

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Keven Smith · December 21, 2020

Hidden Gem: Alma Redemptoris Mater (Salazar)

Here’s a Spanish Baroque motet that will gradually, gently win your heart while giving your choir another good option for the entire Christmas cycle.

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Keven Smith · December 14, 2020

How to Help Children Match Pitch (part III)

Three more tips on what to do and how to act with your young music students. Learn the secret ingredient of success!

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Keven Smith · December 7, 2020

How to Help Children Match Pitch (part II)

Got your kids singing in head tone? Good. Next, try these two tips to eliminate obstacles to their success.

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Keven Smith · November 30, 2020

How to Help Children Match Pitch (part I)

It all starts with teaching your kids to sing in head tone. Here are some ideas on how to do it.

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Keven Smith · November 23, 2020

St. Matthew, St. Jane, and the End of a Liturgical Year

St. Jane de Chantal’s Prayer of Abandonment can help you make peace with a liturgical year that was not what any of us expected.

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Keven Smith · November 16, 2020

Let’s Bring Back the Thank-You Note

I’m a little early for Thanksgiving, but I think any church musician will appreciate this story of gratitude.

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Keven Smith · November 9, 2020

Veterans Day: Remembering Those Who Made Our Music Possible

My grandparents served in World War II and helped defeat fascism. The service, faith, and prayers of people like them made it possible for us all to be church musicians today.

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Keven Smith · November 2, 2020

Place Me Among the Sheep, Not the Goats

The Dies Irae is part of why my choir prefers singing Requiems to Nuptial Masses. Here’s why you should spend a few minutes with this Sequence on All Souls Day.

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Keven Smith · October 26, 2020

Quick Vocal Tip: The Yawn Breath

Looking for a speedy way to help your choir get into good placement for singing? The yawn breath encourages healthy phonation.

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Keven Smith · October 20, 2020

Helping “Tone-Deaf” Men Match Pitch

(Keven Smith) • Ever had a man express interest in your choir, only to discover that he has trouble matching pitch? You may just need to unlock his high range. Here’s how I’d approach the situation • James C. McKinney is mentioned+

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Keven Smith · October 13, 2020

How to Stay Prayerful as a Church Musician

It all boils down to recollection. This 39-page book will help. (And so will one weird trick with your computer, as the clickbaiters would say.)

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Keven Smith · October 6, 2020

The Real Reason Why Some People Don’t Match Pitch

(Keven Smith) • I’ve come to realize that the vast majority of “tone-deaf” people aren’t really tone-deaf at all. They just haven’t been trained to coordinate their voices with their audiation+

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Keven Smith · September 28, 2020

Outdoor Music Classes? Only in 2020!

One hundred participants? Either sacred music is alive and well or families are getting stir-crazy from the lockdown. 

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Keven Smith · September 14, 2020

Graduale Renovatum: New Resource Brings Chant Rhythm to Life

These intuitive manuscripts give singers the information they need to bring out the oft-ignored nuances of chant rhythm.

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Keven Smith · September 7, 2020

Introvert, Except at Rehearsal? You May Be an Ambivert

(Keven Smith) • Here are some suggestions on how to get the most out of your unusual combination of skills and traits+

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Keven Smith · August 31, 2020

(Installment #3) “Catholic Hymnals” • Keven Smith

Top 10 Features • “An Ideal Extraordinary Form Hymnal”

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Keven Smith · August 24, 2020

Quick Vocal Tip: Be Breathy, but Briefly

You’ll never meet a serious choral singer who strives for a breathy sound. But a little breathiness in warmups and personal practice can work wonders. 

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Corpus Christi Watershed

Quick Thoughts

6 January 2021 • Anglicans on Plainsong

A book published by Anglicans in 1965 has this to say about Abbat Pothier’s Editio Vaticana, the musical edition reproduced by books such as the LIBER USUALIS (Solesmes Abbey): “No performing edition of the music of the Eucharistic Psalmody can afford to ignore the evidence of the current official edition of the Latin Graduale, which is no mere reproduction of a local or partial tradition, but a CENTO resulting from an extended study and comparison of a host of manuscripts gathered from many places. Thus the musical text of the Graduale possesses a measure of authority which cannot lightly be disregarded.” They are absolutely correct.

—Jeff Ostrowski
2 January 2021 • Temptation

When I see idiotic statements made on the internet, I go nuts. When I see heretics promoted by people who should know better, I get angry. Learning to ignore such items is difficult—very difficult. I try to remember the words of Fr. Valentine Young: “Do what God places in front of you each day.” When I am honest, I don’t believe God wants me to dwell on errors and idiocy; there’s nothing I can do about that. During 2021, I will strive to do a better job following the advice of Fr. Valentine.

—Jeff Ostrowski
31 December 2020 • “COMITES CHRISTI”

The feasts for Saint Stephen Proto-Martyr (26 December), Saint John the Evangelist The Disciple Whom Jesus Loved (27 December), and the Feast of the Holy Innocents (28 December) seem untouched by any liturgical reforms. These are very powerful feasts—I believe they once possessed octaves—and I believe they could sometimes “overpower” a Sunday feast. The rules for octaves in the olden days are extremely complex. These feasts are sometimes referred to as a single entity as: Comites Christi (“Companions of Christ”). This is just a guess, but there seems to be a triple significance: STEPHEN martyred after Christ lived, JOHN was a martyr who knew Christ personally, and the HOLY INNOCENTS were martyred before Christ’s birth.

—Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

Far from dreading an encounter with the Iroquois, Fr. Garnier often told us he would be quite content to fall into their hands and remain their prisoner if—while they were torturing him—he at least had a chance of instructing them as long as his torments lasted. If they allowed him to live, it would afford him a golden opportunity to work for their conversion, which was now impossible, since the gateway to their country was closed as long as they were our enemies.

— Father Ragueneau (Jesuit Relations)

Recent Posts

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  • 6 January 2021 • Anglicans on Plainsong

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