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Pope Saint Paul VI (3 April 1969): “Although the text of the Roman Gradual—at least that which concerns the singing—has not been changed, the Entrance antiphons and Communions antiphons have been revised for Masses without singing.”

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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 · 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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Corpus Christi Watershed

President’s Corner

    Simplified Accompaniment (Advent Hymn)
    Many organists are forced to simultaneously serve as both CANTOR and ACCOMPANIST. In spite of what some claim, this can be difficult. I invite you to download this simplified organ accompaniment (PDF) which in the Father Brébeuf Hymnal is hymn #661: “Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus” (for ADVENT). I’m toying with the idea of creating a whole bunch of these, to help amateur organists. The last one I uploaded was downloaded more than 2,900 times in a matter of hours—so there appears to be interest.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    PDF • “Music List” (Immaculate Concep.)
    Readers have expressed interest in perusing the ORDER OF MUSIC I’ve prepared for 8 December 2025, the feast of OUR LADY’S IMMACULATE CONCEPTION. If such a thing interests you, feel free to download it as a PDF file. The fauxbourdon setting of the COMMUNION is exquisite. In Latin, the title of this feast is: In Conceptione Immaculata Beatae Mariae Virginis. As always, the Responsorial Psalm, Gospel Acclamation, and Mass Propers for this Sunday are available at the feasts website alongside the official texts in Latin.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Reminder” — Month of December (2025)
    On a daily basis, I speak to people who don’t realize we publish a free newsletter (although they’ve followed our blog for years). We have no endowment, no major donors, no savings, and refuse to run annoying ads. As a result, our mailing list is crucial to our survival. Signing up couldn’t be easier: simply scroll to the bottom of any blog article and enter your email address.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Quick Thoughts

    Pope Leo XIV on Sacred Music
    On 5 December 2025, Pope Leo XIV made this declaration with regard to liturgical music.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    “Translations Approved for Liturgical Use”
    According to the newsletter for USSCB’s Committee on Divine Worship dated September 1996, there are three (3) translations of the Bible which can be used in the sacred liturgy in the United States. You can read this information with your own eyes. It seems the USCCB and also Rome fully approved the so-called NRSV (“New Revised Standard Version”) on 13 November 1991 and 6 April 1992 but this permission was then withdrawn in 1994.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    Gospel Options for 2 November (“All Souls”)
    We’ve been told some bishops are suppressing the TLM because of “unity.” But is unity truly found in the MISSALE RECENS? For instance, on All Souls (2 November), any of these Gospel readings may be chosen, for any reason (or for no reason at all). The same is true of the Propria Missæ and other readings—there are countless options in the ORDINARY FORM. In other words, no matter which OF parish you attend on 2 November, you’ll almost certainly hear different propers and readings, to say nothing of different ‘styles’ of music. Where is the “unity” in all this? Indeed, the Second Vatican Council solemnly declared: “Even in the liturgy, the Church has no wish to impose a rigid uniformity in matters which do not implicate the faith or the good of the whole community.”
    —Corpus Christi Watershed

Random Quote

“Oh, the happy choir director who is hired to start work on a brand new choir, or who walks into his first rehearsal a total stranger to the existing group—what a fortunate man he is! The new choir director who is a former member of the choir, or a member of the congregation, or the nephew of the alto soloist, or a former altar boy, or otherwise well acquainted with the choir, is in for a few headaches.”

— Paul Hume (1956)

Recent Posts

  • “Alma Redemptóris Mater” • Everything There Is To Know About This Marian Antiphon
  • Simplified Accompaniment (Advent Hymn)
  • Pope Leo XIV on Sacred Music
  • (5 Dec. 2025) • Pope Leo XIV Speaks on Liturgical Music
  • PDF • “Music List” (Immaculate Concep.)

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