Views from the Choir Loft

Rebecca De La Torre • Article Archive

Rebecca holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from Arizona State University. She has served as the Director of Music at Queen of Peace Catholic Church in Mesa, AZ for over 18 years, where she continues to lead music ministry with a passion for traditional sacred music. Rebecca resides with her husband and daughter in Phoenix, Arizona.—Read full biography (with photographs).

Rebecca De La Torre · July 18, 2026

“Taking Over an Inner City School Choir” • Rebecca’s Story

Rebecca gives 4 ‘tips’ on training a children’s choir.

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

Rebecca De La Torre · November 11, 2024

Advent • “Introducing Ancient Sacred Works”

“In less than a year, I was able to transition their Spanish Mass from completely contemporary to completely sacred. No parishioners were lost and the Mass attendance grew slightly.” —Rebecca De La Torre

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

Rebecca De La Torre · October 22, 2024

Entrance Antiphons • “Transitioning from a Contemporary to Sacred Music Program”

“These are simple propers, but not to the point of being monotone.” —Rebecca De La Torre

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

Rebecca De La Torre · January 22, 2013

Biography • Rebecca De La Torre

Rebecca holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from Arizona State University…

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

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

‘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

“I prefer to preach,” said one priest “even without immediate preparation, for I can always draw—from the various studies stored away during the seminary years—enough material to interest our good Catholic people. But when I have to go to the altar and sing High Mass or a Requiem, and I know that I cannot read a note of the Preface and the ‘Pater Noster’, I feel like going to martyrdom. Yet the notes are right there before my eyes, but they seem to mock my ignorance.”

— From a 1920 article by Very Rev. Leo P. Manzetti