Views from the Choir Loft

Videos • Church Music Association of America

ACRED, BEAUTIFUL, AND UNIVERSAL is a 60-minute movie directed by Jeff Ostrowski (current President of Watershed) with footage from Sacred Music Colloquium XIX. The documentary explains why the Catholic Church uses sacred (not secular) music at Mass. It has been broadcast on three major networks and is played thrice each summer on EWTN. You can purchase the DVD or view the entire 60-minute film online (with the exception of the DVD bonus material):

Additional Links: 01 • 02 • 03 • 04 • 05 • 06 • 07

Some additional sacred music films produced by Watershed:

+  2011 Trailer • Colloquium XXI (YouTube)

+  2010 • Colloquium XX Trailer (YouTube)

+  Interviews (1)

+  Interviews (2)

+  Maestro Scott Turkington

+  Maestro Wilko Brouwers

+  Cor Jesu (Winter Intensive)

+  Christus Vincit (Winter Intensive)

+  Chironomy excerpt

+  Can You Tell The Difference?

+  Can Propers Replace Hymns At Mass? (cartoon)

+  Sacred Vs. Secular Music (cartoon)

+  2008 Trailer (YouTube)

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