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Corpus Christi Watershed

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Views from the Choir Loft

Common Hymn Melodies

Jeff Ostrowski · May 4, 2023

Six (6) Pernicious Hymn Pairings

The current situation is heartbreaking.

Jeff Ostrowski · May 2, 2023

Should Chant Be Accompanied On The Organ?

As late as 1924, Dom Mocquereau mentioned Dom Desrocquettes “whose beautiful and discreet accompaniments I hear every day at Solesmes.”

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Jeff Ostrowski · March 28, 2023

Three (3) Tricks Every Choir Director Should Learn

Conscientious choirmasters know it’s crucial to get “as much bang for your buck” as possible.

Jeff Ostrowski · December 20, 2022

Choirmasters • “How To Avoid Getting Fired”

Anyone who’s ever stood in front of a choir knows the choirmaster’s vocation is not an easy one.

Jeff Ostrowski · December 13, 2022

PDF Download • “Advent Eucharistic Hymn”

I don’t know a more powerful exposition on the Holy Eucharist than this striking hymn by Archbishop Pecham!

Jeff Ostrowski · February 26, 2022

“Common” Hymn Tunes? • Another Example

The first text is for the “pre-Lent” season…

Jeff Ostrowski · October 13, 2021

Seven Solutions • “Getting Catholics Singing Again”

At the conservatory, we’re surrounded by hundreds of professional musicians; but stepping into a Catholic parish the situation is quite different.

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Jeff Ostrowski · October 5, 2021

Two Hymns Loved By Everyone … Except Purists!

Fulton J. Sheen: “In those days there were no scandal columns, but there were scandalmongers.”

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Jeff Ostrowski · October 1, 2021

Brave Schola Director Posts Live Recording

This is a beautiful melody worth learning, worth singing, and worthy of the temple.

Jeff Ostrowski · August 24, 2021

Church Musicians: The Revolution Starts Today!

Do what’s right, say your prayers, offer each day to Jesus Christ, and hold your head high!

Jeff Ostrowski · August 7, 2021

Hymn For The Transfiguration (6 August) • “Recorded During Choir Rehearsal”

An English translation by Robert Campbell of Skerrington (d. 1868), who was a convert to the Catholic Faith.

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Jeff Ostrowski · August 5, 2021

“Talking To Dead Composers” • Part 2

Including a live recording (without organ) of “Alleluia, Sing To Jesus” by a volunteer choir.

Jeff Ostrowski · August 4, 2021

It Finally Happened.

Father Valentine used to say: “The cemeteries are full of people who thought they were indispensable.”

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Jeff Ostrowski · February 6, 2020

PDF Download • “What Makes A Good Hymn?”

Dr. Terry says: “The melody must be clearly defined, free from triviality and trite clichés, avoiding harmonies that are sugary or sensuous.”

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Jeff Ostrowski · July 20, 2019

Brébeuf Hymn #156 • “Christe Redemptor”

The Soprano line was sung by a young lady in the 8th grade—and she did very well.

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Corpus Christi Watershed

President’s Corner

    “Booklet of Eucharistic Hymns” (16 pages)
    I was asked to create a booklet for my parish to use during our CORPUS CHRISTI PROCESSION on 22 June 2025. Would you be willing to look over the DRAFT BOOKLET (16 pages) I came up with? I tried to include a variety of hymns: some have a refrain; some are in major, others in minor; some are metered, others are plainsong; some are in Spanish, some are in Latin, but most are in English. Normally, we’d use the Brébeuf Hymnal—but we can’t risk having our congregation carry those heavy books all over the city to various churches.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Yahweh” in church songs?
    My pastor asked me to write a weekly column for our parish bulletin. The one scheduled to run on 22 June 2025 is called “Three Words in a Psalm” and speaks of translating the TETRAGRAMMATON. You can read the article at this column repository. All of them are quite brief because I was asked to keep within a certain word limit.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Music List” • Pentecost Sunday
    Some have expressed interest in perusing the ORDER OF MUSIC I prepared for Pentecost Sunday (8 June 2025). If such a thing interests you, feel free to download it as a PDF file. Because our choir is on break this week, the music is relatively simple.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Quick Thoughts

    Antiphons Don’t Match?
    A reader wants to know why the Entrance and Communion antiphons in certain publications deviate from what’s prescribed by the GRADUALE ROMANUM published after Vatican II. Click here to read our answer. The short answer is: the Adalbert Propers were never intended to be sung. They were intended for private Masses only (or Masses without music). The “Graduale Parvum,” published by the John Henry Newman Institute of Liturgical Music in 2023, mostly uses the Adalbert Propers—but sometimes uses the GRADUALE text: e.g. Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul (29 June).
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    When to Sit, Stand and Kneel like it’s 1962
    There are lots of different guides to postures for Mass, but I couldn’t find one which matched our local Latin Mass, so I made this one: sit-stand-kneel-crop
    —Veronica Brandt
    The Funeral Rites of the Graduale Romanum
    Lately I have been paging through the 1974 Graduale Romanum (see p. 678 ff.) and have been fascinated by the funeral rites found therein, especially the simply-beautiful Psalmody that is appointed for all the different occasions before and after the funeral Mass: at the vigil/wake, at the house of the deceased, processing to the church, at the church, processing to the cemetery, and at the cemetery. Would that this “stational Psalmody” of the Novus Ordo funeral rites saw wider usage! If you or anyone you know have ever used it, please do let me know.
    —Daniel Tucker

Random Quote

“The Pope is not an absolute monarch whose thoughts and desires are law. On the contrary: the Pope’s ministry is a guarantee of obedience to Christ and to his Word. He must not proclaim his own ideas, but rather constantly bind himself and the Church to obedience to God’s Word, in the face of every attempt to adapt it or water it down, and every form of opportunism.”

— ‘His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI (11 May 2005)’

Recent Posts

  • “Booklet of Eucharistic Hymns” (16 pages)
  • PDF Download • “Text by Saint Francis of Assisi” (choral setting w/ organ: Soprano & Alto)
  • “Yahweh” in church songs?
  • “Music List” • Pentecost Sunday
  • “Participation” • Recovering its Receptive Dimension

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