Songs & Updates for Saturday, September 5, 2015

This Saturday is the 23rd Sunday of Ordinary Time.

Mass went fairly well last week -- nice job, folks! We even had someone give us high praises for the quality of our music, saying it just keeps getting better each week. Also, huge thanks to Tom once again for covering guitar, as Jim was unexpectedly out sick.

Our music for September was sent in last Wednesday and is pending Office approval. I'll let you know if anything changes.

If you'd be interested in cantoring the psalm, 'I Will Lift Up Your Name', please let me know. Note that I opted for the slower, GC version of this psalm this time just for a change in pace.

Our Communion song for this month, 'We Come Today', is one we don't do too often. If you're not familiar with this tune, please review it before Saturday. The same goes for our Closing song, 'Canticle of the Turning'. This is a piece we first tried around this time last year and I have a note that it was well-received and worth doing again.
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UPDATE (9/2): Barb let me know that Father just approved the music for September with a few changes. Most notably, he nixed 'We Come Today' on the grounds of it having too difficult a refrain to sing 'without a book in line for Communion'. I'd still like to d this piece, though, so perhaps I'll make it a prelude at some point.

Instead, Father would like us to use 'Unless a Grain of Wheat' starting next week; I still need to pick a replacement Communion song for this week since Father left that open.

Finally, he also asked that we only do the first two verses of 'Canticle of the Turning' since it's a rather long piece otherwise.
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With summer coming to a close, we should also start thinking about how we want to approach after-mass rehearsals. As you know, we've been taking a break over the summer and prepping all our music in the hour before mass. I think more practice time could definitely be beneficial, but we've also had trouble in the past nailing down a schedule that works for everyone. One idea that comes to mind is to approach practices more strategically, where we only focus on pieces that need attention and only the people directly involved with those pieces attend. I'll have to give this some more thought, but if you have any other ideas, feel free to let me know!

On a similar note, we should also start revamping our efforts to fill key positions, such as piano and percussion. We've been lucky so far and haven't been in a situation where no one was available to cover accompaniment (there have been a few close calls, though), but sooner or later, that's going to happen. In sort, over the next year, I'd like to get to a point where we have enough manpower to allow for rotation and more flexibility on the instrument front. Again, I'm open to ideas or suggestions if you have any.

Maggie is out this week.

Gathering:
GC 682 - God Has Chosen Me
Materials (audio) (sheet music)

Glory to God:
Mass of Creation

Response (need one):
GC 137 - I Will Praise Your Name (Psalm 145)
Materials (audio) (sheet music)

Gospel Acclamation (need one):
Mass of Creation

Offertory:
SS 196 - Open My Eyes
Materials (audio) (sheet music)

Holy, Holy, Holy:
Mass of Creation

Eucharistic Acclamation:
Mass of Creation

Eucharistic Doxology:
Mass of Creation

Lamb of God:
Mass of Creation

Communion:
SS 167 – We Come Today
SS 153 - I Am the Bread of Life
Materials (audio) (sheet music)

Closing:
GC 556 - Canticle of the Turning (vs 1-2)
Materials (audio) (sheet music)

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