Songs & Updates for Saturday, December 31, 2016

This Saturday is the Feast of Mary, Mother of God.

Huge thanks to those who where able to sing/play at Christmas Eve Mass last week! I know there were a few issues with the Homily and Eucharist portions, but I appreciate everyone's willingness to jump in head first and try to make everything work. The rest of the program was actually pretty solid, and I hope everyone had some fun pulling it off. If we end up doing a Children's Program again next year, this should give us a better idea of what to expect.

Songs & Updates for Saturday, December 24, 2016

This Saturday is Christmas Eve.

I wasn't at Mass last week, so I don't have much in the way of updates. Both Eva and Maggie had to call off, so thanks to Jim for running things.

I ran into Tim, the person who's interested in playing piano, on Sunday. As we go into the new year, I'd like to see about bringing him into the fold. Between him and Eva, that'll give us more options and flexibility for keyboard coverage. More on this later.

Songs & Updates for Saturday, December 17, 2016

This Saturday is the 4th Sunday of Advent.

Special thanks to Eva and Tom for covering instruments last week! We ended up switching out the Psalm for one that was more piano-friendly; there were a few challenges here and there with entrances and Mass Parts, but nothing serious. Of all the songs we did, I think the Psalm and 'Each Winter' were probably the highlights.

Songs & Updates for Saturday, December 10, 2016

This Saturday is the Third Sunday of Advent.

Mass last week was pretty solid, with the last song being pretty exceptional (check it out below :-). There weren't any major issues, but please do remember to watch for cues so we come in together (and stay together) throughout songs.

Songs & Updates for Saturday, December 3, 2016

This Saturday is the 2nd Sunday of Advent.

Rehearsal and Mass last week were both a bit chaotic (for the record, I did have a plan...), but everything more-or-less came together. We had quite a bit of new(-ish) material to cover. There was a last-minute switch in guitar coverage, with Jonathan playing in Jim's place. Tom also rejoined us after a long hiatus (welcome back!), and the transition to the new book seemed to go off without a hitch. Thanks for bearing with me and the instrumentalists as we got everything sorted out!

On top of that, Father Charlie was pretty sick and was barely hanging in there for Mass. I've heard that a number of events he's involved in this week were canceled, so I'm not sure how this will affect the weekend Masses. It's possible that we may end up with a visiting priest.

Songs & Updates for Saturday, November 26, 2016

This Saturday is the 1st Sunday of Advent and the beginning of Liturgical Year A.

Mass last week was pretty solid, with only a few very minor issues. Special thanks to Mr. Jonathan for joining us! I also wanted to pass along Mike's compliments -- Mike plays bass at the 11 AM Mass, and noted how much our group has improved since the last time he was here.

Songs & Updates for Saturday, November 19, 2016

This Saturday is the Feast of Christ the King, and the last Saturday/Sunday of Liturgical Year C.

I wasn't at Saturday Mass last week, so I don't have much in the way of updates (I did help out our counterparts at the 9 AM Liturgy, though :-). It sounds like there may have been some challenges pulling together intros, but I also heard that you guys managed to surprise Father Charlie for his Birthday, so nice job!

Songs & Updates for Saturday, November 12, 2016

This Saturday is the 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Nice job last week! There were one or two minor issues with intros, but everything otherwise went pretty smoothly. The Psalm was definitely a highlight of the night -- check it out below if you missed it.

Songs & Updates for Saturday, November 5, 2016

This Saturday is the 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time.

It was great to be nearly at full strength last week! We had a few slightly-iffy intros and two Baptisms, but everything overall went pretty well. Jim, Jonathan and Maggie also did a lovely rendition of 'Grace Revealed' as a prelude. There was a technical issue with my audio recorder, though, and nothing was captured (grrr....).

I missed mentioning this in my last post, but please welcome Jeff to the group! Ginny recruited him to join us last week.

Songs & Updates for Saturday, October 29, 2016

This Saturday is the 31st Sunday in Ordinary Time.

We were a little short on instrumentalists last week, but ended up with a nice group of singers. Mass was overall pretty solid, and it was nice to 'keep things simple' for a change. Thanks to everyone who was able to be there!

Songs & Updates for Saturday, October 22, 2016

This Saturday is the 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Nice job last week! We mostly had a program of fun, familiar tunes, and despite being light on singers, everything went pretty smoothly. Thanks to Jonathan for joining us on bass!

I apologize in advance for the longer-than-usual post -- the last week as been a bit eventful.

Songs & Updates for Saturday, October 15, 2016

This Saturday is the 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Last week's program was quite a bit of fun and went really well! Thanks to all who were able to be there, especially the Davis's for taking on the Psalm :-)

Songs & Updates for Saturday, October 8, 2016

This Saturday is the 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Huge shout-out to Eva for being our sole instrumentalist last Saturday! Special thanks as well to the folks who stepped up to cantor the Psalm, Alleluia, and the first part of the Communion song!

Despite being short on musicians and a compressed rehearsal, we had a nice-sized group of singers and Mass ended up going pretty well.

Songs & Updates for Saturday, October 1, 2016

This Saturday is the 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Mass last week was pretty solid. Thanks to everyone who was able to be there, especially Jonathan for helping us out on bass and Frances for joining us for the first time on flute!

Songs & Updates for Saturday, September 24, 2016

This Saturday is the 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Very nice work last week! I think several of our more fun and upbeat tunes speak for themselves: (here), (here) and (here). Special thanks to Jonathan and Barry for (re-)joining us!

Songs & Updates for Saturday, September 17, 2016

This Saturday is the 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Thanks to everyone who was able to be at Mass last week! We had a visiting priest and the Liturgy was celebrated in the Parish Hall due to the Great Worship Space Flood of last Thursday/Friday. The setup is a bit different than our usual Easter/Christmas configuration, but it still did the job nicely (huge thanks to the staff for getting this up and running so quickly on Friday!). Like others have mentioned, despite the microphone challenges, it was a refreshing change in pace and a good warm-up for Christmas Eve :-)

Songs & Updates for Saturday, September 10, 2016

This Saturday is the 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Nice job last week, folks, and I hope everyone had a chance to enjoy the holiday weekend!

Jim and Maggie were out, but Eva, Joe and Jonathan were available to round out our instrument section. All the songs went pretty smoothly, and I was especially pleased with how well the Communion song turned out (check it out below!).

Songs & Updates for Saturday, September 3, 2016

This Saturday is the 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time.

We were very short on musicians last week, but didn't run into any major issues. Special thanks to Eva for covering piano, Ben for helping me out with the Psalm and to everyone else who was able to be there! It was also great to see so many of you at the Group Therapy concert to support Jim, Jonathan and Maggie in their new musical endeavor!

Songs & Updates for Saturday, August 27, 2016

This Saturday is the 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Thanks to everyone who was able to be at Mass last week! Jim had something come up and wasn't able to be there, so Maggie and Joe made up our instrument compliment for the night.

I'm not usually a fan of pulling off largely a capella Masses without advanced planning, but most of our tunes turned out pretty well. Adding in harmony helped to fill in the gaps, while Joe's percussion minimized tempo issues.

Songs & Updates for Saturday, August 20, 2016

This Saturday is the 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Once again, very nice work last week! Mass was pretty strong and everything went smoothly even with a visiting priest. Special thanks to Jonathan for dropping by to help us out!

Songs & Updates for Saturday, August 13, 2016

This Saturday is the 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Despite a condensed rehearsal last week, we once again pulled off a very strong Mass! Special thanks to Mr. Zach for dropping by and adding his funky bass line to our tunes!

Songs & Updates for Saturday, August 6, 2016

This Saturday is the 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Mass last week was very solid and definitely one of our strongest in a while! Everything went smoothly (even with a visiting priest) and I heard some excellent vocal and instrumental harmonies. It was great to have both Joe and Jonathan with us as well -- speaking of Joe, I'd like to officially welcome him back to the group as our percussionist!

Songs & Updates for Saturday, July 30, 2016

This Saturday is the 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Mass last week was overall pretty solid and 'Standin' in the Need of Prayer' was quite a bit of fun to sing. Thanks to everyone who was able to be there!

Songs & Updates for Saturday, July 23, 2016

This Saturday is the 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Huge thanks to everyone who was able to be at Mass last week! We were a bit light on singers, but for the first time in weeks, had a full compliment of instrumentalists, including two guitars, violin, piano and percussion. It was a pleasant surprise to have both Jonathan and Joe (percussion) with us! It wasn't a perfect Mass, but it was definitely one of our strongest in a while. Like others have mentioned, if we had this kind of manpower on a regular basis, we could really do some cool stuff :-)

Songs & Updates for Saturday, July 16, 2016

This Saturday is the 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

We had a nice-sized group of singers for Mass last Saturday. Jim and Maggie covered instruments, and Mass was one of our strongest in a while. Thanks to everyone who was able to be there! I especially enjoyed doing 'Servant Song' a capella. 'Taste and See' was also starting to come together nicely during rehearsal, but we ran into an instrumental tempo issue during Mass.

Songs & Updates for Saturday, July 9, 2016

This Saturday is the 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Thanks to everyone who was able to be at Mass last week -- there were a few minor issues, but Mass overall went well. Special thanks to those involved with 'America the Beautiful' for both our 'practice run' as a warm-up before Mass, as well as our postlude performance.

Songs & Updates for Saturday, July 2, 2016

This Saturday is the 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Mass overall went well last week. Huge thanks to Jonathan, Tom, Maggie and all the singers who were able to make it! With a number of folks out over the past month, it was also great to (as Father put it) start to 'get the band back together'. Things should more-or-less normalize again beginning next Saturday, July 9th.

Songs & Updates for Saturday, June 25, 2016

This Saturday is the 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Thanks once again to Eva for covering piano last week! We had five singers able to make it (Lisa, Lise, Ben, Rose and Steve) and Mass went smoothly.

Songs & Updates for Saturday, June 18, 2016

This Saturday is the 12th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Mass last week overall went well. Huge thanks to Eva for playing piano, and Ginny, Steve and Rose for singing!

Songs & Updates for Saturday, June 11th, 2016

This Saturday is the 11th Sunday in Ordinary Time, as well as a double-Baptism.

Despite being down a few instrumentalists and singers last week, Mass was pretty solid. Thanks to everyone who was able to be there!

Songs & Updates for Saturday, June 4, 2016

This Saturday is the 10th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

I hope everyone enjoyed the holiday weekend!

Thanks to those who were able to sing in our little a capella choir last week! Despite having a small group a less than an hour to pull together the program, Mass went pretty well. I directed and covered percussion, Ginny and Lisa cantored and Lisa and Grace sang harmony. Ben, Ken, Rose and Steve rounded out the group.

Songs & Updates for Saturday, May 28, 2016

This Saturday is the Feast of the Body & Blood of Christ.

As many of you know, Jim, Tom, Maggie and Jonathan are all unavailable this week. Rather than scrambling to find instrument coverage, I'd like to do Mass a capella instead.

Songs & Updates for Saturday, May 21, 2016

This Saturday is Trinity Sunday.

With the exception of some minor tempo issues and a couple of unclear cues on my part, Mass last week was pretty solid. Thanks once again to Jonathan for covering guitar and to everyone who was able to be there!

Songs & Updates for Saturday, May 14, 2016

This Saturday is Pentecost Sunday.

Mass last weekend was probably our strongest in quite a while. Huge thanks to everyone who was able to be there! We did have a visiting priest, but with the exception of the Gloria (and with a few tweaks to the other Mass Parts), everything went very smoothly. Special thanks to Maggie for cantoring the Psalm and really nice job all around on 'I Am the Bread of Life' :-)

Songs & Updates for Saturday, May 7, 2016

This Saturday is the 7th Sunday of Easter.

Mass overall went pretty well last week. Huge thanks to Jonathan and Maggie for covering instruments!

Songs & Updates for Saturday, April 30, 2016

This Saturday is the 6th Sunday of Easter.

I was working on a Musical last week and wasn't at Mass, so I don't have much in the way of updates. Jim reported that everything went well, though. Thanks to Jim and Maggie for running things!

Songs & Updates for Saturday, April 23, 2016

This Saturday is the 5th Sunday of Easter.

Mass last week was pretty solid. Special thanks to Ben and Grace for cantoring the Psalm!

Songs & Updates for Saturday, April 16, 2016.

This Saturday is the 4th Sunday of Easter.

We were back at full strength last week and Mass overall went well. Thanks to everyone who was able to be there!

Songs & Updates for Saturday, April 9, 2016

This Saturday is the 3rd Sunday of Easter.

We were pretty sort-staffed last week. Chris, our piano coverage, had something come up and wasn't able to make it, but did arrange for Joanne Y. from Penn State to fill in. Despite it being Joanne's first time playing a Catholic Mass and not having much prep time, overall, everything went well. It was great to have her with us! Tom also covered guitar and Lisa cantored the Mass from the guitar mics. Ginny, Lise, Rose and Steve rounded out the singers.

Songs & Updates for Saturday, April 2, 2016

This Saturday is the 2nd Sunday of Easter.

We survived Holy Week! Huge thanks to everyone who was able to sing or play for any of the four Masses!

Songs & Updates for Friday, March 25 & Sunday, March 27, 2016

Welcome to Holy Week! This is a bit of a long post, so please bear with me.

Thanks for all the responses thus far on availability for the Holy Week Masses! As you know, our group is covering the 2 PM Good Friday service as well as the 9 AM (Parish Hall) Easter Sunday Mass.

Songs & Updates for Saturday, March 19, 2016

This Saturday is Palm Sunday.

Mass last week was once again very solid, and probably one of our strongest in a while. Nice job, all!

Thanks to those who were able to help out with music coverage for the Penance Service on Monday night! I cantored, Kristen played piano and sang alto, and Rose and Steve sang melody. We ended up making it through the printed program most of two times with some additional instrumental songs in the middle.

Songs & Updates for Saturday, March 12, 2016

This Saturday is the 5th Sunday of Lent.

Despite being down a couple of folks, Mass last week went quite well. Congratulations to Lise for cantoring her first song with us (with a little help from Jaclyn :-). I also wanted to pass along the compliments of several folks who approached me during the Pancake Breakfast on Sunday. Nice job, all!

Songs & Updates for Saturday, March 5, 2016

This Saturday is the 4th Sunday of Lent.

Mass last week went very well. Thanks to all who where able to be there!

Kristen joined us again on piano. The piano was still a bit overpowering, but we also discovered that all the microphones (including the troublesome choir mics) appear to be working. Let's continue tweaking the levels in the coming weeks and hopefully we'll find a balance that works.

Really the only notable issue besides the mics was the tempo on several songs felt a bit too fast to me. That was probably my fault, though, for not giving more clear direction.

Songs & Updates for Saturday, February 27, 2016

This Saturday is the 3rd Sunday of Lent.

Mass last week overall went fairly well, despite being a bit light on singers and having to crash through quite a bit of material at practice. Welcome back Tom, and thanks as always to everyone who was able to be there!

Songs & Updates for Saturday, February 20, 2016

This Saturday is the 2nd Sunday of Lent.

Mass overall went fairly well last week. We ended up crashing through quite a bit of material before Mass -- there were probably a few pieces we should have spent more time on, but we didn't run into any major issues. Huge thanks to Jonathan for the last-minute guitar coverage!

Songs & Updates for Saturday, February 13, 2016

This Saturday is the 1st Sunday of Lent.

Mass last week went very well! We had piano for the first time in quite a while, and overall, everything sounded much more confident. Moving forward, Kristen will be with us about every other week.

We also started tweaking the sound system a bit to compensate for having piano, including bringing the piano master down and the gain on the other mics up. I also asked all the singers to move to the first two rows to better take advantage of the choir mics. In listening to the recordings, the piano is still a bit overpowering, but we'll keep tweaking the levels in the coming weeks and hopefully find a balance that works.

A few of us stuck around briefly after Mass to look at songs for Lent. Speaking of that, our music for February has been approved without any changes.

Songs & Updates for Saturday, January 6, 2016

This Saturday is the 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Mass last week went fairly well -- thanks to all who were able to be there!

Lisa K., Ginny and I stuck around for a bit afterwards to look at a few pieces for Lent, including 'Whatsoever You Do', 'Hold Us In Your Mercy' and Mass of Remembrance, which we'll start using next week. We also reviewed the Psalm (which we may try to do as a cantor trio) and looked at a possible Lenten Meditation piece that was suggested by Maggie and Deb, 'At Evening'.

Songs & Updates for Saturday, January 30, 2016

This Saturday is the 4th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Both Kristen and I were out last week due to the weather. Jim reported that Mass went well with a good showing of singers and he and Maggie covering instruments. We also have a new singer joining us -- welcome to the group!

Songs & Updates for Saturday, January 23, 2016

This Saturday is the 3rd Sunday of Ordinary Time.

We were a bit thin on musicians last week, but didn't run into any major issues. Thanks to everyone who was able to be there!