Both Good Friday and Easter Sunday turned out pretty well. On Friday, Jonathan and Tom covered guitar with Joanne (11 AM Choir) on piano. Eva (also from the 11 AM Choir) did a beautiful job cantoring the Psalm. 'Calvary' ended up being our strongest piece of the afternoon even though we only had about six people to sing it (some of our fellow music ministers in the congregation helped us out, though, with additional harmonies :-)
Easter Sunday in the Parish Hall was a lot of fun. Jim, Tom and Maggie covered instruments. We only had time to rehearse a few less-familiar tunes the hour before ('Whom Do You Seek', 'Easter Alleluia', etc.), but everything else really didn't need a run-through. Jim's rendition of 'This is the Day' was definitely a hit, especially with his significant liberties on the verses. We didn’t have piano or the manpower to really do 'Whom Do You Seek' justice, but despite that and bit of a shaky start, it turned out remarkably well. I also enjoyed the Cat Stevens arrangement of 'Morning Has Broken' during Offertory.
The music for April has been sent to the Office for approval. As always, I'll let you know of any changes. Since we were repeating a number of songs during Lent, I've tried to diversify a bit for the new month.
UPDATE (3/31): our music for April has been approved with no changes.
For 'Sing to the Mountains', I'd like to skip the troublesome second verses and only use verses one and three. The same goes for the Psalm -- just like on Sunday, let's only use the first three verses.
UPDATE (4/1): Barb let me know earlier today that it looks like Father Charlie has the Mass of Remembrance Penitential Rite on the program for this weekend. We're not sure if Father will be singing this or if one of us will be cantoring -- I'll check with him before Mass and we can go from there.
Also, please look over 'In the Breaking of the Bread' (English text), our Communion song for April. I don't believe we've done this one before, but I'm hoping some of you are familiar with it from the Sunday Masses.
Finally, Jim, Jonathan and Maggie will be tied up with a gig on Saturday evening (best of luck!), so I've asked Chris W. from the 9 AM Choir to cover piano.
UPDATE (4/1): Chris W. let me know this evening that he had something come up and won't be able to make Mass tomorrow. He did, however, arrange coverage. Joanne Y. from Penn State will be playing with us for the evening. This'll be her first time covering a Mass, but Chris did meet with her to go over the plan. Let's make Joanne feel welcome!
There will not be practice after Mass this week.
Gathering:
GC #435 – Sing to the Mountains (vs 1 & 3)
Materials (audio) (sheet music)
Glory to God:
Mass of Remembrance
Response:
SS #082 – Psalm 118 – This is the Day (vs 1-3)
Materials (audio) (sheet music)
Gospel Acclamation:
Mass of Remembrance
Offertory:
GC #593 – We Remember
Materials (audio) (sheet music)
Holy, Holy, Holy:
Mass of Remembrance
Eucharistic Acclamation:
Mass of Remembrance
Eucharistic Doxology:
Mass of Remembrance
Lamb of God:
Mass of Remembrance
Communion:
GC #841 – In the Breaking of the Bread
Materials (audio) (sheet music)
Closing:
GC #549 – You Are the Voice
Materials (audio) (sheet music)
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