At our brief after-Mass rehearsal last week, we went through the tentative program, and also discussed possibilities for preludes. What we ended up with is the following: 'He Came Down' (large group/choral), 'O Holy Night' (small group/solo), 'What Child is This' (instrumental) and 'O Come, All Ye Faithful' (large group/full instruments). The idea is to bookend the preludes with fast, upbeat pieces that will get people's attention.
Mass for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception is on Wednesday at 7 PM and Thursday at 9 AM. I believe Barb H.'s group is covering the former. Feel free to join them.
I confirmed with Joanne that we're leading the music for the 4 PM Parish Hall Mass on Christmas Eve. The Children's Choir will be singing at the other 4 PM Liturgy in the Church, with Barb H.'s group covering the 6 PM and (I believe) Barb P.'s group covering the 8 PM.
Let's plan to do 'O Come, Divine Messiah', our Gathering song, a capella with voice parts if possible.
If it's not too late, I may try to change the Psalm, 'I Will Lift Up Your Name', to a version that's better suited for available instrumentalists, such as GC #137, 'I Will Praise Your Name'. Stay tuned for an update on this.
For 'God of All People', we tried an instrumental verse at the beginning rather than the end, which brings us in line with what the other groups are doing. This seemed to work well, and the entrances on the verses were, for the most part, much cleaner.
As far as 'Each Winter', we haven't spent any extra practice time working on this, so let's keep it simple and stick with what's in the book. An extended instrumental intro can be used while everyone goes up to receive Communion.
'He Came Down' was really good last week. Having Joe start off the piece with a steady beat and then bringing everyone in from there seemed to eliminate pretty much all the problems we encountered the last time. We also opted to not repeat verses back-to-back, instead singing each one only once and repeating the first verse for time. Jim's descant over the last couple of verses really gave this tune the right feel, and definitely took it to the next level. I'm really hoping we can duplicate this over the next couple of weeks.
I have a Choral Society concert at 3 PM on Saturday, so I may be a bit late to practice. I've asked Eva to play piano and run things until I arrive around 4:45-5:00 PM. Jim, Maggie and Jonathan have a band gig until 5 PM and likely won't make Mass.
Finally, I'll be out next Saturday, 12/17 -- members of the Choral Society have been asked to sing backup for the Kenny Rogers concert at Eisenhower (I've never done this before, so it should be interesting...).
Gathering:
GC #333 / GC3 #401 – O Come, Divine, Messiah
Materials (audio) (sheet music)
Penitential Rite:
Mass of Joy & Peace
Response:
SS #091 – Ps 145 – I Will Lift Up Your Name
Materials (audio) (sheet music)
Gospel Acclamation:
Mass of Joy & Peace
Offertory:
GC #331 / GC3 #412 – God of All People
Materials (audio) (sheet music)
Holy, Holy, Holy:
Mass of Joy & Peace
Eucharistic Acclamation:
Mass of Joy & Peace
Eucharistic Doxology:
Mass of Joy & Peace
Lamb of God:
Mass of Joy & Peace
Communion:
GC #339 / GC3 #419 – Each Winter as the Year Grows Older
Materials (audio) (sheet music)
Closing:
GC #370 / GC3 #429 – He Came Down
Materials (audio) (sheet music)
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