Songs & Updates for Saturday, June 7, 2014

This Saturday is the Eighth Sunday of Easter and also Pentecost Sunday.

Last week, things went very well despite concerns over the entire guitar section being out. It ended up that it wasn't necessary for Father to lead music, since we had more than enough singers and two melodic instruments. I was a bit concerned that the music would feel too 'empty' without guitar, but the simplicity of it all worked quite well. Huge thanks to all who were able to be there, especially my partner-in-crime Maggie. I didn't realize sax and violin sounded so good together, and enjoyed the chance to play director for the night :-)

Songs & Updates for Saturday, May 31, 2014

This Saturday is the Seventh Sunday of Easter.

Sorry for the lack of updates this week -- to put it mildly, it's been a very eventful week for me. We also weren't at mass last week.

Songs & Updates for Saturday, May 24, 2014

This Saturday is the Sixth Sunday of Easter.

After mass last week, we worked on 'I Have Been Anointed'. We seem to be in a pretty good place with the parts, and have a tentative form sketched out for next time.

Songs & Updates for Saturday, May 17, 2014

This Saturday is the Fifth Sunday of Easter.

Last week, we were very short-staffed, but still managed to do quite well. Huge thanks to all who were able to make it!

Songs & Updates for Saturday, May 10, 2014

This Saturday is the Fourth Sunday of Easter, and Good Shepherd Sunday.

Sorry for the lack of updates last week -- I wasn't feeling well.

Last weekend after mass, we went over several pieces for upcoming Easter season masses.

First, we took a look at 'Shepherd of My Heart', our Communion song this week. It looks like I'll be the only melodic instrument on this.

Songs & Updates for Saturday, May 3, 2014

This Saturday is the Third Sunday of Easter.

Karina and I were out last week, so I don't really have any updates.

As per Jonathan's last email, don't forget to sign up to cover dinner for upcoming Saturdays through early June. The same goes for section leaders.

Songs & Updates for Saturday, April 26, 2014

This Saturday is the Second Sunday of Easter.

A huge thanks to all of you who were involved in Easter masses this past week!! We did it -- we survived the big week! The Holy Thursday and Easter Vigil masses covered by Barb's group also went quite well. It was great to see the combined forces of our three groups come together to make that happen.

Songs & Updates for Holy Week 2014

This week is Triduum/Holy Week!

 There's quite a bit going on, so please bear with me.

Last week after mass, we started reviewing songs for the two masses we'll be covering: 2 PM Good Friday and 9 AM Easter Sunday (Parish Hall). We made a few changes to our programs along the way.

We'll be practicing again on Tuesday, April 15 (tomorrow) to work on pieces we didn't get to on Saturday. This extra practice was also scheduled for anyone from the other groups who are planning to join us, but it looks like that won't be a big concern.

There's also a mass rehearsal in the Church starting at 5:30 PM that night that Jonathan will be attending. Depending on when that lets out, we'll either practice in the Church or in the new Parish Hall starting around 7 PM.

Songs & Updates for Saturday, April 12, 2014

This Saturday is Palm Sunday.

Things went fairly well at mass last week. There were a few minor issues since we had Father Christian filling in for Charlie, but nothing too serious.

Songs & Updates for Saturday, April 5, 2014

This Saturday is the Fifth Sunday of Lent.

Last week, mass went pretty well. We had some minor issues with the sound system at the very beginning, but got it sorted out shortly thereafter. Special thanks to Maggie for joining us on violin -- it's been a very long time since we've had a violin to compliment the flute :-)

After mass, we had brief sectionals for this week's Communion song and threw together the voice parts. Since we haven't done this song in ages, don't forget to look over your parts and individual verses (I'll plan to cover verse 3).


We also reviewed the Psalm, the Mass of Remembrance Gloria (which we'll need for Easter), and discussed the masses we'll be covering for Holy Week.

Songs & Updates for Saturday, March 29, 2014

This Saturday is the Fourth Sunday of Lent.

Karina and I were both out last week, so I don't have many updates.

According to Paul, the issues we've been having with the sound system have finally been resolved. The system should now be working as well as it was the very first week it was brought online.

I'll be attending the Triduum Planning Meeting on Thursday evening to see what the plan is for Easter (Christina: can you please confirm that this is still on?). I'll let you guys know what shakes out.

Songs & Updates for Saturday, March 22, 2014

This Saturday is the Third Sunday of Lent.

Mass last week was a little rough in places, but we made it through. Special thanks once again to Erin for her percussion work on several pieces. Nice job!

Songs & Updates for Saturday, March 15, 2014

This Saturday is the Second Sunday of Lent.

Nice job to all who were at mass last week -- despite having under-rehearsed new materials and being short-staffed, things went exceptionally smoothly. Also, nice job to one of our newest members, Erin, on percussion both before and after mass :-)

Songs & Updates for Saturday, March 8, 2014

This Saturday is the First Sunday of Lent.

Once again, sorry for the long post. It was another busy Saturday last weekend, so bear with me.

We pulled off a reasonably good rendition of 'Shout to the Lord' as a prelude. Nice job, all! Also, special thanks to the Davis family for filling in some gaps in our ranks, and welcome back Maggie to our group! We'll continue to work on this piece in the coming months for possible use at Easter Sunday mass.

After mass, several of us spoke with two kids who would be interested in working with us, Erin (percussion), and Garrett (sax/piano), as well as their mom Marion.

Songs & Updates for Saturday, March 1, 2014

This Saturday is the 8th Sunday in Ordinary Time, and also a Baptism.

We were out last week, so I don't have much in the way of updates.

We'll be switching to revised Mass of Remembrance starting Ash Wednesday. To borrow a line from Jonathan, this is an old Good Shepherd chestnut, but we'll definitely have to take time to 'relearn' it with the 2010 changes. See the new Mass of Remembrance page above for practice materials.

Songs & Updates for Saturday, February 22, 2014

This Saturday is the 7th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Last Saturday was quite eventful, so please bear with me.

We were all surprised to find out that the new sound system had been installed. A guy from the company (Tom) was there throughout mass and rehearsals to get everything configured and balanced properly. I have limited experience with audio systems, so I won't go into the details, but rest assured that we now have a state-of-the-art system at our disposal. Besides individual audio mixers and headsets for each string instrument, we also have new mics, new speakers, and an iPad for a sound board :-)

In addition to all that, our music sheets have been redesigned. They now include more detailed info for visitors (the entire front inside page) as well as listing the Readings. The headers for each song have also been revised and the whole document is in a different font. Ours now more closely resemble the programs used by other churches.