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.

Due to the switch to Gather, Third Edition, I'm working on a new, combined repertoire page for the website. Rather than listing songs by page number, they'll be listed in alphabetical order by song title instead. Stay tuned for more info on this.

The music for January has been sent to the Office for approval. I'm aiming for more variety as we leave the Christmas season, while also hanging on to Christmas tunes for couple more weeks. I'm also considering dropping the idea of monthly Communion songs -- it's a good idea in theory, but for several reasons, it's not really helping us the way I hoped it would.

Also note that we have one new song on the board. At Father's request, GC3 #456, The Aye Carol, will be used for Gathering both this week and next. This is a tune I wasn't familiar with, but it's fairly easy to learn (very chromatic). The tempo of the recording is a bit slow, but since this is in 6/8 time, taking it faster (hopefully) shouldn't be a problem. Please take some time to learn this before the weekend.

We'll begin using the Penitential Rite this week. We should take a few minutes to run the Penitential Rite with Father just so there isn't any confusion. Remember that the tempo on this is slower than it looks, and Father is cantoring the majority of the song.

Also, we go straight into the Gloria afterward (Father will say '...and let us proclaim the Glory to God' (or something to that affect) in between), so please be ready for this. Father mentioned again last week how he doesn't want any significant delay in starting songs, so this is something we really need to watch.

We did Sing of Mary as part of the Children's Program last week; it's not a tune I'd normally pick, so if you're not familiar with this, it might be worth looking over as well.

I know Saturday is New Year's Eve, so if you're not available, please let me know ASAP. Keep in mind that there is a wedding scheduled for 2 PM; normally, I'm still able to sneak in and get set up while the wedding party wraps up pictures, but it's possible the start of rehearsal could be delayed.

Finally, as 2016 comes to a close, I just wanted to thank everyone for all your efforts over the past year. Despite our challenges, I feel blessed to work with such a talented group of musicians on a weekly basis. I'm also thankful that you're willing to work with me and share your time and talents with our Parish Family. I'm looking forward to seeing what the New Year brings, and as always, feel free to let me know if you have any ideas or suggestions. This is a great opportunity to look at what worked well and not so well over the past 12 months, and perhaps make a few tweaks.

UPDATE: 12/28: we'll be doing GC3 #070 - All the Ends of the Earth, as our Psalm this week, rather than GC3 #604.

UPDATE: 12/31: Tom is out this week.

Gathering:
GC3 #456 – The Aye Carol
Materials (audio) (sheet music)

Penitential Rite:
Mass of Joy & Peace
Materials (audio) (sheet music)

Glory to God:
Mass of Joy & Peace

Response:
GC3 #604 – All the Ends of the Earth
GC3 #070 - Ps 98 - All the Ends of the Earth
Materials (audio) (sheet music)

Offertory:
GC3 #457 – Sing of Mary, Pure and Lowly
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:
GC3 #466 – What Child is This
Materials (audio) (sheet music)

Closing:
GC3 #437 – Joy to the World
Materials (audio) (sheet music)

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