We've moved!

Effective February 13, 2018, we've migrated to a new website.

Our old site, GSC Mass Appeal, has served us well since 2013. However, due to many limitations of the basic Blogger template, it was time to launch a new homepage.

GSC Mass Appeal will remain online indefinitely, but it will no longer be updated. All content, including posts and static pages, has been moved over to the new site (check it out here). Outdated pages will be taken down to avoid confusion.

Thanks for your interest in the 5:30 Music Ministry!

Yours in music,

Crispolo Bloom
Director | 5:30 Music Ministry
Good Shepherd Catholic Church

Songs & Updates for Saturday, February 10, 2018

This Saturday is the 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Thanks for the great music last week! Everything flowed pretty well, and we had a larger-than-usual crowd due to the Superbowl. As Father pointed out, the harmony on several songs was quite nice :-)

Songs & Updates for Saturday, February 3, 2018

This Saturday is the 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Thanks for another solid Mass last week! It was great to be nearly at full staff again. I would say that Blest Are They (here) was our standout piece for the evening.

Father hasn't been feeling well, so he really wanted to keep things moving along. After cutting the Gloria/Creed and doing a short Homily, we finished Mass in a record 45 minutes (even with a larger crowd).

Songs & Updates for Saturday, January 27, 2018

This Saturday is the 4th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Thanks for another successful Mass last Saturday! I especially liked how well the Psalm (here) and Closing song (here) turned out. For the latter, the change in tempo during verse three was a fun addition and seemed to work well.

Songs & Updates for Saturday, January 20, 2018

This Saturday is the 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Thanks for another solid Mass last week! We were down a few people, but didn't really run into any issues. As always, I appreciate everyone's willingness to step up and fill in the gaps. I'm also glad the weather decided to cooperate -- having to come up with a contingency plan would have made things a bit...interesting.

Songs & Updates for Saturday, January 13, 2018

This Saturday is the 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Thanks for another solid Mass last week! I especially liked how Lord, Every Nation (here) turned out. We've had trouble integrating piano in the past, but everything seemed to blend together well this go around. Here I Am, Lord (here) also had some great harmony -- we'll be revisiting this song later in the month.

With Epiphany behind us, the Christmas Season has officially come to an end (I hope everyone enjoyed the holiday!). This week, we return to Ordinary Time until the start of Lent in mid-February.

Songs & Updates for Saturday, January 6, 2018

This Saturday is the Feast of the Epiphany.

Thanks for another great year of music! We've had our fair share of challenges and changes over the past 12 months, but I think we're steadily moving in the right direction. I'm looking forward to seeing what 2018 holds. Again, if you have any thoughts on things you'd like to see us do, please let me know.

Songs & Updates for Saturday, December 30, 2017

This Saturday is the Feast of the Holy Family.

We did it! Christmas Eve Mass was a huge success! Once again, thanks to all who were able to sing, play and/or lend your technical skills. Despite some last-minute changes (new Parish Hall setup and Children's Program, anyone?), Mass flowed exceptionally well. The music was fun, energetic and beautiful, and I hope you all enjoyed making it! If you'd like to see how any of our songs turned out, check out a shared folder HERE with all the recordings.

I also wanted to pass along compliments from the 11 AM instrumentalists regarding Saturday Mass on 12/23. We had quite a few Sunday morning folks in attendance due to the Christmas Mass schedule. Nice job :-)

Songs & Updates for December 23 & 24, 2017

MERRY CHRISTMAS, ALL!

As you know, this weekend, we're covering Masses for the 4th Sunday of Advent (12/23) and Christmas Eve. Apologies for the long, messy post, but just want to make sure we're all on the same page. Please read carefully and let me know if any questions.

Songs & Updates for Saturday, December 16, 2017

This Saturday is the 3rd Sunday of Advent.

Thanks for bearing with my concert schedule last week! It was a fun performance, and coming to Mass in tux-like attire is always interesting :-)

We were light on musicians and rehearsal was a bit rushed (apologies for not quite having it together), but there weren't any major issues.

Songs & Updates for Saturday, December 9, 2017

This Saturday is the 2nd Sunday of Advent.

Thanks to everyone who was able to be at Mass last week! Even with a small group and everything that was going on, we didn't run into any issues. Special thanks to Denise (11 AM Choir) for agreeing to play on short-notice -- she and I ended up tag-teaming it, mainly due to differences in how music is lead/managed at our two Masses.

Songs & Updates for Saturday, December 2, 2017

This Saturday is the 1st Sunday of Advent.

Thanks for a very solid piano Mass last week! We ended up having a couple more instrumentalists out than anticipated. Things balanced out well, though, with a large group of singers and several people on the choir/guitar mics. We may also have a new person interested in singing with us.

Bev, Ginny, Lisa and I stuck around after Mass for a bite to eat and to run some Advent music. We touched on several of the new/less-familiar pieces, as well as one song for Christmas. I wouldn't mind scheduling an additional practice on 12/09 to work out a few more details.

Songs & Updates for Saturday, November 25, 2017

This Saturday is the Feast of Christ the King.

Thanks once again to Bev and Maggie for handling things in my absence! Hope everything went well. I'm looking forward to being back regularly for the remainder of the year :-)

Songs & Updates for Saturday, November 18, 2017

This Saturday is the 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Nice job last week! Several of us have been in and out over the past month, so it was nice to be back at full strength. It was a busy night with the Baptism and other activities (plus a fairly large crowd), but everything went pretty smoothly.

Songs & Updates for Saturday, November 11, 2017

This Saturday is the 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Thanks to everyone who was able to help out with both All Saints and regular Saturday Mass last week! We had small groups for both liturgies, but everything turned out pretty well.

Covering All Saints was a nice change in pace, and we (SCCS) also had a successful and well-received choir concert Saturday evening. I really appreciate everyone's willingness to step up and fill in/cover where needed. Things should be back to normal this week.

Songs & Updates for Saturday, November 4, 2017

This Saturday is the 31st Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Nice job last week! Our guitar section was out, but we still had a strong Mass centered around piano, violin and percussion. A few of us stuck around after Mass for a bite to eat, and had a chance to do some preliminary planning for Christmas.

Songs & Updates for Tuesday, October 31, 2017

This Tuesday is the Feast of All Saints.

As previously noted, we've been asked to lead the music for the All Saints Day liturgy on October 31st at 7 PM. The Sunday Choirs are handling the two remaining All Saints/All Souls Masses later in the week. Feel free to join them if you're able.

Songs & Updates for Saturday, October 28, 2017

This Saturday is the 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

We had a pretty small group last week, including Bev, Tom, Maggie, Lisa, Steve, Barry, Rose and I. Thanks to everyone who stepped up to fill in the gaps!

Songs & Updates for Saturday, October 21, 2017

This Saturday is the 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Nice job last week! Despite having a pretty small group, all of our songs had some great energy and harmony (a few samples here, here and here). It's easy to forget how effective a small group can be :-) Special thanks to Frances and Jonathan for joining us!

Songs & Updates for Saturday, October 14, 2017

This Saturday is the 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Thanks for another solid Mass last week! Everything flowed very well. Father also complimented us on vocal harmonies (apparently, this was mentioned at the other Masses as well). There were a few songs where the tempo was perhaps a bit too fast, but that's on me.