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 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 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, 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 7, 2017

This Saturday is the 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Nice job last week! We wrapped up our final (regular) Season of Creation Mass on a high note. The new Communion song, Where Two or Three Are Gathered (here), went very well for a first run. Since we took the time to learn it, I'd like to continue using this through the end of October.

Our first monthly dinner was also a success. Thanks to all who were able to bring food and hang out for a bit. I'd like to continue doing this regularly moving forward (perhaps on the last Saturday of each month?). Besides on-site pot luck, we could also explore other venue/food possibilities.

Songs & Updates for Saturday, September 30, 2017

This Saturday is the 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

We were back at full staff last week, and had yet another solid Mass. Thanks to all who were able to be there, especially the Davis clan for taking on the Psalm.

The wedding party didn't wrap up until about 4:15 PM, so a few of us spent a good 20 minutes cleaning up and resetting the Choir/Worship Space. Didn't cause any issues with practice, though.

Songs & Updates for Saturday, September 23, 2017

This Saturday is the 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Considering we were down a few people and had a couple of more challenging songs, Mass last week was pretty solid. Thanks to all who were able to attend!

The individual who requested that we sing Amazing Grace passed along her compliments. We ended up using the GC rather than SS version, since it was in a more comfortable key. The unintended side affect was verses three and four were reversed, which caused some confusion. I should have caught that, so my apologies.

Songs & Updates for Saturday, September 16, 2017

This Saturday is the 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

We had another pretty solid Mass last Saturday, and for the first time in several weeks, our full compliment of instrumentalists. Thanks to all who were able to be there!

Father Baker covered for Father Charlie. This wasn't in the original plan, but didn't cause any problems. We nailed all the cues, including entrances on the Mass Parts that are normally sung, but were spoken instead. For those who didn't hear, Father said a service for one of the football teams, and got to watch the game from the sidelines.

There were a couple of issues with intros and tempo, though. Just a general note to watch and listen to each other, especially when we have more than one person playing accompaniment. When we go to start a song, I'm waiting for eyes so we can come in together.

Songs & Updates for Saturday, September 9, 2017

This Saturday is the 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Nice job last week! We had a solid Mass with no issues. With a few tweaks to the arrangement, Touch the Earth Lightly went very well. We added an extra bar after each verse, and repeated the last line as an interlude. I don't think this will cause us any problems for the next several weeks.

Due to the larger-than-usual crowd, we also made it all the way through I Will Choose Christ for Communion, so Eva and Jim did a lovely rendition of How Beautiful (here) to fill the rest of the time. Moving forward, we should probably have a second song in mind just for these types of occasions.