Songs & Updates for Saturday, November 22, 2014

Songs & Updates For Saturday, November 15, 2014

This Saturday is the 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time.

I don't have much in the way of updates since I wasn't at mass, but from what I've been told, we were pretty well staffed and things went fairly smoothly even with a visiting priest. However, there was no practice as not enough people were able to stay.

Songs & Updates for Saturday, November 8, 2014

This Saturday is the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica, and also a Baptism.

Before mass last week, Jonathan and I met to plan rehearsal/mass and discuss choir affairs.

We had a fairly small crowd, and despite a rushed rehearsal, things came together very nicely. Great work, all!

Songs & Updates for Saturday, November 1, 2014

This Saturday is All Souls Day.

Last Saturday, despite some concerns at practice, mass ended up coming together fairly well. We did not stick around to practice afterward, though.

Songs & Updates for Saturday, October 25, 2014

This Saturday is the 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Last Saturday, Jonathan and I met from 3-4 PM to plan mass/rehearsal and discuss Music Ministry affairs. Most notably, we discussed ways to keep us moving forward as an ensemble now that things have more-or-less normalized again.

Songs & Updates for Saturday, October 18, 2014

This Saturday is the 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

First of all, to everyone who was at mass last week, outstanding job!! We've gotten several compliments on how strong our entrances were and how tight and well-rehearsed everything was :-)

Songs & Updates for Saturday, October 11, 2014

This Saturday is the 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Before mass last week, Jonathan and I met to plan rehearsal, discuss Choir affairs, and look over the songs selected for the next three weeks. Specifically, we reviewed several pieces for two weeks out, 'God Has Chosen Me' and 'Proclaim to All the Nations'. We also discussed taking 'Go Light Your World' up a half-step to make it easier to sing.

UPDATE (10/7): several pieces that we started work on/discussed last week (namely, 'God Has Chosen Me', 'Go Light Your World', 'Bring Forth the Kingdom', and 'City of God') were nixed per Father's request. I'll try to reprogram these for a later date.

Mass seemed to go pretty smoothly considering we only had a handful of people. Nice job, all!

We ended up making some changes to the arrangement of 'Pan de Vida' after accidentally hitting on the idea of slowing down the extended intro considerably and then speeding the tempo back up before the voices come in. In light of this and how long Communion has taken the past few weeks, we will likely not need to go into 'Lord, When You Came' as a second Communion song.

Songs & Updates for for Saturday, October 4, 2014

This Saturday is the 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Once again, Jonathan and I met before mass to plan rehearsal, learn two new songs, and discuss music ministry affairs.

Despite a pretty good rehearsal, things didn't quite go according to plan on several pieces during mass (including 'We Will Serve the Lord', 'Pan de Vida/Lord, When You Came' and the Alleluia), but we made it through.

Songs & Updates for Saturday, September 27, 2014

This Saturday is the 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Despite the craziness before mass last week, nice job all! It's looking like 'Canticle of the Turning' is one to do again at some point :-)

Songs & Updates for Saturday, September 20, 2014

This Saturday is the 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

We had a full crew last week, including 'guest members' Luke and Dawn, and Lisa L. Also, please welcome to the group Joe P., who is joining us on soprano saxophone :-)

Songs & Updates for Saturday, September 13, 2014

This Saturday is the 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

We were thin on people last weekend, but still managed to pull everything off.

Songs & Updates for Saturday, September 6, 2014

This Saturday is the 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time.

I hope everyone had a chance to enjoy the holiday weekend!

The music for mass last week was exceptionally strong -- really nice job, all! I was especially impressed with how well 'We Are One Body' went, considering we've only worked on it at rehearsal once so far. We're well on our way to creating a solid, new arrangement of this piece :-)

Songs & Updates for Saturday, August 30, 2014

This Saturday is the 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, and also a Baptism.

We were pretty light on people last week, but still managed to pull everything off. There were a few changes to the program that I wasn't aware of, but nothing that caused any problems.

Songs & Updates for Saturday, August 23, 2014

This Saturday is the 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time.

We ended up not sticking around after mass last week to practice.

This week, we begin our 'new approach' to music with a common Gathering and Sending song each week, as well as one common Communion song for the month.

Songs & Updates for Saturday, August 16, 2014

This Saturday is the 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Last Saturday, Jonathan, Lisa P., Maggie, Karina and I stuck around to practice. We worked on selections for next week, most notably our Communion song, 'In the Lord I'll Be Ever Thankful'.

Songs & Updates for Saturday, August 9, 2014

This Saturday is the 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time, and also a Baptism.

After mass last week, we briefly ran through a few songs, but we spent most of the hour discussing some problems that have arisen, and some potential changes to the way we do things. The relevant parts of that discussion are outlined below:

Songs & Updates for Saturday, August 2, 2014

This Saturday is the 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Nice job last Saturday, all! We had plenty of singers to help balance out the instruments.

Songs & Updates for Saturday, July 26, 2014

This Saturday is the 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

There are some people that got cut off or hidden in this shot, but just to give you an idea.

Huge thanks to all who were able to make it for mass and the dedication service this past weekend! The dedication service was one of those rare occasions where the three Choirs came together for rehearsals and really pulled something special off. Despite all the (sometimes) utter craziness between VBS prep, Picnic prep, and rehearsals, everything really did come together nicely in the end.

Songs & Updates for Saturday, July 19, 2014

This Saturday is the 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Last week, we had a nearly-perfect mass with strong guitar and percussion sections, one lead melodic instrument, and a fair number of singers (including a few new folks). Really nice job, all!

Songs & Updates for Saturday, July 12, 2014

This Saturday is the 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Thanks to all who were able to be at mass last week (welcome back, Mr. Jim!), and nice job on 'Weary Traveler'!