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.

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.

Songs & Updates for Saturday, September 2, 2017

This Saturday is the 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time.

We had a pretty small group last week. There were some rough patches, but we made it through. Special thanks again to Tom and Frances for handling accompaniment, and Ben for taking on the Alleluia. I would say that the Psalm especially turned out well, considering it was a less-familiar tune.

Songs & Updates for Saturday, August 26, 2017

This Saturday is the 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Thanks to everyone who was able to help with the Baptism last week! With everything that was going on, there were a few issues, but overall, the program went well. Having a thunderstorm in the middle of Mass definitely kept things interesting, and it was nice to have the Fricke clan back with us as well :-)

Songs & Updates for Saturday, August 19, 2017

This Saturday is the 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Thanks for such a strong Mass last week! Nearly everything went smoothly, and we received compliments from several parishioners. I especially liked how You Are Mine (here) turned out, and enjoyed getting to play saxophone again (unplanned) on the Psalm (here).

The only real issue we ran into was the Communion song (here) -- we should definitely take some time to sort out that instrumental intro, and make sure we stick with a slower tempo.

Songs & Updates for Saturday, August 12, 2017

This Saturday is the 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

For our first regular guitar Mass in quite a while, things went pretty well last week. There were a few minor communication issues, but I think those were mainly due to getting used to not having piano in the mix. Just a reminder to watch and listen to everyone around you so we're all on the same page.

Songs & Updates for Saturday, August 5, 2017

This Saturday is the Feast of the Transfiguration.

Everything went very well last week. Thanks to all who were able to be there! This wasn't planned, but Lift Up Your Hearts was among the first songs Tim played with us, and was also his last. It definitely made for a worthy send-off :-)

Songs & Updates for Saturday, July 29, 2017

This Saturday is the 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

We were down a couple of instrumentalists last week, but had a pretty solid Mass. The mix of traditional and contemporary songs really seemed to balance out well this go around. Thanks to all who were able to be there!

Songs & Updates for Saturday, July 22, 2017

This Saturday is the 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Thanks to all who were able to be at Mass last week! We had a pretty small group, but didn't run into any major issues.