This Saturday is the Fourth Sunday of Easter, and Good Shepherd Sunday.
Last weekend after mass, we went over several pieces for upcoming Easter season masses.
First, we took a look at 'Shepherd of My Heart', our Communion song this week. It looks like I'll be the only melodic instrument on this.
Next, we broke into sectionals for 'I Have Been Anointed', which we'll perform next week as a prelude (and several times more throughout the season). We tossed around some ideas about how to structure this piece, but nothing's set in stone yet. Please look over your parts, as we'll be reviewing this during practice this week.
Finally, we experimented with 'Veni Sanctus Spiritus', which we'll start using later this season as a Communion/Meditation piece. See below for details.
Jonathan, Barry, Karina, and Maggie are out this week. Despite this, we are still planning to practice in order to keep moving forward with pieces for later in the season. Here are a few notes from Jonathan:
As you all may know, Barry and I will be absent next week from the service. Leadership has always been a team effort here so I don't think it should be a huge problem getting through the service. There are some things I would like to ask to keep things running smoothly for the rest of the season.
Ginny has offered to bring dinner, and I think there should be a rehearsal even in my absence. Not to crack the whip, but there are a number of things coming up that we'll want to be ready for, and it would hurt our momentum to miss a rehearsal. I would like to ask that you practice the normal songs for the following week, giving special attention to...
#1 Parts for 'I Have Been Anointed'. It will be a prelude the following week, though we can always perform it in a simplified form if it's not totally ready next week at rehearsal.
#2 Parts for SS 116 'Holy Spirit'. I know this is easy, but you have to be organized enough to get the walk-ins to singing with you, so it would be good to spot check the parts and plan how you will arrange to get additional singers into a section.
#3 The Order for 'Veni Sancte Spiritus'. The sequence will be as follows...
- Guitars start
- instrumentalists add voice-like parts]
- Singers start to hum their parts
- Maggie does a verse out of her book
- A singer brings the congregation into singing]
- The choir starts their parts
- Maggie does another set of variations
- Someone sings the 1st verse
- Cris improvises for a few cycles
- instruments rest for a bit, refresh the singing
- someone sings the 2nd verse
- Instrumentalists/vocalists trade solos, periodically resting to refresh the singing
- Ending with 4 cycles of the choir a capella
Here are the songs for this Saturday:
Gathering:
SS 179 - He is Exalted
Glory to God:
Mass of Remembrance
Response (Cris
GC 31 - Shepherd Me, O God (Psalm 23)
Gospel Acclamation (Ginny & Michaela):
Mass of Remembrance
Offertory:
SS 200 - Revive Us, O God
Holy, Holy, Holy:
Mass of Remembrance
Eucharistic Acclamation:
Mass of Remembrance
Eucharistic Doxology:
Mass of Remembrance
Lamb of God:
Mass of Remembrance
Communion:
GC 641 - Shepherd of My Heart
Closing:
SS 116 - Holy Spirit
<>< ><> <><