Songs & Updates for Saturday, December 30, 2023

Feast of the Holy Family

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!

A huge thanks to Lisa, Jake, Bev & Joe for Christmas Eve Mass last weekend! Our little 'Christmas Trio' worked pretty well! I appreciate all of your time & flexibility over the past two months in pulling this together. Thanks as well to everyone who was able to sing/play throughout Advent!

The audio from the 4th Sunday of Advent & Christmas can be found here & here.

Last week, some adjustments were made to the sound system, specifically, the overhead speakers & ambo mic. This should (hopefully) resolve issues with being able to hear Father (and ourselves) through the speakers above the choir area. Of course, we can adjust the levels if anything's too loud.

A reminder that Joanne's Music Ministry social/get-together is this Thursday (tomorrow), 12/28 @ 5:30 PM. See the invite for details. Please get with Joanne directly if you have questions.

For The Virgin Mary Had a Baby Boy, we don't typically follow the exact arrangement that's in the book. Please follow the style of the recording instead.

Gift of God is a repeat from last week. This time, though, we'll sing the Christmas refrain & verses. With this set of verses, everything is properly written out, so it should be much easier to follow.

Ginny asked if we could sing Let There Be Peace on Earth for this last Saturday of the year. I've added it as a Communion Meditation. We'll sing through it once before going into What Child is This?.

For He Came Down, we'll keep repeating the refrain (probably 4-5 times at least) using the substitute text (love, peace, joy, hope, life, etc.). Let's sing it against piano (unless anyone's feeling adventurous -- we could try it with percussion only, like this :-). We'll also need someone to sing the tag at the end of each refrain ('why did he come?').

Stay tuned for January & February music. Going into 2024, I'll try to be more 'strategic' with music selections, especially given our smaller numbers. I'm also hoping to plan music further in advance.

I'm also starting to put together a list of goals & ideas for the new year (things that we can do better or differently; new ideas/events, etc.); if you have any thoughts, let me know!

Finally, thanks for another great year of music-making! Our Parish and Ministry has certainly experienced some big changes in 2023, but I'm looking forward to seeing where things go in 2024. Here's to wishing each of you a happy and safe New Year!

(All Mass Parts, except the Gospel Acclamation, are from Mass of Joy & Peace, including the Gloria, Holy, Eucharistic Acclamation 'A' (We Proclaim Your Death), Doxology & Lamb of God)

Out: Jake, Frank

Entrance:

GC3 #454 - The Virgin Mary Had a Baby Boy (West Indian)