Nativity of the Lord
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| Image Credit: St. Margaret Mary Catholic Church |
Thanks for a wonderful Advent!
It was great to be fully-staffed last week, and we ended the season on a high note! Prepare! Prepare!, My Soul in Stillness Waits and Soon and Very Soon were definitely highlights. I also appreciate folks coming early/staying late so that we could squeeze in some Christmas rehearsal. Here's the audio.
Welcome to Christmas Week! As a reminder, the schedule for the 24th & 25th is as follows:
Christmas Eve:
4:00 PM - Children's Mass
6:00 PM - Mass
Christmas Day:
10:30 AM - Mass (Barb H. & Bev)
Lisa, Ginny, Joanne, Mike, myself (and possibly others) will be cantoring/working with the Children's Choir for the 4:00 Mass. Joanne and I are co-directing the 6:00 Combined Choirs Mass. And Barb H. & Bev have Christmas Day covered.
Here's the final music plan (for real this time!) for the 6:00 Mass. We have the following people joining us (probably not a complete/fully-accurate list!):
Directors: Cris & Joanne
Accompanist: Joanne
Instrumentalists: Mike (bass), Gideon (violin), Joe (percussion - tentative)
Cantors: Denise (Ps); Violet (Acc)
Choir: Barry, Carrie, Cathy, Cris, Denise, Jake, Lisa, Melissa, Pat, Rachel, Violet
Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get a large-group rehearsal on the board (long story!). Soloists are meeting with Joanne on preludes, though. If you have any music or logistics questions, please get with me beforehand and we'll sort it out! We won't have much time the day-of.
On Tuesday, please be there no later than 5:00 PM (if the Children's Mass runs long, we'll start after that). This will give us a chance to reset the choir area, run a few things and prep for preludes at 5:45 PM. If you're staying through from the Children's Mass, perhaps we could start that prep a tad sooner?
If you're able, I'd recommend using black binders for music. That way, we don't need to worry about books. If you need a binder, we still have a few in the cabinet (the rest are out on extended loan :-).
As far as I know, there will not be printed programs for the 6:00 Mass. If you're able to help with putting numbers up on the hymn boards, that would be great! This would be Mass music only -- Gathering, Psalm, Preparation, Communion & Closing.
My plan if possible is to have core vocalists at the front row mics, and everyone else at the 2nd/3rd row boom mics. One mic will probably be needed for our violinist too. That way, we can take advantage of those mics and try to balance the ensemble. Putting up stands like we usually do should be fine too.
I'm intending to be at the podium as much as possible, but probably not for everything. Joanne and I are sharing responsibilities, so certain things she'll take point on instead.
Lastly, could we try to get a group photo of everyone after Mass? If you're able to stick around for a few minutes, that would be appreciated!
I think that's it! If I don't see you Tuesday and/or Saturday, have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Here's to another great year of music-making!
(All Mass Parts are from Mass of Joy & Peace, including the Gospel Acclamation, Gloria, Holy, Eucharistic Acclamation 'B' (When We Eat This Bread), Doxology & Lamb of God)
Preludes:
Masters in This Hall (Trad. French; arr. Tabbush) - Cris, Jake, Lisa (& Joe?)
Gaudete (Traditional; arr. Burkhardt) - Cris, Jake & Lisa (& Joe?)
**Preludes will start at 5:45 PM with our two a capella pieces. Let's run these before Mass -- the biggest things to be mindful of are tempo and staying in tune (especially for Gaudete!). Everything else seems to be in good shape.**
Breath of Heaven (Grant) - Carrie
Joseph’s Song (Pertusio) - Evan
O Holy Night (Dwight/Adam) - Denise
GC3 #451 - Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming (Traditional) - All
GC3 #445 - Infant Holy, Infant Lowly (Traditional) - All
**These final two preludes will only be sung if we need more time. These will be large-group pieces.**
Entrance:
GC3 #439 - O Come, All Ye Faithful (vs 1, 3 & 4) (Wade)
**Please make sure you're good with voice parts for Entrance, Preparation, Communion & Closing! It would be lovely to split these out as much as possible. Joanne will use pretty standard arrangements.**
(Glory to God)
Responsorial Ps (Denise):
GC3 #064 - Ps 89 - For Ever I Will Sing (Haugen)
Materials (audio & sheet music)
Acclamation (Violet):
GC3 #208 - Gospel Acclamation (Mass of Joy & Peace) (Alonso)
Preparation:
GC3 #430 - Angels We Have Heard on High (Traditional)
(Mass Parts)
Communion:
GC3 #427 - Of the Father’s Love Begotten [instrumental]
GC3 #448 - Away in a Manger (Traditional)
Meditation:
GC3 #442 - Night of Silence (Kantor) / GC3 #441 - Silent Night (Mohr)
**We'll be taking point on this, with Lisa & Jake singing the 'Night of Silence' verses. We'll run this before Mass to make sure the Sunday folks are on the same page. The only change from our usual arrangement will be an instrumental before the final a capella 'Silent Night' verse.**
Closing:
GC3 #439 - Joy to the World (Watts)
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