Be With Me, Lord

First Sunday of Lent!

Here's the thing--I used to not like Lenten music very much.  Here I am, giving up red meat or something (not this year, don't worry), and I have to sing slow, depressing music, too?  But I want to enjoy Mass and singing!

But then I got to appreciate selecting music, and working with other liturgical ministers to execute a theme, and make people remember this isn't just that other season of preparation.

Case in point:  It looks like we'll be using Tree of Life all season long, albeit differently than we did back in the day.  It's our closing hymn--we're singing the Adoramus Te Christe refrain in ostinato (repeating with various dynamic changes), and one verse of the song, chosen to fit the readings, sung over it midway through.  It's something that the congregation will notice, and can use as a weekly meditation as Mass ends.  Pretty darn cool.

This week, our Psalm was an old favorite of mine, Be With Me, Lord, by Marty Haugen.  This, plus On Eagles Wings as a Communion hymn serves as our prayer and faith that God stands with us during hard times.  It reminds me of a certain song we'd sing on our retreats--Trust In the Lord (that one's a bit too praise & worship-y for my current choir, sadly).  As Christians, we're called to be like Christ.  A lot of us might not go to such extremes, but some do, and it's nice to think that we've got angels looking out for us when we stick our necks out to help the world.  It's nice to think anyone who is doing good work in the world, Christian or no, has angels watching out for them.  Lest they dash their feet against stones, or worse.

And this isn't technically a choir--but, in my defense, the liturgical dancing is too cute to pass up sharing.

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Sing of the Lord's Goodness

First Sunday of Ordinary Time!  Woo!

Okay, that's out of my system--for a few paragraphs, anyway.

This week, our Gospel was about the wedding at Cana.  The hosting couple run out of wine, Mary suggests that Jesus do something about that, and good times are had by all.  Father David's homily added a bit more to the story, though.

The wedding feast and celebration in a community was also a symbol for that couple's life with each other and within the community.  Running out of wine didn't just mean people went home early--it was a sort of omen.  The joy in the couple's marriage was short lived--and Jesus extended that joy, by asking the servants to serve the water in those jars as if it was wine, and see what happens.

Eventually, we lose steam.  Our enthusiasm wanes, things (and people) we were once passionate about become familiar, maybe even tedious.  We can ask for Christ to carry us through these times, but if we live as if we are carrying love and Jesus to everyone in our lives--when we do what we do out of service and love, then what we do is gratifying again.  Think back to every time a friend thanked you for being there for them when they needed you.  Remember times when someone sincerely thanked you for your performance at work.  Don't those moments enliven you?  They certainly get me through the day, most Mondays.

It's one of the reasons I sing in choir at church, I suppose.  I enjoy singing--but I can understand that after some time, if I knew all the music, then the whole routine could become...routine.  But every time our director tells us that someone stopped him after Mass to compliment us, every time I hear that our music makes a difference to someone in the congregation, it makes a difference to me, too.

We had some tempting (ba-dum, ching!) songs to chose from this week (the first week, you know, of Ordinary Time).  And because I'm less familiar with the choir's library and have a rather terrible memory, I'm not going to give you a list.  However!  We had an old favorite as our closing hymn.  I didn't know it until this week, being unfamiliar with Paul Desmond's Take Five (made famous by Dave Brubeck) until recently, but Sing of the Lord's Goodness seems highly influenced by that jazz tune.

All I know is I rather dislike directing in 5/4 time, and it's basically required of me to sing the word "dancing" with a British accent.

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Behold the Lamb

Okay, time for excuses for last week.

There was a transportation hiccup!

My baby sister and her husband were in town, on their way home from their honeymoon, and I wanted to visit!

I've been sick for over a month, and this cough is still holding on!

And seriously, this cough.  But it's not going to stop me from singing anymore, because it's done way too much damage on that front already.

Today was the last Sunday of the Christmas season, and the Gospel featured Jesus's baptism by John.  We started off Christmas-y with Joy to the World, then we got more bapistmal in You Will Draw Water, and ended celebrating Jesus's example with Praise to You, O Christ, Our Savior.  But for the Communion hymns...!

I told a friend that I would probably share So Longs My Soul, unless I already have.  And, while I haven't in this blog, I did on G+ several months ago--for very good reason.  It's another expressive, evocative song that lends itself well to solo verses, and we have some ridiculously talented soloists.  So I rather predictably got a tiny bit choked up.  But as I've mentioned, I did share that song already, and there was another candidate.

I was exited at rehearsal this week when I saw we were singing Behold the Lamb today.  This is and old favorite from the St. John's era, particularly because of the nice and fun harmony that the men used to sing.  Our director here had written a different arrangement--that harmony was still there, but the tenors and basses had other things to do--and that was fine.  It's a wonderful hymn either way, and directly relating to the Gospel, again--the good news John was waiting for, that the clouds parted and a dove showed us, that He was actually here.  He made it.  It was like the sunrise, and we'd been waiting in the dark for just that.

Without further ado, it's that choir that records the ceiling again, with Behold the Lamb.

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Once In Royal David's City

Merry Christmas, everyone!

I have a confession to make.  I don't really like choir music for the Christmas season.  For Christmas itself?  Sure!  Hark and Joy and Noel away!  But as a (thankfully) short liturgical season, as a choir member--and as a former director--I am less of a fan.

There, that's out of the way.  My little humbug.  I'm not that disappointed in the music, by the way.  I've been coughing away with a cold for the last few weeks--it's why there is no post for last week--and so I was actually pretty thrilled to be able to sing today, period.

Today is the Solemnity of the Holy Family, a celebration of Joseph, Mary and Jesus as a model for faithful living. As was pointed out in our homily, Joseph is a man with concerns, but God gives him direction in his dreams (not unlike another Joseph), and, as a man of faith, he follows along--first to take Mary into his house and then to save Jesus from Herod.  Mary doesn't get dreams--she gets angels.  And while she asks for a bit of explanation, she too consents to God's will.  And of course, Jesus lives his entire life to fulfill the Father's plan.

I'm writing this as I wait for my little sister to drive up from the airport to visit for the day.  She'll be the first family I've seen in person in over a year.  Today, as throughout the holiday season, I'm reminded of the blessings I have just in who I'm related to, even if these days I can't see them very much.  I'm not as close as I wish I were to them, physically or emotionally, but if there's ever a time of year to remind us to do something about that, this is it.

Because of the season, I wasn't sure what to share with you all today.  I decided to embrace Christmas music with Once In Royal David's City.  The video has a rather large choir with an orchestra to boot.  We've done this a couple of times recently, including at the previously mentioned Festival of Blessings and Carols.

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On That Holy Mountain

Today, you get my second choice.

It's Gaudete Sunday this week, a Sunday reserved for rejoicing that Jesus is almost here.  It seems a hard time to rejoice, however, after the events in Newtown, Connecticut last Friday.  It may be hard to wear rose and celebrate, when it seems more appropriate to wear black and mourn.  Of course we should mourn so many lives cut short--lives with so much potential.  Children, and teachers--shepherds of  children.

But I think we should do both.  Our readings, Gospel and homily today remind us that we have a good reason to rejoice, too.  Jesus is coming--on Christmas, and in every moment a person helps out someone else, every time some sees another's need and acts to fulfill it.  On Friday, a teacher gave shelter to those in need.  We know what we have to do to make the world a better place.  We need to take care of each other.

I wanted to share God Shall Gather In with you today, but YouTube didn't like the idea--the only videos i can pull up are a guy singing the individual parts to teach the refrain.  Which is cool, but unhelpful for my purposes.  We sang Advent Cry again this Sunday, in memory of the lives lost at the shooting on Friday.  But the video I do have for you was our closing hymn, and also really appropriate--On That Holy Mountain.  "There shall be peace, led by all the children."

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Advent Cry

Today is an extraordinarily musical one--besides Mass this morning/afternoon, we're singing as a combined choir for St. Monica's annual "Festival of Blessings and Carols," an evening of scripture and song to celebrate the season.

It's important to note that basically everyone else involved in the combined choir has done most of the music before, and usually many, times.  On more than one occasion, our director asked "Who doesn't know this piece," and one hand went up.  Mine.  New guy!

Also, it turns out I need more purple in my wardrobe.

~~~

Most of the music we sang at Mass was music we'd done before--the theme and continuity of the season of Advent is strong, and our director does not shy away from using the same music from week to week if that's what works with the readings and prayers for that Sunday.  Christ, Be Our Light, of last week's fame, actually book-ended the service today as both the gathering and closing hymn, with different verses for variety.  We also sang Bread of Life again--with optional Advent verses.

My favorite piece was less of a hymn for the congregation, though--we sang it for the preparation of the gifts, and we'll sing it again tonight at the Festival.  Advent Cry has that pleading quality that I wrote about last week.  We start it off softly, hopefully inviting Jesus to be more fully in our world, and that invitation eventually reaches something near a desperate plea.  Like these guys, but imagine more dynamic range overall.

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Christ, Be Our Light

New blog!

Seriously, cheer now.

I've decided that, since my aim was to post about once a week about the music I've been singing with my new choir at St. Monica's, I may as well set up a full blog to encourage me to write, instead of defaulting to Google+ and sometimes getting lazy.

~~~

This week was inspiring!  The First Sunday of Advent has never struck me as being so full of excitement as it did this year. The music communicated a longing for, an anticipation of Jesus coming to us.  Jesus, Come to Us pleads to Christ to be present in our world.  The King Shall Come When Morning Dawns is full of exultant anticipation--a song of future-tense triumph.

And then there's Christ, Be Our Light by Bernadette Farrell.  It shares a pleading quality with Jesus, Come to Us, but is more specific--in it, we ask Christ to be present, not as a baby in a manger, but in us.  And, as usual, Farrell composed a song that can force me to stop singing for a moment when the refrain gets going.

There are a lot of examples to choose from on YT, but I wanted something that showcased some of the harmonies of the hymn....