sigh. I get so few visitors to this blog, it's depressing. but, really Mara, you get what you put into it. when you have an absence of several weeks, well, that's what happens!
they aren't going to just flock here simply based on your incredible wittiness or wisdom! hahaha...

yay!
I'm going to DC for this sacred music conference in 3 days!!
I've never done anything like this before, especially completely by myself!
I hope there's people my age there who want to have a good time (what the heck are we supposed to do after 8pm every night when the conference is over?!) and it's not just a bunch of old people...

story for the Catholics:
so I just played for a wedding tonight, and the photographer was kind of obnoxious, as in disrespectful to what was going on during the Mass. (well, I always think the photographers are obnoxious, but looking back, this one was particularly so...) so anyhow, of course, she appears to be completely oblivious to what is going on at the altar, so during the consecration, she is up front off to the side and snapping pictures of the bride and groom. after he consecrated the host, I realized Fr. wasn't saying anything, so I looked up and he was staring right at her! and she was still totally oblivious! It took a few more seconds but then the bride and groom realized what was happening and then they turned and gave her a kind of dirty look, and then she kind of realized how obnoxious she looked, and picked up her camera and ran to the back of the church. it was sooo wonderfully awful! I mean, awful that she was sooo clueless and disrespectful (I mean, not that I expect her to understand what's going on at the altar, especially if she's not Catholic, but good grief-everyone is kneeling down and being quiet and looking at the altar, and there she was, up in front of everyone snapping pictures!) but it was wonderful (I thought at least) how Fr. handled it. He easily could have ignored it, but, well, sometimes photographers cross the line and need to be put in their place. ha.

oh, yes.

and did I mention how much I hate the "four hymn sandwich?"

I'm back.

(isn't that always the beginning of the last post of a blog before it officially dies?)
anyhow, I hate choosing the music for ordinary time. I mean, sometimes I feel like there's too many choices, and other times I feel like there are no songs. It's all fine and dandy to just choose normal "praise" hymns for most of Mass, but what about Communion? as I've ranted about before, my hymnal has NO communion songs. and with the choir officially not rehearsing during the summer...there won't be any refreshment with them. like, during Easter for example, we can do Easter songs during Communion. But really, now, I can only do "At that First Eucharist" so many times.

my boss told me he thinks it's fine to use "Tantum Ergo" and "O Salutaris" during Mass, b/c, really, isn't Mass like the ultimate act of adoration? however, a friend of mine who is a professor at a nearby seminary, told me he didn't think so. any thoughts?


I can't help reposting this joke:
What is a progressive's favorite Latin hymn?
Tantrum Ego!

Corpus Christi

yay! favorite feast!

Crown Him With Many Crowns (DIADEMATA)
Let All Mortal Flesh
choir: Ave Verum (chant)
Come Adore/Tantum Ergo (ST. THOMAS)-I checked with my boss on the appropriateness of using this during Mass, as I've only ever heard it during adoration, and he was fine with it, like, isn't that exactly what Mass is about? (any other thoughts?)
Adoro Te Devote (Humbly We Adore Thee)
To Jesus Christ Our Sovereign King (ICH GLAUB AN GOTT)

note: the last Mass will close with a Corpus Christi procession, and therefore we will sing O Salutaris followed by O Lord I am not Worthy)

last two weeks of choir

so, like most church choirs, mine has been slowly dwindling since Easter.
Throughout the year, I've lightly threatened them that if they miss rehearsal, I will be calling them to make sure that they're doing alright and not in the hospital or something, cuz, really, that's the only good reason to miss rehearsal, right? and those present always agree!
and of course whenever there is a particularly light week, the people who were there later want to know if I carried through on my threat, but I never have.
until yesterday! there were only 4 ladies at rehearsal, and really, they are those who don't need to rehearse much! so, yesterday, I called about 5 people. I left some messages, expressed polite concern that they had missed, hoped they were doing alright, and mentioned that the choir would only be singing for 3 more weekends, so I really hoped they would be able to make it to the last two rehearsals. A couple people were surprised that we weren't singing through the summer, and most sounded like they certainly would make a priority of coming to the last rehearsals.
So now here's my quandry. I had planned on learning a rather difficult but gorgeous 4-part Ave Verum for Corpus Christi if I had had a couple guys to sing bass at least (I can sing tenor when necessary, and my sopranos and altos are pretty competent!) but I decided against it with only the 4 ladies. We worked on our 4-part piece for next Sunday, and even if just these 4 sing the soprano and alto parts and I play the organ, it will sound alright.
so anyhow, now everyone is going to come to rehearsal for the next two weeks. But I think that 2 weeks might be too short for most of the men to learn their part on this difficult piece, so it will be kind of like, "why are we here? we're not doing anything hard...?" I don't think most of the choir knows the chant Ave Verum, so I'm thinking of just teaching and using that. At least they'll know the words for next year, right?
my point is, I'm afraid of not challenging them enough(which I haven't been able to do recently cuz they haven't been coming to rehearsal regularly!), so they are reluctant to come back (like in the fall?)
we'll see. I'm learning. it's still my first year as an actual Music Director...

Holy Trinity

Even though everyone else complains about how we lose the 7th Sunday of Easter for Ascension (well, they actually complain about how we lose a holy day of obligation, but that's beside the point,) I personally LOVE how we have these four absolutely WONDERFUL feast days in a row! Corpus Christi and Pentecost are totally my favorite holy days!

so here's next weekend:
(same other stuff as listed below this post)

Sing Praise to our Creator (GOTT VATER...)
Holy, Holy, Holy (NICAEA)
choir: O God of Loveliness (choral arrangement of ST. ELIZABETH)
Holy God (GROSSER GOTT)
Now Thank We (NUN DANKET)
God We Praise You (NETTLETON)

Pentecost Sunday

Fire of God, Undying Flame (NUN KOMM)
Gloria-Lee
Psalm-Respond and Acclaim
Pentecost Sequence-English, GIA translation (gotta love how the ICEL guys or whoever translated it for the Lectionary made sure that their translation absolutely did not match the meter of the chant...)
Easter Alleluia with verses (O FILII ET FILIAE)
Sanctus-Mass of Creation (yes, we're working on this...)
Mem. Acc. -chant (Jubilate Deo)
Amen-two tone
Agnus Dei-chant
O Breathe on Me, O Breath of God (ST. COLUMBA)
One Bread, One Body
Come Holy Ghost (LAMBILLOTTE)

and, for those wondering about the "Memorial Day patriotic music," obviously I've chosen to not use any. Pentecost is far more important. Interestingly, I'm actually not quite sure what my priest/boss thinks about the whole "using patriotic songs at Mass close to holidays" thing, but guess what? He's on retreat until the last Mass this weekend, so...he won't know until too late! tee hee...

the Office

has anyone ever watched the reality tv show sort of sitcom the Office?
well, this office is kind of like that. we decided yesterday that we should totally have our own tv show.
here's the characters:
J, the DRE. kind of quiet. not super-personable. hides downstairs in his office all day.
M, the music director. very intense, kind of sarcastic. forgets to be friendly sometimes
C, the office manager. also intense. gets stressed out alot. also forgets to be friendly when she is stressed out.
Fr. G, makes up for the lack of friendliness among everyone else. extremely intense, although he vehemently denies it.
D, an elderly volunteer. She knows everything. she's been around longer than you've been alive. we don't even know everything that wouldn't get done if she weren't here.
B, he lives in the rectory, trying to decide what to do with his life. he prays about 16 hours a day.

plus various other volunteers that are present once a week or so.

the episodes of the past two days alone:
Fr. G hit a possom while driving. the next day, some people leaving Mass thought they saw it crawling around. possum not in sight. the next day, C sees it. Claims it is in agony. Fr. G still can't find it, what's he supposed to do? Finally he finds it. He comes back in, claiming it was "alacrity." C doesn't think so. dictionary is pulled out. Large conversation in office follows discussing what to do. no one has a gun. C, Fr. G, M, and J troop out to look for it. Possum is certainly not alacrity. The men find it and won't let the women see, it's dead, so the shovel wasn't needed. M doesn't want to see, so she runs back inside in case the phones ringing. Fr. G scoops the dead possum up and throws it into the woods. ugh.

and yesterday:
Fr. G gives M a lesson in how to make a phone call. "Did C show you how to make a phone call?" C raises her eyebrows. where is this going? M gets really nervous, agonizes over if she did something wrong. Long conversation follows about how it is important to be friendly and caring on the phone. when making a phone call, even to an 800 number, begin by asking the person how they are doing. conversation continues about the necessity of this. M contradicts Mother Theresa (to the horror of the others present) by pointing out that constant cheerfulness can just be a sign of a fake person... a discussion about this follows.
Fr. G later privately asks C if M was offended by his manner of approaching the matter. C doesn't think so. Fr. G worries some more. He leaves for the weekend. as far as we know, he is still worrying about having upset one of his staff people even while he is on retreat this weekend.
sigh.

ok, maybe that all wasn't interesting to anyone except me. maybe it was just a "you had to have been there" week.
this will probably be the last time I blog about this as if it were a tv show. ha. hopefully.

working for a church

sometimes it's hard working for a small church. there's exactly 4 people on salary (not including the maintenance guy and the lady who comes in once a week to write the checks!-for those wondering, that would be me, the DRE, the office manager, and the priest.) so I have to do a lot of figuring out stuff myself.
I'm just a little stressed/worried. I have to figure out my hours and how everything will work, like, make sure my hours will balance out between the business of Christmas and Easter, and the slowness of summer.
how am I really supposed to do that when I don't know exactly what I'll be able to do in the fall with things like a children's choir? Bringing in outside scholas for an occasional Mass or two?
I'm not complaining, I'm just pointing out how, well, in a bigger church wouldn't someone be telling me how I would spend my time? Maybe not, but I am definitely not a "visionary." by that, I mean how like I'm not going to be very good at finding stuff to do for 20 hours a week with just music. but that's part of my job description! (something about "expanding and improving the music program...) I mean, the choir loft and music library need to be cleaned out SO much, and I can always practice more (prepare a prelude, etc,) but I'm just worried about how to...quantify? all of that... and my lack of ideas for more things to do, or at least how to implement them...

ramblings

funeral this morning, wedding in an hour, Mass at 4:30 like normal. what a day.
I'm overwhelmed (just mentally-I haven't actually started doing anything!) with the amount of stuff that I have to do. As in, stuff that I've been putting off for, "when the church will pay me to do it." (like starting Wednesday, I have 20 hours a week of "music," and that is when I will start to do all this stuff I've been intending to do for so long...sort through the music "library" and get rid of the heretical stuff (that would basically be most of the things published in my lifetime-ironic, eh?) figure out when exactly during funerals "In Paradisum" is supposed to be sung, and all the other confusing things about the end of funerals and how the "Order of Christian Funerals" is not very clear at all...
other stuff too. It'd be really good to make a format for a worship aid in which just a few things can be changed for different funerals, and then the people who never actually go to church can somewhat follow along.
and now my boss has assigned me the job of making a laminated sheet that has the Mass parts in Latin chant notation with the translation. (seriously. I don't know how I'm going to do this. The Gloria, Credo, and Our Father are NOT going to all fit on one sheet of paper, much less all of the other smaller parts...)

but going back to funerals,
I just read a good quote. "Give me flowers while I'm still alive."
I know, I know...I think about this a lot. but seriously. I always wonder if the wonderful things people say at funerals were ever said to them during their lives. If they were actually appreciated as much as people say they were.
and the flowers?
Don't waste them at my funeral when I can't enjoy them! Give them to me now!