Christmas Eve: Program, Mass, and the Persistent Technidiotness of the Director

I felt super nostalgic this year as our first set of graduating seniors sang their last Christmas Mass as members of the choir. Our founders are going to fly off into the world soon, with our love and blessings. Hopefully, next year, I'll be posting how wonderful it was to have the founders back at Christmas to sing with everyone, but for now, it is a bittersweet moment for the SRYC.

Sean Patterson won the Christmas "person who gets the gift card because they've worked/improved/whatever'd" the best and to him, hats off! *smile*

Our program/carolling before Mass included the following:

Angels We Have Heard on High
How Far is it to Bethlehem? (Willcocks, Oxford's Carols for Choirs III)
Away in a Manger
Is it Far to Bethlem City? (Gastoldi, GIA's Ars Antiqua series)
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
The Angels and the Shepherds
Once in Royal David's City
O Little Town of Bethlehem
The First Noel
Gaudete
Hark the Herald Angels Sing

Mass included the following:

Offertory: Resonet in Laudibus

Communion:

Lo, How a Rose E're Blooming (Vulpius)
Unto Us a Child is Born
Sing We Noel (Goemanne)

As to all of my work to record said program and Mass, there is good news and bad news. The video camera was apparently knocked about a bit by parishioners and because I did not have time to look at it, I did not realize how badly framed it was, so we are the choir off to the left... *sigh*. The second bad news of the evening is that the input dial on my tascam, my super happy digital recorder, somehow was pushed to "10" when it got taken to the back during the Junior Youth Choir Mass, and the recordings were BADLY distorted. I saved what I could, but Lo, How a Rose and Sing We Noel are lost to the sands of time and exist only in the memories of those who were there.

As to what DID survive:

Click on this link to see: Of the Father's Love Begotten, and Angels We Have Heard on High



Click on this link to see: Away in a Manger

My personal and enduring favorite of the entire experience...if you only knew HOW HARD they worked to get this ready, you weep with joy and pride. This was a VERY advanced piece for them, in FIVE parts, no less, and we lost an alto early in our season, so poor Ramsay and James were alone on their parts. This is hard stuff for such a small choir, and I actually cried as they were singing this. Good job guys!



Click on this link to see: God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, The Angels & the Shepherds, Once in Royal David's City, O Little Town of Bethlehem, and The First Noel

Click on this link to see: Gaudete, and Hark the Herald Angels Sing

Then Mass began. During O Come All Ye Faithful, the Community Leader had NO idea we were singing Adeste Fideles, then two verses of O Come, and I did not have a microphone I could get to, so, it's probably just as well that the tascam made a mess of that particular recording, though there is something dangerously prophetic and very ironic about me shouting "Latin" helplessly at the congregation while half sang O Come, and half sang Adeste. By the time we got to the third verse, everyone realized there was trouble and looked at me while I waved the number three in the air. I hate those moments in Mass, where something simple has gone horribly wrong and you are left to play it out because you cannot fix it. I apologize to those who were there and confused. We have sung O Come All Ye Faithful this way as long as I have gone to St. Richard's and I'm not about to buck the system and change it, so if it ever happens again, just go with what you know.

At Offertory, I had the presence of mind to push the camera button for Resonet. This is a bit of GOOD luck:



At Communion, I was able to clean up this recording of Unto Us a Child is Born, if for no other reason than to let you hear Sean singing his solo at the beginning. These are moments you treasure if you direct children's choir---the child rises to adulthood and can carry a tune! And what a tune! Hats off again to Sean! *chuckle...have you got the message yet Sean?*

And on a final note, I took a HUGE risk this year and did not program "Night of Silence" at Communion. The last time Helen tried to do that, she got phone calls, and they weren't charitable in nature in the least. My decision to do so yielded the blessed fruit I had hoped, as the ENTIRE congregation sang the hymn that no one does not know from their deep child heart and the moment was special and for me, filled with awe and wonder.


So, as 2009 closes for the choir, I want to thank ALL the choir members, ALL the choir parents, the staff at St. Richard's, Helen Walsh, Fr. Lincoln Dall (our choir chaplain) and especially our pastor, Fr. Mike O'Brien, whose leadership and support have made this choir possible. God Bless you all, and see you again at Mass in January!

THANK YOU ALL!!!!

The whole choir would like to thank the people of St. Richard's parish yet again for their amazing generosity. We raised over two thousand dollars for our scholarship/travel fund. It was a very special weekend for us, and we look forward to serving you on Christmas Eve at the 6:00 PM Mass. There will be carolling before Mass which starts at 5:30 PM. Please come and sing along with us!

I will post more about the Bead N Bake once I have located my house under the pile of choir debris. When I do, you will be able to see how much hard work the choir does behind the scenes to make these fundraisers work.

On a final note, I'd like to commend the choir. They did this hard weekend without complaint or whine. They even sold in the rain on the bridge after the 8:00 AM Sunday Mass. They sang, they sold, and they worked. I am very proud of each and every one of them.

Ms. C

Last Night with Brownies and Crosses and Music and Friends

Last night, the choir gathered at my home. There were brownies to bake (9 half sheet pans with two recipes each pan), wire crosses to make (we now have about 25 crosses and a lot of zipper pulls and key chains), bracelet lore to pass on to new people, pizza to eat, and songs to sing together.

Before I tell you more about the evening...I have a serious question: I bought new hand mixers for the choir, and when I opened the boxes, I made the annoying discovery in the picture to the right--------- So, here is my question to Black and Decker...why, on God's green earth did you find it necessary, amongst all the other packaging to CABLE TIE the plug in this manner? There is no good reason for this, other than to incite package rage. Good grief!

For the first time, we added a new dimension to our bake night and broadcast our evening on Ustream with a few select friends. As the choir grows and we age, more of our friends will move on to college and the Ustream client will be nice so that those far away can still join us every so often for fun and good memories.

Friday we will start baking at 8:00 in the morning and will not close the kitchen doors until we are done late Friday night. Pray for us, please, as we need stamina, good cheerful hearts, and a sense of community and fun throughout our long weekend. I pray that God will bless the works of our hands and hearts.

See y'all on Friday when I post more pics and possibly video of the choir doing all this crazy hard work.

New Product for this Weekend...PEPPERED CHEESE BREAD mini-braids!!

Every year, as we are standing on the bridge selling brownie pops, there are those who ask if we have anything that's not so sweet. For two years I've promised Frances we'd have something "next time." So, in honor of Frances...we have PEPPERED CHEESE BREAD mini braids this year. These are the test kitchen batch...they look a little big to me, but I think we'll see what the people say who buy them. They will sell for $5.00 per mini-loaf, and there will be VERY limited quantities available this year.

We Sing This Weekend---2nd Sunday of Advent

Second Sunday of Advent. "Our forerunner John calls us to repent for You are near....Kyrie Eleison...."

The RCIA candidates will be there.

It is the weekend before our massive Bead N' Bake Fundraiser.

Finals are upon the kids like a plague on the nations.

But we are cheerful, hopeful, bright eyed and happy to serve.

Our anthem at Offertory is "Create in Me a Clean Heart, O God" by P. Bouman. We sang it at the Mass for Life in October, and there is a lovely recording there, so I probably will not record it again.

Our anthem at Communion is something a little different. Taken directly from the propers for the day, Creator Alme Siderum is the chanted proper for the Second Sunday of Advent, and we are delighted to offer it as unaccompanied chant in the silence following communion.

The tune you will recognize as the familiar hymn "Creator of the Stars of Night." The text, however will be from the original Latin chant, so I will put it here. According to the Church Music Association of America's wonderful Parish Book of Chant, the text is replaced in modern collections by the Advent hymn from the Divine Office, Canditor alme siderum. This is Creator alme siderum's traditional text in full:

Creator alme siderum,
AEterna lux credentium,
Jesu, Redemptor Omnium,
Intende votis supplicum.

Qui daemonis ne fraudibus,
Periret orbis, impetu
Amoris actus, languidi
mundi medela factus es.

Commune qui mundi nefas
Ut expiares, ad crucem
E Virginis sacrario
Intacta prodis victima.

Cujus potestas gloriae,
Nomenque cum primum sonat,
Et caelites et inferi
Tremente curvantur genu.

Te deprecamur, ultimae
Magnum diei Judicem,
Armis supernae gratiae
Defende nos ab hostibus.

Virtus, honor, laus, gloria
Deo Patri cum Filio,
Sancto simul Paraclito,
In saeculorum saecula. Amen

TRANSLATION:

Blessed Creator of the stars, eternal light of the faithful, Jesus, redeemer of all, hear the prayers of thy servants.

Who, lest through frauds of the devil all perish, moved by love becamest the healer of the sick world.

To atone for the sin of the world thou camest from the Virgin's womb, a spotless victim, to the cross.

Thy glorious power and name when heard make angels and men trembling bend the knee.

We pray thee, great judge of the last day, to defend us from our enemies with arms of grace from above.

Power, honor, praise, and glory to God the Father, with the Son and the Holy Comforter, for ever and ever. Amen.

See you all at Mass!!!!!