Nov. 15: 25th Sunday After Pentecost / 6th Sunday After Epiphany Resumed

7:45 AM AT HOLY SPIRIT MISSION. Please be prompt, or if you can't be prompt, be early.
You can go to the Cathedral at 4 PM if you like, but you'll have the choir loft to yourself.

Asperges Me
Introit: Adorate Deum
Kyrie: Missa Lauda Sion
Gloria: Mass XI
Gradual: Timebunt gentes
Alleluia: Dominus regnavit
Credo I (mp3)
Offertory: Dextera Domini
Sanctus: Mass XI
Agnus Dei: Haller
Communion: Mirabantur (audio only), Ave Verum Corpus (Josquin) (midi; we're only singing the first 1:28; parts broken out also)
Last Gospel: Salve Regina, Crown Him With Many Crowns

See You At 3 PM Sunday?

That's when you'll arrive at the Cathedral if you don't set your clock back an hour before going to bed Saturday. At least this is in our favor, unlike when Daylight Savings Time began earlier this year.

Have you ever found yourself with an extra hour by forgetting to turn your clocks back? My brother and I did one Sunday morning when we were kids, so we spent it by playing Talking Football.

This Is Big

Kathy issued us our new St. Michael Hymnals last night. It is 11 inches high and 7 inches wide and has easily more than 900 pages, so it will be taking up a lot more room in our bags. It is a combination missal and hymnal which will replace the Cathedral's Vatican II Hymnals, which in turn supplanted Adoremus.

Here are some of Kathy's thoughts on the SMH:

It has been clear to me that we would at some point need to purchase new hymnals.  The "Adoremus" ones we are using are no longer available and the translation of the Mass in the front was changed several years ago, so it is badly out of date.  There is a revised edition that has more in it with the new translation but the issue there is that no parish in the area has it.  The "Adoremus" has served us well and it was helpful that many of the hymns in it were in Public Domain, so I could easily use them in worship aids, which are necessary when we sing st St. Peter Canisius [1] as well as a few other things (such as the Red Mass last year).  All of the choir editions we have are currently committed.  We have no more to issue to new choir members, if we get any. . . .

After an extended process, the cathedral made the decision to go with the  "St. Michael Hymnal."   This is a more balanced item, has the new translation, retained the original texts of the tradiitonal hymns and also has a lot of material which will be workable for the element  at the cathedral  that wants contemporary music.   There are quite a few Spanish hymns, also important for the cathedral.   I think it was the best possible compromise that could have been made.  A successful fundraising drive was done at the cathedral to raise the money so that no money had to come out of the cathedral budget for them.  The  St. Michael choir editions are expensive; about the same as the other hymnal under consideration,  but at least it is usable for us.  I am not opposed to spending the money. 

SMH graciously provided us with some discounted  "seconds" that may have had typos or misaligned pages. We will be using the Adoremus hymnals until the SMH gets fully distributed at the Cathedral, and then only occasionally after that.

[1] Get Kathy to tell you the story about how she singlehandedly transferred the Cathedral's supply of Adoremus hymnals to St. Peter Canisius. I cannot do it justice, and I wish I could have videotaped her while she told it to me.

The Not-So-Unsung Hero Award

Goes to tenor Rob Bateman, who shrugged off his illness to sing a fine offertory verse yesterday. After all, if he sang, he can't be an "unsung" hero...right?

Let us pray that illness does not tear through the choir as it so often has in previous seasons. And if you aren't feeling well, 1) stay home, and 2) let Kathy know.

Mode 007

Kathy would agree:

"Gregorian chant is not boring when sung properly. It must be light and relatively quick."

--Daniel Craig (no, not THAT one), Corpus Christi Watershed 

Rerouting Your Food Donations

As you know, the Friar's Pantry, our former designated charity, has sadly closed up shop. Kathy has asked that we not bring any further foodstuffs to rehearsal as we find other ways to help the needy. Here are some other organizations that will gladly accept your food or monetary donations:

• Many parishes and churches of other denominations have some sort of food pantry setup, or collect it for distribution by other means. See if yours does.
• Catholic Charities/St. Vincent's.
• Reno-Sparks Gospel Mission.
• The Food Bank of Northern Nevada.
• FISH (Friends In Service Helping), primarily in Carson City, Minden, and Mound House.

This is obviously not an exhaustive list. Additions welcome in the comments.

Nov. 1: Feast of All Saints

4 PM at the Cathedral.

Introit: Gaudeamus omnes

Kyrie, Gloria (mp3), Sanctus, Agnus Dei: Mass VIII

Credo III (mp3)

Offertory: Justorum animae
Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence (midi)

Communio: Beati mundo corde
O Quam Gloriosum (Victoria)

Recessional: The Church's One Foundation (midi)

Extra Innings

(Hey, it's baseball postseason time....)

Sometimes, Kathy asks for help from specific choir members for Masses and services that are not part of the RPC schedule, and hence not official RPC "events." At other times, she asks for volunteers for these occasions. Coming up on Monday, November 2, is an opportunity for the latter.

Fr. Paul Fazio will be saying an Extraordinary Form High Mass for the Feast of All Souls at 6:30 PM at the Cathedral, so Kathy says she can use anyone who is available. Please email her if you can sing. We will also be singing there as RPC at the All Saints' Day 5 PM Mass the day before.

ETA: After RPC rehearsal preseason chant class on Tuesday, September 19, 2012, Kristin Rosenqvist, Mark Deutschendorf, Sandy, and I went to dinner at Tamarack Junction's sports bar. The Baltimore Orioles-Seattle Mariners game, being played at Seattle's Safeco Field, was on TV. And on...and on... and on, for 18 innings. It didn't end until around 1 AM PDT; I followed it after we came home. Above is a photo of the final scoreboard. 

A former radio boss of mine drove into work for his normal morning shift at that time and was astounded to hear the postgame show on his Pennsylvania station. I joked via Twitter that when the game started, the Orioles were playing the Seattle Pilots and Bill Gates was using 5 1/4" floppy disks,

Oct. 18: 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time

4 PM at the Cathedral.

Introit: Ego clamavi

Kyrie, Gloria (mp3), Sanctus, Agnus Dei: Mass VIII

Credo III (mp3)

Offertory: Meditabor
All People That On Earth Do Dwell

Comunnio: Domine, Dominus noster
Ave Verum Corpus (Josquin) (midi; we're only singing the first 1:28; parts broken out also)

Recessional: Praise My Soul The King Of Heaven (midi)

Binders Full Of Music

What, you can't put music in your binder this quickly?
(Link and video courtesy of Corpus Christi Watershed, which can always use your support.)

Fortunately, Kathy doesn't collate the binders, most of the time. She does for certain occasions.
She only has to choose the music.
And order it, if necessary.
And sort it.
And drive to Office Depot to copy it.
And arrange it for and/or email it to each member.
And bring it to rehearsal.
And have extra copies for the forgetful and neglectful [1].
And collect it (as appropriate) after each Mass or service.
And file it.
And store it someplace, which used to be her daughter's garage on the other side of town.

Of course, she works as quickly as the above link shows, so it's no problem at all. :-)

As a reminder, if you need holders for the propers in your binder, check this post.

[1] Not that I've ever been that.
...often.