2025 Priestly Ordination
Greetings all—
If you are on this page, then you are interested in (or committed to) singing for Deacon Paul Thuantho’s priestly ordination at St. Augustine’s Cathedral, Kalamazoo on Saturday, May 31st at 10am. Thank you, and welcome!
If you would like to join the diocesan choir for this event, please fill out the following form to let me know you are coming so I can prepare the correct number of choir packets.
Practice Track Resources are available below the signup form, so you can begin to prepare. A few are still missing, and I will attempt to fill holes in the coming days.
Attire will be black/white. If you have “concert black” (ie- an all-black outfit) then you are encouraged to wear it, otherwise black slacks and a white top/blouse (jacket for men) is just fine.
There will be a special rehearsal this coming Wednesday, May 28th from 6:00-8:00pm in the cathedral loft for those who can attend. I know that this conflicts with some normal choir rehearsals and that not everyone can attend. Unfortunately, with the holiday weekend and other events at the cathedral, this is the only night that we can meet. You can still join us to sing even if you miss rehearsal IF you prepare from home and can still warmup with us ordination day.
The morning of the ordination, we will warmup at 8:30am. (that means butts in seats, ready to sing; we will have a lot of ground to cover, and will also need to coordinate cues with Brass.)
If you have any questions for me, please send me an email.
I look forward to singing with you all!
PROCESSIONAL HYMN
ENTRANCE ANTIPHON
KYRIE
GLORIA
PSALM
GOSPEL ACCLAMATION
ANTIPHONS
OFFERTORY (I)
Just as with last year, we will sing the motet I’ll bless the Lord all the days of my life (Teleman / Morber). This piece is a simple canon; that means that everyone learns the exact same music, but simple sings it at different times as it layers over itself. There are a few different demos below:
THEME ALONE
Voices Equal
Top part (Sopranos)
Middle part (Altos)
Bottom part (Men)
I’ll mention that these demo tracks are a tad on the fast side. We will relax the tempo a bit. (Basically the same tempo as the solo demo of the theme at the beginning of each video.)
This is to be sung “lightly” which is to say buoyantly. Rearticulate each vowel on any slurred sixteenth notes so we have clarity. For those who are new to this piece, just listen to the theme, as all three parts use this identical music. In truth, this piece is actually rather easy to sing even though it sounds much more fancy than it really is!
OFFERTORY (II)
Our charming second offertory piece is a setting of the Memorare is available as a free PDF which you can download here.
COMMUNION ANTIPHON
COMMUNION (I)
Our first communion piece will be Bach’s famous Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring (in English). We will sing the full arrangement with the instrumental interludes as demonstrated in this original version:
Basically, all you have to do is think of this as a normal SATB hymn, but with interludes after every phrase.
UPDATE:
Here are some new basic practice tracks that feature the organ accompaniment flowing in the background, but feature S/A/T/B overlays so you can learn your part easily without worrying about trying to follow along with all the triplets in the accompaniment. Just read it like a hymn, but with little interludes between phrases.
Communion (II)
Click in the video description for timestamps of each voice part.
