Tolle et Canta!
Greetings choir members and friends of the St. Augustine Cathedral music program!
If you have landed on this page, then James has reached out to you directly, or a friend has forwarded this link along to you. Welcome!
What follows is some general information and a few requests to help James serve you.
What to know:
The Choir will be entering a season of rebuilding after a long furlough, and now is the perfect time to join (or rejoin!) in the fun. If you are interested in participating in the music program, here are a few things you should know:
Our goals are twofold:
Serve God, and make a joyful noise unto Him, for His glory and honor. To put it more simply, “Make beauty, for Beauty’s sake.”
Have fun, and be a communal refuge for each other; a family away from family, as it were. Making music is fun; let’s enjoy it together!
No formal choral singing experience is required, but you do need to be able to match pitch, and generally control your voice. If you are unsure about this, set up a meeting with James so you can sing for him and he can help determine if choir is the right fit.
It’s OK if you don’t read music, as long as you are willing to learn by ear and listen to practice tracks outside of rehearsal. Less experienced choir members will grow in their practical knowledge of music during rehearsals, and you are welcome to approach James at any time to get help figuring out your part, or to learn the basics of reading music. • If you are not [yet] a strong singer, you may be asked to stick to melody-only singing for a time, or sit out on some of the harder polyphony. That is OK. We all start somewhere! James does his best to provide copious resources to help everyone prepare their parts, even outside of rehearsal.
Rehearsals are Wednesday evenings during choir season, and regular attendance is expected. It’s OK when special things pop up every now and again, but please be mindful that singing in a choir is a group effort, so if members of the group make a habit of not showing up, or only showing up sporadically, the whole group suffers as a result and our choral blend will become unpredictable. We will do our best to be flexible, but we do ask that you consider choir an essential part of your week. If you have questions or would like to discuss your particular situation privately, please give James a call or email him.
You will be asked to sing at special events, sometimes at odd times—but these are the normal things one would expect of a cathedral choir: holy days of obligation, ordinations, chrism mass, etc. A schedule will be shared in advance. James understands that you may not be able to make it to all of the extra events, but we do ask you make as many as you can, and inform James ahead of time when you cannot.
You may be thinking, “this all sounds very serious!” but please rest assured that this is really about you, the choir. James wants this to be the best possible experience that it can be for all of you!
Action Steps:
If you would like to join the choir, or discuss how you might participate in the music program in some other way, please let James know ASAP filling out the form at the bottom of the page:
Mark your calendars for our first rehearsal on Wednesday, Jan. 31st. (Again, please let James know you are coming so he can prepare an adequate number of packets!)
If you can think of anyone—old or new—who might like to read this message, please share this page with them! Better to have three people share this message with the same friend then them not see it at all!
Tollite Portas! (“Fling wide the portals!”)Bookmark the “Choral Ordos” header of this website; this is where James will post all the practice resources week to week. (Feel free to scroll through old entries to see the sorts of things he shared with his former choir.)
Subscribe to the ServiamScores YouTube page, where James will post practice tracks, so you don’t miss anything new.
Follow the new “Tolle et Canta • Music at St. Augustine Cathedral” Facebook page, where similar resources will be shared in future. We hope that this will grow into a wonderful repository of fun messages, photos, videos, and events which showcase all your hard work, and allow friends of the program to connect with us all as well.
See you in the loft!
We’ve got the best view in the house!
Epiphany (B • 2024)
Dear Friends,
I wish to thank you —truly, from the bottom of my heart— THANK YOU for over five wonderful years of music making. Wednesday evening left my heart feeling so very full, and I am so very grateful to you all for all the love you have shown me. I have grown into a new man during my tenure with you, and I am certainly not the music director I was when I first arrived… You all helped me grow in innumerable ways, and put up with all my follies and foibles… and we managed to still smile and laugh besides! Gold Stars all around! (Halos too!)
Now, on to business:
For the Choir: we are doing the COMPLETE DALITZ
PRELUDE: Gaudete Christus Est Natus
Sung St. Michæl the Archangel Prayer
Entrance Antiphon Hymn to the tune of REGENT SQUARE
Entrance Antiphon from the Palmer/Burgess Collection
Psalm 72 • Lord, every nation on earth will adore You. (Playlist)
Christmas Alleluia (last week for this, before returning to the ‘Alleluia de Angelis’, just FYI)
CREDO III IN LATIN!
Offertory:
4:30 & 7:30 only Offertory Hymn to the tune of DIX
11am: Enixa Est Puerpera
Dalitz Sanctus & Benedictus (as one movement)
Dalitz Agnus Dei
Communion Antiphon: Fr. Weber #296
Communion Hymn: What Child is This
Alma Redemptoris Mater
For Enixa Est Puerpera I have prepared very short, organ only demos of each part. They are of the first page only (but the same notes repeat throughout the whole piece). Hopefully these are sufficient, until such time as I can make a fully-sung version.
Holy Family (B • 2023)
Dear Friends,
I once again must thank you for such a WONDERFUL Christmas Eve. Much like Lessons & Carols, you made me immensely proud, and I know both our priests were very appreciative of all your efforts as well. It was a Christmas Eve to remember!
Now, as we prepare for the Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary & Joseph, here are a few resources for you since we will not be having rehearsal this Wednesday. As of this posting, PT’s for the Fr. Weber chants are missing; I will add these by Thursday.
NB: we are now switching over to the Community Mass. (This is the same mass setting that you’ve been singing for years since before I even came to St. John’s.)
Entrance Antiphon Hymn to the tune of FOREST GREEN
Fr. Weber #188 (option ii)
Psalm 128 “Blesssèd are those who fear the Lord and walk in His ways.” (Playlist)
Christmastide Alleluia (same as we did at Midnight Mass)
Offertory
(4:30 & 7:30): Angels We Have Heard on High
(11:00): Gaudete, Christus est Natus
Communion Antiphon: Fr. Weber #203 (option i)
Communion Hymn: Of the Father’s Love Begotten
Alma Redemptoris Mater
Recessional Hymn: Holy God, We Praise Thy Name
(Traditionally, we sing the Te Deum on the last day of the year in thanksgiving for the blessings of that year. Because of the unusual collision with the 31st being a Sunday, we are going to sing HGWPTN in stead, since this hymn is a trope of the Te Deum.)
Advent IV (B • 2023)
Greetings All—
Here is our Advent IV Ordo.
Rotate Cæli Motet
Psalm 89 “Forever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.” (don’t forget that the psalm verses are different than those featured in the practice track, but the notes are all the same)
Alleluia Regem Venturum
Offertory Antiphon (tone II)
Ecce Virgo Concipiet
Veni, Veni Emmanuel
Come Thou, Redeemer of the Earth (O Heiland Reiss)
Midnight Mass (2023)
Greetings all—
Here commences the mega-list of resources and reference recordings for Christmas Eve, 2023.
A few notes first:
Brass, please be to the loft by 10:40pm, so we can discuss the sequence of the evening, practice starting intros, etc.
Choir, please be in place and ready to sing by 11pm. (Please be discreet and not make too much noise while the brass players and myself are warming up.)
While you have your ordos, I will be interspersing extra organ works to both give your voices a rest and fill additional time. Please don’t be surprised if I start something and it is not what you are expecting. We WILL go in order of the booklet; I will simply be adding extra things. If it’s extra, just sit tight and the next thing will be what you’re expecting.
Sing your hearts out!
Ordo:
O Little Town of Bethlehem
Maria Walks Amid the Thorns (listen to the original! and this spine-chilling rendition by the Hamburg girl’s choir)
Infant Holy, Infant Lowly
Once in Royal David’s City
A Day of Joy and Feasting
Away in A Manger
Gaudete, Christus est Natus (normal speed | “learning speed”)
Bring a Torch, Jeannette, Isabella!
Ding-Dong Merrily on High! (check the time-stamps for different parts, including a slowed down intro)
Choral Fanfare for Christ the King (penultimate piece before Mass begins)
Christmas Proclamation (Chanted by Kathy; this immediately precedes Mass)
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••Adeste Fideles (O Come, All Ye Faithful)
Dominus Dixit Ad Me (plainchant)
Kyrie, Missa Tribus Vocibus (timestamped in the description)
Gloria, Missa Tribus Vocibus (timestamped in the description)
Psalm 96 “Today is born our Savior…” (timestamped in the description)
Christmastide Alleluia (see below for old tracks)
Credo III
Angels We Have Heard on High
Sanctus Missa Tribus Vocibus (timestamped in the description)
Benedictus Missa Tribus Vocibus (timestamped in the description)
Agnus Dei Missa Tribus Vocibus (timestamped in the description)
In splendoribus sanctorum (communion antiphon; chanted by JJR)
Hark the Herald Angels Sing
Silent Night
Joy to the World (with Fanfare Introduction)
[Vierne Finale]