26th in OT (B • 2024)
Prelude: St. Michæl the Archangel
Entrance Antiphon (Processional) Hymn: All That You Have Done To Us, Lord to the tune RUSTINGTON
Entrance Antiphon: (simple psalm tone)
Psalm: 19 The precepts of the Lord are right, they gladden the heart. (ft. Justitiæ Domini)
Gospel Acclamation: Alleluia ‘cum Magnificat’
Offertory Antiphon: Upon the rivers of Babylon…(from Simple English Propers)
Communion Antiphon: Be Thou Mindful of Thy Word… (Memento verbi tui)
Communion Hymn: God of All Pow’r and Truth, and Grace to TALLIS’ CANON
Motet: I’ll Bless the Lord at all Times (Telemann, adapt. Morber / EnglishMotets.com)
Recessional Hymn: Christ, the Splendor of the Father to WESTMINSTER ABBEY
Entrance Antiphon Hymn Melody:
Offertory Antiphon:
Communion Antiphon:
NB: our final sequence will be:
James intones “Memento”
All join in at “verbi…”
Repeat antiphon in English
Verse / English Antiphon / Verse / English Antiphon
LATIN antiphon LAST TIME (no English).
Communion Hymn Melody:
Special Motet: I’ll bless the Lord all the days of my life.
(Ich Will den Herrn Loben, Telemann, arr. Morber)
Recessional Hymn Melody:
25th in OT (B • 2024)
Greetings all—
Here’s our ordo for the 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time. As with last week, warmups will be in the loft at 8:45am. This weekend, we will dress in our choir robes. If you missed Wednesday’s rehearsal, come a few minutes early and we will find you a robe.
Prelude: Saint Michæl the Archangel Prayer
Entrance Antiphon Hymn: Truly I Am the Salvation of All People to the tune EBENEZER.
Entrance Antiphon: I am the salvation of the people… to a simple psalm tone.
Kyrie & Gloria from Mass in Honor of Our Lady, Star of the Sea by Michæl Olbash
Psalm 54: The Lord upholds my life.
Alleluia ‘cum Magnificat’ (verse for the 25th Sunday)
Offertory Hymn: Be Thou My Vision (to SLANE)
Sanctus & Agnus Dei by Olbash
Communion Antiphon: You have laid down Your precepts…
Communion Hymn: O Thou, Who Gav’st Thy Servant Grace to the tune O WALY WALY
SPECIAL: Laudate Dominum by Lorenzo Perosi
**NB: we will do this either after the offertory hymn, or at the end of communion, as timing permits.
Recessional Hymn: Tell Out My Soul to WOODLANDS
Entrance Hymn: MELODY (different text)
Kyrie:
Gloria:
Psalm: (Click here for a dedicated practice track repository with recordings of all individual voice parts)
And just in case you’re curious, here’s a closeup of the manuscript from which the melody of this arrangement is derived. It is dated “prior to 1314” which means this melody is at least 700 years old. Amazing!
Antiphonarium pro Ecclesia Einsidlensi, folio 88r.
Alleluia: (Click here for a dedicated practice track repository with recordings of all individual voice parts)
Offertory Hymn: Be Thou My Vision (SLANE)
SPECIAL: Laudate Dominum by Perosi. **This will either pad the end of offertory, or the end of communion, depending on timing.
Sanctus:
Agnus Dei:
Communion Hymn: O Thou, Who Gav’st Thy Servant Grace to the tune O WALY WALY
Recessional Hymn: Tell Out, My Soul! (WOODLANDS)
24th in OT (B • 2024)
Greetings all—
And happy first Sunday of choir season! Woohoo! Below you will find a list of this weekend’s ordo, as well as links to practice tracks and embedded MP3’s. Avail yourselves of whatever is helpful to you, so you can sing with confidence on Sunday.
Warmups will be in the loft at 8:45am. This weekend, we will just dress in “Sunday best” rather than worrying about robes.
Prelude: Saint Michæl the Archangel Prayer
Entrance Antiphon Hymn: Give peace to those who wait for You to the tune ERHALT UNS HERR.
Entrance Antiphon: Give peace, O Lord, …
Kyrie & Gloria from Mass in Honor of Our Lady, Star of the Sea by Michæl Olbash
Psalm 116: I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living.
Alleluia ‘cum Magnificat’ (verse for the 24th Sunday)
Offertory Hymn: When Morning Gilds the Skies (to LAUDES DOMINI / Barnby)
Sanctus & Agnus Dei by Olbash
Communion Antiphon [Motet]: Take Up Thy Cross by yours truly
Communion Hymn: Wondrous Love that Cannot Falter to the tune IRBY
Recessional Hymn: Take Up Your Cross to JERUSALEM
Entrance Hymn MELODY (different text)
Kyrie:
Gloria:
Psalm (Click here for YouTube playlist)
Alleluia: (Click here for YouTube Playlist)
Offertory Hymn:
Sanctus:
Agnus Dei:
Communion Antiphon / Motet:
Communion Hymn: Wondrous Love that Cannot Falter to IRBY:
Recessional Hymn MELODY (alternate text):
Tolle et Canta! (Fall 2024 Signups)
Click here to learn about joining the St. Augustine Cathedral Choir for the 2024-2025 season.
At the bottom of the page, you'll find a signup form to fill out which will give James all the information he needs to know.
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, a friend has forwarded this link along to you, or you have scanned the QR code in this week’s worship aid. Welcome!
What follows is some general information about singing in the choir, as well as a few requests of James to help him serve you.
What to know:
The Choir will be entering a season of rebuilding after picking up the pieces in the Spring following a long furlough. 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 weekly routine. If you have questions or would like to discuss your particular situation privately, please give James a call or email him.
However, it is OK if you want to attend just the first few rehearsals to see if Choir is the right fit for you.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. This is all par for the course with singing in the choir.
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 by filling out the form at the bottom of the page:
Mark your calendars for our first rehearsal on Wednesday, Sept. 4th. (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 choirs previously.)
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!
Priestly Ordination • Andrew Schmidt
Greetings all—
If you are on this page, then you are interested in (or committed to) singing for Andrew Schmidts’s priestly ordination at St. Augustine’s Cathedral, Kalamazoo on Saturday, June 1st at 10am. Thank you, and welcome!
Practice tracks are available below to help you prepare from home.
Attire will simply be “Sunday best”.
There will be a special rehearsal this coming Tuesday, May 14th from 6:30-8:30pm in the cathedral loft for those who can attend.
The morning of the ordination, we will warmup at 8:30. It will be a whirlwind warmup, but that should be sufficient.
If you haven’t yet, please don’t forget to fill out the form to let me know you are coming so I can prepare the correct number of scores.
If you have any questions for me, please send me an email.
I look forward to singing with you all!
Here’s the basic rundown:
Processional Hymn: Praise to the Lord, the Almighty (LOBE DEN HERREN) *this was just sung for Deacon Paul’s ordination, and Deacon Andy specifically mentioned loving it and asking for a repeat performance!
Entrance Antiphon: Fr. Weber #2195
Confiteor + Kyrie from Missa De Angelis (with jubilus)
Psalm 23 “The Lord is my Shepherd…” BILINGUAL (“El Señor es mi pastor…”)
NB: the demo featured below is totally in english. However at Mass, we will sing the refrains after verses 2&4 in spanish. Good news is, the music is nearly identical.
Litany of Supplication (modified Litany of Saints)
Vesting Antiphon: Christ the Lord, a Priest forever (chant)
Fraternal Kiss Antiphon: You are my friends, says the Lord arr. JJR
[Mass is normal hearafter]
Offertory Hymn: Veni Creator Spiritus as set by Oreste Ravanello (arr. Marier)
Offertory Motet: I’ll bless the Lord all the days of my life (Telemann / Morber)
Sanctus & Agnus Dei: Missa XVIII (simple gregorian, in LATIN)
Mysterium Fidei: ICEL / Missal version, in Latin.
Communion Antiphon: Fr. Weber #2224
Communion Hymn 1: Let all Mortal Flesh Keep Silence (a special request from Andrew)
Communion Hymn 2: Anima Christi by Marco Frisinab
Recessional Hymn: Ye Servants of God, Your Master Proclaim, to Parry’s LAUDATE DOMINUM.
Please note, that some of the embedded YouTube videos link to playlists that contain other videos featuring each individual voice part. Wherever this applies, you’ll see a little icon in the upper right corner of the video preview that consists of multiple lines and a number. Clicking on this icon will allow you to select one of the subordinate videos.
I apologize for not having an animated practice track of the psalm. Here is a graphic of the refrain as well as a basic organ-only demo to help get the tune in your ear.
ANTIPHONS:
Offertory Hymn (Choral Motet): Veni Creator
Here are some basic SATB demos of the arrangement of Veni Creator. We will alternate between chanting the original Latin (odd verses) and singing this simple motet (even verses). The embedded video is for a full YouTube playlist, and you can access your voice’s part by clicking on the icon in the upper right corner which is shown to the right.
There are also basic MP3’s embedded below if you do not need to watch the score.
Here is a model of the lovely flowing chant that I would like to imitate. Since it will be just choir, I intend to not accompany the monophonic chanting.
Below is the second motet that I would like to sing during the Offertory: I’ll bless the Lord all the days of my life (Telemann / Morber).
This piece is a simple canon; this means that everyone learns identical music, and it is simply overlaid upon itself multiple times. I’m including a number of demos below:
THEME ALONE
Voices Equal
Top part (Sopranos)
Middle part (Altos)
Bottom part (Men)
As before, you can click on the three-lined icon in the upper right of the video window to access the complete playlist of animated videos to view the one appropriate for your voice part.
I’ll also mention that these demo tracks are a tad on the fast side. I intend to relax the tempo a little so it feels a bit more comfortable to sing. (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!
Below is a PT of the Frisina Anima Christi; the soprano part is sung in the tenor octave, so if you want to hear a normal choir singing it, click on the second video. This first video has timestamps in the video description which allow you to solo a specific voice part to learn it better. We will have a cantor take the verses and just “ooo” the organ part underneath them. (At the risk of seeming unoriginal, I was encouraged to keep this on the roster by the Rector of the Cathedral.)
Real Choir Recording
Trinity (B • 2024)
Hi Friends,
Here’s the plan for this weekend. We are going to be short a few members… so, sing your hearts out, please!
Entrance Hymn: Holy Holy Holy (NICÆA)
Entrance Antiphon: Source & Summit, Simple
“Psalm” • Canticle of Daniel
Festal Alleluia
Offertory Antiphon: Lumen Christi Gradual
Offertory Hymn: All Hail Adored Trinity (OLD 100TH)
Communion Antiphon: Simple English Propers
Motet: I’ll Bless the Lord (Telemann / EnglishMotets.com)
Communion Hymn: Athanasian Creed (Quiqumque Vult) to the anglican chant tone styled after James O’Donnell.
Recessional Hymn: Blest Trinity! from Mortal Sight (WINCHESTER NEW)