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Introduction
These notes were last updated in October 2009 to provide a quick overview of the way the musical enrichment of the liturgy is organized at Blessed Sacrament Church. A brief description of the various choirs and the seasonal celebrations follows with further information about the organ and staff. We welcome your interest and help as we worship God in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs.
Choirs
Most of the choirs at Blessed Sacrament are directed by David Hall, director of music for the parish. Each choir is organized around two weekly commitments: the time of the mass when it leads the music and the time of the practice. All groups use CBW3 as the hymnbook to lead congregational singing and any differences in the style and type of music from one choir to another is revealed in the music they sing before mass.
Information that applies to all choirs: Choir members need to arrive 15-20 minutes early before mass to have a brief warm-up practice at that time. All choir members are given individual copies of the choir edition of the Catholic Book of Worship for their own use and must bring it with them every time. Other music is purchased as sheet music or octavos and kept in three ring black binders in the practice room. These binders are numbered with one member from each choir sharing a numbered binder with a person in another choir. Consequently the binders must be left at the church and may only be taken home for extra practice after checking with the director. Choir members are also asked to have a personal binder to hold other chants and photocopied materials which are distributed from time to time. All practices take place in the meeting room at the back of the church lobby area.
Information about the choir at each specific mass: Those who lead the music Saturdays at the 7:00 pm mass practise directly before the mass beginning at 6:00. This group tends to focus on college age and young married people for its members. As a result of music lessons and school classes where they have learnt to play various instruments they have a good level of expertise and music reading ability and make the most of the practice time. Once a month, generally the third weekend, the music at the Saturday evening mass is organized by Steve Bondy in a more contemporary folk group style, and the regular choir members have a weekend with no practice or singing obligations.
The choir for the 8:30am Mass on Sundays practices at occasional times on Saturdays. This is the most mixed of the groups age wise with children, teens and adults. It also has a contingent who are part of the weekly Junior Choir practice (described elsewhere).
The choir that sings at 10:00am Mass on Sundays and practices Thursdays from 7:30 to 9:00pm is generally referred to as the Senior Choir. This is a 5 part SSATB adult choir of approximately 20 members.
The group that sings Sundays at 11:30 Mass practices Wednesday evenings 7:30 - 9:00pm. This is the group that practices with instrumental accompanists and is the inheritor of the contemporary choir title. This year it is in a rebuilding mode with three or four new singers learning the ropes.
Those people who are available during weekdays and have volunteered their names for this purpose sing also in the Funeral Choir. They are contacted by phone a day or two before each funeral and come along if they are able. We meet 20 minutes before hand to look over the music but otherwise there are no practices. This is a valuable ministry of comfort and support in our parish. Members can be called upon approximately 20 times a year. We also sing at the 9:00 am mass on All Souls Day (Nov 2) if it falls on a weekday.
Junior Choir Younger musicians are accommodated at their own practices. Children in Grades 3 - 8 practice from 4:15-5:15 on Tuesdays under the direction of Joann Koehler. Cookies and drink are provided so they can come directly from school. They are provided with a congregational (melody only) edition of CBW3 and are asked to bring a three ring binder to keep copies of any other music we learn. We practice each week’s hymns and service music with this group because we expect higher turn-over and a need for constant reinforcement. We learn anthems and choir pieces which we can sing at the Sunday 10:00 mass once a month, normally on the last Sunday.
BaptismsBaptism liturgies take place twice a month on Sunday afternoons and include full musical expression using psalms, Taize pieces and regular sung responses. Since this group sings the same music each time it is easier to participate in on an occasional basis than other groups and does not normally have rehearsals separate from the actual liturgies.
Chant Group "Cantualis" Some men who also sing in the 10:00 choir formed the nucleus of a group that has now expanded with ecumenical members who practise together on Friday afternoons from 3:00 pm to 4:00. They sing various items from the Gregorian chant repertoire at some of the regular liturgies at Blessed Sacramanet, especially funerals but also at other churches and liturgies wherever opportunity presents itself. They began to sing in public in Sept 2005 at the Open Doors event at Waterloo Lutheran Seminary and at the Diocesan retreat for parish musicians. They have also done Friday Vespers (which are available on CD) and Compline services at Waterloo Lutheran Seminary where they currently rehearse. They sing regularly in Fergus (All Souls Requiem mass, Palm Sunday Vespers) and are beginning an association with St Patrick’s Kinkora also. They celebrate in both ordinary and extra-ordinary forms of the mass and with English language celebrations as well. The website for further information is www.cantualis.com
Cantors All four weekend liturgies are complete with a musical setting of the responsorial psalm led by a cantor. Those who serve as cantors are volunteers drawn from all ages. They do not necessarily sing in a choir and we welcome expressions of interest from those interested in this ministry alone.
The following information is of interest to new cantors:
Festivals and Extra Events
Weddings: Music Planning for Weddings
This heading has further information about music and activities at Christmas masses, Holy Week, Confirmations and other similar special occasions.
Church musicians find themselves especially busy at particular times of the year and it helps to know ahead the extent of the commitment. Music at Christmas masses includes a half hour of singing before mass and is provided for by each choir. The Juniors sing at 5:pm Christmas Eve, the Wednesday Choir at 7:00pm, and the Thursday Choir at Midnight. Family or special groups are arranged to lead the music at 9:00pm and 8:30 am. On Christmas Day the 10:00 and 11:30 masses are served by members of the adult choirs willing to return. The Christmas Gospel is presented in pageant form with children of the parish on Christmas Eve at 5 & 7. Members of the Junior Choir who wish to participate in the pageant are asked to do so at the other mass than the 5pm when the choir is singing.
In Holy Week the choirs combine to sing the liturgies of Holy Thursday and the Easter Vigil. On Good Friday the Wednesday Choir sings at the 11:30am liturgy and the Thursday Choir at 3pm.
Finally, choir members are asked to assist at one or more of the Confirmation services which are generally arranged for a weekend in the spring. There are three services, and people may help according to their connections with a school or according to the convenience of the service times for their own schedules.
Masses on Nov 2, All Soul’s Day, Jan 1, Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, Ash Wednesday and First Communions for the five schools are planned for organist and cantor leadership. Choir members attend as their schedules allow.
Some events are unique. For the sake of example I’ll mention activities such as our 2002 anniversary recording Gathered As One, (which is still available for purchase), the musical pilgrimage to Venice in July 2004 when we sang at Basilica San Marco and years when we have marked Blessed Sacrament Sunday with an afternoon Evening Prayer and musical program. We regularly receive invitations to join with other church choirs in town who are sponsoring celebrations and programs and with diocesan choral workshops.
Instruments Instruments join with the grand piano and organ to accompany and support the singing, except on Good Friday when the a capella tradition prevails. Solo instrumental music is also used regularly to supplement our rites, except in Lent when we exert an older discipline and forgo all instrumental music except to accompany singing. The selection of solo and ensemble instrumental pieces is co-ordinated by flautist Joann Koehler who works 12 hours a week, attends two masses every week on a rotating basis and makes sure all instrumentalists have the music they need. We presently have regular participation from 3 guitars, bass guitar, violin, flute, clarinet, recorder and upon occasion handdrums and brass. A recorder ensemble of soprano, alto, tenor and bass recorders is occasionally heard from at the 11:30 mass with practices taking place Wednesdays at 9:00pm after the end of choir practice.
The Organ The organ in our church is a work of art in and of itself with both various recordings and a book detailing its features. It is a tracker action organ by Gerhard Brunzema built in two stages in 1983 and 1991. It is dedicated in memory of MaryAnne Voisin who was organist when it was commissioned but died in 1982 as it was being built. One of its features is a tuning system which slightly favours those keys most used in Baroque and early music (pre 1750). Details are available from the director of music for those instrumentalists that might notice that some notes are hard to tune when the organ is playing. It even has its own website sponsored by the University of Quebec which is linked from our website. (See Links)
Personnel
Blessed Sacrament Parish has a full time Director of Music who is responsible for the music at all masses. The current director is Mr David Hall who can be reached at the church through the church office or at home at 741-0067. He has degrees in organ and church music from Wilfrid Laurier University and the Royal Canadian College of Organists. He also has a Masters of Arts degree in Religion with a concentration in liturgics from Yale Institute of Sacred Music. Before coming to Blessed Sacrament in 1997 he lived and worked in Gander Nfld at the Anglican Cathedral there. He is married to Lilla Hall who is the director of music at St Mark’s Lutheran Church on King Street. He has three children: Katharine, Timothy and Dorothy.
Further to his work at mass and with the choirs David also assists school choirs, First Communion classes and Confirmation classes at the five parish schools to prepare music for their liturgies. He teaches private organ, and music theory lessons and accompanies choirs at Wilfrid Laurier University and at the Lutheran Seminary Chapel where he plays for services weekdays at noon during the university term and has taught a liturgy course. He has served as a regional director for the Royal Canadian College of Organists, and as president of the local centre of the RCCO and accepts occasional recital engagements. He has made a recording of solo organ music by Bach and has been part of several other discs such as Evening and Morning and Pie Jesu on the Chestnut Hall label. www.chestnuthallmusic.com
Joann Koehler’s work has been partly described above under the heading of Junior Choir and Instruments. She had been part of music ministry in various parishes all her life, including many years here as a volunteer, before she retired from a teaching position at Blessed Sacrament School in 1999 and began working for the parish. She sings, plays the flute or accompanies on guitar for school masses, funerals, CWL functions and monthly masses at Winston Park Village and The Westmount in addition to co-ordinating the instrumental solos.
Volunteer Steve Bondy prepares a guitar based group that leads the music on the third Saturday of the month. Marc and Debbie Lemelin also practice with a small group regularly on Sunday evenings to help in Youth Group liturgies and music at the Alpha programs.
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