Music Report from the B Team

So, I agreed to help do Vigil Mass music with a pianist I wasn't that familiar with. Unfortunately, I was the only vocalist, so all mistakes became my mistakes. (Last Christmas time, on the Sunday with the ice storm, I did music solo, unaccompanied. There weren't any timing problems between me & me, although I'm sure that the songs were done in the "key of me" (alto) , rather than in the key in which they were written.) A bit different this time.

Note below sent to the guy with whom I regularly sing:

So you don't have to ask, things could have gone better this afternoon in music, but not without lots more practice. D. and I had two hour-long practices, but with a few changes in the music for the 2nd one. I did a few things wrong, not the least of which was skipping an entire verse of the Gloria!! We used the one from Mass of Creation that starts "Give GLOry to GOD in the HIGHest... After singing that part, instead of going into "Lord God, Heavenly King..." my eyes skipped down the page to "Lord Jesus Christ, only Son..." D. did a great job of realizing where I had skipped to (important since the music wasn't exactly the same as the 1st verse) and we were back on track for the 3rd verse ("For You alone are the Holy One...")

On the entrance, we were together on How Great Thou Art, until a man in the congregation began singing REALLY LOUDLY, first a bit faster than I was singing, then a bit slower, then faster... D. started following his rhythm(s) at one point... I had to smile, remembering an older man in our congregation in Mesquite, TX who was always 4-5 notes behind in every song, making as loud a joyful noise as he could.

The Psalm & Alleluia went well. The congregation (around 35 folks) really joined in for the (new to me) offertory song "Those who see light," for which I had worked with D. to improvise a different ending (inspired by the way you end City of God.)

Mass parts were familiar, so easy. They smiled [with familiarity?] and sang "Seek Ye First" for Communion. We hadn't clarified cues at the start of the verses or timing for the chorus for the closing song, which was the Prayer of St. Francis (Make me a channel of Your peace.")

All-in-all, not the work of a "team of professionals." However, we sounded pretty good in practice (several folks waiting for confession told us so.) I think I would do it again, so long as I had the same music in front of me that she did, so I knew exactly what intros she was doing, etc. I'd also want to practice a couple more times so that we could do a better job of sensing each other's timing.

Control freak? Hope not. I just don't want mistakes to distract from worship.