Guidelines for Choir Members
Singing together is a beautiful way to glorify God, and we hope and pray that you find this ministry to be deeply rewarding and a true source of enrichment for your spiritual journey. Your voice and your presence are a wonderful gift, and we look forward to sharing in fellowship, prayer, and song with you.
As St. Augustine beautifully reminded us, “singing is praying twice!” As you begin this journey with us, we invite you to keep our ministry motto close to your heart: “Sing to God as if it’s your first time, your last time, and your only time to serve God.” Let us carry this wonderful motto and sentiment with us for all our future musical adventures together!
🎵 Essential Materials & Weekly Preparation
To help keep our rehearsals running smoothly, please ensure you come prepared each week.
- Each week, please bring these four items to service, as applicable:
- Music Book – Suggest to flag the songs on Mondays for the next mass service
- Mass Setting with Birthday Blessing and Kordero ng Diyos (annual white booklet)
- Praise Songs and Responsorial Psalms and Gospel Acclamations, including suggested liturgical color for our attire (monthly colored booklet)
- Song Handouts (music sheets for songs not available in the music book)
- Organization Tip: We highly recommend that you keep a binder at home to file all your song handouts alphabetically. This will make it much easier to reference and pull songs when they are placed back on the schedule.
⏰ Saturday Schedule & Webpage Practice
Our weekly rehearsals are focused and split between two locations to ensure we are ready for the liturgy:
- 3:00 PM Rehearsal: Rehearsal begins promptly at 3:00 PM in the Chapel located inside the Parish Office.
- 4:00 PM Church Set-up: We proceed to the church at approximately 4:00 PM to set up the choir area, adjust the hymn boards, and do a final warm-up.
- 4:30 PM Mass: We lead the congregation in song during the 4:30 PM Saturday Vigil Mass.
- Mid-Week Self-Practice: Members are expected to practice independently during the week. You can do this by visiting our choir webpage and clicking on the date of the upcoming Mass service.
- Web Resources: On the webpage, you will find the latest list of songs, as well as a YouTube playlist for listening and self-practice. Digital music sheets are also available on the page if needed, which is especially helpful for our lectors and musicians.
- Expanding Musical Horizons: For those who wish to grow mathematically and musically, the online playlist will include separate tracking parts for Soprano, Alto, Tenor, and/or Bass (SATB), Descants, and Harmonies whenever they are available.
If you ever have any comments, questions, or suggestions to help us improve as a choir, please feel free to let me know.
