IT'S NOT JUST PETS AND HUMANS THAT NEED A HOME!

Pipe organs need a home, too! Found this site just minutes ago:

www.homelesspipeorgans.com

The title is a hoot, but it's worth checking out. Right now there is only one pipe organ on the site, but if you keep checking the site regularly, you might find an update, or two, or three...

After all, pipe organs need a home, just like us humans and their pets. :)

Peace,
BMP

UPDATES ON THE CHRISTUS VINCIT MUSIC BLOG

Psalm settings for Advent I, II, and III (all three years of the rotation) now up using both the New American Bible AND the brand spankin' new Revised Grail Psalter translations.

Psalm settings for Advent IV (all three years), Christmas, and Holy Family (all three years) are up using the NAB translation, but will soon be updated to include the RGP translation.

Psalm for this Sunday coming (Ordinary Time II, years A and B) is up using both translations.


Also included:
Holy Angels Mass, which I boasted of just a few months back
Ave Maria, a hymn/motet-like setting I wrote when I was just barely old enough to drink. Offered in two keys (A-flat and F) with parts for string quartet.
Blessed Is He Who Comes, a translation of the Gradual appointed for Christmas (Mass at Dawn), which includes an antiphon for the people, and a brief motet-style verse written in SATB.

A work in progress! Enjoy!
Peace,
BMP

NEWS FROM CHRISTUS VINCIT LAND

Sorry it's been a while since I've last blogged here. Lots has happened as of late.

Let's go back to just a few months ago. My landlord, well, now ex-landlord, is what some like to call a "lying sack of shit". Last summer, on the weekend of my wife's birthday, he approached us and said "I have family coming in from California and I need to give them the apartment." Now, we had just moved there at the end of last February. Rent's paid up and he gives us that line of crap. So, he gave us until the end of August to pack up our duds and skedaddle on out.

We landed up leaving at the end of September and stayed at my mom's for about two weeks. Didn't work out. Long story that cannot be discussed in an open forum such as Facebook or this blog. Anyhoo, we went to my mother-in-law's instead and stayed there until just after Thanksgiving. (Incidentally, two days after we got to my mom's, my daughter Brittany discovered a "For Rent" sign in front of our old place. Thus, we caught our ex-landlord in a bold-faced lie!)

That weekend we got our own little "pot to piss in" (my mother would often say that - usually in contexts such as "How the hell can you afford that when you don't even have a pot to piss in?"). We're actually in an apartment building now, and it's quite nice. Heat's included in the rent (a major plus when you live in New England), and I'm paying $5 a month LESS than at our previous apartment where we had to pay for our heat.

Now that we've gotten established, and past Christmas in one piece (I hope you all had a happy and blessed one), and now that I'm caught up on another new project, I can finally post here.


Christus Vincit Music is finally available in blog form! YES YES YES it is! Easy to reach at christusvincitmusic.blogspot.com. My new Holy Angels Mass is posted there. My Psalm settings are getting posted there, feast by feast - yes, the very Psalms (some updated) that you can also find at the Chabanel site. I'm dubbing the my own Psalm collection by the name I had given it a decade and a half ago: Psalm 151. And with the Revised Grail Psalter being released in just one week, I can FINALLY get started on adapting the settings to the RGP translation. That last sentence alone truly excites me!

Well, off to do some more re-writing!
Peace,
BMP

MUSIC FOR THE FUNERAL MASS

Some audio clips will come soon!

This morning I covered a very small funeral at a church I haven't played in a while - St. John the Baptist in Pawtucket, RI. No cantor, no request line, just little old me singing from the console. The music lineup is a little different from what one may hear at your typical Catholic funeral in the Ordinary Form. In fact, some of the music has a little bit of a LOCAL flavor to it.

Entrance: I heard the voice of Jesus say / "Kingsfold"
Psalm: The Lord is my Shepherd / written by yours truly, from the Chabanel project
Alleluia: Mode VI, with verse (I am the resurrection and the life...) sung to tone 6F
Offertory: Jesus, Son of Mary / "Adoro Te Devote"
Sanctus, Memorial, and Amen: Community Mass / Richard Proulx
Agnus Dei XVIII
Communion: I believe that my Redeemer lives / Alexander Peloquin
Final Commendation: Saints of God / written by yours truly in 1993
Recessional: May the angels lead you / written by yours truly in 1990

Peace,
BMP

MUSIC FOR HOLY MASS

Twenty-Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Ordinary Form)
September 19, 2010 - 12:00 noon Mass
St. Theresa of Avila Church, West Roxbury, Massachusetts

Filling in once again for the venerable Dr. Richard Bunbury and the almost venerable Joe Scolastico (the good Doctor's assistant, thus the title "almost venerable" - tee hee!) on the Aeolian-Skinner organ.

For the beauty of the earth - "Dix"
Psalm of the day from the parish hymnal (Word and Song from World Library Publications)
Mode VI Alleluia
Sanctus from "Community Mass"
Christ Has Died/Amen - Danish
Agnus Dei from "Holy Cross Mass"
For the fruits of this creation - "Ar hyd y nos"
How great thou art - "O Store Gud"

I'm biting only ONE bullet at this Mass. See if you can guess what it is. :)
Peace,
BMP

MUSIC FOR HOLY MASS

Anticipated Mass for the 24th Sunday of Ordinary Time (Ordinary Form)
5 PM - September 11, 2010 - St. Brendan Church, East Providence, RI

Psalm and Alleluia for the day in Respond and Acclaim
Mass Ordinary: Heritage Mass

HYMNS:
O God, Almighty Father - Gott Vater, sei Gepriesen
You satisfy the hungry heart - Bicentennial
Yes, I Shall Arise - L. Deiss
Praise to the Lord, the Almighty - Lobe den Herren

Yes, I'm playing, and yes, the selections are my own.
Peace,
BMP

HOLY ANGELS MASS

Brand new Mass setting by yours truly, using the new translation that will begin on the First Sunday of Advent, 2011!

Melodically, it's based mainly on Mass VIII (Missa de Angelis) and the Mortem Tuam Annuntiamus, Domine from Jubilate Deo. Rythymically, it has a Jan Vermulst-like influence.
Currently, a melody/accompaniment edition is finished, but I'll be starting work on a choral (SATB) edition very soon.
Some of my Facebook friends already have a copy. For those who haven't, drop me a line and I'll send you one for the asking.

Peace,
BMP

I LOVE A GOOD PAUL NICHOLS COMIC

Paul Nichols does it again with another great cartoon!



1) The Catholic Restoration Company has plenty of Gregorian Missals and Liber Usualis to go around.
2) The "spirit" above may be off to Los Angeles, but what will happen once their Cardinal finally retires? I mean, when he gets there, the Gather book he's holding may get replaced with Spirit and Song, but after Cdl. Mahony retires, that might get confiscated by the aforementioned CRC.

Peace,
BMP

I'VE GOT A BETTER IDEA!

You know all those What is hell? jokes, bulletin bloopers, etc., that you read, like "Sermon: 'What Is Hell?', Come hear our organist play!" or "Come hear our choir sing?"

How about one more realistic? How about:
"Sermon: 'What Is Hell?', Come hear our 'music ministry' belch out a variety of tunes by Haugen, Haas, and Schutte!"

BWA HA HA HA HA HA!
Peace,
BMP

MUSIC FOR HOLY MASS

Sunday XXII (Ordinary Form) - August 28/29, 2010

This weekend, I'll be covering at two different churches in two different dioceses. Saturday, I'll be filling in for the venerable Dr. Richard Bunbury at his parish, St. Theresa of Avila Church in the West Roxbury section of Boston, while Sunday, I'll be covering two Masses at St. Brendan in the Riverside section of East Providence.

Anticipated Mass - 5:30 PM - Saturday August 28, 2010
St. Theresa of Avila Church, West Roxbury, Massachusetts

This should be a fun organ to play - Aeolian Skinner, Opus 1114. And I don't have to bite any bullets here! Dr. Bunbury gave me a list of quality music. The pew book: Word and Song by World Library Publications. Here's the list:

Entrance hymn: Lord, whose love in humble service / "Beech Spring"
Responsorial Psalm: setting of the day in Word and Song
Alleluia: Renaissance Alleluia / Bunbury
Offertory: organ piece (TBA - I'll probably do what I do best: improv)
Ordinary: Community Mass / Proulx (Sanctus, Memorial, and Amen); Holy Cross Mass / Isele (Agnus Dei)
Communion: proper antiphon of the day with Gloria Patri from the Roman Missal / Tone 8G, followed by more organ work
Meditation hymn: When love is found / "O Waly Waly"
Recessional hymn: Holy God, we praise Thy Name / "Grosser Gott"

10:00 and 11:30 AM - Sunday, August 29, 2010
St. Brendan Church, East Providence, Rhode Island

Here the selections were left up to me (explanations later). The church and the organ (a two-manual Rodgers with a floating positive installed in 2000) may be modern, and OCP's Today's Missal and Music Issue may be in the pew, but the music will be sure not to reflect that.

Entrance hymn: I heard the voice of Jesus say / "Kingsfold"
Psalm and Alleluia from Respond and Acclaim
Offertory hymn: The Servant Song / Gillard
Ordinary: Heritage Mass / Alstott
Communion hymn: Godhead, here in hiding / "Adoro Te Devote"
Recessional hymn: Praise to the Lord, the Almighty / "Lobe den Herren"

Peace,
BMP