This page has information about our choir and help with the songs we're singing
The Liberal Catholic Church
Christ ever lives as a mighty spiritual presence in the World, guiding and sustaining his people. The Liberal Catholic Church exists to forward Christ's work in the world.
The original and authentic
Liberal Catholic Church
Our hearts are ever restless until they find their rest in Thee
Bishop Thomas reminded me of something about the service of the Liberal Catholic Church. The clergy, the choir and the congregation all contribute to the creation of the energetic structure for the outpouring of grace that we invoke by participating in the performance of the mass.
Although we may attend to experience joy and upliftment, that may be said to be secondary to the primary purpose, which is to serve. This goes not only for the clergy who serve but also for the choir and even the congregation. We all contribute to the creation of that energetic outpouring of grace to the world. Our personal enjoyment is in addition to our serving!
It's similar to singing, as I like to say, singing from the big Self. If we are listening to our own voice, we may actually be distinguishing ourself from the holistic phenomenon. It's a little known almost esoteric fact that singing in a choir often has the effect of conditioning singers to sing a little out-of-tune so they can hear themselves by distinguishing their voice from the precise pitch. In large choirs the multiple voices average out, but it is much better to synchronize and merge into a pure and accurate pitch. If we aim to merge our sound then we quite transcend our individual voice and our own voice as if disappears to us. It's only a slight shift from aiming to enjoy singing by listening to our own voice, to enjoying contributing to the combined sound. We should aim to disappear! We already culture that experience during our warming up as we synchronize and our voices become one. (This greatly improves our voice for solo singing as well.)
Congregations sometimes can drag a bit, as sometimes we as a choir can. (Here our wonderful congregation in Fairfield is very familiar with our liturgy.) Bishop Thomas reminded us that we all assist the clergy and contribute to the wholeness of the mass by using our strong voices to follow the tempo set by the clergy throughout the service. We can remain alert and awake to the tempo of the clergy during the singing in the mass just like we are alert to tempo during our performances. We're honored to be included serving with the clergy in the Holy Eucharist. It raises our singing to a higher plane!
Sung August 26, 2018
Cry No More (SATB)
by Dan Forrest, lyrics by Johanna Anderson, & Eva Norlyk-Smith
A nice country song (someday I'll write a nice choir arrangement)
10,000 Reasons (Bless My Soul)
by Matt Redman
Ave verum corpus
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
K 618, Baden, June 17, 1791
Sung
Sung August 11, 2019
more: Ave Verum Corpus (videos, parts, etc.)
There Is A Balm In Gilead
Sung
Here are some different arrangements of this traditional African American spiritual. We can include some of these features as we develop. For now we are starting with a simple a cappella arrangement that we can learn and perform quickly.
There's many more secular harmony songs here, here and great voices here.
