2nd Sunday of Easter

I haven't posted much here in a while because, well, Easter kicked my butt. I think it's time I take this in a slightly different direction. I am going to use this space to delve into the readings each week and discuss musical choices for different liturgies. This will I hope help some people come into the weekend masses at their own parishes with a deeper understanding of what they are about to hear, but also help some young music ministers learn what to look for in the readings when deciding what to choose.

I want to start this now because Easter is an easier season to start this in. Many of the songs I choose during this season are more focused on the season and on resurrection. This makes it a little less overwhelming for new music ministers to start picking strong songs for the readings.

 The Entrance Antiphon this weekend is, "Like newborn infants, you must long for the pure, spiritual milk, that in him you may grow to salvation, alleluia." This might seem a bit confusing at first but what I see is an obvious call to focus on God and a clear importance of ALLELUIA! For more traditional liturgies I tend to use the song, Alleluia, Alleluia! (Hymn to Joy). It emphasizes the things that we should be thinking about during this season. But most importantly, it is triumphant, and well received my most  communities that I have been in. It's almost expected.

In the second reading we focus on Love. Not only God's love for us but our love for God. We can't feel that following God is not burdensome. To think that sometimes we feel weighed down by following the commandments even right after remembering the burdens Jesus carried in his passion. Love conquers all and this readings reminds us about this. In the LifeTeen liturgy I chose "Can We Love?" by Tom Booth because it is a call to look inside on self and remember how much Jesus loved us. Can we really go as far as he did in return? Could we wear the crown of thorns? Could we handle that test? It's a song that challenges us to remember that love isn't always easy.

The Gospel this weekend talks about the event when Jesus appeared to his disciples but Thomas wasn't there. He didn't believe what was told to him and he wouldn't believe unless he saw it for himself and placed his hands in the wounds.  The phrase "Doubting Thomas" was born.  At least he isn't Sir John Harrington.  How often are we doubting Thomas'. How often do we decide that we have to see sign in our lives to be reminded that God is alive in us? We take so much for granted when we could be believing in God's hand in our lives sooner. The song I chose for this at the LifeTeen mass is a song I wrote called "I Believe" Here are the lyrics.

Why should I doubt like Thomas when you stand at my side?

Why should I doubt like Thomas when I know you’re glorified?

I believe, I believe,

I may not see your hands, your feet

I may not see Your side that’s pierced

But Alleluia Lord, I believe, I believe.

Why should I sink like Peter when we walk across the sea?

Why should I sing like Peter when your hands are holding me?

I believe, I believe,

I may not see your hands, your feet

I may not see Your side that’s pierced

But Alleluia Lord, I believe, I believe.

 This song doesn't just touch on Thomas' doubts, but also Peter's famous moment of doubt. He didn't just believe and he almost sank into the sea. I once heard it explained to me like this though. What about the other men in the boat. Didn't they fail even worse than Peter? They didn't even step out in faith to begin with. They stayed in the boat where it was safe. This reading is reminding us that we need to believe more. We need to take that leap of faith in our daily lives.

I hope this helps in some way and if you have any particular questions about song choices or music ministry please contact me at: 

AlexNavasMusic@gmail.com

www.facebook.com/AlexNavasBand

Building Choirs

Building choirs for a congregation new to music can be very difficult at first. Many people are excited to have music added to the liturgy at all and would like to just participate from their seats for a while. It's can be an uphill climb for sure but don't be disheartened. As people become comfortable with the repertoire they will be willing to sing more.

On top of that, you never know how many people are interested in joining your musical efforts if you don't ask. There are a bunch of different ways to find willing participants but the opportunity has to be available to them.  People will probably not come to you on their own.

1. Make sure announcements are made when you want to try to bring new members in. Be honest with people and make sure they know what is expected of them when joining.

2. Have recruitment nights. Invite anyone who might be interested and just have a good time with them and the music. Share some simple songs with them and help them sing together. Give them the experience that they might have being a member of the group.

These are just a couple of ideas and there are so many more depending on the size and feel of your parish. Have patience and keep it up. People don't want to join something that isn't good already. So in the mean time, make the music the best it can possibly be and realize that people will come when they are ready.

You may also need to hire extra musicians if you can afford it. It can create a group that people will want to join.

It isn't easy, so stick with it.

Variety and Consistency

Variety, Variety, Variety.

When choosing songs for liturgy, I have but another thing for you to keep in mind today. The difference between our musical attention spans as musicians and those of the congregation. I can't count the number of times that I have second guessed song choices because I though "I've done this too many times recently, people are going to get tired of it." When in essence these songs are often the most popular and well loved songs.

Pescador De Hombres is a song used frequently in Hispanic communities but it is also a song that gets the community SINGING. When the "fishers of men" reading came up last weekend I was really worried to sing it again because I had used it for about 3 weeks in a row. But the community sings and more importantly, prays with it. I'm sure I could have found a more obscure song to fit the liturgical need but what good does it do?

We as musicians need to feel fulfilled in our ministry as well. Part of that is doing a variety of new and challenging music. But this must be balanced with consistent, meaningful, and singable music. Music that the congregation will know in the first few beats. This is why songs like "City of God", "Table of Plenty", "Find Us Ready" and the like have stayed so strong in the community masses.

Variety and Consistency

John 3:30

Getting people to sing! How do we do it? Do they want to? Do they like the music?

So many thoughts go through my mind each week as I lead music at my new parish. But I think the biggest question that I often forget to ask myself is, "Am I doing too much?".  It's hard to understand, but "doing too much" can destroy your chances of getting people to sing.  As musicians, we can't always be performing. The connotation that comes along with performing is that everyone else should just listen, and it's a privilege at that. Instead we need to stay true to our positions. We are ministers and leaders first. We are performers second. We must encourage others to join us in the praise of God.

John 3:30 says "He must increase; I must decrease."

I love that line because it sums up our role as music ministers. "I MUST DECREASE", and the congregations must see Jesus increase through us. This will bring us all closer to him. There will be time for performances, Christmas concerts, Easter Pageants, Spaghetti dinner fundraisers and open mic nights. Those are a whole other story. 

Starting New

New to this site. New to Google+. New to a lot of things. But what I will be talking about here is being "new" to a parish. Starting a ministry from scratch, with a fresh beginning.  My name is Alex Navas and I am a music director in Tucson, AZ currently working at St. Christopher's Parish. Recently my life was rocked by a job change that I thought was otherwise stable and I ended up in a brand new parish. A parish that hasn't had music in their liturgies, community, life teen or any of their events for a good time. This parish community seems to truly understand the benefit of music and what it adds to the Mass and Parish life.

This transition has put me in a unique situation, however, that I haven't experienced before. It has given me the chance to build the music program from the floor up. I am not inheriting a ministry, choirs, repertoire and traditions from a previous leader. I am set with the challenge of building these up. Instead of buying a furnished home I get to pick out the drapes and decide which furniture best suits this families needs.

In this blog I will try to explain the joys and struggles of what that entails in real time. I began this position on the 1st of 2012 and will continue to update this as new things occur.

Hope this helps other music ministers and leaders and if you have any specific questions let me know and I will try to address them here.

God Bless,
Alex Navas