Nick Baty wrote:Parish musicians practise – we have to – but is ours the only parish where the readings often sound as though they've never been previously seen?
I am sure your parish is not alone on this one. Getting volunteers to read can be a real challenge in the first place, and I imagine anything like mandatory training or an 'audition' would reduce the numbers of those coming forward still further. It is often a delight when youngsters are reading and it comes across that they have worked hard not only on pace and pronunciation, but also on getting over the essence of the reading. Maybe we should be inviting them to read on more than special occasions?
We have a readers' rota, as I imagine have most parishes, but the rostered reader(s) sometimes do not appear - as happened yesterday at my parish. I - and others I think - have got into the habit of going over the reading whether or not it is 'our turn': then we are prepared if called upon to stand-in. I think this helps avoid the unrehearsed 'train announcement' type reading.
Last edited by BobHayes on Mon Nov 12, 2012 12:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Nick Baty wrote:Parish musicians practise – we have to – but is ours the only parish where the readings often sound as though they've never been previously seen?
I am sure your parish is not alone on this one. Getting volunteers to read can be a real challenge in the first place, and I imagine anything like mandatory training or an 'audition' would reduce the numbers of those coming forward still further. It is often a delight when youngsters are reading and it comes across that they have worked hard not only on pace and pronunciation, but also on getting over the essence of the reading. Maybe we should be inviting them to read on more than special occasions?
We have a readers' rota, as I imagine have most parishes, but the rostered reader(s) sometimes do not appear - as happened yesterday at my parish. I - and others I think - have got into the habit of going over the reading whether or not it is 'our turn': then we are prepared if called upon to stand-in. I think this helps avoid the unrehearsed 'train announcement' type reading.
We are fortunate in that our diocese runs training/study days for readers. A few went to the last one from ours. It is easy to tell those who attended from those who didn't. Proof of the pudding and all that.
alan29 wrote:No Nick. We suffer fro sight-reading readers and a couple of improvisers when they get lost. But my personal bete-noir are readers who imagine that they add "meaning" by emphasising prepositions....... "And Jesus said TO the crowd"
Must be a priest or deacon in that particular instance.......
We had a PP once who re-read the 2nd reading instead of the gospel, and didn't notice...
alan29 wrote:No Nick. We suffer fro sight-reading readers and a couple of improvisers when they get lost. But my personal bete-noir are readers who imagine that they add "meaning" by emphasising prepositions....... "And Jesus said TO the crowd"
Must be a priest or deacon in that particular instance.......
We had a PP once who re-read the 2nd reading instead of the gospel, and didn't notice...
Aye - wrong source for the quuote, but I'm sure you recognise the symptoms. We had a pp who whispered down his mike "Have I done the 'communicantes' yet?" in the earliest days when the Canon was recited aloud, but not yet translated. It caused a "rapture of delight" among the congregation.
Not sure if this is the right thread for this, but an order of service recently included two new composers, Dianal Schutte and Mary Haugen. Spell check explains the second of these, but how to get Dianal out of Daniel?
This Pentecost morning one of the children from the Children's Liturgy reported back to the congregation very confidently that they had been makiing "ducks."
As there was a lot of hymns during midnight mass I made up a small A5 sheet order of service for my choir. Next to the Psalm I made slight typo putting 'All sin after each verse'
“A painter paints pictures on canvas. But musicians paint their pictures on silence.”
