Countdown to the 2013 Christmas Program

I recently heard that the annual  OLA Christmas Program is the highlight of the school year.  I find that a bit much, but I do think it's an excellent way to end what is almost the first half of the school year.

The program is shaping up and it looks like it will be quite exciting.  I've included the songs for at home practicing purposes.  What I don't want to happen is to have the "magic" ruined and have parents hear the songs.  So, if students insist on listening at home, please encourage the use of headphones.

You can find the songs  HERE

Practice Practice Practice!!!


Mr. Mattei

Angels Aware

The addition to a new family is always exciting.  Whether it's a newborn child, a pet or even a new person that might be added to your family through marriage or something like that.  Big families are always fun.  I love it when my family gets together for dinner, or to play games, or just to hang out with each other.  I love it because I usually bring along Ben, my almost 3 year old mini-schnauzer.  Ben is really an important member of the family.  He gets along with everyone and never argues, but is always there to comfort you when things might not be going your way.

Here at OLA, we are like one big happy throng of Angels. and we are always happy when someone new joins us.  This year, we have several new students and teachers that have joined us at OLA, but we are anticipating a new angel joining us any day now.  How should we prepare?  What should we do?  What did the prophets do when they found out God was sending his only Son to earth to save us from our sins?  More importantly, what did they do when they found out that God was sending a BABY?  A person like us, to live among us.  

These are questions that will be answered in our Christmas Program this year.  How should we prepare for a new Angel that will be joining us soon.  But we won't forget that it's almost time to prepare for Christmas also.  Maybe we can do both things at the same time.  What will the new Angel need?  What will Jesus need?  

We will begin to explore these questions next week as we begin to prepare for our Christmas program.  Always something to look forward to.

Today, K-5 watched an episode of "The Muppet Show" ask your K-5 student who they got to see as the "special guest star".  Do you remember watching "The Muppet Show" - who was your favorite special guest?

--Mr. Mattei 

The Anatomy of an OLA Christmas Program

Believe it or not, this year will mark  my 14th Christmas program at OLA.  I can't believe it sometimes, 14 years!!!   That's a lot of songs and 13 original concepts and stories.  Yes, ORIGINAL.   I can't think of a time when I used a "canned" Christmas program.  However, I can say that I've taken elements of stories and created my own program.  Also, it's rare that I recycle songs through out the years.  I have, though.

How do these programs come about? 

First, I come up with a concept, an idea, a story or whatever.  Next, I try and find the best possible song for the END of the program.  The tear-jerker, the one that will light the Christmas tree in your heart and send you off ready for the Christmas season.  This is my favorite part of the process.  There have been some great songs to fit this category.   Some, however have made more than one appearance.  This year, I believe this might be the third time we will use "When a Child is Born" as the final song.  It might be my favorite Christmas Song ever because of this arrangement of this song

Once I choose the final song and the concept.  I come up with a song for each class to be featured.  That's 8 songs as K-1 sing together.  Then I come up with an opening medley and decide whether or not we will have a procession in.  Mrs. McMorrow likes a procession to start the program, so most likely this year will begin with some sort of procession.  Then I try and choose a few group songs for everyone.  

Believe it or not, the script is the last thing to be written.  Often, the script is written the week of the actual program.  It is read by student or several students.  It's the glue that holds the songs together.  

And there you have it  It's not brain surgery, but it does follow some sort of formula.  So far :)

The synopsis of this years program is finished and we've begun a few songs in class.  This next few weeks will see the concept jell a little more and soon, I'll announce the concept to the students.

This week in 6.7.8 - we'll begin our presentations.  Please remember that all presentations must be ready this Friday - both the written portion and the audio portion.  If you student forgets, they will get a 0 for the day and it will be noted on Power School.

Mr. Mattei 

And if you must be going, I will understand......

"Mama" Cass Elliot said it best in her song "Make Your Own Kind of Music" (video below) when she sang - "And if you can not take my hand, and if you must be going, I will understand".  If you're going to judge me by the music I listen to, you can take a hike.  This might be the best lyric ever written - of course next to "Make your own kind of music, sing your own special song - even if nobody else sings along".  Our Jr High classes will begin giving reports next Friday on one of the songs off their playlists they turned in a few weeks ago, in hopes to expose everyone to "new" music.   As part of our Catholic faith, we stress the importance of not judging people.  Whether its by their clothing, hair style, shoes, and even music.  Jesus hung out with the prostitute, the thief, the tax collector and forgave those who put him to death.  If that isn't an example of being non- judgmental, I don't know what is.  

I've said before that music makes up the fabric of who we are, it's important that we stand behind who we are and what we believe in.  

I can't believe that we are almost half way through October.  Which for us, it's almost time to begin working on the Christmas program.  Can't believe it's that time already.  I have a good program planned, we'll see how it unfolds in the next few weeks.

Mr. Mattei 

Music on Demand - Gone is the thrill of the hunt.

Have you noticed that we as society that we tend to want things NOW?   The internet has made "the thrill of the hunt" pretty much non-existent.  Really want that new song by Miley Cyrus?  All you have to do is go to iTunes or Amazon music and it's playing on your computer/mp3 player is seconds.  Before, you had to make a trip to Tower Records, or The Wherehouse and pray that it would be in stock.  Remember these places?

I miss the days of flipping through bins at a record store and it's sad that this generation won't experience this.  Oh, I guess you can at Amoeba or Streetlight Records and the limited supply of CD's at Target or something like that, but the thrill of spending hours and hours looking for music is pretty much extinct, and it's something that I don't believe is coming back.

Even the radio is personalized.  When the invention of Pandora, IHeartRadio and now the new iTunes radio, we are able to type in an artist and get a virtual playlist of the artist and other artists of that genre.  But we are able to listen to what we want NOW.  Students say they listen to the radio in the car and I always ask if it is an FM station or XM Satellite radio.  I always applaud listening to the REAL radio (AM/FM radio) because there is still some hope that patience in the way we listen to music might still be alive and well.  We tune into a radio station hoping that in our listening experience, we'll hear that new Miley Cyrus song.  And in 1970's-80's. we'd wait patiently by the radio to hear that song and hit the record button on the cassette player in hopes to capture that song for later listening.  Now, we can get it in seconds if we want it.  What's more fun, the thrill of the hunt, or instant gratification?

In Jr High this week, we'll begin sharing our music for one another.  Hopefully, our students will hear some things they have never heard before and perhaps be interested in them.  Music is sometimes considered a personal "thing" and is a tough thing to share for fear of not being "accepted" because of the music we listen to.  We'll be talking about how we shouldn't judge a person by the music they listen to - just like we wouldn't judge because of hair style, clothing or things like that.

Don't forget the school Mass on Friday where we will celebrate our School Families and St Francis.  Mass is 10:30am, come and worship with us!!!

Mr. Mattei

Off the Record

Last week, we talked about where we find our music.  We had great answers!  Many included:  store, church, school, from instruments, at concerts, in the car, on the radio, from an 'i' device or computer, etc.  We then took a trip through music listening history and talked about records, cassettes, CD's and eventually MP3's.  For many it was the first they they ever saw a record close-up (maybe even a cassette). Our focus was how listening to music was a social experience when all we had were records which were really not portable.  As time progressed, music has become less and less social and more personal.  I blame Sony and the invention of the first Walkman.  Do you remember these?  My first walkman had orange headphones.  This was the first opportunity to take our music with us on the trail, on the bike, or wherever and not share it with anyone but yourself.  Thus, taking the social aspect out of music and becoming more personal.

Is this a good thing or a bad thing?  As the year progresses, we'll continue to address this issue and in the Jr High, students will have the opportunity to share their music with their class.  We'll continue to stress the importance of respecting each other's musical tastes.

We continue to work on songs for the next school Mass (Oct 4 - 10:30am) and last week, we even began a song for the Christmas Program.  

Mr. Mattei

Silence is Golden

Have you ever sat in a room that was devoid of sound?  Weird, isn't it?  Or in some cases, refreshing.  We tend to have sound wherever we go, and when it's not there, it's weird or uncomfortable.  Often in the evening when I get home from a late rehearsal, I'll sit in my living room and just listen to the silence.  This doesn't always work when you live on a busy street or in an apartment complex like I do, but you get the idea.  Or how about this... silence at Mass?  I tend to fill most silences with music at Mass as it's uncomfortable to be silent with 200 other people, but it's something we have to practice.

Everywhere we go, sound happens.  Whether it's ambient music playing at the mall, or the clink of a shopping cart in a store.  The roar of a motor, or the crash of the waves.  I always say that if you can hear the music echo through a store, that store is doomed to close!  Along with all this ambient sound, we have the sound that we create.  How many of us get in the car and immediately turn on the radio?  Or turn the TV on when you get in the house?

This week, along with continuing on working on our school repertoire for Mass, we're going to talk about where we find music in our lives and how important it is, and how important it isn't, also.  We'll talk about how we listen to music, and how music is part of our individual lives.  In grades 6-8, we'll begin talking about playlists, how to create them and why we create them.  We'll also discuss methods of listening to music, finding music, the importance of BUYING your music, and how music can create the soundtrack of your life.

Here's one of my favorite songs...

Enjoy your week.  Practice silence!

Mr. Mattei

And with your Spirit!

When the responses of our Mass officially "changed" in December of 2011, the response that threw everyone for a loop was "And with your Spirit", which is derived from the Latin - et cum spiritu tu.  It became a more formal response than "And also with you".  It doesn't seem so welcoming anymore, does it?  Really, the priest has the best line "The Lord be with you!" And we really want to say "YES, and also with you!  Good morning!  How are you!  How's your day?" - so "And with your spirit" seems like a downer.

In class, we've been talking about HOW to respond and not just responding because that's what we're suppose to do.  Putting some "sub-text" behind "And with your spirit" to make it seem like it's a welcoming response to the priest.  We have great priests at OLA, and they are always very welcoming at Mass, so when they say "The Lord be with you" - let's say "And with your spirit" with some enthusiasm and excitement.  It's hard to do.  Let's make the effort to try and be less and less robotic.

Speaking of changing the text of the Mass, many of our prayers that we sing at Mass had to be re-written to reflect the changes in the Mass text.  We've learned a few melodies for these changes and we started a new one today.  Wanna listen to it? 

Check it out!

 

Remember, singing at Mass brings us together as community.  Especially singing our prayers.  

It's Fun Fair week!  We'll continue our nautical songs in K-5 and in 6-8 grade, we'll keep working our our Mass responses and why we sing our Prayers.  We'll also do some singing!!

Enjoy the Fun Fair!

Mr. Mattei

First Week of Music Class with Mr. Mattei

We are the church!!!!   Huh?  We are a building?  Confusing, isn't it?

When we come together as community to pray, we are coming together as CHURCH.  Our responses and our singing bring us together as community as we pray TOGETHER as CHURCH.  Remembering that we can pray anytime and any place to God, but it's special when we can pray together.  Have I said that enough?  Sometimes I feel it's not said enough or taken to heart.

Our Liturgy is structured in a way that can become redundant and dare I say, "boring" or "robotic".  Our responses like "and with your spirit", "Amen" or "Thanks be to God", are a lot of times second nature and just tumble out of our mouth's without any thought.  How is that praying?  That's just "getting the job done".   To be an active member of CHURCH, our responses are our way of participating in our prayer and are just as important as the words that preceded the response.

Just as a good sauce can heighten your favorite dish, music at Liturgy can heighten our prayer at Liturgy.  Music helps bring people together.  Our music at Liturgy is not there as background or as an accompaniment to Liturgy, it's an ESSENTIAL part of our community prayer.   Participation in music at Liturgy is just as important as your response of "Amen" might be.  We don't come to church to be entertained, we come to pray together (there it is again!)  and we do that through our responses and through our songs.  Go to the movies if you wish to be entertained, or come see one of my shows!   But it's your job as CHURCH to be a good responder when you come to Liturgy in order to fully participate in this wonderful prayer we have called The Mass.  (that's another blog entry for another time)

In K-5 on Friday, plan on singing some great songs with a "Water" or "Regatta" theme as we get ready for our Fun Faire next week.  Songs like "Blow the Man Down" or "What shall we do with the Drunken Sailor" teach us how people worked hard together and used these songs as "Work" songs to be motivated to keep those ships moving.

In 6-8, we'll talk about music at Liturgy and where Chant comes from and on the other end of the spectrum, how the bible has made it's way into "pop" music.  Do you have any examples of how the bible has made its way into "pop" music?

Be sure and leave your comments if you'd like.  We learn from each other!!

Mr. Mattei