Tongue firmly planted in cheek, of course.

I wanted to give you all an update on what I have been doing in the last year.

The urban parish I wrote about this time last year did not pan out, hence my absence here. So I went back into my fly on the wall mode at the Redemptorist cathedral that I'm a member of. I normally went to the 7:30AM Sunday mass, which is the one of 5 masses that the staff musical liturgist does not lead. At this particular mass at this parish, the congregants like things laid back. A lone cantor was leading the opening and closing hymn A capella and most of the propers were spoken. One day, the cantor simply stopped showing up, leaving us without any music. When it became apparent that he was not coming back, I spoke with the staff musical liturgist and then the head pastor, explaining to them my background and telling them that even though my background is instrumental and not vocal, I was willing to give it a try. I've been doing it since last October and the feedback is mostly positive. On the opening and closing hymn, I'm obliged to stick with the OCP hymnal and their guitar supplement I personally do not care for. So I usually write out my own harmonic structures. I do a good 8-12 measure intro of the hymns I choose; approaching like a classical guitar arrangement where I learn the melody and then apply a figured bass of sorts to it. I try to stick to that approach when accompanying the singing, but the cathedral is soooo reverberant (a good 4-5 second tail on the natural reverb!) that I am often forced to switch to strumming simply to keep everyone in time. The offertory, I always play an instrumental, usually an appropriate hymn arranged fingerstyle/classical guitar but I often do a classical piece if I can come up with one under 2 minutes in duration. Communion I arrange a eucharistic hymn or chant; sometimes I keep it instrumental, often I'll play a verse, sing a verse and refrain, if I hear any of the congregants singing along, I'll sing another verse and refrain, and just loop it instrumentally and/or vocally as the Spirit leads for as short or as long as I need to. That is the rewarding part of this, for me.

I've known jazz players that can simultaneously play melody, harmonies, and chords on the fly just by looking at a lead sheet. I was always amazed at their ability to do so, and I'm starting to gain that ability with the hymns that I choose. It was difficult at first, but with each passing Sunday it gets easier and comes more naturally. I really loved pulling this one out this last Lenten season:

https://soundcloud.com/ken-whisler/o-sacred-head-now-wounded