Depends on the size of the church and the choir. At a small church, 20-25 minutes, say; at a cathedral, maybe 40-45. The more singers you have, the more you can give some a break by using soloists or small ensembles. (This is just opinion on my part, based on what I've seen done.)

Thanks for the feedback. We have 20 singers, and will utilize both a male and female schola, in-between full choir. Our 1848 rural church, while lovely, has never been mistaken for a cathedral.

Agreed! A very nice country church!

I do 30 minutes, with about 20 minutes of that actual choir singing, 5 minutes for my choir to fumble finding their music and re-position soloists, and about a 5 minute organ prelude. I have noticed that the church fills during that 30 minute program. The concert starts with a few people present at 11:30 p.m. and is full by midnight.

We have a relatively larger suburban parish, with a choir of almost 20 for Midnight Mass. Our prelude begins at 11:30PM.

Puer natus chant (soloists on verses, choir/cong. on refrain)
O Little Town of Bethlehem (Forest Green; choir/cong/org/str)
In The Bleak Midwinter (Harold Darke; choir/soloists/strings)
Cantique de Noel (solo/strings/flute)
Gaudete Christus est natus (soloists on verses, choir/cong. on refrain; organ/tambourine)
Fantasia on Greensleeves (Vaughan Williams; strings/flute/harp)
Once In Royal David's City (choir/cong/org/str)
(Organ solo if needed)

Tolling of the midnight bell, followed by the Proclamation.

This feedback is helpful. We typically do 30 minutes, and I was considering adding another 5-10 minutes, but didn't want to exceed the limits of decency or common sense.

CharlesW, I had to laugh about the allotted 5 minutes of "fumble time" for folks to find their music. That is my pet peeve - one which even handing out music lists, well in advance, can't seem to rectify.

Charles, I can SO visualize your description of flappers. I can fire up the organ and be on verse 3, as folks rifle through music, only to hear "I don't have that one."

I understand. Some days I am sure they missed the medication cart. LOL.

Musicteacher, that might have to become an option with the adult choir. We have avoided this problem with our children's choir, by making up binders. One of my super-organized adult choir members (not a music flipper) keeps the big Rubbermaid tote with her and lugs it to practices. She is also the mother of 12 young children. I guess she finds the irritation of lugging, to be less than that of the wasted time of flapping sheets.

Believe me, the inconvenience is worth the security of knowing the music is where it needs to be in the correct order. God bless to all my fellow musicians as we get through the next several weeks.

dad29, eight minutes of page-flapping is a very generous allowance. Some singers must find handling of their papers to be a soothing routine.

...the pre-Mass program had upstaged the Mass itself. After that, we did only very subdued music before Mass, organ music and a few carols,and let the substantial music be the music of the Mass itself.

Professor Mahrt, THAT is something that is worthy of reflection.

You're so right about that. I learned that today only because I had to cut and greatly simplify the pre program because of asthmatic bronchitis including trips a few feet away out of sight to use a puffer. I will always probably keep it short and simple in the future since it seemed what the congregations wanted (or maybe that was a illusion due to proventil side effect). By the third Mass I had achieved the right blend that was just the right amount of singing that built up to our full active participation in the Mass (or maybe the first congregation this morning was really needing some serious caffeine).

I so agree about the music flapping I had prepared music to just drop into a binder and one gal still found a need to re-arrange the music another way .

Ive been reading these threads (up to page 25 now) while I've been in bed with this stuff for the last two weeks. This morning I thought of the people on this forum and what you were doing at the same time. It was comforting and reassuring to think of you as plans changed from Plan B to Plan C D and E respectively..

Plan changes notwuthstanding the Chistmas Masses were wonderful. What an honor.

Merry Christmas.

I don't have a lot to add to this, as, after several years of study, I am just getting back into parish music.

Let me second Donr: When I was a praise band leader at my last Protestant Church, I used to fill up the notebooks for each choir member myself, so there was no fumbling. It took time, but...there was no fumbling. AND there was a set list with each section of the service in its own box.

At the Cathedral, everyone has to load and unload their notebooks themselves, and the music is all laid out on a table we can't see. But it is all thee-hole and they snap it into place, presumably in order but just to make sure, the MD holds up his score for all to see before each piece. Allowing fumble time in your schedule is probably a good idea.

Cheers.

Kenneth

Something that baffles me every year. I order more copies of music than I have choir members. Every year, I run out of music, and someone is complaining, "I don't have one." Is this like the disappearing socks in the dryer or something?

My favorite is when someone doesn't come to rehearsal for a couple of weeks and then is puzzled about a change we made. "Hey we didn't rehearse it like that, when was that change made" ... How about coming to rehearsals then maybe you'll know.

But in fairness those things were at a minimum and we had a great Christmas.