Yes, thanks gh. My "Halleluia" moment came just before the Gloria this Easter Vigil!

Holy Week was completely and totally exhausting, but good. The only frustration/disappointment I had was on Holy Thursday when there was some confusion between me and the priest and we weren't able to do the Offertory Chant (for some reason when I started playing it he started shaking his head "no" indicating us to stop). Sort of embarrassing, but it wasn't our fault, so whatever. I had a horrible allergic reaction to the incense on Holy Thursday too, which wasn't fun at all. But other than that, it was good and very fulfilling! I'm sure glad it's over, though.

Our parish priest, himself, had a last minute medical emergency and so on Holy Saturday morning at 9:30 I received a distress call asking me if I would sing the Exsúltet that night at the Easter Vigil. Although I love hearing this Paschal Proclamation each Easter, I had never learned it, much less thought that I would ever be called on to sing it. After finding the updated ICEL version online, I told Father that I would, by God's grace, learn and sing the long form in English at 8:00 that night. I had a very fun day (my poor wife!) praying and chanting the Exsúltet.

Eight o'clock came and as I ascended the ambo, little five-week-old Cecilia, who was in the front row, and who was to be baptized that night, and whose godfather I had agreed to be, began wailing as only a distressed newborn can. She cried so hard and so loud that I could hardly think, much less hear myself sing. I blew the pitch pipe, took a deep breath and sang my way through it, hoping that the congregation could hear me better than I could hear myself. Although at the time I felt miserable and humiliated, my wife said it sounded fine; and with 20/20 hindsight, I realized that what had really happened was that, together, Cecilia and I had made a joyful noise unto the Lord, and that my goddaughter and I had sung our first duet.

We were all...well able to pray what we sang.

A beautiful, good and true goal for liturgical singing. Thanks for the reminder and example!

I was scheduled to sing Lauds on Holy Saturday with the schola, but a snowstorm (!) Saturday morning nixed that. I had to be there at 7 am, it was an 85 km drive, and I'd already taken the snow tires off my car. Other than that, I attended Mass on Holy Thursday, the Good Friday liturgy and the Easter Vigil at the abbey I'm an oblate of. All went without a hitch as usual (in Gregorian chant, mostly Latin with some French plainchant for readings, the EP, etc.), except that the Exsultet was a bit shaky at the start, but the young monk who was recently ordained a deacon was doing it for the first time (in French).

The abbey is Saint-Benoît-du-Lac, located on Lake Memphremagog in Quebec. It's about 130 km east of Montreal. Gregorian chant is used daily, it's well worth the detour. A mixture of very ancient music with very modern architecture (in the abbey church at least, which was consecrated in 1994, the rest of the abbey was built in stages in the '30s and 40s). Lauds and Vespers are sung in Latin in Gregorian chant; at the other Offices, the hymn is in Latin Gregorian chant, but the Office itself is in French plainchant. At Compline, the hymn, responsory and antiphon to Our Lady are in Latin Gregorian chant. The Mass has the propers and ordinary in Latin Gregorian chant (Kyrie in Greek of course), the rest in French plainchant. It's a concelebrated Ordinary Form Mass. If you bring your Graduale Romanum you'll be all set, but for the Divine Office they use Monastic Schema B which is different than the usual Benedictine psalter (but still covers all 150 psalms in a week).

Website: http://www.st-benoit-du-lac.com/

Not much the musicians can do about announcements. The point of the silent recession as I understand it is to think on Christ's Passion. If what is going to be remembered instead are the Palm decorations, surely a hymn is the lesser evil. Besides, I have a weak spot for WYT.

I’m late to this party, but here is the menu for the principal liturgies of Holy Week and Triduum at Annunciation Catholic Church in Houston, TX:

PALM SUNDAY
Antiphon “Hosanna filio David”
Hymn “All glory, laud, and honor”
Responsorial psalm: in directum, St. Meinrad mode I
Before the Gospel: Anerio “Christus factus est”
Offertory antiphon: Graduale Romanum
Offertory hymn: “O sacred head”
Mass XVII
Communion antiphon: Graduale Romanum
Communion motet: Iribarren (arr. FG) “Vexilla Regis”
Thanksgiving: “When I survey the wondrous Cross”

MAUNDY THURSDAY
Prelude: J. S. Bach, “Schmücke dich, O liebe Seele” (BWV 654)
Chants for the introit, foot washing, and communion: Graduale Romanum
Readings chanted
Mass XVII (Gloria from Mass VIII)
Resp. psalm: St. Meinrad mode VIII
Offertory: Duruflé (arr. Baker) “Ubi caritas”, hymn “Ubi caritas”
Communion: Byrd “Ave verum corpus”, hymn “Lord, who at thy first Eucharist”
Transfer of the Eucharist: “Pange lingua … córporis”

GOOD FRIDAY
Readings chanted
Resp. psalm: St. Meinrad mode I
Before the Passion: Anerio "Christus factus est"
Chants during the veneration: Crucem tuam, Reproaches, Crux fidelis
Communion: Iribarren (arr. FG) "Vexilla Regis"
Hymn "My song is love unknown" (Crossman/Ireland)

EASTER VIGIL
Readings #1, #4, and #7 chanted
Psalms:
- St. Meinrad mode I for #1, #3, #6, and #7
- Graduale Romanum for #2, #4, and #5
Offertory antiphon: Graduale Romanum
Offertory motet: Aichinger “Regina caeli”
Offertory hymn: “At the Lamb’s high feast”
ICEL chant Mass
Communion antiphon: Graduale Romanum
Communion motet: Haller “Ego sum panis vivus”
Thanksgiving: The strife is o’er
Recessional: Jesus Christ is risen today
Postlude: J. S. Bach, Prelude and Fugue in G Major (BWV 541)

EASTER SUNDAY
Largely the same as the Easter Vigil but for the addition of “Vidi aquam” during the sprinkling and, of course, the “Victimae” sequence!