Gong Xi Fa Cai 2009!

The Summons....
It is of my opinion that this piece would have sounded better had it been more contemplative. Not slow to the point of plodding, but today I listened to the midi that 3rd circulated and that was the speed that was 'normal'.

Treasurer matters....
I am happy and I think many members were more happy with the 2nd voting of treasurer. Phew....

Mr. President...
And I am not talking of the one in US:)
Keep up the good work.
Except the budget cuts that you started off with.....oh.....did I mentioned that in compliance to that budget cut, the choir had to learn their parts section by section to the summons, and the only master score was held by C, who shared it with the instrumentalist, ......and by the time the choir sang the piece, the altos and basses could not remember their parts anyway.....
OK...the master score with parts was 5 pages long!
Maybe this is a good time to put sibelius to good use...because you could extract the individual parts and have alto scores just showing alto parts etc.
And cost cutting measures led to the following inefficiencies:
1. People cannot remember their parts
2. We took more time as all the other sections had to wait while one section learn its parts which was repeated 3 to 4 times average.

Tempo matters....
Parents just got home from 7am mass saying they felt like they just took the bullet train! Choir sang everything super fast.
Pa said,'sing faster so can go home faster.'
hmmmm.....
My response, 'maybe you should have told the choir because they need feedbacks from the congregation. And since fast was not effective, they should know.'

Dress code for Cantors....
1. Properly and modestly attired
2. Guys: long sleeve, long pants, tie
3. Ladies: This gets a bit tricky....
a. With collar
b. With sleeves
c. Hemlines not too short
d. Materials not too transparent or translucent

Now for the fashion concious amont the lady cantors.....
Sometimes, the blouse in our favourite colour comes without sleeves or collar? But it looks decent. Take for example, the beautiful cheongsam that was worn up the sacristy yesterday.
collar: check
Hemline: check
Materials: check
Sleeves: failed
This was quite pertinent because the cantor had to raise her arms up to get the congregation into the singing of the responsorial psalm chorus.
Can we still pass such an outfit?

Then you look at the lectors outfit:
collar: check
Hemline: check
Materials: check
Sleeves: check
Look factor: failed....sorrry but that look was so 'auntie'.

IN THE LINE OF DUTY....
Certain dress codes are put in place because of RESPECT.
Not respect to a human but to God that you and I go to church to worship.
In proclaiming God's word, people listen but they also see.
(Light does travel faster than the speed of sound).
The HOLINESS, the SACREDNESS of GOD's WORD.....must be accompanied by signs of RESPECT and ADORATION.
Hence, modesty of clothing is seen as an outward sign of Worship to the real presence of God in his WORD.

So who checks the choice of clothing?
Parents play a role.
Adults can check their own dressing and use their good sense.
Peers can put gentle reminders to cantors going up to cantor.

Maybe cantors need to invest in a Cantoring wardrobe?
I pay money to seriously learn my instrument.
I think if cantors are serious about their roles, they would invest in a cantoring wardrobe.