Matthew Monday: Junior Prom

Well my dear son is growing up. He’s taking driver’s ed, and practicing with me as the co-pilot.  And scaring the daylights out of me!  He also just attended his high school’s junior prom.  I just have a few pictures.

First this is Matthew at the suit rental place trying out the suit.  I was never at any prom, so I don’t know what is customary, and even so it would have been ages ago anyway.  Rent a suit?  I thought that was only for tuxedos for weddings and such.  Here he is staring into a mirror.

He looks like a mobster ready to go out to make a hit!

Well here he is at home the day of the event.

The next set of pictures were taken at his friend’s house where several of the boys got together with their dates. 

I guess it’s time to party. 

 

Here he is with his date, Michelle.  She is from his grammar school.  They went to school together from kindergarten to eighth grade.  She was also in the Church choir with Matthew, so they know each other for quite a while. 

 

Yes, call me a fuddy duddy but that dress is too short.  But they do make a great looking couple.  Do you think they coordinated the colors?  

 

Finally a picture with mom.

Now, I want to go back to when he was in the church's children's choir.  I have video from back in 2017.  Mathew had just turned eight years old!  That’s obviously Matthew singing but that girl in the white print dress with her back to the camera is Michelle!

 

My how time flies. 

 

Matthew Monday: Responsorial Psalm for 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Two Sunday’s ago, November 10^th, the Thirty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time, Matthew gave the responsorial psalm at Mass and he had me film it.  He does these and other parts of the Children’s Mass regularly, but I present this one because I just happen to capture it. 

Here is the psalm for that day, PS 17:1, 5-6, 8, 15

R. (15b)  Lord, when your glory appears, my joy will be full.

Hear, O LORD, a just suit;
attend to my outcry;
hearken to my prayer from lips without deceit.

R. Lord, when your glory appears, my joy will be full.
My steps have been steadfast in your paths,
my feet have not faltered.
I call upon you, for you will answer me, O God;
incline your ear to me; hear my word.

R. Lord, when your glory appears, my joy will be full.
Keep me as the apple of your eye,
hide me in the shadow of your wings.
But I in justice shall behold your face;
on waking I shall be content in your presence.

R. Lord, when your glory appears, my joy will be full.

He will always be the apple of my eye.

Matthew Monday: Easter Sunday Alleluia

Another Easter come and gone.  Yesterday at Mass as part of the children’s choir, Matthew was asked to do the Alleluia.  The Alleluia has one of the few solos for choir at Mass, so he was excited.  Others might get nervous, but he was eager.  And he was so proud, so for a change he made sure he was spiffily dressed.  My wife got him a tie, a real tie, not a clip on, and he had me tie the knot and I slipped it over his head.  He had a new belt and dress shirt and he had his mother put on hair spray to keep his hair perfect.  First, here’s a picture of him before Mass.

Second, the altar was beautifully decorated for Easter.  Here are a couple of pictures.  First the entire altar.

And a close up of the left side lectern with the statue of the Risen Christ placed near it.  That was specially brought up for Easter.

Finally here’s Matthew with his Celtic Alleluia. 

That man in the video in the green shirt told me after Mass how wonderful Matthew does the Alleluia.  He really does.  

Matthew Monday: Choir During Christmas Season, 2018

As you know, Matthew has been in the choir for a year and a half now, and the music director loves him and relies on him almost every week.  I was able to record this little clip of Matthew leading the Responsorial Psalm the Sunday just before Christmas, the last Sunday of Advent.

Well, just like last year Matthew played the drum part for the Children’s Choir’s rendition of “Little Drummer Boy” on Christmas Eve.  He was very good.  I’ll share the video.

He’s getting to be very comfortable as a performer.  He’s such a ham.  Here’s a really nice picture of him in his choir robe. 

And the church was nicely decorated as usual.  Here are a couple of pictures.

I hope you all had a blessed Christmas.

Matthew Monday: My Talkative Boy

Last week Matthew had the croup which caused him to miss two days of school.  This is the second time he’s gotten it.  I posted on it some three years ago, here.  I’m not familiar with the croup, and this is what Wikipedia says:

Croup, also known as laryngotracheobronchitis, is a type of respiratory infection that is usually caused by a virus. The infection leads to swelling inside the trachea, which interferes with normal breathing and produces the classic symptoms of "barking" cough, stridor, and a hoarse voice Fever and runny nose may also be present. These symptoms may be mild, moderate, or severe. Often it starts or is worse at night.  It normally lasts one to two days.

Apparently Matthew is susceptible to it since he’s now gotten it twice in a few years.  When he woke up Thursday he was having trouble breathing, so my wife took him to the emergency room.  Wikipedia says more:

Croup is a relatively common condition that affects about 15% of children at some point. It most commonly occurs between 6 months and 5 years of age but may rarely be seen in children as old as fifteen. It is slightly more common in males than females. It occurs most often in autumn.

Well, he’s older than five and it’s not autumn.  It’s now five days, and it has not gone away, but then he’s not had fever or a runny nose.  He does get a burning sensation in his throat.

When he missed school and word got around his class that he had gone to the hospital, his classmates were all concerned.  One of the girls in his class called him to check on him and they were on the phone for 45 minutes!  Only to be interrupted because it was getting toward dinner time.  What a cute conversation.  He had the phone on speaker and I was in the next room and caught a few snippets.  (I wasn’t trying to listen, truly.)  But I did catch that she had prayed for him when she heard, which I found absolutely adorable.  I love the fact that he goes to Catholic school, and I can’t imagine that from another child in public school.  Matthew it seemed did most of the talking.  I guess the laryngitis did affect him when it comes to chattering.  He’s such a chatter box, but he’s got to learn in a conversation to let the girl say a few more things.  Then he pulled out his harmonica and started playing “a song he wrote.”  That was so funny.  He also took out his guitar (which he had gotten at Christmas) and played one of his choir songs for her.  I think he impressed her. 

Here’s a recent picture of Matthew in his choir robe with a few members of the children’s choir.  He’s the only boy in the children’s choir and feels perfectly comfortable with that.  

Looks like he may develop into quite a lady’s man.  ;) 

Matthew Monday: My Little Drummer Boy

I’ve mentioned that Matthew is in the children’s choir at our parish, St. Rita’s Church, and there has been a tradition that the choir performs a little children’s concert on Christmas Eve, and in the past the choir has performed “Little Drummer Boy” with one boy playing the drums.  Well that boy has graduated and Matthew is the only boy in the children’s choir, and he so desired to take the mantle of the drummer for the song.

So you would think the choir would practice this at least a few times before the performance?  The music director planned to practice it twice, but she forgot the drum sticks for the first practice, and so all that was left was one practice.  As it turned out I went early to pick Matthew up at that practice and heard his first attempts.  Matthew kept screwing up. He's supposed to keep time for most of the song but his impulse is to go with the rum-pum-pum pum rhythm of the choir. And to make it more complicated on the third verse he is supposed to shift and join the rum-pum-pum pum, and then return to the slow beat for conclusion. Yikes, that's a bit much for an eight year old, and he only practiced it once. So we practiced it all weekend at home.

He had three performances altogether: The Christmas Eve concert with the children’s choir, with the adult choir at the 10:30 Christmas Day Mass as the communion hymn, and at the 12:30 Christmas Day Mass back with the children’s choir again during the communion hymn.  I videoed the first and third performances, and as it turned out the one I didn’t video was the flawless one.  Though I he played slightly better for the third performance, I think the video of the first came out better, so that’s the one I’ll post.

So here’s Matthew on the drums with the children’s choir on “Little Drummer Boy.”

I have to admit, I love that song, even though it’s kind of schmaltzy.  I always choke up on the first time I hear it during each Christmas season.  The thought of having nothing to give Jesus but one’s talent as best as one can perform is very touching.

After the third performance, the pastor mentioned Matthew by name and he got a round of applause. 

By the way, our altar was beautifully decorated with a new nativity set, I decided to take a picture. 

It’s a small, humble church, but we’re proud of it.

Matthew Monday: First Day in the Choir

This post gives me so much joy.  I have always felt Matthew has musical talent.  He has always had a talent to pick up a song’s tune and remember the lyrics.  The children’s choir at church is something he has always wanted to do, but he had to wait until third grade to participate.  Well, this year he started third grade and Wednesday night was the first practice.  The musical director thought his voice wonderful, so wonderful that she had him lead the Alleluia at his very first Sunday Mass with the choir.

I was able to film him at yesterday’s Mass.  Here he is leading the Alleluia.

Unfortunately the video is not sharp enough to see Matthew singing.  The first recitation is Matthew solo, and I think you can hear how sweet his voice is.  When the entire congregation responds with the second and third recitations unfortunately you can hear an ugly male voice in the forefront of the voices.  He was near my phone and I’ll have another word on him at the end.

But I also filmed the entire chorus during two of their hymns.  First, the offertory hymn, “Open My Eyes, Lord.”

That’s Matthew with the white shirt with the pink sleeves.  That’s the musical director playing piano, the younger children of the choir toward the front, and the older in the back. 

Here during the recessional hymn, “Though the Mountains May Fall.”

The kids are wonderful, and the music director, Debbie Williams, is great with the kids.  You don’t hear it with the children’s choir, but she has a wonderful voice.  I think she’s opera trained.

Now back to that ugly man’s voice in the Alleluia.  I must confess.  That was me, and I’m very embarrassed about it.  I’ve said, there are two types of Italian men, those that can sing and those that think they can sing.  I’m ashamed to say I’m of the second type obviously.  I don’t realize how bad I actually sound until I hear it played back.  Matthew has been making fun of me ever since we heard the recordings. 

But this was Matthew’s day and he shined.