New songs are being translated

Music is a big part of our community life, what with our call to daily praise, our shared experience of Mass at community gatherings, and praise in our households.

To foster a spirit of praise and build a sense of community identity, the Lord has blessed the Emmanuel Community with many talented song writers and musicians who work together to build the repertoire of songs coming from our community. Most of these contributors are French speaking so the bulk of our music is created in French.

These songs don’t remain only in French, though. Over the years most of our English songbook was translated from the original languages to give us what we have today. And thanks to the work of 16 English speakers, we will soon have 20 more songs to add to the English songbook.

That’s right! Currently underway, 20 French songs are having their content translated into English and then rewritten to match the music notations. The hope is to have the initial translations completed by Christmas. They will be compiled into a working booklet for the next step in the translation process, which is when a team of musicians and singers will gather to work through the songs in person. One can assume that these second drafts will be presented to the community in supplementary booklet for regular use. Further corrections can be made before the songs are printed in a future edition of the EC English songbook.

Heather (MA)