mjgrieveson

Except the gradual erosion of personal liberties with our implied consent. People's stories on here highlight the Kafka-esque nature of the situation. Someone must be making money out of this but even if not, we are all so afraid of being without the prized symbol of acceptablity that we will undergo levels of intrusion previously undreamed of in a free society. I certainly would not endure 6 of these things. This is only my second and it is more than I wish to endure to prove my suitability for a duty that is performed reluctantly. I don't seek preferment as an organist; I'm just the 'spare'.

I work in a hospital with direct patient contact and am deemed suitable for that so it does seem odd that I am potentially too dodgy a character to play hymns and voluntaries in church, even if I do not train a choir. The whole thing is absurd but that fact alone will not put an end to it. I was wondering if a refusal to oblige with this form would backfire on me in the future if I did ever get round to starting a choir. At the moment it would be quite nice to have a cast iron excuse to be unavailable for services but in this case I have a feeling the law would be honoured in the breach.

I have been given a form to fill in for a CRB check, and for some reason I'm finding it rather an affront. I know it is nothing personal, and am aware of the kind of problem that has led to it being required. But as I only reluctantly (and occasionally) play for services and there are no children in the choir I feel miffed at having to provide very personal details and documentary proof of same. Has anyone ever declined to fill in one of these things and then lived to regret it? I had plans at one time to start up a choir but there was no interest at the time and so I put the notion on hold whilst carrying other plans forward. There is no question of a murky past, I hasten to add! What would others do?

I was most surprised to read a churchwarden in the piece calling this a 'very public forum'. At least I presume s/he meant this one. Hardly! It would be difficult to imagine anywhere less likely to come to the notice of those mentioned. But just in case, I will not divulge the details of the music for a child's memorial service today. (Not surprisingly, an organist was not required for this.) You never know who might be listening, and one would not wish to appear disgruntled or less than loyal....

...and a similar thought occurred to me this evening as I tried it again, only to achieve what sounded like the voice of Almighty Dread, no matter what I did with it. It's reassuring that it's not just my ineptitude. Many thanks for the link, HG.

It will be a few weeks before my next lesson so I would be grateful if someone could give me a quick -ish guide to when to use this. It's called Tremolo on the one I use, and the last time I pulled it out (experimentally) it felt as though the whole edifice would crash in on me, so great was the vibration. Assuming the thing is not faulty I s'pose the degree of tremble (?) depends on what else is engaged. I can't imagine it sounding pleasing in anything other than Romantic repertoire - am I missing something? Any tips gratefully received. You will have gathered I am no expert.

Thanks for the replies. I've made a note of the Herrick and shall try and track it down at the weekend.

I did wonder about that but there is a short section where it goes all forte with a pause and some kind of dramatic cadence, that didn't quite seem to lend itself to Communion. I don't want to get them too excited!

Ah, well. I'll probably still play it, but with something loud and festive before it. Thank you for the Dacquin link - it gives me an idea.

Is anyone thinking of doing Pastorale a Gesu Bambino by Pietro Yon? I needed a new Christmas Postlude - if that's what you call the thing at the end -and have settled on that one. Reasonably easy (crucially, for me!) but I'm not sure how it would fit with the Bach the OP was planning. Someone mentioned the French Noels (Dacquin?). I've never hear it/them played so would appreciate being pointed in the direction of a recording because I've no Idea really how to register it with my limited resources.