Jeremy Ewen Posted July 25, 2009 Share Posted July 25, 2009 The title says it all really. There is a town church near us where I heard the organist regularly did five weddings on summer Saturdays in the old days, just wondered if this sort of thing still happens? JE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
notebasher Posted July 25, 2009 Share Posted July 25, 2009 The title says it all really. There is a town church near us where I heard the organist regularly did five weddings on summer Saturdays in the old days, just wondered if this sort of thing still happens? JE Most I ever did was five on Easter Saturday 1968 I think it was, and for good measure the last one was a double wedding - and double fee as I recall. Now we're lucky to get five a year! Ah well...c'est la vie. R Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sanderman26 Posted July 25, 2009 Share Posted July 25, 2009 Last year I was in Oxford on a Saturday in August. Many college chapels were closed for visitors, due to weddings. Keble at least had three that day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Hector5 Posted July 25, 2009 Share Posted July 25, 2009 How's this for stupidity? By Monday, I will have travelled 1000 miles to and from France (round trip), so that I could play for one wedding, a recital and two services!!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJJ Posted July 26, 2009 Share Posted July 26, 2009 How's this for stupidity? By Monday, I will have travelled 1000 miles to and from France (round trip), so that I could play for one wedding, a recital and two services!!!!!! I'd do it if it were France!! A Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjgrieveson Posted July 26, 2009 Share Posted July 26, 2009 Only last year I did 4 in one day, and mostly had 3. Normally in the season there are 2 - worth turning out for, but not too exhausting. I've got 2 next week but this month they have mostly just been singles - enough to mess up a Saturday. The season isn't over yet; I haven't been given the September list . It is usually beginning to tail off by then, thank goodness. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Newnham Posted July 26, 2009 Share Posted July 26, 2009 Only last year I did 4 in one day, and mostly had 3. Normally in the season there are 2 - worth turning out for, but not too exhausting.I've got 2 next week but this month they have mostly just been singles - enough to mess up a Saturday. The season isn't over yet; I haven't been given the September list . It is usually beginning to tail off by then, thank goodness. Hi As an organist, I've never done more that 2 - but they were in different village churches about 6 miles apart down narrow country lanes - getting to the 2nd one was a little "interesting". I did once play for no less than 7 services (including one wedding) on a Sunday. Every Blessing Tony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
handsoff Posted July 26, 2009 Share Posted July 26, 2009 I used to play at a church in a "picture postcard" village with an idyllic setting amongst thatched cottages and a beautifully maintained churchyard that could have been laid out for photography. An ancient lychgate added to the attraction and the church was in constant demand for weddings. Between 3 and 5 on Saturdays from Easter until early July wasn't uncommon. The rector always allowed time in the bookings for a decent lunch break; (underage (in my first 2 years tenure)) organist to pub coupler in use... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DQB123 Posted July 26, 2009 Share Posted July 26, 2009 Not quite weddings and slightly drifting, I once conducted four funerals in a two hour session at Colwyn Bay crematorium one Friday afternoon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Contrabombarde Posted July 26, 2009 Share Posted July 26, 2009 Next time I'm practising at Namirembe cathedral I'll have to ask the senior organist there, Paul Lugya for his personal best. But they start weddings at 8am sharp every Saturday and the last one isn't over until 6pm. Couples have to pay a deposit, refundable only if they arrive on time (given the appalling traffic in Kampala i should think the church does very well indeed out of that arrangement...) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malcolm Kemp Posted July 26, 2009 Share Posted July 26, 2009 Sounds a deadly sort of undertaking to me................ Malcolm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnR Posted July 26, 2009 Share Posted July 26, 2009 I once played for four carol services in one day, all at different churches in Suffolk. Can anyone beat that? I don't think I'd want to do it again. I think I was suffering from a mild dose of insanity at the time. John R Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Morley Posted July 27, 2009 Share Posted July 27, 2009 On my youth, I once played for four weddings at three different churches over the course of one Saturday. This being densely populated North Manchester, the distances between venues was not that great. However, thirty years on, I think that I'd be ill-advised to repeat the exercise using a bike as my means of transport. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marko Hakanpää Posted July 27, 2009 Share Posted July 27, 2009 . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marko Hakanpää Posted July 27, 2009 Share Posted July 27, 2009 . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sanderman26 Posted July 27, 2009 Share Posted July 27, 2009 Plus that we are paid per month, not per service. Than I hope you're paid very, very well... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marko Hakanpää Posted July 27, 2009 Share Posted July 27, 2009 . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Patrick Coleman Posted July 27, 2009 Share Posted July 27, 2009 We (ALL church musicians in Finland) are in the lucky position of being full-time musicians; we do this for living and don't need to have another occupation. Only in small churches there are organists with part time jobs, but even they are normally at least 50%. The average salary for us is about 2500 EUR per month, depending on the position an education (mine is 3000+ at the moment). We have a similar classification of the posts to Germany (A, B and C degree, A being the highest, equivalent to a DOM). Now back to the original topic again Dear Marko, I suspect that your kind and honest revelation on salaries will provide a very powerful distraction from the original topic to most, if not all, contributors to the Board who are full-time musicians (or even clergy!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vox Humana Posted July 27, 2009 Share Posted July 27, 2009 Dear Marko, I suspect that your kind and honest revelation on salaries will provide a very powerful distraction from the original topic to most, if not all, contributors to the Board who are full-time musicians (or even clergy!) Quite. More to the point, I wonder how many board members would be full-time musicians if the English church offered similarly adequate rewards for our expertise. I can only weep. But I am genuinely glad for Marko that he lives in a society that recognises his worth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Clark Posted July 27, 2009 Share Posted July 27, 2009 Well I'm on the next plane to Finland! P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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