MusingMuso Posted January 13, 2007 Share Posted January 13, 2007 Funny that - at one of the carol services I played for last year, I managed to introduce "O come all ye faithful" by playing "Hark the Herald"............. And yet the Rutter given to me at short notice was fine - a case of relaxing too much I think. ========================== I did much the same with "Cwm Rhondda" once on St.David's Day when I was visiting my Aunt in Wales: suffering complete brain-fade, and playing over "Hyfrydol" instead. The trick is to make what follows sound intentional, so I did a quick improvised fantasia which included various Welsh tunes in a sort of quasi, contrapuntal medley which I later called "Saucepan Bach." Of course, with Welsh tunes, it doesn't really matter what you play over, so long as it is in a minor key and sounds depressing. I got compliments and daffodils afterwards. Daft Druids! MM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajt Posted January 13, 2007 Share Posted January 13, 2007 I know exactly what you mean. My worst experience of this kind occurred when I accompanied a carol service for pre-school children and their parents/carers. The woman leading the service announced the first carol, then immediately launched into singing it without giving me a chance to play an intro. The congregation (presumably used to this) joined in. As a nipper I used to play for a Catholic convent in Cornwall, but only when I was home from boarding school. Trouble was, it was an enclosed order, so you had the nuns behind a screen facing the side of the altar, and the congregation facing the altar. The priest never told the nuns that I was there, so there was a constant race to get the play over of the first hymn of every service started before the nuns started singing it up a 5th and 1/4 the speed... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Powell Posted January 13, 2007 Share Posted January 13, 2007 ========================== Of course, with Welsh tunes, it doesn't really matter what you play over, so long as it is in a minor key and sounds depressing. MM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Coram Posted January 13, 2007 Share Posted January 13, 2007 ========================== I did much the same with "Cwm Rhondda" once on St.David's Day when I was visiting my Aunt in Wales: suffering complete brain-fade, and playing over "Hyfrydol" instead. Of course, with Welsh tunes, it doesn't really matter what you play over, so long as it is in a minor key and sounds depressing. MM At the crematorium I accompanied 3 verses of Amazing Grace to the tune Crimond before I noticed my error. Fortunately they are the same metre and it worked very well. Not so with Welsh hymn tunes - some are in 3/4, others 4 - this advice of yours can be very misleading. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Dutfield Posted January 13, 2007 Share Posted January 13, 2007 Of course, with Welsh tunes, it doesn't really matter what you play over, so long as it is in a minor key and sounds depressing. Indeed yes Boyo! There's lovely....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DQB123 Posted January 14, 2007 Share Posted January 14, 2007 Indeed yes Boyo! There's lovely....... So who played the organ today at HTH? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Cynic Posted January 14, 2007 Share Posted January 14, 2007 So who played the organ today at HTH? I'm hoping that this column will now go away quietly (nine-days wonder and all that), but obviously I have to answer your question, don't I? My wife was confirmed as sole Director of Music at a meeting on Thursday this week (she had been Joint DOM with me before that) and pro tem Mark Pybus (DOM at Hymer's College, a long term friend of HTH and former Assistant Organist at Sheffield Cathedral) is very kindly playing. They will be advertising for an Organist in due course. While I write, I should record my thanks to several really kind people who have contacted me off forum and for the tolerant and sympathetic noises people have been making here. I am grateful for kindnesses all round. I love MM's term 'spat out my dummy' which he used about himself but also totally fits the bill as far as I'm concerned. I also have to face facts, I had to get out of teaching some years ago now because the total silliness of it all (as imposed from outside) got to me. If circumstances do not permit me to do my best or my mental state militates against getting the best result from my volunteers, it is better for everyone if I opt out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Barry Williams Posted January 16, 2007 Share Posted January 16, 2007 I'm hoping that this column will now go away quietly (nine-days wonder and all that), but obviously I have to answer your question, don't I? My wife was confirmed as sole Director of Music at a meeting on Thursday this week (she had been Joint DOM with me before that) and pro tem Mark Pybus (DOM at Hymer's College, a long term friend of HTH and former Assistant Organist at Sheffield Cathedral) is very kindly playing. They will be advertising for an Organist in due course. While I write, I should record my thanks to several really kind people who have contacted me off forum and for the tolerant and sympathetic noises people have been making here. I am grateful for kindnesses all round. I love MM's term 'spat out my dummy' which he used about himself but also totally fits the bill as far as I'm concerned. I also have to face facts, I had to get out of teaching some years ago now because the total silliness of it all (as imposed from outside) got to me. If circumstances do not permit me to do my best or my mental state militates against getting the best result from my volunteers, it is better for everyone if I opt out. I also have to face facts, I had to get out of teaching some years ago now because the total silliness of it all (as imposed from outside) got to me. If circumstances do not permit me to do my best or my mental state militates against getting the best result from my volunteers, it is better for everyone if I opt out. But you have the sense to realise it. Many others do not. The church is poorer for not behaving towards you as a proper employer. Barry Williams Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Clark Posted January 17, 2007 Share Posted January 17, 2007 Perhaps because the parish people (in the shape of the PCC) choose the vicar and, on the whole, the great unwashed have no interest in art music? Or is that too simplistic? In the RC church, my heresy of choice, we don't chose our clergy, they are sent to us by the bishop (or in my case the Father General of the Institute of Charity). This means it is very much the luck of the draw. Curiously, I find that the less musical a priest is the easier he is to work with, although there was one assistant priest in this parish a few years ago who was an organist but he didn't interfere arguiung that he was ordained to be a minister of Christ and not a parish musician. Good point. There was however one a number of years ago in London who had that most dangerous of things, a little learning. He used to wander into choir practice and once physicallly (albeit gently) shoved me off the organ bench to illustrate something. He drew his stop - he started to play something, with one finger. My only response was: "wouldn't that be better with an 8 foot, Father?" Best wishes to all Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Voix Mystique Posted September 3, 2007 Share Posted September 3, 2007 The church is poorer for not behaving towards you as a proper employer.Barry Williams Hear, hear! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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