Religious repertoire

[Corno Dolce]

I have used Cesar Franck's *L'Organiste* but also the *soft and sleaux* movements from the suites comprising Tournemire's *L'Orgue Mystique*.

 

[jvhldb]

Thanks for all the advice, I'll have to do some serious online shopping for the recommended music.

But first I'm going to get hold of an organ builder to install the "rector ejector" stop, a "clergy mute" piston (maybe one on all manuals) and 128' rank (horizontal) opposite the deacons bench, running of a compressor of course.

We have one preacher in town that insist on choosing all songs before and during the sevice (normally the organist chooses the songs before the service) so that it will "fit in with his message". I don't know if he never sends his "message" my way, but I can never figure out how the music link to the particular sermons. He also has a tendancy of notifying the organist on Friday of the songs needed for Sunday and on Sunday anouncing a completely different list. As I'm not a permanent organist I can, and do, refuse to play on the Sundays he preaches.

As to the music boxes used for accompanyment - our churches have the whole song book on CD. On the Sundays that they resort to the CD's we reffer to "karaoke" Sundays.

 

[Corno Dolce]

Aloha Johann,

At Church where I was organist many years ago I had a very good and collegial working relationship with the priest. We met every Monday afternoon to choose hymns based on the Scripture text for the Sunday that was to come. Then I would select appropriate prelude, communion, and postlude music based on what Sunday of the Church year it was i.e. Pentecost, Easter, Epiphany, Transfiguration, and the like.

Cheerio,

CD

 

[Flute'n'Pedal]

Hi CD,

Monday afternoon! The rule here is 48 hours before service, and the priests don't even manage to always make it. If there were more clergy like the one you speak of, we organists could give a really knock-'m-dead performance on Sunday morning. But then, of course, the organist and not the priest would be the centre of attention.

Flute'n'Pedal

 

[Corno Dolce]

Aloha Flute'n'Pedal,

As organist at that parish I was very mindful that the priest and I had a shared responsibility. He proclaimed the word - with music I only amplified the word. Both are in service - both are a part of *Gottesdienst* = God's service - There was no place for primadonnas.

Cheerio,

CD

 

[Flute'n'Pedal]

Thank-you, CD, for the timely reminder.

And now, I can't resist telling about how a certain organist revenged himself on a priest (though what the grievance was is long forgotten). It was Palm Sunday, and just before the service, the organist told the choir that there was to be a real live donkey in the processional. When the priest walked in the door, there were six credulous cantory singers hanging upside-down over the balcony railing, waiting in suspense for the "donkey."
But worse was to come. When the priest climbed up to the pulpit for the sermon, the organist, instead of playing the usual few chords, went on improvising for about six minutes. By the end, all 120 stops were drawn, the choir were splitting with laughter, and the priest was beet-red.
The moral is, if the priest won't listen to reason, the organist can always resort to violence.

 

[Corno Dolce]

Aloha Flute'n'Pedal - You're quite welcome.

That story was too funny :grin::grin::grin::lol::lol::lol:

Yep, that organist was sonically throttling the priest - must have been quite a bit of bad blood betwixt the two.

Cheerio,

CD

 

[methodistgirl]

Tonight I guess you can say caught. We had our first Wednesday
night class. The preacher looked around and asked," does anyone
here play the piano? Of course he looked straight at me so I volunteered
to do what he asked. I answered with surprise,"I do!" He asked me
if I knew the two songs in the hymn book. I answered,"If I don't
know the song just sing it and I will play along." Boy was I surprised
again. Now I also realize that I need to practice and get better.
I guess I got my first chance. I made some boo boos but I can
always practice and get better.
judy tooley

 

[Soubasse]

I'll second the Benoit Elevations - also a good collection, easy to read/play and highly apt for the traditional Mass.

The toaster I'm presently playing each Sunday has a tab marked "Main Off" which I think has something to do with auxiliary sets of speakers. Interestingly enough, the letter "I" has worn thin and that tab now makes much more sense.

Ah yes, the "never annoy an organist" scenario. I recall an occasion at an Anglican high mass where the priest would rarely sing the note given for intonations (so few of them do these days anyway). On this particular time though, he saw fit to blame me! As always, I dutifully gave the correct D on a perfectly clear Flute 8 and Principal 4, followed by him starting on a note somewhere between B and B-flat. He actually stopped part way through the intonation and announced to the congregation "I'm sorry, that will be too low for your response, I must have been given the wrong note."
The subsequent rendering of precisely the same D was then heard on the English equivalent of a Bombarde division right down to the 32' reed.


He still got it wrong

 

[Corno Dolce]

Aloha Soubasse,

The Seminaries must make it a requirement that Seminarians take full singing tuition during their stay as a requirement for graduation. Enough of the nonsense already!

Cheerio,

CD

 

[jvhldb]

Aloha Johann,

At Church where I was organist many years ago I had a very good and collegial working relationship with the priest. We met every Monday afternoon to choose hymns based on the Scripture text for the Sunday that was to come. Then I would select appropriate prelude, communion, and postlude music based on what Sunday of the Church year it was i.e. Pentecost, Easter, Epiphany, Transfiguration, and the like.

Cheerio,

CD

It sounds like you were in heaven. If the preacher remembers he usually sends a text message to the organists cell phone on an Thursday or Friday, with the list of songs he is going to use during the service. Most of the time it happens late Saturday afternoon. The organist in turn has to notify the computer operator (the lyrics for the songs are displayed on the walls beside the pulpit with projectors hooked up to a PC) of the songs to be sung in the ten minutes before the service starts. If the organist is late notifying the PC operator she WILL get some strongly worded messages and deadly stares. If the preacher forgets.... a well he is only human. My teacher warned the preachers at both congregations that if I don't get the songs by Monday morning I will make up my own list, and no matter what they announce or which songs words are displayed I will play whatever is on MY list. I know get my list of songs after the service the Sunday before I have to play.

Last Sunday apparently I missed out on some fun (I played in another church), the PC on the pulpit and the PC displaying the songs refused to communicate with the projectors. In the end there was no singing before the service, they popped in a CD. They had to change the songs during the service to songs that are known well, so the congregation could sing without the promptors. I wonder how THAT tied in with the preachers message.

 

[Corno Dolce]

Aloha Johan,

It wasn't Heaven but it was a good working situation. The exception being a few old ladies or gentlemen who were at variance with the Church service structure. They of course did not know what went into the *production* of a service nor were they musicians or Theologians. They always came running to me for to give me a tongue-lashing. I stopped them in *mid-fight* by inviting them to come to the priest's office when he and I discussed next Sundays service and music - They never, ever dared to show up.

Cheerio,

CD

 

[jvhldb]

Aloha Johan,

It wasn't Heaven but it was a good working situation. The exception being a few old ladies or gentlemen who were at variance with the Church service structure. They of course did not know what went into the *production* of a service nor were they musicians or Theologians. They always came running to me for to give me a tongue-lashing. I stopped them in *mid-fight* by inviting them to come to the priest's office when he and I discussed next Sundays service and music - They never, ever dared to show up.

Cheerio,

CD

Fortuanetly nobody complained to me directly so far. I do however get people complaining to me about the organist playing too fast/slow, loud/soft. In the beginning I used to get angry because most of these peopel can't even read the melody line in a song book, now I invite them, in a very friendly and sincere way, to come and show us how it should be done, then and there. They ALWAYS get struck by something that reminds them of a forgotten appointment that they are already late for.

 

[Krummhorn]

. . . . . I do however get people complaining to me about the organist playing too fast/slow, loud/soft. . . . now I invite them, in a very friendly and sincere way, to come and show us how it should be done, then and there. They ALWAYS get struck by something that reminds them of a forgotten appointment that they are already late for.

Johan,

Ohh man, its great to hear that you too get those slow/fast/soft/loud complaints. I get two more: Too high and too low constantly . Some of our hymns are written in stratosphere keys - why composers continue to do this is beyond my imagination. Most of them I have to transpose down a few steps - I do this in my head without the aid of an automatic transposer.

Reminds me of a colleague friend years ago who was constantly being heckled by one parishioner week after week complaining about this and that, and was quite fed up with this. The organist had mentioned these instances to the pastor and the worship committee numerous times and they said the matter would be taken care of.

A few weeks later, about 30 minutes before the service, the same heckler stepped up to the organ console and remarked " "well, I could play that piece much better." The organist stood up and said "fine, you play it then!", and stepped away from the console and sat down. With just moments before the service was to begin, the heckler was rather forced to apologize to the organist (in the presence of the choir and the clergy and within ear shot of the congregation) and then things went along nicely. The heckler never returned to that church again. :crazy:

 

[jvhldb]

Johan,

...well, I could play that piece much better." The organist stood up and said "fine, you play it then!", and stepped away from the console and sat down. With just moments before the service was to begin, the heckler was rather forced to apologize to the organist (in the presence of the choir and the clergy and within ear shot of the congregation) and then things went along nicely. The heckler never returned to that church again. :crazy:

Love this one, it's definately going in my Encyclopedia of useles knowlege, I KNOW I will find a use for it!:lol::lol:

The last couple of weeks when the organist plays the last song while the congregation leaves the church we had some members coming over to the organ to watch. This is a bit unsettling, especially for me. The organs I normaly play are usually located on the galleries so I'm not used to playing to a watching audience. The "watchers" also have a tendancy to stand there talking loudly to each other, and sometimes to the organist trying to play. My teacher threatened to request the gallery be closed to the congregation if they don't stop this new habbit soon.

 

[Corno Dolce]

A simple sign near the entrance to the organ gallery requesting silence in the organ gallery and to keep a courteous distance away from the organist until after he/she has finished playing should do the trick.

 

[Contratrombone64]

"well, I could play that piece much better." The organist stood up and said "fine, you play it then!", and stepped away from the console and sat down.

yes well, organists don't have to be Christians but hecklers in congregations I would assume need to be? In which case, I'd have turned the other cheek with a What would Jesus have said in stead of "I could play that piece much better" and knowing nod.

Sometimes it's hard to maintain integrity, that's for sure.

 

[jvhldb]

Yesterday was fun. Shortly after I started playing the backgournd music before the service a mother with two "kids" sat down in the bench before the organ case. The little boy tried to climb the organ case and no amount of stares could deter him. His little sister gave one look around and started screaming so loud that I couldn't hear the organ at all. I decided to use the picollo, which the kid also managed to drown out. On the next change over I added the terts, mikstuur and all the 2' stops and couplers. The girl managed to drown that out as well, but apparently the mother couldn't handle it any more and with a wailing air raid siren under each arm dissapeared into the mothers room.

The rest of the service was nice and quiet on the peanut gallery.

 

[Fretless]

Last Sunday apparently I missed out on some fun (I played in another church), the PC on the pulpit and the PC displaying the songs refused to communicate with the projectors. In the end there was no singing before the service, they popped in a CD. They had to change the songs during the service to songs that are known well, so the congregation could sing without the promptors. I wonder how THAT tied in with the preachers message.

What a circus!
This kind of thing always makes me wonder just what is so wrong with everyone having a hymnal and opening it to the proper page. Lots of good tunes in those and the system for communication is pretty trustworthy.

 

[Corno Dolce]

Aloha Fretless,

Yeah, one can wonder about the hue and cry about the use of hymnals.