Saturday evening Service XVI: On Obscure Lutheran History
Work continues.
On June 25, 1530, the Lutherans of the day presented the Augsburg Confession to the Powers That Be of the day in order to clear up a few things. The Catholics of the day then came up with their counterstatement, and a year later, there was the Apology To (read, "Defense Of"... we never apologize for anything, especially, not to Catholics) the Augsburg Confession. I seem to remember there being a war there... I forget what it was called. Anyway, after many Hymnal Revisions, it's still a feast day, which meant there was a special service Sunday, which meant, by extension, that there was a special service Saturday evening. Basically, they read parts of said Confession, with hymn verses interspersed to break it up. All told, there were nine hymns for the service. NINE hymns. Never mind that they only sang a verse or two of each, I still have the whole hymn for one verse or 50, then it's just a matter of how many times I repeat it. This was accomplished without incident, although the prelude/postlude were a bit half baked. They basically consisted of every setting of "Ein Feste Burg" that I could scrape together while busy doing other things.
Other things such as... the VBS closing service. I got talked into playing that one as well on short notice. The basic premise here is for the small children of the congregation to stand up in front of their parents and look cute while making a joyful noise unto the Lord. Note that "joyful" in no way implies "in tune," "in unison," or "having good tone quality." In the past, a venerable (read, elderly) pianist of the congregation would accompany the singing, mainly by playing loudly enough to drown out any dissenters and enforce rhythm. VBS kid songs now come on CDs, so no accompaniment is necessary, and he's gone on to bigger and better things. However, there were still two congregational hymns that they needed me for. No sweat. Also, as I found out half an hour before the service, they needed travel music. This is random background improvisation as it turned out so that there isn't dead silence while small children are being herded to and from the stage by a small army of volunteer parent figures. The improvisation was done on whatever song had just been sung. Fortunately, there was a score on hand, so I wasn't completely in the dark. Note that the second graders (for example) herd better than the pre-kindergarteners, so the length requirements were completely up in the air. I came up with some pretty strange cadential figures to cover gaps that weren't quite four measures long. All in all, it went well. I'll take that over actually having to herd children any day.
Beyond that, Boeing is chugging merrily along. I've finished a few large scale projects that I can't talk about and started a few new ones that I also can't talk about. But I enjoy it, except for the part where I have to get up early. I've adapted well to cubicle life. It's
1. airconditioned;
2. not in direct sunlight;
and 3. doesn't involve standing up.
Dierbergs was missing the last one, which was why an 8 hour shift there was so tiring. Organ practice continues. I don't play anything until the 15th/16th, when I play everything. Suddenly there aren't enough hours in a day.
On June 25, 1530, the Lutherans of the day presented the Augsburg Confession to the Powers That Be of the day in order to clear up a few things. The Catholics of the day then came up with their counterstatement, and a year later, there was the Apology To (read, "Defense Of"... we never apologize for anything, especially, not to Catholics) the Augsburg Confession. I seem to remember there being a war there... I forget what it was called. Anyway, after many Hymnal Revisions, it's still a feast day, which meant there was a special service Sunday, which meant, by extension, that there was a special service Saturday evening. Basically, they read parts of said Confession, with hymn verses interspersed to break it up. All told, there were nine hymns for the service. NINE hymns. Never mind that they only sang a verse or two of each, I still have the whole hymn for one verse or 50, then it's just a matter of how many times I repeat it. This was accomplished without incident, although the prelude/postlude were a bit half baked. They basically consisted of every setting of "Ein Feste Burg" that I could scrape together while busy doing other things.
Other things such as... the VBS closing service. I got talked into playing that one as well on short notice. The basic premise here is for the small children of the congregation to stand up in front of their parents and look cute while making a joyful noise unto the Lord. Note that "joyful" in no way implies "in tune," "in unison," or "having good tone quality." In the past, a venerable (read, elderly) pianist of the congregation would accompany the singing, mainly by playing loudly enough to drown out any dissenters and enforce rhythm. VBS kid songs now come on CDs, so no accompaniment is necessary, and he's gone on to bigger and better things. However, there were still two congregational hymns that they needed me for. No sweat. Also, as I found out half an hour before the service, they needed travel music. This is random background improvisation as it turned out so that there isn't dead silence while small children are being herded to and from the stage by a small army of volunteer parent figures. The improvisation was done on whatever song had just been sung. Fortunately, there was a score on hand, so I wasn't completely in the dark. Note that the second graders (for example) herd better than the pre-kindergarteners, so the length requirements were completely up in the air. I came up with some pretty strange cadential figures to cover gaps that weren't quite four measures long. All in all, it went well. I'll take that over actually having to herd children any day.
Beyond that, Boeing is chugging merrily along. I've finished a few large scale projects that I can't talk about and started a few new ones that I also can't talk about. But I enjoy it, except for the part where I have to get up early. I've adapted well to cubicle life. It's
1. airconditioned;
2. not in direct sunlight;
and 3. doesn't involve standing up.
Dierbergs was missing the last one, which was why an 8 hour shift there was so tiring. Organ practice continues. I don't play anything until the 15th/16th, when I play everything. Suddenly there aren't enough hours in a day.
posted by Kevin H | 5:20 PM
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