Saturday Evening Service XVIII and the Joys of Update Lag
Wow.
So, yeah, I did piano last week already... time flies, although I've accomplished little since then. It was pretty much the usual, although I had a flautist play unaccompanied through communion, so I didn't have to worry about that. OS II is tomorrow and preparations have been under way, although I've been a bit less diligant than I was for OS I. Also, the church has been a bit busy... they were redoing the parking lot for a few days this week, there's a special service for our new pastor Sunday afternoon which has extra choir rehearsals that go along with it, and there have been various weddings and their rehearsals clogging up the past few Friday and Saturday afternoons. So practice time has been hard to come by.
Fortunately, there's less music to learn. It's a non-communion week, so I only have to learn three hymns. The liturgy is Matins, the old Catholic morning prayer service (see, a tiny portion of Music 313 was relevant, don't get me started) and there's relatively little music to be learned for it. However, it's mostly chants, as in, "We praise you, oh God, we acknowledge you to be the Lord...", with everything up to "be" sung on one sustained note, then the end has a little melody to it. The trick is getting the note to change at the correct time. As mentioned before, listening to the congregation is right out because of acoustics for one, and also because no one really agrees on how fast things should be chanted, so the net result is "WeprushsoGodweacknewlge...be the Lord..." The approved solution is to sing along as I play and accompany myself, which is yet another layer of stuff to think about, but I've gotten it to work while practicing. Here's hoping... Anyway, I've got enough lesson music still lying around along with the unused communion filler from last time to get through the rest of the service music. Oh, and by the way (as read the postscript on my instructions), the music director may or may not be accompaying a vocalist for a psalmody, in which case they'd be up in the choir loft watching my every move. No pressure.
Beyond that, summer in St. Louis has returned to being, well, summer in St. Louis, that is, very little has happened. Seems I've barely left the house all week except for practice. There have been a few errands I've had to run before heading back to school, and those will continue. Actually, there are quite a few things I've been putting off until the last week here... some things never change. Owell.
So, yeah, I did piano last week already... time flies, although I've accomplished little since then. It was pretty much the usual, although I had a flautist play unaccompanied through communion, so I didn't have to worry about that. OS II is tomorrow and preparations have been under way, although I've been a bit less diligant than I was for OS I. Also, the church has been a bit busy... they were redoing the parking lot for a few days this week, there's a special service for our new pastor Sunday afternoon which has extra choir rehearsals that go along with it, and there have been various weddings and their rehearsals clogging up the past few Friday and Saturday afternoons. So practice time has been hard to come by.
Fortunately, there's less music to learn. It's a non-communion week, so I only have to learn three hymns. The liturgy is Matins, the old Catholic morning prayer service (see, a tiny portion of Music 313 was relevant, don't get me started) and there's relatively little music to be learned for it. However, it's mostly chants, as in, "We praise you, oh God, we acknowledge you to be the Lord...", with everything up to "be" sung on one sustained note, then the end has a little melody to it. The trick is getting the note to change at the correct time. As mentioned before, listening to the congregation is right out because of acoustics for one, and also because no one really agrees on how fast things should be chanted, so the net result is "WeprushsoGodweacknewlge...be the Lord..." The approved solution is to sing along as I play and accompany myself, which is yet another layer of stuff to think about, but I've gotten it to work while practicing. Here's hoping... Anyway, I've got enough lesson music still lying around along with the unused communion filler from last time to get through the rest of the service music. Oh, and by the way (as read the postscript on my instructions), the music director may or may not be accompaying a vocalist for a psalmody, in which case they'd be up in the choir loft watching my every move. No pressure.
Beyond that, summer in St. Louis has returned to being, well, summer in St. Louis, that is, very little has happened. Seems I've barely left the house all week except for practice. There have been a few errands I've had to run before heading back to school, and those will continue. Actually, there are quite a few things I've been putting off until the last week here... some things never change. Owell.
posted by Kevin H | 3:59 PM
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