Christians are now a minority in the UK. Katie mentions this result from the 1921 census. She makes some other very good points. Sorry if you do not agree. She speaks for many.
I do not have a problem with people from other lands coming to the UK. I do have a problem with them coming here illegally and the government turning a blind eye. Don't get me started.
What utter stupidity. Not sure how long this video will stay up but a Dean has suggested that Jesus could have been 'Trans' and the video seems to be fair comment.
In the UK energy prices have soared. This must be why churches (which one can expect to be cold, even if the heating is on) are very cold. I played for a funeral today and it was hard going for my cold fingers on a stiff, and ancient, tracker action organ. There were space heaters in the nave (so the boiler was not on) and I could have had a fan heater on except that the risk was that my music would blow off the music desk.
Thankfully, it was quite a short service. I have known funerals go on for ages if the relatives want to give the deceased whole life story.
There was only a small congregation this morning for Advent Sunday communion. Perhaps the locals all knew the church heating was on the blink.
The sermon was actually about getting more people to attend church and someone has come up with a 3-part mantra. People are supposed to say to their friends...
However, newcomers must not expect church always to be 'flully' and lovely without any challenges!
The video below popped up today. It is a typical piece of German organ music by that chap J. S. Bach.
Whilst most cathedral and large parish church organs could do it justice, for the average parish organist - with just a pedal 16' Bourdon - any performance is likely to be quite disappointing. There are also many organs on which one would not attempt it.
This is performed on a sampled organ using the Hauptwerk system.
I found this on an organ I played recently. It is not just a guide to the note names, for a non-musician, which fits snugly over the keys. It actually tells the note holder what order to play the notes in so the tuner can do his setting out.
Starting with C he would go up to G and tune a perfect 5th, then from G to D a perfect 4th (although he would need to count the beats.)
Then the order is A, E, B, F#, C#, G#, D#, A#, and finally back to F. Organ tuners use sharps, not flats, as the pipes are set out on natural and sharp sides. Since equal temperament means that the octave cannot quite be divided equally, the skill of a tuner is to place the 'weirdness' where it does least damage; usually spread evenly over the octave. Bach proved this was possible when he wrote the "48"
When I was a ringer in my youth I enjoyed quarter peals (1260 changes taking about 40 minutes). I've rung a few peals (5040 changes lasting about 3 hours). A peal is a lot of ringing to inflict on the people living close to the church.
Some ringers try to ring as many peals as possible and several have rung 3000+. It seems any excuse to ring for a long time can be conjured up.
Why would one need to mark the casting of a bell? This peal does so but it is only one of many rung by Richard Allton. He has rung 13 peals in November and 119 so far this year.
There is currently a drive to "Ring for the King" i.e. to get people to learn to ring for the coronation. Nobody seems to try to retain the ringers who do exist.
Also, when I go to meetings it is the same people who call the touches; there is no training in this respect.
Apologies. I am digging up an old topic. I stopped bellringing at my local church back in May.
I am clearly not missed and I am glad, in a way, that I stopped going because it has meant that the condition of my hands has not deteriorated as quickly as it might have done. Had I kept going just to ring the same old stuff I would now feel that the past few months had been wasted. I am no worse off for not having been to ring. I still know the methods I know and, in fact, I do ring at one church where I play occasionally.
The middle finger of my left hand has arthritis and has started to be painful. I am anticipating not being able to play the organ in a few years time.
I have done quite a lot of practice today. Fifty years ago I did my Grade 4 organ and played the piece below. I've revised it a few times since then but I had fresh ideas on fingering and registration today.
I was sorry for the vicar today who had really wanted to focus on Christ the King being the theme of the day: indeed the hymns were suitable for that.
However, she had to preach a sermon on Safeguarding because somebody had decided that today is Safeguarding Sunday. I cannot find anything about it on the C of E website (lots about safeguarding itself, obviously).
Who are these people who came up in the search? I imagine each diocese has its own materials as Leicester does. It was there that I found an answer to my previous question which is...
Safeguarding Sunday is an annual awareness-raising campaign coordinated by the charity Thirtyone:eight to give churches an opportunity to show their communities that they take their safeguarding responsibility seriously and to explore together as a church what safer places look like.
For the time-being I am content with my work as a deputy organist although the driving can be a bind. I have found a benefice where the services are to my liking (as much as services can be!) and I should also be able to have a calmer life in the church where I play once a month, now that issues have been addressed.
Sadly, there is a spate of funerals coming up and I have been asked to play at three in the near future.
I have had the idea of recording 25 organ pieces as a sort of Advent calendar for my YouTube channel although most of the pieces will not have an Advent theme. Essentially, if I do not have something to work for I am not very good at doing any practice.
As a way of relaxing I was looking back over an old post and a bit of Googling took me to the video below. I enjoy this kind of music.
I had not previously heard of "All Angels" but I have just received the music list for an upcoming funeral. I will only be playing the hymns and two "All Angels" tracks will be used, at the start and end of the service. Here is one of them.
I am always moved by Remembrance Sunday. My father served in the RAF but later joined the REME. He taught me never to forget the sacrifice made by those who fell in the war.
I had an email yesterday asking if I would play for a carol service in December some 33 miles away from where I live. My name had been passed on by a contact.
It turns out that the benefice has a church with a single manual, 4-stop organ of great historical importance (with an equally historic pedal board) which is where the service will be held. Had the service been at another church which boasts a larger 3-manual instrument I would have agreed to go.
This may sound a bit 'rum' and uncharitable of me because the fee would have been the same. However, I only play the organ now because I enjoy doing so and to have the worry of driving 33 miles (each way) in winter to play an organ which will not cope with the sort of pre- and post-service music I like to perform was hardly going to be a pleasure for me.
Yes I could have coped but there has to be an incentive for me and the incentive is not money.
Add to this the fact that the appeal came because the regular organist had decided he was not available and I smelt a rat. Surely there are musicians nearer than I am.
For my birthday I asked for this swan neck light. These are designed for music desks but I play two organs where the pedal lights do not work or are missing.
Now it is odd that, really, one does not look at the pedals when one plays - or so I thought. Organsits are taught how to find notes by feeling between the gaps between the sharps. This is OK if the music is slow but, now and again, one has to rely on muscle memory.
For some reason arriving to play an organ where the pedals are in darkness is rather disconcerting. Having made several videos of myself playing my home digital organ I can confirm that I look or glance at the pedals quite often: I wasn't previously aware of this.
So I now have a light to take around with me and I needed a stand to fix it to. This morning I made one out of off-cuts of 4x1 and MDF flooring. I filled it with gravel to add weight and had a carrying handle whcih I fixed on for transportation. Here it is next to my home organ just for demonstration purposes.
Before any major work is done in a church it is necessary to obtain a faculty. This is as it should be.
It can, however, be the case that small jobs could be done without the need for a faculty and some very necessary jobs have all kinds of conditions placed on them. As is common with human beings, those who invent rules may not always have the interests of a parish and the people in mind. As a species humans seem to enjoy placing restrictions on what others can do - just for the sheer hell of it.
I know of a case where an organ needed rebuilding but it was thought necessary - by the men in suits - to take it back to the condition it was in when first installed and the 'modern' full pedal board, added by a builder in the 1970s would have had to be removed, making the instrument useless for 21st century worship. Needless to say the work was not done and the organ is falling apart.
Also, a church wanted a modern bell frame but were not allowed to remove the old wooden one, just in case somebody in the future wanted to see it.
Yes, there needs to be a veto on ripping things out of churches but there comes a point when the church is living in the past.
The vicar and I have had a chat and we each understand our respective positions far better. Past problems have been put behind us. Thus I am planning to continue as the once-a-month organist for the foreseeable future although I am booked, in various places, for every Sunday this year - except December 11th.
My left hand middle finger - injured when I was young - is starting to play up and arthritis is developing. I wonder how long I have left as a organist.
I have been a church organist for 50 years this year. I have seen a lot of changes. I do not think the church will need organists in 50 years time, at least not in England.
I arrived at church today hoping to find the organ had been repaired and in good order. The tuners had visited last Monday and had had the pedal board out to fix the sticking notes.
They had also tuned the oboe but, oddly, the swell box had been left shut and one pipe was quite out of tune which was disappointing. They had looked at most of the other faults except one pedal pipe which was out of tune so I am slightly annoyed about that.
Anyway, although it is quite hard work to manage it is one of the best cared-for instruments I play.
The C of E website has this page.
I quote: "... believe and trust. This is called faith. It is a different sort of knowledge. It is the knowledge of being known and loved, and of loving in return."
How does faith suddenly become knowledge?
I was taught, at school, that faith is when we believe something we are told because we trust those who have told us (as I recall the origin of bananas was used as an example. The teacher believed that they came from South and Central America, India, China and Africa even though he had never been to those places).
One possible reason fewer people go to church now is because there is much less trust, these days, in what people tell us. Just look at what politicians say by putting a spin on something. Think Boris!
The case is often used that the parents who tell their children about Jesus are the same parents who have told them about Santa Claus. How can you trust someone who lies to you?
Did I work too hard yesterday? I did a lot, anyway. This always seems to have an impact the following day so today I am a bit down. I didn't think I was at first; it has crept up on me.
I got up early (I just woke up) and checked email, had breakfast and got dressed. At 0905 I went out to play bowls which I was happy to do to fill in for another player. I have usually been 'lead' which means I send my bowls down the rink (this is not 10-pin bowling) first. Today I was given the task of being 'third' which is a level of responsibility I am not used to. I floundered as I don't know how to read a head and give the 'skip' advice.
My head started to fog up: I was under pressure and I knew it. Then I started to play less well than I would have liked, so the 'skip' started giving me advice and telling me what I already knew. I don't need that - I can tell when a shot is bad and I know why!!
I didn't enjoy the game and I am glad I am at home.
Now a lot of this is due to my body's response to various factors: fatigue, peer group pressure, self criticsm, lack of self-esteem and all the rest of the baggage we as humans carry. I shall probbaly feel fine tomorrow.
What has this got to do with church?
Well - and I shall not explain this very well - religion, faith and spirituality are put forward as the answer to mankind's problems. Trust in God and all that. What the church is not good at is realising that people respond in different ways on different days. We are all described as sinners and in need of redemption. Some of us are just trying to get through daily life as best we can. We don't need to be told we are imperfect into the bargain.
Where, I suppose, some people do find comfort in religion is in believing that there is a God who loves them despite their faults. So no matter how bad or useless a person believes their family, work colleagues and leisure & social contacts think a person is, then they are supposed to be comforted by the fact that there is an invisible friend in the sky who is on their side.
Me, I just want to lick my emotional wounds and feel better. I want to hide and hope my mind will sort itself out.
The Bishop of Oxford has said that the church should marry gay couples. The issue does not worry me. I have known and worked with a variety of people with - let's say - differing sexual orientations. Most of these have been decent human beings who just want to get on with their lives. (I do not care for extremely rampant 'campness' such as we see on TV but I'm not getting into that here)
The problem the church has is Saint Paul and his teachings.
I've never liked St. Paul ever since I had his letter to the Romans as a set book for Divinity 'A' level (that's R.E. to you). What is more, I think the church has - over the years - based much of its teaching on St. Paul rather than that of Jesus. I am not particularly aware of what St Peter stood for. Surely he was the rock upon which the church was built.
There were similar problems 40 years ago (and still are in some places) over the church marrying divorced people.
The poor of C of E: it cannot make up its mind.
On Sunday I shall play another hymn which is new to me, "Only by Grace". I'm not sure it really suits the organ but I will manage. Strangely I quite like it.
I looked for it on YouTube and found a few versions. I was annoyed that the video below does not include the syncopation quite correctly on 'enter' at the end of line 1 and in similar places. There is also a melodic line which, in my printed copy, goes B B B B G B B C at 'Into your presence you call us'. I did not find any videos where I could hear the G. A couple went to an A as a lower auxiliary note to the harmony; others fudged it and there was no distinct pitch.
Come on people: if you are going to have modern hymns, sing them correctly.
