Trials and Tribulations

When a church pays an organist a fee this is what they are getting. Trials and Tribulations occur when a church does not realise how long the list is.

• Many years of practice (ongoing)
  
• Years of experience
• Aural skills
• Alertness
• Sensitivity
  
• Investment in sheet music (or PDFs on an iPad, these days)
• Travel (vehicle maintnance)
  
• Time (A 9:30 service requires me ot leave home at 8:45 and get home at about 11:30
• Skill to deal with problems. So if an organ develops a fault - as happened to me last weekend, I made sure I could play the Wednesday funeral hymns in keys which avoided the intermittently sticking note. Unfortunately, another note was also apt to stick and so I had to revert to the keys in the hymn book or avoid both notes.
  
• The ability to lead a congregation by rhythmical playing
• Improvisation skills
• Sight-reading skills
• Advice (church wardens seem unaware that an organ need tuning or faults attending to. Tuning contracts are becoming a thing of the past so mosr visits are arranged by phone or email adn not by the tuner sending in and "I'm coming on..." card

I daresay I could think of more.

Things do not always work out

 I feel a chapter of my musical career is about to end.

Unpaid

Once again I have had to chase up payment for playing at a particular church service a month ago. This was an emergency request to play on the very day of the service. I did my part and turned up having practised the required music. I find it rude that the same sense of urgency has not been applied to my reimbursement.

Later Edit

I have just returned from a funeral at another church. When I arrived there was an envelope on the organ which I assumed contained the fee. It turns out it was something else so I have had to chase up the fee.

Also, the choir vestry is just behind the organ and the few singers who arrived spent 10 minutes chatting and laughing so I had to go to tell them it was not appropriate.

No information

I am playing for a funeral tomorrow. As yet I do no tknow the hymns. In years gone by this would not have bothered me. These days I look at hymns in advance just in case they are in different keys to the ones with which I am familiar. There is also one book in common use in which the harmony and arrangements are pretty poor. Add to that the fact that some people now select hymns which I may not know and it can be risky to turn up without preparation.

Like being in school

Yesterday’s service was, for me, an object lesson in why people do not go to church.

Who wants to be stuck in a cold building for an hour whilst they are spoken to as if they are children in a classroom? I go to some churches where the aim of the hour is actually to worship, and that is what we do. However, there is one place where I play where services go like this: (I’m sure I have said this before)

• Organ music before the service to set an atmosphere
• Atmosphere ruined by chatty, giggly introductory notices from ‘young’ vicar
• First hymn
• Then another giggly section is inserted which isn’t in the service book where people ‘stick their hands up’ to say what has gone well for them in the week just gone and for which they are thankful.
• Readings as normal and a Gradual hymn before the Gospel
• Sermon – again a lecture/lesson explaining the Bible and not really giving practical advice about faith in modern life. This can last up to 20 minutes and takes no account of the normal adult (or child) attention span.
• Creed
• Intercessions – we are told what to pray for but I suppose we need guidance on this
• After this the service does focus on the Eucharist
• Afterwards there is a hymn
• Just as we are about to leave – having ended the service, there are more notices before the dismissal.

When I was a teacher we were judged on whether or not our lessons had flow and momentum. Some services I attend are far too 'stop - start'.

Long service

I have had a dreadful morning: you couldn't make it up. I have material for a few posts, one may be quite long unless I cool down first.

The sermon today was given by a (senior) member of the congregation; a churchwarden I believe. It was about bread given that today was Harvest Festival.

She wanted to sum up, using children to hold up the ingredients of bread - flour, salt, water, fat, sugar, yeast. I guess it was all about different things make bread just as different people make up the world; you know, the 'talents' sermon I keep hearing.

Just as she was listing yeast and sugar a member of the congregation interrupted - at length - and sternly made the point that sugar is not strictly needed to make bread: it simply speeds up the yeast fermentation and is thus an idea from mass manufacture. She was 'keen' that the children did not leave the service with the wrong idea. She had missed the point, I feel.

The acted-out sermon (using children again) was long enough already without this delay and, in total, lasted 21 minutes.

It reminded me of the old story:

Hit Me Again

“I heard about a man who was supposed to preach for 20 minutes and he spoke for 30 and 40 and 50. An hour and 20 minutes later he was still speaking. The man who introduced him couldn’t stand it any longer and he picked up a gavel and threw it at the speaker. It missed the speaker and hit a man in the front row, and as the man in the front row was going into subconsciousness, he said, ‘Hit me again, I can still hear him.’”

Mob rule

A slightly different post today. The Katie Hopkins video below (for as long as it stays) is full of excellent points about the law.

I also find the comments about the mob wanting someone to fail to be so true. On a religious note, such people are the type who called for Jesus to be crucified. That's my view anyway.

People outside the UK may not know about the person she mentions and I don't know who the 'person from Luton is' but I think one can glean such a lot from this, even so.