The week before Easter generally is very busy for the church organist, and at many places, more busy than even Christmas.
The past Tuesday, after my work at Simmons, I went to accompany choir rehearsal at a church -- the world's longest choir rehearsal. It was over 4 hours! First the children's choir rehearsed, then the adult choir, then the cantors (ie, song leaders) wanted to rehearsed.
On Thursday I played organ for a service in the evening, on Saturday, a 2.5 hour Mass (i.e. Easter Vigil) , and then on Easter Sunday services. Easter Vigil starts after sun down, and for this particular church, the service began at 8pm. The first 1/3 of the service is done in candle light only. There was a light on the organ so that wasn't the problem. But a few years ago, it was a problem. I was playing the pieces on a piano with no lamp nearby. A choir member kindly shone her flashlight (the choir was reading the music with flashlight) on the music for me (still too dim for easy reading). But the bigger problem was that the keyboard was still dark, so I could hardly see my fingers and the keys. What a disaster.
For Easter Sunday (today), there was a trumpet player who is a professor at the Berkeley College of Music. It is amazing how loud the trumpet is. With him playing next to me, I could barely hear the organ, and I pulled almost all the loud stops (i.e. set the organ at a loud volume).
Anyway, it was very busy and musically intense weekend, but it was wonderful. I enjoyed every bit of it. I had been practicing for this since Spring Break, and it is kind of sad that it is now all over. I can't say enough how I enjoy playing piano and organ. It allows me to take my mind off what I normally do and intensely focus on something else for awhile.
The past Tuesday, after my work at Simmons, I went to accompany choir rehearsal at a church -- the world's longest choir rehearsal. It was over 4 hours! First the children's choir rehearsed, then the adult choir, then the cantors (ie, song leaders) wanted to rehearsed.
On Thursday I played organ for a service in the evening, on Saturday, a 2.5 hour Mass (i.e. Easter Vigil) , and then on Easter Sunday services. Easter Vigil starts after sun down, and for this particular church, the service began at 8pm. The first 1/3 of the service is done in candle light only. There was a light on the organ so that wasn't the problem. But a few years ago, it was a problem. I was playing the pieces on a piano with no lamp nearby. A choir member kindly shone her flashlight (the choir was reading the music with flashlight) on the music for me (still too dim for easy reading). But the bigger problem was that the keyboard was still dark, so I could hardly see my fingers and the keys. What a disaster.
For Easter Sunday (today), there was a trumpet player who is a professor at the Berkeley College of Music. It is amazing how loud the trumpet is. With him playing next to me, I could barely hear the organ, and I pulled almost all the loud stops (i.e. set the organ at a loud volume).
Anyway, it was very busy and musically intense weekend, but it was wonderful. I enjoyed every bit of it. I had been practicing for this since Spring Break, and it is kind of sad that it is now all over. I can't say enough how I enjoy playing piano and organ. It allows me to take my mind off what I normally do and intensely focus on something else for awhile.
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