Tonight's the night!
  • FidemInFidebusFidemInFidebus
    Posts: 611
    After much worry and over thinking, I decided to make my official debut as organist at the work church tonight at 11pm. The affair will be simple, and the first piece I will perform publicly is good old Silent Night for the candle lighting ceremony, and O Little Town of Bethlehem for postlude. Last night's rehearsal with the choir went perfectly and generated much excitement. Soli Deo Gloria...(I'm skeered..LOL!) Merry Christmas, everyone!
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
  • CharlesW
    Posts: 11,982
    They used to tell me to imagine the congregation in their underwear to cure stage fright. It doesn't work and I couldn't stop laughing. Instead, give thanks that you can share the gift of music with them and be a Christmas blessing to them.
  • Chris Garton-Zavesky
    Posts: 6,902
    FideminFidebus,

    Rather than imagining the congregation in any state of disroberture, consider that the entire heavenly court is there -- and let the angels and St. Cecilia pray and play for you.
    Thanked by 1jewel2all
  • FidemInFidebusFidemInFidebus
    Posts: 611
    Thanks guys!!!
  • CharlesW
    Posts: 11,982
    and let the angels and St. Cecilia pray and play for you.


    I hope THEY are not in their underwear.
  • SalieriSalieri
    Posts: 3,177
    I hope THEY are not in their underwear.

    Semper ubi sub ubi. LOL
    Thanked by 4CharlesW EMH MarkThompson Spriggo
  • CharlesW
    Posts: 11,982
    The last time I heard about angels in underwear, it was from a Mormon. LOL.
  • bonniebede
    Posts: 756
    6 posts. The op is looking for support and encouragement, and a mere six posts later we are discussing the underwear of angels. This forum is totally mad.

    image

    Hope it all went well for you fidem.
    Thanked by 3Spriggo FidemInFidebus noel jones, aago
  • CharlesW
    Posts: 11,982
    Hope it all went well for you fidem.


    I'm sure it did. It is only the good musicians who worry, the bad ones don't care.

    This forum is totally mad.


    Blame it on the Irish.
    Thanked by 2bonniebede EMH
  • Chris Garton-Zavesky
    Posts: 6,902
    Bonnie,

    (Please note that in my first post, I attempted to address seriously the OP's question, and that now I'm going to attempt to address yours seriously).

    While I completely agree that the very idea of with undergarments (given that they're non-corporeal beings) is a silly extension others post here, the posts of which it is an extension (i.e., the advice to view the congregation unvested and the advice to let the the angels help Fidem praise God with her organ music) are intended as serious posts directly addressing the question.

    Be of good cheer. Happy Feast of St. Stephen, Protomartyr.

    Chris Garton-Zavesky
    Thanked by 1bonniebede
  • FidemInFidebusFidemInFidebus
    Posts: 611
    ^^^^yall are too much LOL!!! The Angels in underwear and subsequent mention of Mormons made me think of Mitt Romney lmao!!!

    Everything went very well!! I'm pretty sure I felt someone push me onto the organ bench at the end of the service. The organ here is behind the pulpit and situated in the middle of the choir area (it's actually a horrible placement and when I've got 20+ singers and an enthusiastic Presby congregation singing with them I can't hear much of anything unless I crank it up. Discussions are ongoing about where to move the console because it's that bad. Previous organist had the same problem.)
    We began the service with four selections from the Christmas cantata our huge community choir performed a few weeks ago and a collection of carols. I sang with them, my already barely-mezzo soprano voice still recovering from bronchitis/laryngitis, but we only had three sopranos so I was glad to chip in. After that it was the usual hymns, another choir anthem, communion piece, more hymns, then a mad rush up to the organ. Exhaustion and being quarter to midnight by the time I got up there did wonders for my stage fright! A few seconds of a hot flash and sweaty palms and I was ready to go LOL! Everyone was very happy, especially the old folks who've been pining for organ music.
    Thanked by 2CharlesW bonniebede
  • CharlesW
    Posts: 11,982
    Great, I knew you would do well. As I mentioned, only a serious musician would worry. The awful ones never seem to break a sweat.

    Bonnie needs to chill out with some Guinness mixed with a little leprechaun dust - shaken, not stirred. LOL.

    If she gets the pot of gold, I hope she remembers her friends on the forum - no purple.

    Thanked by 1bonniebede
  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,416
    At the risk of being oppressively serious where the merest humour and light-heartedness are meant as a balm for nerves, I take issue in a kindly way with the council to imagine our faithful in various states of undress (or even worse!) as one makes music that would be fit for our heavenly Father. While preparation and well-earmed confidence are the order of the day for high holy day jitters, it seems to me not too kind to God's august assemblage whom he loves and cherishes, nor a fit composure for a rightly-intended offering of sacred music, to cultivate unflattering impressions of those whom one is supposed to aedify. As the music is a sacred offering, so should be the thoughts which are behind it. I always imagine (sometimes [not always, but sometimes] without evidence) that The People hear the poetry which propels every note, every phrase, and every nuance. This, I find, is the best antidote for timidity; namely, to relax and play one's soul as if every parishoner lapped every bit of it up. If you think well of them they will sense it and think well of you.

    Charles is, of course, right! Serious musicians are often unmindful of the very things which I have just addressed and, thinking their work a mere performance, worry their way through it, and often don't do well - and then wonder why. Charles' 'awful ones' don't really know, haven't a clue, what a good 'performance' is, and, therefore, play away in blissful ignorance.

    If one's heart is in the right place, one will do well.

  • CharlesW
    Posts: 11,982
    An organ prof once told me, back in the dark ages, to not afraid to perform for juries. He said to imagine the faculty in their underwear. He was just trying to get me to laugh a bit and relax - no harm there at all. I haven't tried that at church. My back is to the congregation so I have no idea what they look like.

    I always imagine (sometimes [not always, but sometimes] without evidence) that The People hear the poetry which propels every note, every phrase, and every nuance


    I always imagine, and have gotten the evidence, that they are looking at their phones.
    Thanked by 4M. Jackson Osborn Spriggo chonak FidemInFidebus
  • Richard MixRichard Mix
    Posts: 2,802
    Please,
    If one's heart is in the right place, one will do well one's best.
  • noel jones, aagonoel jones, aago
    Posts: 6,611
    If one's heart is in the right place, one will do well.

    Not exactly.

    I had an organist who taught piano in the prep division of CIM in Cleveland, Ohio. When drafted into playing the organ she was heard to say that there was no reason to take organ lessons. If God wanted her to play better, he'd make it happen.

    I've heard this said by uneducated musicians in fundamentalist churches, but never by a Catholic who teaches at a major conservatory.
  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,416
    Not exactly.

    Well! - her heart was very obviously not in the right place. (Nor was her brain.)
    Thanked by 1MBW
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