LASST UNS ERFREUEN in key of C
  • Claire H
    Posts: 370
    Does anyone have the accompaniment for this hymn tune in the key of C? I know most hymnals have it in D, and some in Eb. However, I'm trying to broaden the scope of a congregation who seems to have gotten comfortably into the narrow range of most P&W choruses, and thinks any hymn (even easy ones) with repeated treble Ds is "too high". I seem to recall seeing a score somewhere years ago in C, but am not sure where...
  • Caleferink
    Posts: 434
    Off the top of my head, in Worship IV (the hymnal my parish uses currently) "Ye Watchers and Ye Holy Ones" is printed in C Major. I play it in D anyway because I can't stand it in C, but it's one instance I know of. Others here probably have a .pdf of it somewhere.
  • JonathanKKJonathanKK
    Posts: 542
    You also might try looking at a score in D, but reading it it D-flat; this is what I've done most recently, and it seemed to give good results.
    Thanked by 1Liam
  • matthewjmatthewj
    Posts: 2,700
    Yes I think D flat would be a much better solution.
  • Liam
    Posts: 5,093
    Yes, just pencil your adjustments of accidentals if you might be inclined to forget....
  • Protasius
    Posts: 468
    You can find two accompaniment scores (and several intonations) in C at https://orgelbuch.wordpress.com/ under number 533 because it appears in that key in the current edition of the German Catholic Hymnal “Gotteslob” (the H before one of them is for “historic” because the accompaniment would be suitable for historic organs with a short bass octave).
    Thanked by 1irishtenor
  • CharlesW
    Posts: 11,981
    If you have access to the old Ritual Song hymnal, there is a "C" version.
  • Steve CollinsSteve Collins
    Posts: 1,022
    Here is the accompaniment I use. I believe it is the original rather than the popular RVW version. Here also is a descant version (I don't remember who composed the descant, but I adjusted it a bit) with the two melodies on the treble staff and my composition on the bass clef.
    VigilesSancti-1h-3v-C.pdf
    21K
    VigilesSancti-SMC-har-C.pdf
    19K
    Thanked by 1Claire H
  • Adam WoodAdam Wood
    Posts: 6,482
    Unless you print it in a program for them, they will still say its too high because they can see all those repeated Ds.

    If you print it for them in C, you can play it any key you want.
    Thanked by 8MarkS eft94530 M. Jackson Osborn AndrewSincerely Andrew_Malton Casavant Organist CCooze Caleferink
  • Chris Garton-Zavesky
    Posts: 6,902
    Adam,

    Are you suggesting that the visual stimulus will override the actual experience? If you are, I find that there are reasonable grounds to accept this (otherwise) ludicrous hypothesis. Many (many) moons ago I programmed a piece of music from Gather -- the thin blue one -- but there weren't many copies of it available in the parish, so I found the same piece in Worship III. I was working with a "folk group" at the time. Anyway, the knees jerked among the choir members until one bright spark recognized that I had chosen the more plentiful book, and thus tried to do the choir a favor. Serious grousing continued for quite some time after this, and I was eventually dismissed from my post when the new pastor arrived. ( This was the pastor who, less than a year earlier, had decided I wasn't ready to enter the Church because I wasn't ready for the next phase in the Church's development).
    Thanked by 1Claire H
  • Adam WoodAdam Wood
    Posts: 6,482
    Are you suggesting that the visual stimulus will override the actual experience?


    I'm suggesting that, for most people, the visual stimulus IS the actual experience.
  • SalieriSalieri
    Posts: 3,177
    I often do something similar to what Adam is suggesting with my choir. If we are going to do an anthem/motet that has some notes that certain people will gripe about being "too high", I preemptively tell the choir that I am transposing it down, then I play it in the key that it's written in, and the Sopranos song beautiful A-s because they think they're singing F-s.
    Thanked by 4Adam Wood Claire H Andrew_Malton CCooze
  • dad29
    Posts: 2,232
    Yah, well, that works for everyone who does not have perfect pitch. I HATE sight-transposing a part, even if it's the melody.
    Thanked by 1Casavant Organist
  • Claire H
    Posts: 370
    Haha...even though I don't have perfect pitch, I can tell when a piece is sung in a different key than written. If it's more than a half-step difference, I have to transpose in my mind. I definitely have observed the psychological power of the staff, though. Most singers (myself included) go way higher in warm-ups when you are not looking at a score or keyboard, and therefore not building anxiety by seeing "how high" you are. ;-)
  • CharlesW
    Posts: 11,981
    Oh Lord, we thank thee for Peterson and their wondrous combination actions and transposers. Never have organists had a more gracious and loving Father. We're not worthy. Amen.

    Thanked by 3Steve Collins Casavant Organist eft94530
  • Steve CollinsSteve Collins
    Posts: 1,022
    I've been calling it a "digital capo".
    Thanked by 4CharlesW MarkS Casavant Organist eft94530
  • CharlesW
    Posts: 11,981
    All I know is that it is a god-send for dealing with the diva soprano who finds something wrong with every key. LOL.
  • Liam
    Posts: 5,093
    Like this? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-T8BK9GOhsQ
    Thanked by 2CharlesW Casavant Organist
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