They’re Episcopalians, let’s cut them some slack...
Lovely funeral otherwise.

I looked at the program and am curious about the phrase "attempt a quarter peal" from the hand bell choir. Is it related to the quarter hour?

Having watched both the state funeral and the "private" funeral at St. Martin's in Houston, I was struck by how much more both religious and patriotic the private, non-state funeral was. They sang the national anthem, America the Beautiful, the Navy Hymn, the Battle Hymn of the Republic (the arrangement usually sung by military choruses), and other patriotic hymns. I notice that the introit was spoken in silence during the processional. (And at the National Cathedral it was sung, but beforehand.)

Aside from the problems MJO mentions about the rearrangement of the National Cathedral (which as bad as it is, is still nicer than the Basilica, IMO), another major problem with it is solely from a musical perspective. Placing the singers way back there against the high altar meant the sound was swallowed up. They needed three or four times as many singers, or better placement. Impossible to mike in a church like that (one of the anchors on the news channel I was watching actually called it a "large facility"--ugh).

The two pieces sung by the "Irish tenor" I will pass over in silence.

I was wondering if any of our members (MJO?) might have been involved at any level in either funeral? Singing, playing? (Even though we're Catholic.)

I 'believe' that a full peal would mean playing through every mathematical permutation of the number of bells, so a quarter peal would be one fourth that number. (I stand to be corrected.) England, of course, is the land of change ringing. When having ringing contests it's not unusual for the peals of one peal of bells to go on for days on end. (A peal of bells is a set of diatonically tuned bells, 12, 18, 24, etc. in number.) National Cathedral (actually, the Cathedral of Ss. Peter and Paul) is unusual in that it has both a peal of bells and a carillon.

The peal of bells, which is distinctively English, and a carillon differ in that the peal of bell's 'scales' are rung in variable mathematic sequences, the bells being rung in sequence by a team of ringers, one ringer to a bell.

The carillon is distinctively Dutch or European, and its diatonically tuned bells are played by a single carilloneur or carilloneuse on a large keyboard whose notes are played by the fist. The keys are connected to their respective bells by trackers. The carillon plays actual pieces, such as hymns or popular tunes.

English and continental bells are different in another way, in that the predominant overtone in English bells is a minor third, whereas the predominant overtone in continental bells is a major third.

Another aspect of bell culture is that a belfry is a steeple which houses the bells, a campanile is a separate tower which houses the bells. One shouldn't want to confuse the two.

I was sent by my university to the Schulmeric company many years ago to learn how to play their carillon simulacrum which had been donated by an old dowager to be placed in the library tower. It was a lovely week in Princeton, where we stayed at Westminster Choir College; but it was spoiled by the Schulmeric people's boasting that they had put half a dozen bell founders out of business. Never doubt that the simulacrum industry is a conscious threat to real organ builders and bell founders.

Apparently WRS rang the bells for 58 minutes. (Here nine bells are involved in the changes, and one stays on the end of each sequence to give musical stability)

When I heard that the prelude at the National Cathedral included Paul J. Christiansen's arrangement of My Song in the Night, I was very excited. Those Minnesota Lutherans can really compose.

Does anyone have the Order of Service for the private funeral in Houston at St. Martin's Episcopal Church? I think the postlude might have been the Widor/Ferris Toccatta, but it's been a long time since I heard it so not positive. (Edit: see next post.)

A remarkable factotum about the cathedral that some might not be aware of is that it is built just as the mediaeval cathedrals were, stone upon stone without any steel girding or any kind of structural framework. It stands purely by the interaction of each and every building block. Stone masons worked on site for the hundred years it took to build it. Some were drafted from local impoverished areas and taught stone masonry on site. It is the only church in America that was built strictly with mediaeval techniques.

Stone masonry is today an all-but-lost craft. The more elaborate architectural elements in today's neo-this and that structures are generally cast from crushed stone or synthetic materials. Columns, piers, architraves, and such of today are generally not load bearing but have within them steel frames. What may appear to be stone walls are mere stone veneer hiding a steel structure.

"Friends" by Michael W. Smith seems very much out of place in the music program.

For a brief, very absurd moment, I thought this meant that the theme song from the show Friends was played at this funeral.