I had an anxiety dream just the other afternoon (I work third shift currently):

I was sitting in at an Orthodox Divine Liturgy, and there's a girl singing in the choir that I fancy. So I approach her and start talking to her. Suddenly another gentlemen comes up with a box of video game cartridges and asks me to deliver them somewhere. I ask Baboushka if she wants to come; she says sure. So we drive in my pick-up truck from high school through Level 1 of Mario Bros. (?) She gets a call from her mother on the phone whilst I'm dodging Goombas and such. I tell her I'm going to drop her off, but she's insistent, telling her mother that she's going to the depot with "Frederick Stolichnaya" -- I suddenly remember that I've given her a pseudonym, and an embarrassing one at that.

So we arrive at the depot, I turn and confront her that my name isn't really Fred at all; it's - but then I embrace her, and right before she kisses me, the last words I hear her say are "We have met the enemy, and he is ours." Then I wake up.

Those who know me personally will know why this type of dream scares the bejeesus out of me.

I had one where we were singing Propers from the Graduale Simplex for the first three weeks of Advent, then on the 4th Sunday, the priest comes up to me very sternly, sticks his ruddy finger in my face and hisses, "Absolutely NO LATIN this morning!" ...wait, that actually happened.

The Worship hymnals had been replaced by boxes of beef broth.

If they were Worship IV hymnals, that might have been good...

I actually just found this site because of this discussion! I have a constantly recurring dream, and have had it for years. Each dream is a bit different, but the common thread is that I am at an unfamiliar organ in an unfamiliar church and some problem, or maybe even interference, keeps stopping me from playing. I have a panic attack which usually wakes me up. I laughed a bit when I noticed other comments that the dream is all too close to reality, and/or that reality often is worse even than the dreams, as of course we all have had odd things happen beyond our control, and somehow, we get through it.

I am looking forward to reading through all of your dreams, as they make me feel less alone in this! Nothing really is more lonely than being the one person who has to make the music happen in proper order, etc. I have a few couples who sing with me when they are at that Mass, but I do not have a choir, and I usually also do the cantoring, and lead the singing, with a swing mic beside the organ.

Priests are not always very accommodating or seem concerned about it. I can only imagine how they must feel, knowing they must rely on this lay person to keep the Mass going and not to play or sing something hideous. LOL! Currently, we have a priest who enjoys the music, and even makes requests sometimes. It is always so much nicer when we have a good working relationship with our priests. Thank you for letting me join the discussion, as I think it will help me work out my dream situation. :)

wow... that is a thousand times better than Marty haugen

I am hesitant to share my dream... it is four pages long and has an illustration (map)

Enjoying the stories that really happened, which is of course why the dreams happen!

So here's a true story:
8th grade graduation mass, my twins were graduating, so we got a parents choir together to save space. We chose "Gather Us In" for Presentation of Gifts, and planned to do all 4 verses. The Priest came down in front, stood in front of the choir during the 2nd verse and made the "cut" sign to tell us to stop singing! There was no collection, and he didn't want to hear it. We stopped and he went back up to the altar!

Last night I dreamt that there was a particular motet or chant that was proper to the Sunday, and I was very eager to sing it in its liturgical context. So I made phone calls and sent emails all week, trying to find any parish in the area where this piece might be sung. It was fruitless.

Kathy,

Plied or played?

I'm not a keyboardist, but I recall a dream where I was the organist for Mass and the pedals were illusory - I'd reach my feet for them, but wouldn't hit anything solid, and then I'd start sliding down into the nothingness beneath them.

Did the hoarder mark up all 5 of his copies with tenor part annotations? Bonus points for that!

Charles, that was actually me...
Seriously, I have at least 5 copies of Wood's O Thou the Central Orb in a pile of music on the table...

I was just reminded of this funny thread.

Oversleeping.
I have a great dread of oversleeping or of my alarm not going off.

These are hilarious! Thanks for the much needed laughs. They are sympathetic laughs!!

I've never had a music-related nightmare. The only very funny real life one I can think of:

We didn't have a regular organist, but for a major feast we managed to pool our own money and hire a really top notch organist. However, we didn't have access to an actual organ (very long story), so we were using someone's portable electronic keyboard. The kind with the folding legs that make an X.

Midway through something or other, probably the Gloria, the organist was dramatically playing away at the poor keyboard, which was trembling with each enthusiastic blow. Inevitably the flimsy music stand - loaded with spiral bound xerox copies of sheet music - gave way under the constant shaking, and the music books cascaded onto the keys and the organists lap.

Worse yet, on the way down the music books managed to hit all the buttons that turn on things like jazz saxophone and drum beats. The Church filled with a cacaphony of strange sounds. Being unfamiliar with the keyboard, the organist was in a tizzy trying to recapture the escaping sheet music and find the buttons to turn things off.

The very unexpected part: the schola continued singing without missing a note.

I can't stop laughing out loud.

My recurring nightmare is that some how the route to the choir loft has been vastly expanded to become a maze of stairs and random rooms. One minute before Mass starts and I just can't get to the loft! Another dream is that I have completely forgotten how to read music or play the organ...which of course I don't realize until the opening hymn has been announced.