Playing in church for the first time tonight

[Redwolf]

I could definitely use prayers/good thoughts, as my harp and I make our debut as church musicians! It's only three songs (accompaniment for a fiddle, cello and voices for three St. Lucia hymns), but I'm already praying the church musicians' prayer ("O God, please don't let me feck it up!")

Redwolf

[mutepointe]

it's not about performing, it's about worshipping. God accepts our music from the heart, not the ear.

i'm a church musician. some days we make major blunders. some days we bring a nice sound to God's creation. God and our congregation understand.

[Redwolf]

it's not about performing, it's about worshipping. God accepts our music from the heart, not the ear.

Oh, absolutely. But the congregation and choir tend to prefer it if one at least hits the right notes.

Redwolf

[Denny]

one would hope

g'luck Red, should sound nice there

[jim stone]

God created us because he loves music.
Music is prayer. Forget the silly congregation.

[rebl_rn]

I know what you mean about wanting to get it right.

But I always tell people that it says, "Make a JOYFUL noise", not "Make a beautiful noise".

[cowtime]

it's not about performing, it's about worshipping. God accepts our music from the heart, not the ear.

i'm a church musician. some days we make major blunders. some days we bring a nice sound to God's creation. God and our congregation understand.

Ditto.

I too play in church every week and believe me it's very very rarely my ideal performance. But, I always pray that the music I bring will enhance the worship of the people. It I do that for just one person, then it's all good.

I'm sure your playing will be a blessing .

[cowtime]

it's not about performing, it's about worshipping. God accepts our music from the heart, not the ear.

i'm a church musician. some days we make major blunders. some days we bring a nice sound to God's creation. God and our congregation understand.

Ditto.

I too play in church every week and believe me it's very very rarely my ideal performance. But, I always pray that the music I bring will enhance the worship of the people. If I do that for just one person, then it's all good.

I'm sure your playing will be a blessing .

[Redwolf]

Well, I survived!

It felt a bit odd to be the accompaniest for a change, but for the most part, it went OK. The congregation seemed to like it.

Redwolf

[mutepointe]

will you get to do this every week?

[pastorkeith]

Well, I survived!

It felt a bit odd to be the accompaniest for a change, but for the most part, it went OK. The congregation seemed to like it.

Redwolf

Redwolf - that's Awesome!
Bet it sounded like the angels!
What did you play?

My Burke Low D (from Doc Jones) debuted in worship today on "O Come O Come Emmanuel" I prayed that my pinky could find that last hole
It mostly did. Not sure of God cared. Probably not.

I figure that my playing teaches the congregation about grace - 99% of the time about forgiving that note or two or four that I try to push too hard or screw up the half hole for the umpteenth time and 1% of the time , when it all comes together, it's cool and doesn't draw attention to itself. Can't wait for the Christmas Eve lakeside service when I'll play a bit with the acoustic guitar player.

Cheers!
pastorkeith

[Redwolf]

will you get to do this every week?

No. This was for a St. Lucia service. Our weekly mass (which I also take part in, but as a singer) is a traditional Anglican choral mass (here's a sample of our usual fare: http://www.calvarysantacruz.org/music/default.asp .) Rennaissance anthems are our specialty. But for this, our rector thought something a little different might be in order. So it was me playing backing chords, a fiddler playing melody and, at the last moment, our organist playing the bass line on a cello.

Pastor Keith...we played Sancta Lucia, Hosianna, and another one whose name has escaped me at the moment (but which had the same melody as "Prepare the way, O Zion"). Sancta Lucia sounded especially nice, I think. It was a pretty service...basically Evening Prayer, but with the added twist of Swedish hymns and a young girl dressed as St. Lucy.

Redwolf

[Will O'B]

("O God, please don't let me feck it up!")

Redwolf

Yes, I believe I know that prayer very well. It was taught to me by an old sailor.

I'm confident your music sounded quite lovely.

[mutepointe]

you folks worship good.

i listened to the songs on your link while i was dressing this morning. i encourage everyone to take a moment to listen to these clips. that'll focus your day.

[Redwolf]

you folks worship good.

i listened to the songs on your link while i was dressing this morning. i encourage everyone to take a moment to listen to these clips. that'll focus your day.

Nice, aren't they? I especially like that Anglican chant setting of the 23rd Psalm.

An interesting thing about the quality of our music is that we are a small (rarely more than 15 people, mostly closer to 13 people) choir made up primarily of volunteers from the parish (our music director's policy is that any church member may join the choir without audition). We do have four choral scholars (music students from UCSC), one for each section, who receive a small stipend for singing with us (and when I say small, I mean positively dinky). They serve as section leaders. We do the traditional Anglican cathedral repertoire (the kind of thing you might hear at St. Paul's in London), which would normally be done with a much bigger, largely professional choir. Our music director has high expectations of us, and I think that's what makes it possible for us to do what we do.

Redwolf