View from the pew
Feb. 8th, 2015 08:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kayreWhen I interviewed at Delmar, the only point I negotiated was Sundays off: they offered 3, I asked for 6, we settled on 5 Sundays off (two full weeks of vacation, the others for worshipping elsewhere). Today was the first I've taken. I lined up a sub, and invited the handbell choir to provide the offertory and anthem. Then the fun started-- handbells had members who couldn't play Sunday, or needed to miss rehearsals, and then the director had a family emergency. And then the organ developed a glitch, and I had to call in our organ guy.
Despite all the hassles, this morning I headed for First Presbyterian in downtown Albany. Big church, big choir, big pipe organ, Tiffany windows. It was snowy so attendance was a bit sparse, but the choir was in full voice. The organist played the Pachelbel Canon as prelude, using some of the digital stops that have been added to the organ along with the pipes; I'm afraid I wasn't very impressed with the blend. The service was quite high-church for Presbys, with a chanted Kyrie and Psalm as well as Doxology and Gloria Patri. The choral introit and anthem were solid, and the offertory-- a spiritual setting by Moses Hogan-- was really extraordinary. A couple of the hymns were of African American origin, and played rather uncomfortably on organ-- but I think the piano probably gets lost in the whole room, and is used mostly to accompany the choir.
The organist is retiring in a couple of weeks. Today for postlude she played Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor-- as I did just before I left CLC 6 months ago. I sat back to listen, and was delighted to note that most of the choir and about a third of the congregation did the same, and stayed for the whole 10 minutes or so. I admit to giving the stink-eye to a couple of people who chose to sit and chat full voice; it worked. It was really wonderful to hear that piece played on a big pipe organ (with no obvious digital enhancement this time).
Despite all the hassles, this morning I headed for First Presbyterian in downtown Albany. Big church, big choir, big pipe organ, Tiffany windows. It was snowy so attendance was a bit sparse, but the choir was in full voice. The organist played the Pachelbel Canon as prelude, using some of the digital stops that have been added to the organ along with the pipes; I'm afraid I wasn't very impressed with the blend. The service was quite high-church for Presbys, with a chanted Kyrie and Psalm as well as Doxology and Gloria Patri. The choral introit and anthem were solid, and the offertory-- a spiritual setting by Moses Hogan-- was really extraordinary. A couple of the hymns were of African American origin, and played rather uncomfortably on organ-- but I think the piano probably gets lost in the whole room, and is used mostly to accompany the choir.
The organist is retiring in a couple of weeks. Today for postlude she played Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor-- as I did just before I left CLC 6 months ago. I sat back to listen, and was delighted to note that most of the choir and about a third of the congregation did the same, and stayed for the whole 10 minutes or so. I admit to giving the stink-eye to a couple of people who chose to sit and chat full voice; it worked. It was really wonderful to hear that piece played on a big pipe organ (with no obvious digital enhancement this time).
