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an addendum to my Christmas playing. It was a very busy weekend with 4 Masses in 3 days. I was a bit shell shocked by Sunday, kind of tired. I scrambled to the piano from the organ. I didn't have time to put my shoes back on and noticed during the song that my socks were mismatched.

o well.

Apple, I envy your wardrobe options. I'm guessing you are somewhere up high where no on can see you. That sounds like a dream job to me. I joke a lot here about the ball gowns and the fancy clothes, but I am sick of the dress-up routine. I would like to be able to wear a bathrobe and my muffin feet slippers to work. Or a burqa with bling. Please! No more corsets or ruching or sequins that chafe under the arms. Give me that choir robe.

I see your castle offers "rehearsal dinners". Not a term I've ever heard. What are they?

A rehearsal dinner is the meal you have after the wedding rehearsal, generally the day before the weding. Usually the bride, groom, members of the wedding party and the parents participate.

one job I must dress for, and one I am up high (above the crowd and unseen). I could wear pajamas to the up high job.

I used to dress in rather formal skirts, and lovely shirts.. mostly black and white. Now that I play the organ a lot more, I must wear pants. I miss the flattering skirts. I sit in the middle of an arena basically. the pews circle around and I am next to the altar. I don't really like everyone watching me. I am prone to 'being expressive' and always have to think about keeping a lid on it.

I do play at another church occasionally... a Lutheran Church that loves Bach. I sometimes think of devoting my time to that place if they'd have me. It is designed a bit like this church with pics below, which recently burned, (discussed on the piano forum). This much smaller church focuses on music, and the music is mostly baroque. God sits back in the background and listens. I like that. the organ is exquisite.. a small, German pipe organ. The musicians are the stars and I MUST dress very nicely and formally when I play there. I have this dressy tuxedo thing that is feminine.

Most of the wedding bookings I get come from this Lutheran church. I am asked to play when they sing a program featuring Bach cantatas.. 2 X yearly. The regular organist does not like Bach quite as much as I do. I don't have a stellar reputation at my church for being the best wedding musician..

some great pics of this gorgeous church that burnt to the ground.

... and I am thinking I would love to be a wedding pianist.. not for the services, but for the party. I would secretly drink champagne and have a stash of horsdoevres.

edit.. i should probably start a 'churchmusician' thread so I don't hijack this thread so often.

There are some real horror stories and I've been in a few. the organ that was stuck on loud, the organ that was transposed and I didn't notice... the organ i transposed up when i should have gone down. (transposing organs are like digital pianos. I'd rather play a poor pipe organ than a good electric). i do play a good electric and it's wonderful.. I still wish my regular was a pipe.

I don't know, Apple, seems to me like church organs and wedding music have a lot in common. You play the ceremony, I play the cocktail reception. Too bad we don't live in the same town, we could offer a complete package, with Greg's band finishing up for us with dance music.

Every so often I get to play for the ceremony, and I love that, even though I don't get the champagne. But playing for the ceremony is like a concert. Nobody is talking or eating or crawling under the piano while you play.

I limit myself to one glass of champagne, but I enjoy every sip of it.

Clef, are you in the hospital? Thinking of you!!!

i was kidding about the champagne.. Alchohol and playing does not work for me at all.

My sister would like to form a organ/singer duo. However, playing with/for my sister is just awful. She is not musically sophisticated and always wants to run the show, etc. I do have a few singers i do enjoy relying on.

I am hopeful that at some time in the future I can supply a new gig story, based on the new toy I acquired this week.

Yes, an impulse buy of a thrift store accordion.

Or to be more precise, another impulse buy of a thrift store/yard sale accordion.

However this time is unique in that it actually works.

(Beware: most used accordions are past their lifespans. The reeds are held in place with wax, and the bellows are leather; both degrade with age. Rebuilding is more expensive than buying new, and buying new is REALLY expensive. Knowing that, I decided long ago never to buy another one. And this time I mean it. Hee, hee.)

An accordion is after all merely a portable self powered reed organ. Single manual, true, but then you have the pedals and chords in the left hand. Mine has two stops for the left hand and five for the right.

Very nice purchase, Tim! I once had a boyfriend who collected these beautiful old accordians, but the only thing he could play on them was what he called "Music of Contemplation." They all sounded awful, but they looked great. Now I know why.

Hey, check out this nice web page. Chris Connelly plays wedding piano in Scotland, and I like the way he has set up his site. Classy, elegant, pro-active.
Chris Connelly

See you all on the other side of 2010. I'm playing a New Year's Eve gig this evening, playing three other jobs this weekend, and then I have three weeks off! How great is that? Here's to 2011!

i was jilted, stood up, I went to work yesterday and read the sign taped on the bulletin board.

"No evening Mass today. Happy New Year to all. Mary, I'm sorry I didn't have your number.

Father Joe"

So you have to sit down to a formal dinner with the same people two days running? I hope no-one fights until the second one!

I wonder if this is an American (US) tradition. It's almost always done... the rehearsal dinner.

fortunately the organist is almost always invited (altho I rarely go).

The rehearsal dinner is generally much more relaxed and informal, at least in my experience.

This is why with churches I always get my pay up front. Well, among other reasons.

Perhaps one of those "traditions" nurtured and encouraged by restaurants and wedding venues? Like Father's Day etc. :-)

Maybe so, EW. I'm surprised Hallmark doesn;t have a Happy Rehearsal Dinner card.

Apple, love the note on the door cancellation. Hard to get too angry at Father Joe for that.

CLEF!!! We miss you and hope you're okay. Hang in there.

Father Joe is a trip.. a real Italian with a pacemaker and little talent for public speaking. He talks for 15 minutes and often repeats his mantra 'everyone do your best, love God and say your prayers'. He is simple and to the point.

The "I'm sorry I didn't have your number, Father Joe" was a post it note on top of the sign made of plastic letters that one pushes into a board with slots.

Yes Jeff Clef.. i hope you are doing and feeling well.

So nice to know you guys were thinking of me. I had an unfortunate sequel to the knee replacement (which was a great job by the surgeon and went well). My partner took me to the hospital New Year's Eve, where I was admitted. No memory, not able to make my own decisions or conduct my business, accelerated heart profile. Apparently, a freakish reaction to drugs they use in the knee procedure, of a class they used to call 'twilight drugs,' to make you 'forget' up to about an hour before the operation. For me, it was a week or more worth of memory, gone, any sense of my own identity, gone.

I'm out of the hospital now, doing much better, following up with the surgeon and my own doc, and re-starting the post-op in-home physical therapy (which I went to classes to prepare for and actually began the therapy, and which I now don't remember at all).

When you can't mentally function, the hospital takes care of it for you and makes all your decisions--- but it's the fast-track to 'non-person' status. About as frightening as the experience itself. No one even knew I was there, except my partner. But, I thought of you guys, too, and I think I could feel your good thoughts and caring, in some blind and groping way. But the beneficial power of concern and caring does help, even in such a dark time.

Haven't touched the piano yet. Did read a wonderful book about Prokofiev in the hospital. And I'm very glad to be 'myself' again. As Krishna remarked to Arjuna, "It's better to be a flop at your own dharma than to be a superstar at someone else's." I take it to mean that you can't do better than to be yourself, whether you think that's good or poor.

What an awful experience. It made me smile that you turned to music to help you through it, even if it was in the form of a biography. Glad the surgery went well and hoping for a speedy, full recovery.