I have done something foolish - promised to lead a hymn
chukovsky
Shipmate
Our organist is going to be away a few times in the near future and we have no other instrumentalists, congregation of about 20-30, mixed ages, we use Anglican Hymns Old and New.
I am a low alto and a very experienced choral singer and have taught songs to groups of children etc.
What can I lead them in that we can, if necessary, sing unaccompanied and without harmony?
The curate has offered recorded accompaniment but it may well be at a pitch I will struggle to sing loudly solo. I think we MIGHT manage a round but definitely not harmony.
So far I have only thought of Be Still And Know, Peruvian Gloria, and Thuma Mina.
I am a low alto and a very experienced choral singer and have taught songs to groups of children etc.
What can I lead them in that we can, if necessary, sing unaccompanied and without harmony?
The curate has offered recorded accompaniment but it may well be at a pitch I will struggle to sing loudly solo. I think we MIGHT manage a round but definitely not harmony.
So far I have only thought of Be Still And Know, Peruvian Gloria, and Thuma Mina.
Comments
I think I might be looking at more traditional hymns. Things like O God our help in ages past and Old 100th can go really well unaccompanied if at a comfortable pitch. More modern stuff can be more of a challenge without an accompaniment to keep it together.
I'm not familiar enough with your tradition to suggest service music. Do you know any "echo" settings of the Holy, holies etc?
Yes, indeed. Midi files are great - you can open them in Musescore, tweak them to put in the pauses, tempo, pitch and so on as you like them then export as mp3 or wav and play them over your sound system.
Alternatively, if you prefer to sing unaccompanied, I suggest that well-known metrical hymns with a strong rhythm are a good bet, mixed with Taize and Iona material designed to be un- or minimally accompanied. Avoid hymns with extended pauses, unusual rhythms or a heavy reliance on cues from the accompaniment. Generally I find a congregation can cope well singing unaccompanied so long as there is a confident lead.
If it would help a I have a fair library of hymns now, either just tunes, with me singing, or full videos with the words included too. DM me if I can assist.
I'm not able to fiddle with any audio, as I don't have access to the equipment or time to fiddle (I work nearly full time and have two quite busy children). I had not thought of a simpler hymn though, I agree that O God Our Help would work unaccompanied!
We have a sung Gloria we use depending on the priest (our curate is our permanent clergy with rotating vicars).
@Lamb Chopped thanks, I'm rarely on these days due to major political differences between me and many vocal members of the board plus, you know, the job and the children. I do my arguing elsewhere!
But will the congregation?
(I think I'd prefer them to enjoy singing but I'll make sure they also understand this!)
Truly, I doubt anybody will think about the hymn for more than the time it takes to sing it, which is kinda deflating, but it can also set you free from worry. I mean, most people are obsessing over their own personal crap. This is what I tell myself every time I get anxious about doing something in public...
I think if I enjoy it more than singing with the tape, that's the point, really.
To add a bit to this. You actually are at an advantage since you are an alto and not a soprano. You are more likely to pitch the melody line in a range that more people can easily sing!
Very good point. If you find you're struggling to pitch appropriately then there's nothing wrong with working out the appropriate note on the piano and plonking it a few times to get you started in the right place.
Tenor here preparing his boots to sing down in...
Good plan.
One choirmaster I knew used to hit himself on the head with a tuning fork.
Not sure, I was too busy trying to get the note.
David used to rather loudly blow his nose; unless he had a cold it was a fairly reliable G.
As a longtime church musician, I have to say that your organist really should make preparations for/with you. It's so easy to record these days, and so many keyboard instruments transpose at the touch of a button. I'm a bit surprised that he/she hasn't done any planning for her/his absences or provided resources/means for you to lead your folks in song as comfortably as possible.
Seriously, I don't think you need to worry too much about this, I'm sure it will be fine.
Our Place actually has no means of easily playing recorded stuff.
Taking a recorder to get the pitch is an excellent idea. I have seen it done very successfully.
Or a robot organist?
No they are excluded too. The ban goes back to a 1958 doc from the Vatican ""Only instruments which are personally played by a performer are to be used in the sacred liturgy, not those which are played mechanically or automatically."
I think the reasoning has something to do with de-humanising worship. You wouldnt play a recording of people saying the Lords Prayer to add voices to a congregation.
However the ban is much breached. Our PP reckons that everything that happens before the formal greeting and after the formal "Go in peace" at the end of Mass is outside the liturgy so he allows it - but they have to provide the means to play the MP3 or whatever. I have sometimes been asked to play a favourite song at the end of a wedding when the registers are being signed, and one couple went out to me playing "Isn't she lovely."
Another time the bridal party wanted to come in to Pachelbels canon and played a CD because "It was something you wouldnt be able to play." However they had engaged a wedding planner who had watched too many Hollywood movies, so the bridesmaids entered one at a time with a long gap between them resulting in the track finishing before the bride even started to process. I was on piano and our excellent guitarist was next to me, so we just picked up the Pachelbel and continued with our own variations until the bride reached the altar.
"Couldnt play it?" My arse!
I’ve had brides ask for that sort of thing. My answer is always ‘Yes.’
‘Provided another page follows behind the bride with dustpan and brush.’
It was finally agreed that the family would see to the arrangements for the playing of this particular piece. (which they did !)
And they came in to that strange American slow march to the rhythm of the music. I managed to stifle my guffaws .... just!
I sang "Be still and know" a tone lower using a pitch app on my phone, which went well.
We have had a few more weeks with no organist and last week we had "a very talented singer" from our sister parish.
Unfortunately we are very much a hymn parish and they are straying towards being a chorus parish and this was a chorus "talented" singer.
And my older child, who is neurodivergent, said what I was thinking, very loudly, with his fingers in his ears and a grimace on his face "WHY IS SHE SINGING HER VOICE SOUNDS AWFUL I HATE THIS MUSIC".
I am torn between "thank goodness I think only the people in the next pew heard" and "that's exactly what I was thinking, how do I pass it on tactfully to the vicar".
Thing is, we go to this parish not the sister parish or the much closer large charismatic church in town precisely for this reason. We like traditional. We like organ music. My children have grown up with this and my eldest will even, occasionally, try to sing along with hymns, and he knows the pattern of the Eucharist (they have not tried to change this, or eliminate it from some morning services, luckily, unlike Large Charismatic Church in Town), he helps to ring the bell during the prayers.
I am, unfortunately, quite a flaky church congregant (partly related to said neurodivergent child) and not as talented instrumentally (or as a solo vocalist, ear-splitting notwithstanding) as the chorus-leader. So I definitely can't offer to take on all the organist absences. Or I would!
With electronic instruments, there's more or less a continuum between "personally played" and "recorded music", and I'm sure some people could have fun arguing about where to draw the line
Well I am playing at an RC funeral next week which will include Bette Midler singing a song about wind and wings. As far as I know she will not be appearing in person.
I take it they didn't ask what you guys normally have/actually know/are used to?