The organist’s blog
Morning service
This morning I played at a 'high' Church of England who were unexpectedly down one organist. I am a heathen Presbyterian at heart, so a lot of this was new to me, and slightly scary. But I had a decent script to follow and it seemed go pretty well. Gloria, Agnus Dei,...
Wedding – Kingston
Not the best start to the day - had to drive to Kingston because the wretched SouthWestern train drivers were on strike. Ah well ... A small organ in a large church but it works reasonably well. Queen of Sheba to go out to. Good fun.
Funeral – Brixton
A large church and a decent sized organ. Getting from the church up to the organ reminded me of the Crystal Maze. A couple of dark passages and a tiny windy stone spiral staircase opening out into a fairly large balcony.
Wedding – Eltham
Great organ today, but very confusing for me. The organ I play on regularly has the Swell stops on the left, and the Great on the right. Today they were the other way around and this caused way more confusion than it should have done. Bride went out to All you need is...
Wedding – Essex
Somewhere in the wilds of deepest Essex is a small church with a small but nicely formed organ. I played there today for a wedding. It was fun.
Funeral – Wimbledon
An early one today - 10:00. Nothing surprising about this service. The most notable thing was that this is the most cramped position I have ever played in. And the approach to the organ bench had a cunning trap waiting to break the ankle of an unwary organist. Mmmm ...
Funeral – Clapham
No picture of the organ this time. I forgot to take it.
Wedding – Water Newton
This one gets a mention because the church was over 700 years old and really lovely. Trouble was, the organ was probably about the same age and hadn't been maintained very well. 4 stops on the Great, 4 on the Swell and the Great was unplayable. I pulled out one stop...
Another wedding
A wedding in my "home" church this afternoon. A real joy as the bride is from the church family. The hymns were great and the congregation sang lustily. It's the sort of day that brings joy to an organist's heart.
Anniversary service
I had the pleasure of playing at the 120th anniversary service at Trinity URC on Sunday. It was great to see the church so full and to see lots of old faces who had come along to join in the celebrations. Some good rousing hymns, and closed with Karg Elert - Nun...