doing church from home

 

I’m trying to get a jump on preparing for weekly live broadcasts of Grace Church Sunday liturgy. We are settling in to presenting portions of the Eucharist that seem to work on screen. This means Prelude, Collect, 1 reading (Acts during Easter), Gospel, Homily, Prayers, Postlude. I think this is an acceptable attempt and my boss seems happy with it.

Last week I didn’t know exactly what Rev Jen would be asking from me until mid week. I had in mind some harpsichord pieces but only bore down on learning them after getting a confirmation. The prelude was easy enough to come up with since the French Classical organ composers have settings of the tune for the Hymn about Doubting Thomas. For the postlude I had thought about Rameau’s La Joyeuse.

It’s quite charming, but when I considered the pressure of performing it live for what then becomes a permanent video online, the pressure went up a bit. Saturday night I had a recurrence of an old performance anxiety dream.

Dreams (Updated) | NHNE Pulse

A play that I actually did in high school is being re-performed at the last minute.  Of course, I don’t remember the lines or the blocking. The variation in this dream is that I and my fellow student actors are actually our present age. And no one would loan me a script to review. The director, Mr. Lee, however, was his youthful self from my high school days.

I was amused by this dream and wondered how well I would be able to perform under the weird pressure of inviting present and future viewers into my living room to hear me play Rameau on my $30 synthesizer. I prepared well and played musically and accurately. That’s satisfying.

This experience reminded me of learning much harder organ and piano pieces over the years. Using the opportunity of preparing music for church to challenge myself.

It is very odd to deliver the performance sitting in my living room.

So I have been trying to think ahead for upcoming Sunday broadcasts. This week I have transcribed a Francois Couperin setting of the sequence hymn, Lauda Sion. Here’s a link to a draft of the a music note about this. I did a music note last week and Rev Jen seemed to think it was a good idea. I wonder what she’ll think of this one.

On Easter IV, I am planning to try to play a banjo and guitar piece for the prelude and postlude.

That’s about it for today. I’m trying to do this blog quickly so I will have some time to read and study.

This book came in the mail today:

Biblical References in Shakespeare's History Plays | Naseeb ...

I was tickled that a previous owner tucked a newspaper article in the back this pristine used copy. I know people do that. I like doing that myself and often pair up articles and reviews with books.

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