Yesterday an unusually large number of people expressed appreciation for one or another piece I used in the worship service: most appreciated the offertory, Schubert's "Holy, holy, holy," #75 in the hymnal.
Preludes included the tune titled Hendon, which appears twice in the blue hymnal: once at #337, "Ask ye what great thing I know?" and as #389, "Take my life and let it be consecrated." Then I played the contemporary song, "Shout." I finished with an improv I did on Simple Gifts, since we're in a series on simplicity.
Hymn tune? Come again? Yeah, editors give tunes titles. For example, Hendon. It's just a name that usually means nothing as far as the music goes. It could be the little town where the tune was written. We usually know the hymn by the words. The titles of the words are usually the first line.
You might wonder if I just come in Sunday morning and open the hymnal. No. I have collections of hymn arrangements. Some are quite difficult. The difference in music this Sunday was that none of the pieces was classical.
How long do I work on the music I play? This varies. I'm always spending at least two hours a week on completely new things I hope to bring into the service. This past week I worked two hours on Wednesday, two on Thursday, and one hour on Saturday.
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