2024, Gatherings, Music, Uncategorized

Enough, Already!

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Yesterday was Reformation Sunday, a big day in the Lutheran Church. At our Lutheran congregation it was also the day for the 9th graders to get confirmed. Husband and I are both choir members, and we sang at both services.

I am a lifelong Lutheran, but I have never liked the Lutheran penchant for singing every single verse of every hymn. Even though I am a church musician, singing verse after verse is annoying and exhausting. Yesterday was particularly annoying, since many of the hymns had five verses. We barreled through A Mighty Fortress and Built On A Rock. I was thankful, that the slow, emotionally expressive organist had the day off. When she plays, she takes us slower and slower through each verse and song. She has no understanding of the difficulty of breath support for singers during slow hymns. I was also thankful that for the second service when confirmation was held, they cut all the hymn verses to three to save time. What a relief! Husband and I came home and took three hour naps.

What do you find annoying about the organizations you belong to? What songs do you like to sing?

21 thoughts on “Enough, Already!”

  1. We did Reformation Sunday at Hope Church in Holland, MI, too. Instead of someone dressed up as Martin Luther, the associate pastor dressed as John Calvin for the word with the children. The preacher, a professor of religion at the local college, pointed out some of the shortcomings of Calvinist orthodoxy.

    Our pipe organ has been gone since April, having a rebuild in Illinois. It’s mostly back and will be “inaugurated” on All Saints. BUT, the organist surprised us by playing a brief postlude on it, using as much of it as was ready. To fit the occasion, she played one verse of A Mighty Fortress. Applause rang out (which doesn’t happen at Hope Church).

    As for what I like to sing, I write my own. You can find another new one, lectionary-based, every day at http://www.aboksu.wordpress.com

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  2. Many years ago, sitting in a meeting at church, I realized that I’m not good at alot of things that go hand in hand with organizations. While I love organizing, it’s the “do-ing” that appeals to me most. So over the course of a few years, I un-entangled myself. Now the only “groups” that I belong to are my two book clubs and our baboon troupe. I still do all the stuff I like but not as part of the organization. Fits me perfectly.

    When I am spending time in the kitchen I often ask Alexa to play music. A little ashamed that I love to sing along to “Sugar, Sugar” by the Archies. Dancing happens as well.

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  5. You’re right about the difficulty singing when the tempo is too slow. …not… enough… wind…

    I play with a small folk group at FiftyNorth called Eclectic Strings. It used to be the FiftyNorth Ukulele Orchestra, but people began bringing guitars, and then they asked me to bring my mandolin instead of my uke, so we became Eclectic Strings. The leader of the group annoys me. He isn’t the world’s greatest musician, and he doesn’t embrace new songs that I would like to introduce to the group. He doesn’t argue with songs that others bring, just mine. That’s annoying, but I won’t dwell on it.

    I like to sing. I don’t think I can narrow it down to just a few songs. I’ve been working on my voice therapy, and it seems to be going well.

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      1. It started with some strict diet changes. No coffee or caffeine at all; no carbonated beverages; no onions, garlic, peppers, or tomatoes. No chocolate. No citrus of any kind. No wine (or alcohol). There were others, but those were the hardest. Coffee was, obviously, the hardest thing for me to quit. These are acidic foods that aggravate GERD. Also, there are vocal exercises that I’m supposed to be doing frequently. 10-20 minutes in the morning and evening, and shorter 10 minute sessions through out the day. I’m supposed to start blowing bubbles through a straw, bring my focus to my lips and try to make them buzz while humming and/or singing through the straw into the water. It is similar to vocal exercises that I’ve done in the past, but more involved. I’m having a hard time getting into the habit of doing it. I think it really helped to stop drinking coffee. Gastric reflux can scar your vocal cords. I was getting really hoarse and couldn’t talk at all without getting hoarse. My voice was breaking badly when I tried to sing and the emotional impact of losing my voice was getting me down. It’s starting to improve, and now I understand what causes it, and how to manage it.

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        2. I would not be at all happy with those dietary restrictions. But I can’t sing anyway, so I’ll keep consuming coffee, wine, lemonade, onions, garlic, tomatoes, and what ever else I want. And I’ll keep singing badly.

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  6. I have enjoyed being on the regulatory board on which I serve. I will be glad, though, when my current term is done. It is becoming too much to do. Today we have our monthly meeting, and tomorrow I fly to Dallas for a convention of psychology regulatory boards. Of course, I have come down with a bad cold, so I am at home today. I just hate flying with a cold. My ears get all plugged.

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  7. Oh, I hear you, Renee, about the dirge-like hymns when in the hands of the wrong piano/organ-ist!

    The hardest part of organizations lately – committees anyway – is the person who signs up to be on it, and then can never manage to get there. The other annoying thing is the people who don’t agree with me.

    When our Song Circle was meeting, the songs I most loved to sing were some of the old Morning Show ones – Sally Rogers’ Lovely Agnes, Bob Franke’s Thanksgiving Evesome Stan Rogers’. Peter Paul and Mary and Beatles songs… Old standards like Shine on Harvest Moon
    It occurs to me that these will all be forgotten one day, and it makes me sad.

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  8. Rise and Shine, Baboons,

    There was a “creative” organist at the church where Lou grew up, Stavanger Lutheran. Very Norwegian. She had her own system of counting rhythm, producing music that was really like nothing I have heard elsewhere. Familiar hymns were often unrecognizable. She skipped rests and lengthened whole notes, all at a very, very slow draggy pace which became slower towards the end of the hymn.
    Those hymns lingered on and on and on. And on.

    That church has now become comatose as rural flight has continued. There is no population to support it anymore. Twenty years ago they could no longer even hire a pastor. Yet that congregation obstinately refused to merge with any other church and take steps to maintain the building which is quite historic as a stave church. Surely by now there are mice in the organ.

    OT–today there is a tree removal crew here removing the tree which was damaged in the storm at the end of August. The house was not damaged when the top blew out of the tree, so we waited on the waiting list until our turn came up. That tree is between our house and the neighbor’s house on a hill with a fence leaning up against it. Challenging. But these guys are so careful and skilled. The dogs in the neighborhood, including Phoebe are losing their minds.

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  10. i dont belong to any organized political party im a democrat.
    i quit catholicism due to my distaste for their stances on beliefs i didnt agree with. god agreed
    i sing alot of musicals standards from the golden years and a lot dylan grateful dead beatles and stones with tom waits james taylor cosby stills and nash and a couple by don mclean kris kristopherson hank williams and on wednesday nights at guitar jam we have a70’s a lead guitarist who favors blues and rock. a mando player who likes trampled by turtles and a guy who finds the best fast paced fun rhyming country dittys for all to ebjoy
    i throw in mel torme and louis armstrong and life is just too short every week. did i mention the everly brothers the doors roy orbison and perry como, sinatra bing crosby and its amazing how much i enjoy sing songs i still remember all the words to like sunshine superman dont let me be misunderstood unchained melody and creedence clearwater and jethro tull
    speaking of groucho earlier
    i share his thought on organazations
    i wouldnt want to be a member of any organazation whoxwould have someone like me as a member

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  11. I was once at a performance with Dan Chouinard and Kevin Kling in St. Paul. Dan Chouinard started the evening at the piano, playing King of the Road. Everyone in the audience immediately starting singing, and everyone knew the words. Since then, anytime I am someplace where a musician asks if there are any requests, I always ask for King of the Road. It is usually something the musician knows, and it’s a good singalong. I often think about a guy who was playing accordian in a German restaurant where I was having dinner with friends. My suggestion made him break into a big grin, and he launched right in and we sang along.

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