I can't believe how long it has taken for bookings to start coming in again after the 2020 lock-up of every church in the Kingdom. However, at long last I got asked to play somewhere other than Brighton. OK, I have played here before, but it's still a change of scene. I played at Heene Church on Sunday last. Heene is a part of Worthing that predates Worthing. The word apparently means "high", it is the site of the old windmill (long gone) and is on the only high ground for some distance around. About 30' above sea-level, since you ask. The organ is still working, still uncleaned (last work was done in 1966, so it's a bit dusty in there), but the electronic "concert organ" has been taken out of service, and there seem to be no plans to plug it in again. (Just a couple of photoes to entertain. The organ facade was redesigned in 1966 to allow maximum sound to percolate from the chamber to the nave, as there is almost no egress from the west side. Al...
Danehill, Parish Church of All Saints'. Now, that's not something you might expect to find in a small parish church in the depths of East Sussex. Taken from the east the console is behind the red ochre doors. The manual compass is an octave short of normal (nipped off the top end) and the pedals only have two rather than two-and-a-half octaves. Despite this, it was pretty standard, the builder (in about 1892), Wordsworth of Leeds, aligned the pedalboard so that it is almost in the standard position. Because of the lack of depth in the loft it is impossible to get a view which shows both manuals and pedals. From the console you get a superb view of the reredos, a pretty stunning creation with more gold leaf. This was taken from just beside the priest's stall in the choirstalls, return stalls to save length. The service was BCP Mattins, straight from the book, with Ferial responses (accompanied), Venite and Jubilate to chants, and four traditional hymns. A ...
Well, I wandered again. Not far, St Botolph's, Heene, in Worthing, but it was a booking. An event nowadays. Sung eucharist, an anthem (Goss O Saviour of the World ) and some music before and after The choir was as good as ever, the sermon a bit "miserable sinner", intincted wafers, and the pipe organ ciphering on middle E on the Great, which rendered that manual unusable. So I played the hymns and voluntaries on the electronic. That had tenor E flat not working at all on the pedals, so I chose pieces which were in C major and E major (slightly modal E, leading note flattened every time it occurred in the pedal). The main thing is that, after such a long break from having to be responsible for leading the music in a service other than St Mary's Kemptown, the feelings I had of slight panic have returned after a good couple of decades absence. Probably all to the good, keeps me on my toes, and all that sort of thing. After lunch I decided I would like to go to choral eve...
Comments
Post a Comment