The wandering organist

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...

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...

A picture of the west end from 2010 Well, being titular organist means you have to deal with the choir library, whether small, large, or middling. St Botolph's library is large for a parish church, a legacy of days of yore when the choir was all-male with the number of boys in double figures. Now it's just double figures and all adult, but at least as competent. Double-choir stuff is out of the window (only one bass and alto), but they can do pretty much anything else. The library. Well, I was in for a nasty shock when I looked inside the folders. I had decided I needed to know what we actually had. The official index was about 10 years out-of-date, and to find stuff just ignore the index's idea, which was based on the position in a pile in a double-width cubby-hole: eg 1 A 13, being first cubby-hole, left hand pile, 13th down from the top. Hmm. Someone had changed this into alphabetical order, dividing anthems from settings, but not updated the index. So, out with th...

Since January this year, I have been titular organist at St Botolph's church, Heene, in Worthing, so my wanderings have been reduced somewhat. My monthly wander to Holy Spirit , Southsea continues, and on the Sunday after Easter (known as "Low" Sunday, probably because of the number in the congregation is low) wandered with Cantores Vagantes to Salisbury Cathedral, one of England's gems. A "Father" Willis, built in 1876 and rebuilt with minimal change in 1934. Taking choir practice every week is a tie, but can be very rewarding. Today, I managed to overcome the missing pedal note (booked for repair in a week) and played a piece before the service on the extra organ, an electronic by Eminent. Widor's 5th Symphony, the 4th movement, a quiet one for strings and a solo 4' flute which can't be played on the pipe organ (no 4' flute). On this site , scroll down the page til you see 4 Adagio. It's the most gorgeous miniature and should be be...