Ken called me this morning around 9:40 and asked me if I could play the organ at a funeral today at 2. I asked him what the songs were and he told me there was only one, The Lord's Prayer. I told him I'd like to see the music before I agreed to doing it because The Lord's Prayer is a HARD song to play on the piano, seems almost impossible on the organ. Ten minutes later Eric, Ken's coworker called and asked if I could meet the soloist at 10:30. That added more to it, I'd be accompanying someone...with almost no notice. I went to the practice and the sheet music below is what I was presented with. You can click on it to see it better.
She asked me if I could bring it down a little lower. I was hesitant. I asked her if she really only wanted the note she was playing and she said it would be fine if I just made up the left hand as I went. HELP! I looked at the paper and luckily since it was 2 sharps, transposing it down 2 steps just means all naturals, one note lower. (Did you know that?) I agreed to play the organ for the funeral and went home and got to work writing a left hand. I'm not great at improv. Here is a picture of what I turned the song into. You can click on it to make it larger but don't look too closely. I understand the time, anyone else might not.
The funeral was really nice. It was short. They played Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer. I cried a lot. I could never work funerals all the time like Ken does. I mourn right along with the family. The soloist did a nice job on the song and I thought the version of the song was awesome! I think I should copyright it. haha
Good for you. I'm sure you did very well.I cry at every funeral I play at too.
ReplyDeleteWow! I am impressed... :) I always cry at funerals too.
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