I recently creaed an arrangement of How great thou art
the arrangement has the chords moving in a very steady fashion
very even and steady and constantly moving creating a harmonic rhythm
The first week we did it it was a disaster the choir and congregation was out of sync
and they forced me to speed up in a section in order to catch up with them
the next week we practiced the song for about 30 minutes the director and i had worked it out a over the phone also she confidently had it
i took the precaution of having the choir sing the first verse
so that the congregation would get the flow
but the director who had her back to the organ i was playing
sped up in the same section
again i even once shouted to her to slow down
but she never heard me
I just couldnt take it
I was totally frustrated
I told her yesterday we wont be doing the song for a while but when we do do it again
I will be directing the song from the organ
I told her that it wasnt fair to expect her to catch my arrangemet if she had never heard the song before
I dont know it if it is fair or not i just didnt want her to feel too badly
but the truth is I am sure that if anyone knows how the song should go it is me who is reading the notes
and understanding the imprortance of tempo and timing
SOmetimes a church especially baptist churches
sing without tempo
they drag a song
this happens when there is no drummer or they sing a lot of songs accapella
I know there was no drummer in my church up until recently
maybe 2 years ago
but I am of the opinion that you cannot take anything for granted as a M.O.M
you have to be almost a little neurotic in ensuring people are doing the right thing
I am sure if i had reminded her just prior to plaiying she may have remembered
but i didnt i shirked my responsibility because i trusted that she had it
but that was my fault because even in rehearsal the last time we did it i saw that it was pretty difficult for her to keep the flow
so my lesson fo the day is
to cross all the I's and every T
dont take anything for granted
I think there are a few levels to playing
first you are concerned about your playing and making sure you are doing right
then you begin to focus on style and creativity
then you get to the point where you are focusing on your choir
then you get to the point when you focus on your congregation
then I am sure there are other levels of development also
but this where I am at at this time
