Here's some Mildred trivia for you: I have been playing the piano for over 18 years. I have also been playing the organ for 13 years and I have been attempting to sing since the day I was born. Unfortunately the attempt is not going well... so badly in fact, I may have to strike off my singing aspirations. Actually, scratch that; as of today I am retiring from singing.
This particular blog concerns the Church organ. Over the years I have played at numerous different weddings and funeral (the former of which is often far more jollier it must be said). Now, I'm not going to lie- over the years I have had some hiccups. But what can I say? That's live performance folks!
Once, I fell off the organ bench. Just once. I learnt my lesson fairly quickly.
Another time I played for a wedding at midday that went without a hitch. After the happy couple had departed as man and wife, I too departed- big mistake. Three quarters of an hour later it came as something of a surprise to say the least when I received a telephone call from the vicar to ask where I was. You see, it turned out that I was due to play for a second wedding. Everyone seemed to know about this wedding- the bride, the groom, their guests... just not me. So, I duly returned to an eerily quiet Church filled with tentative guests and a very anxious groom five minutes before kick off. I grabbed my music, hopped on the organ bench and hoped that things would go okay. I also said a slightly silent, panicked prayer. Luckily I was in the right place to be heard. Anyway, I got to the end of the ceremony without any problems. I breathed a massive sigh of relief. Turns out the bride was so eager to get married she'd got there fifteen minutes early (at this point I was missing in action). The vicar had to send her around the block in the car. TWICE. Glad I didn't know that until afterwards.
Then we have the time when I had the unfortunate bout of food poisoning and had to play for a funeral. Ahh, that was bad. The reserve organist happened to be a judge (you know- with the wig and everything) who was in court on that day, which meant that he couldn't be a knight in shining armour. I had to soldier on and hope and pray that my body wouldn't let me down. This was a big ask as I ideally needed to be in close proximity to a loo as nothing was staying down. I was so faint I was like a waxwork.
But the piece de resistance:
What do you do if you're given the signal to play your 'here comes the bride' number and there is no bride? Hmmm. I can tell you that you keep playing whilst hoping and praying that the bride is going to start hastening up the aisle. Any. Minute. Soon. When that doesn't happen you still have to keep going and pretend that this is what is supposed to be happening. Unfortunately, you cannot hide from a disaster such as this as the organ is not a quiet instrument. It's the woolly mammoth of the orchestra. You've just got to hope that the bride and groom have a sense of humour. Fortunately, a nod from the groom confirmed this.
As with any instrument, the organ is tricky to play- especially as you've got both hands and both feet moving simultaneously. It can go out of tune and things can happen that are completely out of your control. But in the words of the great Freddie Mercury: 'the show must go on.' Indeed it must.
Mx
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