If you recall, Andrew and Miriam played a duet in church this last April. They've recently been dusting it off to play in church this week and, to her credit, Miriam practiced it to death. She practiced it until she had every last kink worked out and could play it while humming Andrew's part. She practiced it until she wasn't remotely nervous about playing it because she knew the music forwards and backwards.
Things should have gone off without a hitch but organs are tricky instruments and when Miriam got up there she fumbled around a bit. First she tried moving the hymn book and it fell out of the binding and all on top of her, which was embarrassing, and then she couldn't figure out how to turn the organ on so one of the ward organists jogged up there to turn it on for her.
"Every organ is a little bit different," the mother in front of us explained to her daughter who'd been asking what was taking so long, "So it can take a while to get used to a new one. She hasn't played on this organ before."
But finally Miriam was all set and, as previously arranged with Andrew, who sat poised and ready at the piano, she began playing (she can't see over the organ to nod at him or anything and he has a good six measures before he comes in, so she was free to just start). And what a beginning it was!
In her defense, the piece starts out forte (and setting the volume on the organ was...different...than the organs she'd played previously). Miriam started out fortissimo, if not fortississimo!
When Andrew heard how loud the organ was he made a "yikes" face at me and then started pounding on the piano in order to be heard.
And the piece just kept growing in intensity. It was so loud the room was vibrating.
I was sitting in the pews heaving with laughter. I couldn't even help it (trust me, I was trying).
I mean, it was certainly beautiful. Miriam, who had herself been startled by her power, played flawlessly. But it was so terribly funny.
And afterward people were trying to compliment their efforts while politely skirting around the volume issue, so I'd just out it and say, "Thank you. It was much louder than it was meant to be!"
"No. Loud was good," one friend told me. "Sometimes things are so quiet and boring. It was a nice change of pace."
At any rate I'm sure no one managed to sleep through it and I'm sure it was a...memorable...way to introduce our family to the ward.
I'm still laughing just thinking about how shocked Miriam was and how "yikes" Andrew was and how they just continued toslog blast through the piece.
But they did well. And the good news is that now that Miriam has been outed as an organist the two organists in our ward are 100% behind the idea of her doing some prelude.
"We need to get her playing more!" one of them told me.
"Well, in our old ward my husband was the organist and Miriam would actually do the prelude," I said. "She loved it!"
"Let's get her up there!" he said.
And we will, as long as she can figure out how to set the volume...
Things should have gone off without a hitch but organs are tricky instruments and when Miriam got up there she fumbled around a bit. First she tried moving the hymn book and it fell out of the binding and all on top of her, which was embarrassing, and then she couldn't figure out how to turn the organ on so one of the ward organists jogged up there to turn it on for her.
"Every organ is a little bit different," the mother in front of us explained to her daughter who'd been asking what was taking so long, "So it can take a while to get used to a new one. She hasn't played on this organ before."
But finally Miriam was all set and, as previously arranged with Andrew, who sat poised and ready at the piano, she began playing (she can't see over the organ to nod at him or anything and he has a good six measures before he comes in, so she was free to just start). And what a beginning it was!
In her defense, the piece starts out forte (and setting the volume on the organ was...different...than the organs she'd played previously). Miriam started out fortissimo, if not fortississimo!
When Andrew heard how loud the organ was he made a "yikes" face at me and then started pounding on the piano in order to be heard.
And the piece just kept growing in intensity. It was so loud the room was vibrating.
I was sitting in the pews heaving with laughter. I couldn't even help it (trust me, I was trying).
I mean, it was certainly beautiful. Miriam, who had herself been startled by her power, played flawlessly. But it was so terribly funny.
And afterward people were trying to compliment their efforts while politely skirting around the volume issue, so I'd just out it and say, "Thank you. It was much louder than it was meant to be!"
"No. Loud was good," one friend told me. "Sometimes things are so quiet and boring. It was a nice change of pace."
At any rate I'm sure no one managed to sleep through it and I'm sure it was a...memorable...way to introduce our family to the ward.
I'm still laughing just thinking about how shocked Miriam was and how "yikes" Andrew was and how they just continued to
But they did well. And the good news is that now that Miriam has been outed as an organist the two organists in our ward are 100% behind the idea of her doing some prelude.
"We need to get her playing more!" one of them told me.
"Well, in our old ward my husband was the organist and Miriam would actually do the prelude," I said. "She loved it!"
"Let's get her up there!" he said.
And we will, as long as she can figure out how to set the volume...
I love that sweet Miriam made such an impact in introducing herself to the ward! :) :) I chuckled at the way you described this - Andrew pounding; the room vibrating; you heaving with laughter! Haha! I'm glad she played so well, and I hope she gets to play more!
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