Tag: Methodism

SubscribeStar Saturday: Tales of a Hedge Pianist: Playing Piano at the Methodist Church

The Portly Politico2 Comments

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An old United Methodist Church in a small town about fifty minutes from my home enlisted me to serve as their fill-in pianist this summer at $150 per Sunday morning service.  As I’ve had major expenses related to my car, the wedding, and income taxes, I jumped at the opportunity to play piano for this church.

Their regular guy is a child prodigy who is on a tour of Europe, playing and learning piano from the masters.  This L’il Mozart (he’s seventeen, I think) has been in Salzburg, Austria, at the birthplace of Mozart.  It sounds like something lifted right out of the nineteenth century.  Kudos to him.

His success on the piano has translated into some extra cash for yours portly.  It’s also been an excellent opportunity to hone my skills.  For the most part, the music is mostly hymns, many of which I already know, or with which I possess a passing familiarity.  The choral anthem, played during offertory, is usually something a bit more challenging, but I’ve managed to get by fine.

The title of this post suggests that I’ve had some wild adventures or encountered out-of-the-ordinary things, but it’s all been quite tame.  No choir floozies throwing themselves at me; no old codgers angrily denouncing my Pentecostal-style piano playing; no invitations to Methodist secret societies engaging in weird masquerade balls.

The life of a musician—especially one who is forty and well past his choir floozy days (thank God for that—and for Dr. Fiancée!)—is rarely as glamorous as the movies and rockumentaries and mockumentaries make them out to be.  But it is, nonetheless, filled with worthwhile and, very often, amusing experiences.

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The Joy of Hymnals II: The Cokesbury Worship Hymnal

The Portly Politico8 Comments

This week I’ve been teaching and learning a great deal about George Frideric Handel, the great German composer who became, over his long life, a great British one.  In discussing Handel and other Baroque composers with my students, we also veered into the world of hymns.

Hymns were and are important in Protestant congregations as simple, memorable tunes with theologically rich texts.  Hymn melodies are often based on folk tunes or popular compositions.  In some cases, such as the lovely Christmas carol “Silent Night,” the text is written first, then set to music (indeed, most hymns, being based on Scripture, evolved this way).  Sometimes the tune is written, then an enterprising poet sets the text.  Such was the case with Isaac Watts, who set his text for “Joy to the World” to a Handel melody.  And, of course, there are hymns written and composed by the same person.

In talking about hymns, I brought to my students a slender little hymnal in my small collection of them, The Cokesbury Worship Hymnal.  From what I can gather, my copy was published in or after 1966, when the copyright from 1938 was renewed.  There is a stamp on the inside front cover stating that the hymn book once belonged to Carteret Street Methodist Church, which I thought was in Charleston, but appears to be in Beaufort, South Carolina.  The hymnal includes 296 hymns, with fifty responsive readings—a good collection, but slim by the standards of a pewback hymnal.

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