playing at services

While our organist has been away, I’ve had to play at some services at church. As I’m not an organist, this has usually meant playing hymns on the piano (and conducting unaccompanied mass settings) but I did play our small electronic chamber organ a couple of times. This instrument is clearly intended for secular use, or at least not for our sort of church. I have wondered about the effect of accompanying the psalm with ‘Rhythmic Wah’ (sounds like what babies do when they’re hungry) or the ‘O Salutaris’ with ‘Bossa Nova 2’.
Meanwhile, my day at the Mid-Somerset Festival gets ever nearer and is now only 3 days away. My main worry is of not doing myself justice – having a memory lapse or my voice going abruptly. And I wish there were some way of performing without being directly in competition with others. It was clear that many of us in the Brandon Hill Singers also sang solo, or in small groups, more than could be accommodated in solo slots in our concerts. From time to time I’d come across others in the choir doing this, and I suggested to some the idea of having a choir party where those who wanted could perform a short turn to the others. I’d have enjoyed this, for the chance to hear what others did rather than the opportunity to perform myself. But the choir folded and we all dispersed.