On a half-term break in East Anglia, I attended the Sunday Eucharist at a nearby church. There I encountered for the first time something which I knew happened in places where no organist could be found: singing hymns to a recording. (I gather this happens at funerals too, when hymns are wanted but there is little confidence that the congregation will sing them.)
The choir and organ we were singing along to were good quality – probably from a Cathedral. One advantage was that we got a generous number of verses – all of For all the Saints! But some of the drawbacks of this system were also in evidence: the next hymn unexpectedly bursting into the liturgy before it was called for; the volume of the accompanying choir being turned up too much or too little; and a tune that was unfamiliar to everyone, myself included. (For the record, this was How bright these glorious spirits shine sung to ‘Balerma’, which I decided I actually preferred to the usual ‘Beatitudo’.)
Perhaps I should have volunteered to play their chamber organ which looked as if it had been kept in working order. I enjoyed a chat afterwards with the presiding clergyman (the usual priest was away), a former rector of a ‘greater church’ which is known to me.