Special Treat! Field Trip!

Special Treat!

Dec 13, '11 1:49 PM for Julie's contacts

I had a very busy day yesterday. I did my usual cleaning and had to cook supper before noon, then headed down the hill to practice the organ but my mentor caught me before I got inside and said we were going on a field trip! One of our local churches was forced to close and in it was a pipe organ. We all worried about what would come of it, but another church in Houghton adopted it, had it installed and gave it the TLC it needed, then yesterday called saying it was ready to play and my mentor wanted me to see it. We got in his car, had a nice conversation on the way down and was amazed at what we saw when we arrived. It is gorgeous! They have really done a wonderful job in both making it sound and look great. Here is a picture of what it looked like in it's former home, before the work had been done. The cabinet has been stripped and will be refinished and the facade pipes are now a copper color with silver mouths. The pedals have all been re-capped so they look new and the key-desk also has been refinished. What a treat to be able to sit up there and play it. It's a tracker organ, which simply put means it's all mechanical action, no electronics, so it can be difficult to play from a physical standpoint, but they did a great job on it and my mentor said I handled it very well. I must say, I did surprise myself. I had played it before and once in a recital and didn't do as well. I only got to practice one thing, but what a treat! To say I needed that is a big understatement!! I wish I had known ahead of time and I would have taken my camera. Hopefully we can go back soon, then I'll post pictures of before and after. Oh what I wouldn't do to be able to play that at our church every Sunday! The priest was even impressed and he did ask if I played anywhere on a regular basis, my mentor thought I could have a job LOL. It's out of town though, which means it would be difficult at best to get there in the winter and it's a Catholic church, so I'd have to learn the liturgy...it would be hard work and would take me away from my own church which Hubby won't stand for.

After I got home I had three students to teach. One of them afforded me the opportunity to really teach. The young man is 13 and struggles with a sort of panic thing. I don't know if it happens in every aspect of his life or just his music, but it is holding him back. He can't seem to relax and just let the music come out of him. Having a mild form of this myself, I recognized it right away and we talked about what he could do to make the music sound like music. IT WORKED! For two pages he sounded like a totally different pianist, then he turned the page and all his old habits came back. Fortunately, his mom decided to sit in on the lesson yesterday and she was amazed at the difference. Now I just have to get him to check himself and make the corrections he needs to all the time.