Don't Shoot the Piano Player!

I arose at 5:30 AM, a time that highly disagrees with me.  I sat on the sofa feeding my two spoiled rotten Chihuahuas as I waited for consciousness to alight upon me.  All the while, I'm hoping and praying that the oft-experienced We-Performed-Last-Week-So-We-(Or-At-Least-I)-Deserve-A-Sunday-Off absenteeism wouldn't be a problem.  By 7:30, the 'Burb was warming up and I headed off to church.  Luckily I found an outer door that was unlocked, despite the empty parking lot.  I opened the rehearsal room, set up three rows of chairs and waited in hopeful anticipation that our numbers would be as great as they were last week.

After church last week, a little birdie told me that my usual pianist would be out of town.  So I made arrangements for one of the young men who plays piano to fill in.  All I needed were the parts pluncked out, so no biggie.  I had full confidence in his abilities.

My tenor and a soprano couple arrived.  A minute later a bass arrived, followed shortly by an alto.  Enough to have a quartet, but not enough for a choir.  At five minutes after, I offered an opening prayer and prayed for more bodies to arrive -- preferably living, not dead asleep still.

By about 20 after the hour, I had eight people.  No pianist. 

In case you've never tried it before, let me assure you that it's tricky business leading a choir and playing the piano at the same time, even if you're only plunking out the individual parts.  Why?  Because the choir, especially when learning a new and rather complicated piece, relies heavily on the choir director to lead them vocally.  Unfortunately, I can hardly chew gum and clap my hands at the same time.  Likewise, I simply cannot play the piano and sing at the same time.  I fail miserably.  I'm not known for my piano playing either.  I'm lucky to get through four measures of one-fingered plunking without a major faux pas.

We worked mostly on the women's parts since the two men who were there are both able to sight read very well.  As I was plunking through the alto line, my poor alto kept saying she was getting lost.  So I'd start over, and again she got lost.  She said, "The F is held for three counts, right?"  I replied, "What F?  No, it goes like this..." and I'd plunk again.  She brought her music to me.  Lo! and behold, my copy was different than the one I'd downloaded off the internet for the choir. 

Just not my day.

So I pulled out a spare copy of the correct music, sat back at the piano, and plunked the ladies into utter confusion.  Have I mentioned I'm not great on the piano?

So don't shoot the piano player this week.  I did my best.