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Unique/frustrating experience, played a funeral


DeepEnd

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Yesterday, the praise band played a funeral or, more appropriately, a "celebration of life." A lady at church had died unexpectedly but she had previously given the pastor instructions as to what to do "just in case." The Music Director sent out a text asking how many of us would be available Saturday afternoon. Everyone could make it except the bass player and percussionist. Next came a list of songs that kept growing. At 6:30PM the night before there were six, at 10:30 there were three more. When we met at Noon Saturday to rehearse there were two more. One we could have done on the spot with cowboy chords, as for the other, "Don't worry, I have sheet music." Yes, and it's printed on both sides and guitarists can't turn pages. (This is a discussion we've had a number of times. And before anyone starts in about what "professionals" should be able to do, we're not professionals. Only the Music Director gets paid, the rest are strictly volunteers and amateurs.)

 

We ended up sticking with nine songs and it was a great time under the circumstances. The service ran about an hour and forty five minutes and we loved every minute of it. It was a unique experience and I can officially say I've played a funeral.

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John

7:38 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.

Groanings ?

romans 8:6 the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

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I was asked by my family to play at my mothers service, held in the woods near the small town where she was raised. I played my twelve string, the lovely Crow River Waltz during the preliminary (I can't really call it a processional) and then Amazing Grace. After the service we went down to a bridge across the Columbia River named for a native American legend and scattered her. Its called the Bridge of the Gods.

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Yesterday' date=' the praise band played a funeral or, more appropriately, a "celebration of life." A lady at church had died unexpectedly but she had previously given the pastor instructions as to what to do "just in case." The Music Director sent out a text asking how many of us would be available Saturday afternoon. Everyone could make it except the bass player and percussionist. Next came a list of songs that kept growing. At 6:30PM the night before there were six, at 10:30 there were three more. When we met at Noon Saturday to rehearse there were two more. One we could have done on the spot with cowboy chords, as for the other, "Don't worry, I have sheet music." Yes, and it's printed on both sides and [b']guitarists can't turn pages.[/b] (This is a discussion we've had a number of times. And before anyone starts in about what "professionals" should be able to do, we're not professionals. Only the Music Director gets paid, the rest are strictly volunteers and amateurs.)

 

We ended up sticking with nine songs and it was a great time under the circumstances. The service ran about an hour and forty five minutes and we loved every minute of it. It was a unique experience and I can officially say I've played a funeral.

 

 

Nice.

That's a long service, but nothing like they do sometimes in New Orleans.

 

I know a guy here locally that is a certified hospice guitar player. I had never heard of anything like this before in my life until he told me he was getting a certification. When he mentioned the certification, I thought he was getting a Mass teaching certification.

 

 

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Suzy was larger than life and nothing if not a 70 year old diva. She wanted the service to be a celebration so there weren't any downbeat songs. Some of the songs were I'll Fly Away, I've Got Peace Like A River, and Go Tell It On The Mountain. There was a two hour reception with hors d'oeuvres and cookies before the service. She even wanted a clown handing out balloons but that wasn't possible. I know she would have enjoyed it and she'll be missed.

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I'm going to play devil's advocate' date=' Couldn't you simply hammer on/off long enough to turn a page? A pianist, or organist plays only one portion long enough to turn a page.[/quote']

Not really. If I were playing bass maybe but we're talking rhythm guitar and the change from strumming to hammering on would be jarring, IMHO. The alternative would be to simply stop playing while we flipped the page over. We have one extra wide music stand so one of us might have been able to work something out with single sided copies but not both.

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