Turning Pages
I'm a band-geek; a classical, instrumental music lover. There for a while, I hid it from myself, wanting to seem cool liking the "cool" music. But, let's be honest: I get chills from a cello, and increased heart rate from a cranked-up pipe organ. It's whatever - I can live with it now.
There have been a few times in my life that I have been asked to be an organist's right hand - the page turner. I spent some time online trying to figure out exactly how to do it well, but there wasn't much to go on besides admonishing rules, a funny "how-not-to" video and a nostalgic blog post. Perhaps best is this Survival Guide, but none of these address page turning for organ pieces.
For one, I find it impossible to turn pages from the top. I'm at least 5'9" and even on my tiptoes that would be awkward. What if you lose your balance and fall on top of the organist? Not cool. So, one way or another, my arm is always in the way, covering up notes. Add a choir robe with angel wing sleeves - forget it.
My home church in Stadtroda has an old-school organ, with the pipes from the 1730s. So old school, in fact, that there's no heat, so the organist has to warm their hands on a lamp in the winter months and everyone can hear the pump being turned on when it's time to warm up the organ. It's phenomenal. Once I was asked to turn pages and pull stops for an old geezer guest organist who was playing the heck out of a concert. I was pretty young and pretty oblivious to the pitfalls, and I was half awestruck, half freezing - but thankfully the organist leaned back about 3 feet to give me a gigantic nod when it was time to turn the page, so it was next to impossible to mess up.
I think I have been immensely fortunate when it comes to organists, as they always knew their stuff and literally just needed me to turn the page and get out of the way; in fact they probably didn't really need me at all because they had the piece three quarters memorized.
My problem is that I only read music adequately well, and I tend to get enthralled (read: lost) in the music, especially when it's pages and pages of 16th note melismas. Thank God for Sophie who taught me to just watch the pedal part, which is mostly whole or quarter notes - it has saved my life so many times. Making sure you're only turning one page at a time, and watching for repeats is also helpful :) Don't tell my organist, but sometimes, all I want to do is look at the pipes, watch the organist's feet dancing on the pedals or read the organ stop labels. These days, I just try to fake being calm (even though my heart is beating out of my chest in sheer panic for fear of messing up) and keep the head-bopping to a minimum. After all, it's not about me.
Listening to an awesome organ piece is better than a rock concert, but being so close to the person who creates this intense and beautiful piece of art is a different experience altogether. So it's okay if I have to stay still and focus.
I'll smile at the end just the same.
There have been a few times in my life that I have been asked to be an organist's right hand - the page turner. I spent some time online trying to figure out exactly how to do it well, but there wasn't much to go on besides admonishing rules, a funny "how-not-to" video and a nostalgic blog post. Perhaps best is this Survival Guide, but none of these address page turning for organ pieces.
For one, I find it impossible to turn pages from the top. I'm at least 5'9" and even on my tiptoes that would be awkward. What if you lose your balance and fall on top of the organist? Not cool. So, one way or another, my arm is always in the way, covering up notes. Add a choir robe with angel wing sleeves - forget it.
My home church in Stadtroda has an old-school organ, with the pipes from the 1730s. So old school, in fact, that there's no heat, so the organist has to warm their hands on a lamp in the winter months and everyone can hear the pump being turned on when it's time to warm up the organ. It's phenomenal. Once I was asked to turn pages and pull stops for an old geezer guest organist who was playing the heck out of a concert. I was pretty young and pretty oblivious to the pitfalls, and I was half awestruck, half freezing - but thankfully the organist leaned back about 3 feet to give me a gigantic nod when it was time to turn the page, so it was next to impossible to mess up.
I think I have been immensely fortunate when it comes to organists, as they always knew their stuff and literally just needed me to turn the page and get out of the way; in fact they probably didn't really need me at all because they had the piece three quarters memorized.
My problem is that I only read music adequately well, and I tend to get enthralled (read: lost) in the music, especially when it's pages and pages of 16th note melismas. Thank God for Sophie who taught me to just watch the pedal part, which is mostly whole or quarter notes - it has saved my life so many times. Making sure you're only turning one page at a time, and watching for repeats is also helpful :) Don't tell my organist, but sometimes, all I want to do is look at the pipes, watch the organist's feet dancing on the pedals or read the organ stop labels. These days, I just try to fake being calm (even though my heart is beating out of my chest in sheer panic for fear of messing up) and keep the head-bopping to a minimum. After all, it's not about me.
Listening to an awesome organ piece is better than a rock concert, but being so close to the person who creates this intense and beautiful piece of art is a different experience altogether. So it's okay if I have to stay still and focus.
I'll smile at the end just the same.
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