 |
| Inside the Kimball -- strings, pegs, the harp, felted padding |
I'm going outside my comfort zone today. I volunteered to play Christmas music on the Yamaha Clavinova (a digital instrument) at Country Gardens Assisted Living Facility for their noon meal today. I put together about twenty minutes of carols and Christmas songs. I play piano for myself at night, but haven't played in "public" for a long, long time. Maybe fifteen years.
Our Kimball grand has been vacuumed and dusted as I've prepared for this gig. I chose music that is basically four part harmony because my piano style has evolved to a choral approach; I play as if I'm singing or directing a choir. So sometimes there is two part harmony in the octave below middle C. That's the tenors and basses doing their thing. Other times I play three parts in the middle C octave. That would be the three part women's voices. And sometimes I finish a song with just the melody, played an octave above middle C. That would be a flute, accompanying my choir.
 |
| "Away In A Manger" from "The Evangelical Hymnal" (1921) |
Some carols will be played in two different keys. Some keys are bright and lively while other keys are comfortable and soothing. So a carol sounds different, depending upon the key it is played in.
Since there are more than one version of lots of carols (think of Willie Nelson's rendition of "Silent Night" versus that of The Mormon Tabernacle Choir) I have looked for carols that have different tunes. "Away In A Manger" or "Luther's Cradle Hymn" is one such tune. I'll use the popular tune but will also play the J. E. Spillman version from 1834.
 |
| Hymnal title block with gold oak motif. Notice cloth binding. |
I found the Spillman version of "Away In A Manger" in "The Evangelical Hymnal," dated 1921 (the year that my Dad was born). I have a copy of this hymnal that belonged to my grandparents, William and Rose Luedtke. The book is in excellent shape and was the hymnal for the Evangelical Church which is a precursor denomination of the present United Methodist Church.
The little program finishes with "Jingle Bells" and "We Wish You A Merry Christmas." Here's hoping that the audience today is tolerant of the background music for their noon dinner!
Copyright 2011
Wanda Hayes Eichler
Another beautiful post, Wanda. I hope the program went well. I'm sure the audience loved having some music accompanying their meal.
ReplyDeleteIt did go well. Several in the audience stopped to visit a bit after the program. Best of all, I had a good visit with Pauline and her table companions. We talked about the holidays, about cars, about drivers licenses, about music -- all topics that were fun to discuss.
ReplyDeleteThanks for you comment, Heidi. You know how much I admire the performing talents that you and Richard possess. Just listened to the Philadelphia Singers Christmas album that you were a part of. That should bring back memories!
Wanda