Posted by:
forestpal
(
)
Date: December 19, 2011 05:56AM
That is so true, Mia, that the Mormons harass talented people.
Introverted me, I was a pianist/organist, too. The LDS church used and exploited me so much, that I have not played the organ since I resigned 5 years ago. They sucked the music right out of me. I happened to NOT like Mormon music. I liked Mozart and Bach, the harmony in the old-time hymns (played up to tempo), and the lovely classic organ music I got from the professional Methodist and Presbyterian organists. After the church "discouraged" great music, I would improvise, using tuneful Beatles songs, and just one time, "You Can't Always Get What You Want" My favorite was, "Please Don't Wear Red Tonight," which no one ever identified.
The organ was new to me, and I took many lessons and practiced for hours, to learn the pedals and technique, and I taught others, so I would have a substitute, but people kept moving out of our ward. I often had to forego family outings. When my husband went inactive, my children sat alone.
They called me to accompany the choir, which meant attending all their rehearsals, too. They were always needing someone to play in the Primary and RS, too, so the whole 3 hours would go by without a break, except during the lessons--but they called me to teach Sunday school for years and years. Remember the road shows, and how much rehearsal went into those? I had to transcribe music, and arrange music for other instruments. Some idiot would always write a song. Of course, they would just sing it to me, and I'd have to write the notes--then fill in all the harmonies, and arrange the whole thing. Too much work, and the songs were lousy (I'm not a composer, either.) At Christmastime, I'm reminded of our Stake performance of Handel's Messiah, when rehearsals would begin in October, and the Ward choir, and the Primary children's Joseph Smith birthday program. Worst of all were the Sacrament meeting performances--usually a soprano, or a violinist, or a girl's group singing the same Janice Kapp Perry song. Usually, Saturday rehearsals were required. Have you ever accompanied a barbershop quartet rehearsal? Try converting to the F-clef while sight-reading. I think I hated the performances because I could never choose the music. At one time, I wanted to be a concert pianist, and studied piano performance at BYU--but I was forced into becoming a utilitarian pianist, with the object of getting the job done quickly, under someone else's control.