While searching for music to play this Sunday as substitute church pianist in the beautiful coastal town of Scituate, Massachusetts, I found a single lead sheet I used over six years ago. Seeing the handwritten chord names brought back fond memories of my last six months on Maui.
Shortly after arriving on Maui in late 2010, my sister introduced me to Edy, the pianist at the Christian Science Church in Kahului. I filled in for her at Christmas. When she retired, I took over from November 2015. When I left the island six months later, I passed the service to my sister along with much of my easier sheet music for church services.
At the last service on 29th May 2016, I asked a member of the congregation to record me playing Daniel Ho’s “Quiet and Blue,” an instrumental piece in the prelude that day. The old electric piano didn’t allow the bass line to resonate, as an acoustic piano does.
I love browsing and sight-reading sheet music and lead sheets to assemble the prelude, offertory, and postludes. Besides the obvious church hymns and classical music (including baroque, romantic, and modern), there are many beautiful piano and instrumental pieces from movies, anime film, and video games, and plenty of well-known songs that I can improvise to disguise and prevent instant recognition.
If there’s a lot I want to play, I’d arrive early to stretch the prelude beyond the usual three minutes to five, ten or fifteen. I also get to decide on the length of the postlude because it’s after the service.
The selections for prelude and offertory are usually soft and slow, for contemplation and prayer. The postlude is intended to send people off on a positive note, thus faster tempo and louder than prelude and offertory.
To narrow the selection of music, I choose music of famous people who just died to show respect. In the first part of 2016, for instance, I played the following music on piano:
- Glenn Frey (aged 67 from The Eagles): The Last Resort
- David Bowie (aged 69): Space Oddity
- Alan Rickman (aged 69): Hedwig’s Theme
- Prince (aged 57): Nothing Compares to You
In 2022, I chose Hymne by Vangelis (aged 79).
This summer, I got the opportunity to substitute for pianists at methodist and lutheran churches near Boston. Besides playing the piano, I’m expected to lead the congregation in singing the hymns – something I’ve not done previously. Thanks to the years of playing the ukulele and singing, I am now serving as cantor, that is, sing while playing the piano. Because of the pandemic and the summer holidays, one church service is conducted in Zoom, so I’m singing while playing the piano in Zoom.
How did this begin? I was accompanying the youth choir at a church on Kadena Air Base in Okinawa. The members of the choir were my classmates at Kubasaki High School. When the chief organist was leaving, he showed me how to play the organ. At age 17, I inherited his five weekly church services at two chapels on base and additional services for weddings and memorial services. I enjoyed sightreading hymns and leading the congregation in my playing. It’s quite different from accompanying the choir with a director.
If you’re curious, click on the sample of the lead sheet I found below. It links to a one-page PDF lead sheet with chords that I’ve transcribed. You guessed it! It’s for ukulele! What I can’t decipher from the one page handwritten lead sheet are the words after “rainbow” in the fifth verse.
