Tomorrow I'll find out if the organ lights have been switched off

I got 50% raise today!

Went to my church to play for the Mass and upon greeting me the sacristan gave me 30 Euros. They would normally pay me 20 Euros so this is nice raise. But considering it's the first one since we had Euro from 2015, I think it's not that much because the prices have risen considerably too. Plus, I had to politely ask for it at the end of the summer.

I went to the organ balcony where I saw a microphone set up for me to sing. I turned on the light switch on the wall and got ready to play and sing. During the Mass I sang Sanctus and Agnus Dei parts from my own Mass of the 1st tone and went downstairs to sing a psalm with Alleluia between scripture readings.

For my organ improvisations I used themes of the Gregorian chant melodies suited for today.

The Prelude was based on Ne derelinguas me, Domine. It's a chant in the 7th mode with the start and end on the tone G while the tenor tone is D. I used 2 flutes and Viola Gamba of Oberwerk division for the solo voice and strings with Flute 8' on the Swell division for the accompaniment in the left hand. The pedals played with 16' and 8' foundation stops.

The Offertory was based on Benedic anima mea Domino. It's a chant based on the 5th mode with the starting and ending tone on F and tenor tone on C. My right hand played the melody with the Unda Maris, Salicional and Flauto Major stops, the accompanying parts played on the Flutes 8' and 4' of the Swell division and 16' and 8' foundation stops in the pedals.

The Communion was based on Notas mihi fecisti. Like the Prelude the chant melody is written in the 7th mode. I juxtaposed two stop combinations here - a flute in the right hand played with quick 16th-note rhythms with strings and Principal 16', Salicional and Flauto Major played with chords.

I live-streamed Prelude, Offertory and Communion on Facebook and later uploaded the videos to YouTube. But I forgot to press "Record" on the Postlude so there is no evidence here but I can tell you it was a loud piece with mixtures and reeds based on the opening fragments of all 3 previous themes to end the suite. Some members of the congregation left to listen to it and applauded at the end which was nice ( I took a bow).

After the Mass I pushed in the organ stops, disconnected the microphone and took it to sacristy for safe keeping. Said "Good bye" to the sacristan and the security guard and left for my car. On my way back home I remembered that I didn't turn off the light on the wall probably because of all the excitement about the raise so I called the security guard and asked to check it out. He promised to turn it off. I'll find out if he did tomorrow morning.

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https://amazon.com/author/vidaspinkevicius

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