Help! - Colorado Wedding Musician(s)

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mountainman99

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Aaaah! I just tried to post this and it didn’t post… grrr:) Let’s try this again. So my fiance and I are getting married next May here in Colorado. The church we’re getting married in only has an organ, but I’m really hoping that I can find a way to rent a digital piano and amplifier/PA, so that one of my best friends can play the piano. He’s seriously the most gifted pianist I’ve ever heard! Does anybody have advice on a good place to rent from in CO? Is this even possible? Anyone ever done this? We’ll also need a good cantor who does weddings and is willing to travel to Allenspark, CO. If anybody lives out here and has a recommendation, we’d appreciate it so much. Thanks in advance! Here’s the link to the church too:
saintmalo.org/chapel.htm
 
You are getting married in a truly beautiful chapel. I was there just a few short weeks ago. Maybe someone at the retreat center could give you some ideas. God bless you and your fiancee’

Kathy
 
For the cantor you can try gigmasters.com. They have a huge selection and you can actually preview them performing. You can also try the Department of Music of your local university or the musicians union in your area at afm.org

For the piano rental, look for the instrument sales/repair shops in your area. If they don’t do it, they could probably refer you to someone. Also, you can try contacting some DJ that have fancy keyboards and sound equipment. Those keyboards are actually electric pianos without the furniture. They are great!

I’m a professional pianist.
 
Before you spend any $$, make sure the Church will allow you to bring in electric instruments and PA sets.
 
I know they will allow PA sets, because we had one at our RCIA retreat a couple of years ago.

Mountain Man, try for musicians in Loveland and Ft Collins - Even in Greeley. UNC has an excellent School of Music.

What a beautiful place to get married!!

Ruthie
 
Tara A. Zumfelde
720-494-8414

She is the cantor for St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Longmont and that’s about 30 minutes from Allenspark.

Also, try Miller Music for an electric piano
303-772-8500
They are also in Longmont but may deliver to Allenspark if they rent equipment.
 
mountainman99 said:
Aaaah! I just tried to post this and it didn’t post… grrr:) Let’s try this again. So my fiance and I are getting married next May here in Colorado. The church we’re getting married in only has an organ, but I’m really hoping that I can find a way to rent a digital piano and amplifier/PA, so that one of my best friends can play the piano. He’s seriously the most gifted pianist I’ve ever heard! Does anybody have advice on a good place to rent from in CO? Is this even possible? Anyone ever done this? We’ll also need a good cantor who does weddings and is willing to travel to Allenspark, CO. If anybody lives out here and has a recommendation, we’d appreciate it so much. Thanks in advance! Here’s the link to the church too:
saintmalo.org/chapel.htm
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I know this sounds horribly counter-cultural and snarky, but what’s wrong with the organ? It is the instrument that has been given the seat of honor in the Latin Church (All the Pontiffs of the 20th century, The Second Vatican Council, and even the USCCB have said this). Why would you feel compelled to use something that is not befitting the dignity of the sacred liturgy?
 
Much as I love the organ, from the OP’s post, his friend is a gifted pianist and probably has volunteered in love to play for the wedding…

And a pianist is not an organist, by any stretch. A piano player can often play one of the ‘electric’ type organs passably, but seldom ‘well’ unless he/she has actually studied organ too. Especially the type of ‘church’ organ that most likely is available. . .with keyboards, stops, and foot pedals. . .and sometimes with bellows that need to be pumped by another person as the organist plays! And he/she certainly cannot do the pedal work that is one of the beauties of most works for the organ. Even the ‘touch’ required is different; a pianist relies on the sostinado or sustain pedal to ‘blend’ notes but an organist works more with the fingers and ‘timing’ and the stops to create blends, and the characteristics are quite different.

So the OP’s friend, a pianist, would likely not be able to play the organ well (especially if he is a gifted pianist, believe me, he’d be the first to recognize how far ‘short’ his playing would be on the organ).

In this situation I can certainly understand that in order to allow the pianist to give his ‘gift’ to the bride and groom, a piano would be needed.

And before some say, “Can’t he play for the reception?”. . .reception playing is yet another ‘field’. A gifted pianist (probably classical, if he is considering playing for a wedding ceremony) is again a whole 'nother animal from a pianist specializing in receptions. Not that they aren’t gifted themselves (many are) but the reception is usually the place for ‘show tunes’, pop, ballads, even ‘funk’ or country depending on the bride and groom’s taste–at most ‘light’ classical and only limited at that. Probably the pianist in mind would not work well in that atmosphere at all.
 
Tantum_ergo said:
Much as I love the organ, from the OP’s post, his friend is a gifted pianist and probably has volunteered in love to play for the wedding…

And a pianist is not an organist, by any stretch. A piano player can often play one of the ‘electric’ type organs passably, but seldom ‘well’ unless he/she has actually studied organ too. Especially the type of ‘church’ organ that most likely is available. . .with keyboards, stops, and foot pedals. . .and sometimes with bellows that need to be pumped by another person as the organist plays! And he/she certainly cannot do the pedal work that is one of the beauties of most works for the organ. Even the ‘touch’ required is different; a pianist relies on the sostinado or sustain pedal to ‘blend’ notes but an organist works more with the fingers and ‘timing’ and the stops to create blends, and the characteristics are quite different.

So the OP’s friend, a pianist, would likely not be able to play the organ well (especially if he is a gifted pianist, believe me, he’d be the first to recognize how far ‘short’ his playing would be on the organ).

In this situation I can certainly understand that in order to allow the pianist to give his ‘gift’ to the bride and groom, a piano would be needed.

And before some say, “Can’t he play for the reception?”. . .reception playing is yet another ‘field’. A gifted pianist (probably classical, if he is considering playing for a wedding ceremony) is again a whole 'nother animal from a pianist specializing in receptions. Not that they aren’t gifted themselves (many are) but the reception is usually the place for ‘show tunes’, pop, ballads, even ‘funk’ or country depending on the bride and groom’s taste–at most ‘light’ classical and only limited at that. Probably the pianist in mind would not work well in that atmosphere at all.
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I’m a professional organist, so believe-you-me when I say that I’m well aware of the complexity of the instrument.

The Church has elevated the organ to a place of honor in the Sacred Liturgy, and yet many of Her children, through willful disobedience or ignorance, still choose to go their own way and **demand the use of instruments or incorporation of musical styles that the Church has deemed to be unfit for use in the service of God.

**This isn’t just my opinion! There’s clear, objective teaching on the matter of which genres and instruments are appropriate for use in the sacred liturgy. As sons and daughters of Christ, we must strive to follow His teachings to the best of our abilities–and those teachings include submission to the disciplines of our particular Churches.

A Nuptial Mass is not a sacramental vending machine whose appearance can be tailored to suit the whims of the couple being joined together by the Sacrament. It is an offering of the Holy Sacrifice to the Father.

But since people don’t seem to realize or care much about this, it places us organists in a very tricky situation. Most organists rely on income from weddings and requiems to make ends meet. The expense of our education can far exceed the cost of training in other fields and disciplines, and there is little likelihood of being given benefits that most other people take for granted, like group health insurance or retirement accounts. In response to this reality, many parishes now require the organist to be paid his or her fee even if his or her services are not used. So keep that in mind.
 
Thank you heathbeans! That is some very helpful information!
I know this sounds horribly counter-cultural and snarky, but what’s wrong with the organ? It is the instrument that has been given the seat of honor in the Latin Church (All the Pontiffs of the 20th century, The Second Vatican Council, and even the USCCB have said this). Why would you feel compelled to use something that is not befitting the dignity of the sacred liturgy?
Click to expand...
To be honest, I’ve never cared for organ music, and I probably never will. My grandmother was a terrific organist, and I definitely appreciate the talent and skill required to play such a complex instrument. Quite frankly, to say that my friend’s piano playing would not befit the dignity of the sacred liturgy is a gross misjudgment on your part. That’s almost like saying, if you can’t sing like an opera singer at church, why would you sing at all? Anything other than what I consider the finest singing is not befitting the dignity of the sacred liturgy. The music will be a very good offering to our Lord, and I’m sure that He will appreciate the fact that a close friend of mine used his God given talent as a pianist to glorify God at our Nuptial Mass. My request was for help in finding a cantor and a piano to rent. It was not an attack on organ music, but you’ve used my post to somehow critique my preference on having a piano liturgy at my own wedding. The chapel where the ceremony will be held is not a typical parish church. It is a tiny chapel in the mountains supported by a retreat center. We will not do anything against what they allow at the church, and we’re definitely not turning our Nuptial Mass into some sort of sacramental vending machine. I have such a hard time understanding why you would choose my post to vent about your frustrations when it was a request asking for musicians and places to rent digital pianos. I didn’t ask people to provide their personal opinions for Nuptial Mass music, but I asked for specific assistance. It was rude of you to use my post as a forum to express your disdain for liturgies that don’t make use of the organ.
 
mountainman99 said:
Thank you heathbeans! That is some very helpful information!

To be honest, I’ve never cared for organ music, and I probably never will. My grandmother was a terrific organist, and I definitely appreciate the talent and skill required to play such a complex instrument. Quite frankly, to say that my friend’s piano playing would not befit the dignity of the sacred liturgy is a gross misjudgment on your part. That’s almost like saying, if you can’t sing like an opera singer at church, why would you sing at all? Anything other than what I consider the finest singing is not befitting the dignity of the sacred liturgy. The music will be a very good offering to our Lord, and I’m sure that He will appreciate the fact that a close friend of mine used his God given talent as a pianist to glorify God at our Nuptial Mass. My request was for help in finding a cantor and a piano to rent. It was not an attack on organ music, but you’ve used my post to somehow critique my preference on having a piano liturgy at my own wedding. The chapel where the ceremony will be held is not a typical parish church. It is a tiny chapel in the mountains supported by a retreat center. We will not do anything against what they allow at the church, and we’re definitely not turning our Nuptial Mass into some sort of sacramental vending machine. I have such a hard time understanding why you would choose my post to vent about your frustrations when it was a request asking for musicians and places to rent digital pianos. I didn’t ask people to provide their personal opinions for Nuptial Mass music, but I asked for specific assistance. It was rude of you to use my post as a forum to express your disdain for liturgies that don’t make use of the organ.
Click to expand...
I’m sorry that you consider it rude for people to post concrete facts about the approved practices of the Roman Rite. Your friend’s musical ability has nothing to do with the suitability of the piano as a liturgical instrument. The Church has never used talent as an indication of holiness or the validity of one’s offering, and I resent the words you’ve planted in my mouth in that regard.

What the Church *has *established is a list of criteria that must be met when considering the use of a particular instrument at Mass.

I’m a musician and I take my vocation very seriously. I’m sorry if that offends you.

Incidentally, CU Boulder is only about half an hour from the place you’re getting married and they have a fabulous vocal department.
 
I’m sorry. This wedding is very important to us though, and it’s hard not to take what you posted personally. They use the piano a lot throughout our diocese, my best friend is very talented, and we have no intentions of playing anything that would be considered secular. We will do everything in our power to make the piano selections and music as sacred as we can.

PS - You’ll like this thread: forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=270013
 
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