Funeral!

[Mitica100]

Awww... And I thought I've seen it all!

Well, I was sitting pretty yesterday at about 10am when I get a call from a conductor (think classical music...) and pianist asking me if I could play at a funeral in about two and a half hours. I declined it at first, they required me to play a piece I haven't touched in at least 30 years, the Beethoven Romance for Violin and Piano in F Major. I feel funny about just showing up and playing something half way decent. But, the guy was so insistent, like 'Oh, c'mon, I'll pay you really well for doing this, blah, blah, blah...' that I finally accepted. He faxes me the music and tells me to go to this Jewish Temple where the funeral was supposed to take place. Ok, I get ready and go there... Nobody, no cars, no people!! I start to freak out and while getting ready to call this pianist on my cell phone I see a lady cantor at the Temple, so I ask her where the funeral is. She says it's been moved and to follow her since she's going there! Ok, so now I'm following the lady Cantor and calling the pianist to see if he has a clue to where it is. No, he doesn't! He thought, like me, the funeral was to be at the Temple. So, I tell him where it is, meanwhile I arrive at the new place. The pianist calls me about five minutes later, he was lost! I give him directions, he finally shows up with three minutes to spare. I setup the music next to the piano...err...electronic keyboard (read toy) and we start playing. The guy can't read!! He makes up stuff as he goes, on top of that he kicks by mistake the volume pedal and it flies about five feet away from the keyboard so there's barely any volume to his accompaniment. I try hard to fit with what he's doing... Can't!! So I started making things up as we went until he gets the message that he was reading in the wrong rhythm. We finally meet each other within the last few lines and finish together. Phew...

I have never, ever been in this kind of situation, I felt quite embarassed by what came out, however the people there loved it. I think though, overall it was one of the funniest experiences at funerals for me. I'll remember this for the rest of my life...

[Ads]

[David A Sercel]

LOL. Sounds like so much fun.

David

[Artemis]

wow...sounds kinda scary and fun...but at somewhere upsetting

[ferny]

Hahahaha! It sounds like a sketch from a TV show.

I'm sure most of the people there saw the funny side. A few wouldn't, but they're not worth noticing. It depends on who was in the box as well. If he was known to like a laugh then it would have been great!

[Meysha]

Ha ha ha! That's so funny.
You should've just kicked the pianist so he stopped playing and just played yourself. I love that solo violin sound. If that were me playing I would've cracked up laughing at how sad/funny it all was.
Congratulations on finishing the song!

[Hertz van Rental]

I'll remember this for the rest of my life...

Most of the mourners probably will too

[sbalsama]

Heh, that sounds like a doozy, I hope they did pay you well after all :P

[LittleMan]

sounds like what happened to me a while back....

I went to the "end of year school program" where the different classes were performing... (I was not supposed to be playing in anything)

Right before the guitarists went up the teacher asked me if I could play the lead part b/c the kid who was supposed to do it never showed up...
She gave me the music and a guitar and pushed me up on stage... the other guitarists didn't know what they were doing and the teacher gave me the WRONG SHEET MUSIC.....
So, I was stuck on stage trying to play this part that I really didn't know how and I didn't have any sheet music to read and.... it was bad..... very bad.....

So, I just told the other guitarists to play their parts and I followed along in the scales trying to make up something that sounds half way decent.

After that was over I decided never to play any instrument when I haven't practiced or wasn't ready for....