Three-ish weeks ago, I was asked to accompany for my coworker's daughter's wedding. I was honored when she called me; I have never been asked to play for a wedding before and have only really played a few songs here and there for graduations and school masses. It was pretty last minute, as the girls who were going to sing asked for an accompanist three weeks before the big day. I said I would love to do it as long as I got the music well in advance so I could learn the few songs and be ready to rock. The ceremony was going to be at Al's so it was somewhere I'm totally comfortable and have a pretty decent track record. She said it was just a wedding ceremony and not a full Mass, so it wouldn't be too long and it would be less work for me because I wouldn't need to learn any of the Communion prep, consecration stuff, and deal with a Communion song or two. My impression at the time was that I just needed to learn three, maybe four songs in three weeks.
Boy was I wrong.
I can't sight read, but I can teach myself almost anything as long as I have a few weeks to do it. I wasn't worried at the time as I thought I had three weeks.
I didn't get the music until a week before the wedding. I also received music for eight songs.
Eight.
I can do a lot of things. As Nick would tell me, not only can I do a lot of things but I even know so many things. But learning eight things in a week seemed like something I couldn't accomplish even with a glass of wine and mandatory constant moral support from Abby. That's more than one song a day! Two of those days I'm going to be in DBQ for the surprise party! (Sidebar we had a surprise 75th birthday party for my grandmother but don't worry we didn't pop out and yell or anything like that.) I decided to look through the songs before I went into full-blown freakout mode because hey, I bet I already know some of these. People tend to pick popular, well-known pretty songs for weddings, right? RIGHT?!
The bride requested some songs to do as preludes before the ceremony that were churchy but not exactly from my handy dandy Gather book. I almost crapped my pants as I read through the list. Of the eight songs, I knew how to play one. And I knew it thirteen years ago so that barely counts. I knew what seven of the eight songs sounded like but had only ever played one.
I looked at the Flower Duet. Oh hell no I can NOT learn this in a week much less learn seven other songs at the same time. BZZZT.
I looked at The Prayer. I decided I would be using my version instead of the one she sent me. Luckily, they were in the same key and mine was just easier. I had plunked my way through The Prayer a few times in my life but had never played it with singers and have certainly never played it all the way through without swearing and starting over.
I looked at the Ave Maria. Yes, that Ave Maria. Son of a bitch I've never played this and it's chordy and everyone knows this so I have to do it right and probably not just wing it...
I looked at A Blessing of Music. What is this? I don't think I've ever heard this but it looks easy. This should be fine.
I looked at the Celtic Alleluia. Classic. Also imperative that I don't screw this one up because everyone knows it. Except Molly.
I looked at Joyful Joyful We Adore Thee. Ode to Joy. Doable. Done. Too bad I forgot about it until the Thursday before and suddenly remembered that I had to learn it.
Canon in D. Oh yes, the instrumental for the processional. Which means I needed to nail it because there's no singing and also EVERYONE IS WALKING IN.
I had to pull Canon in D from the depths of my mind. It was so far back in there I passed Fur Elise, cheerleading routines, and all the harmony from choir. The last time I played Canon in D was for the talent show when I was in 4th grade. It was a simplified version that didn't sound too simplified so it totally worked.
I practiced like crazy for the week. I had the Ave Maria on constant repeat in my head. I listened to dozens of different versions of Canon in D and decided it would be more work to unlearn my version to learn the real version and just kind of stopped looking at the music and played it by feel. I met up with the girls on Friday before the rehearsal dinner so we could run through the songs together as we had never met and I knew I was going to need all the practice I could get before the big day. Thankfully, they are beautifully amazing singers who could totally hold their own and I didn't need to really play the melody for almost anything. We decided to start with A Blessing of Music because it was the one we were both least familiar with. I kind of learned it but not really which ended up working out because the girls also kind of learned it but not really so we decided to just scrap it. Amen.
Unfortunately, Saturday afternoon happened and it was go time. We were supposed to play the preludes starting around 2:00 and the ceremony was scheduled to start at 2:30.
This is where the story gets even more ridiculous.
The priest is late. Super late. We're not even sure where he is and if he knows he's supposed to do this wedding kind of late.
While we were waiting for the priest, the girls and I were asked to just keep the music going. We ended up doing the Ave Maria three separate times, The Prayer twice, and the Flower Duet twice. I also played random songs from the Gather book that I knew because what else am I going to play in a church? I played five or six songs and made sure to play many, many verses of each. All five verses of Blest are They? Sure! Playing I am the Bread of Life long enough to get into the Spanish verses? Of course! We had an undetermined amount of time to kill so I just went balls to the wall with the Bible Jamz.
Let me give you a quick rundown of Bible Jamz. When we were still at IWU, sometimes I would have to go play random songs just because. Because I only teach myself the prettiest songs, Kristen started coming with me when I went to Presser and would read, study, or just listen as I played everything I could think of. I lugged my big accompaniment books and we started calling it Bible Jamz.
I basically did Bible Jamz for a hundred people. It was great.
The priest who was supposed to do the ceremony never showed up. More than half an hour after the wedding was supposed to start, someone ran over to the rectory to see if anyone was there. Luckily, another priest who lives in the rectory was home and agreed to do the ceremony right then and there.
Suddenly, it was time for Canon in D. I saw everyone lining up at the doors to process in and started to play.
I don't think I have ever witnessed a procession that moved at such a glacial pace. I soon realized that I was going to have to add to Canon in D to make sure I didn't run out of song before the bride even got to the aisle, much less down it.
I had to improv. I can't improv. But I had to. I just had to keep playing. Did I mention that I realized that having the music for the real Canon in D only screwed me up so I opted to play from memory? If you know me, you know that I can not play a single thing from memory. Not a thing. But I turned this into a thing.
I could not ever replicate the version of Canon I played as it was a one-time-only Molly original. I was drawing on George Winston, my simplified version from 2001, and straight up feels. I think I'm going to call is Hot Mess in D. I'm glad Canon is such an easy song to just keep adding to because otherwise this story would not have had such a happy ending.
Thankfully, the rest of the ceremony went off without a hitch. I made it through all the songs, I didn't noticeably screw anything up, and I remembered to put my shoes back on before I walked away from the piano at the end.
I don't think I can ever listen to Ave Maria again without twitching a little bit. Maybe I'll take a short break from playing...probably not though.
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