the secret, says Jeffrey Makinson, sub-organist of Manchester Cathedral, is to clothe the theme in a different harmony, tempo, or rhythmic metre. Even then, there is a risk that your mischief will make at least a few ears prick up.
Half of churchgoers have heard of an organist slipping unexpected tunes into a service, suggests a new survey from Christian Research, which has been published to coincide with the Christian Resources Exhibition International next week.
Father being Navy, we hear “Eternal Father, Strong to Save” fairly regularly. You can look up and see him mouthing the words along with the organist.
Without mentioning names (for obvious reasons-GRIN) it was not rare to hear some organists play parts of the “Star Wars” theme whenever Eucharistic Prayer C (Rite 2 of the 1979 Book which is not a book of Common Prayer) was used. This prayer was known as the “Star Wars Prayer” so it came to be expected.
…that would be…”galaxies, suns moons, the planets in their courses…and this fragile Earth our island home,” right?
Adam 12: Yup, that’s the one. (GRIN!!)