as an organist who has done a lot of subbing, i certainly need to know how to sight read. you never know what you are going to have thrown at you at the last minute. even if they have told you hymns and so on ahead of time, there is either something that has been changed or added at the last minute, or something they forgot to tell you about.
i think the most outrageous case was when i was asked to fill in as substitute organist and lead a choir in Mendelssohn's chorus There Shall a Star from Jacob come forth, as well as a solo, i think a Grieg piece which was not straightforward. The choir wandered in about 10 minutes before the service, at which time the prelude should be beginning! obviously there was not even enough time to go thru anything once, let alone rehearse anything, and let alone the fact that this would have been on a rehearsal piano, not the organ in the church.
i had learned a few things thro the years about not getting into a lose-lose situation, and i refused to do it. the minister was mad, but oh well. they deserved it. it was one of those churches that never called me back, and i was glad.
merry
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