Karaoke?

Singing to a karaoke machine is not a skill I ever expected to learn so late in life. I did once get dragged into attempting it on holiday when clearly the ouzo had been too well imbibed . But I found it difficult to pitch the note properly so obviously sounded either flat or sharp.  Either way it was not good. A promise was made to my dearly beloved.....no more karaoke  honestly. I could not put him through that sort of embarrassment again.

However here I am using one most Sundays. I would still obviously prefer an organist...a real live one who makes beautifully sound emerge from the machine that we can sing lovely hymns to and which welcomes us and waves good by  with beautiful music.

However organist are now in this place, a protected species....they are very thin on the ground, either having moved away, retired, or metamorphosed into a sub species of prima donna en route.
The machine has been borrowed and a willing technician pressed into service. She is learning the archane knowledge required to get it do what we want it too. For instance some hymns have more verses than others. She insisted this morning that I tell the congregation that she can make it go slower or faster but not line by line...
She took us through the idiosyncracies of the tunes till I reminded her gently that it was not a concert but an act of worship.

She did however come up with a brilliant line which sums up the whole thing.
"The karaoke machine  is our inflexible friend" Works for me and my skills as a karaoke singer improve weekly!