passion_chorale

I am just consulting the board to see if there are any recommended arrangements/transcriptions of the famous Charpentier Te Deum "Prelude" for Organ & Trumpet. It's for a wedding and at the moment I can only find extremely "simplified" versions for early grade exams and the like. Plus - are there any obvious "gotchas" that are possible when performing organ & trumpet music (only practice opportunity will on the morning before the service), like tuning problems? In particular, is this a difficult piece for a trumpeter to play? I really have no idea as usually I just pull out the trumpet stop and do it myself Any comments gratefully received!

A project at work led me to be curious about whether the techniques of 3D scanning and printing could profitably be employed in organ building? see http://labrigger.com/blog/2014/10/07/3d-printed-syringe-pump There must be many cases where a restoration of fiddly legacy/non catalogue parts in old electric or pneumatic mechanisms is required. Previously this could have caused a problem, but now it is possible to scan an existing part with a laser scanner, (or design in a cad tool) and then to cheaply make as many copies as you want in nylon, resin, and other synthetic materials, perhaps rapidly going through design iterations to ensure a better fit. It seems to be possible to come up with just about any shape. Any use in organ building? I suppose many components are rather small, and so resolution will be the limiting factor. Another murky issue could be that of infringing the unregistered design right of another manufacturer (by copying their part), but since most obsolete parts will be over 15 years old from the initial design, this probably wouldn't be an issue.

Under the current EU tendering regulations for public bodies, it would be illegal to restrict the process to UK companies. See here, for example, for more information. http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/offices/purchasing/guides/eu_guide.pdf

Yes, you're absolutely right, although for some reason the Fugue looks very tricky to me; perhaps it's just a personal thing!

Many thanks, this is very useful advice; it's also nice that you know the instrument! Recently, a big choir trumpet was added, which goes some way to solving the tuba problem... I agree with you about the difficulty of the Pass. ; however I have limited time to play any music (Job/professional qualifying exams) so feel that I should conquer a limited amount of the canonical stuff at the moment, (and it is after all on the Trinity list for this level). My playing has improved a lot following a similar approach for ATCL. As you say though, the risk of failure is real. However, even getting it to the stage of being able to enter it into the Exam means that you are 75% of the way there. I can see how dropping diplomas could be a problem if you required them for career progression as a professional musician though. My strategy will probably be to take the risk, and to take it on the chin if I fail and not to complain after having been warned. And to practice a lot. Best wishes, David.

Hello, The organ is: http://www.npor.org.uk/cgi-bin/Rsearch.cgi...ec_index=E00237 I would have a page turner and use of pistons. I have full-time access to the instrument. Regards, David.

Hello all, I thought I would make use of the legendary 'crowdsourcing' qualities of this board to assist me with coming up with some ideas for a diploma programme. Recently, I completed the Trinity 'ATCL' performance diploma, and I'm now turning my attention to the 'LTCL' performance diploma. I'll be looking at this in more detail with my teacher, but thought it would be a nice exercise for anybody with some time. The syllabus can be found on pages 28-29 of the document accessible on the top rhs of this page: http://www.trinitycollege.co.uk/site/?id=1587 The requirements are for a programme length of 37-43 minutes, with a range of moods/style/tempi; the whole displaying artistic coherence. I think that the playing level is judged at the standard of a UK undergraduate level final recital. Entrants are not restricted to the listed pieces, and can request to play other pieces. As you will see, there are some suggestions in the 'LTCL' category. I would like to learn the Bach Passacaglia; being such a monumental piece I suppose it would have to go at the end of a programme? Apart from that I'm very open to suggestions at this stage. If we suppose that a performance of the Passacaglia comes in at 13-14 minutes, there would be plenty of time for something else. Personally speaking, I like counterpoint, and so have been hankering after doing Mendelssohn Son. III properly for a while. However, I don't do complex french stuff with fast passagework or much romantic repertoire, and perhaps this could be a good opportunity to delve deeper into those styles. The performance organ is a very adaptable 3M mech. action instrument in a good acoustic. All yours!

I have just had this forwarded to me, and thought it was so delightful I would share it! Regards, David.

Dear MM; I can't believe that no mention has been made in this discussion of Patents! The back catalogue of GB patent specifications at least back to the 1910s can be searched online. This is a search for the applicant 'compton organs' for example; it yields some interesting stuff. To can also specify by inventor, date, patent classifier, etc... http://v3.espacenet.com/searchResults?book...amp;EC=&IC= Because of the requirements for sufficiency in composing a patent specification, these documents might represent the best disclosures of how John Compton's technology worked now that most of the employees are gone... Regards etc. Method of getting two tones from one organ pipe (1932): http://v3.espacenet.com/publicationDetails...mp;locale=en_gb The polyphone bass patent (1925)? http://v3.espacenet.com/publicationDetails...mp;locale=en_gb Improvements to stop mechanism http://v3.espacenet.com/publicationDetails...mp;locale=en_gb It goes on and on....!

Judicious use of 'Nitromors'?

I sing there as a Bass!

Improvisation sur le motif "Death Star" du film "Star Wars"?

Ah yes true...I followed one of the 'related links' so obviously must have led me away from today's paper.

"If you can’t make an audience laugh at the end of Beethoven’s Piano Sonata Op 31 No 1, you should become an organist.” (Alfred Brendel) From today's Times: http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol...icle6856909.ece