Tony Newnham

Hi In dealing with NPOR updates, I've noticed that a number of recent organs have 30 note pedalboards - even under 5 octave manuals (although a number of new tracker organs have g3 or a3 treble compass on the manuals - presumably an exonomy measure?). The NPOR entry for the new Worcester organ doesn't mention the pedal compass because none of the sources said what it was, and it didn't appear clearly in the pictures I had available when I first did the entry. Looking closely at picture no 2 on the NPOR entry, I can see to f#, so I guess it is a 32 note board. Every Blessing Tony

That didn't happen here, sadly. We had one of the organs in Bradford Cathedral during the organists' assoc centenary. I played it a couple of times (interesting experience) and blew it for the items that Jonathon Bielby played in his recital for us - could have done with some refreshment after that! Not so much hard work, but I found the height of the bellows made more difficult than it perhaps could have been. Every Blessing Tony

Hi I have a recording somewhere of a service using organ & piano & a few other instruments. it was recorded in the summer of 1977 in a packed church (around 700) with totally inadequate ventilation. The pitch of the pipe organ shifts upwards something like 1/2 a semitone during the evening. I'e also noticed drastic pitch shifts on the organ formerly in Rye Baptist church - in the depths of winter with no heating it would drop to somewhere around concert pitch - by the time the building had heated up (and especially come the carol service during an evening when heating had been running all day for morning service & then rehearsals it would have gone upat least to its normal half a semi-tone or so above A=440Hz - sometimes even higher. Every Blessing Tony

Hi Organs need a constant temperature to stay in tune. The pitch of reeds shifts less with temperature fluctuations then flue pipes - and I suspect some flues shift at slightly different amounts too. The only solution - especially if you need the organ to be at a standard pitch for use with other instruments is to maintain that temperature - establish it a few hours before the organ is needed. I've read that some cinema organs had thermostatically controlled electric heaters in the chambers - but obviously, that doesn;t work with unenclosed pipework. Air flow through swell boxes is another issue - which is why the normal prctice is to leave swells open when the organ isn't being used (except with totally enclosed organs). Do away with reeds and, as long as the organ is only played by itself, then a well constructed instrument will hold tune for long periods - go for cone tuned metal pipework and that becomes several decades - the pitch will shift with temperature, but within normal domestic limits, everything shifts at the same rate, so it sounds in tune. You can't buck the laws of physics! Every Blessing Tony

Hi The RAH is a listed building - hence, at least in part, the limited changes to the acoustics, as the look of the interior had to be retained to a large extent. The same really applies to the organ - it's an historic instrument, and although the design ideals were never copied wholesale (thankfully?) it had a vast influence on English organ building in the succeeding decades, and so should be preserved in the designer's vision. Every Blessing Tony

Hi When I started getting interested in seriously playing the organ as a teenager I decided to strengthen my left hand - writing left-handed (at that time, it was only slightly less legible than my right hand - which isn't saying much, as the teachers were always complaining about my handwriting!), drinking left-handed, and various other tasks. Maybe I had an advantage, as Dad is left handed. I still drink left-handed, and many tasks I can do equally well with either hand. Every Blessing Tony

Hi sorry - no idea of pedal compass - the only pix (and one actual pedalboard) that I've se of pedals en have been pedal attachments (i.e. pedals attached to a conventional piano) - they were 30 or 32 note from C - normal current organ scale. Every Blessing Tony

Hi Yes - I think this has been on eBay previously - I think I remember seeing the photograph. Like Colin, I've seen these beasts mentioned in books, etc, but never seen one for real. Maybe if the seller actually did some research and gave more detail it might be easier to sell? Every Blessing Tony

Hi There's only one Warman listed on DBOB - this does rather look like him though:- WARMAN John Watson [DBOB-ref=3451] Born: 1842 Established: undefined Floruit: 1867-1869 Located: Faringdon Trade: patentee References for the information above Patent(s) [1869] Musical Times 1867 /06, No.292 Handbook of the Organ, A: Matthews, J. (1897), p.174 Organ, The: Its Compass, Tablature, and Short and Incomplete Octaves: Warman, J.W. (1884) - author Organ, The: Writings and Other Utterances on Its Structure, History, Procural, Capabilities, etc.: Warman, J.W. (1901-4) - author Patents obtained by this firm Cross references for this firm Longhurst, James - ?apprenticed to ('a Canterbury ob') Pilcher, William - ?or apprenticed to ('a Canterbury ob') Ever Blessing Tony

Hi Perhaps someone who is involved could send NPOR details & history of the present instrument. Every Blessing Tony

The Early English repertoire (Stanley et al) is nice - but you do need to work through how to handle the passages that drop below the low C of modern organs (and IMHO, bodging these notes on the pedals doesn't really work). Of course, if you happen to have a GG-compass organ, as I do here at present, ,,,,,, Please avoid the later "arrangements" of this repertoire with filled-out harmonies and added pedal parts! The various musical Wesleys material is also worth a look. Every Blessing Tony

Hi Maybe I'm the odd one out, but I positively loathe the Carrilon de Westminster - always have since I first heard it decades ago. Aside from the Widor, I've not yet tackled any French Toccatas (not much point when my regular instrument is a single manual Early English chamber organ!) Every Blessing Tony

Hi Thanks for the comments. As to playing a Harmonium with Expression - I've been doing it on and off for nearly 50 years - I was fortunate that when we first got a Harmonium, there was a chap I knew who showed me how to do it properly. There was a series of articles in Organists' Review about 11 or 12 years ago by Anne Page on Harmonium playing - well worth a look (and if you get the chance to her Anne playing Harmonium, take it - she's a remarkable player). As to the Noel Eccossais (Sp?) - my suspicion is the tempo was to get it past the Priest - after all, playing "secular" music in church was rather frowned on! Whatever the reason, I think the faster tempo works better (I had noticed and tried Guillmant's tempo marking). Thanks for the comments. Every Blessing Tony

Hi I've got a couple of volumes of Guilmant - one is of sonates - and I've not tackled them yet!! The other is of Christmas music - a set of suites of short pieces, which I find very attractive - aided by the fact that some of them are scored for organ or Harmonium! (And very well written for Harmonium, with a good understanding of the instrument's possibilities). I included a couple of these in my Christmas concert:- & two more I recorded whilst the Mustel was still in the church:- Every Blessing Tony

well said Colin.

Hi Trust you're keeping well Colin. An interesting question. The best option would perhaps be a simple means of having a "Neutral" selection for any given stop on any piston. Given that that option is really only simply available using physical switches, I suggest the following: Divisionals - all inter-manual couplers neutral, octave & sub octaves on same manual controlled by the pistons, tremulants on the pistons if the trem only affects stops on that manual, otherwise neutral. Generals - all stops including couplers & trems on the pistons. If double-touch pistons are considered, it may be an idea to have the normally neutral stops available on the Divisional 2nd touch settings - or maybe not. Probably no "one size fits all" answer here. Every Blessing Tony

Davidh - some of us have known that for years! As with all instruments, the player is the most important component. Planning to listen to that segment later (or tomorrow) Every Blessing Tony

Hi I didn't hear the broadcast, but I do have the DVD and have watched it all(and the recital twice) - excellent. It's good to see how far David Dunnett has come since I knew him when he was still at school (and he was a good organist then!) Every Blessing Tony

Hi At the time the piece was written, most organs were tuned in some form of unequal temperament, so the harmics of the lower pitched stops would be closer to the true-tuned mutations than in equal temp. That could be the reason - and although usingthe Larigot may not be historically correct, if it works, then go with it! Every Blessing Tony

Hi The best thing is t check with your insurers - but remember that the trustees of the charity (and UK churches are de facto regarded as charities) have a responsibility to protect the charity's asserts, so making sure the organ is adequately insured is pretty important. Every Blessing Tony

Hi The use of a Stopped Bass to open metal ranks, with a "helper" is becoming more common where there's no room for a fulllength rank. The "helper" is there to fill in the harmonics missing from he stopped pipes, and is normally an octave rank, not a Quint. I don;t know what the thinking is here - Stopped pipes already have plenty of the 3rd harmonic (octave and a fifth above the fundemental). Every Blessing Tony

Heaton Baptist Church, Bradford BD9 5PX Saturday 14th December 2:30pm. Christmas concert featuring Tony Newnham. Programme yet to be finalised, but will include Cesar Franck & Guillmant played on a Mustel Harmonium. Free admission - offering for Baptist Mission work.

Hi The Bible makes no mention of animals around the Manger - or even the stable - that's probably down to a later writer adding 2+2 and making 5 because of a lack of knowledge of customs & housing at the time. Back in 2010 I preached a Christmas sermon "Was Jesus Born in a Stable". You can read it here:- http://www.organmatters.com/index.php/topic,382.0.html Choosing carols that didn't mention the stable to go with it was rather a trial! Every Blessing Tony

Hi I think Cambridge University Library have a full run of Musical Opinion, and maybe the RCO library will have them also. Not sure about access to the University Library. RCO inof at http://www.rco.org.uk/library.php Every Blessing Tony

Hi In response to Philip's comment - NPOR has indeed had a software update, butit was back up on Friday - and it's there now (9:10 Sunday morning). Every Blessing Tony