Tony Newnham

Hi That reminds me that I've some Peeters organ music somewhere - must pull it out and have a look - it's years since it saw the light of day! every Blessing Tony

Hi Good to hear from you again - long time, no see! (But then Bradford is a long way away). Glad to hear your service went well - we had a good turnout here for our evening one - a variant on Nine Lessons this year (with only 7!) One of our readers is a mere 101 years old - and still living independently. Every Blessing Tony

Hi Our service this morning went ahead - only a few absences, despite half the congregation having to travel across town - and we even did 1/2 hour of carol singing yesterday morning outside the shops! Another carol service tonight - then just Christmas Day & 26th Dec this year. Every Blessing Tony

Hi 2 carol services this Sunday - joint one in our smaller church Sunday morning (only a poor digital piano). Concluding voluntary will be Wesley's Rondo on"God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" if I can get it up to scratch in time! Otherwise something a little simpler. Evening is here - probably the usual Bach "In Dulic Jubilo" to end - I haven't finally decided on an opener yet - the choices are somewhat limited by only having one manual with pedal pull-downs! Every Blessing Tony

Hi Yes - even though copying the music might be allowed, any public performance would, in general, attract royalties for his estate - with the one exception in the UK (at present) of music used during a worship service, where no fees are payable. (The same applies to playing audio recordings within the context of worship, but strangely, not video!) Every Blessing Tony

Hi Unless the current copyright holder has given permission for downloads! Every Blessing Tony

Hi Perhaps I'm thinking of your erstwhile colleague Reg then (Burnham on Crouch Baptist). How is he by the way? Every Blessing Tony

Hi Peter Are you forgetting the few of us who do listen and put heat on (as you should remember from when I was in your neck of the woods!) Every Blessing Tony

Hi Like everything else - practice! The pedalboard on the chamber organ here is very narrow, with narrow keys, but I can play most things on it (except the more complex pedal solos in some works) - at least when I'm not too rusty! Pedals were really only used for pedal points and etc. in the pre-c.1850 English repertoire - if at all, so as long as you could find the right note - even if somewhat slowly - then everything was OK. Every Blessing Tony

Thanks

Hi Where is the organ located? And do you have any idea of size/weight? Glad to be of help. Every Blessing Tony

Hi Yes, EOCS is a good place to start. I would suggest trying Ron Coates (Classic Organs at Boxhill) http://classicorgans.co.uk/ Another possibility is http://www.ormatronixorgans.co.uk/index.htm (I no nothing about this company, so please don't take this as a recommendation). They claim to cover the whole country. There's another firm near Louth - http://www.castletronics.co.uk/index.html or Alan Morrison in Scotland. Every Blessing Tony

PM Sent with contact details.

Hi I have a copy of the OUP "3 Pieces" that you're welcome to borrow if you feel like a trip across to Bradford. Every Blessing Tony

Hi No great detail, but the DBOB enties might be a staring point to find more info - see http://www.npor.org.uk/cgi-bin/ESearch.cgi? (Casson) See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_Casson, http://www.bardon-music.com/books.php?id=9...en&curr=eur. There's also an article in the BIOS Journal no.26 about Casson. Hope this helps. Every Blessing Tony

Hi Small point - but important - French Harmoniums split the keyboard at f#/g above middle c. It's American organs (suction reed organs) that often have a mid. b/c split. The Cesar Frank Harmonium pieces that I posted recently on You Tube (see the You Tube thread on this board, or go to my channel - Rev Tony Newnham) demonstrate exactly this effect. The 2nd & 3rd movements both use 16 ft treble and 4ft bass - one is mainly lf melody with rh accompaniment, the other has a section that uses the two sounds in contrast, much as you would use 2 manuals, plus solo/accomp sections. Every Blessing Tony

Hi I was browsing through a music book that I've had for years - but has only just resurfaced. It's a bound set of W.T. Best's arrangements of Handel, and I noticed some organ concerto movements in it. If you're interested, I'll see what there is. I don't know if the pages will fit on my scanner though! - and I suspect that they're not the easiest arrangements. I have played a couple of pieces from here in the past (at least 20 years ago!) but not the more complex ones. Every Blessing Tony

Hi There are a fair number in the UK. One that I used to play frequently is http://www.npor.org.uk/cgi-bin/Rsearch.cgi...ec_index=D00785 (c.1810). Another is http://www.npor.org.uk/cgi-bin/Rsearch.cgi...ec_index=D04625 - still hand blown. The organ is 1851 by John Laycock. I play this a couple of times a year when I take services at Cowling Hill Baptist Church. The chamber organ here fails because, although the stop list is probably original (especially since we were able to reinstate a Stopped Diapason Treble in the recent restoration) some of the other pipework appears to have been changed, and the organ has been moved at least 5 times. A fair number of the organs awarded an HOC by BIOS are unchanged, or substantially unchanged. Unfortunately, the list on NPOR (Search for HOC) doesn't give the grade. Certainly Grade 1 certificates imply originality. Every Blessing Tony

Hi Using the choir bass to also provide the pedal dept is a modern contrivance - as is, I suspect, the three stops. From the relevant surveys I recall from NPOR, and from research I did on organs of this period for an Organists' Assoc talk a couple of years ago, Choir Bass is normally just a Stopped Diapason, or occasionally an 8 & 4 ft stops. The option of a TnC Swell, with bass keys fixed is probably more common (cost?) and I've seen specs of a couple of examples where the bass of the Swell is permanently coupled to the Great (which seems a rather pointless exercise.) Earlier organs sometimes have a Swell manual that stopped at the lowest note provided in the Swell. Every Blessing Tony

Hi Many English organs of this period when the Swell was taking over from the Choir as the usual secondary manual would have TC (or fiddle-G) swells with either the Gt Stopped Diap duplexed onto the lower notes, or a seprate rank of of St Diap pipes (and maybe a couple of other stops) as a "Choir Bass". An interesdting example is Peter Bumpsteads reconstruction of a vintage Bishop at Haslingfield - see http://www.npor.org.uk/cgi-bin/Rsearch.cgi...ec_index=C00877 this gives a bit of variety on the pedals to widen the available repertoire, whilst remaining true to the organ's roots. (It had previous undergone a number of alterations over the years). Every Blessing Tony

Hi I gather that once appointed, Roman Catholic priests have a very large say in what goes on in their churches, including the fabric (from what I hear, virtually a dictatorship if mishandled). The UK Catholic church does have an organ advisor - but I don't know how much say he has on specific projects. UK Anglicans have a faculty system that should at least prevent the worst excesses. Methodists in the UK also have organ advisers - but I think the local church (plus perhaps the circuit meeting) have a good deal of sway. In the UK, the real problem denominations are those that have congregational church government (mainly Congregational and Baptist as far as possession of pipe organs is concerned). A significant faction in the Baptist church is anti-organ - and a good many viable instruments have been disposed of - the ultimate decision is in the hands of the Church (members) Meeting - but the whims of the pastor often hold a great deal of sway. Thankfully, there are some Baptists who appreciate the organ still - but it sometimes feels like a lone "voice calling in the wilderness" (to misquote scripture). Every Blessing Tony

Hi I did hear that the Echo division of the previous organ (pre-Phelps) in Hexham Abbey still remains in the triforium, albeit unplayable. See http://www.npor.org.uk/cgi-bin/Rsearch.cgi...ec_index=N04089 Every Blessing Tony

Hi Yes - and why not. It's often the only time that many people darken the door of the church, and I like to try and give them something to think about regarding the reality of Christmas rather than the traditional commercial accretions and myths. Over the years I've had some pretty telling comments, lie "I didn't realize that Christmas and Easter are linked"!!! Any sermon at a carol service needs to be reaso0nably short and,above all, relevant. For the past couple of years, we've done 2 - one in each church, but with many of the same congregation at one to support the smaller congregation - at least this year I only need one sermon - the other is being preached by one of the senior figures in the Baptist Church, who just happens to have been brought up at one of our churches, and is home for Christmas. I also include some more contemporary & less familiar hymns & songs - but OTOH, we do try and ensure that all the well-known carols are sung at least one in a service during the Christmas season - that's important to some people. The only exception I made to this was a few years ago when Bethlehem was virtually under seige, so I didn't use "O Little Town" - but did explain why as a focus for prayer. Amazingly, there were no complaints! Every Blessing Tony

Hi Well worth a visit. I've been a couple of times, twice when our organ was in the works, and I arranged for a small group from the Bradford Organists' Association to go. Fascinating (as are all organ builder's workshops). I understand that the Aukland job is well under way. Every Blessing Tony

I'd guess a gentle wash followed by metal polish should do the trick - just a lot of elbow grease! Just handle the pipes gently, as pipe metal bruises rather easily! Every Blessing Tony