Tony Newnham

I've just uploaded a batch of Harmonium recordings to You Tube. These are live recordings from a concert earlier this year. Unfortunately, the quality of the mic, and the automatic level control in the camcorder compromise the sound to some degree, and being a live recording, there are the odd "noises off" - and a few wrong notes! Enjoy. The links are below:- Every Blessing Tony

Hi Maybe he meant from 1850ish? That to a large extent marks the watershed, even though smaller organs in the early 1800's sometimes had no choir and a swell dept descending to Tenor C rather than the earlier Great & Choir as the first 2 manuals. Every Blessing Tony

Hi Liverpool Cathedral organ also has a significantly larger number of divisions than manuals! Every Blessing Tony

Hi Assuming the relation to the pedals is right, I find no difficulty with a flat 4 manual console (nor 3m - although I have come across the odd example where the swell was a long way away because the pedals weren't in the correct relationship to the manuals). I've also had no problem mwith angled upper manuals - and I certainly think it's necessary on 5m (and above!) consoles. However, there are other factors, specifically the amount of overhand and the space between manuals. For example, the organ in Ruthin Collegiate Church, originally designed by Kendrick Pyne (IIRC) as a concert organ has narrower than normal inter-manual spacing - reputedly to make "thumbing down" easier, but in so doing, precluding the use of conventional thumb pistons. I find that a very comfortable console. It seems to me that whatever standards are laid down at various times, organ builders (or their clients) have a tendancy to modify them to fit particular circumstances. Every Blessing Tony

Hi As far as I know, Rick was never regular organist anywhere (but I could be wrong). His Christian roots are at South Harrow Baptist Church (2m Compton extension job - recently restored and a couple of extra ranks added) and he did play there, and IIRC used that organ in the first version of his recording "The Gospel". He is certainly a pretty competent organist and has used organ in several of his recordings, aside from the Lincoln CD already mentioned, which is an interesting set of improvisations. Mander organs even built a 2 rank transportable organ for him, which he still owns, although he says it's in need of some work to make it playable again. These days on stage he uses samples. Organ is quite prominent in several of his tracks, notably "Jane Seymour" from Six Wives. The recent live production of this at Hampton Court Palace featured an organ console suspended above the orchestra's head level. From his web site, he's currently involved in a group of Anglican churches near his home in East Anglia. There's probably more info in the biog section of his website.

Hi There is a great need for someone or organisation to promote quality standards in the non-traditional forms of worship. I don't have any experience of the RSCM, so I can't comment on how well they do this part of their job - but the examples on "modern" Christian music that I saw in one of their recent publications are more than a little dated and not typical of many churches that I know of that use CCM repertoire. Maybe they should only deal with traditional - but then, their title says "Church" music - not "Traditional church" music - so it's certainly a valid addition to their work - given the number of churches that cannot/will not support a traditional choir. Like it or not, the church is changing - just as it always has! Every Blessing Tony

Hi The problem of people seeing the church as no more than a social club is a very real one - something to do on a Sunday if you've nothing else on - but that's down to lack of teaching. I too have reservations about the conduct of some "family friendly" services. The lack of parental discipline seems to be a growing issue in society. These forms of church seem to appeal to some people - not me! In my first church, for some time we had more children than adults, so "family services" were the norm - but not with children running around yelling and causing a distraction. The issue of cultural relevance is important. Even in the Bible, we see a difference in Paul's approach to a predominantly Jewish/"God fearing" audience, and the secular, pagans of Athens. It shouldn't be about "bums on seats" though - more about building the Kingdom of Heaven. Every Blessing Tony

Hi At least some of the Conacher records are listed as held by the BOA - maybe the hon. archivist can help. See the BIOS web site for contact details. Every Blessing Tony

Hi But what criteria would you use to judge what's worthy? A classically trained musician will have one view, my Asian Christian friends would probably have another. And to a large degree, theological correctness is as important as musical worth. Every Blessing Tony

Hi Here here! The only observation I would make is that second-rate (in an absolute sense) is sometimes all that can be presented due to lack of funds/skilled people. However - as Paul said to Timothy "Study to show thyself approved of God". As ministers, church musicians, or any other role in the church, we should never be satisfied that our standards are the very best - because they never are. The church has very often failed by not encouraging those who participate in worship not to study and work tom improve. As Patrick says, there is great danger in being satisfied with mediocrity! Someone doing the best they can at this time, and working to improve is one thing. Someone who is happy with their poor, limited standards and has no intention of doing anything about it is quite another. Every Blessing Tony

Hi I assume by your comments you imply that worship should never change in style & content? That's a common view - but is fatally flawed - the person saying this usually wants church to be as they remember it. Just think for a moment - the logical conclusion of this line of thought is that we would use either Aramaic or New Testament Greek in our worship, and if we used any music at all, it would be Middle eastern in style - and definitely no organs! The Bible actually says very little about HOW we are to worship - simply that God accepts worship from those who worship Him "in spirit and in truth". That really is the only criteria. It doesn't matter if you or I like or dislike a particular worship style - if it helps others worship God that's fine. I do agree that quality is important - and is all too often neglected in UK churches these days - but that's another argument. Every Blessing Tony

Hi We do need to be careful to separate "doing the best we can for God" from personal likes and dislikes in terms of style of music and worship. God doesn't only like traditional hymns and chant! The church as a whole needs to provide space for people to worship in ways that are culturally relevant. For some that may mean BCP, Anglican chant, etc. for others the Latin Mass, whilst for others, the various manifestations of "Contemporary" worship - and even rap (and yes, it has been done!) All can be done well (but all too often aren't - but that's a different issue). Every Blessing Tony

Hi Surely someone like Terry Shires would produce the pipework in the relevant style for your current organ builder to install. Every Blessing Tony

Hi Normally, the license fee is payable per playing of a given track, so that's not the issue. Performing rights might be part of it where material is repeated in more than one prog. Personally though, I suspect the "playlist" mentality - especially prevelant in ("popular" music radio) where a limited number of tracks which are deemed to be popular, or which the producer/record company wants to plug, are played in virtually endless rotation - i.e. the output of most of the Independent radio stations in the UK. Someone has decided what they think the public wants (quite possibly based on results of the various "Top Ten Hymns" polls that the BBC have done in recent years, and stick mainly to that limited list. These days, radio and TV is more about keeping the audience than actually challenging them to think! Every Blessing Tony

Hi To an extent, yes, but unlike the others I mentioned, these are more concert organs with theatre organ trappings added (not a bad things though) rather than being designed from the beginning as dual purpose organs. Compton seems to have had a pretty good idea of the market in his time. Every Blessing Tony

Hi I don't know if both shows were recorded by the same crews - especially as they are produced by different BBC departments and have very different technical requirements, although I suppose it's possible. Regular SoP viewers will have noted some repetition of venues a couple of months or so apart - that's because on occasions they have recorded material for 2 shows at the same session (as recently with the 2 broadcasts from Southwark Cathedral - one of my sons sings in the one of the local choirs that was recruited as part of the "congregation". Every Blessing Tony

Hi The Regal, Marble Arch Christie isn't really a cinema organ in the current meaning of the word - simply because it uses comparatively little extension/duplexing, it's more a transitional instrument between the earlier "straight" orchestral organs - especially those by Hill, Norman and Beard for cinemas (for example, see http://www.npor.org.uk/cgi-bin/Rsearch.cgi...c_index=N15535) and the later extension organs typical of the Christie name. You'll be pleased to heat that this organ has recently been purchased for restoration (I hope a historically informed restoration!). In terms of the largest cinema organ in the UK (although not strictly in a cinema, but very much of the genre) is the Compton installation in the Southampton Guildhall - 41 ranks on the Classical Console, and I think there's an additional Tibia on the theatre organ side, plus the Melotone unit. This is a dual-purpose organ. Stop lists are at NPOR N11620 (Classical Console - scroll down and there's info on the distribution of the ranks between the chambers) and N18285 for the TPO console (as yet we have no information on the derivation of the various stops in the theatre spec. The UK's other large dual purpose instrument (Dome, Brighton) also has a significant number of ranks. Every Blessing Tony

Hi Just a reminder that I'm playing at the Victorian Reed Organ Museum, Saltaire tomorrow (Saturday 18th) and Sunday. Every Blessing Tony

Hi Likewise, my main knowledge of church history is the "Victorian" period - my knowledge of earlier eras is limited - but I suspect the older Scottish denominations date from around the same period (mid-1600's). Every Blessing Tony

Hi Not so. At least the denomination (NOT Sect,please, Baptists are NOT a sect in the modern meaning of the word). The group known at the time as "independants" - more recently Congregational churches - date back to the 1600's, and the current Congregational Federation has churches dating from the period and still in existence, as do the Fellowship of Evangelical Congregational churches and the URC, which was formed in ?1972? by a union of the Presbyterians and a significant number of Congregational Churches. I suspect that there might be other, more minor denominations, that also date back to that era. Evey Blessing Tony

Hi I've yet to look a the fugue in any detail! Please note (with ref. to the next post) that I din't say that legato was touch was wrong, merely pointed out, as the quote from OR implies, that legato i sometimes ruled out by the musical texture, and there's no need to try and force the passages into legato when presumably the composer and his contemporaries never expected any such thing. Every Blessing Tony

Hi More likely the parts shouldn't be legato at all. From what I've heard/read, constant legato is largely a Victorian invention, and doesn't need to applied in earlier music where the layout of parts, etc. makes it impossible/difficult. Another example is the Wesley Choral song. In it's original version, much of the bass is in octaves - no realistic way to play them completely legato.

Hi In the Bradford Organists' Association we have a handful of young organists - helped by our sponsorship of 10 organ lessons for interested beginners (of any age). 2 have passed Grade 5 with high marks within a year of starting organ lessons (no doubt aided by parental support!). Another plays regularly in their home church, and often deputises elsewhere. Introducing youngsters to the organ is key - and equally improtant is ongoing encouragement. Every Blessing Tony

Hi Returning the organ to original specification and making additions are mutually incompatible! Why not just restore as original - presumably it was deemed adequate and fit for purpose at the time. Too many attempts to "improve" organs end up with stops that just sound "wrong". Every Blessing Tony

Hi The point of streaming audio is to - theoretically at least - prevent private recordings (copyright rears its ugly head again). That said, the last time I wanted to recrd an audio stream I just connected the output of the computer soundcard to ad audio CD recorder. My only attempt at recording a stream in the computer failed with large digital spikes - a complete waste of time (but others may have had more success than I did.) Every Blessing Tony