Tony Newnham

Hi And if you care to send us the current spec, that can also go on NPOR! Every Blessing Tony

Hi 2 upcoming events:- Sat 22nd September 6:30 pm at Heaton (bradford) Baptist Church (BD9 5PX). Celebration recital by Andrew Teague (Bradford Cathedral) following the restoration of the c.1820 chamber organ. Sat.15th & Sun 16th Sept. Victorian Reed Organ Museum, Saltaire - I will be playing demonstration recitals each day - around 12:00 & 2:00 each day. Hope to see some of you at one or other (or both) events. Every Blessing Tony

Hi A copy of the 1972 "Theatre Organ World" list has 2 Jardines (or to be accurate, Jardine-Smith) - a 2/8 "Symphonique" in the Regal, Grays & a 2/5 "Symphonique" in the Empress, Manchester. Jardine and Company are credited with 33 (13 are unit organs, the rest straight) - I don't have time to list them all this morning (Sunday mornings are busy!) - drop me a PM or e-mail as a reminder and I'll try and do something next week. One of my "background" NPOR projects is to try and get our listings of cinema organs done - there are a few on already, plus most "original locations" for Christies (from the HNB records). Other "small" cinema organ firms were:- Vincent (1 organ according to TOW list) Hilsdon (3) Spurden Rutt (3) Ingram (4) Conacher (10) Every Blessing Tony

Hi I think you'll find that Jardine did build a few unit cinema organs, as did Spurden Rutt and a couple of other firms, so the organ could well have been partly "cinema organ". Every Blessing Tony

Hi Personally, I'd have reservations - it does seem rather "over the top" - but if it suits the current requirements of the church (rather than the organist's fancies) then I'd not object. Every Blessing Tony

Hi I would guess that there's no HOC because the organ has been altered (Binns changed the action IIRC) and was altered again at the recent rebuild. The HOC requirements are quite specific - the chamber organ here at Heaton was turned down for one because there had been too many changes. Every Blessing Tony

Hi My late lamented Jennings was a bit like that - not quite so big - 48 valves in the generators and probably around another 15 elsewhere in the circuit, and built-in speakers - it too generated a fair amount of heat (and a decent sond for the era - I guess it dated from the late '50's/early 60's. Every Blessing Tony

Hi The article in "the Organ" July 1951 says the organ incorporates "parts of the original Jardine and also parts of a Jardine that stood, formerly, in a local cinema." - and gives the wind pressure as "only 3 inches". Every Blessing Tony

Thanks Frank - that may be 2 more - I thought the one I remembered was in the London area (and is on NPOR - the Latin stop lists for the 2 you mention aren't). Every Blessing Tony

Hi It's a little tucked away on Willis' site - and now only a picture (there was some blurb until they changed in the last few weeks). The pic is at http://www.willis-organs.com/gallery1.htm - scroll to the bottom row, right hand side. Every Blessing Tony

Hi P&S - part of the Walker setup. P&S Organ Supply Company (UK) Ltd Twikenham Avenue Brandon Suffolk IP27 0NZ sales@pands-companies.co.uk Every Blessing Tony

Hi I've a vague recollection of reading about one, so maybe there was. There was certainly an organ built with Latin stop names - it's on NPOR but I can't remember where (which isn't much help among the 30,000 or so surveys on the server!) Every Blessing Tony

Hi I don't know about inexpensive! There are very few UK organ builders where that description applies! The obvious places to try are Renatus and P&S. Willis have done a custgom one for a customer's digital organ (pics on their web site) and I guess some other pipe organ builders might consider this if they have enough time. Maybe it's a niche in the market that needs filling. Every Blessing Tony

Hi Sensible - so do I (and a small selection of music) Every Blessing Tony

Hi There is (was?) a lengthy article on the Mander website about this - and there has been some coverage in the organ magazines (take a look at the NPOR survey for references - http://npor.emma.cam.ac.uk/cgi-bin/Rsearch...c_index=N01857) Every Blessing Tony

Hi The tracking of pipe pitch incombination organs is not yet really accurate. I've been to presentations by Peter & Lucy Comerford (designers of the Bradford organ) and also played their combination organ in Addingham Parish Church. Although you can use a sensor to track temperature (and hence adjust the pitch of the electronics) it's actually not that straightforward - for example - where do you measure the temperature? Ambient in the room, in the swell box, incoming air to the blower, etc? These can all be different - sometimes by a significant amount. And that's before you even think about tracking departments in different places within a building (e.g. Werkprincipal layouts where departments are at different levels - hbot air rises! I was shown how to clean and tune reed pipes (by one of Nicholson's tuners) many years ago - it's really not that difficult to do yourself - and many organists expect to tune their own reeds. Every Blessing Tony

Hi I used to practice on a small 2m Father Willis in St. George, Brede in Sussex. On that pretty well any combination of stops - no matter how bizarre - made a musical sound (maybe not appropriate to the repertoire, but musical). Another example - on the recently rebuilt chamber organ here, Willis' have modified an old Keroulophone rank (that probably supplanted the original Stopped Diap treble in the 1870's) into a beatiful Stopped Diapason - the only drawback is that it's rather on the quiet side (making it louder induces excessive chiff - not in character with the rest of the organ). Played by itself it's the quietest stop on the organ (softer than the Dulciana even) - but it can be drawn as the only 8ft beneath the Principal and/or 15th and somehow it seems to "grow" and make a very useable alternative to the Open Diap. Every Blessing Tony

Hi Barry If you have any evidence for this, (or a quotable info source) please let NPOR know and we will update the records. The same goes for the HNB "Chester" organ. Every Blessing Tony

Hi I'm by no means committed to replacing the Open, but my thinking is:- 1) I haven't got enough height for the tenor octave (currently front pipes), so putting a 2ft rank in is easier (I see little point in a mid.C Open Diap, whilst a Ten C or Mid.C 2ft opens various solo possibilities. Also, the conveyancing for the front pipes is damaged. I may be able to re-arrange them if I do decide to retain the OD. 2) I'm concerned that an Open Diap scaled for a church organ will be too loud in a domestic setting. 3) I play a lot of early english music calling for cornet solos, etc. and I think that a 2ft will be more useful than the Open + Stopped Diap combination (which I agree is also very characteristic) (but it does also rather depend on how the existing Principal sounds (I was only able to play the organ very briefly, and since it hadn't been tuned for 3 years, the tuning was "interesting" to say the least. I did briefly consider replacing the OD Treble with a 3 rank Cornet, but I suspect that the work involved is beyond my current capabilities. I'm not certain yet what line I'll take. Although 8-4-2 seems to be pretty common on small organs these days (and moving things up or down an octave adds other possibilities) I may still retain the OD- or go to 8-8-4 with a Dulciana or similar plus either a Stopped or Open Diap & Principal (or do I change the principal for a 4ft flute?) Even with 3 stops, there are many permutations. A lot will depend on what the pipework sounds like once I start getting in back in (I still need to finish the action, having had to build a new building frame - the chest and reservoir were screwed to 2X1 battens inside the case!) I agree that 8+8 can be nice - the c.1820 chamber organ downstairs in the church has 3 8fts (Stop Diap, Dulciana, Open Diap in order of volume) and they can all be mixed and matched, or used singly or in combination with the Principal & 15th. I'd be interested in other suggestions - but please bear in mind that whatever I need I will have to either scounge, or will need to be very little money! The current Stopped Diap (actually a Clarabella treble) is in pretty poor condition. As far as I know, the metal pipework is reasonable (but it has been moved twice since it came out of the organ). Every Blessing Tony

Hi I wear shoes. I have a pair of ordinary shoes (fairly cheap) that I keep solely for organ playing. For me, there are 2 reason (other than it being what I was taught back in the 1960's):- 1) it's one less variable when playing on different pedalboards, and 2) by keeping them for organ only, they don't pick up the inevitable pieces of grit from outdoor wear that can scratch the finish on the pedals. The shoes have a fairly narrow toe (I was once called on to play unexpectedly when I was wearing rather broader toed and heavier shoes - the pedalling was far from accurate!). I'm now on the 2nd pair, the first lasted over 20 years. I have tried playing in socks and bear feet, but find it uncompfortable and tiring on the small muscles in the feet. Every Blessing Tony

Hi Sounds like a good idea to me. I'm a member of the American-based DIYAPASON list, but the scale of most of the projects that get a mention there is far bigger than anything I'd have room for. My current project is a 3 stop job, attributed to Bishop, that I rescued from a church to save it from being broken up. It's not playing yet as I'm sorting out previous bodging - presumably by an organ builder who worked on the thing in the past (I doubt it left Bishop's works with no real building frame!). Once I get a little further, I may well be looking for some replacement pipework - especially a Stopped Diapason treble (many of the wooden pipes are held together with insulating tape - and the stop I have is a Clarabella, despite what the stop knob says!) and maybe a 2ft flute to replace the Open Diapason, giving me a stop list of Stop Diap, Principal, Blockflute 2 TC, all dividing at middle b,c Rather than the present Stop Diap, Open Diap, Principal. Let me know if you do set something up - and the magazine articles sound like a good idea as well. There are a few house organs listed on NPOR, but I'm pretty sure there are many missing (n.b. we do NOT publish addresses for current house installations - just the town - unless we are either asked to or the information is already in the public domain so no need to worry on the security front) Every Blessing Tony

Hi A mystery indeed. My guess is that the stop list pre-dates the Vowles enlargement (the source is the Charles Drane notebooks whiwh don't have dates (and it's always possible that he missed out the choir) - or maybe the choir dept was "prepared for" or removed at some time. The 1995 date stems from the deleted duplicate survey, which was almost certainly a "mini-survey" with no great detail (I don't have time to chase it back in the archives). Sadly, there doesn't seem to be enough info on the web site to resolve the issue. Can I suggest that you e-mail the NPOR office and this will get added to the list and updated as far as possible when it reaches the top of the pile - at the very least we need to flag up the fqact that the organ has moved and at least note the discrepancy in number of manuals. Every Blessing Tony

Hi I think it's an American tradition. Every Blessing Tony

Hi 50 years on recordings IIRC - but don't forget that the copyright on the items recorded lasts much longer. I don't know about the Performing Rights of the organist (or his executors). Every Blessing Tony

Hi Thanks for this - I think it's a fairly new site -probably still a work in progress as there are no links on the portfolio page. I've added it to my bookmarks. Every Blessing Tony