Tony Newnham
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Posts posted by Tony Newnham
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I just thought readers of this forum might be interested in the following which appeared in today's Church of England Newspaper.
"A vicar who tried to modernise his church’s services has been defended by his bishop after more than 60 worshippers quit in protest at the move.
"The Rev Derek Price, vicar of St Paul’s, Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, has replaced the traditional service with a more charismatic approach with gospel-style singing and hand-clapping. He has replaced the organ with a CD player, provoking accusations from some of his congregation of neglecting the organist, choir and youth orchestra.
"Worshippers at the Victorian Gothic-style church have also expressed alarm that Mr Price, previously a development officer with a DIY chain, plans to replace pews with flexible seating.
"Parishioners have complained that Mr Price wishes to alter anything that bear the hallmarks of tradition. Amongst other notable incidents, earlier this year the vicar’s wife, Deborah reportedly danced bare-foot around the coffin at a funeral with the bereaved family’s approval.
"However, Mr Price’s modern approach has been defended by the Diocese of Carlisle. Richard Pratt, a Diocesan spokesman, said that their research revealed that as many people had joined as had left St Paul’s because of the changes.
“Sometimes a church may believe it right to move in a particular direction, which may involve taking risks and perhaps unsettling or upsetting some,” he said. He insisted that removing the pews would bring in more people for “a much wider range of activities and styles of worship.”
I agree that change in worship is necessary - there has been constant change over the past 2,000 years - even in some degree in the most traditional of churches! However, change can be handled more diplomatically - and in my experience, it's better to start where the people are! Certainly there's no reason to dispose of a perfectly useable organ, just because it doesn't suit the incumbent's tastes! And if he has an choir, organist and youth orchestra, why use canned music (which is very difficult to sing to).
I see similar things happening in Baptist churches only too frequently. Contemporary worship music has its place - but not to the exclusion of everything else - and there is still a place for a well-played organ in the musical line up.
Every Blessing
Tony
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Surely Mr. Sayer has answered his own point.
I would have thought that there were many instruments in the UK which were deserving of a place in the survey - abd not just those from the 18th C., either!
A few minutes on the NPOR web site (www.bios.org.uk/npor), looking for organs with a Historic Organs Certificate (HOC) will find a number of contenders.
Most of the major instruments in Cathedrals, etc. have been changed so much over the years that they can't really be called "historic".
Every Blessing
Tony
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Well, why not consider:
-A true 4 or 5 stops pipe organ
-An harmonium?
(This last is strongly coming back on the continent, a good thing!
England did build excellent harmoniums as far as I know).
Hi
As I see it, the options are either a good digital (Copeman-Hart or similar) or a small pipe organ. I guess the cost would be in the same region for either option. A Harmonium would not really be suitable - it's a very different instrument to a pipe organ (I have one - and use the organ in church for organ music practice). Neither would I recommend a 2-manual & pedal reed organ - the speech is just too slow in most cases (and I say this as a reed-organ enthusiast). An off-the shelf digital might be possible, if you can find one with suitable sounds and sensible controls. (I had problems with one I played yesterday, where sunlight shining through an adjacent window made the illuminated stop controls unreadable.)
Historically, of course, you would use a pedal clavichord (there's one currently listed second-hand by the early music shop.
I agree with your sentiments about the ridiculous amount of reverb some electronic organs seem to have - although it's perhaps nice for occaisional self-indulgence, it certainly doesn't sound "right" in a small room - and nor does it aid accurate phrasing, etc. whilst practising.
Good luck in your search.
Every Blessing
Tony
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There was a 2 man extension job by Osmond till a few years ago at St Michael and All Angels, Andover - now replaced by a rather nasty Allen. I played it for school carol services etc. and it worked quite well for this purpose - quite bright and un-stodgy sounding on the west gallery of a fairly resonant modernish church - see the NPOR for details.
AJJ
Yes - the sound of the one in Shoreham was quite good - but the action response coupled with pipes at one end of the church and the console at the other wasn't so clever.
I've also come across a single manual plus pedal 2-rank extension job by them - in SOuthwick Community Church (details on NPOR). I don't know what the current state of it is, as they've just built a new building. The plan was to re-instate the organ, but I don't know if that's actually happened.
Every Blessing
Tony
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Hi
Still with Osmonds - but to change the topic slightly - I learned to play mainly on a 2 manual extension job of theirs in St. Giles, Kingston Buci, Sussex (I remember it being installed). It made some reasonable sounds - considering the amount of extension - but it put me off detahced consoles and non-tracker action for life!
I was just wondering how many similar instruments they made (there are a couple of 1 m extension organs elsewhere in Sussex), and how they compare to the Walker positifs of the same era. (1960's)
Every Blessing
Tony
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The firm of H,N&B was owned by the Christie family and some years ago they decided to close it down. They sold the name however and that continues.
John Pike Mander
Hi
HN&B ceased trading in 1999. Many of the local tuners bought out the goodwill in their areas. I'm not sure what happened to the name - and if whoever bought it is using it as a trading name.
Every Blessing
Tony
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Well done Dave - a search under "Builder" on NPOR shows 218 surveys of organs known to have been built/rebuilt/worked on by this firm. You would have to look a bit closer to see which are still in exisyence, but in my work on the register, Sweetland has cropped up several times.
(Sorry for the late reply)
Every Blessing
Tony
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Hi
As someone who plays a number of different organs, this is an interesting issue. I find in practice that, as long as the pedalboard is somewhere near "correct" (i.e.D under D) in position, then there are few problems. Different pedal compass, and flat pedal boards, especially if not centred, make life interesting.
I personally prefer the Victorian straight, concave style of pedalboard to the RCO/AGO design; and I also like manuals relatively close together to facilitate thumbing, etc. - and drawstops rather than tabs any day!
Every Blessing
Tony
Compton Electrone 1952 Vintage
in Nuts and bolts
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