Malcolm Kemp

(I did give a link to a very old topic on this Board but in retrospect decided not to do so).

Which is exactly my own situation. So much easier and without the hassle. Malcolm

In Brighton currently two churches have organists who are also churchwardens and another church has an organist who is also the treasurer. Others are on PCCs and I have, in years gone by, been on a PCC and a Deanery Synod as a paid church organist. It has been quite common over many years in Brighton and Hove for paid organists to be churchwarden as well, and many others have been - and are - on PCCs as ordinary members. Obviously, it is prudent that they leave the meeting when the organist's salary or anything similar is being reviewed. I'm not sure how they find the time, frankly! At one church the Vicar insisted that I be elected on to the PCC. I disagreed with virtually everything he said at meetings (it was at the time he was installing a nave altar &c.,) and was never asked to stand again! I would add that since then - over 30 years ago - we have become very good friends. Far worse than being on a PCC is being on a Worship Committee. Never in my life have I wasted so much time listening to people talking utter rubbish about matters of which they have no knowledge or expertise whatsoever than at Worship Committee meetings. Malcolm

The tune to "Hail Thee, Festival Day" as it appears in the English Hymnal, rather like other hymn tunes by Vaughan Williams, is quite difficult for any congregation to sing and get right. I think one hymn book (I can't remember which) gives a version in which the printed rhythm is deliberately altered to match what nearly everyone actually sings. Of course, if you do it properly, with cantors singing the verses, the congregation only has to bother with the chorus and that makes life easier. I have to say that "Hail Thee Festival Day" is a hymn I avoid if at all humanly possible, much as I like processions. Far better is "Hail, Festal Day" which I first encountered when I was a server at All Souls' Brighton in the early 1960s. The only churches I know of which definitely still use it are St Bartholomew's Brighton (Easter only) and All Saints' Margaret Street. There are versions for most of the the festivals of the Christian year and also of Lift High the Cross, There are about 5 different, but similar, tunes - all composed by the Rev. James Baden Powell (one time precentor of St Paul's Knightsbridge) and the one everyone knows is the Easter one in C major. I believe St Bart's Brighton (who always have a full orchestra on Easter morning) begin it with a massive, dramatic roll on the timpani whilst the procession forms and incence is put on & blessed. The good thing about these settings is that they are so easy, singable by anyone, and the tunes are easily memorised - the kind that once you have heard them they stick in your head for the next fortnight and crop up in your mind while you are doing the ironing or mowing the lawn. I think you can still get one-off reprints of the Easter setting (which is the best) from either Musicroom or Banks. I have got the whole lot and could supply single copies for anyone wanting them (nearly 40 pages in all). They went out of copyright many years ago. I have only ever seen the words (only) in the old 2-volume Knotts/Novello "New Office Hymn Book" which is long out of print but they can easily be printed on sheets for the congregation. Malcolm

I have Braeburn Software (www.braeburn.co.uk) which occasionally issues updates and was written by a musician who knew and understood what we need. Cheaper than Sibelius although word reaches me - accurately or otherwise - that schools, particularly sixth form colleges - like their students to use Sibelius. I don't know why. Malcolm

I think it was the present Bishop of Salisbury (a former Oxbridge organ scholar and author of a lot of Common Worship) who made himself very unpopular a few years ago by saying that the vast majority of Anglican services are very boring and very badly done and this is the reason why people don't go to them. He was absolutely right. Choir members of any age or gender wearing any kind of robes other than cassocks and cottas/surplices put me off immediately - especially blue, red or purple gowns with matching hats - and my experience is that choirs thus clad usually sound as dreadful as they look. Young people DO respond to the beautiful and the numinous in worship and even quite young children can respond to a reverent sense of atmosphere which adults have created. My experience is that places which provide the best music and the best liturgy usually also provide the best preaching, sense of community and pastoral care. (An obvious example is All Saints' Margaret Street.) This is because the people involved in that worshipping community care and take trouble over everything they do and they attract others who are happy to do likewise. I regret having to say this, having for most of my life attended church on average several times a week, but - certainly in the deaneries of Brighton and Hove - most of the churches provide services which - regardless of churchmanship - are too awful for words and I am sure they are no worse than anything you would find elsewhere. Yesterday morning I felt far more in communion with God whilst sitting at home playing Mozart piano sonatas than I would have done if I had gone to church and I genuinely regret having to say that. Walsingham, of course is another matter; I could happily worship there permanently. Last year at Walsingham two RC gents from London were staying at the same B&B place as me and they both refuse to attend any form of Mass anywhere other than Latin Tridentine (Extra-Ordinary Form). I find this just as silly as Anglicans who will only attend BCP services or English Missal services. Almost any form of liturgy can be made meaningful, beautiful and reverent and almost any form of liturgy has something postive to offer. Equally any form of liturgy can easily be done so that it is awful and puts people off - especially young people who are more discerning than a lot of older people realise. I know there are many parishes - including a number in the Brighton area - which are very poor, lacking in numbers and staffed by weary, faithful clergy who do their very best to provide good worship under difficult circumstances. Sometimes they succeed where other fail. Malcolm

I've got a feeling he was at one time Director of Music at Brighton College so a starting point might be Dr John Pemberton (curator-organist of Hull City Hall organ) although I'm sure he was a student at Brighton College well after Philip Dore's time. Is he any relation of William Dore whose name seems to crop up quite frequently in musical circles? I've heard many tales of him in times past; some may be apocryphal and some unprintable. I hope this helps a bit. Malcolm

For those whose choir directing responsibilities include a need for pre-Vatican 2, or better quality post-Vatican 2, music and help with performing it - either Roman or Anglo Catholic - could do worse than look each day at the New Liturgical Movement website. They sometimes have useful music that can be downloaded free. Malcolm

Funerals £60 Weddings - without choir £100 with choir £125 Wedding fees doubled if there is a video Adult choir members - not less than £25 each Malcolm

Having had years - nay, decades - directing church choirs of all levels of attainment, attended countless choirtraining courses, lectures, demonstrations &c., as well as passing the RCO choir-training diploma in 1976, I finally found some material, just over a year ago, which surpasses by many miles everything I have ever come across on the subject and it all comes from the USA. Let me say at the outset that I have never been the greatest fan of anything connected with the USA but they do seem to have an incredibly good system of pedagogy for teaching things like choir training. Increasingly I suspect their educational systems are currently better than ours. You could look at www.singers.com where they have some useful books, videos and DVDs. Better still, go to http://www.giamusic.com/music_education/index.cfm Anything involving James Jordan - books/DVDs/Videos - is worth getting. He works with the Westminster College Choir of Rider University and was a student of Elaine Brown. One of his own best graduate students has been Matthew MeHaffey who has, himself, now written several books. You get incredible clear, sensible and logical help with all aspects of choral singing, vocal technique, blend, intonation,accompaniment, conducting, rehearsing &c., &c., &c., They are infinitely better than anything you will ever come across on an RSCM course or in magazines like Organists' Review or Choir & Organ. You learn about getting choirs to improve their intonation by listening harmonically, you learn about applying Laban to conducting and you learn many other things as well. On a personal and pastoral level (for every choir director must be pastoral and deal with people) James Jordan's short book "The Musician's Soul" is about the best I have ever read on the subject. It has additional chapters by his former students, including one very moving chapter by Matthew Mehaffey. In that short book you learn, amongst other things, about mimetics and centering. There is much helpfuladvice on a revolutionary system, developed by James Jordan's regular accompanist, whereby the pianist is able to help choirs stay better in tune during rehearsals. All these purchases from the USA arrive in the UK quite quickly. Occasionally you have to pay customs duty. I have spent literally several hundred pounds on this merchandise over the past year and I consider it amongst the best use I have ever made of my money. It has totally changed my whole outlook on, and technique of, choir directing. Those who like to conduct church or chamber choirs in the manner of Boult conducting a large symphony orchestra will probably disagree with a lot of it (and, sadly, there are people around who want to conduct church choirs &c., in that way) but that is their problem. Malcolm

I agree with pcnd - not at all a pleasant sound when the mixture was added. Malcolm

Here is a copy and paste from the current York Minster website: John Scott Whiteley, Organist at York Minster, to Leave the Minster in September Published: on 9th April 2010 by Kendal Mosley-Chalk in Minster News The Organist of York Minster, John Scott Whiteley, has announced that in September 2010, after thirty five years of service, he will leave his post at the Minster in order to pursue his freelance career. John joined the Minster in 1975 as an Assistant Organist to Dr Francis Jackson, but for the last nine years has held the title of Organist. He worked for many years with the former Master of the Music, Philip Moore, and more recently with the Director of Music, Robert Sharpe. As a recitalist, John has performed throughout the world, undertaking frequent tours to Europe, the USA and Australia. He has composed a number of works and made numerous recordings, including the BBC2 series “21st Century Bach.” A farewell concert will be arranged to commemorate John’s career, at which the Dean of York, the Very Reverend Keith Jones, will present John with title Organist Emeritus in recognition of his many years service to the Minster. Further details of the event will be announced shortly. The Dean said “John Scott Whiteley is a marvellous artist on the organ, and his many performances and recordings on the organ at the Minster have over the years won him innumerable admirers. Between 2001 and 2008 he was Director of Girl Choristers and he has been a distinguished ambassador for the Minster both nationally and internationally. We will be pleased to have the opportunity to recognise John’s contribution at a farewell concert, and wish John and his wife Hilary a long and happy retirement.”

Not as much as I used to. At one time I played a number of the "Thirty" chorale preludes (the ones on three sets of ten) quite often but I ended up getting a bored with them and some of them seemed rather contrived. I still play somew of th bigger works on occasions, including the Flemish Rhapsody which is much neglected. I'm told by one of his former students that he wasa very good teacher. Malcolm

Happy Easter to all. Malcolm

I was brought up on this work and I knew someone who knew the author of the words. As a boy I used to have to sing it in the local hospital chapel on Palm Sunday afternoon and in church on Good Friday evening. About 35 years ago I found myself conducting it at St Mary's Brighton on Passion Sunday, singing in the chorus at St Anne's Brighton on Palm Sunday and playing it on Good Friday in Lewes. I can take most of the music, up to a point - if you exclude that horrendously awful tenor/bass duet which seems to be a poor imitation of what Gilbert and Sullivan did infinitely better. What I cannot take are the words which try to turn the Passion into something pathetic and sentimental. I think it was Eric Routley, giving a talk somewhere who said that Passion should be linked to Passive (in the passion narratives, which take up a substantial portion of the Gospel texts, Jesus has things done to him instead of him doing things to/for other people) and not to Pathos. You may or may not agree with Eric Routley (a Lancing College educated URC Minister) but I think he had a point. "O mysterious condescending".......... I find quite offensive, actually. Malcolm

Very sad news but it was good that he had celebrated his centenary. RIP. Malcolm

Musing Muso goes a long way to answering his own question and I agree with what he has written above. I think all of us who have commented on this topic are actually saying more or less the same things but in different words. As humans we experience a very wide range of emotions and it is therefore only to be expected that we should respond to a wide range of musical genres and performances. Currently I am greatly influenced by the Liebestod from Tristan and Erbahme Dich from the Matthew Passion and I have recently found a great liking for the Bach cantatas and even the B minor Mass which, for many years, I disliked. I like Elgar - particularly his sadder music but also the more optimistic works - and R Strauss. Of course I like the polyphony of Masses and Motets and the church music of Schubert, Haydn, Mozart and even Rheinberger. I also like a lot of other works, including lighter music. It is a sad and incomplete person whose musical tastes are limited and such limitations make for dull performances. Malcolm

I think I had mine cleaned once some years ago but I think the ladies in the dry cleaners' were unsure what to call it on the ticket! Malcolm

It is absolutely vital to be historically informed about the music you are intending to play. One of the most vital things I learned from William Whitehead was the absolute importance of musical integrity. Being historically correct is much more arbitrary because scholarship changes and, in all areas of life, each generation likes to dismiss the opinions of the previous generation. In a way that is how society progresses and that is why the study of history is so important. Being historically correct is actually quite difficult, nay, verging on the impossible. Historically informed performances are absolutley vital and much easier to achieve, especially in times when we have the advantages of the internet. How we interpret that historical information, and thereby influence the way we perform the piece. is for us to decide and thereby hangs the musical integrity that William Whitehead - and no doubt many others - stresses in his teaching. So far as Virgil Fox arrangements are concerned I think there is a (minor) place for them. At the age of 14, one of the things that finally persuaded me to have organ lessons was a vinyl LP I borrowed from a friend. It was of Virgil Fox at the Riverside Church playing Bach, Guilmant, Franck &c.,, and it inspired me greatly. A couple of years ago I bought a second hand copy of it, out of interest, to see what I thought of it after not hearing it since 1962. It is truly awful and he takes enormous musical liberties with absolutely everything. Dreadfully unhistorical and inauthentic, yes, but in 1962 it inspired a 14 year old boy in Brigton to start learning to play the organ. Was that so bad a thing? Malcolm

I certainly support the return of Cynic (only) but the matter is out of our hands unfortunately. My understanding is that he will eventually be reinstated automatically if he wishes to be. I know I am not the only one who has benefitted from his kind and knowledgeable advice and help, communicated privately, during his enforced absence. Malcolm

In Brighton there is an RC parish priest and an Anglican Vicar (formerly an RC priest in Italy) who both have the registers signed on top of the nave altar, turning it temporarily into a desk. I have played for weddings in both churches. Undignifed and irreverant, yes, but it certainly encourages them to hurry up. Malcolm

At risk of stating the obvious, I have no doubt that Richard's expertise and flair at each style of playing helps fuel the other. Until Quentin posted the incredible Tiger Rag clip I hadn't heard Richard Hill play theatre organ but I have heard him play for services a couple of times - and hope to do so again on Easter day. It strikes me that he is equally good at both styles and this shows him to be a better all-rouind musician than many organists. Malcolm

Not for nothing is Brighton known as Sin city! Malcolm

You are extremely lucky. I don't know of any church within quite a wide radius of Brighton (not southwards, obviously!) that gets anything like 40 weddings a year. Even major parish churches are lucky if they get 7 or 8. Malcolm

I have certainly either read, or heard it said at a meeting by someone high-up in the ABRSM, that what "pcnd" says is correct. Malcolm