mrbouffant

Yes, this is exactly my experience too, it's like having a mini-stroke.. very peculiar..

So, pray tell oh well-educated fellows, when does it make sense to have a digital instrument to replace an extant pipe organ? Is there ever a justification? Just curious....

Looks like Paul has committed forum suicide. Bye bye Paul, I enjoyed your posts... Do drop me a note one day and come over to play our rather peculiar instrument...

Interesting stuff Barry. I assume though that YouTube has "terms of service" which one would agree to before signing up and uploading any video. Does this not explicitly prohibit a user from uploading clips that contains copyrighted material?

The relevant PRS link is here....

Very interesting set of photos. The console looks incredibly dark and heavy.. I guess in real life it's not as forboding.. Not sure I'm that keen on the choice of font for the stop labels either.... Still, if it does the job it was designed for....

To paraphrase Pele: "If they are good enough, they are old enough." Since these cathedral musicians are far better exponents of the art than the majority hereon, who are we to judge who lacks quality? Those who can, do etc.

Not that much different compared to what? Having sat ALCM, ARCO, grade 8 theory and 'A' level music when it was hard I would have to disagree with you. I'm grateful for a response though. Thanks.

It may be the RCO exists just to sustain the junior > organ scholar > cathedral organist conveyorbelt, and since many of it's officers are a product of this route, is it any surprise they are so wedded to it? That being said, a few days ago I posted an earnest question in this thread (before it got subsumed by all things theatre organ) and I received as much feedback from the learned people hereon than I did from an email sent to the RCO on the same day. That is to say, sweet FA. Perhaps this forum and the RCO are more similar than certain members may care to recognise?!

They visit you..... I suppose one pays for such a bespoke service (saying that, LRSM is about £375 and DipABRSM is about £150, and they visit you too - exams are a bit shorter and there's no need to mark prior submissions...)

Dude, the cost of the ABRSM FRSM diploma examination is £525 which for a 1.5hr exam with two examiners and somebody to mark a 5000 word essay submitted about three months before the practical. This is an organisation that does hundreds of thousands of exams a year so even they don't offer economies of scale. FRCO looks cheap in comparison!

I'm gonna fly in the face of forum opinion and have a bash at part of the FRCO syllabus next year. Problem is, finding a teacher for the paperwork bit. Especially one based in the South East, who has recent experience of preparing pupils (successfully) for the dreaded written work and can cope with my less-than-serious attitude.... Any ideas? Feel free to PM if you don't want to namecheck in this thread..

Don't forget it is possible just to sit selected parts of the syllabus, so that will count toward the fees, but not count as either a "pass" or a "fail"....

I trust their fund-raising/contract management will be more professional than their website authoring skills....

Yes, I am also Vox Humana's granddaughter

If I may jump in, I can cite the Engineering Council, British Computer Society and IEE (or whatever they call themselves these days).. I guess most Engineering institutions which award professional qualifications act in this way...

Quite right CB. I'm in your boat and have done ABRSM dips and the ARCO. They have different emphases of course, but it did strike me as as strange that for ARCO, you are playing real organ music for perhaps 15 minutes of a practical exam which lasts 25-30 mins, then you have 30 mins of Aural and 360 mins of written papers. In other words, playing real organ repertoire is only 3.5% of their qualification in terms of effort, if not overall score... I find that particularly bizarre...

I thought this was already the case. I definitely read this in an RCO document when joining initially, or applying for the exam, or getting the result, or something. Can't quite put my hand on the evidence at the moment though....

I guess it depends on the timescale...

After the first work (Hebrides Overture trans. Goss-Custard/Tracey) some began to applaud and a loud, pompous shout of "NOOOOOOOOOO" came from behind me. That ruined the atmosphere more than the clapping did. I can only assume, since the Prof. gave the recital "on the newly refurbished Choir Console" (i.e. the one up in the air) that it was felt more appropriate to take applause from such a lofty position at the end rather than throughout.

Having just returned from the sodden north, I'm wondering if anyone went to the Anniversary Recital and if so, what did they think? (especially about the bit of not applauding between each piece since it was 'not appropriate' for that particular recital....)

Advice required folks! I've been roped in to accompany a choral concert in a few weeks on my normal instrument and I've just discovered that I need to offer some solo organ works in the first half, interspersed between "Zadok the Priest" and two chunks of "The King Shall Rejoice". The second half is the Nelson Mass. Any suggestions? I was thinking of some Haydn musical clock pieces but in all I probably need about 20-25 minutes of stuff, so thought of W.T.Best's transcriptions of the Handel op. 4 Organ Concertos. Your thoughts and comments welcome!

I must point out I am married to a Scouse lass and therefore hold "honorary" Scouse status myself. Missing hubcaps notwithstanding, I also hold a Scouse passport as proof Guilmant 8 is an excellent piece, and in orchestral guise it quite blows one away (cf Chandos' recording of Ian Tracey / BBC Phil / Tortelier) ...

Following on from the Plym post... is anyone risking their hubcaps and going to hear the Prof. on 21st October? I note the programme but, since I only go every five years, am disappointed to see the Reubke is on the list for two recitals running.... Oh for Guilmant 8!

I note the fashion for varied reprises when performing Bach Chorale Preludes. Can anyone shed light on why this should be "authentic" ? I found a quote by CPE Bach from 1760 talking about varied repeats in keyboard sonatas, but what other evidence is there? Thanks all.