Jump to content
Mander Organ Builders Forum

mrbouffant

Members
  • Posts

    363
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Posts posted by mrbouffant

  1. Sometimes, sometimes not. Can yabber away quite happily during some things but as soon as I have to move my feet my mouth stops. It's quite odd, because I keep talking, but none of it makes any sense, and then I just snatch odd words, usually on bar lines. Just one more thing to think about...

     

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

  2. 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?

  3. 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.

  4. 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?! :lol:

  5. 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!

  6. 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..

  7. I would be interested to know which, Vox.

     

    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...

  8. All very interesting - I'm currently wondering whether to go for ARCO or the Assoc. Board diplomas, which focus much more on performance (which is, strangely, what I like to do) and don't require an annual subscription. The syllabus content of the RCO diplomas is kind of straying onto another topic so I won't go there - except to say I have no intention ever of attempting to learn to score read 3 C clefs - but as a keen and serious, but very much "non"-professional organist, I can't see that the RCO is offering me anything, except, as Barry says, the 'recognition' of the brand.

    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...

  9. I believe that some years ago the council did consider making its qualifications dependent on current membership, so that if your membership lapsed, so would your FRCO or whatever. Many professional organisations in other fields do this. The RCO backed away from the idea...

    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....

  10. Sounds like the usual pompous Liverpool nonsense.

    Where on earth did the habit of not applauding until the end of recitals come from?

    It can give the whole occassion the atmosphere of a cold night in the morgue.

     

    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.

  11. 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....)

  12. 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!

  13. 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) ...

  14. 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!

×
×
  • Create New...