Jump to content
Mander Organ Builders Forum

mrbouffant

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    363

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Posts posted by mrbouffant

    Top 5 Music Books

    in General discussion

    Posted

    And, if it ever turns up, the Clucas book full of salacious gossip on Westminster Abbey.

    I received a copy today, and very agreeable it is too (read at one sitting). Don't get your hopes up on the Abbey stuff... salacious it ain't!!

    Introduce Yourself

    in General discussion

    Posted

    I am Bernard Olivers-Uffant and I am DoM at a modestly-sized Parish Church in Kent. Paul Isom is my DOA who kindly gave me lots of good advice last year, leading to the appointment of headcase et al as our new organ builders. The condition of the instrument improves with each tuning visit which is a blessing. The instrument itself is rather peculiar, as headcase will no doubt attest.

     

    I am a Chartered Engineer, a Chartered Fellow of the British Computer Society and earn the pennies in The Smoke, in order to keep my second wife and our four children in the manner in which they've not yet become accustomed.

     

    I've been playing the organ since the age of 10 but after taking gr8 piano aged 16, I didn't have my first real organ lesson until I took up my current post. Seven diplomas later I'm approaching Fxxx with trepidation and fear, paralysed by the worry that I've left it all too late (I'm now in my late 30s...) --- Henry Fairs is also my teacher and most excellent he is too...

     

    Outside of work and church life I sing with the local glee club, try and keep my golf handicap in single figures and hope one day to farm llamas and alpacas on the verdant slopes of the South Downs.

    Rco

    in General discussion

    Posted

    Having wittered on at inordinate length, I forgot the most important piece of info of the lot, which is that I was 32 before I got around to doing my FR. So go for it, mrbouffant!

     

    Cheers dude. My plan is to give FRCO practical a bash next Summer... As for FRCO paperwork ... :blink:

    Registrants

    in General discussion

    Posted

    Just conversing with a dude on another forum about his wunderkind son. Mid-teens, organ scholar somewhere, but can't get through a setting of the canticles without needing a registrant.

     

    Is this typical of the organ scholars of the modern age? Is a full 999-stage stepper, 64 channels of memory and 8 general pistons not enough?

     

    Where will it all end? The youth of today etc.

    Rco

    in General discussion

    Posted

    I for one regard the FRCO very highly, if only because of the difficulties involved in achieving it. I positively yearn to get to a point where I can have a go -- does that make me sad?

     

    Compared to the fellowship dips offered by other institutions (e.g. ABRSM, Trinity, LCM etc.) one might say that the performance element of FRCO seems the _easiest_ (granted, the marking scheme adopted may be particularly harsh) but of course there are all those other hoops to jump through.. arbitarily awkward though some of them may be.

     

    I was extremely proud when I passed ARCO at the ripe old age of 35, if only because it's not every day you get the thoughts of three cathedral organists on one's own playing (in my case Exeter, St. Albans and Southwark I think...)

     

    I would love to see the demographic of those passing ARCO and FRCO. What is the average age? How rare is an FRCO for someone in their 30s/40s/50s ? Does one have to do it in the "white heat" of studenthood or early 20s to have any chance? Perhaps there is no hope for me...

    Rco

    in General discussion

    Posted

    The point is MM, that they did pull back from overcomitting themselves. I think the true proof of the pudding will come when they decide what to do _next_ ...

    Rco

    in General discussion

    Posted

    I see the "new" RCO website is up and running and that their "opening" hours remain the same. I have visions of knocking on a door on a side street somewhere between the hours of 10 and 4 and being led into someone's back bedroom. lol....

    Associating With The Organ

    in The Organ

    Posted

    Interestingly, I stumbled across a recorded version of the "Finale" from the Guilmant 1st Symphony, which I normally associate with being an organ solo.

    However, I seem to recall that it was also scored for organ & orchestra, but I had never heard this until now.

     

    When heard in this form, the work seems to come alive.

     

    Indeed, I am a big fan of both Guilmant Organ Symphonies (Sonata 1 = Symphony 1 and Sonata 8 = Symphony 2) ... the second seems more symphonic somehow, that opening movement with the string appregios above the tune in the basses.. the cheeky scherzo.. the imposing double fugue in the finale.

     

    Prof. Tracey has recorded both on Chandos and very nice they sound too, although the second Symphony is taken at a fearsome pace which one could never attempt to replicate if playing the solo Sonata!

     

    I'd love to hear either (but especially the second) in a concert setting.. perhaps a prom? Some hope methinks..

    Pedal Stop Query

    in The Organ

    Posted

    I was conversing with a colleague about an instrument with a Quint (5 1/3) stop on the Pedal. He asked me how useful such a stop might be, and I said "not much".. Am I being too dismissive? The organ in question is II/25 and the Quint apart, typically English...

    New Neo-classical Organ Spec Thoughts

    in The Organ

    Posted

    Re: The Glenalmond spec.

     

    A modest instrument of 26 stops. Eight generals? Eight divisionals each? 64 memory levels? Wow! Is this overkill or just a reflection of the fact if you're gonna have a few generals, you might as well go completely over the top?

    Registering Buxtehude/bach On An English Organ

    in The Organ

    Posted

    Learned friends. I'm currently working on the Buxtehude F# minor Praeludium and a couple of Bach chorale preludes.

     

    My instrument in the shires is very English: lots of open diapasons, a soft but colourful choir division etc.

     

    I would like to effectively register these pieces but I'm not sure where to start from first principles. Do you know of any treatises/articles/general advice on translating what might be the "correct" German Baroque approach into an English context?

     

    Thanks in advance for your help.

    Your 20 Best Hymns?

    in General discussion

    Posted

    An interesting topic, I just wonder how everyones lists are influenced more by how much fun it is to play a particular tune and the actual merits of the hymn itself? Guiting Power for example, Michael is another ... a bit different for the organist, interesting to play, sexy if you like ... but add the words and a congregation and does it make a satisfying whole?

×
×
  • Create New...