ick1508

Congratulations David! (How did you gather said youths near a piano?) I suggested that the RSCM start one, but no joy yet... Almost time for compliments of the season!

Jerusalem (to other words) and I heard the Voice... (Kingsfold) are both in the much-maligned Mission Praise. ... Sunbeam: could I suggest listening and busking? BTW - I see Mission Praise is now in a black edition, with another 100+ songs... the previous one barely fits on the music desk!! The choir would need weightlifting exercises!

Have you tried the link to her 'Wedding piano music' page? 39 wedding tunes (including the Mendelssohn) all arranged in 'restaurant piano' style... ouch!! (Now, at a civil ceremony... ?) Ian

This reply is a bit late, possibly... I had a couple wanting Zadok. They got the intro (big build up, obviously), then the vocal section on full organ, as far as the '...mon' of 'Solomon', which becomes a D chord (over A) then you can use the chord sequence from the end of the intro to bring it to a graunching close. In the vocal section, block chords in the right hand for the tune and harmony, arpeggios in the left (in the style if the introduction), in the tenor octave. Gives it a bit of texture. They seemed to like it, and it works if the bride waits a bit before she starts to walk (depending on the length of the aisle!). Recently, went to a wedding where the bridal procession completed but the organist played the whole piece rather than pull it up or cut to the end at a convenient point. One of the trumpet tunes, shouldn't have been hard. Today's wedding - Pachelbel Canon to enter???? It'll work, somehow. Has anyone ever found a bride wanting Noel Rawsthorne's 'Fanfare for a Bride'?? (I'm still trying to sell it)

Sorry, I had to consult Bicknell.... Downside Abbey! Not sure about the trunks. Here's mine: Green grubs, where pipes will hang (10)

Toccata from Widor 5. (And 'this joyful Eastertide, unaccompanied - choir almost 2 years old now!) The punters love it - one churchwarden was asking what it was - see other threads on 'Can you play and talk?' The rendition wasn't brilliant, but better than the page turner/stop puller's efforts. Despite currently doing music A2 level, he seemed to have lost the ability to read music. Vierne 1 (finale, I assume)? Love to. How on earth do you play those opening bars? I can only manage it with inordinate amonts of wrist swivelling, and never thought it worthwhile to progress further if the start was unachievable. Happy Easter! Ian

Our church (seats 150) is heated (gas 50kW boiler with water-filled radiators) to 10degC night and day all week, and 18degC on Sundays 7am-12:00 for a 11:00 service. Obviously, the backgound heating only costs money in the winter as the thermostat does its job. This heating regime avoids problems with condensation and damp, saving on fabric maintenance, and costs less than the previous electric heating. Organ maintenance is not extortionate especially considering that it's 40+ years since the last rebuild. It's reasonably reliable considering that much of the action is c.1877 and the rest was a 'cost-effective' 1960's job. I assume that allowing the organ to fall below freezing would be as bad as overheating, with moisture freezing in damp leatherwork etc. Is this the cause of 'perishing'? Ian CK

Has anyone noticed that Choir and Organ has started a series featuring pipe organs for practice at home? (This may be their answer to Bombarde32's suggestion that practice organs should be compared in their esteemed publication, but he was talking about toasters) To kick off, Ian Stoupe of Hillsborough has 'gone public' with a Man 8.4.2. + Ped 16 that has cost him about £11k. They seem eager to feature other practice organs; I look forward to seeing board members' instruments appearing in future editions... Ian

Yes, I've avoided using the crescendo pedal at Chester - a few years ago now. An LED digital display indicates the status - 99 steps, I think. As Jenny points out in her book, consoles are full of booby traps for the unwary, crescendo pedals count as big ones, as recorded in other threads... Have Chester ever got round to re-engraving the 'Gt-Ped Combs coupled' stop knob, which actually is the Great Open 16? But back to Karl's question - Are the divisional crescendos a Hauptwerk feature? Are they actually there on the instrument at St Anne's? NPOR (N00645) doesn't mention a crescendo pedal at all. Merry Christmas Ian CK

The current Church Music Quarterly is very enthusiastic about Thomas Adams' set of variations on 'The popular and elegant air entitled Barney! Leave the girls alone' a.k.a. 'Polly put the kettle on'. Rated medium-difficult, manuals only, Fagus Music. No personal view - just pssing the news on. Ian CK

Ooh, good question! Well, they've already had two commas, where I gave them a breath, so no reason not to charge straight on through "...Emmanuel and ransom captive Israel..." And of course, they get a breath in the right place in "... thou rod of Jesse, free thine own..." . No messing about with "freeeeee thine own". But this is village church land with 60 in the pews and a very positive organ. I doubt that I could get away with such niceties in a big resonant building with 1000+ in the congo. The difficulties of successfully leading large congregations have been noted elsewhere on this board. So, each to his (her) own! Ian CK

Neat idea, pcnd. But I went for the TdP this morning, as did the Radio 4 Morning Service. I was just reading about early plainsong and wondered about playing a verse in fifths and octaves, organum style, then crashing into harmony for the chorus, but... maybe next year. (someone had switched off the heating timer so we started at 5degC! Sticky notes here and there...) Ian CK

'Paderborn' always gets an interlude from me, and the Sussex Carol (On Christmas Night...) gets the 2-bar Carols for Choirs intro between verses, even when a congregational hymn. 'Camberwell' (At the name of Jesus) has an interlude provided, of course. The congregation seem quite used to it, but I can't see their expressions at the moment that the swell box opens yet again, heading for verse 6... Ian CK

For consideration: Organ Building and Design, Poul-Gerhard Andersen, translated Dr Joanne Cornutt with the assistance of the self-same Ralph Downes. Reviews the tradition of European organ building, but from a Danish perspective of the 1950's (published as "Orgelbogen" in 1956). But... Mr Bicknell is missing from your list? Click here for enlightenment... Happy reading Ian

At last, something funnier than Top Gear! Episode 2 - watching David Soul conduct two beats then wait to synchronise the third with the orchestra - No, David! Bless 'im... And watching Bradley Walsh follow the orchestra... Still, it shows that the orchestra found him funny too, 'cos they kept him in! My bets are on Sue Perkins. Stunning after only one week's training, cueing every lead, on top of the whole thing. Great tempo, very descriptive conducting, knew the piece backwards. Watch this Choral works next, and concertos coming up. Anyone for the Poulenc Organ Concerto... (edited down to 3 minutes, of course!) And Last Choir Standing... Not a church choir programme, but if it gets people singing in community/secular choirs, all power to them... I play for a school parents' choir, anything from 'Hallelujah Chorus' (the look on the kids faces when they heard that music live, and sung by their own parents!!) to pop songs via a medley from a musical. If the kids see that anything is possible... A pop song 'The Rose' by the kids and parents together went to a church wedding recently (donation to the school, thanks) and was well received... Talking of the kids, has anyone seen the 'Sing Up' programme for schools? More information here... Dumbed down maybe, but wasn't the News Chronicle Song Book (1921) fairly basic to start with? Ian

Sorry Peter, (see PM). Research reveals that - if anyone else was interested - it was a sketched out and "made up as you go along" job. And I still remember it! Ah, well.

I heard this played brilliantly at St Paul's Newcastle-under-Lyme some years ago, and grinned with delight all the way through.

Late? We had a wedding moved from 2.30 to 2:00 recently because the invitations had been pruntud incorrektly. Not a problem in itself, but the previous wedding was at 1:00 - in a different village! The vicar and I walked into the first church, I gave an 'A' to the string quartet on the (electrically blown) reed organ, and the power went off to the entire village. Oh dear. The bride, fortunately, was on time, and the quartet played the hymns, and their programmed exit music. The vicar (still robed) and I left the churchwarden to lock up and shot off to our next appontment. We passed an aged couple in a Micra on the A520 - perhaps they thought they saw a flying bishop. Arriving at the second church at 1:54, I rang the quartet to say that the power was on and a second fee was not in the offing, and trod on a verger's foot as he pondered a huge crack, newly appeared in the chancel arch. Entering the chancel, I nodded hello to the groom - already waiting by the front pew - leapt onto the bench and played something unmemorable. The bride did not arrive on time. At 2:10, I startled the groom, who was still standing by the front pew, by going to the back of the church to fetch an order of service. Have you noticed that whoever prints wedding stationery never has the same hymn book as you, always with a different number of verses? At 2.15 the bride arrived. Perhaps the power cut had caused havoc with her hair dryer.... (P.S. There was also the time the Vicar didn't turn up - but that was in Cheshire...)

So with an internet connection, it could be played from... anywhere! Squinius, abandon that Hauptwerk and hook up your console!

You're not the only one mad enough to do your own emergency maintenance! I spent several hours on Saturday fixing the Great tenor F, which the tuner (Hi, if you lurk here) thought was working perfectly but intermittently stuck with Gt-Ped on (but no other couplers) when I played it... a slightly weaker pallet spring plus extra friction in the pull-down wire area, I think... The gentlest possible assistance with knicker elastic did the trick. No sticking 'F' at the 9L's and C's, or on Xmas morning. Just to keep the thread on track, it must be said that there was much appreciation from all. They are very kind - I thought I needed more practice! Ian PS Does anyone (among the tuners and builders, say?) have strong feelings about organists doing temporary fixes to their church's instrument? Has anyone seen any howlers?

A small church in Staffs was rebuilt about 15 years ago with mining subsidence money. Tbe gutters and downspouts are solid lead, very nice job. When someone started to try to nick the lead recently by levering out the bottom of a downspout and cutting through the stainless steel bolts (it ws a very nice job) they also found some wires soldered into the back of the pipe. They cut the said wires and departed hastily - the downspouts are wired into the burglar alarm... There's a lot to be said for cast iron. Lower value, for starters.

Do they have chromatic soundboard layouts, like a Kirtland and Jardine, or is it just the one at Christ Church, Stone (extended by Laycock and Bannister in the 1960's, not used regularly)?

My first reaction is with drd and Paul. Our boss insists on providing a sermon in 9 L's and C's, and delivers it himself, won't delegate it to our new (and very good) curate, so we have to start at 7pm so he can do the big church first, at 5.30. Hm. But the dear Rev Tony makes a good point too. However, a sermon at the 9LC's has to be really good, when the rest of the service is the best we can deliver. Not just to make a good point (and Tony found a good one, which many carols also make - 'Sing Lullaby' for one) but to make it well. One of the best sermons ever was in Wales, at 40 seconds, including a joke, which I still remember. As the preacher said "We all want to be off sailing, so I'll keep it short." We were all on the water by 12:00.

There's also one from the same people Sorry, not much to add on fingering Thanks for the thoughts on pedalling though. I bought Sanger and AMT for my youngest and thought I was doing it all wrong! Ian

It seems to be overstating the obvious to agree with Pierre. Fortunately, Stephen built his own memorials. Not just the organs, but the literature - in print and and on the Web. I have described 'The history of the English organ' as one of the best books in the English language, not just for its thorough factual content, but for style... Members of the board won't need me to point out that an absorbing hour can be had, just by going to piporg-l and searching the archives for 'bicknell'. Or, hilariously, re-visiting the Essays. Ian