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AJJ

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Posts posted by AJJ

  1. St Lawrence Jury church in the City of London has announced on twitter the death of Catherine Ennis, Organist there since 1985. Former President of the RCO, IAO and a tireless exponent of the organ, its music and those who play it.

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  2. Recent news is that the wiring causing blower problems is in the process of being sorted. Furthermore a new air conditioning system has been installed in the area of the Swell organ to alleviate previous tuning problems. There is also to be a small two manual ‘hybrid’ organ (pipes and electronic) to be installed temporarily in the Quire by Cotswold Hybrid Organs as a demonstration organ for their customers. They are apparently very close to Worcester and the Dean and Chapter have kindly sanctioned this. This all from cathedral musicians on a recent Facebook post.

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  3. It was also aired on the BBC R4 Sunday Programme just now, all angles were looked into including a contribution from Hugh Morris of the RSCM. There has been much ‘armchair hot air’ on this but from experience all I would say is that having seen examples in the past of unholy daftness from both laity and clergy In the CofE I personally would not be surprised by anything from either side!

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  4. An interesting comment from Vox Humana and maybe as a player of organ concerts and attendee at pop festivals I can certainly identify with some of what he describes. Maybe not communal dancing and tribalism in my case but there is a difference where the music is part of a total experience. One also experiences this at the proms and similar events and I can’t help thinking that a problem with organ music stems from some organists. Events such as the International Organ Festival at St Albans draw crowds as do the IAO festivals etc. but many organists do exhibit certain ‘head in the sand’ tendencies and yes cliquiness regarding repertoire and programming. Having taught music to 11 - 18 year olds for 40 years I can attest to the fact that young minds at least are receptive to all genres of music but effort needs to be made to introduce etc. The same can be said about church music...but that is another story.

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  5. 2 hours ago, Andrew Butler said:

    As a former member of the cathedral congregation, and having played this organ, this seems a sensible scheme - particularly the Clarion Mixture.  Clifford Harker used to play RH up an octave with a big congregation.  However, I am surprised at the same nomenclature for two Clarinets...?  I am also struggling with the logic of an Acoustic Bourdon at 32' AND a separate Quint stop from the Bourdon.....?

    As far as I can see the Acoustic Bourdon will use the 10-2/3 for the lowest octave only whereas the Quint will be available for the whole pedal compass. Nicholsons have done this recently in a number of schemes.

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  6. Deffinately Evocation of Wells Cathedral - David Bednall, not long published by OUP. Very effective, not difficult and brilliant if you want to sound as if you can do posh improvisations that don’t sound like Pierre Cocherau! Nice also to be able to pop down the road from here and see the place he was inspired by even if the organ there IMHO is not the most inspirational of cathedral instruments.

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  7. At the start of the carol service ‘Variations on Hark the Herald Angels Sing’ by Robert Edward Smith and afterwards, ‘Processional March’ by John Hosking, newly commissioned and delivered just before Christmas. It sounded brilliant on my little 1 manual but designed also to be ‘upvamped’ for a larger instrument. Soon to be published by Chichester Music.

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  8. I used to have a Taskam recorder but now just hook mics. straight into a laptop or ipad via a small mixing box. I use Audacity for everything in my ‘day job’, GCSE and A Level coursework, class performances and on the students’ individual work stations. Easy to use etc. I tend not to record much at church, best to keep it ‘of the moment’ than have bloops etc. preserved for posterity.
     

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  9. The actual stoplist ‘looks’ like others from the same builder and would appear to be attempting to get ‘much’ from ‘little’. What worried me slightly was the need to have wide scale French mutations, Italian flutes and English Stopped Diapasons all coexisting to enable as wide a repertoire as possible to be played. I can’t help comparing it with the new Drake organ at Chelsea Old Church where the instrument has its own definite identity with the attendant ramifications for whoever is playing. To me at least dinky little flute choruses topped by a 1-1/3 are decidedly last century. However, one can not judge by stoplists alone.....

  10. Synoptic stoplist from Organ Club Journal 2018/3.

    Great - 16, 8, 8, 4, 2, IV. Octave, Sub, U.Off

    Swell - 8, 8, 8, 4, 4, 2-2/3, 2 1-3/5, III, Trompette Harmonique 8. Octave, Sub, U.Off

    Positiv - 8, 8, 4, 2, 1-1/3, Cromorne 8. Octave, Sub, U.Off

    Pedal - 32 Resultant, 16, 16, 16, 8, 8, 4, Fagotto 16, 8, 4.

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  11. The organs I play on Sundays in our group parish are all of the small Victorian ‘village’ type (and none the worse for that) and the space we have at home would not have fitted a pipe organ of any complexity. Furthermore I would not have been happy with just a couple of 8’ and 4’ flues however lovely the mechanical action might have been. Keeping in mind also the rest of my family (and neighbours) I opted for a digital. It is however compact in nature, as comprehensive as I need tonally but with no gimics. and above all it does very little else than a pipe organ of comparable size can do. It has some really good sounds and interestingly I do not tire of playing it for extended lengths of time. It means that I can practice in the warm without problems that seem to be encountered re security and insurance from getting church keys these days and if necessary shut the volume right down or use headphones. Above all I am able to keep my technique up to a standard I am happy with. 

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  12. 18 hours ago, pcnd5584 said:

    image.png.5492ff30c369d2e356fc9f321a3a8af9.png

    Nice! I would however like a 2’ on the Swell and as someone mentioned above, a Gamba 8’ or suchlike on the Great  might be nice too. A not too narrow Sesquialtera II and 2’ Fifteenth on the Choir would also broaden resources as would a 4’ Fifteenth on the Pedal. Maybe a Cornet V from TG on the Solo to go with the big reed? Is this yours PCND? I seem to have lost the thread...or plot...or something!

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