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Ronald Bayfield

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Everything posted by Ronald Bayfield

  1. When necessary I just my left thumb repeatedly.
  2. In the Final of Vierne's 1st Symphony the pedal enters at the end of the second bar. At the reprise (p 51 in my copy) it returns to 2 sharps and the pedal enters at the end of the THIRD bar. That second bar always seems superfluous to me; I think the listener expects to hear the pedal at the end of the second bar. I always omit that bar. Does anyone else?
  3. For my own wedding (58 years ago) the bride entered to "Sheep my safely graze" and we went out to a Stanford Postlude in D. It starts in d minor but ends in a very triumphant major. My late wife said she preferred the Mendelssohn, so at our ruby wedding "renewal of vows".we had it. She didn't want another renewal after 50 years. I recommend the Pachelbel Canon for the register signing if the couple do not specify anything. It is the longest part of the ceremony as anyone who had any connection with the bride insists on getting in on the act. The Pachelbel can be used over and over again and can easily be interrupted when necessary.
  4. The most difficult bit is surely that sustained A in the left hand while the remaining fingers play a series of sixteenths. It starts OK but after a few bars you need to stretch a ninth. I find the easiest way is to use the left thumb in succession for GAG GBG etc. My question is: Vierne was quite a little man and probably have small hands. How did he play it?
  5. There is a manuals only version arranged by Christopher Tambling in "Essential wedding music for manuals" published by Kevin Mayhew. It won't deceive any organist who knows the real thing but is quite effective if asked to play it (as I was) on an organ with no pedals.
  6. I am surprised that such a popular piece in not available. My copy was published by Herman Zengerink of Utrecht but bears a stick-on label "Edition Peters 10-12 Baches Street LONDON N1 6DN". It cost £2.75
  7. I have an autographed copy of Flor Peeters's "Magnificat" (4 parts, organ accompaniment, Latin words). The inscription is "To Mr R Bayfield, Flor Peeters, 26.III.73. Supplemental with brass: 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, bass tuba (timpani & cymbals ad libitum", Would anyone like to have it? Ron Bayfield, ( 01273416544)
  8. I agee: it's a beautiful piece and I always try to use it around Christmas time.
  9. Bearing in mind the fact that most of the congregation will not be regular churchgoers I would use the Bach "In Dulci" because (a) it is much easier than some of the other suggestions, and ( it has the tune, albeit somewhat slower than when t is sung.
  10. I have enjoyed singing Howells's Mags and Nuncs with the RSCM Nicholson Singers at various cathedrals and I play some of his organ pieces. My only reservation is that sometimes he seems to "tread water" between good openings and endings. The "Paean" is a good example.
  11. At the closing service of a Brighton church we had a version of the Doxology sung to "Knees up, Mother Brown": Glory to the Father, Glory to the Son, Glory to the Holy Ghost, Glory to the Three in One; As in the beginning, now and evermore, Glory to the Father, Son and Holy Ghost Amen! Hey!
  12. I am never convinced by the A natural in the left hand of the bar following the one discussed above. There is a sustained A flat in the right hand, so shouldn't the left hand A be flat too?
  13. I always have such books spiral bound as soon as I get them. It only costs a few shillings and solves the problem of not staying flat,
  14. I use Bach's "Wachet auf". It is not funereal, the tune was in a TV commercial some time ago, and the words hint at the resurrection. I am now 79 and have already paid for my funeral under the "pay now, die later" scheme (although they don't call it that, of course). I want a CD of the "in Paradisum" from the Faure Rquiem.
  15. In this anthem John is quizzed by the Levites etc: "Who art thou?" And he answered and denied not "I am not the Christ". So he DID deny. Why does the narrator say he "denied not"?
  16. I have had one promising enquiry and have sent him his first lesson. RON BAYFIELD.
  17. I have taught myself ordinary Braille and music Braille so that I can transcribe organ music for David Aprahamian Liddle, who helped me to learn how to do it. In addition to David I have helped two other organists, several singers and two composers, for whom I transcribe the other way, from Braille into staff notation. I make no charge for these services. I am now looking for another sighted organist or pianist to whom I can pass on this skill as I am now 78. He/she must already know ordinary Braille and possess either a Braille machine or a computer. (Programmes which automatically transcribe text are useless for music). If you are such a person please contact me on ecumorgue@tiscali.co.uk or 01273 416544.
  18. Having visited Soissons and heard the actual carillon I think dotted quarter=67 is a bit on the fast side.
  19. I have always assumed that the builing is floodlit from the outside to show the stained glass at TV broadcast services.
  20. I have always assumed it was live, but having read the other submissions I am beginnig to have doubts. I have always wondered why the sound broadcast is different: why not just record the TV version sound? Also, when I was in Cambridge in 1948 I attended a service of 9 lessons andcarols in King's but it was several days before Christmas Eve.
  21. Sheet Music Plus publish a lot of Sowerby. Go to www.sheetmuisicplus.com
  22. I've often thought that if the electronic organ had been invented first and someone came along and said "I can produce these sounds by using thousands of pipes, lots of woodwork and metal, taking up cubic metres of space, requiring periodic tuning and costing much more" he would be laughed at.
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