David Shuker
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Posts posted by David Shuker
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I once saw a stop labelled "Tuba Memphis (Tenor C)". Can't remember where.
In my early days attending organ meetings I spent quite a bit of time wondering what a "Tennessee Swell" was. They must have been discussing the organ that contained the stop above.
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Does anyone on this forum know if James Binns made any instruments bearing his name before he started his own firm in 1880? I know he was an apprentice at Radcliffe & Sagar till 1873 and then worked for Isaac Abbott (pre Abbott & Smith) from 1873 until 1880.
Dear John,
You might find it helpful to contact John Kitchen at the University of Edinburgh. John has a PhD student, Nicola Macrae, looking at the early career of Binns. Nicola gave an interesting paper on her work so far at the BIOS Organ Conference in Oxford in April.
Best wishes,
David Shuker
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Does anyone on this forum know if James Binns made any instruments bearing his name before he started his own firm in 1880? I know he was an apprentice at Radcliffe & Sagar till 1873 and then worked for Isaac Abbott (pre Abbott & Smith) from 1873 until 1880.
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I have a leaflet from Nicholsons about an organ in Oldbury Grammar School, I dont know if it still exists as the school is now a sports college.
Many thanks for this and the many other messages about organs in state schools. In many cases the appearance of an organ in a school was/is related to the enthusiasm of individual members of staff (not always music teachers!) - sadly, sometimes such instruments also disappear quickly once said person moves on.
Regards,
David Shuker
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I saw the DVD of this last night, in which John Cleese plays (as usual) a maninacal character, ths time a headmaster obsessed with time. He describes his school as a "common or garden ordinary comprehensive" and the architecture suggests it was built in the 60s/early 70s. But the assembly hall has a pipe organ - prety rare I would have thought for a common or garden ordinary comprehensive of the 60s!
I can give three examples of organs in state sector schools: 1. I am currently on the board of governors of a state sector sixth-form college in Leicester which has a Walker organ dating from the 1930s on a gallery in the school hall. 2. I am also aware of an organ in Longslade School in Birstall (just north of Leicester) that was built by John Bence and pupils some years ago. 3. On reading through back issues of The Organ I also came across an article about an organ in Maltby comprehensive school in Yorkshire.
These three organs are all listed on NPOR. However, I am sure there must be more. It would seem to me that the excellent work behind the recent RCO/University of Bradford DanMagic animation risks falling on fallow ground if many pupils never get to see an organ in the flesh from primary school right through to sixth-form college.
I would therefore be most grateful if any of you who know about organ in state schools could let me know about them.
David Shuker
Editor, BIOS Reporter
Paper Organ Pipes
in Nuts and bolts
Posted
One further useful reference to paper pipes is an article by Geoffery Bridges in the Journal of the Galpin Society (Vol 47, 1994, pp163-165). His design makes use of a curved flue and upper lip which seems easy to make and for which he claims are based on surviving Italian pipes. In contrast Bridges is somewhat dismissive of the Mark Wicks approach referring to them as 'imitations of metal pipes'. However, the V&A organ pipes appear to mede in a similar way to the Wicks pipes with applied upper and lower lips.