Paul Morley

I visted Rock Church whilst on holiday last summer. Judging by the rather kinky looking harness attached to the back of organ bench, this novel swell mechanism has been restored.

Re. earlier discourse on this thread, Through gates of pearl(-)streams (gasp) In the countless host takes some beating for crassness.

I played for a concert at Keble College, Oxford at some point in the mid 80s. The detritus in the loft included a traffic cone and a crate of empty beer bottles. Some years later, I shared this information with a friend of mine who had been organ scholar at Keble in the late 70s. He expressed outrage at such an appalling decline in standards in a relatively short space of time. He was adamant that in his day you could have expected to find only fine wine or sherry bottles.

I once played for an ecumenical service where the proceedings were kicked off by the RC priest (we were in his church). This gent was as Irish as Guinness or leprechauns and had the accent to prove it. The typed and spirit-duplicated service sheet (it was a long time ago and I was very young) informed us that the good father was to lead us in 'an act of tanksgiving'. A few years ago a service sheet at an Easter service for which I played contained a hymn with the following couplet, ‘He brake the age-bound chains of Hell, The bats from Heaven’s high portals fell’.

Do you mean this? http://npor.emma.cam.ac.uk/cgi-bin/PSearch...N01269&no=1

I know exactly what you mean. My worst experience of this kind occurred when I accompanied a carol service for pre-school children and their parents/carers. The woman leading the service announced the first carol, then immediately launched into singing it without giving me a chance to play an intro. The congregation (presumably used to this) joined in. My first reaction was to get up from the piano and take my leave. However, I decided that to do so would make me look stroppy (slightly bothered about this) or incompetent (very bothered about this). I ended up working out the key in which the carol was being sung and joining in (very ‘positively’) at the beginning of v2. The same thing happened in the second carol. In the third and fourth, I came in immediately after ‘We will now sing’ before the tile had even been given. The following year, the request for me to play was answered with, ‘Oh, I’m ever so sorry, I’ve already got a booking on that day’.

I often regret that other major builders did not seem to standardise their consoles for more than ten years or so at a time. Hills would be a classic case of this As a matter of interest, Paul, for how many years was the classic early 20C Hill console in production? The earliest that I’ve encountered is 1902, the latest 1914. Presumably, the design changed after the amalgamation with N&B. Digressing slightly, does anyone who plays a HW III find the American style multiple inter-division octave couplers useful, or do they just create unnecessary confusion?

Dear David, I've also downloaded the Pachelbel arias. Many thanks for drawing attention to this splendind site. I seem to recall reading that Bruhns' party piece was to sing a chorale tune, accompany himself on organ/harpsichord pedals and simultaneously improvise a violin obbligato. My own foray into multiple instrument playing is rather less worthy. I once gave as an encore at a (very) informal concert ‘Abide with me’, on trumpet and organ pedals. Maybe if they’d had this as alternative ARCO transposition test, I'd have passed. Regards, Paul.

Belated Christmas greetings and best wishes for the New Year to all. Also, may I too add my sincere thanks to the Mander team. I have to admit that having recently downsized my church music commitments, I have had the most relaxed Christmas ever. BTW, MM, I've never encountered 'Christus'. Surely it can't be as heroically appalling as 'Via Crucis'?

St Mary's Prestwich, North Manchester. There is a suitable picture in the NPOR entry. I imagine that NPOR editoral team would need to be approached for permission to use it.

O dear o dear o dear! We think we've seen it all then these sort of things happen. How did you react btw? I resigned shortly after the last incident. In fact, I have just come to the end of four fruitful and happy years at another church. I should stress that I left this post on very good terms with everyone - I simply wanted to sit in a pew with my family on a Sunday morning (and chill out with a glass of wine on Sunday evenings). BTW, apologies to all board members who may have been offended by the the poor standard of grammar and spelling in my last post.

I don't know abhout being talked to/at during a service, but consider how you might react to one or other of the following: * A CD of worship songs being piped throught the PA system 10 seconds into a concluding voluntary. * Chairs being moved during a concert, right in the middle of a perfomance of a piece of unaccompanied flute music. * Incumbent receiving a formal letter of complaint about 'heavy' organ music before the services. No further clarification was ever given, and I do not know to this day whether what was being played was considered to be too loud, too modern, too intellectual or containing too may 'Motorhead' quotations. * Palm Sunday. The Choir sang 'Komm ihr tochter' (in English). The abilty/experience level of the singers ranged fron music graduate to non-reader. They sang superbly. Maybe not up to the standard of 'The Sixteen', but with total commitment and passion. The accompanist played wonderfully. They were a priviledge to conduct. As the final entry of the chorale (sung by a soloist) soared above the ripieno chorus with the words 'Have mercy on me, O Jesu' there were members of the congregation and choir (myself included) with tears in their eyes. It was one of the most musically satisfying and spiritually uplifting experiences of my life. The first comment that I recived from a member of the clergy was, 'That was very long'.

The organ....is by Alexander Young (successor to Samuel Renn of Manchester) c.1880 all mechanical action....Modest specification (maybe 10/11 stops), but one which radiates around the building.... Alexander Young has to be a candidate for the dubious accolade of most underated organ bulder ever. I've played dozens of his small/medium sized instruments over the years (did he build anything with more than 30 stops?). All of the ones in anything approaching their original condition have been capable of producing a wealth of beautiful sounds, almost always in spite of being placed in a miserlable acoustical environment. Those that have retained their original action etc. also seem to be well nigh impervious to dust, damp, unsympathetic heating, infrequent use and other forms of neglect.

Whilst I would not dispute the fineness of 'Blaenwern', 'Converse' can be saved from sounding twee and sentimental. Try playing it at half speed and in blues/Gospel style.

Surely more a case of English whines not travelling...

...can't abide 'How Great Thou Art' It gets slightly more interesting when you have to sing every verse twice - alternately in English and Arabic - as my choir had to recently for a wedding where the bridegroom was an Egyptian Christian. I have two profoundly movng experiences of this hymn. Firstly, its being sung at my own wedding. Secondly, and (even more movingly), playing it at the wedding of a Russian friend of mine, and hearing it (or at least its original version) sung by a congregation which included survivors of the Soviet Union's anti-Christian purges. As regards verse three being heretical. I'm with Tony on this. Its sentiments appear to be entirely consitent with Orthodox, Cathlolic or mainstream Protestant understandings of both the doctrine the incarnation and the doctrine of the atonement.

Mind you, I still have difficulty with the Toccata from Suite Gothique by Boellmann ever since I watched a TV documentary in the early 1980's where this was used as background music for half an hour. Of all things, the subject of the documentary was bed bugs! Did anyone else see this? In the early 80s, around the time that the film 'The Elephant Man' was released in cinemas, a TV docuentary about the life of John Merrick was broadcast. Shots of large jars containing preserved human specimens were accompanied by Vierne's 'Impromptu' op 54.2.

Hi David, It would probably be considered polite to play something German. How about JSB fugue in Eb (BWV 522b)? Cheerful, inlellectually stimulating and of an appropriate level of difficulty. Does the twin town have any connection with a published composer? If so, did they write any organ music? It might also be good to play something quintessentially English. Given that most British organ music is, let's face it, not that good, a transcription might be in order. Walton's 'Crown Imperial' or Elgar's 'Pomp & Circumstance' no. 4 (a much better big tune than no. 1 and rather easier to play) would do the trick. Myself, I'd probably steer clear of 'The Dambusters'... You could always try your hand at writing something for the occasion yourself. All the best, Paul.

Has it ever been known for cathedral organists to pursue a well-paying job simulatneous to their cathedral post, or indeed for anyone to give up such a job to be a cathedal organist i wonder? What about Norman Cocker's parallel careers as cathedral and cinema organist? I imagine that the latter paid rather better.

.....the dedication and enthronement of one Dr Ian Ramsey as Bishop of Durham..... David Jenkins, surely?

Manchester Cathedral has a stone spiral staircase to the console. Last time I was there with a visiting choir, our organ scholar 'missed his stop' and ended up on the roof. I seem to remember that both Exeter College Oxford and Keble College Oxford have/had stone stircases to the loft. I'm sure that someone out there will be able to verify, or not as the case may be. Chester is by no means as scary as some, mainly because the stone gallery behind theconsole is of a reasonable height. Lichfield is a bit vertigo-inducing, although sitting at the console is not to my mind as unnerving as standing to the side of it. I think that the Armley organ may be reached by a stone staircase, but it's 20+ years since I was last up there, so my memory is a little hazy. The sofa on the screen at Canterbury is a wonderful touch. However, I doubt if any loft within these shores is as terryfying (or as hard to get to) as those frequently encounterd on the continent. Chartres sticks in my mind somewhat... Ascend a spiral staircase at the end of the s.transept. At the top, pass through a door and descend a few steps (no handrail and a 40' void to your right) onto the triforium. Proceed along triforium Pass throuigh a door into the triforuim roof space. Proceed through a series of dimly-lit lofts, making left turn at some piont. These lofts are used by the cathedral masons, and you risk falling over a decaying/half completed gargoyle if yu don't keep a look out Up another staircase (passing the organ blower apparatus). Emerge below 16' pipes, just to the side of the Positif case, with a low rickety wooden barier to your left. Slide onto console, draw deeply upon steroid inhaler.

I remember once politely making that offer to one of Percy Daniel's men who was clearly struggling with someone downstairs who couldn't find Middle C, and being basically told they didn't want any interference thank you very much and please would I leave the building! Nice chap - always oiled the blower... How long did they continue to hold on to the contract? I think that if I was ever in your position, the firm would be in recipt of a notice of termination the within two working days of the next PCC meeting.

Played it twice in th last 12 months. Once for a nave service, once for evensong. Utterly glorious. At the risk of being hunted down as an heretic and apostate, I'd rate it higher than Salisbury.

5 miles? I once drove back 15. Needless to say, I had left both the organ deactivated and the chuch secure. It sems that many organists suffer from this very specific form of OCD. My theory is that it sterms from early experience. All of us, I'm sure have, as beginners, been issued with dire warnings about the dangers of leaving the blower on, the shutters open etc. Fair enough, of course. However, many of us have also had to put up with petty chuch officials complaining that 'some youngster is being allowed to damage the organ'. Result, lifelong paranoia. Of course, I'm only writing this because the voices tell me to...

Paul, I also agree that Newcastle-u-Lyme is 'not that far north'. Practically outer London as far as I'm concerned.