mjgrieveson

I liked no.6 the best - I listened to that one the longest. Second was no.8 but it rather degenerated into a mush of notes and the haircut was terrible.

Sounds like a day not to be missed, provided you are a member. Didn't know the RCO organised things like this; it's the sort of thing I was wondering about elsethread when I asked what were the advantages of shelling out the fee other than risking failing their exams. Have a great day if you are going.

Not a ringing endorsement, then - and I left it a few days for others to defend it. Shall not break open the piggy-bank in that case; who needs letters anyway?

I shall watch the replies to the OP with interest. I looked at the blurb for ARCO, quickly realised I'm not ready and so then looked at the CertRCO and found that you need to join. Is there anything much to be gained from becoming a member of the RCO other than eligibility to sit their examinations?

Is it going out of fashion? I was intending to build up a collection and purchased the Lent-Easter book last timeI went music shopping. Have only used 1 during Lent and was too disorganised to prepare any more this time round, not being suffiently accomplished to be able to sight read them safely. Hope to get another couple next time, but shall not if they are not considered to be worthwhile. Happy Easter.

If I am feeling sarcastic or when the choir ladies sit down in disgust when the signing of the register goes on to ridiculous lengths, I wheel out Michel Legrand's 'If it takes forever I will wait for you'. Sadly, I fear these touches of irony go wide of the target in most cases.

Unless we have 3 or 4 booked on the trot, I feel I have to show some measure of understanding when the bride is late. I too have sinned, having been 20 minutes late for my own wedding over 30 years ago. Pots and kettles etc.

Until 3 years ago I was paid £30 for a wedding with no extra fee if a video recording was made. When I realised how far below the going rate this was, I dug in my heels and after some refreshing exchanges of letters (when they asked me to wait until the following year so that they could adjust the wedding fees to accommodate my request ) they agreed to pay me what I asked for, which was £60 - I didn't like to push my luck by asking for double the fee for a video. Later, I noticed the fee had been raised to £70 without my asking, and they add on another £10 if it is to be recorded. Not sure why they don't just ask me what my fee is - perhaps there is an element of control freakery somewhere. According to the schedule for 2010 there are over 40 weddings between March and November and more may be added. I am nowhere near as well qualified as most contributors to this forum so I suppose all is as it should be

I do see what you mean but maybe bone-headed insensitivity is a valuable attribute in a desperate case like this. Apart from anything else, if the organ playing resembles the example provided (owing to frailty), you can imagine how perilous is the car journey to church.

Allowing that all this is true, has anyone come up with a form of words to use to someone who clearly ought to hang up their organ shoes for good? It is very, very difficult, especially when replacements are hard to come by. How do you put the point across without crushing the person involved or appearing to dismiss their many years of service?

I'll try and track it down - thanks.

I am trying to wean our congregation off Hatherop Castle for this and so yesterday played Wolvercote. Received several complaints for my trouble; my only supporter was one lady who has sung in the choir for over 60 years and hates HC. It's going to be an uphill struggle, I can see.

I'm grateful for all the clips - there seems to be a distinctive sound to the Italian organ, rather thin to my ears, that I could never achieve on my instrument partly I suppose, because it doesn't have a VH stop. Nevertheless I shall try to bear the reverse and manage without it. Probably my best bet is to stick to flutes and go easy on the 16'. Most annoying to watch 12 yr olds playing lengthy pieces from memory, but then they have not accumulated a lifetime of rubbish with which to clutter their minds. I shall start tomorrow.

Armed with RSCM Sunday by Sunday, I went shopping. Along with several other things I purchased Vox Humana: Italy (Barenreiter). I'm really looking forward to getting stuck into some of these but I have no experience of the sound of an organ from this region or period. The preface blurb was long on history but short on practical advice and so I don't quite know what kind of sound I'm aiming for. Does it matter? (Sorry if that is a silly question.) These are the resources to hand; any advice would be most welcome Ped : Sub Bourdon 32 Bourdon 16 Lieb Bourd 16 Flute bass 8 Violoncello 8 Gt Bourdon 16 Op. Diap 8 H. Flote 8 Princ 4 Har. Flute 4 Fifteenth 2 Clarinet 8 Sw Op Diap 8 St Diap 8 Viol d'Amour 8 Princ 4 Cornet III 12.15.17 Cornopean 8 Oboe 8 Tremolo 8 Many thanks MG edit - oops - just realised this should have been in the organ and its music section - apologies.

My resolution will be to try to remember the name of whatever I am working on. I know what I wanted to say: it's the final piece in the blue shiny book that had one of my exam pieces in, and I can only remember the word 'postlude'. Not much help! It will join the list headed by the Mendelssohn thingy, the Buxtehude and the Bach-in-Novello-Book 8-that-has-vanished-off-the-face-of-the-earth. Can one resolve to have a better memory? If you can, that will be mine.

Apologies if anyone else has mentioned this one but there is a tour in 2010 run by Martin Randall travel which, on a preliminary Google appears to be led by a Bach specialist. It is mainly in Saxony and looks at the Baroque organs of the region. I know no more than that it is about £1500 for 5 days which is not exactly chicken feed but I suppose it depends on your budget. I am not sure if you are given the opportunity to try the things out yourself.

Many thanks for the opinions - I was still undecided last evening how I was going to tackle it. (O Come All Ye, I mean) There were the usual revellers and although well behaved in the quieter parts, I am given to understand they tried to sabotage O Come by singing in a sort of canon, although I'm sure they didn't realise that was what they were doing. I'm told I won (with the help of Willcocks.)

^^ Someone was speaking to me as O Come was beginning so I missed the intro: please, someone, tell me whether it was introduced by the first line or the last?

Many thanks and best wishes to all those who make this forum such an entertaining and informative place to lurk. From the back row of the pews. MG

Thank goodness there was silence and serenity when I gingerly pulled out a couple of stops last evening, only a faint whisper of a whistle after 90 minutes hard work and an experimental closing cadence that I decided, on reflection, was too loud anyway. Fingers crossed for an uneventful wedding this afternoon. I think we are in more peril from small creatures (hadn't thought of that one :angry: ) than vandals despite being an UPA but I'll continue to leave the swell box open and stick a post-it note up to remind anyone else to do the same. Interesting idea about the rope pulling open the swell as the thingy goes down. Clearly, the clunk indicates a major shut down regardless of whatever I do with the stops.

I really have not the first idea how the organ works 'round the back' which is why I have to ask the silly question; I use the General Cancel between pieces to make sure I haven't left out something like the cornopaean by mistake thereby frightening the horses (and myself) if the next item is supposed to be pp. I somehow imagined that I might be letting air and ventilation (generally considered A Good Thing) through by leaving the stops open, although the clunking sound that follows switching off caused me to wonder whether it made any difference. I am grateful for replies - I have yet to find out what condition the instrument will be in this evening - I just hope that a day or two with the swell box open will have rectified the fault because I don't know how to tackle dirt on the pallet without calling in the cavalry.

I apologise for asking an elementary question - I tried to do a search but somehow managed to offend the search facility and it went off in a huff. What is the best way to shut down the instrument after use? All summer I have left it with the swell box open and all stops out (except the tremolo - for some reason the beast protested at this) and have had no trouble at all. This week someone else played the organ (hooray) and left everything in the closed position. Result = horrible cipher (sp?) on the Great unless all stops were pulled out - obviously not an option for this Saturday's wedding. The organ builder once told me that it makes no difference if the stops were left out or in. Was this weeks blip simply due to the swell box being left closed for a couple of days? The temperature has been unremarkable.

Many thanks DaveH for the pics and directions - I very much appreciate the trouble you have taken and am assembling materials and travel info to make this happen. Husband isn't an organ fancier however, so will have to include other venues and visits to even things out a bit, buts it's starting to get exciting.

Reply sent by e-mail.

Thank you indeed and I shall now go and find Breda in the map because my knowledge of the area in question is non-existent. The pictures are glorious and it would be worth going just for a look at the instruments. I've had a look in my message box but nothing seems to have arrived on the subject - maybe later?