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headcase

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Posts posted by headcase

  1. I'm not going to lay any allegiance to one type of action or another. All I will say is this :

     

    As a youngster I belonged to a record library and one of the borrowed LP's that really inspired me was David Sanger's stylish and accurate playing of Widor V, from the Italian Church in Hatton Garden. At that time I knew nothing of tracker or E-Pn actions. The simple persuasiveness of the performance spoke to me.

     

    Was that performance hampered by the action ? I think not !

     

    H

  2. I make no apology for bringing this topic to the top of the pile but just wanted to make forum members aware that the discussion on setting up a site for members to contribute last verses/descants has resulted in this :

     

    http://groups.google.co.uk/group/last-verse

     

    All credit to Steve Barker for setting this up.

     

    There are already 14 files available for downloading.

     

    This resource could very quickly build up but it does need active support from forum members. Pass the word around to fellow musicians. Best of all, don't sit on your hands, watching the snowflakes fall but upload your own contributions.

     

    You will need to enable a google account and join the group, which takes just a few moments. Files can be uploaded in pdf format and there is free software available, mentioned previously in this thread, which allows you to convert any printable file into a pdf document.

     

    Go on - give it a go !

     

    H

  3. I've realised the error of my ways. I hadn't signed up for a google account, which then allows one to join the group. Now that I have done this I can see the 'browse' button !

     

    I'll upload something from my 'main' pc later, when my snowbound offspring have stopped using it!

     

    H

  4. When you hit the '+Upload File' button it should have changed to a 'Choose File' button which, when clicked, will open a standard windows File window.

     

    Hope that helps!

     

    Steve

     

    No - a Choose File button doesn't appear for me. I've tried using IE7 and Google Chrome.

     

    Any ideas ?

     

    H

  5. hmmm...I've tried handling jpeg images of music before and it doesn't reproduce very well and re-sizing can be a disaster.

     

    I still think pdf is the way to go. It's much easier to handle, the file sizes are small which is convenient for downloading/emailing etc and reproduces like an original.

     

    H

  6. I still think somekind of online album would be more easily shared by forum members, who would perhaps need a password to be able to access it. pdf format would seem to be the best way to present.

     

    Perhaps the password could be obtained by making a 'donation' to a charity.

     

    Pehaps some editorial control would be necessary, if only to pick out obvious bloopers and uphold some kind of tidiness in presentation.

     

    The idea is too good to let it go dead in the water. Sorry that I'm not clever enough to know how to host it.

     

    H

  7. I fear that would be pushing our host's generosity a little too far.

     

    Potentially, forum members could contribute a fair amount of organ/choral music, not just descants and last verses. Anyone know how to set up a web location to which we could share/contribute ?

     

    H

  8. I have often wondered whether I hold some sort of record. About 40 years ago, during an IAO Congress in Cardiff, I, English through and through, sat in a Chinese restaurant in the middle of Cardiff, eating roast and beef and Yorkshire pudding. Am I unique? (No rude answers, please - 'tis the season of goodwill)

     

    Malcolm

     

     

    I'm reminded of Stephen Bicknell reviewing a new UK organ, built by a Danish firm, with a Solo Tuba whose pipes came from a German pipemaker and were stamped 'Englische Tuba'.

  9. The surface of and the lettering on the trackers suggests

    - modern material

    - manual compass

    (The Pedal pipework is visible with its reed resonators right below - a typical arrangement for smaller Schnitger style organs

     

    The images might fit to Uithuizen (colour of wood etc.), and if you check http://www.arpschnitgerorgeluithuizen.nl/ and the history, you can see that actions and rollerboards have been reconstructed by Edskes/Metzler.

     

    To have two holes might then be seen as a modern solution to have a choice of two slightly different actions.

     

    I concur.

     

    I presume that the two 'new' roller arm holes are a faithful reproduction of what previously existed and that the action is connected as before.

     

    H

  10. Stephen had a very keen ear indeed and the ability to understand objectively and describe what he heard. He could tell exactly what was going on from the smallest aural details.

     

    Would that more people connected to organs/organbuilding had the same ability to received the 'smallest aural details'.

     

    I once had the 'privilege' of being on tuning stand-by for a recording of Poulenc's Organ Concerto, with a world-class soloist and well known home-grown chamber orchestra. During a session break, I was invited to the control room to join with soloist, conductor and producer to review the takes. During playback I noticed a sustained chord which was clipped as a piston change removed stops, before the chord was released - a small but perceptible flaw. Mysteriously, there was no comment from the assembled company. At the next pause in playback I mentioned it to the producer...we all listened again... I showed them in the score the exact moment to listen for. It took five repeated playbacks before the soloist conceded that there was indeed a flaw. A re-take of the offending passage was made (and I was thanked for pointing out the wobbly moment.)

     

    The worrying things was that out of all the pairs of trained ears listening, no-one had noticed anything wrong and had I chosen not to mention it, that performance would have gone down on the CD.

     

    H

  11. A few thoughts...

     

    1 I doubt it's a pedal action/soundboard we're looking at. The soundboard scale would be too narrow to accomodate large basses, some of which look to be in the centre.

     

    2 Where does the action come from ? Well, (partly obscured by the text) at the bottom looks to be a set of action squares that would be at key scale.

     

    3 The holes in the roller arms would only be about 1cm apart - not as much as 3cm. Look at the width of the tracker material.

     

    4 The holes look like an organ builders option, to allow pallet opening or leverage ratio to be changed. Easy to provide this when making the action in the workshop - difficult if you find the touch is wrong when you're on site ! In this case, it looks like a 1:1 ratio was quite ok.

     

    5 The trackers, brass wires, even the oak roller arms could be replacements for originals as part of a 'restoration'. Let's not discuss the rights and wrongs of that - opinions change and differ !

     

    6 Ideally, the trackers should connect at 90 degrees to the arm. At rest the roller arm will be slightly above horizontal anyway, so that the roller arm arcs through horizontal and slightly below as it follows the key travel. If the back hole had been used, the tracker would only be a couple of degrees off vertical, which wouldn't be a disaster. The ratio of pallet opening to key movement is the critical thing.

     

    H

  12. ...and finishing with Lo, he comes and the very fine Willcocks last verse...

    I prefer Andrew Fletcher's last verse in Organ Uplift. A last line that us mere mortals would never dream of !

    Congregation lapped it up this morning.

    No O Come, O come... :-(

     

     

    H

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