mail@rowan-lidbury.com

Wow a BIG Thank you to everyone who has replied so far I have some great leads. Thank you for taking the time, I genuinely feel a little excited by it all and can't wait to speak with some of the people you have suggested and get going. This is a subject I've sat on for a bit too long i guess, I will let you all know how it goes! R

Many thanks Malcolm I will seek out Fr Philip as you're not alone in recommending him, this church is right in my work patch and if I'm going to get any free time, it's going to be here. If possible I generally hide here for lunchtime recitals if not too busy so I should be able to find Peter as well.

Contrabombarde you are right with the socks, this greatly improves things. Feeling for gap between E&F or B&C and working from there seems to work, you can't go too wrong. It's just practice and I may just have to be a little strict with myself and keep at it. Regards R

Thank you squinius, This is just what I'm looking for I will certainly make inquiries

Thank you Vox Humana and everyone who has posted so far, It's not the physical act of pedaling that is the problem, I just I get no feedback of limb position. It's hard to know where to move next when you don't know where you are! Walking etc requires vision, mainly peripheral to reference points around me. I'm rubbish in the dark! Again it's all going to be re-learning and practice, where, when and how to go about it is the most pressing problem. Regards

Hello everyone! I have been lying here silently for a while now and have found the posts and their contributors extremely interesting, so much so I feel compelled to complete my first post and hope that you can all help me out on subject that really is important to me. This does involve a short story, but please stick with me. I have all ways loved the organ from when I first set eye on one at local church aged 7, so I took my piano grades and joint the local choir for a closer look. I started to enjoy the whole church thing and so the whole thing started to snowball. Started lessons aged 9 and by 13 was organist at a local church moving to a larger instrument and building at 15. I even spent my school work experience at Manders workshop! As I grew older I started playing services freelance in my local area and then around London progressing to local choir trips to cathedrals around the country. A promising FRCO candidate it was all going very well until 2006 when I was attacked in the street by some mindless idiot intent of stealing something or other. Said idiot stabbed me once in the lower abdomen in my local high street before running off with nothing. Rushed to hospital with server internal injuries it was unclear if I would make it. I lost so much blood that low blood oxygen levels to my brain had significantly damaged parts of my nervous system. I remember coming round in hospital unable to move, the commands I had been sending my body all my life no longer had the reaction they did before. I was terrifying. Its taken 6 operations and nearly 3 years or re-learning everything to get to where I am today, my brain has no input connections from my body anymore and cannot sense the position of any of my joints so relies on my eyesight to reference body position and balance. So the big question was could I still play...? The answer is a profound YES (amazing) although I have to feel for the pedal notes, something my old tutor always said anyway. I'm certainly not at the standard I was before but i don't care, I seem to be able to move with such freedom when playing when normally I have to concentrate to just walk. And what is more is that improvement can be seen by practice, which is obviously important and the organ is amazing therapy for coordination and balance. I have a new job and at 35 am so thankful for life and feel like I'm living all over again! I'm determined that this time I going to make more of my talent but I'm finding it difficult. I'm now back at work as a field IT engineer in and around central London and find getting practice instruments impossible, my local church is also less than accommodating. I would love a central London church where I could sneak in for a 45 minutes or so during the day when I get a chance and things are quiet. I have been attending any lunchtime recitals I can get to and have found them very enjoyable. Should I find a new tutor with a bit of understanding who can get me going again? I'm really struggling to kick myself back off again but I know I can do it. This board has been an inspiration to me and has kept me going and its great to be back in the position where I can now play the instrument I love. Sorry I've gone on for so long! If you can offer any advice or help I would love to hear from you all. Many Thanks R