gazman

That's very true. On the other hand, I've come across organists who have taken pains to rehearse the voluntary when they might have been better off spending a bit of time on learning the rest of the service music instead.....!

Aw, Patrick! My toungue was at least a bit in my cheek, you know! Joking aside, I'm fortunate with my "home team" who - generally - preach very well and are worth listening too. But, sometimes, some visiting clergy can be painful....

And, also, that sermons take place half-way through a service, not after the blessing and dismissal. Mind you, I sometimes wish they'd preach them there instead so I could creep out....!

I can see the other side of the coin, though.... To most people, organ voluntaries are quite irrelevant. They have done their worship, sung the last hymn, received the blessing and are ready to depart. I'm sure they'd wonder why they'd have to sit and listen to an instrument to which they'd never normally bother to listen. Whereas most of us probably take care to play pieces which are relevant to the theme of the day, this is totally irrelevant to 99.999999 per cent of those in the congregation. The organ voluntary might be part of our worship, but I can imagine that they would think it wasn't part of theirs! EDIT: Just noticed a bit of dreadful spelling!

I may have told this story here before. If so, I apologize for repeating myself! A number of years ago I was organist at a church which had a well-known annual fayre. The church had a tradition of having an organ recital at the beginning of the fayre, which was well attended. I was giving the recital, and I heard loud talking. It got louder and louder and was so bad that I had to stop playing and to see what was going on. The audience was looking flabbergasted! It turned out that one of the NSPs had decided to give a guided tour of the church to a group of people! I asked him if he'd noticed that we had a church full of people listening to an organ recital. He said that it sounded very nice, and wouldn't disturb his guided tour too much as long as I didn't play too loudly! He wasn't very pleased when I insisted - forcibly! - that he desisted his wretched guided tour until the end of the recital.

Frigging heck!

Thanks Vox!

Yup, an "Evening with Messiaen" is unlikely to attract them. Well, they might come once..... Actually, that's worth thinking about....! Thanks! Nope, about two and six, actually....! Joking aside, I used to give weekly organ recitals at the church, the proceeds going towards the organ fund. My idea was that the money would be reserved for future maintenance work on the organ as and when it needed it. And then, a couple of years or so ago, I read the minutes of a PCC meeting where the "organ fund" was discussed and discovered that the treasurer was using the money from the organ fund - which I had raised in weekly recitals - to pay me my stipend. I wasn't best pleased, as you can imagine.....

Thank you, Vox! That's the danger, of course. But I think there's something to be said for giving them something of "what they want"! If I want to get people to enjoy organ music which they'd normally probably not bother to listen to, it's only fair that I also give them music which will immediately delight them - it can only make them more receptive, and get them "on side". Yes, agreed. Thanks, Guilmant! Well, I'm calling October's one "Autumn Thoughts". We're looking at a colourful programme to reflect the colours of Autumn, so suggestions would be welcome. I'd also be grateful for anybody who might be able to lend a copy of the Jongen to save me purchasing one.......! And November's concert - the last in the series for this year - is a request recital, so I know that BWV 565 and THE Widor will be on the cards! Shall we just say that the church's treasurer won't need to worry about where my "salary" is coming from for a number of weeks yet?

Thank you Peter and Malcolm. Yes, I did have a whale of a time and I was stopped by two different people in town this morning who told me how much they'd enjoyed the concert. I hope they'll come back.... Hic! Yes, the dinner, wine (and beer!) afterwards were all A1 too!

Ok, here goes, but I'm expecting everybody to say what a tasteless blighter I am! Bear in mind, though, folks, that I'm out to try and win friends for the organ in my part of the world, and to bring in people who would normally probably prefer to read a telephone directory or to watch paint dry than attend what they would normally consider to be an "organ recital". And, hopefully, to get them to return too.... This evening's concert attracted a full church of people with Union Jacks and all manner of instruments to make noise which they used at appropriate moments (and some inappropriate moments too!) with great gusto. And we were fortunate to have an excellent soprano perform as part of the concert as well. Here's the programme.... Liberty Bell - Sousa (arr GLP) Toccatina for the flute - Yon Laughing song (Die Fledermaus) - J Strauss Mimi's solo from Act 1 of La Bohéme - Puccini Prelude in Classic Style - Young Jerusalem (with audience participation) Jewel Song (from Faust) - Gounod Gigue Fugue - Bach (á la Virgil Fox, with the audience clapping in time, sounding hooters, blowing whistles, shaking rattles &c as soon as the first pedal entry arrived. And, yup, I'm told we had several people spontaneously get up and dance!) Interval The Entertainer - Scott Joplin (arr GLP) Berceuse - Godard Land of Hope & Glory + Extemporizations (With audience singing along and waving flags. We had the first verse in G, followed by an extemporization on various submitted themes (Skye Boat Song, Waly Waly, Greensleeves, National Anthem (in G minor!), Auld Lang Syne, Londonderry Air, all of which the audience joined in singing), before singing another verse (in B flat this time), followed by yet more submitted themes for extemporization (There'll always be an England, O God our help in ages past, English country garden, Sailor's hornpipe and the Prince of Denmark's March, and lots more singing), before finishing off with Land of Hope & Glory in C! Waltz song from Romeo and Juliet - Gounod Nimrod - Elgar (arr Harris) Rule Britannia - Arne Hornpipe Humoresque - Rawsthorne (Encore:- O mio babbino caro - Puccini. They'd have happily had more than this. They kept shouting "More Organ!" but we'd already booked a table at a local restaurant which stopped serving at 9.30. As it was, we had to send a "scout" ahead to tell the restaurant we were running late and to ask them to keep our table for us!) I don't think Paignton has ever had such a large number of people turn out for an organ recital, and they seemed to absolutely love it, especially all the opportunities they had to join in. As I type this, I'm listening to the recording we made of this and we're on the Gigue fugue, and it's great fun hearing me trying to manfully battle on whilst they blow whistles, cheer and clap! I can honestly say that I can't remember the last time I enjoyed performing a concert quite as much as this. The audience loved every minute of it, and were incredibly warm and receptive throughout. I hope I've been able to persuade them that it's worthwhile attending organ concerts. Perhaps the complimentary glass or two of wine helped too.....! An added bonus is the hefty amount of money taken at the door which I shall be handing on to the church treasurer. And I've never before experienced an "organ recital" where people have been cheering and shouting "more" quite so enthusiastically!

That raises a very good point indeed. Even in our time, what about those (albeit rather minor) composers who seemed to have in mind a neo-classical spitting machine 40 years or so ago, and might have something different in mind more recently...

As it is, we're going to be using Land of Hope and Glory. However, I'm not playing the rest of the Pomp and Circumstance march. This is what I'm intending to do instead: I shall ask the audience beforehand to suggest some "patriotic" pieces. We'll sing a verse of Land of H&G, and then I'll improvise on some of those themes they suggest, before returning to LOHG, up a tone or so, and then improvise on some more themes, before returning again to LOHG again up a further tone or so, and so on, depending on how many themes are suggested. Ok, I know, utterly tasteless! But I bet the audience will love it......!

I hadn't thought of that! Thanks!

I guess that's after my time! There was a pub immediately at the end of the bit of road that leads to the church car parking, but I can't recall what that was called. Perhaps that's too much sampling of the same....

Yup, it appears to be miles ahead of IE8 in terms of speed, doesn't it! I wondered whether IE8's (and IE7's) incompatibility issues with Google where a ploy against Google by Microsoft and think that, if they were, Google is now going to come out on top!

Agreed! Suggestions....?

Yes, there are always exceptions. But I think we can agree that it's much more likely for a modern tracker organ to be lighter in touch than most similarly sized instruments built in Victorian times!

Unfortunately there are none listed in www.organrecitals.com.

One of my churches owns the pub just at the end of the churchyard, and leases it to the landlord. Unfortunately, I've not been able to persuade them that free beer should be one of the perks of the organist.

I suspect that this thread may well be deleted as the previous one on this subject suddenly disappeared......

Thanks for those details. It'll be interesting to hear the new upgrade.

Thank you for that confirmation Bombarde32! Good point about the Salicet too. But it's been fun discussing it though!

That all depends upon the organ builder, though. Whilst it was so when Green introduced it (and I personally prefer a Dulciana to sound like more like a small-scale diapason than a string), they sometimes are voiced somewhat more like a Salicional. I appreciated your joke, JC!

Central Church, Torquay. When the most recent toaster was installed (to replace a large 4 decker 1970s Makin) they decided to install a row of pipes on a wall! And this display is the ugliest thing you could ever imagine. Why on earth they bothered I don't know.