gazman

Had?

Aye!

Do I remember hearing - a number of years ago - that Roger Sayer left a job as an Assistant Organist somewhere or other after only a couple of weeks and returned to his previous post because of severe vertigo?

Yes, indeed. It is a retrograde step not to put choruses on the pedal organ.

Yep, you've guessed it! I had an idea you would......

The organ loft of a former church of mine was a rather worrying place to be. It was on three levels. To climb up to the Great wasn't too bad. It was getting up to the Swell that was rather worrying! One had to climb up an awkward ladder and then - somehow! - turn round through 180 degrees at the very top of the ladder and, without any handholds, mount a wobbly and very narrow gangplank to walk across to the front of the Swell organ. If you fell one way, it was two storeys down to the ground. If you fell the other way, it was only one storey, but you'd land on the Great pipework which would finish you off just as effectively. I used to walk across it on all fours. I didn't mind tuning the odd pipe that went out of tune on the Great organ, but it would have to be quite badly out of tune on the Swell for me to consider going up there. Every organ tuner who tuned it said to me that they wouldn't be allowed to tune the Swell if "Health and Safety" saw it although, of course, they all did.

I subscribed to RSS Feeds using Outlook 2007, but haven't had anything new come through. The last one was dated 1218 today. However, I'm new to RSS Feeds, so could easily be doing something wrong!

You have my sympathy, Oliver. I'm a chicken when it comes to heights too! Every time I play an organ up in a gallery, even one storey high, (and it's reasonably frequently that I do) I have to remind myself not to look behind me. That picture of Cologne Cathedral makes me go weak at the knees. A little while back I was taking a rehearsal in a certain church. After the rehearsal, when most of the people had departed, the verger noticed that one of the ceiling lights was giving out quite a bit of smoke. He - and the other three of us left behind - was rather worried about the church going up in flames, and fetched a long ladder to investigate. He got half-way up before deciding that he'd had enough of that altitude, and subequently retreated. The other chap then had an attempt at it, got to about the same height, and decided it was too much for him too. The other person there - my wife - of course politely declined. So there I was, with the ceiling of a rather beautiful church looking as if it was about to catch light, the only person there who might be prevailed upon to scale the heights. Well, I got to the top (eventually!) with my stomach in my mouth and with thoughts of the fire brigade being called not only to extinguish a fire but also to rescue me from gripping the ladder like grim death to find the remains of a moth and a thick spider's web gently burning itself out....

Yes, that's always what I've called them. However, I almost prefer Mrb's version......

If K-A don't have them, I got some from a shop which sold restored pianos. They gave them to me without charge. You could always try a piano tuner too.

Perhaps if the organ wasn't "that good anyway" it might be better to replace it with a decent electrone. It would be a sadder story if the organ was decent, though. However, it is sad to see how low some people will stoop.

Best not to start that one again!

Perhaps we'll be incorporating lots of electronically produced sounds (non-organ type) with touch-sensitivity?! Now, that could be interesting.

How fashions change! I wonder what sort of tone colours and divisions we'll be wanting in our organs 30 or 40 years on from now......

I'm aware that a few organs built by Hill in Torquay had Latin stop names (and one of them retained them until the 1950s), but I had always believed that this was due to the eccentricity of a local organist who was appointed consultant to each of these projects. However, I'd be interested to know if Hill used Latin stop names elsewhere.

Thank you. I sometimes wonder if the organ would be worth playing if we didn't have the works of JSB.....

I'd like to take this opportunity to wish everybody on the Mander forum a very happy 2008. I began contributing to the forum earlier this year when I was climbing up the walls with boredom whilst being temporarily housebound after surgery, and have derived much pleasure from this forum ever since. Thank you all for your entertaining and informative postings, and for having made me feel welcome. All the best for 2008. May all your pistons work and your organs never cipher! G.

Whoops, sorry! Wrists firmly slapped. One dozen Hail Marys about to be said.

I've come across a few toasters which have sounded a bit like that!

Surely the whole point of an organ (or any musical instrument) is the quality of the sound it produces! Or am I missing something? I'm sure that it was better than it sounded in the fact that it was well-constructed and built of quality materials but, as a musical instrument, I find it capable of producing very unmusical sounds. I've heard some tolerable sounds from it, but nothing that I could say I find really pleasing. I've also heard some tone colours from it which I find quite unpleasant. But I recognize that we all have different tastes and what might sound good to one person, might sound less good to another and vice versa.

True, but didn't I read somewhere that they've improved the acoustic nowadays?

Although I've never heard the RFH organ "in the flesh", the recordings I've heard lead me to think that the less of it reinstalled, the better!

But hopefully not the aquarium tubing, though....!

Why would he do that? It sounds a bit fishy to me!

I agree entirely. I only wish I had somebody to push thumb pistons for me, and to save me all that effort!