gazman

12 matchstick pedals as found in "home entertainment" types of organ along with split keyboards?

I think Jane Parker-Smith has a 3 decker Viscount Prestige too.

I'll look forward to receiving the book!

Yesterday I played for a wedding which was clearly being recorded on a camcorder by one of the wedding party, although he was trying not to make it look too obvious. When I received my fee after the service, there was no video fee included. The vicar said that the bride and groom informed him that there would be no video taken of the ceremony, although he said that he did suspect that this particular person was using a camcorder, and that he spoke to this fellow beforehand to inform him that he wasn't allowed to use his camcorder unless an additional fee was paid. This sort of thing has happened several times this year despite the fact that the bride and groom are always told that they should ensure that no recordings are made of the service unless the additional fee is paid beforehand. Unfortunately, with human nature being what it is, people often try to get away with paying less than they should. I've lost out on several video fees this year and wonder if anybody else on this forum has encountered this problem and - better still - found a solution to it!

I have a former pupil whose skills were very similar. He subsequently found out about the RSCM recommended rates, and the suggestion that there should be a double fee if a video recording is made, and insisted that his vicar (who was reluctant to agree to this) applied this to all the weddings at his church. Imagine the poor wedding couples who not only had to pay him a fee to mangle the music at their wedding, but had to pay double for a recording. I suppose, however, they could send their videos in to "You've been framed!" and get their money reimbursed that way!

I've had a Viscount Prestige three decker at home for about three years now. The initial "pluck" of the key action is slightly heavy (I think they intend it to be a means of replicating a "tracker feel"), but not unpleasant at all. I'm quite used to it, and find it a pleasant and comfortable instrument to play. The after-sales service is also very good. Last year I had to transport it to play for a friend's funeral as the organ blower packed up at the church in question. One of the internal speakers was playing up; I 'phoned Viscount late in the afternoon who sent me a replacement which got to me the following morning. Incidentally, the Viscount led a congregation of several hundred people without any problem at all, and people were coming up afterwards to say what a splendid instrument it was.

Also, do invest in a really good pair of headphones. Whilst the digital organ I use for practise at home sounds quite good in our small music room, it sounds absolutely excellent through a decent set of headphones and this is now my preferred choice for practise. Run-of-the-mill headphones just don't sound so good.

Aaaarrrrrggggghhhhh!

Ormond was apparently also very forgetful. It is said that - more than once - he would drive somewhere to go shopping, do his shopping, forget that he had driven there, and return home by train. Subsequently, on finding his car missing, he would 'phone the police to report the "theft" of his car!

I remember John Wellingham being a good source of anecdotes. Mind you, there are one or two about him too! Several years back I attended a recital of his. As he had always told me that "music finished in 1750", I was surprised to find him playing some Rheinberger in the concert. I tackled him about this afterwards and he replied "Well, Rheinberger didn't have a swell box"!

Aye!

The best use of electronics in pipe organs is, of course, in supplying the lower frequencies on the pedal organ where speakers take considerably less room than ranks of large pipes, cost less to install, and where tuning difficulties are unnoticable in normal playing. An organ local to me has had several electronic pedal "ranks" installed as there was not room to use pipes to supplement a scheme which was deficient in 16' tone. These are not only very useful registers, but are indistinguishable from pipes. In fact, no visiting organist has ever realized that they are electronic stops even when tried individually, nor has anyone been able to discover where on a certain rank electronics take over from pipes when challenged to do so. To my ears, it's when electronic ranks are used at higher pitches in pipe organs that blend becomes problematic. But I'd be delighted to be proved wrong!

Sounds like Brian has the sense of humour required to become a future church organist!

There's a story about a soldier who was best man at his friend's wedding. He liked one of the hymns so much that he made a note of the number for his own wedding a few months later. What he didn't notice was that the church - a Methodist church - was using the Methodist Hymnal and the church where he was getting married was an Anglican church, using Hymns A&M. The soldier arranged leave for his wedding and made arrangements with the vicar which included the number of this hymn. Just before his bride arrived, the vicar asked him if he really wanted to sing that hymn. The soldier replied in the affirmative. After the bride was played in, the vicar announced the hymn number, the organist begain the playover, and the congregation began singing the hymn. By the end of the first verse, the vicar had to ask the organist to stop playing as the congregation had collapsed in hysterics. Here's the hymn:- Come, O thou Traveller unknown, Whom still I hold, but cannot see; My company before is gone, And I am left alone with thee; With thee all night I mean to stay, And wrestle till the break of day.

Ah! It's so obvious now! I wonder why I didn't get it immediately!!! Thanks for enlightening us!

The reference eludes me too!

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I used to use dance shoes, which were flexible, but had a tapering heel which meant that I had to be extra careful when heeling so as not to slide off the pedal. When those shoes wore out, I replaced them with a pair of Organmaster shoes. The Organmaster shoes have a much wider heel than the dance shoes, but I miss the flexibility of the dance shoes and the ability to easily feel a pedal beneath one's foot which isn't really possible with the firmer Organmaster shoes.