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Fiffaro

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Everything posted by Fiffaro

  1. Keep in mind, though, that D Major is a commonly used key in early music and the C# is the bass note of the first inversion of the dominant chord. C# is beautifully in tune with the A in quarter-comma meantone as it is tuned pure to the A. (The E is less happy in the chord because the A - E fifth is narrow and thus beats rather fast and is noticeable when not taken into account by the player in their spacing of chords when playing continuo.) I believe that short octaves for organs were more about keeping costs down by not included less needed notes rather than because particular notes were unusable in early temperaments. This cost benefit is obvious in organs given the size of the pipes for the low D#, C#, A# and G# omitted in one short octave arrangement. But harpsichords also utilized short octaves where the cost benefit is not as pronounced. It does result in a smaller instrument, so would that have been more of a factor when people's housing was more limited in size?
  2. I have bookmarked "The Organ Forum" to move over to if/when this forum is no longer accessible. Because of the way this forum is set up, I would often read it without logging on as we only need to log on to post. That might be a reason for the figures mentioned above. (Another forum that I'm a member of requires members to log on in order to view some of the content, so I am normally logged on when I browse that forum.) I have used this forum to search for useful information and thus am hopeful that the posts here will not be lost. I assume that this forum will be accessible until the dues are not paid to Invision. It very much helped while away the hours when I was confined to bed for a number of weeks some years ago. I enjoyed reading through the threads; there is humour, valuable information, and insights into human nature, too. 😉 Having once hosted an organ society web site for a number of years, I am able to confirm that it is possible to do so without any extra payment required on top of hosting one's own site. ISPs allow multiple hostings for a given fee. Time is what it takes. Thank you Steve, for doing so. I also understand that there are times in life when a seemingly small event is the final trigger for a decision to move into a new phase. For those that have contributed in the past but have now decided it is time to focus on other things, thank you for the time you have spent posting to this forum. Go well.
  3. How does your wife cope with the frequencies of the harmonics of piano strings being so noticeable wacky and the need to accommodate this when tuning? Does she prefer listening to instruments where the harmonics are more 'in tune' such as harpsichord or organ?
  4. Something to keep in mind when selecting a hearing aid is that all digital aids have some delay between receiving the sound into the aid's microphone and output a sound into your canal. This is unavoidable as their processing transforms the signal from the time domain to the frequency domain where the signal processing takes place and back into the time domain to be fed into your canal. This process relies on storing a small amount of sound before initiating the transformation on it - input and output buffers. This delay can be minimised but not eliminated, and for people who find the latency on digital instruments annoying, this could be a problem with such a device. If a manufacturer offers a return by period with full refund, make use of it and don't be shy about taking the devices back if it is not usable. The manufacturers are highly profitable, partly because people that aren't happy simply leave the device in a drawer rather than ask for a refund. It does take time to become used to a device, and audiologist will push customers to try to become used to their device, but if that is not possible, they should be agreeable about acknowledging this.
  5. Also responding to John's suggestion: "For example, most churches - perhaps brighter upper work to enable older people to hear it; university colleges - hold back on the strong upper work so as not to deafen the younger ones." With age related hearing loss (presbycusis) and with most forms of hearing loss, we also need to remember that the sound pressure level that causes discomfort reduces. In other words, younger people tolerate louder sounds before experiencing discomfort than older people. Thus, we might need to refrain from 'letting fly' if we are using a particularly powerful instrument and the audience is more mature. It is because of this that an audiologist should also measure how loud particular frequencies are tolerated before discomfort begins and feed that into the prescription to determine the compression and output limits for a hearing aid. One of the advantages of a more expensive hearing aid is that this can be done with greater precision rather than a device where only broader frequency ranges can be adjusted. The hearing aid industry is, understandably, not keen to acknowledge the very low continued usage rate for purchases of their devices. When I last checked, less than half of the instruments sold did ended up in a bed side drawer permanently within weeks of purchasing. Considering that some devices cost many thousand pounds, that's an indication of the difficulties in this industry. Unfortunately, also, in my country a lot of selling of devices is driven by incentives offered by manufacturers and government subsidies for follow up after fitting are not enough to maximise the benefit and minimise poor fittings.
  6. Towards the end of a thread on registration assistants a number of board members expressed interest in the recording of Anton Heiller's performance of Reger's Wachet auf. I added a comment at the end of the thread about the crowd funding effort to cover the cost of remastering and producing a CD but, judging by the lack of responses to my post, it was probably too far down an unrelated thread. In the meantime, the crowdfunding campaign has ended, close enough to the goal for the release of the CD to go ahead. More information can be found at a new site: https://anton-heiller.com/release/anton-heiller-edition/ which is in German. Google translate will probably do a good enough job for all to understand. The synopse is that the mastertapes of the recording session on the Marcussen organ in the cathedral in Linz are in good condition and have been obtained. Musical samples will be made available shortly. Like a number of other members wrote in the thread I mentioned above, I was blown away by the original Erato recording, subsequently re-released by the World Record Club. Nowadays, I only have an MP3 copy of the Fantasia, so I am very much looking forward to receiving the CD. One of Heiller's students, Christa Rumsey, was the English translator of Peter Planyavsky's biography of Heiller. I had written here that I thought Christa was also one of the registrants for the recording, but I have since been contacted by Anton Heiller's son, Bernhard, who has let me know that the registrants were Elli Koiiman and Jozef Serafin, and also Monika Henking for part of the recording session. David
  7. Fiffaro

    Team Effort

    I was made aware, by Christa Rumsey, who translated Peter Planyavsky's biography of Heiller, that there is a project underway to remaster this recording and to release it on CD. I understand that the mastertapes have been obtained and copyright taken care of. At the time of writing this, the fund raising effort to cover the costs is short of its target (4,200 Euro) by 250 Euros. More information can be obtained at: https://www.leetchi.com/c/anton-heiller-cd-edition David
  8. This organ (1997-1998) is located in the chapel of Trinity College, the University of Melbourne. More information about this instrument can be found at: https://www.ohta.org.au/organs/organs/TrinityMelbUni.html The polyphone lies alongside where the organist enters the gallery and provides an inviting surface for all sorts of items to be placed. I had to move a box from off the mouth some years ago when I went to play there.
  9. Wow! Lot's of ideas! So many thanks and much appreciated. Some I know but hadn't thought of in this context and many to have a listen to, such as Parry's Blest Pair of Sirens, that I don't know. Sumsion's They that go down to the sea in ships is the first unknown suggestion I listened to. How could I not have come across it before! 😊 Handsoff, Stainer's time might be coming. There has been a performance of the Crucifixion in recent times in Melbourne, Australia. I'd like to think we are at the forefront of the revival rather than the tail-end of musical fashion.
  10. I have been asked for suggestions for a work or works that would be suitable for performance by a collection of school choirs, ranging from auditioned to open to any student, with ages from around 11 years 18. The work will be performed in the Melbourne Town Hall where we are hoping to utilise to best effect the substantial organ there. Information about the organ is provided on the following Organ Historical Trust of Australia web page: https://www.ohta.org.au/organs/organs/MTH.html A number of years ago, this school performed Britten's Saint Nicolas, with some help from staff members and other ring-ins, and the choral director certainly is not averse to taking on big projects, but suggestions for shorter works that would feature the organ would also be welcome. I would very much appreciate any suggestions for works that would make good use of the organ. And I posted here because so many of the members have experience of both choral music and organ music. (Trying a bit harder...)
  11. I am so sorry to hear that. Life can be challenging enough without having to experience such unnecessary nastiness. I hope our hosts were helpful in limiting the problem.
  12. Best wishes, Tony. I was fortunate many years ago, when I was laid up in bed for almost two months, that this forum and a home building forum provided me with many hours of distraction and very useful educational material. I've only followed three forums closely, and all three are no longer as active as they once were. I think that partly this is exhaustion of possible topics. I suspect that, particularly in the case of the technical (mainly computing) forum I followed, that this is a result in an increase in poor manners. Thankfully, I haven't seen the unbelievable venom exhibited in that forum (slashdot) here, although I am so disappointed to hear that private messages have been sent that have caused pain to members. This forum is free (at least publicly) of death threats and vile sexual suggestions provided to people simply for holding a different view or political leaning. I have from time to time searched the archives for something that I've read in times past. It continues to serve a useful purpose for that reason. With my best Advent wishes. Fiffaro (David)
  13. You can change the interface language to English by clicking where the flag and the words "Sprache auf Englisch umschaltung" are in the right hand side menu.. Back in the days when I was involved in software development, I pushed for options like this to be in the target language. Always made much more sense to me.
  14. I play for a Roman Catholic college whose chapel is attractive to couples wanting to marry. We have some very strict guidelines covering the music (e.g. no recorded music) but the Jesuits are happy enough for the traditional Wagner and Mendelssohn to be used. Our argument is that the original associations have been replaced, and these pieces are now associated, by the vast majority of people, with weddings. If all that originated from the secular and pagan and was assimilated into the Christian tradition were removed from the RC church, we would be much the poorer for it.
  15. I have rather small hands but can manage this. My fifth finger holds down the A most of the time while being in front of the keys rather than above. Towards the end of the sixteenth notes when I start using my thumb more than once in each group (Page 43, System 2, Bar 1, Beat 2) I then move my fifth finger back to the top of the key surface. I've attached a copy with some fingering in in case it is of interest, although I know everyone's hands are different. Vierne Carillon Fingering.pdf
  16. What cat wouldn't be attracted to the music of Messiaen? All that bird song...
  17. I'm visiting the UK briefly and will play the Lewis in Southwark Cathedral on Monday, 15th September, at 1:10 pm. The program consists of Mendelssohn's Sonata 1, three of Heiller's Danish Chorale preludes, and Fleury's Prélude, Cantilène et Final. Fleury has been mentioned a few times on this forum. I don't know if any of the forum members are based in London and able to attend a lunchtime concert, but you would, of course, be most welcome to attend, and, if you do come, please say hello afterwards. David
  18. Probably everyone has stopped following this thread by now, but, in case, I'll report back that my attempt to email Ed Stauff to let him know about the issue with organstops.org was unsuccessful as my email was returned with a "timed out" message. Google helped me find a Gmail address, so I've now forwarded my email to that. In the meantime, I am no longer able to access the site and have had to resort to my workaround. A shame, as it is particularly useful for my students.
  19. Thanks, Basdav. The site has come back to life for me, so I had a chance to hunt through and did find an email address for the person who runs it, Ed Stauff, and have sent him an email including a link to this thread. I was interested to read a little about him. Those interested in also doing this should select the "Ap" tab after the alphabet letters, and than click on the "About the Author" tab.
  20. I also can't access the site directly, receiving a This web page is not available message when I try. It is clearly online, as Google is still caching it. If you use Google as your search engine, enter "organstops" and the name of the stop you would like to examine, a link to the page will appear as one of the search results. Next to the URL is a little arrow pointing down, which when clicked, gives you the option to view the page as cached by Google. It is a slow approach, but at least it will give you access. SteveBarker77, is there a link on the site to contact the webmaster or send them an email to let them know that there is a problem?
  21. And, of course IMSLP is always helpful... http://imslp.us/php/linkhandler.php?path=/scores/Dupre_Marcel_1971/Dupr%C3%A9%20-%203%20pr%C3%A9ludes%20et%20fugues%2C%20Op.%207%20%28organ%29.pdf
  22. I've just received a pair of organ shoes from a manufacturer in the USA that had not previously appeared on my radar screen - Tic Tac Toes. I have been using a pair of ball room dancing shoes that I originally bought several decades ago, but when I purchased a replacement pair from the same manufacturer a few years ago, I found they were less suitable, with thicker leather soles and cheaper construction. I have looked at the Organmaster shoes but wasn't totally convinced. What helped convince me to try Tic Tac Toes was the recommendation on their web site "Please note, that the construction of Organ shoes (lighter and more flexible for better pedal feel) is not intended for use in Dancing." So far, I'm very happy with them. They cost me less than half what my previous shoes cost, and allow me to feel what is happening better.
  23. Fiffaro

    Tips for technique

    I would highly recommend the Zoom H1 for practice recording. Extremely easy to use, amazing quality for the price (79 GBP at Amazon.co.uk) and records for ages on a single AAA battery. Easy to carry around with you, and cheap enough that I'm not paranoid about someone nicking it while I'm practising.
  24. The C, B and A are natural: Accidentals from one staff do not effect the other staff. If you compare chords between the two systems, you'll find that all the RH chords are played by the LH, and you can use that to check each chord. G natural is intended. Have fun learning the work. It's worth working hard on the rapid descending chord section from early in the process, as this is the section that tends to separate the sheep from the goats.
  25. Towards the end of the work, the 18th bar from the end (and identical passage 2 bars earlier). In my edition (Alphonse leduc 1971) the 18th bar from the end is on top of the last page of the 2nd volume, page 36. This section comes immediately after the theme is in the pedals. and is played over a pedal g-sharp (tied to an a-flat). Another way to find it is to count from the Declamato bar that started this thread - the 7th bar after. HTH
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