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ajt

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Everything posted by ajt

  1. I'm a latecomer to this thread, but rather despondent to hear that my old prep school has bitten the dust. It was never a large school, but it was a friendly little place (about 100 pupils in the 80s when I was there) and it's such a shame that it's gone. How is the choral foundation managing now? Where are the choristers being educated?
  2. You might want to suggest they try Royston Orme - http://ormatronixorgans.co.uk/. Failing that, temporary Hauptwerk setup?
  3. ajt

    Lollipops

    Real cheese - Richard Elliott's arrangement of Go tell it on the mountain -
  4. ajt

    Descant search

    Excellent, some new descants to try out - thank you Paul; very generous of you to share.
  5. I've always understand that Celestes were always sharp and Angelicas flat. But I'm ready to be told I'm wrong :-)
  6. It would be worth looking at how much renting a similar property would cost - then work add that annual cost to your "day" salary, then do the normal tax calculation based on that higher salary. It should give you an idea just how much HMRC will be taking off you.
  7. It will almost certainly work the same as accommodation in a boarding school. I am not taxed on my accommodation because it is a requirement of my job that I live in during term time. However, other colleagues who do get accommodation onsite but aren't houseparents either pay rent or get taxed. If it can be demonstrated that it's a REQUIREMENT - i.e. you couldn't do your job without it, then you won't get taxed. Unless you're going to be called to play for an emergency service at 3am, I can't see it being the case for an organist's post.
  8. Should anyone wish to, do come have a play with our church Hauptwerk installation (Boldre, near Lymington, Hampshire - PM me if likely to be passing by). Proper drawknob console, no computer screens in sight. I would never advocate Hauptwerk over a pipe organ, but I would definitely push Hauptwerk over any other organ substitute. I'm sure that the toaster makers could get something that sounds as good, given a lot of time and a lot of money, but out of the box (assuming you choose the right sampleset), Hauptwerk sounds very good indeed. Converting our toaster to Hauptwerk cost us £2000.
  9. Interesting - when I had lunch with Ernest a few weeks back (because he was helping me convert our CH toaster to Hauptwerk a job which has transformed the toaster into an instrument), we talked about the future of the company and he said it "was all planned for". I guess this must have been it.
  10. Whereabouts are you based? I'm sure there's a few people on this forum who might have church posts near you who'd be willing to let you play a voluntary or even a recital?
  11. St. Mary's, Southampton might just count; 1956 installation, 2 alterations by HWIII in '58 - Vox Humana replaced with a mixture, Claribel Flute replaced with a Gedackt. Does that fit the bill?
  12. 19" are fine. Anything that does 1280x1024, basically. Why not download the trial and find out?
  13. Off the top of my head, I can't remember what's in which volume, but stuff I use or will use once I've learnt all the dots from them: Pachelbel's Canon Mendelssohn A major Widor V Widor Marche Pontificale Lang Tuba Tune Elgar Pomp Circumstance (no ?? in G) Charpentier Te Deum Clarke Trumpet Purcell Trumpet Purcell Rondeau The usual Fireworks suite suspects Vierne Finale from Symph 1 Grand March from Aida Queen of Sheba Jesu Joy Both Ave Marias Nun Danket Stanley Trumpet Vols Guilmant Grand Choeur in D and obviously the brainless bride's choice, Wager and Mendelssohn wedding marches. Ah hah - just found this on the web: Organist's Wedding Album Vol 1 - Cramer Contents: Bach-Gounod Ave Maria, Bach Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring, Parry Chorale Prelude on 'Melcombe', Karg-Elerg Chorale Improvisation on 'Freu Dich Sehr, O Meine Seele', Pachelbel Canon, Schubert Ave Maria, Faure Apres un Reve, Bach Chorale Prelude on 'Nun Freut Euch, Christen G'Mein' BWV734, Stanley Trumpet Voluntaries 5 and 6 from Opus 6, Handel Minuet from 'Royal Fireworks', Clarke Prince of Denmark's March, Mendelssohn Organ Sonata 2 (3rd movement), Mendelssohn Organ Sonata 3 (1st movement), Wagner Bridal Chorus from ' Lohengrin', Elgar Sonata 2 Op 87a (extract), Charpentier Trumpet Tune (from Te Deum), Purcell Trumpet Tune in D, Verdi Grand March from 'Aida', Handel Hornpipe from 'Water Music', Guilmant Grand Choeur in D Op 18, Handel March from the Overture to the 'Occasional Oratorio', Karg-Elert Chorale Improvisation on 'Nun Danket Alle Gott', Lang Tuba Tune, Mendelssohn Wedding March from 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', Vierne Finale from 'Symphony No 1', Widor Marche Pontificale from 'Symphony No 1', Widor Toccata from 'Symphony No 5' Organist's Wedding Album Vol 2 - Cramer Contents: Arne Ayre and Gavot, Bach Air (from Suite No 3 in D), Bach Fugue a la Gigue, Bach Sheep may safely graze, Dubois Cantilene Nuptiale, Dubois Grand Choeur in B flat, Elgar Pomp and Circumstance March No 4, Elgar Triumphal March (from Caractacus), Farrar A Wedding Piece, Felton A Little Tune, Handel Air (from Water Music), Handel Arrival of the Queen of Sheba (from Solomon), Handel March (from Scipio), Hollins Trumpet Minuet, Lemare Minuet Nuptiale, Lemmens Fanfare, Mendelssohn War March of the Priests (from Athalia), Nicholas Toccata Giubiloso, Parry Bridal March (from the Birds of Aristophanes), Purcell Rondeau (from Abdelazar), Saint-Saens Benediction Nuptiale, Salome Marche (from Douze Pieces Nouvelles), Smart Postlude in D, Wesley Air (from 12 Short Pieces), Wesley Gavotte (from 12 Short Pieces And yes, the other volume I referred to was the Music for a Bride. Bit "large print", and reasonably straightforward arrangements.
  14. My experience of Mayhew books is that they're cheap for a reason; poor bindings, won't lie flat, and fall apart quickly. I've not used the wedding volumes you describe, but the 2 or 3 Mayhew organ volumes I have purchased, probably all around 3 years ago, are falling apart. As are the church's music copies of Hymns Old & New. The only Mayhew book I've got which has survived is a collection of Stanford/Parry/Brahms Preludes. It's not great to play from though; won't stay open. I've got The Organist's Wedding Album Vol I and II (Cramer, maybe?), and they're good, and a collection edited by Noel Rawsthorne that I forget the name of. These have lasted well and contain good music and good arrangements.
  15. I'd agree with all the comments above - Thorne goes down well with congregations. How Gloria is good, the rest not good for congregation (though I like the Agnus). Grayston Ives Salisbury Service is tosh. We've been doing it since before I started here 3 years ago, and, whilst the congregation know it, it's incredibly dull.
  16. ajt

    WE THE JURY

    I'm struggling to find a performance of that piece on Youtube by Oortmerssen, but, to my mind, that's the chap who gets the most music out of most of Bach's organ music. Everything's beautifully articulated and phrased.
  17. That's exactly the bracket I'd put myself in. Anglican waffling... However, a decent improviser makes the improvisation sound like a composed piece. I cited David Coram earlier - I've had conversations with other respectable organists whilst he's been improvising, along the lines of "which Bach trio is this?" "E flat?" "Nah, I can play that, it's not that - C major?" etc... To hear someone do it well is quite stunning. Most organists you can tell when they're improvising, a rare few, you can't.
  18. As with most musical skills, it's about just doing it, over and over, developing those skills. I can do neither particularly well, though I must say I find improvising easier on some instruments and not others - acoustics and beauty of tone help. Martin, if you want some guidance, then down in our neck of the woods I would recommend having a chat with David Coram; without a doubt a very fine improviser - one of the best I've ever heard.
  19. I've come across a 150 (and seen the mark sheet) for Grade 8 piano. (not me, I hasten to add). This was a school friend of mine, who was already playing regularly in Ronnie Scott's by 17, had taken her Trinity G8 at 11, but had been recommended to take ABRSM to give her more options for music college.
  20. Have a look at : http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=3069...p;id=1033620954 To Colin - I agree about CH. I have one at church, and hate it with a vengeance. Partly because the speaker placement is dreadful (swell and choir speak to the top of the elderly choir's head, which they hate), but mostly because there is no stop on it that stands on its own. Colour is reed or mixture, any they sound dreadful anyway, everything is nondescript and non-organ sounding. The great flute is pathetic - I can whisper over it, and the Gt OD is more like an 80's Casiokeys rendition of a "violin". No blend, no chorus, no beauty, nothing. Absolutely not one stop that has any merit. I have no doubt that Ernest could come down and spend some time improving matters, but the fact remains that the organ still went in like that. (Or was allowed to be voiced like that) Worrying. I have been playing the Hauptwerk Salisbury organ trial today for the first time. Not the same as the real thing, of course, but still quite satisfying. Like listening to a recording of a concert that you might have played there. Certainly more satisfying than any electronic substitute toaster contraption I've ever played. For those of us who rarely get more than 3 hours a week to themselves (the wonders of being a house parent), this is fantastic. Stick the headphones on, play away and actually enjoy the sound you're making. Some organists I know are content to practice on anything they can get their hands on. I'm not one of those; I have to enjoy the sound the instrument is making; that is the only reason to play, and one of the (and oh, there are so many others) reasons why I'm always on the hunt for a new church in the Southampton/Lymington/Bournemouth area. This is true whether organ/piano or harpsichord. I've had poor pianos, digital pianos, a fairly dire harpsichord, and a dreadful home toaster. All have gone in the bin - I just don't play them, because it's not satisfying. Hauptwerk has, for me, addressed that. The mechanics of stop changes and stuff might be clunky, but, frankly, I don't care; I can make noises that I enjoy, and not annoy everyone else, for a reasonable cost. Plus I can actually carry the console up to the top floor of the Queen Anne mansion I have a squalid little flat in, albeit in 3 trips.
  21. I use either an A3 sketchbook, with A4 pages and prittstick, or an IKEA photo frame, which'll take 6 A4 pages. I can get most of the trio sonata movements into one frame. (each mvt = 1 frame).
  22. I believe the C5 is a standard piano, the C5S is the "Silent Series" - has a switch to stop the hammers from making contact with the strings, turns the digital piano on so that you can play on headphones with the same touch.
  23. Touchscreens for around £300 are still only single touch (as far as I know) - touchscreens are really only a decent method of organ control when you can multi-touch. How often do you reach that left hand out and pull out the swell reeds, for example? The other issue is one of muscle memory - with a tactile thing like draw stops, you quickly learn where they are without thinking. Not so easy with tabs (but generally they're in front of you so you can see anyway), impossible with a flat, response-less screen. I think there's a reason drawstops are so prevalent - because they work well.
  24. Buy a Midi->USB interface off ebay for approximately £2.50. Plug the connector marked MIDI IN into the hole marked MIDI OUT and vice versa, and the USB into the computer. That's it! What you do with it now, then, is over to you... Lots of software possibilities that can do all sorts of things with your piano.
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