ajt

Oh bugger it, I knew I shouldn't have drunk so much that night. I have no idea any more. I've always thought it was Holy Trinity, but looks like I'm very wrong! I do remember that this was the concert after which my car got stolen, then found abandoned round the corner with no ignition electrics in it. Being a poor student at the time, and due to be playing in Southampton that morning, I got the nice RAC man to teach me to hot wire it. Unfortunately I stalled it on Hyde Park Corner, so had to get out of the car, stuck my rear in the face of the oncoming traffic, and hot wire it again... All good fun...

This is the church just round the corner from the albert hall? Big chandelier above the middle of the nave?

I'm sure I was stuck away in some kind of loft above the choir stalls - don't remember there being a mobile console.. Maybe my memory is playing tricks.

I played it (1999) - I didn't like it. I can't remember a huge amount about it (I was playing Duruflé Requiem with orchestra), except that it was a large spec, but without much in the way of contrast or beauty. It certainly seemed to be in normal working order - I don't remember anything untoward happening.

Adrian Taylor, currently DofM at St. Mary's, Southampton. More conductor than organist... Previously: DofM, Lyndhurst, Peartree (Southampton). Senior Organ Scholar, Keele University, Organ Scholar at Tettenhall College, Wolverhampton, started organ lessons at Ripon Cathedral with Robert Marsh and Ronald Perrin. Also did a short spell teaching at Lichfield Cathedral School.

Is that a tendency to have slightly floppy ginger hair and a dog called Snowy?

The Bearded and the Beardless is the only one that sticks in the mind...

Pah, channels. When I had my first experience of the organ at Ripon (1985?), as page turner, then going on to have organ lessons on it, the pistons were set by an array of toggle switches behind the player in a wall cabinet. No channels, no generals. I don't think people need a registrant. However, I do think that a lot of players of the "modern age", myself included, struggle to make the most of an instrument's colour without a usable piston system, especially on larger instruments. I'm gradually being trained out of the habit though, by having a very unreliable piston system that was designed in 1935, and hasn't been changed since it was installed... There're only so many times the clergy will put up with you attempting a subtle post-communion improv only to find the great clarion hanging a few mm out where you were expecting a solo flute...

True, but it should give you a reasonable idea of how the instrument sounds in the building, not just at the console.

I've done it at every church I've been at. Usually as part of my scouting to see if I want to take the job on. Plus, I prefer conducting, so I often get people in to play...

Have you tried the sw. open diapason 2/3's-drawn coupled to the gt. dulciana?

And you absolutely wouldn't want a Willis III in that building. Quite the wrong instrument. And I wouldn't trade you Rest of post edited out...

Why's that then? I'm not saying the small swell is wrong at all... Particularly not with that lovely oboe in it.

Apologies if I've caused offence, that was not my intention. I was stood in the nave, and whilst someone was playing full organ, I could have a conversation over the top of it very easily. If you go up the steps into the choir, then the organ becomes significantly louder, and at the console, louder still. It's not a question of not understanding the church or the building, or the organ, it's purely a matter of acoustics and physics, surely?

The point of progress is surely to keep/improve on the good, and remove/improve the bad. Historic restorations are all well and good, but, as David says, they must serve some musical purpose too. To me the time to do a historic restoration is when reverting to the historical state of the instrument renders it a better instrument than it is in its current state. e.g. Romsey Abbey - I didn't know the old instrument, but, by all accounts the historic restoration that was done fairly recently was a very good thing - the current instrument is very fine. At least one person on this forum won't thank me for this, and I apologise sincerely for any offence the following comments might cause - I wish I could think of another example to illustrate my point... But I can't. I recently played a new "historic" restoration, where the organ has been beautifully restored, rebuilt, crafted, whatever. The workmanship is superb. Absolutely amongst the best I've ever seen. However, there are obvious non-historical features, such as a balanced swell pedal, which are considered acceptable, then there's a single mixture which breaks an octave at middle C, the tiniest swell division in the world, and the whole thing, in its beautiful case, stuck in a chancel where the organ can't speak down the church at all, despite having lots of spaces, and a westend gallery... It has some lovely sounds, but I just can't imagine singing in the congregation with it. So we have progress on one hand - balanced swell pedal, for example - and "historic" handcuffs on the other hand, which contrive to make an instrument that is neither musical nor useful for the church. Doesn't make a lot of sense to me. I compare this to the restoration work done by Mander on a former church of mine, Peartree, in Southampton. The restoration was just going back in when I took over, so I can take no credit whatsoever. Whilst the historic side of it was pretty accurate, I believe (they used G&D workbooks to research the original design of the instrument, etc), the resulting instrument was very musical and very well suited to the church - the position was altered slightly if I recall correctly, to allow it to speak better in the body of the church. Again apologies to the person who's instrument I've just been slightly negative about.

Well, if you're ever caught short, so to speak, I have a choir just down the road that can usually fill in - we do Winchester every now and then, when they're stuck.

I shall have to try to get up there at some point. I'm interested to compare it to my own instrument, which, on paper, seems to share a common foundation.

What's the Westminster Cathedral instrument like? I've always liked the sound of it in recordings, but never heard it live...

I had an awful experience for my first wedding at my previous church. The organ was a Wyvern toaster... I started playing the 2nd hymn, and my feet seemed to be all over the place - just couldn't get a note right... by the 3rd verse (Praise my soul) of staring at my feet, I finally twigged that it wasn't me. The pedal board was transposing by itself. The bottom octave was a down a tone, the rest was up a 3rd! A quick power cycle, and all was rectified. Never happened again.

I agree, nice site ... Tip for you, though : take your e-mail address off there. Put in a contact form instead. You'll be receiving offers of organ extensions before you know it, otherwise. e.g. http://www.adriantaylor.co.uk/pages/contact.php or http://www.laudachoir.org/page2/page2.php

Hmm, you might not want to advertise your delivery so blatantly. Me and the "lads" might just have to hijack you en route. Not sure if I can get a whole pedal stop inside 3 minis though.

Having said all that, David and I had the pleasure of listening to Andy Lumsden play it one afternoon. He just sat down and started playing the Bridge Adagio, never having seen the instrument before, hand registering all the way, and it was bloody stunning.

Depends on what the course is. If the course is solely for the benefit of the church, i.e. something like "Music in Liturgy", or such like, then I think it's a reasonable expectation that the church goes some way to funding it. If it's "Be a better organist", then I think that's mine to fund. Which sort of is where I expect the RSCM / Organ divide to be ; I expect the RSCM to offer me courses or assistance with fitting music into the church, and promoting good music within a church context. I expect to look to the RCO or other organ related bodies to help me improve my playing across the board.

Point taken.

Yup, I agree too. It's an amazing organ, but I find it very hard work to play.