martin_greenwood
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Posts posted by martin_greenwood
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I've been using Riemenschneider as transposition practice for ARCO next January. I'm puzzled as to many chorales that are clearly in G minor are frequently given a key signature of just Bb, with the Eb's shown as accidentals throughout the chorale.
Please could one or you erudite types enlighten me.
Thanks
Sq.
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Why should he? Most forum members are quite accept to accept what MM has said without further justification.
Some of the posts here are too close to a personal vendetta for my taste.
Here, here!
It seems to me that one or two newcomers to the forum have jumped straight in wearing size 12 wellies, without having first absorbed the "house style" of the forum i.e. informed discussion which is not necessarily consensual, but which nevertheless remains friendly.
Sq.
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I'm currently working on SS Wesley's Andante in G (Novello English Organ Music Vol 2), and am interested in just how legato I should be making the various patterns of consecutive 6ths that occur in either hand throughout the piece.
The easier option is to do a "pseudo legato" with the upper notes always legato, but where expedient permitting the lower notes to detach e.g. to use a right hand thumb on consecutive notes.
Or what I presume is the "correct" option is to do shed-loads of finger substitution for a full legato series of 6th (5:2 to 4:1/5:2 to 4:1/5:2 etc.). The tempo suggested by Wesley is crotchet 63 and the 6th are in quavers. Given some of the chromatics involved, the hand angles are in places rather awkward and this is going to take me quite some practice to get sufficiently fluent for a concert performance.
What do you good people think? Is the full legato essential, or would a reverberant accoustic support some "cheating"?
Sq.
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I wonder to what extent being able to play from memory is linked with the ability to "play by ear". Of course an accurate rendition from memory is not the same as an approximation by ear, however perhaps a strong aural ability helps the brain to fill in the gaps which might otherwise be problematic?
I also wonder if there is any merit in commiting a piece to memory for the sake of it as opposed to for a specific recital? It's always beneficial to have a piece "up your sleeve", should a playing opportunity arise unexpectedly when exploring unfamiliar churches. But does the time and effort involved produce any other benefits which would make this worthwhile at the expense of say increasing your repertiore by learning another piece?
Sq.
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Perhaps in certain situations the overall speed of learning the music is actually being hampered by using someone else's fingerings. I can see that for relatively straightforward pieces then using the fingering already provided would speed things along. But for more complex pieces, perhaps the painful process of working out your own fingering yields not just a comfortable set of fingerings, but also contributes something significant to the learning process.
Sq.
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I'm reliable told by a ABRSM examiner, that for this exam you are guaranteed to get a distinction sinply by NOT playing Top Cat. It might be catchy, but it loses it's appeal after a few dozen performances!
This was said to me with a twinkle in the eye. I expect the sentiment was true, even if professionalism prevailed in practice.
Sq.
PS It seems I was earlier typing with my elbows (which makes a change from playing with my boxing gloves on!).
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I'm reliable told by a ABRSM examiner, that for this exam you are guaranteed to get a distinction sinply by NOT playing Top Cat. It might be catchy, but it loses it's appeal after a few dozen performances!
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Hello All
On 20th January the Essex Organists' Association is holding a workshop evening on a theme of Home Practice Organs, and somewhat rashly I offered to pull the whole thing together.
The sorts of questions we aim to address include,
- What type of house instruments are available?
- Can you really fit a pipe organ in a living room?
- Can you really fit a pipe organ in a living room?
- How can I use an Apple Mac or PC to bring playing the world's best pipe organs within reach of my own home? Can I really do this incrementally without high initial cost?
- What is the second hand market like?
- How expensive are the various options?
- Who can I speak to for first-hand impartial advice?
The questions above will be explored by means of photographs, recordings and first-hand accounts from the owners of 4 different styles of house organ - 2 pipe organs, a modern factory-built toaster and toaster build around the Hauptwerk Virtual Pipe Organ system.
Whilst most home practice organs are of the electronic variety, we were very keen to demonstrate that house pipe organs can be a viable option too - hence the 2 related case-studies (there's a pun there somewhere).
I've pulled most of the material together already, but am running light on typical costs of second-hand practice instruments. So if any forum members have purchased second-hand house organs (pipe or digital) in the not too distant past and would be happy to share price information with me, please contact me via PM.
Thanks
Sq.
- What type of house instruments are available?
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Thanks so much to everyone for your suggestions. I'll attack my music shelf tonight I see what I've got "in stock".
Sq.
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Hello All,
I've just discovered that our organist has had to take leave over Christmas for family reasons, so as assistant I will be stepping in and covering all the services. This will be my first 9 lessons as the main organist (I've accomanied specific choir items in previous years).
I'm going to have my work cut out, since I have to fit in preparation for the choir accompaniments etc. alongside my day job and trumpet playing commitments. Which brings me to the subject question...
Does anyone have suggestions for a suitable voluntary for the end of 9 lessons, which will not require hours of preparation. As a guideline, I'm of aspiring ARCO standard.
Many thanks in advance!
Sq
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This talk of requiring an additional semitone beyond the reach of the upper reach of the pedal division instrument reminds me of the inverse problem when playing the bassoon. Occasionally a piece requires a low A, which is a semitone lower than the standard lowest note of Bb (the Rumpole of the Bailley theme springs to mind). In this situation a rolled up piece of music stuck in the top of the bassoon does the trick nicely. But an equivalent low tech approach to the upper note issue on pedal divisions would require a hacksaw, so I guess that's not a go-er.
Sq
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The time, once the fingering and initial learning is done, to ready to perform generally is relatively short.
Thanks for your thoughts Pfiff. In the last week the fugue seems to have "clicked" for me me, so I think you're probably right regarding the upfront pain.
Sq.
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I'm in the middle of learning this piece at the moment from the Novello Vol.2 edition. So far I've had one lesson on the Allegro and am a week or so away from having prepared the fugue ready for having it taken apart at my next lesson. This might be down to my inexperience, but it's taken me an inordinate amount of time (a few hours) sorting out the fugue fingering in order i) to bring out the various entries, and ii) just to cover all the notes and suspensions. Is this to be expected, or is it my inexperience in preparing fugues?
Sq
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Announcing the arrival of that irritating chatterbox who just won't shut up:-
Mr Simon Furr, or "Si" for short.
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I'd certainly recommend you having a chat with Bob Moseley of Dukeries Organs who has done some work on hybrids using the Phoenix system.
As far as tuning goes, one approach is to provide a "tuning knob" on the console that enables the organist to ensure that the digital extension rank(s) is in line with the pipework.
Sq.
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Try contacting Fr Philip at St Magnus the Martyr (next to Monument). In the past he has been very helpful in terms of allowing access to the organ for practice purposes.
Best of luck,
Sq.
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Thanks but first one although quoted in GBP is coming from the US so adds on £9 P&P. The second is quoting a price of 106 USD, and that's not even for a leather-bound, limited edition!!!
Sq
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I'm trying to get hold of these translations which I am aware are available in the book written by Bighley. I can't seem to find a UK stockist of this so was wondering if anyone here could point me in the direction of a UK source, or an alternative text book which might save me the shipping costs from te US.
Thanks
Sq.
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Bishops have just completed a major rebuild of the organ at New Hall School, nr Chelmsford (See here)
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Given that this project was undertaken by a student and not a professional animator, I thought it was quite a reasonable attempt. The target audience though I would have put at primary school.
The thing that has been bugging me though is that I can't remember the name of the little ditty used to demonstrate the flutes. I've heard it enough times as an encore, but the grey matter is letting me down.
Can anyone put me out of my misery?
Sq.
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...Do people like it when hymns are updated? I once saw the fiirst line of a well-known hymn rendered "Dear Lord and Father of us all....." Oh dear.
Peter
Could have been worse... "Dear Lord and Parent of us all.....".
Sq.
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Hello All
At the start of July I've got a 9 month stint of working Mon-Thu two weeks out of three in Luxembourg. I was wondering if any of the forum members could suggest contacts whom I could approach regarding access to an organ for practise purposes whilst I am there.
I currently studying at St Giles and working towards my ARCO, which hopefully I'll take sometime next year. This period in Luxembourg is something of a hindrance to my organ studies, but if I am able to find a suitable practice instrument whilst working there then perhaps the impact won't be too bad.
If you are able to help please you could PM or email me with any suggestions.
Thanks
Sq.
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Last night I thought I'd round off my home practice by playing through a John Stanley voluntary and duly loaded onto my Hauptwerk toaster the 1721 Gottfried Silbermann Organ sampleset from St. Georgenkirche - Rötha, Germany. Not long into the piece I realised that Stanley was making frequent use of a high D (3 above middle C) which exceeds the compass of this particular Silbermann (highest note is a top C).
This got me wondering whether the compass of English baroque organs typically extended beyond that of their German counterparts. Or is this an unrepresentative case?
Sq.
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The big question is - if I record in one chunk (a single track), how can I put tracks in afterwards???????
Hi Hector,
You will need to run it into a computer and then use software like Audacity, which is free and can be found here:
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
Peter
It's a real doddle to do this using Audacity, but if you get stuck PM me and I'll lend you a hand.
Sq
Making a recording
in General discussion
Posted
Whislt I'm not in the league of those who are recording professional CDs, I do record my playing for practice purposes and sharing with family and friends. Even in such an informal situation I find that my mind will play games with me to a greater extend that when doing a live performance. For me, in a live performance situation, any mistake or imperfection is immediately in the past. So assuming it wasn't catastrophic, it doesn't impact the remainder of the performance.
However when making a recording, the pressure increases throughout the performance. The further though the piece you are without having made any mistakes, the more effort that is "at stake" if you make a mistake between now and the end of the piece. It's all silly mind games I'm sure, and not so disimilar from me becoming progressively cack-handed as soon as I approach the "daily record" whislt playing pit-pat on the beach during family holidays.
Sq.