innate

Wouldn't it be marvellous if there existed an organ in one of our ancient universities of the kind that John Marsh was thinking when he wrote those words.

Cromwell’s head is buried (after an extraordinary series of adventures) in an unmarked spot in the grounds of a Cambridge College but I don't know where the rest of him ended up.

Because it's a Christian organisation with faith, hope and charity at its heart?

What I meant to imply was that so long as the C of E enjoys the privileges of establishment, eg its representatives in the House of Lords, The Queen being its head, the near-monopoly of college chapels in our older universities and schools, then it should happily accept the responsibilities. I have a feeling that there were periods in the C of E's history well before our modern pluralist society, particularly during the Industrial Revolution, when many people were less than regular congregants.

At the joint risks of sounding sanctimonious and derailing the thread, I was under the impression that the Church of England, so long as it is the Established Church, should be available for every person in every parish, so long as they not excommunicate.

Quite!

It is comparing like with like as far as what we have been presented with goes. If we are supposed to make a value judgement we should be shown the music or given a link to a recording. And I appreciate pcnd was referring to the copyright notice; I presume every commercial publisher is obliged to add copyright notices here, there and everywhere to protect their investment. I'll try to rediscover my sense of humour.

[quote name='pcnd5584' date='Jun 30 2011, 11:13 PM' I once saw, in some songbook or other, a ditty with one verse which ran: Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. Other verses were similarly creative. At the footer, was the legend 'Words copyright....' I might have said this before. But repetition of one word doesn't a banal musical setting make otherwise we would have to consign: Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia. Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia. from our repertoire. Bye, bye, Handel. Or Mozart.

Someone told me recently that new teaching contracts at the RNCM are for life but include the option of zero hours and zero pay.

Although Sam Johnson split with impunity and this sentence "Administrators expect profits to more than triple this year." is hard to rewrite without the split. (Acknowledgements to this site.)

I think you probably lose the argument once you bring split infinitives to the table. There was a relatively long-running correspondence on this subject in the Independent recently. It is hard to improve on Fowler's recommendations except to emphasise that the "rule" was invented by classicists: as it is impossible to split the one-word infinitive in Latin it should be made impossible by diktat in English. Any such "invented" rules are destined to fail. Those of us privileged to have been made aware of the rule can nod or shake our heads wisely as some no-nothing makes yet another transgression. Apologies for ranting but this thread has lost its way!

In the old days I'd have said "Get a Mac" but in these days of convergence all computers are more and more the same.

I always thought of this as the organ maintenance hymn.

Given that the children who sang this line were extremely likely to sing other songs extolling the power of Jesus's love they might well choose the intended meaning. In fact I remember being pleased I'd worked it out myself aged about 6. So not much harm done.

Also well outside my comfort zone... I remember Martin How (Devizes c.Easter 1975) explaining to 150 choristers that the essence of Mrs Alexander's hymn lay in the third lines of each verse: Where the dear Lord was crucified... But we believe it was for us... That we might go at last to heaven... He only could unlock the gate... And trust in His redeeming blood... And Martin's grandfather was a bishop!

This, apparently unsuccessful, instrument, also an Ouseley design, intrigues me, and not just for its 5-rank Pedal mixture: St Michael’s, Tenbury Bet the action was heavy here with all the couplers!

A good point, Stephen. To OnlyAnAnorak, I'd say, without trying to frighten you, that your ultimate goal should be flexibility. Of course learn the hymns as they are printed in whichever book you are using making whatever adaptations you need for stretches etc. But then you will discover that there are different versions and different keys in different books and different organs and buildings (and choirs and congregations) will require different speeds, pauses, articulation (staccato/legato), registration. And above all, you will need variety in how you play them; despite your IT background you aren't and shouldn't aspire to computer accuracy and inevitability. Best of luck! One more point; you might find it interesting to use a computer music notation program to make your own versions of hymn tunes. You can then transpose them very easily. I've found inputting music into the computer a very good way of understanding the music "from the inside". There's a wide range of notation programs available from the market leader in the UK (Sibelius - very expensive but discounts for education and churches) to many freeware or quite cheap ones. Michael

LOL stands for Laughing Out Loud, and its extended form ROTFLMAO stands for Rolling On The Floor Laughing My A** Off. But many "newbies" think LOL stands for Lots Of Love as in "Your grandma's just died LOL".

Slightly apprehensively, I'm venturing into this heated theatre organ discussion to point out that argument from popularity is no argument for greatness, otherwise McDonald's outlets would carry Michelin rosettes and we would all take our holidays at Disneyland.

I think just knowing of this board's existence qualifies us for the "anorak" label, in the eyes of the vast majority.

Wikipedia doesn't tell the whole story. I think (and I may be wrong) it's generally agreed by the experts that exact equal temperament was probably not used practically until the early C20; even when tuners thought they were tuning pianos or organs to ET there were some intervals that were more equal than others. It's certainly tempting to draw a parallel between the introduction of ET to the organ and the disuse of mutations and upperwork, I suspect not only in England or the UK.

This is excellent advice, kropf. Thank you.

OK, after a few minutes I've found organs in the USA as follows: Frobenius: 4 organs between 1972 and 1996, total of 115 stops Marcussen: 4 organs, total of 142 stops Klais: 9 organs, including one of 50 stops Rieger: 2 since 2000, 7 between 1985 and 2000 and a massive 38 instruments imported by the USA between 1970 and 1985. Does that match your impression of their sense of loyalty to their own organ builders?

Is that a hunch, or can you back up your claim with research, Colin? There are several Manders in the US and some other recent British organs, not to mention many German and Austrian (1) instruments over the last 50 years. More recently, I think there have been some French imports. The large new(-ish) organ in the Disney Hall in Los Angeles is a collaboration between a US builder and a German builder. (1) <edited to add: and Danish>