Robert Bowles

There have recently been several posts about organ shoes. They set me thinking. What did organists wear on their feet 100 years ago before organmaster shoes were available? Boots not shoes were the normal footwear. Did they play in their boots or change into something else? We are encouraged to use historic fingering in early muisic and play on period instruments . Are we missing something by not not also wearing period footwear?

I am not familiar with Ireland in A but I am with Ireland's evening service in F. (copyright 1915, when he was still at St Luke's). I remember thinking, as a treble, how, it was a bit like Dyson in D (which has lots of top A s) but much less of a screech! Its highest treble note is only top G. I also noted that it was the only work in the repertoire which required the trebles to sing A below middle C (...in the imagination of their HEARTS). Getting down there was a far greater challenge for us than getting up to top Bb s ! But.... If Ireland in F were transposed up a tone.... it would be on a screech level with Dyson in D and the trebles would have a chance to sing "hearts". So I'd support the idea that St Luke's organs (both of them, because surely nobody would have instruments tuned to different pitches in the same building) ) were tuned high.

I've had several pairs and found that their length of life depends not so much on on how long you wear them for playing the organ, but how much you walk around in them when not playing, and on what sort of floors. Also they HATE getting wet. One of their advantages, in pedalling terms, is that the upper shoe tucks in where it meets the sole, and there is no external welt. However, the joint is glued rather than sewn. I've found that a policy of zero tolerance to any signs of the glued joint coming apart is the key to keeping them going. Keep the supa-glue handy! I think the glued joint may make re-sole-ing them more of a challenge than it would be with a pair of solid brogue walking shoes..

At a well known Cathedral during the 1970s one of the Residentiary Canons had the same name as the then Prime Minister, Harold Wilson. Confusion was avoided by adding, sotto voce, the tag "not iscariot" whenever the the Canon was referred to. A few years later the Dean and one of the Residentiary Canons had the same name - Alan Webster. The "not iscariot" tag couldn't really be used, since which of them was "not iscariot" was a matter of opinion. Confusion was avoided by allocating to Canon Webster the nickname "Auntie". Then there was Canon Ball - no problem really, provided the glottal stop between the two words was properly articulated.

John Dykes Bower (c 1962) used to release last chords at St Paul's by rolling -off from the top down. His hands and arms finished up over his left shoulder. Just as well that page turners stood on his right or they would have had to duck! When I asked him why, he explained that the cathedral's reverberation period was longer for high notes than for low notes. This technique helped the last chord to die away as a chord. He didn't want it to sound as if he'd taken the left hand and pedal off early. I presume he didn't do it in less reverberant buildings - but I never asked.

This is a discussion board, not part of ebay or freecycle, but I hope our host will not mind if I ask for suggestions as to how to find a good home for various ranks of Hunter pipes, a 6 rank soundboard and two reservoirs. Alfred Hunter and Son often installed instruments with parts "prepared for", so I think there may be people out there with incomplete instruments who could be interested. Hunter didn't always leave out the same things. I am not a dealer - these are just the left over parts of a redundant Hunter which I bought to complete the instrument at my church. That was a fairly extreme example of preparing for things - a three manual instrument which had 10 ranks missing and no choir soundboard, box or reservoir. Apart from a 16ft pedal trombone and 16ft Swell Contra Fagotto all the missing bits are now installed, so we have marked ourselves 8/10. The result has transformed our instrument, and I'd like to help someone else do the same. We'd really like to score 10/10, so we are still hunting for the missing reeds. Any suggestions on that front? Anything we install has to be Hunter to satisfy an understandable condition applied by the Heritage Lottery Fund, who grant-aided the restoration of the incomplete instrument. If we use "any old pipes" (however distinguished the source) they will want their money back.

James was referring to Isambard Kingdom Brunel (not to be confused with his dad, Mark Isambard Brunel) who married the daughter of William Horsley, one of founders of the Philhamonic Society. IKB was a suscriber to the 1855 edition of Hopkins and Rimbault and there was a Gray and Davison organ in his house! I don't think IKB played - but I like to think he got called on to fix the odd cipher. So here's a question for you next choir quiz night "Whose father-in-law wrote the tune to 'There is a green hill far away'? " I bet they won't know. Lots of organists are keen on trains - but lots of engineers (myself included) are organists. Am I right?

This story is true. By the time I learned to play there (mid '60s) the steam enthusiast had moved on, leaving a black Kitmaster (later taken over by Airfix) locomotive and tender. He apparently took with him various other coloured engines which he had swapped around to match the liturgical colour of the day.

I could do it. Will send pm.

Have scanned it and sent it to the addresses which you gave me by PM earlier. Sorry cannot join you at St Paul's tomorrow - grandson's birthday party takes priority. RB

A marvellous arrangement! Please count me in Simon. Have also sent you a pm

The minutes of the HLF Committee that made this awared are here: http://www.hlf.org.uk/NR/rdonlyres/D158817...sFebruary28.pdf Interesting to note that they also awarded GBP 297k to St Georges Southall http://npor.rcm.ac.uk/cgi-bin/Rsearch.cgi?...ec_index=A00128 for the organ which went there from St Georges Botolph Lane.

I am currently involved in the completion of a three manual Hunter instrument dating from 1920. Eight years ago the restoration of the action of the incomplete instrument received grant-aid from the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Council for the Care of Churches and the ON organ fund. Their common attitude to completion was that they could not grant-aid it, but neither would they oppose it provided the specification was as originally intended and second-hand Hunter material of the correct vintage, or new but copied from Hunter, was used. Otherwise they would want their money back. We've still got the original contract, so we know exactly what was intended, and have obtained 11 ranks of pipes and all the missing pneumatic action, reservoirs, chest, choir box, trunking, tremulant, framing - etc. from other Hunter instruments of the right vintage. It all fits perfectly into the space hunter left for it 90 years ago. We are still looking for a pedal trombone and a swell contra fagotto. These are without doubt the most prepared-for ranks ever. I would be delighted to hear from anyone who knows where either might be legitimately obtained. We haven't applied for an HOC but we intend to when the work is complete.

I recall Michael Flemming giving a very credible explanation of why it is so loud. During the reconstruction of the interior of the church after it was burned out in the war, the installation and final voicing of the organ overlapped with the end of the interior decoration work. A fair amount of scaffolding, including wooden scaffold boards etc. was still in the building. Everything sounded fine until the scaffolding was removed, and the true resonance was revealed. That was after the organ was finished - by which time it was too late to make changes. I guess the interior might be due for re-decoration soon - so will there be an opportunity to test this story?

I too was a chorister at St Paul's in the DB/Gabb era - but a few years before Martin Cooke (I was a contemporary of his big brother Richard). I can say for sure that there were no private recordings involving the choir between 1958 and 1963, and I doubt whether DB or Gabbo made any private recordings of them playing the organ in the Cathedral either. It is also unlikely that there are any "Pirate" recordings of services about, since the equipment needed would have been very bulky and the virgers would have screened out anyone arriving with that sort of kit. Your best bet is the BBC or ITV archives, but I don't know how they are indexed, nor how they can be searched. 45 years ago it was quite normal for there to be no mention of who the musicians were in live broadcasts. If you search by event you may have more luck. Try the rededication of the High Altar 7th May 1958); Dedication of the American Memorial Chapel (November 1958); and Sir Winston Churchill's funeral (January 1965). If you would like more information or anecdotes, please contact me personally...

There used to be a steam locomotive in the organ loft of Bedford School Chapel. Well, it was only an 00 scale Kitmaster model – so it didn’t steam, but it had a job to do. It ran on a length of track across the top of the music desk. Its position indicated how full the reservoir (not sure which one) was. The organ had originally been hand-blown but an electric blower had been installed. The string and weight which had told the person doing the pumping how full the reservoir was had been diverted across the top of the music desk, with some extra pullies, and the engine was attached to the string. The pneumatic action was full of leaks and some ranks had been added, so it was not very difficult to empty the reservoirs.. The locomotive was therefore a “very useful engine”. The master who installed this arrangement had moved on by my time, leaving behind a single black locomotive. I understood there had previously been a whole set painted in various colours, which he changed around so that the locomotive was always the correct liturgical colour for the season. He was, apparently, quite keen on trains!

Yes, I confess - 'twas I! And thank you, Stephen, for your kind words. It was very brave of you to accept my offer, having no idea who I was, and there being no recognised professional qualification for page-turners which I could put in my CV! That begs the question - how are page turners trained nowadays? I learned when I was a chorister at St Paul's, and John Dykes Bower/Harry Gabb operated a system whereby two boys, one senior and one junior, would go up into the organ loft after the service. The choir would have been played out to an extemporisation, and the boys in question were allowed to move very quickly to be in position by the end of the first page of the voluntary itself (the console was in the north organ case in those days, so there was quite a way to go). The senior boy would turn the pages and the junior would observe how it was done. Being able to sight-read seemed to be the key to it all. Then one had to be tall enough to reach across to the music desk of the 5 manual instrument without getting in the way. Some alumni of this sytem - e.g. Christopher Herrick http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/artist_p...sp?name=herrick went on to rather greater things in the organ world than I did - but the arrangement was the first rung on the ladder. I learned all about infinite speed and gradation swell mechanisms (after asking why there were two fuel gauges like the ones in my parents' Morris Eight) and about acoustics (after asking why they released the last chord as a descending arpeggio - answer, because the bass notes die away faster than the trebles, and that way the chord seems to die away as one.) Has the photocopier killed off this form of early training??

An understandable thought, which would be correct if the issue were whether work should be zero-rated or exempt from VAT. i.e. if VAT should not be paid in the first place. But here we go, straight into the minefield - or at least into the barbed wire surrounding it! The scheme now being extended to cover organs was started about 5 years ago in an attempt to put right the total nonsense over VAT and listed buildings, where alterations were zero-rated but repairs were subject to 17.5 % VAT. Originally the hope was to zero-rate repairs, but that failed (EU rules I think) so someone dreamed up an alternative way of achieving the same effect for the end-user. Money originating from the Heritage Lottery Fund was set aside, and is administered by the DCMS to refund VAT paid out on repairs to the fabric of listed places of worship. The DCMS also decide just what is eligible. That sounds like a simple and neat solution, but it still needs lots of interpretation. It also means that churches have to find the money to pay the VAT to the Customs and Revenue, and then claim it back from the DCMS. I am not a VAT expert – just someone who has been involved with lots of work to a listed church over the years… The key bit of advice for now is to make sure that all VAT invoices for work that might possibly qualify for a rebate are identified and kept. No invoice – no grant!

Now there seems to be light at the end of the tunnel as far as the EU directives on lead are concerned what’s the next issue going to be? Here’s my suggestion. In his budget speech the Chancellor said “On VAT, I will continue to help churches and faith groups by refunding Value Added Tax paid on renovation of church buildings, monuments and other sacred places.” But it seems the scheme is being extended as well as renewed, On the website for the scheme http://www.lpwscheme.org.uk/ we read that “Officials in DCMS are currently reviewing the eligibility criteria for the scheme and further information will be available as soon as possible” Elsewhere it is reported that examples of what the extension will cover include professional fees, bells and organs. I sense another minefield when it comes to defining “renovation” and “organs”. Is tuning “renovation?” Perhaps it’s “maintenance” (not eligible?) But if the organ builder is called in to fix that dodgy pneumatic motor, that would be “repair” - and what if he/she does a bit of tuning while he’s at it… Does that mean two accounts?? Will it cover work to electronic “organs” ? Perhaps not if they are on wheels with a three pin plug - that’s furniture. Perhaps so if you take the wheels off, screw it to the floor and hard-wire it into a spur outlet it becomes a fixture/fitting. On the face of it there would be no test of the worthiness of the instrument – so it would just depend on whether the church it stood in was listed. That seems a bit unfair on unlisted churches who are the custodians of instruments that would qualify for a BIOS Historic Organs Certificate.. Does anyone know how the DCMS officials are getting on? I wonder if they need some help…

There was one at St Botolph's Aspley Guise http://npor.emma.cam.ac.uk/cgi-bin/Rsearch...ec_index=D02015 which I remember from when I first started playing in 1960. I never quite understood what the point of it was. It wasn't a diapason, it wasn't a flute, it wasn't a string..and now (since the re-build) it isn't at all. My memories of that particular instrument are dominated by the heaviness of the tracker action. I remember failing to operate one of the combination pedals. It was so heavy that when I pressed it I was lifted up off the bench, but it stayed put. But I was lighter than I am now...

As I recall, the skirt was quite short, but we didn't see much of it. (as it were) . She didn't walk to the console but arrived reclining on a litter carried by four "slaves" while someone else played "The arrival of the queen of sheba". The Mini concerto was in fact a concerto grosso for organ and an unspecified number of "tin" whistles, played by members of the audience. The whistle part was one short phrase repeated several times. It was nine repeated notes, to the rythm generated by saying "Mi-ni _ con-cer-to ev - 'ry - one plays ". The event was very well attended, and there were not enough whistles for everyone to play - but a good time was had by all.

I will not recommend anything, and I don't know where in the world you are (your pseudonymn suggests that you float in the clouds above us all). I am in UK. About 5 years ago I procured an adjustable bench for my church from a UK builder, who produces them in batches. It has worked very well for us. It is adjusted by rotating a wheel on the end of the bench, though it is not possible to adjust it single handed if one is also sitting on the bench. My colleague and I (we have rather different leg-lengths) have made simple pencil markings on the end to show where it needs to be for each of us. The cost, in 2001, was about GBP 750.00. (including VAT)

I tried "Duchess of Kent wedding music widor" in a very serious google. Up come naxos Progamme notes and a note about an Alfred Hollins recital which confirm that it was Francis Jackson, and it was the Kents' wedding.