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Frank Fowler

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Everything posted by Frank Fowler

  1. I recently had one where the groom said "Yes please" - he was a very polite young man! FF
  2. This is a very common happening when the words of the hymns (often different to the ones in our hymn book) are printed on a wedding or funeral service sheet. We of riper years usually make sure we have two copies on the music desk as trying to turn the pages of a stiff card service sheet can lead us into disaster. FF
  3. Please can I haul this thread back to insurance situations. FF
  4. It saddens me to think of all the `little' churches that will have serious damage to their instruments. In a standard `four square' instrument, it is usually the bellows, often the blower, pedal soundboards and pipes together with the console pedalboard areas that are damaged. In these days of so many `small print' clauses and peculiar interpretations of same when paying out is concerned on an insurance policy I can only hope and pray that churches are covered for this sort of damage. Please let us know of a few examples. FF
  5. Use your ears and discretion. If it does not sound right (and this applies to almost everything) and you have a choice, leave it out. FF
  6. One of the acid tests is to see if you are asked to come back and play again within a reasonable time and if you do how many audience turn up this time. FF
  7. Frank Fowler

    Llandaff

    Please could we start a new site after 100 replies - this is No. 115! FF
  8. No point in looking at it - drink it! Regards, FF
  9. I have just pressed "add reply" and everything vanished, so one simply has another go. I also wish the little menu square for the "go to last read page" was a little larger - after a glass of wine in the evening (or advancing old age) one sometimes find the mouse pointer is a bit unsteady. I also can nit get the spel chocker to werk wich is a pittie sometomes. FF
  10. Getting slightly back on to the thread. There ought to be some charge for the use of the instrument unless used on `church business', which must including the titular rehearsing. I have seen several cases where an organist has set this up an excellent system and raised a not inconsiderable amount for his organ fund. What happened? The PCC hi-jacked it when the roof leaked for which they had made no financial provision. Shall we start a new thread? "What I love about PCCs". FF
  11. I have two coffee mugs with this design on them that are sold (or were maybe) in the Fitzwilliam Museum. FF
  12. I rember Sir John Dykes-Bower replying to a girl RCM student's, "When do you play top G?", answer, "Usually when I mean to play top F". FF
  13. Hill + Norman & Beard 1916. FF
  14. As an old timer I find often that the various coments, including tangents, remind me of something that happened years ago. Sometimes I can post these memories - often it is wiser not to - even more so if the person concerned is still living. FF
  15. Thank you for your kind(?) thoughts. FF from darkest North Hampshire
  16. Over the years the organ world - organists and organ builders alike, have done their best to put forward Dr Jackson for his "K". It is difficult to know what is needed to get a recommendation carried through no matter how well deserved. FF
  17. Had a new one on Saturday last. The driver of the Wedding Car used Sat Nav to find the hotel he was picking the Bride up from. He got the post code wrong and went to the wrong place - she was 29 minutes late. Thank goodness for Mobile Telephones at least the congregation did not have to sit through 29 minutes off `Jesu Joy'. FF
  18. "now it wouldn't bother me, but I'm only 30 and don't have any family committments" You've hit one of the problems - family life and committemnts have changed so much since 70 years ago. Wifey is not prepared to sit alone at home and look after the baby any more in the evenings while Father is off enjoying himself. My father, and most men of his gereration, would not been seen dead pushing a pram or push chair! FF
  19. Hill wooden pedal Trombone pipes looked just like this. I seem to remember some in St.Stephen's Bournemouth. You will find higher pitched wooden reed stops on some `fairground' organs. FF
  20. It used to be the thing for organ builders staying away on a contract to be put up into houses of church members. One often came across some most peculiar accommodation and often well meaning, highly religious people who could make life very uncomfortable - it might even be worth a `string' of it's own! FF
  21. An old organ builder's trick. To find out about the Vicar - ask the verger. This also worked when it came to Organists as well! FF
  22. We have quite an elderly congregation who need time to find the hymn they are going to sing. There are two choices. 1. Reasonable play over and start the first two lines with only half the congregation. 2. Longish playover and pander to the `ancients' and it's `all together now!'. Whatever I do though I don't lose tempo between playover and hymn. Strict tempo at all times. What's your choice? FF
  23. I tuned the organ for a couple of special occasions when Rodney Baldwin was organist. It was a difficult instrument to tune but in Rodney's hands it sounded well. FF
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