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Rohrflöte

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Everything posted by Rohrflöte

  1. There seem to be a few recordings floating around of Porter Heaps' 'Nocturne for an Orange' but I can't find a copy of the sheet music anywhere online. Does anybody have a copy they'd be willing to scan and send or know where I might be able to source one, please? Many thanks. Recording: https://youtu.be/CE61tM3_PUk
  2. I believe the general principle for families at weddings/funerals who wish their own organist to play pay the 'resident' organist's fee regardless: it is in most contracts that the organist be asked to play at all such services. I wonder what the situation is for families that want a CD played at the beginning and end, with no hymns, and therefore don't require an organist. My church recently had a state-of-the-art sound system installed (sounds much worse than it really is - the amplification for speech really is fantastic and very life-like and clear without distortion) and at the last funeral I was told my services weren't required as they wanted a CD. In a similar vein, should the people organising the service want 'instrumental' music - e.g. a string quartet - should the resident organist still be entitled to a fee where he isn't asked for but would be normal to be included because music is involved? I make my living from playing and teaching the organ, not as a hobby or second income, so I don't ask this lightly as it may affect me seriously were it to become a trend: "occasional" services such as these are, after all, a major part of the remuneration package of organists' posts. Should technology, or indeed "rival instrumentalists", be competing against organists in this area?
  3. I wonder if anyone has any experience/advice on this. My church has the potential to offer me accommodation (a house opposite the church) in lieu of my taking a fee. We are a large parish church with services and senior and junior choir rehearsals on weekdays as well as Sundays. From what I can tell, accommodation can be provided "tax-free" (free of income tax and national insurance) where it is "customary" in that line of work, and they cite parish priests as an example. Clearly cathedral organists are given accommodation and it is customary to do so, but does anyone know or have any experience of where the line would be drawn where it comes to a big parish church offering a similar deal? I'd really appreciate any advice there is, if anyone has had any experience with churches providing accommodation in this way. Thanks in advance, Rohrflote
  4. ...and the same is true for Sibelius. I used Sibelius 7 on an Acorn computer, and have used Sib 3,4,5&6 on Windows since then. I (almost) couldn't ask for more, although it's important to remember that, as with anything, it is best to stick with what you are familiar to as each new version will build upon what you already know how to do. Switching to a different program now would be next to impossible as doing even the simplest of tasks would take longer as I re-learnt how to do them - and as for the more powerful features that lie under the bonnet.....
  5. A personal plea for help! The best man at my parent's wedding was an organ builder by trade, and I know that he worked for Mander's in the 70s/80s and left at some point around that time to work for himself. Unfortunately they lost touch, and despite several attempts to get back in touch my father has never been able to do so. It is their wedding anniversary coming up in June, and I wondered if anyone here might know him, or whether he might even read this! I'm not sure whether I ought to put surnames here, so I will just put first names and first initials of surnames to protect privacy! My father is Bill C. who married Annamaria W. and the best man who I am trying to find is Mark B., known as 'Bertie', who I believe to have been married to Sue at the time. I'm doing this and hoping to surprise my father, so details here are slightly sketchy as to what bits of the story I have managed to find out subtly! My father is from Co. Durham and my parents met in London and were married in Devon in 1980. The last contact they had would have been around 1995/96 - Bertie lived (lives?!) on a house boat and my parents moved house at around that time - the last correspondence was a Christmas card that year from 'Bertie, Sue and "Bump"!' who they believed to have been a new baby but as there was no return address on the card they were never able to send on their new address! I hope I have got my facts straight, and please excuse the personal nature of the post. I hope somebody can help. Thanks in advance, Rohrflote
  6. I'll confess to playing Andrew Carter's Toccata thereon after the evening service...super piece. But I feel it's justified at that point on Advent Sunday since we've just spent the service moving through the Advent readings, past John the Baptist (3rd Sunday) and Mary (4th Sunday): we're condensing the whole of Advent into an evening anyway, so why not keep going? I agree that it's a highlight of the year though: I like to begin the Christmas Carol service with a procession to 'O come, O come' rather than 'Once in Royal'. By that point (usually the week before Christmas) it's actually appropriate, and it's nice to pick up where Advent Carols left off.
  7. I heard that he left the post before the summer, although I don't know why. I understand it was rather sudden.
  8. Always fingering each passage in the same way is crucial, and I write in as much as I need when learning a new piece. For modern pieces this can be every note, for more obvious passagework just the occasional 1 or 4 where hand positions change. Once the notes are 'under the fingers', unnecessary markings can be erased - just leaving enough to resurrect the identical fingering used when coming back to a piece after six months! The rubber is a wonderful thing...I was taught never to deface music with ink, and still react with horror when I come across it. Multicolour doesn't bear thinking about!
  9. I agree, and for me I particularly find the time of year after Trinity Sunday (and most particularly after mid-June, which is our dedication festival) to be very useful for getting ahead with Christmas rehearsals. By November it's far too late - the run-up to Christmas has already begun (although we haven't jumped in yet): after requiems for All Souls' and Remembrance Sunday there is just a couple of weeks' grace before Advent Sunday and all that that entails which leaves just three weeks of rehearsals. This is fine if one just wants to "resurrect" old favourites, but I have found that attempts at significant expansion of the repertoire during December is, in my experience, a non-starter. To not even be thinking or discussing it at this stage seems awfully last-minute! Moving on, has anyone tried giving an organ recital of Christmas music at the 'wrong' time of year?* There is no particular reason that such pieces shouldn't be heard in a recital context (when the music is divorced from its intended use in the liturgy anyway) at any time of year. I have found that people actually appreciate listening to such music out of "context", and when they can be listened to objectively rather than amid the sentimentality of the Christmas season when the reaction can be "oh yes, there it is again"... *(I'm not suggesting doing further damage by chipping away at the 'popular' start to Christmas which seems to come just after Hallowe'en for many these days, but rather at a completely different time of year - before the summer, say.)
  10. Is this not an example of an "eye-rhyme" - two words that look the same but sound different? Doubtless they did rhyme at one point though.
  11. Thanks - I had a go today, and a middle C/G drone with a solo melody over it does sound relatively convincing. Having the stop begin at tenor C would make a big difference though, as the melody inevitably gets pushed rather high. I have been covering for the regular organist's maternity leave this term, and experimenting on and off have found the full organ with the Cornamusa to be unsatisfying since, beginning at middle C, it inevitably sounds like half a rank. It seems such a shame to simply ignore it, but I can't really find an tasteful use for it. Porthead - you mention that you know the organ well. I'd be interested to know something more of its history, and how a Tamburini came to be installed. It certainly isn't well-suited to accompanying the English repertoire, and seems something of an anomaly (not that there aren't a number of anomalous organs in Oxford college chapels) but then I draw a blank as to what its use is, given that you have drawn the same conclusion I did which was to ignore it as far as possible...
  12. I have had the opportunity to play the Tamburini organ at St Hugh's College chapel, in Oxford. It's specification is as follows: 8' Bordone Bass (to B just below middle C) 8' Bordone Soprani (from middle C) 4' Flauto 4' Ottavao 2' XV 1 1/3' XIX 1' XXII 8' Cornamusa (from middle C) 16' Subbasso, with manual to pedal coupler. I wonder how Sig. Tamburini intended the Cornamusa to be used in this instrument. It is installed in a small and acoustically dry chapel, and the sound of the Cornamusa stop is particularly strident. It sounds rather like a cross between a Vox humana and a bagpipe, and is quite piercing.* Given that it begins at middle C, it can only be usefully paired with the 8' Bordone bass, which is significantly quieter. Adding any of the other stops makes the situation worse, since they are all at 4' pitch or above and are full length. I confess that the Cornamusa remains sadly unused for the most part, both by me and by the organ scholars at the College. Has anyone come across one of these stops anywhere else? It seems particularly unusual on such a small specification. Can anyone shed any light on how this stop might have been / might be used in either historical or contemporary context, and some suggestions of what music might work well? * OrganStops.org has this to say: http://www.organstops.org/c/Cornemeuse.html
  13. I wonder how long it will be before copyright law becomes internationally standardised given the proliferation of easily downloadable music (CPDL and others) which cross national boundaries. I have a vague recollection of a Canadian website run on similar lines which was forced to close down for publishing music which was out of copyright there (50 years after composer's death), but still in copyright in most other places, despite being completely legal under local laws. (Mexico has recently increased its copyright duration from 75 to 100 years: between Canada and Mexico there is a discrepancy of a working lifetime!)
  14. CD Sheet Music www.cdsheetmusic.com has a good lot of music available, which is reproduced from what must be out-of-copyright plates. The editions are often poor, but they're good enough for reference when researching something new to learn, or the occasional last-minute request. And you can make as many prints as you like.
  15. Slightly off our brief I know, but has been doing the rounds for some time and is a worthwhile diversion...
  16. Hello. Long-time (on-and-off) visitor, first-time poster. I've recently been asked whether our organ can be recorded for use in a film soundtrack. Does anyone know what one should charge for this sort of thing? They just want use of the building and instrument. I've been thrown a bone in the past for playing for weddings etc. on Midsomer Murders, and I know that fees for location filming can go into four figures, but I've no prior experience with this. Does anyone else? Any advice would be appreciated.
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