Choir Man

The appointment of Rachel Mahon as Organ Scolar at St Paul's Cathedral merited a photograph in The Times last week.

In case it's been missed by anyone, the fully restored organ is being relaunched with a gala concert on the 18th of this month followed by a 'Pull Out All The Stops' organ festival. See the Southbank Centre website for more details. There will be a fine array of organ recitals and recitalists (and an certain American whose Proms perfomance in 2012 generated a lot of opinion on this board) and it's also great to see that they are trying to get a future generation of organists involved. There are a number of events for younger people and opportunities for beginners and piano players to 'have a go' at playing an organ. Also BBC Radio 3 are having a residency and setting up a studio in the Southbank Centre for the duration of the festival so I'm looking forward to hearing some great music on the radio. D

I've discovered a YouTube clip of Robert Quinney explaining and demonstrating the problems with the pitch of the Peterborough instrument.

Did anyone else watch the BBC 4 programme on Wells Cathedral on Tuesday night? Sadly I didn't find the first programme in the series (Wakefield) very inspiring however Tuesday's offering was much better. Amongst other things were many long contemplative shots of the organ through the scissor arches before the camera was invited up to the console for a discussion with the organist. Later in the film there was some footage of the choir singing. It's not often that organists get to speak in public so it was interesting to hear his views on music and worship. I don't know the organist and he doesn't seem to be one of the cathedral's current residents (according to the cathedral website). Also I don't know the piece the choir were singing, if anyone can shed some light on this I would be grateful. I have fond memories of Wells, having sung there with a visiting choir on a number of occasions when I was still a treble. The programme is still available on BBC iPlayer until next Tuesday. Best wishes.

This well know drawing would suggest sensible shoes with a bit of a heel and a shiny brass buckle on top!

And now for a few lighter moments: Firstly something which can be best described as 'sequencer abuse': http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUXXXrZsHdk An organ being built. Watch out for an appearance by the builder at about 50sec in: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXdsE7_RcYQ Finally, not really YouTube, but fun anyway: http://soundcloud.com/jeremy-dawson-1/im-an-organist Enjoy, DP

Today's Times carried an obituary for Mike Shields. In the article's title he is described as an organist and choir master, but the article didn't mention anything else of his musical life. Did anyone know or work with him?

Presumably the problem is more acute for organs situated on a west gallery under the tower (unless you are in one of our larger churches with a central tower). I would suggest that if you can't hear the organ for the sound of the bells than that would surely be enough justification for a bigger organ, or at least a new Tuba stop ... On a related note, I was having a conversation with my brother, who is a bell ringer, and the theme turned to hymn tunes. We were trying to think of a hymn tune that can be played on a ring of bells (not a carillon). We couldn't come up with one, can any of this forum's members think of anything? The rules are: ideally LM, but CM or SM could work, no note can be repeated in the same line. D.

I too had tennis elbow some years ago. In my case this was caused by my carrying a heavy bag with laptop computer, books and various other paraphernalia around. The Wikipedia entry for tennis elbow shows how lifting a bag with the palm facing downwards can cause this. Think about how you lift your music bag or briefcase and how heavy it is. My GP said this is quite common and on his advice I bought a tennis elbow support from a good sports shop - it should have a strap around the wrist and a second one closer to the elbow with a rod linking the pair to reduce twisting of the forearm. It took a couple of months to clear up but I've not had any trouble since. Best wishes for a speedy recovery. D

For what it's worth IMHO the new console isn't pretty and it seems that the layout of the stops and rocker tabs has been copied from the previous console with little thought given to redesign. I would have used the old C-C console as a starting point for the design of the new one reflecting the instrument's heritage, it's also much prettier. The brackets that support the music desk are plain ugly although hopefully when the music desk is fitted this will hide the stepped bits on top of the stop jambs. The lack of music desk, or rther it's removability, (the brackets are obviously seen) would seem to reflect the improvised nature of much of its use during Masses. Sitting at the console with the music desk removed the player seems to have a good view down the nave of the church without having to resort to CCTV to know what's going on.

I never new Westminster was a 'rough cathedral'.

I too listened to the CC concerts out of curiosity. CC can certainly play fast and loud but what beyond that? If you listened expecting a serious classical concert then you would have been disappointed. The concerts would be better described as an hour of popular entertainment based on interpretations of Bach. The Proms season features many world class performers performing fantastic music, it also features some lighter weight events such as the 'Wallace & Grommit' concert and it's in to this latter category that I would put the CC concerts. The real winner from the concerts was undoubtably the organ. The RAH organ gets far too few opportunities to be heard and CC certainly gave it a good work-out. I doubt if there's any other performer who has used every register in a single concert, but CC gave us the chance to hear them all. (At least I think he did, it was difficult to tell at times - can anyone confirm or correct me on this?) It is a credit to our hosts that it sounded and performed as well as it did. I would love to hear more of this wonderful instrument, but played by one or more of the many top notch British and European organists, and I think it's sad that there are no further organ recitals scheduled for this year.

A nun playing

I do like the Full Harmonic Thurs on the positive and wonder if the next stop shouldn't be a 'Discordant Friday' followed by 'Unison Saturday' finishing with a 'Re-harmonised Last Verse Sunday' Also the caption on the photo of the Choir Organ suggesting that it's capable of producing eathquakes!

After much waiting The Times has published an obituary today. They describe Carlo as a 'flamboyant organist whose musicianship won over even the critics who deplored his unabashed populism'

Bernard Lovell, the physicist and radio astronomer who died earlier this week was described as 'a devoted church organist' by The Times, although no further details were given in his obituary. Can any members of this forum add any further information on history at the console?

I have stumbled across an archive of Etude, an American music magazine that was published in the early 1900s. It has a section for Organ & Choir here . I was particularly amused by the following published under "Don'ts for organists" Don’t go through any contortions of the body when about to remove the hands from the keys at the end of a composition that terminates with the full organ. The audience forgets all about your playing in sympathizing with you in your apparent agony. Don’t sway back and forth when playing. An easy, graceful appearance at the organ requires but little motion of the body. Don’t improvise all the time on the salicional with tremulant. The combination is effective when properly used, but becomes tiresome with an overdose. Don’t think that, because the vox humana (without tremulant) combined with the mixtures in the swell sound “novel,” they are pleasing. A dish-pan and poker would sound just as “novel,” and about as agreeable. Don’t improvise every prelude and postlude which you play. You cannot stand Beethoven’s music all the time. How can your congregation stand your music all the time? Don’t use the tremulant very often in accompanying singers. Don’t hold one chord or note a minute and a half while you change the stops and arrange your music. Remember that those who are listening to you have nerves. Don’t complain all the time that your present position is beneath you. He who looks up to himself must first lower himself to look up, and then only sees his former position, not the occupant. Don’t think that you know it all. Even the greatest organist can learn something new every week. There's a quite a few articles on various subjects. It's fascinating to see how some attitudes have changed with time, whereas others have not! Best wishes to all. DP

There's a widely reported item in today's news about how a choir and organist have been "dismissed" by their vicar in a dispute over CRB checks. If you want to read the full story you can find it here (amongst other sources). I guess the lesson from this is that a CRB check, where required, may need to be carefully handled as some may take the need for it as doubt of their integrity. Clearly churches must respect the law, and and even go beyond the minimum statutary requirements given the scandals in recent years. However this should not be at the expense of losing the support of those who contribute of their own time, effort (and cash in the collection) to it's continued existance. However reading between the lines I can't help feeling that this particular story has got nothing to do with the CRB checks. It would seem that the whole CRB issue has been used as a pretext for a (relatively) young and newish (in the last two years) vicar to replace his elderly choir and organist who were being resistant to his "modern" ideas about Taize chants. Coming back to the point, I was wondering how CRB checks are implemented with other members, particularly in a choir that mixes adults and children. The legal position would seem to be that only the choir leaders and anyone that works specificaly with the children need CRB checks. However I am aware of churches where all adult choir members are asked to complete a CRB check. What's your experience?

The organ at St Savior In The Marshes finally got a showing last week, although it would appear to have been to a soundtrack of assorted noises. The organ was apparently in need of repair and the vicar was draming about how heavenly the music in his church could be. For those unfamiliar with St Saviours, it is the setting for the BBC Two series Rev. In reality it is filmed at St Leonard's, Shoreditch. See http://www.npor.org.uk/cgi-bin/Rsearch.cgi?Fn=Rsearch&rec_index=R00632 for specs. It seems that the reality matches the TV series!

There's an organ transcription of Zadok the priest available for free download on the IMSLP website. Also an arrangement of the Champions League theme (if the happy couple are football fans) based on the same piece. Follow this link

is Christopher Herrick at the RAH organ in a 1994 Prom concert. A whole "last night" rolled into one piece!

I visited Worcester this weekend and took my two young children around the cathedral. Having pointed out the shiny new organ and the old organ with the crowns on the tops of the pipes I was coerced into taking them up all 234 steps to the top of the tower. Returning from the tower I listened to (presumably) the sub organist practising the music for evensong. Then following lunch in the cloister I was treated to Adrian Lucas himself conducting a rehaersal of the Bach B minor mass. Heavenly...

On the Cathedral's website there is a virtual tour which includes a panorama from the organ loft. Clearly visible is a ladder, whose purpose seems to be to allow somone to see (or be seen) over the top of the pulpitum screen into the quire. Judging by the wear on the bottom 4 rungs, this has seen regular use. Is this a relic from pre-CCTV days or does it still serve any useful purpose? DP

Does anyone know anything about this? It's in the Gaucho Restaurant in St Mary's St in Manchester.

Did anyone see the shortlisted artworks for the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square? One of the suggestions is for an organ linked to a cash machine. http://www.london.gov.uk/fourthplinth/idea/untitled-atmorgan The possibilitiy of having a cash machine linked to the organ in every church would raise a number of interesting possibilities. However an organ in the open air in central London would also pose a number of interesting technical challenges (rain & pigeons not withstanding). What are your thoughts? Blessings to all, DP