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Despite the fact that my late wife worked with Peter Gibson at York I suspect it will be the team from Chartres who will be the ones called in to look at the stained glass at Notre Dame!!

My next door, Jean-Louis, who is an organist, has just spoken to me and told me that "the great organ has been saved". Where he got that from I have no idea as I have, after travelling around Europe for the past two days, only just woken up!!!

French news this evening gives that the fire is serious. Much of the roof has been gutted and the spire has collapsed. Hundreds of fire-fighters are at the scene. Given that the renovations in progress at the moment are an attempt to stabilise a crumbling structure It does appear, at the moment, as if Notre Dame may not survive!

I'm not sure that I do but, as far as I am aware, organs in churches are the property of the State whether that be national, or delegated locally, I'm not altogether sure. All I know is that my next door neighbour plays! He was taught by the Titulaire in our local town who jealously guards the organ and was very reluctant to allow me to have any time to practice. Jean-Louis, my neighbour, said that he would go and speak to the local Mairie, not the Parish Priest, who would overrule the Titualaire. In the end my house organ was finished and there was no need to attempt to exert external influence on the Titulaire. Organs in concert halls I'm not sure about!!

It doesn't any more - but the website I gave above has a list of Serpent makers!! http://www.serpentwebsite.com/index.htm

Auxerre perhaps? The Serpent was used to reinforce or assist the plainsong!

There are serpents at Berkswell Parish church in Warwickshire and at Selby Abbey in Yorkshire. The third one is a Contrabass serpent (an Anaconda) in a museum in Edinburgh - https://web.archive.org/web/20070313180625/http://www.music.ed.ac.uk/euchmi/ujt/ujt2929.html In France there is a serpent in Amiens cathedral. If you're interested in Serpents this website, which hasn't been updated for quite some time, might be of interest. http://www.serpentwebsite.com/

Martin, you speak so much common sense and, particularly concerning wisdom and maturity that, at nearly 70 years old, I could even be inspired to work up the pieces for ARCO myself. For me the tests are not a problem. In my day at University transposition, score reading, sight-reading were all part of the course. When at school I even did Grade VIII General Musicianship, which included all three, because I was determined to have three Grade VIII's before I left the place! What would cause me the difficulties would be the playing of the pieces to a sufficient standard - caused, I'm afraid to say, by a certain amount of arthritis in my thumbs! I watched the video 'Your RCO exam' - I thought it was excellent! There is so much good material nowadays to assist with preparation for exams. I remember doing ARCM Performers and the FTCL in the late 60's, early 70's - I hadn't the faintest idea of the standard expected - and, despite having wonderful teachers, they didn't seem to know either! (I passed both by the way!) I think that the standards for Diplomas are higher now than they have ever been but I think the College's preparation material, and their assistance with preparation, is also excellent.

Quite a few serpents seem to have survived and are now enclosed in glass cases in church - I know of three! Yes, we have come quite a long way from he Albert Hall - it shows you the excellent intelligence of thought we have here! It can be a bit of a nuisance sometimes but I, for one, welcome it!

Musicians/organs traditionally, as they still do in a lot of Roman churches, inhabited a gallery at the back of the church. I suspect that, using this as an excuse for locating 'that damned box of whistles' at the back of the church, Wren looked to history for where organs and musicians were usually located and used history as his excuse not to spoil the clean lines of his architecture. Just a thought!

LOL - what fun!

VH gives you some excellent advice! My experience has been as a conductor with an organist following my beat and I would, perhaps, upset quite a few here if I said that organists are not always very good at following a conductor. The simple reason is that most organists never, or rarely, do! Yes, there are Cathedrals/College Chapels and some Parish churches that have a DoM and an organist, where the organist follows the DoM's beat, but I would say that most, even on here, are 'lone players' deciding tempo themselves and/or conducting from the console. (I spent 10 years conducting from the console unless I could persuade either my late wife to play or get another player in!) I began my life as a 'cellist and so I am used to following conductors - good or bad (and I can tell stories that would turn your hair grey!). VH is absolutely right - know the music inside out! That is the most important. In a strange situation you do not need to be struggling with notes - or even slightly unsure! Knowing the organ helps too - but that isn't always easy, especially if you are 'visiting'. After that it really does depend on where you are! Some would say "Use your ears" but I conducted in the Cathedral in Palestrina, we sang mostly unaccompanied (Palestrina, of course!) but we did sing a Credo I with organ - which was situated at the back of a very resonant cathedral whilst we were singing from the Sanctuary. In this case the organist, a very fine player, used his eyes, and a mirror (there were no monitors!), rather than his ears. Some places are easier. The 'Met' in Liverpool, for instance, the organist used to be (in the old arrangement of the choir stalls) immediately next to the conductor - but the acoustic was such as that it was easy to drown out the choir because the sound of the organ went over the top of them! In a case such as this you need a friend in the congregation for the rehearsal "Am I too loud?" Know your music inside out. Be prepared to use your eyes as well as your ears. Be aware of the acoustics and of the position of the organ and its relationship in the building and, if necessary, find a friend to tell you what it sounds like!

LOL. Nice thought there Martin. You, clearly, don't know the French church very well though - or, perhaps, the Diocese of Angouleme is particularly 'low church'! And, anyway, if 'smoke' is used, the place is so vast that it will be the orgue de choeur that is used to it!!

Thank you for that, Paul. I found it difficult to believe and I can't understand why a respected member of the board should make such a post.

Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk District was first performed, in 1932 in the Leningrad Maily Operni - the Maniinsky Theatre. My recollection is that there is no organ in there but there is an organ in the concert hall next door which is part of the complex. The second performance took place two days later in Moscow. The Passacaglia from the Ent'racte was arranged by Shostakovitch for organ - so my reading of it is that the orchestration came first. Shostakovitch also arranged music from the opera (Op. 29) into an Orchestral Suite - the Op. 29a.

On another forum a member, who, I think, is also a member here has posted, under 'Organs in Danger', the following: "I don't know if this organ has been reported before. St Paul's Hockley Birmingham - A lovely Conacher two Manual rebuilt by Hill Norman and Beard played by Thomas Trotter during the Mander town halll organ rebuild. See http://www.npor.org.uk/NPORView.html?RI=N07367 for specification. The church has gone happy Clappy ! The organ is in reasonable condition but needs a rebuild. Church website https://www.stpaulsjq.church" I have some, albeit brief, history here and would be interested if any members have any further information.

No, I don't accept that at all! The artists impression of what the hall might be like is nothing more than an artists impression. At the moment the whole concept of the Centre for Music is not even a possibility. The City of London has only agreed, in principle, to make the site available should the Museum of London fulfil its ambition to move. It may, very well, never happen! Far too early to speculate whether the whole project will come to fruition!! As for halls where the player is close to the audience - try Huddersfield & Hull City Hall (when the audience uses the choir seating on the stage - which happens frequently), Symphony Hall Birmingham - the attached console!

I can think of quite a number of concert halls up and down the country where the organist, sitting at an attached console, is close, indeed very close, to members of the audience. The angle the picture image presents may very well have a entrance or exit to the right of the 'case' - it is just out of shot!

Certainly there is nothing on http://www.organrecitals.com/1/diary_ven.php and the Albert Hall website gives a list of musical events taking place in there in the near future. None of which seem to feature the organ.

My reading of it is that, at the moment, the whole project is only a vision! "The City of London Corporation has agreed, in principle, to make this site available for the Centre for Music when the Museum of London fulfils its ambition to move to West Smithfield! Given that the Centre of Music is a collaboration between the Guildhall School of Music and Drama where, at the moment, it is not possible to 'Major' in Organ as a first study, the Barbican, and the LSO I speculate that it is unlikely that the provision of an organ has ever been considered!

The Kassel Instrument mentioned in the film is this: http://www.rieger-orgelbau.com/details/project/Kassel/?lang=en And the Paris Instrument here: http://www.rieger-orgelbau.com/details/project/ParisPhil/?lang=en No mention of the Gothenburg instrument on the Rieger website yet. The Konzerthaus in Goteberg is a wonderful building and an absolute delight to play in. I played the Elgar Concerto in there in the late 1960's - a long time ago!

I remember Peter Hurford at Cambridge too! I also remember, in I think about 1966, him giving a master class on the Grant, Degens and Bradbeer organ in St. Martin's Hull and playing Bach afterwards. It was wonderful. Like Britten - born on St. Cecilia's day - how appropriate! May he rest in peace.

And I forgot - make it fun too! Arrange 'Social' events! "the choir that sings together drinks together" The meal in Le Grizzli in the middle of Paris, the night before singing in the Sorbonne, is still talked about in the village - as is the challenge of the drinking contest between the bell-ringers and the choir!!

Been there - done that! In truth it was some of the most rewarding work I have ever done and it all turned out, amazingly, remarkably well! This was a church group which became a highly successful church choir! I started with unison tunes - getting them to sing, firstly, a basic response to a Responsorial Psalm was an effort! I wrote vast amounts of stuff that presented different challenges. I made them learn quickly and then perform - verses for in between a multiplicity of Alleluias before the gospel - that kind of thing! A simple unison Mass setting. Some of it was awful music but it fulfilled a need. Lots of them didn't read - and so everything was done by rote - memorising - but, always with the music, and a pencil, with them. I encouraged them to write on the copy - gave them a number so they got the same copy each week. Be firm - but in a jocular way - don't let them argue with you "If you want to argue go and join that lot down the road - and see where it gets you" (said with a smile on your face - ('that lot down the road' were awful!!!) Make them sit in the same place every week - stronger ones next to weaker ones! Part singing started off as Ladies v Men - I always started with the bottom part - persuading the men that it is the 'tune' - then I put another part on top! Eventually it went to four parts - but it took some time - about a year and even then it was shaky! Favourite phrases heard: "No, you can do better than that" "Listen to what you are doing", "Sing with your ears", "It's not good enough - let's try again!" ………………………………. "Well done, that was not bad!" and the Grandaddy of them all "Excellent, it's coming on!" I gave them opportunities for performance - lots of them! It will 'up your heart rate', when they do perform, and sometimes it will go wrong! - but, eventually, they will have no fear and just get on with it - no matter what you put in front of them! Success breeds success and, eventually, better singers turn up and the whole thing lifts to another level. I made sure everyone, from the strongest to the weakest, was valued - including the little old lady who you have never heard sing a note but turns up week after week! It's a long time ago now - and in a different place - I still have the photograph, on my desk, of them all in the Basilica of St. Paul in Rome - singing the Byrd Four Part Mass! Some, quite a few, have 'gone to another place'. From not being able to sing a simple tune decently to singing Missa Papae Marcelli in the Cathedral in Palestrina, one Friday night in 1991 amidst a tremendous thunder storm, took ten years. It is still talked about in the village and I thought they did pretty well. All the best David!

http://www.ringbell.co.uk/methods/pb7.htm Does that help? Plain Hunt, Plain bob, Grandsire and Stedman