David.Dewar
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Posts posted by David.Dewar
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Not announced yet!
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Great - thanks a million for that.
I've passed it on!
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Does anyone know anything about this composer? Wrote 'A Prayer of St Richard of Chichester', published in 1947.
One of my choristers is doing a project, and cannot find any reference. I had a look in Grove, but nothing there.
Many thanks,
DRJAD
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There's an obituary here on Sussex University's website http://www.sussex.ac...vents/?id=13461 in addition to those in the national press.
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Sad to hear the news.
He was kind to an aspiring young organist, weeking some time on the cathedral organ at Chichester (before the Allen). Went there many times after that to hear him play and watch him direct. One of the many formative experiences of those years. Have tried not to emulate (too often) the occasional outbreaks of artistic temperament.
His recording of the Boyce Vol 1 in D was reissued recently, if I recall.
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Easter Anthem (Sasha Johnson Manning) during.
Dubois Toccata to send them out (or rather to accompany them whilst gassing in the south aisle with coffee.)
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Oh come on!
It's just a question of being observant; words or no words.
If people are about to sing another verse, their shoulders rise, their mouths assume a figure 'O' (like this
) as they suck in breath, they look at the words, they hold their books at reading length/height and stand still by and large.If they are about to finish, the converse occurs. Their shoulders fall, their mouths assume a closed position (like this
), they stop looking at the words, they start gazing around, they close the hymn book and they start to fidget.A word of warning however.
People watching in church is fine, but avoid staring at:-
a) the very wealthy
b ) young nubile ladies
c) boy choristers
d) the clergy (they have a habit of miming or being inattentive during hymns)
e) handsome servers
f) anyone carrying a white stick or with a labrador by their feet
g) very old people, who may be about to cough or spit-out a humbug
Restrict all gazes to no more than three seconds, and never gaze at the same person twice, even if your intentions are honourable.
If you do find yourself introducing a phantom verse, press piston eight as you conclude with a full-cadence, shouting, "Praise the lord!"
They will understand.
MM
That works well with the regular congregation, who usually sing lustily.
However, the technique does not work well at weddings or funerals, where the congregation is inaudible. (From the console, they are invisible, too.)
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Hi
One verse too many is preferable - you just improvise an ending as if that's what you intended!
Every Blessing
Tony
That is if there is any clue at all that it really was an extra verse!
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I met him in about 1967 I should think.
I was visiting relatives in the Medway area, and, as a keen young organist, made my way to Minor Canon Row and in considerable trepidation asked him if I could possibly spend some time on the cathedral organ. He was kindness personified, escorted me up to the console, listened for a bit, made some registration suggestions, uttered some (very gratefully received) encouragement and advice, and left me to it for a couple of hours. As it happens, I recollect that meeting rather more than I recall the organ itself.
In due course, I'd be very interested in sight of the orchestral and chamber music.
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A great shock and sadness. I remember attending a lecture/demonstration on improvisation which he gave at Oxford under the auspices of the RCO in the mid-nineties - inspirational!
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I saw it had gone, too. Wondered if he wanted to transfer the source information - I might be happy to host it on one of my servers if wanted.
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Hmm, not too impressed.
Everything feels too spread out, fonts too large. (Subjectively, it feels as though it is shouting at me, or seems like reading a book for toddlers.)
The previous incarnation felt reasonably concise.
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I'm very grateful to have had the chance to read the various views expressed above in reply to my original query. They are most helpful, as has been Ian Ball's help by PM, too, in navigating some suddenly choppy waters.
One of the benefits of this board is the ready assistance given, on all manner of subjects, by able and willing colleagues.
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I confess I don't know the answer to this, but someone might - I hope.
Where a Job Description has been issued in connection with the recruitment of a DofM (where subsequently a contract is signed) does the Job Description hold any force alongside the contract? Or is it perhaps to be regarded as, at best, wishful thinking?
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One is tempted to think that SS Wesley's A few words on Cathedral Music and his influence from Leeds PC, Hereford, Exeter, Winchester, etc., would have kick started the revival, especially where parish churches aspired to cathedral-stylemusic.
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Sadly a lot of recent concert halls (by nomenclature) have been built, and older halls acoustically altered, of necessity to be so very general purpose as to have to accommodate not only various kinds of music but also speech (conferences, political meetings, etc.).
Symphony Hall, with its reverberation chambers and the large reflector over the stage represents an ingenious way to try to reconcile the conflicting demands. (It, too, is not only used for music. The ICC, of which it is part, contains halls ranging from small and intimate to Hall 1 which has 1800 seats in modern theatre style. Symphony Hall is actually IIRC Hall 2 with 2200 seats. Just down the road, of course, is the NIA - which has been used for large-scale grand opera - with a maximum 14000 seats.) Symphony Hall's reverberation chamber doors can be set in a number of positions, individually, from doors shut to fully open, and the reflector can be set very low or so high as to make no difference to the basic hall sound. These positions can be set in the memory system, one hears, and various conductors have their preferred settings stored.
Older theatres can have admirable acoustics, of course, and particularly notable are those designed by Frank Matcham - for example, Buxton Opera House. Playing there is a great pleasure.
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Contrabordun is correct: the work carried out by Manders in 2007 was essentially a cleaning and overhaul. The 5th manual was removed (it got in the way of the music desk) - the 1984 Mander Bombarde division became floating - and a set of 3-octave Whitechapel bells was installed on top of the swell box. The combination action was replaced with solid state including a stepper and USB port. There was a very small amount of tonal rebalancing and I believe three ranks were replaced with new ones.
The internal restoration of the hall is breathtaking and well worth going to have a look at if you are ever passing through Birmingham! In addition to removing the upper tier, the plaster work has been wonderfully restored in white and pastel blue, the heavy fabrics of the old hall are gone and the chairs on the floor of the hall are removable. All this has contributed to improving the acoustic and the the organ sounds markedly better for it.
Gary Cole
Hear, hear, I was very frequently in this hall for choral and orchestral (and both) events in its previous incarnation. (And even some organ recitals, too - I recall GTB well into his eighties running onto the platform from backstage, and bounding up the risers onto the console. Also a very fine performance of the Bach F major T&F by Ivor Keys.)
Recently, hearing the organ in to the new acoustics of the restored hall - as Gary says - gives it a new sense of presence. The acoustics now, and the new lighting, I might add, are very fine.
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Personally I'd be very happy with NEH.
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Human Planet (whatever that is), 'comedy', Hollywood - the Proms programming seems to be going the way of the dreadful Classic FM. What next, advertisements between movements? Bleeding chunk? Pop?
I'm appalled.
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We have the ghastly orange confection: HON Compleat Anglican. All will, I'm sure, be familiar with its shortcomings - so no need to rehearse them again. We also use a home-grown colelction of 60 or so, many of which are rather good (words and music). With HON I find I often use the tune versions from NEH - and often play from that or EH or AMNS anyway since the printing is easier on the eye.
Though the orange montrosity words & music books are rapidly disintegrating we cannot yet debate a change, since the congregation have not yet worn out their words-only editions!
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To take some random examples from the OP, et al.:
Albeenoh
Caribeean
Irahk The 'I' being short, as in 'did'.
Controversy - with the'o's being pronounced as in 'off', not 'ahff'.
{The bold type indicating where the stress is placed.}
And even, 'And eye-oh eye-oh eye-oh ...' in the well-known carol, though without introducing a 'y' between 'eye' and 'oh'.
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Hear, hear to David's and Vox's posts above. It's the way things work here, and is the equitable way, I believe.
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Yes, on the subject of CCTV systems... nowadays in the age of eBay it is very easy to do something effective cheaply. We set ours up for less than £30, using wireless cameras which no one can spot unless I point them out, and the system is entirely satisfactory. (Using mirrors here would have been a nightmare!)
) as they suck in breath, they look at the words, they hold their books at reading length/height and stand still by and large.
), they stop looking at the words, they start gazing around, they close the hymn book and they start to fidget.
I'm at my wits end... :/
in General discussion
Posted
Do you also have the CV checked for grammatical and spelling errors? This is even more important in the case of your covering letter.
As a interviewer and line manager in a previous employment (also not in the field of music) this was the first discriminator when receiving lots of applications. Any infelicitous grammar caused an application instantly to be consigned to a bin.