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John Robinson

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Posts posted by John Robinson

    Thaxted Parish Church - three organs?

    in General discussion

    Posted

    And yes, I would also like to confirm my relative 'disinterest' in Morris dancing. My wife, who is Irish, simply finds it hilarious....

    As a participant in Scottish country dancing, I have to say that I find Irish dancing slightly hilarious.

    Admittedly, the footwork is very impressive, but I somehow think something's missing in the hands and arms department! (Apparently, it's something to do with a religious requirement of them to 'keep their hands to themselves'!)

     

    Sorry for straying off-topic.

    Electronic substitute in a Cathedral ?

    in General discussion

    Posted

    Thus pipe versus electronic price comparisons cannot be done on the bare figures alone. Deeper investigation of the options is required if an optimum outcome is to be achieved. The essential breakthrough comes when one embraces a mindset which does not insist that the pipe organ must have a stop list comparable in size (and irrelevance) to that of the digital competition. A further factor which often comes into the equation is that there are few significant pipe organ rebuilds in which tonal changes do not play a role - pruning the price down to the minimum by just getting the thing working properly again seems to be rare! Also it is necessary to bear in mind that the prices of digital organs escalate as soon as one wants to customise a standard product.

     

    Thus the question of whether to go for pipes or electronics is not just a question of the relative costs.

     

    CEP

     

    I completely agree, and what has not really been addressed yet when considering this pipes v. electronics debate is the fact that the pipe organ is a real and historic musical instrument, whereas the electronic organ is really just an attempt to copy the sound of the pipe organ at lower cost!

     

    To put it another way, would anyone dare to offer an eminent violinist the use of a synthesiser? :o

    Buckfast Abbey

    in The Organ

    Posted

     

    I agree with the website mentioned by Colin Pykett that doesn’t allow discussion of stop lists. On this forum I think it is where we are at our least good...

    Equally I have seen threads that I know, from the very beginning, are going to bring out the worst in us – and, I have to say, those threads have often been about discussing stop-lists!

     

    I beg to disagree.

    I find the discussion of stop lists, organ design and such matters of prime interest on here.

     

    Admittedly, as I am not an organist (but having a lifelong interest in the organ), I tend not to post on a forum populated in the majority by organists, but I do visit every day to glean information and knowledge about the organ and, should stop lists ever be outlawed for any reason, I should find that a great loss.

     

    Surely, it should be possible to discuss choices of stops and so on without anyone feeling offended!

    Cctv

    in Nuts and bolts

    Posted

    I posted the question on another specialist site and received the following response:

     

    "The recorders are digital. But the inexpensive cameras are still analogue, surely?

    The cameras use a digital imaging chip same as CCTV cameras have done for the last 30-odd years. The output is on a BNC, and the signal is basic composite video. Whether there's any inherent delay in the camera's own processing is hard to say if the camera has processing (image enhancement, iris control etc), but with a simple cam I wouldn't expect it to be any different to basic CCTV cams from 20 years ago.

    The area with the most significant delay will be the monitor. LCD TVs have inbuilt processing time that delays the picture anything up to 120ms. The answer is to buy a secondhand CRT portable TV. They have no significant delay at all."

     

    I hope this may be of some help.

    Cctv

    in Nuts and bolts

    Posted

    Not trying to be funny, but that's where mirrors are superior to CCTV: they work at the speed of light!

     

    Seriously, though, I'm surprised that there aren't CCTV systems that are capable of working without any appreciable delay. They seem to manage at King's College, and no doubt at many other places too. Perhaps Maplins are not the best choice and I shouldn't be surprised if someone with the right experience on here will come up with a better source.

    News from Bradford Cathedral

    in General discussion

    Posted

     

    We are now turning our attention towards plans for a nave pipe division, playable from the console, to enhance the projection of organ sound through the building, and in the second phase we will also attend to the transmission for the whole instrument.

     

    I'm very pleased to hear it (or will be, hopefully!). I have always regarded the replacement of a perfectly good pipe organ in the nave by an electronic substitute as a mistake. As I understand it, the objection at the time was that the presence of a 'box on stilts' got in the way of the view! I, too, would be interested to hear where the new division will end up and, for that matter, what its composition will be. I don't think there are many suitable places for it, actually.

     

    I also agree about the lack of a double on the Great, although there is on the Swell of course. As I understand it, there isn't really much available space in the organ chamber, certainly for a 16' stop.

    Goodbye King's

    in General discussion

    Posted

    Actually, I've had a good look on Google maps and King's is roughly the same size as York Minster's chancel, in fact a little longer if anything. Bearing in mind that York Minster is said to be acoustically 'two separate buildings', perhaps King's is bigger than you give it credit for!

    Strictly - a poser;

    in General discussion

    Posted

    This is partly connected to that other thread about organists being second class citizens...

     

    And yet, the people who do this day in day out get virtually no recognition at all. I happened to be looking at the website of our just-departed Rector who has gone to a new parish. One of the menus says - 'PEOPLE.' The Rector, Curate and several assistants are mentioned along with the churchwardens, virger etc, but no mention of the organist.

     

    Watch out for the New Years Honours again - how many organists will be listed?

     

     

    I can relate this to the recently broadcast documentaries on Canterbury Cathedral. Although I'm sure it was unavoidable to have to include the background sound of the organ, the BBC made sure that no direct mention was made of the organ or organist. A shame, as I was looking forward to at least a short interview.

    New organ in Trier’s Constanine Basilica

    in General discussion

    Posted

    I’m not sure if it is about voicing – at least not in cathedrals or other spaces of that dimensions. I suspect it’s more about balances. The Trier organ should have enough flesh and bones to balance a Tuba, and in the little service excerpts I heard it sounded fine. On several occasions I have heard the Mander Tubas at Freiburg, and they made a splendid impression with the Rieger and Marcussen pipework from the sixties (having been reworked and refined by the brilliant Beat Grenacher of Goll, Lucerne). In both cases, I expect you would find the voicing on the German side – at least in what I think you might mean: lively and articulate rather than smooth.

    Yes. Having heard (on recordings) the 'new' (2002, I think) tubas in the Cologne Cathedral organ (at least the ones in the Transept Organ), I do think they sound more 'lively' than most traditional British ones. I assume this was done in order to work better with the more strident (compared to British) German sound.

     

    Sorry about all the parentheses!

    Sheldonian Theatre

    in The Organ

    Posted

     

    As far as the pipe organ is concerned, has all of the pipework been removed? The NPOR states 'Organ destroyed or broken up.' I know that the console has not been there for many years, but I wonder, is the Jackson case totally empty - except perhaps the building frame, in order to brace it?

    I'm sure you'd find some loudspeakers in there (for what they're worth)!

    Sheldonian Theatre

    in The Organ

    Posted

    Is the old case still there? If so, then that's at least a start.

    I must say that I think settling for a toaster is rather short-sighted, especially for Oxford University. Anyway, now that it has just about given up the ghost, hopefully the authorities will see sense and install a real organ again.

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