Colin Harvey

Aren't the ISOB/RCO a range of dimensions - I remember they have a certain overlap with the BDO dimensions. THe BDO dimesions have recommendations for straight pedalboards - ISOB don't. One thing that always gets overlooked in pedalboard discussions is the overhang and drop from the keyboard to the pedalboard, which I think is vital to get right. Too little and the organ is uncomfortable to play and feels like it was designed for dwarves; too much and it feels like it was designed for Frankenstein. I've visited the Wyvern showroom a few times over the past 2-3 years. Can't say I've really noticed much about their pedalboards except one or two were very comfortable. I think their new technology (Phoenix?) is a huge improvement and note with a wry smile how the salesmen poo-poo their old digital technology in an effort to sell the new stuff. I feel these chaps would sell their own mothers and daughters if it would sell them more organs. HOwever, I really want to start thumping them when they try to make out that their electronic simulation - sorry, pipeless - organs are in the same league as musical instruments as the real McCoy. Get real, guys and show some respect for the things you're trying to imitate. Last time I was there they had a real Yamaha Grand piano in the corner. If I had had the space I'd have bought the piano but found I wasn't prepared to spend half the money they were asking for the piano on an electronic imitation organ.

Yes, this was exactly our experience too. We are not a large establishment at Twyford (circa 200 on the books) but for a country parish church we are very active and punch well above our weight. If the members of the church are shown what the problems are with the organ, what the case for doing the work is and are involved with the decision to do it, you'll find they're very generous. We also had the same feeling of creating an organ for future generations - the lifetime of a real, well made pipe organ is a big selling point. There's also another point, which is worth making to the clergy and church leaders. A project like this does draw people and the church together if they're involved from the beginning and builds a sense of community - it's a shared experience and there is a sense of shared pride in the organ when it's complete. Perhaps this would be a good way to pull together a city centre church where the sense of community and belonging to the church could possibly do with developing.

Hi Adrian, if you want to talk to the chairman of our fund-raising group (which has so far raised about £230,000 in 2 years) to pick his brains, then I'll happily provide details privately.

Just listening to choral evensong on 3 from Exeter and they sang "Spi-rit" in the Byrd responses - just wondered whether people think it should be "Spi-rit" or "Sprit". I'm tempted to go for "Sprit" - otherwise you get 2 half beats on the same note for the 2 syllables of this word, which - to my ears - sounds less good. But I can't remember whether Byrd gives 2 quavers and splits the word into its syllables on paper. Have to say Exeter sounded excellent - both choir and organ - as far as I can tell on my rather dodgy internet radio connection - and I certainly enjoyed it.

There you go - cats are better, feeding on Okapis... hmmm wonder whether Okapis make good eating... I'm quite worried about Okapis. I remember school noys trying to pick their nose with their tongues - the idea of having a pet okapi that starts cleaning out his ear hole or start licking his eyes (what else, I wonder) with his tongue while on a lead I find quite alarming. What would the neighbours say? Can you train them? Hmmm, considering I need about 9 1/2 hours sleep each day to even consider getiing anywhere near peak alertness, not sure whether we wuold make good bedfellows? What does it get upto during the night in peak alertness with that tongue? My girlfriend might get ideas... How often do they need feeding? Do they need to be taken for walkies to relieve themselves? I'm sorry to say rabbits in my experience are rather one track minded and the one in my signature is no different... I see that James Parsons has stolen the picture for some Oundle concert in Fotheringhay.

Just to give you an ida why I find cats more interesting than dogs: DIFFERENCE BETWEEN DOGS AND CATS EXCERPTS FROM A DOG'S DIARY -- Day number 180 8:00 am - OH BOY! DOG FOOD! MY FAVORITE! 9:30 am - OH BOY! A CAR RIDE! MY FAVORITE! 9:40 am - OH BOY! A WALK! MY FAVORITE! 10:30 am - OH BOY! A CAR RIDE! MY FAVORITE! 11:30 am - OH BOY! DOG FOOD! MY FAVORITE! 12:00 noon - OH BOY! THE KIDS! MY FAVORITE! 1:00 pm - OH BOY! THE YARD! MY FAVORITE! 4:00 pm - OH BOY! THE KIDS! MY FAVORITE! 5:00 PM - OH BOY! DOG FOOD! MY FAVORITE! 5:30 PM - OH BOY! MOM! MY FAVORITE! Day number 181 8:00 am - OH BOY! DOG FOOD! MY FAVORITE! 9:30 am - OH BOY! A CAR RIDE! MY FAVORITE! 9:40 am - OH BOY! A WALK! MY FAVORITE! 10:30 am - OH BOY! A CAR RIDE! MY FAVORITE! 11:30 am - OH BOY! DOG FOOD! MY FAVORITE! 12:00 noon - OH BOY! THE KIDS! MY FAVORITE! 1:00 pm - OH BOY! THE YARD! MY FAVORITE! 4:00 pm - OH BOY! THE KIDS! MY FAVORITE! 5:00 PM - OH BOY! DOG FOOD! MY FAVORITE! 5:30 PM - OH BOY! MOM! MY FAVORITE! Day number 182 8:00 am - OH BOY! DOG FOOD! MY FAVORITE! 9:30 am - OH BOY! A CAR RIDE! MY FAVORITE! 9:40 am - OH BOY! A WALK! MY FAVORITE! 10:30 am - OH BOY! A CAR RIDE! MY FAVORITE! 11:30 am - OH BOY! DOG FOOD! MY FAVORITE! 12:00 noon - OH BOY! THE KIDS! MY FAVORITE! 1:00 pm - OH BOY! THE YARD! MY FAVORITE! 1:30 pm - ooooooo. bath. bummer. 4:00 pm - OH BOY! THE KIDS! MY FAVORITE! 5:00 PM - OH BOY! DOG FOOD! MY FAVORITE! 5:30 PM - OH BOY! MOM! MY FAVORITE! EXCERPTS FROM A CAT'S DIARY DAY 752 - My captors continue to taunt me with bizarre little dangling objects. They dine lavishly on fresh meat, while I am forced to eat dry cereal. The only thing that keeps me going is the hope of escape, and the mild satisfaction I get from ruining the occasional piece of furniture. Tomorrow I may eat another houseplant. DAY 761 - Today my attempt to kill my captors by weaving around their feet while they were walking almost succeeded, must try this at the top of the stairs. In an attempt to disgust and repulse these vile oppressors, I once again induced myself to vomit on their favorite chair...must try this on their bed. DAY 765 - Decapitated a mouse and brought them the headless body, in an attempt to make them aware of what I am capable of, and to try to strike fear into their hearts. They only cooed and condescended about what a good little cat I was...Hmmm. Not working according to plan. DAY 768 - I am finally aware of how sadistic they are. For no good reason I was chosen for the water torture. This time however it included a burning foamy chemical called "shampoo." What sick minds could invent such a liquid. My only consolation is the piece of thumb still stuck between my teeth. DAY 771 - There was some sort of gathering of their accomplices. I was placed in solitary throughout the event. However, I could hear the noise and smell the foul odor of the glass tubes they call "beer". More importantly I overheard that my confinement was due to MY power of "allergies." Must learn what this is and how to use it to my advantage. DAY 774 - I am convinced the other captives are flunkies and maybe snitches. The dog is routinely released and seems more than happy to return. He is obviously a half-wit. The bird on the other hand has got to be an informant, and speaks with them regularly. I am certain he reports my every move. Due to his current placement in the metal room his safety is assured. But I can wait, it is only a matter of time...

Dogs are just so much like hard work. You need to feed them, exercise them, let them out for a crap. They're completely dependant on you. To a lazy git like me, this is too much like hard work. The last thing I want to do on a cold, dark, wet and windy November evening is walk a f*****g dog. So cats are a much better bet for me and I can at least think about what might be going on in that small furry head.

I like cats. Those that don't are just insecure and angry that a little small furry animal with a superiority complex (which is just an act anyway in most cases) makes them feel inadequate. I've met a few opera singers (not many, either) and have found them all Charming. I take it that's the word Adrian was looking for.... C.

To save everyone the trouble, I had a quick listen. I like to be open minded, etc. But I really find that 3 note motif in "What can I do" over tonic, then sub mediant, subdominant repeated ad nausem as a chorus soporific, colourless and depressing. The problem I find with these worship songs is that while they're ok for a single singer to sing as though it were top of the pops or eurovision song contest, a congregation is really lost unless they know the tunes very well. There are too many long drawn out notes, rests over several bars, entries anticipating the beat, syncopations, etc. Most people don't know what's coming next - is it time for another chorus, another verse or a few notes to finish off a chorus before singing another verser? While it's fine with competent musicians inbued in that style of music, most congregations in traditional anglican churches have real difficulty singing this stuff and get confused. Even in modern evangelical churches, I've found that most people just stand there, trance like, with their hands in the air, with the band in the front, occasionally joining in with a chorus. It's just like a pop concert, really. Possibly the thing to do in more traditional churches which have had a music group foistered upon them is to invite the congregation to sit and listen and let the music group get on with it - that's really what I think this sort of music is designed for. But I don't think that this style of music really works with the style of liturgy and worship I'm used to in a church. But if it works for modern evangelical churches, then I wish them very well and will let them get on with it, even if it's not my cup of tea.

worth noting on this organ at the Hauptwerk couples to the ruck-positive but not the other way round - so full organ is played from the lowest keyboard.

Close - my shoes are a pair of kidskin Grenson loafers, not Churches. They were too fragile for the office, are very light and small, with thin leather soles and are really ideal. But they are very worn now and I'm sadly looking around for some replacements.

I tend to err on the side of speed, too. After practicing "Come, Holy Ghost, our souls inspire" at a "flowing" tempo with the choir and polishing it up, I was very annoyed to have to take it at 2/3s speed with the congregation on Sunday and it started to drag... My congregation is extremely vocal and ultra-sensitive on the topic of hymn tempo - I usually get feedback if there was a deputy who was a bit slow or if I took one a bit quickly. On one occasion, there was a deputy who took "Living Lord" with the pulse as crotchets rather than minims, which was deadly and provided conversation over coffee for 3 weeks... One thing I suggest is to record yourself playing a hymn and playing it back to see whether the tempo is right - I often find that the tempo I imagine I'm playing at and the tempo I'm actually playing at are 2 very different things...

I would agree - this organ would go in my top 5 - probably close or at the top of the list! The Choir organ would also get in as well - again, close to the top! When I played it, the Praestant 24' was sounding at 21 1/3 pitch, adding a cavernous gravity to the ensemble, hinting at something huge. Its effect is very subtle and very clever but very effective - more so than a 32' would be, in my opinion. I understand that this stop was at 32' pitch from 1782 to 1986 and I, too, noticed the stopped wooden pipes by the staircase to the organ loft at the back of the church. I was told these pipes were never very good but they've kept them just in case for the future...

What a bizzare way of doing things. If the faculty is not granted on the basis of the PA system, no organ either and converse applies too. And the consideration for PA systems and organs are completely different, with only a few overarching principles in common. I wonder why they did it that way? Of course, if I were to buy a new organ for a church - probably the most expensive and largest bit of kit in the church, I'd of course find something fairly small and ephemeral to pass it through on - like a PA system - so the DAC Organ advisor misses it...

Possibly not, in the case of Bach. He seems to have transribed music as he wished for the instruments at his disposal - for example the fugue in D minor, BWV 539 started life as a fugue for solo violin. A different argument, but I often feel he writes the same for voices as he does for strings. Also, in works such as the art of fugue, it seems to be music for music's sake, completely devoid of being written for any medium - string quartet, organ, etc, although they work well in those mediums, despite technical difficulties performing them. So perhaps Bach was influenced more by the music and musicians he heard and came into contact with. And perhaps this was the case with the romantic organist/musicians, too.

I've always thought "My beloved spake" by Patrick Hadley and "Who shall win my lady fair?" by Pearsall rather appropriate for a wedding - at least, that's what I would like... Whether that would be enough to convince me to marry someone is a moot point, though...

I've been there in a Lotus 7 on a wet roundabout - thankfully not driving it - therre was someone I think could be The Stig driving it. However, I vividly remember driving in central Southampton in this thing with all four wheels locked and blue smoking and the car in front so close ... and also driving under a tunnel with the engine at 8,000 rpm and screaming like an F1 car... Wonderful contraption ...actually, I've probably got the hearing of an 80 year old from the experience.... I'm rather looking forward to the "Lotus 7", built by Rolls-Royce, arriving in the next 2-3 months. I'm just hopeful I'll be able to do the thing justice when it arrives.

Well, yes, the thought of substituting the Dulciana for a Tierce has crossed my mind once or twice...

I must be honest, I find the record/playback facility on my Clavinova very useful - for listening to my performances and occasionally for special effects - like playing a duet or even doing the "look, no hands" trick... I find it far more convienent than frigging around setting up microphones, MD recorders, etc, which I need to do on the organ - just hit a button and off you go... However, despite the features of a clavinova, I still hanker after a proper grand piano and I wouldn't dream of defacing my lovely new, all mechanical, organ when it arrives with electronic paraphanalia to enable playback features.

I wouldn't say it's awful. She's clearly a talented and broad ranging musician. So she gets my acquiescence.

Don't quite think they can do the guitar/vocals thing with any panache yet. The music was all Dom Gregory Murray/ Paul Inwood stuff when I was there. It's not entirely my cup of tea - I found it all a little joyless. I think if a good organist were appointed there, he could pretty much do as he liked and the congregation would appreciate it - if they dared let themselves enjoy the music. I think they rather felt that having competently performed, good quality music was rather a naughty treat they didn't quite deserve...

Yes - I rather thought the organ could do with a 2' flute. I was hoping the 2' spitz principal would do double duty, unlike your bright example... I thought about a rohr flute - would give some contrast against the gedackt on the other dpt. Yes, I would go with this.... I was envisaging the quint and terz being quite small scale and bright - so more a sesquialtera, in line with the rather austere and starchy nature of this organ, rather than a wide-scale, voluptous cornet in the french classical style.

I can hear the hobo in my mind's ear quite clearly. A little like the bassoon at Adlington hall but a bit less "woody".... so yes, like an elegant Schalmei...

In another post, I think we were all agreed that the organ at the Immaculate Conception Church in Southampton was really nasty but that the idea of it was a refreshing change from the average church organ. http://npor.emma.cam.ac.uk/cgi-bin/Rsearch...ec_index=N11626 I was just thinking what I would replace it with and thought that a neo-classical organ was just right for the the rather austere 1950s (?) building with a West Gallery and I thought up a spec for what sort of new organ I would put in this church, given the chance. Sad, I know, but let me know what you think, esp if you know the church. The organ would be mechanical and strictly Werk-prinzip, with a modern movement case, with front, sides, back and roof, with simple geometric pipe shades, as loved in the 60s and 70s, probably in natural oiled oak. Position: West gallery (choir would also move to the gallery) Great Organ (or Hauptwerk) Prinzipal 8 Gedackt 8 Octav 4 Coppel Flote 4 Quint 2 2/3 Super Octav 2 Terz 1 3/5 Mixtur IV 1 1/3 Trompet 8 Oberwerk (poss. enclosed) Lieblich Gedackt 8 Gambe 8 (4' helper bass with Lieb. Gedact) Prinzipal 4 Klein Gedackt 4 Spitz Octav 2 Larigot 1 1/3 Hobo 8 (a gentle, warm, smooth 1/2 length reed) Pedalwerk Subbass 16 Octav 8 (by transmission from Gt Prinzipal) Super Octav 4 (by transmission from Gt Octav) Fagot 16 (wood, full length) Schamei 4 usual couplers Tremulant to each manual. The Oberwerk could possibly have swell box shutters (possibly.... how much do we want deface our pure organ aesthetic with romantic excesses...) wind-blown zimbelstern. w.p. about 3 inches. I would go for large wedge bellows in the room off the gallery. The scales would be moderate but I would go for much smoother voicing than was usually the case in the 60s and 70s - more like a Flentrop from the 80s. The choruses would be straight, so a 2' principal would be about the same scale as an 8'. The scales would be toepfer scales. Mechanical action. BTW, I've modified this post - on reflection, I think an oberwerk would be better than a brustwerk - the church is quite lofty and voluminous and I think an Oberwerk would fit the character of the church better.

That's as I remember it - it rather looks like a less impressive scaled-down copy of the RFH organ, all on a shelf above the West gallery. The 2 divisions sit side by side on EP (or direct electric) chests. The celebrated pedal schamei was on a separate chromatic chest above the rest of the organ, in pride of place against the bback wall. Absolutely right, VH - it is the archetypal 1960s neo-Baroque jobby. I think Dom Gregory Murray was organist there for some years. My experience was that they would still let us play there if we asked but didn't encourage us to do so too much. They were much more helpful if you helped out with services, etc, which generally I was happy to do. Bach chorales with a cantus firmus pedal were particularly common, just to savour the use of the 4' pedal schamei... VH- hmm - I know what you mean about those TC stops, annoying things....