Colin Harvey

Yes, it can be played on a 2 manual and pedal organ. I occasionally roll it out on my own organ of 2 manuals, which also has mechanical stop action - it's not especially hard to manage. Anyway, most English-style Choir organs don't equate to a French-style Positif in the French Romantic notion of terraced dynamics so even with a 3 manual English organ you'll have to diverge a bit from Alain's directions.

I think if you want to learn how to re-harmonise on the spot, the best first step is to learn how to harmonise a hymn tune. Get a melody-only hymn book and practice harmonising the tunes in 4 part harmony. You can start simply - most simple hymn tunes can be harmonised with 3 chords: tonic, dominant and sub-dominant. Look out for the cadences and work back from those. Gain fluencey. Slowly you can build up your armoury of more advanced harmonies with inversions, suspensions, modulations, secondary 7ths, etc - you can learn these by deconstructing what's going on in harmonic progressions you particularly like (not just in hymns but also in real music - I find Bach's Gravemente section of his Piece d'orgue is a goldmine), text books and trying the ideas out in different keys.

I think the way to implement the Vuvazela chorus is like this: The important thing with the Vuvazela chorus is that it is all enveloping and you can't escape the braying, honking sound. You can't turn it off and you can't escape its pervading tones. The idea of the vuvazela is to frighten and intimidate the opponent - in this case either the congregation, the audience or the clergy. I can think of some organs that already meet this description. However, to install your vuvazela chorus: Firstly, all the pipes should be made as cheaply as possible. Moulded thermo-plastic is the correct material - spun brass is an unnecessary expense. If a pipe breaks, just replace it with another one ordered off the internet. It would be historically correct to paint the pipes too - the more garish, the better. Secondly, placement is very important. Although the chorus has a single note - a little way off Bb (actually, pitch isn't really that important), it stills follows many pipes will be needed for a proper chorus. And they shouldn't be shoved out of the way into a corner with the rest of the organ, either. No, there should be batteries of Vuvus placed all round the auditorium - several on each wall so they surround the opponent - sorry, listener. There should also be vuvus in other places too - the choir vestry, several in the clergy vestry, quite a few in the parish office, the Crypt, the Cathedral Green, a couple in the kitchens and several in the lavatories. If possible, they should be installed in every room of the Rectory too. There should be no escape anywhere from their presence!! Any experienced organ builder will tell you that winding here will be an issue. However, the vuvus can each be powered by a small, individual air horn, connected to the organ by electrical or wireless connections. Harrisons may only build them with a small double-rise reservior for each vuvuzela but this is an unecessary expense, saved only for Rolls-Royce installations, where cost is no objective. If possible, for an authentic effect, they should come on and off randomly, at random intervals but this is probably only going to be implemented on top-end historical reconstruction organs - most of us will have to suffer them on all the time if we can't afford a John Brombaugh or Bill Drake vuvuzela chorus, although purists will argue hard for the improved effect of the historically correct vuvu chorus. The next thing is control of the vuvazela chorus. As you can never escape them, they don't really need to be played from the keys. They could be turned on from a stop knob, like a Cymbelstern or Vogelsang, but this would be plainly wrong. They should be on all the time, from the time the organ is turned on until somebody turns it off, with an axe if necessary. On really authentic organs, they should remain on, even when the organ is turned off. I'm sure they'll catch on in places like St. John the Divine, where they already have that enormous Kazoo on Speed, which is probably the closest anyone has to a Vuvazela on an organ.

Ah! At Last! An organ to play the music of Nicola Vicentino! There hasn't been a suitable archiorgano since the 16th century!

The RCO has student membership rates - but I wouldn't know if these apply to you. But if you're keen to join, I'd ask about concessions - I'm sure the RCO'll investigate what's possible - my experience is of a friendly, helpful group of people. There are other costs involved with exams of course, which you shouldn't discount if your budget is very tight - cost of buying music, travel to exam venues and - most importantly - organ lessons and practice. If you really are very tight on money, try the Organists' Charitable Trust (was the Organists' Benevolent League), which "relieve by pecuniary assistance organists and their dependants in distress through poverty". They can provide assistance to serious organists intent on getting qualifications or study who otherwise couldn't afford it. www.organistscharitabletrust.org I know they've helped people aiming to become professional organists and musicians through their ARCOs. Preparing for an RCO exam involves a great deal of time and preparation and you'll need to find good tuition, ideally with teachers who already have RCO diplomas. The attrition ratios for ARCO and FRCO are very high indeed - the expected standard is high - so if you want to minimise the exam fee costs, you'll better be well prepared. And you'll still need to be well prepared even for CertR - a lot of amateur players would be in for a rude awakening if they went into a CertR if they hadn't prepared carefully and got some good tuition to get them up to standard. The RCO diplomas and exams are the best recognised organ playing qualifications in the UK and most fellow organists understand the standard required to pass those exams - they are the "gold standard". I know the RSCM are putting together a syllabus for organ playing but I'm not sure what the standards are like to get the qualifications. I don't know what the standards are for the GCM qualifications either - I'm afraid I don't really know what standard an ACertCM is - but considering this is the standard for a pass in the assessment criteria for the "organ solo" part of the exam, I'm sure many people will reach their own conclusions: Limited attention to dynamics and phrasing Cautious/occasionally hesitant approach though adequate continuity Evidence of some stylistic awareness Occasional labouring under technical challenge I guess it depends on what you mean to get out of your study which course you wish to pursue.

Peter, I think the important thing is to find the right teacher for you. The cost per hour is really of secondary importance. As Malcolm points out, if you get more out of a £70/hr session, it may be better value for you than 2 £30/hr sessions. Getting a teacher who you have a good relationship with, whose teaching style matches your own learning style and who you respect and trust is more important. But it depends on your needs and aspirations. If I were in your situation I think I'd decide who I want to have lessons with first, then advise the church of the likely costs. Of course, before I get shot down in flames, I'd better point out that just because a teacher charges £70/hr it doesn't automatically mean that (s)he is a better teacher than one that charges £30/hr. There are a number of factors why people charge what they charge, some of which aren't to do with their teaching ability. I wish there were more organists who were self-aware enough to realise they would benefit from "refresher" lessons and have got stuck into bad habits. I hope that, 20 years after I last had a lesson, I'll have the self-awareness to do the same. But I think the best musicians are always learning and developing their skills throughout their lives - great musicians like Fischer-Dieskau and Rostropovitch have said the same thing in interviews.

There's a good article on this organ in the May 2010 edition of Organists' Review by Ben Saunders. It looks like a very interesting project, with a lot of thought into this organ.

Dear all, It looks like I'm going to be spending some time in Switzerland this summer and I thought it would be fun to visit some of the organs there. I'll be based in the Berner Oberland, about 80km south of Berne. Does anybody have any contacts or suggestions of places to visit? Any suggestions would be welcome - whether ancient, baroque, romantic or new organs. I'd be very grateful for any ideas or contacts, either by PM or replies. Thanks in advance,

And if you had a 1920s Aston Martin, which has all these features, would you change it so it's just like your Vauxhall Zafira? I wish I had the time and energy to respond to this thread properly, which raises lots of interesting and complex points. The issues surrounding custodianship of an old organ - whether by a local builder or a major name - are far more complex than giving the organist the console he wants and I'm dissappointed to read some of the arguments so far expressed, which lack many of the wider points that need consideration, or are simply inappropriate and nobody has the nous to challenge them. I can't but help feel that if the people who've contributed above (with the exception of Hecklephone) had been responsible for all the organs in the world, such musical gems as the Alkmaar Choir organ, Spanish Baroque organs, Italian Reinassance organs, early English organs would have long since gone and we'd all have electronic simulation organs and all organ consoles would have been standardised. We would have thrown the baby out with the bathwater in our desire for balenced swell pedals and conformity. Discuss.

One of the things that surprises me is the recent rate of inflation of organists' wedding fees. About 8-10 years ago, the going rate was about £50 for an organist for a wedding (£35 wasn't unknown but was rather stingy). About 2-3 years ago, the rate seemed to be about £60-£70. So why are we now seeing standard fees of £100-150? Why this sudden inflation in the past 2-3 years?

The volcanic ash is at tens of thousands of feet, in the air currents above our weather systems. If it falls to earth, it is most likely to do so as rain but it will take many weeks for this to happen. So in the UK there's almost no ash in the air at ground level from the volcano, hence very little risk to organs.

Chaps, can we take this discussion on mixtures to another topic please - this (very fine) topic is getting diverted from its original purpose of sharing Youtube clips. Perhaps one of the proponents of the mixture debate can start a new topic or ressurrect one of the old topics on this subject?

Here's an interesting play list: 10 contrasting performances of the "Little" fugue in G minor, BWV 578. http://www.youtube.com/user/gegenshow#grid...86C4A37D9AFECEB There are others as well Kevin Bowyer: Ulrich Bohme: Maurice Durufle: Marie-Madeleine Durufle: ... and I can't be bothered to link to all of the rest of them here. You can see them all here: http://www.youtube.com/user/gegenshow#g/u There's Jacques van Oortmersson, Peter Hurford (whose recording sounds almost like a caricature of the neo-classical), Christopher Herrick amongst many others. So enjoy this slightly Obsessive-Complusive listing of this piece, which is an interesting survey of different playing styles of different organists and periods. The only thing I'd say is that this piece bears repeated hearing but I doubt I'll ever have the time to listen to them all...

Thanks for the post - very interesting and especially useful experience about general pistons at the treble end of the keyboards. I prefer the swell pedal to be directly above middle e & f of the pedal board and not mounted too high. That way, you can always find the swell pedal very easily and navigate left and right as needed until they become familiar. I prefer Solo to the right, choir to the left of this (and the GC to the extreme right) but placement of the main swell pedal is very important. I've seen several modern organs where the swell pedal is hovering uncomfortably highly over middle A# - something I found peverse and difficult to use. Thankfully none of these swell pedals have ever actually been connected to an effective swell box so it didn't really matter if you never touched the swell pedal... I've seen a few organs where you can assign what box you like to what pedal, which is handy if you want one pedal to control several enclosures, which I've occasionally found to be useful luxury... I like the thumb pistons on the latest H&Hs. These buttons are larger than normal and are slightly convex (they bulge outwards slightly). I like these pistons because i) being bigger they're easier to hit and read ii) being convex, they're easier and more comfortable to hit at an angle and iii) being convex there's no edge to them so there's no edge if you hit them at an uncomfortable angle. I can't understand the current fashion for smaller pistons and personally, I don't like the current fashion for buttons where the shank of the piston is just as wide as the head - to my eyes they look too much like any normal button on your TV, front door bell or toaster - but this is just a personal thing. On toe pistons, I much prefer those that have a machined finished to them (like concentric rings) rather than smooth, shiny and slippery polished metal toe studs. I think the machined finished is easier and more reliable to hit without your foot sliding off. It also ages better - shiny toe pistons don't look so great after 15 years of being kicked about while machined pistons pick up a bit of a patina. Again, the bigger the better... Personally, I prefer toe pistons to be in a single row for departmentals or generals, rather than a criss-cross pattern that are often set too close together (as many electronic organs' pistons are). Getting the angle of the toe piston sweeps is important too - those pistons that are just screwed onto the front edge of the pedal board are pretty horrible to use, but if the toe piston sweeps are angled too vertically, the toe studs uncomfortable and impractical to use - it's more of a horizontal movement to kick the pistons with the tip of your toe (which is pretty uncomfortable - the sensation is a bit like stubbing your toe) and the highest row of pistons is almost always too high so the poor organist has to lift his entire leg to hit them - again, not very friendly at all. Unfortunately, too many builders are building them like this today and this practical point really needs to be taken on board. Again, I've found H&H are usually the best for getting these ergonomic design features just right (and I'm trying hard not to appear as if I have a favourite)... I've come across one or two organs that get electric pedal levers just right - pcnd knows one example - and I know one other organ with pnematic toe levers that still works perfectly after 103 years that are surprisingly easy and comfortable to use. What are people's preferances for the location of the stepper buttons (+ and -)?

I think you're pretty much answered your own question here: the style and nature of an organ leads the expectations of the console and its playing aids. So you'd expect your French Classical instrument to have mechanical stop action, an absence of octave couplers or registration aids and a certain console design and layout. Equally, you'd expect your 1950s 4 manual H&H to have a plethora of pistons on a very different design of console and your 1890s Sauer to have a rollschweller and free combination system. The converse is also true - arriving at a console of an unknown organ, an experienced organist can glean a lot about the nature of the organ from the console and set expectations and playing habits accordingly. When the console has been replaced at a rebuild, an important piece of information has been lost to the musician. Where there is a problem is when the style of the console isn't consonant with the style of the organ. I find this is most common on organs that have been rebuilt and altered several times so that the organ has strayed away from its roots - and frequently a new console has been provided as a cornerstone for a daring scheme of expansion and "improvement". It is on these types of organ that I find console aids are least satisfactory and less useful. Of course, we can argue about the minutae of whether a General Crescendo pedal is less useful than a Rollschweller but the overarching principle ought to be whether the registration aid is appropriate for the style of instrument.

Yes, depressing, isn't it. But hopefully there will always be enough places that recognise the qualities of a real pipe organ and there will be musicians that continue to insist upon them. There are also stories of churches that have replaced their electronic imitation organ with a real one, or ressurected their old one after some fallow years. Of course, with declining numbers of church attendance, increased financial pressures and less vicars around, there are bound to be more and more redundant churches and organs. Part of me thinks that we can't save every organ - and why would we want to save every undistinguished and inadequate octopod? - but let's at least aim to keep those real organs that are beautiful musical instruments in their own right and keep the future viable for them.

Yes! One of my basses (who knows Richard Moorhouse quite well) said he was amazed to see Llandaff Cathedral Close as "the duck pond" on last night's Dr Who. Quite a few shots right outside the organist's house. I thought the new organ at Llandaff, like the new Doctor, sounded very promising on the very brief clips over my PC speakers - my impression was of rich, quite dark, sounding Great reeds, in the late English Romantic style - very tasty - but final judgement will have to wait until we've heard it all in the flesh. I'm sure we (and they) can't wait to complete the solo organ!

There's a slightly tricky bar on the final page, where the pedal is doing broken octaves in semi-quavers, the right hand joins in in semi-quavers (having missed the first semi-quaver on the beat) and the left hand plays some harmonic quavers. It usually needs some practice to get it all together - I find the left hand, for some reason, never seems to "stick" (probably because it's not really doing anything noticeable). But it's all over in a flash and the rest is really quite plain sailing. I note, from Facebook statuses, that some of my friends seem to be recording late Howells this week. Reading between the lines, I don't think they're all relishing it particularly...

BWV568. I agree - it's a good piece to open a recital - not too heavyweight, fun and enjoyable. Not difficult either... it sets a nice tenor for the rest of the recital. It's also a useful voluntary - not too long or difficult on a Sunday morning.

I do the same thing for concerts at our church. We don't usually publish the entire programme on the flyer but just include something like "music by Bach, Brahms and Bartok"... It's usually enough to give the potential punters an idea of what to expect. If I send out an email or publicise it on the Internet I'll usually try to include the entire programme - I think people expect this sort of info on the Internet. Places to publicise - anywhere - pubs are fair game to me and usually very accomodating. I remember being in the music office at a Cathedral when the assistant was discussing publicity (i.e. where to put posters and flyers) for the forthcoming recital series with the marketing officer. "And don't forget the railway stations!" said the assistant. The marketing officer gave a quizzical look. "you find lots of people interested in organ recitals at railway stations. It's something to do with pistons, pressures, rods, levers ..." Too true! Finishing after leaving time should be a criminal offence for concerts! And not say anything of the poor recitalist! Anything over 1hr 20 is a lot of playing! But a concert lasting over 1hr 30 (including the interval) is more than enough for most people to take - especially on pews. I do wish some recitalists and concert organisers would take this important point on - it drives people away from coming again if they have to sit through a gruelling marathon. But this problem is not limited to organ recitals, which are not the worst offenders by far. I hate to say it but amateur groups, usually ones with younger members or leaders, are worst. If I see a programme that'll go on for hours these days, I'll usually try to avoid it...

Back to the trains, eh, Adrian? Notebook and anorak at the ready? Sorry, I really shouldn't be so rude... BTW, you coming over on the 13th? You can have a look at the C5S too then, if you want. One thing struck me with electronic organs and pipe organs (which crossed my mind with the Clavinova/ Grand Piano misunderstanding): our ears get acclimatised to what we're used to. I remember when I had just a clavinova to play on and no access to real pianos. I thought the Clavinova was excellent - sounded just like a real piano, realistic touch, etc. Now my ears and fingers are acclimatised to playing real pianos, I find electronic pianos sound and feel, well - electric - and I can spot the difference between an electric piano and real piano instantly - something I counldn't really do when a real piano entered my life again. I think the same is true of organs: when I did most of my practice on an electronic, I couldn't spot the differences between electric and real as clearly as I can now. The congregation's ears got used to the electronic organ while the pipe organ was out of the church - but I think we could all tell the difference now. I also remember a professor of organ mention the same thing with temperament: he went to Italy for a few years, where all the organs were tuned to Meantone temperament. He remembered that to begin with, he couldn't get used to the uneven intervals between the notes and that some keys were unusable. But after a while, he got used to the purer intervals and the keys' different characters. After a number of years, he moved to an organ with an equal temperament and he couldn't stand it at all. His ears, now used to the pure intervals of meantone, could instantly spot when the thirds and fifths weren't pure and any organ tuned to equal temperament sounded harsh and out of tune to him. A slightly different story: a friend and I were discussing a Copeman-Hart electronic organ built in the 1980s today. Despite the elderly (non-digital) technology, we both agreed this electronic is one of the best simulations we've ever come across - it really is uncannily good and I think it's got a lot to do with a very well set up installation. I've played a number of more recent electronics by this builder, including the late electronic at Sheffield (now replaced by a Phoenix), which sounded distinctly "electronic", despite having digital technology. I wonder if these builders, having lived in a world of electronic organs for so long, without so much regular exposure to real pipe organs, have started to loose touch with what a real pipe organ sounds like as their ears have acclimatised to the sounds from speakers?

No, the Yahama C5 is a grand piano, not a Clavinova. It's a bigger version of the ubiquitous C3. See here http://uk.yamaha.com/en/products/link/562344 and here http://uk.yamaha.com/en/products/link/105017 - or just Google Yamaha C5. I think I've actually got a C5S but I've never played with the electrical side of it. It's got strings and everything but no speakers. Back on topic - a further issue with touchscreens on real pipe organ is this: They are ephemeral technology with a planned (short) lifespan (a TFT screen has a lifespan of about 60,000 hours) and the technology would be obsolete within 10 years of the organ being completed.

I'd suggest some Barbara Pym - "Virtue is an excellent thing and we should all strive after it but it can sometimes be a little depressing."

Well, I can connect one of the pianos to a computer - the Yamaha C5 has a midi interface... But I've never done it. The Bluthner grand doesn't have a computer connection (I guess such things hadn't been thought about in 1896 Leipzig) but shares the room with my PC, which has a noisy fan. Hence the driving up the wall. Thanks to Malcolm for his illuminating comments on Hauptwerk from real-life experience.

Well, of course they're not going to be the same as the real thing. It's not just a question of size, spacing - there's location and the actual movements as well: Waltershausen should really have touchscreens arranged above the music desk... And my experience of touch screens is that they can take some pressing (and not pulling) sometimes for things to work - not idea for organ "performance" either. But I suppose one can "make do" for practice and note-bashing purposes and getting an idea what these different schools of organ sound like. Of course, for performance, one will have to practice on the performance instrument. I've practiced hitting the screws on the key slips to practice hitting buttons on my piston-less practice organ for playing organs where I will use pistons. So any organ that isn't an exact copy of the performance organ is bound to be a bit of a compromise. I think it's interesting to note that the sub organists of the 2 Cathedrals closest to me are busy with Hauptwerk installations in their own homes. If they're not interested in professional standards of performance, then I'm not sure who is... But I'm sure they find them fine for note-bashing at home and having the opportunity to experiement! And how quickly can one change stops at the real Waltershausen? Would you ever really want to on that organ?