notebasher
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Posts posted by notebasher
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One some instruments even this isn't possible. I can think of at least one electro-pneumatic instrument which had horizontal swell shutters that were not balanced and which closed whenever the instrument was turned off. If you left the swell pedals in the "open" position when turning the instrument off all that happened was that you were rewarded with an almighty crashing sound as all three swell boxes slammed shut ...
Yes I recall that some (more-or less) totally enclosed Comptons do this; all the swell boxes close when they are switched off. I understand that because all the pipes apart from some basses are treated the same way there aren't any issues with tuning but the pipework remains cleaner. Even so on 'normal' organs I leave the boxes open for the reasons John explained.
R.
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http://iof.pipechat.org/ldgal.htm
(I have never heard of a Llamarada organ as in the Walt Disney instrument - are there many such around?
P
Hmmm. And there's me thinking it was a llama farm...
R
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I have done exactly this in several different parishes, never with a choir, and it has never failed.
What, every note in time, every time?
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Why? With choir support it can be sung by an average congregation - after all is, arguably, not much more than a slightly elaborate psalm chant.
Peter
Yes but much as I actually enjoy this tune, try doing it without a choir to lead the congregation...
R
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I do wish there was some kind of conformity within the Church of England, is this too much to ask?
Hmm, it would be a first if there were, wouldn't it?
R.
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my partner is a housing warden at a sheltered housing complex a few miles from Ripon, and she was diagnosed with "swineflu" on monday. She has been told that she has to be back at work on sunday 2nd aug,. And that was from her superior at Harrogate District Council. I just told her to check with her doctor 1st, am I right?
Peter
Peter
See http://www.desktoplawyer.co.uk/dt/browse/l.../S75861-34108X/ which hopefully will clarify the position. I wouldn't like to go back to work if I didn't feel fit, especially if there were any risk to other people.
R
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As I read it, it was just an aside - and a perfectly legitimate one which I, for one, found interesting. I bet I'm not the only one who didn't appreciate the distinction.
Well I certainly didn't!!!
R
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We dutifully followed the episcopcal edict to have bread only and then all went into the hall and shared a communal spoon to stir our coffees. I couldn't help thinking that something hadn't been thought through.
Yes but presumably you didn't lick it (the spoon)?
R.
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Please forgive a brief moment of pedantry.
The regisTRY office is part of the County Court, where you get your divorce papers.
The RegisTER Office is where you register births, deaths, marriages and other PC things that hadn't been invented when I worked in one many moons ago.
Is that your response then?
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Anyone else any bizarre experiences of the flu?
Here in Bradford Diocese the use of the chalice is now also banned totally, as is taking the bread/wafer on the tongue. All this is because of swine flu. I suppose it makes sense really.
R.
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The title says it all really. There is a town church near us where I heard the organist regularly did five weddings on summer Saturdays in the old days, just wondered if this sort of thing still happens?
JE
Most I ever did was five on Easter Saturday 1968 I think it was, and for good measure the last one was a double wedding - and double fee as I recall. Now we're lucky to get five a year! Ah well...c'est la vie.
R
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I've just been told that I am not needed for a wedding on Saturday. Having had decorators in my flat, and the subsequent mess, I assumed I had lost the paperwork referring to the wedding so I phoned the bride. She said that they had their own organist and didn't the priest tell me? Nhe did not, I said. Two points here: why was I not told and, perhaps more importatly, why did the guest organist not contact me as a matterof courtesy? I have always thought in an unwritten rule in the church organ world that if you are playing for a service an another church you approach the resident - at least that is what I've always done. Am I being pedantic here?
Peter
I recently learned of a case where the organist was asked if he would do a wedding for no fee; it turns out that the couple concerned had a price from the registry office and asked the vicar if it could be matched by the church. Vicar, ever keen to get these people through the door, came up with this as part of a 'package'... What would be your response?
R.
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In the Church Times 10 July 2009 page 16 is a short article on the new organ in Llandaff "From Pencil to Monster". This again repeats the fact that the largest pipe is 26 feet long by two feet wide. However, in a classic misprint THE WHOLE ORGAN WILL BE MADE UP OF 4870 STOPS. I wonder if Llandaff know that their Cathedral is about to become a giant organ chamber housing the largest organ in the world!!!!!!!!!
PJW
Maybe the 26 feet is also merely a misprint that's just got repeated?
R
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From a recent publication which would probably prefer not to be named, "The pedals should start with the same or a similar timbre to the grate".
Presumably using the grater pedal...
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From a recent publication which would probably prefer not to be named, "The pedals should start with the same or a similar timbre to the grate".
Presumably using the grater pedal...
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No. The second member of the trio was the famous Scottish singer, Angus Day.
Ever meet his sister Holly?
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Mr and Mrs Olone and Vi.
Mr and Mrs Phone and Bary...
Mr Flute and daughter Fern.
Mr. Ross Ignol.
Mr & Mrs. Estrina and daughter Sylv...
And don't for get, with today's weather, the Swelter Pedal...
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Mr and Mrs Offey and son Clyde...
Mr and Mrs Quialtera and Cec(il)...
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It's good to know that this organ is in safe hands. My last contact was 8 years ago singing as a bass soloist at the time with Midlands Chorale, and Michael Hart played for us (very well too). As I recall the solo tuba is enclosed, am I right? I played it briefly then and what an organ it is. Despite later changes it's unmistakeably Willis, and we can only hope that the present care of it remains. It may have been altered too much to get lottery funding, so as is too often the case good ongoing maintenance may the best that can be hoped for.
R.
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By the way, how prevalent is the habit of improvising BEFORE the last verse of a hymn to fill time for collection taking, processions ,etc? Is a relatively new idea - ie last 20 years??? I like it, I must say, but I'm not sure I could trust myself to get back to the dominant of X major without being unutterably boring, in the time available!
Martin.
I first came across it early in the 1980s in an Anglo-Catholic church I used to attend, and have myself been doing it ever since, when appropriate. I know a number of other players who now do it too. It needs quick thinking and good timing to get it just right! But if you can bring it off it's a very elegant solution to making the hymn fit the action. Suggestion - don't be too ambitious, make sure you can start the last verse when you need to - it's only 'wallpaper' after all!
R.
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What was yours? I transcribed and used La Quenouille from the Bretagne CD (see the Bombarde/Ocarina thread) and it was very effective . So now over to you....
Peter
Well, laugh if you will, but we did one of the Daquin Noels No 10. (yes I know it's not Christmas but nobody else knew it was unseasonal, but some had requested it). when I say 'we' I mean the interlude bits were done by two people playing recorders (the DoM and the director of a local choir) which echoed the organ in the repeats, and I did the loud bits on the organ. And most of the congregation stayed to listen. It went down a storm actually.
R.
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The spec as printed in C&O May/June 2009 seems to be missing 2 stops from the Solo. According to OR Nov 2008 these are Orchestral Trumpet 8 and Tuba 8 (unenclosed). The stop list may mark a return to the romantic English style but when I saw it I just thought of Westminster Abbey! I hope I am wrong.
PJW
Thanks for that - assuming OR is the correct version it looks as if the C & O has two stops missing. At least I hope so, there's nothing else comparable, you can't even transfer the great reeds. How can this be confirmed, does anyone have a definitive source of the spec?
R.
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The Great Organ is to be located in the north choir, so perhaps the West Great will occupy the west facing case in the north choir aisle - though hardly an ideal position. We shall see next Easter all being well !
A
Looking at Nicholsons' ad for this organ in 'Choir & Organ' recently, it struck me as a bit odd that in a large scheme which unashamedly 'marks a return to the romantic English style' there doesn't appear to be a tuba, tromba, or big solo reed of any description. It's got just about everything else you could want. Is this really the case, and if so, does anyone know the thinking behind it?
R.
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And here I was looking at the calendar as I turned to a new page...
Pedalboard - Flat/straight Or Radiating/concave?
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