davidh

I thought that perhaps I should have been clearer when I posed my question, so I have gone back and looked at the video more carefully - and now I am more confused. This is the magnificent DVD which comes with the multimedia pack about the organ in the Martinikerk in Groningen and the organs in surrounding towns and villages which throw light on it; see http://www.mander-organs.com/discussion/in...mp;hl=groningen One of the "chapters" on the DVD is about the 1698 Arp Schnitger in the Nieuw Scheemda Hervormde Kerk. Bernhardt Edskes talks about Schnitger's design of the organ front, and interspersed between shots of the front pipes are pictures of a tracker action, illustrating how the roller boards shift the tracker movement sideways from the position of the key to the position of the pipe. Anyone who didn't pay careful attention (as I didn't, first time) might conclude that they are shots of the front and back of the same instrument. At the end of the chapter, Edskes comments that all of the action is original; that after 300 years nothing has needed to be replaced and the touch is as good as anyone could wish. So, the pictures of the trackers, rollers and and roller arms, which are obviously very new, are from another instrument altogether. These are all of bright clear new wood with bright brass links. It appears that the arms at each end of the roller all have two holes in the arm, at a very rough guess, about 3cm apart. But why two holes?

I have just been viewing a Dutch video of a Baroque organ, which has what must be a replacement tracker action. I would have expected each arm on a roller board to have a single hole through which the connection to the tracker would be threaded. In this case the arms have two holes, so the tracker could be hooked to the one nearer to the roller, or the further one. This would obviously give a choice of leverage. However, surely the motion would have been designed from the start to hang the tracker in one of the positions. Could these be arms put together from standard kit parts, or is there another explanation for the two holes?

There may be a little confusion here and earlier in this thread. A DVD may be recorded in PAL or NTSC, and most recent DVD players can handle both. The only limitation is with some DVD recorders which only work in one mode at a time, so you can't play back an NTSC DVD when the machine has been set to record a PAL transmission. Regional coding is different. When you buy a DVD with region codes 0 or 2 they will work in players bought within Europe, but region code 1 DVDs intended to be sold in the American market will not.

And some might say too few! It depends on which ones you are thinking about.

That is if you have a VERY BIG letterbox.

It is now also available in the UK from http://www.fuguestatefilms.co.uk/shop/default.html at a lower price until November 20th and will be available in NTSC in North America from November.

When you have ordered your CDs or printed music, received it and paid for it you might assume that the business is completed. My experiences show that it is wise to keep all of your paperwork in case any questions arise later. I am copying below the gist of two sets of correspondence with firms stocking excellent organ music and with friendly staff - but with inefficient administration. In the second case I have just been asked to pay for goods paid for in advance and despatched 20 months ago. ---------------------------------------- 29th January 2008. Order placed. 12th February 2008. Goods received with invoice. 13th February 2008. Payment sent with further order. 6th March 2008. Enquiry because second order not received. 27th March 2008 "I have been checking everything but until now I haven't received payment or order. You send it by post, right? I'll keep on searching here, maybe we have missed it." 7th April 2008. "I have just found the order and payment. My colleague received it during my day off and it was lost somewhere in his files." ----------------------------------------- 14th February 2008. "Thank you for your order. It is ready for shipment and will be sent after receipt of your payment." 20th February 2008. "Thanks for your payment. Your order has been sent today." 7th September 2009 (delivered 7th October 2009). Reminder letter requesting payment for that order. 8th October. Email sent to firm giving details, asking them to check and reply. 15th October 2009. No reply yet.

It's many years ago that a local evangelical church had visitors from Czechoslovakia, so the minister prayed for everyone, black and white, and especially the Czechs.

Nicolas Lebegue, "Les Cloches". Piet Kee made effective use of the two sets of bells when playing this on his recording at Weingarten.

See http://biblion.co.uk/pdfs/Brodart/BookRepairManual.pdf and http://www.care4books.com/

I have just received an impressive package, the size and shape of a boxed set of LP records. It contains a full-colour hardback book of 106 pages, a 2-hour DVD (in Dutch, subtitled in English and German) , five CDs and a list of the works performed, including, of course, a full list of registrations. This is the completion of the project announced in the “Martinikerk Rondo” http://www.fuguestatefilms.co.uk/proj-docco.html The centre of this work is the organ of the Martinikerk in Groningen which retains elements of all of its enlargements and rebuilds since 1450. After discussion of the evidence of each of these periods in the Martinikerk, examples are shown of other instruments in the area which show similar features in other organs from the area which have survived as purer examples of their eras. It’s expensive. Unfortunately the opening bargain offer is no longer available. It costs 75 euros plus shipping – another 19.50 euros to the UK – but in my opinion it is worth every euro. Order from http://www.boeijengamusic.com/

Will they be open on Bank Holiday Monday/

Here are two suggestions, depending on when you plan to travel. Check out "open monument day" on 12th - 13th September http://www.whatsonwhen.com/sisp/index.htm?...;event_id=27438 http://www.openmonumentendag.nl/ There will be about 4,000 different places open to visitors, free. Many towns include organ recitals and organ visits as part of this programme. In large cities, such as Amsterdam, you can walk from one church to another and hear many half-hour recitals. It's a wonderful idea, but would be even better if different cities celebrated "openmonumentendag" on different dates; one can't be in so many desirable places at the same time. Otherwise there are several people who organise tours; for the last three years I have been on six-day tours in a small group, visiting about three organs a day and with a chance to play most of them. These have taken place each April for several years. See http://www.bussand.nl/dutchorgantours/ for details of this year's past programme and watch out for an announcement of the next.

The May issue which promised to "look at all things Dutch: people, instruments and players" was a great disappointment, and Sarah Beedle acknowleged that it hadn't turned out as she planned it. The August issue has a really splendid article about the Iberian organ. Let's hope that at some time in the future something similar will do justice to the organ in the Netherlands.

Clavichords were, traditionally, the practice instruments of Baroque organists. My clavichord has a drop weight of about 1/7 of an ounce. Skittish and light? Yes, but highly responsive as well, providing that it was played with the appropriate technique.

Please disinfect the console as you leave.

Schoenberg's Variations on a Recitative needs a 62-note manual to get an upper C#. He chose to write at sounding rather than playing pitch, so from the end of bar 91 and a while beyond it is necessary to draw 4' and 2' stops only, and play an octave lower than written. Perhaps Schoenberg "obviously knew nothing about the organ", but he was hardly "an up and coming young composer" at the age of 67.

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".

I think that the 64ft+128ft stop on the organ at Hammerwood park is worth a mention. The stop label says "selfdestruct". Unfortunately it is only an electronic, but I am sure that the owner would have used a real one if space and funds had permitted.

No. The second member of the trio was the famous Scottish singer, Angus Day.

Mr and Mrs Aeoline and their heavenly daughter Celeste. Mr and Mrs Vox and their sweet daughter Angelica Mr and Mrs Gamba and their bearded Son Herr and Frau Gedackt and their lovely daughter Herr Regal and Jungfrauenregal

The Organ School and several other works can be downloaded free from http://icking-music-archive.org/ByComposer/J.Lemmens.php with some duplication and others at http://imslp.org/wiki/Category:Lemmens%2C_Jacques-Nicolas

I think that the problem arises when an organist plays in only two ways - legato and staccato. If an organ does not speak precisely, and if the action is insensitive, then those may be the only possibilities, in which case most of Bach would sound better with the legato option. the Under the right conditions it is possible to use the "normal touch" which is very slightly detached. That description certainly doesn't cover "clumpy series of notes with the toes pecking away at the pedal board" which is not what the scholars were suggesting.

Many words have a variety of meanings or shades of meaning, and when there are different possibilities it is usually advisable to seek the most favourable interpretation of what the speaker / writer intended. Quoting some of many definitions from the Oxford English Dictionary: 1. A high, esp. an excessively high, opinion of one's own worth or importance which gives rise to a feeling or attitude of superiority over others; inordinate self-esteem. 2. Arrogant, haughty, or overbearing behaviour, demeanour, or treatment of others, esp. as exhibiting an inordinately high opinion of oneself. 3. A consciousness of what befits, is due to, or is worthy of oneself or one's position; self-respect; self-esteem, esp. of a legitimate or healthy kind or degree. 5. The feeling of satisfaction, pleasure, or elation derived from some action, ability, possession, etc., which one believes does one credit. Chiefly in to take (a) pride in. I would hope that organists are free of defintions 1, 2, but surely all should be aware of (3) and should hope for (5). There is a story of an Abbott who was asked for a good book about humility, and who replied that the best one that he knew was the one that he had written. Pride, like humility, is having the appropriate sense of one's worth and abilities, being realistic. False modesty is not a virtue.

Hector wrote: I was in a similar position many years ago, not as an organist, but with other responsibilities, when I went through a very difficult personal situation, and felt that I had lost my faith. For a while I tried to fulfil those responsibilities, and felt that I was hypocritical and just putting on an act. After I had come through it I found that I had been of great help to others, and the faith wasn't in the believing or the feeling, but in the doing. Perhaps a faith which was shaken by personal tragedy and differences with other people really wasn't a faith which was strong enough, and in the realisation that this was so a different and more mature faith may emerge. Spiritual growth is often preceded by a period of spiritual demolition. Your message also hints at depression, and perhaps your playing sounds better to others than it does to you. Technically you are probably a better judge of your playing than anyone else present, but you may not be the best person to judge what you are communicating. Maybe the "inspired improvisations" had less to say to people than your playing at present which doesn't satisfy you, but which may come from a deeper level. Sorry, there's not much organ content in my reply, but you said you would value people's comments, and I have been through a somewhat similar experience and have come out of it having learned from it. I hope to hear, one day, that you too have come through.