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Justadad

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Posts posted by Justadad

    Relocating Scores

    in General discussion

    Posted

    I apologise for not replying sooner. Justason is to be Assistant Organist at Grace Cathedral, San Francisco.

     

    Best wishes

     

    J

     

     

    Perhaps I've missed something. Where is Justason moving to, having, presumably, just finished ar Oxford?

     

    Malcolm

    Relocating Scores

    in General discussion

    Posted

    Hi Fiffaro

     

    That's a significant point. I've come to understand that markings make scores very personal and there's a world of difference between a well-worked, personally owned score and a clean download from the internet.

     

    Unfortunately in this instance we calculate that some 5,000 pages would need scanning, and we don't have the time.

     

    And whilst the RSCM boxes are a great idea, at three inches wide per box we'd need maybe two dozen boxes and then the question would be about how best to ship those boxes.

     

    Taking enough music for the first couple of months doesn't quite work because we don't know what the music list is.

     

    On the plus side, shipping costs are not our concern so it's really a matter of the best way of getting all the scores on the plane.

     

    Best wishes

     

    J

     

    If you're like me, and spend considerable time working out fingering and writing it in, a scan of complex pieces, saved to hard drive and a backup, provides a degree of comfort in case the music goes missing in transit.

    Relocating Scores

    in General discussion

    Posted

    I wonder if I might pick the brains of those organists who have experience of relocating from one place to another by air?

     

    Specifically, what advice can you give on how to transport ones music, not in terms of giving a few recitals but, rather, in terms of taking all your music to an appointment on another continent?

     

    Thanks in advance.

     

    J

    Podcasts

    in General discussion

    Posted

    We went to New College for Evensong on Sunday.

     

    Lawrence is coming to the end of his stint as organ scholar there. It's amazing how quickly the time passes, as every parent will know.

     

    The canticles, by Finzi and Holst, were both new to me. Lawrence played Gowers' Viri Galilaei, which I've always enjoyed.

     

    Anyway, I thought it was a good service all in all, and an opportunity to remind everyone of the New College webcasts.

     

    http://www.newcollegechoir.com/webcasts.html

     

    Best wishes

     

    J

    Recital on a theme of "The Kings James Bible Passages"

    in The Organ

    Posted

    Instead of thinking only of Bible passages, why not think of music that was around at the time of the Hampton Court Conference (1604) which began the creation of the King James Bible, until its publication (1611).

     

    Maybe something by Tallis? Hadn't he been a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal, of which there was and is one at Hampton Court Palace? It's not inconceivable that his music might have been played there in 1604.

     

    And King James appointed Orlando Gibbons organist to the Chapel Royal (where he had also been a Gentleman) so even though it was a few years later the connection may not be too tenuous.

     

    Best wishes

     

    J

    Performing rights, child protection etc

    in General discussion

    Posted

    Ummm ... I'm not a lawyer but ...

     

    I don't think being furious, however justifiably, is going to do any good. It will just increase your stress levels and diminish you.

     

    I don't know what your wife wrote, or to whom she wrote it, but someone needs to point out to whoever is publishing the DVD/video that they have no copyright in the performance at this moment, and if they want to publish they had better speak with those who do hold that copyright.

     

    Playing on Sunday is a separate matter, I'd have thought.

     

    J

    Carol Services (and Kings)

    in The Organ

    Posted

    If you click on any particular service you get a menu from which you can see what's included and select any item (if you don't want to listen to the whole service).

     

    I think they take each service off the music list once it's over, so at the end of therm there's nothing left.

     

    Best wishes

     

    J

    Any suggestions for a recording venue ?

    in General discussion

    Posted

    When deciding on a venue, please remember to consider the proximity of Heathrow flight paths.

     

    I was told that Kingston Parish Church invested in its Frobenius with a view to becoming a recording venue, forgetting that the 747 supply made recording there virtually impossible.

     

    Whether that's true or not I cannot say, but the principle remains.

     

    J

    Radio 4 Morning Service

    in General discussion

    Posted

    Hi Tony

     

    No, you should not assume that at all.

     

    I'm implying that change is not always necessarily good, and that the sort of change that turns a church into a social club is not change of which I am in favour, personally. Social clubs do a good job of being social clubs. Churches ought to be something different, surely.

     

    If all Anglican, or Christian churches only held 'family friendly' services with children running around yelling, grade two recorder players and fancy dress sermons, I'd probably stop going. That they don't is a blessing but, far from hankering back to good old days, the King James/BCP services I enjoy today are something I have grown into over the last 12 years.

     

    Maybe it's a good thing that the church offers a diverse range of different styles of worship to accommodate the variety of its worshippers (though I do note a tendency in many places to hold the BCP services only at the crack of dawn). So long as I have somewhere to worship in peace well, I'm all right. The bigger issue of whether the church is right to dilute its substance to almost homeopathic insignificance in the interests of greater cultural relevance (and more bums on pews) is probably beyond the scope of my meagre intelligence.

     

    Best wishes

     

    J

     

     

     

    Hi

     

    I assume by your comments you imply that worship should never change in style & content?

     

    SNIP

     

    Every Blessing

     

    Tony

    Radio 4 Morning Service

    in General discussion

    Posted

    Hello Tony

     

    Is cultural relevance something religion should aspire to, necessarily? I want my church to move me closer to God. I don't want it to move God closer to me.

     

    To draw an analogy, what purpose would be served in recrafting Santa Claus in baggy jeans and bling, delivering presents to children from a pimped-up Cadillac?

     

    I was invited to a Buddhist meeting by a friend a while back. This particular (large, international) group's mission is to make Buddhism accessible and practical in the modern world. For them, vegetarianism is impractical and the doctrine of karma is too 'difficult' so they avoid both, along with everything else they find to be too awkward. It seemed to me they were left as a group of nice people being nice with each other; and there's nothing wrong with that except that whilst being a bit more culturally relevant, it didn't seem to be Buddhism any more.

     

    Tea isn't everyone's cup of tea, but does that mean one should do without the teabag?

     

    Best wishes

     

    J

     

     

    Hi

     

    We do need to be careful to separate "doing the best we can for God" from personal likes and dislikes in terms of style of music and worship. God doesn't only like traditional hymns and chant! The church as a whole needs to provide space for people to worship in ways that are culturally relevant. For some that may mean BCP, Anglican chant, etc. for others the Latin Mass, whilst for others, the various manifestations of "Contemporary" worship - and even rap (and yes, it has been done!)

     

    All can be done well (but all too often aren't - but that's a different issue).

     

    Every Blessing

     

    Tony

    Playing From Memory

    in General discussion

    Posted

    Oh what fun.

     

    I'm reminded of a game where drunken men stand in a car park and see who can project their credentials farthest up the wall.

     

    I can't play the organ and know precious little about it. I took Justamum and Justason on a mystery tour last summer which reached its objective at Canterbury Cathedral where Nathan Laube was recitaling.

     

    We all enjoyed it greatly, but then none of us can even spell Reubke from memory, let alone play him.

     

    The playing from memory was impressive - we all remarked on it.

     

    I had goose-flesh on a couple of occasions, and that surprised me.

     

    But what I found most impressive of all was the way the (I guess) 12 year old girl in the pew in front of me was bopping along to the Die Fledermaus Overture.

     

    And as far as I could tell, Nathan seemed like a really nice guy.

     

    Just my tuppence-worth.

     

    J

    A Vision of Aeroplanes

    in The Organ

    Posted

    I passed on the suggestion of Les yeux, Vox, and it went down like a Lancaster with one wing largely, apparently, on account of it being 'difficult'. He has, it seems, been asked to play the Spitfire P&F mentioned above.

     

    Best wishes

     

    J

     

    Les yeux dans les roues (The Eyes in the Wheels) refers to the same vision.

     

    "16 The appearance of the wheels and their work was like unto the colour of a beryl: and they four had one likeness: and their appearance and their work was as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel.

     

    "17 When they went, they went upon their four sides: and they turned not when they went.

     

    "18 As for their rings, they were so high that they were dreadful; and their rings were full of eyes round about them four."

     

    I think it'sa tremendous piece, but it's a real sod and I take my hat off to anyone who can get their head around it. It's nothing more than a succession of random Schoenbergian twelve-note rows in left hand, right hand and pedals.

    A Vision of Aeroplanes

    in The Organ

    Posted

    Thanks Vox, I'll pass that on. But why Les yeux dans tes roues?

     

    Best wishes

     

    J

     

     

    I'm not at all sure that this piece is done very often. It's never come my way. I've got a recoding of it on LP and always wondered why it's not heard more.

     

    If Justason is down to play it at a service, then he ought to couple it with Messiaen's Les yeux dans les roues for the fignal voluntary (says he who once spent four hours a day for a month learning the first page, only to find he'd forgotten it completely within a week of starting on the second page).

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