handsoff
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Posts posted by handsoff
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Absolutely astounding. I'm going to hand in my organ keys...
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As a lighter afterthought and in an attempt to lift the mood a little, it's a good job a member of a church music band didn't ask for a new guitar to be blessed...
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All that may well be the case but the Bishop himself chose to strike the organ with what most seem to regard as unnecessary force.
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Utterly disgraceful. It shows contempt for the material, the craftsmen, and the instrument.
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I am very sorry to hear this sad news. His wise and considered words were always welcome and kindly expressed.
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I'm sorry to disappoint S_L but I no longer have a motorbike. My various Triumph mounts served me well for the commute to church for several years but after starting work I became fed up with having to change clothing for the office every day, getting cold and wet in inclement weather and not having more comfortable and acceptable transport for various young ladies at different times.
I still keep a Morris Minor in good condition for dry days and holidays so maintain a link to the days of more basic motoring.
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My interest started when I went to Grammar school which was attached to the town's Guild Chapel with its 2M + P Nicholson. The two first forms were asked to buy a Schott recorder which the school would supply at a discount. During the first music lesson (in part of the older school complete with the teacher's border collie Timmy in his basket and swirls of tobacco smoke from his pipe (the teacher's!) it turned out that I was the only one of 30ish 11 years olds who could read music and also played the piano to, if I recall correctly Grade 3 or 4. Q. "Do you want to have a go on the organ?" A. "Yes Sir, please sir." I'd been a fairly reluctant chorister at the village church for a few years so knew what an organ sounded like and that it had stops that made different sounds but not much more than that.
We went to the chapel at lunchtime and after a brief rundown of the basics; stop pitch, which stop made what sound etc, I played over a couple of hymns sans pedals about which Mr Smerden made positive comments. He asked if I'd like to take it further and learn more. I did and fortunately my piano teacher was also an organist (ARCO qualified as I later found out) so it was simple to switch disciplines and it was arranged that I could have lessons in the Guild Chapel.
I was playing the 1955 version of the organ which, in about 1969, suffered mightily after the chapel tower roof leaked. The whole Great Organ was out of action leaving just the 3 quiet Swell Organ stops and some notes of the pedal Bourdon. This wasn't fixed for years and after I had left the school. How I wish that the current Principal Pipe Organs instrument had been there in my day.
I soon picked up some of the requirements and from the following year became one of the two school organists and began to deputise at the village church instead of singing in the choir. I took on my first church at another village some 5 miles away when 16 which helped persuade my mother than I really really really needed a motorbike...
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Going to the far limits of the fantasy realm I would clone the C - C in St. Ouen, fix the winding and anything else required , give me the keys, empty the cathedral, lock the doors and let me out tomorrow.
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I've just replied Andrew - been in the garden for the past couple of hours!
Best wishes
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I have recently been sorting out some odds and ends associated with music and the services for which I have played the organ and decided to throw out the many service sheets for weddings and funerals I for some reason had kept. Most were entirely predictable and unremarkable but a few stood out and it is these I shall mention here. I have until recently covered this type of service in three churches but 2 out of 3 oddities come from services at the church with the best of the organs, a 2M + P 9 stop very bright and pleasant Nicholson.
The most enjoyable was a wedding of an older couple who were quite knowledgeable about music and involved me in their discussions. They were keen to have a good selection of music before the service and promised me that their guests would be requested to remain quiet as I played and treat it as a concert. The music, the titles of which were printed on the order of service was :-
Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring
Salut d'Amour
Short P & F in G Minor (JSB (probably..)) which they had heard me play in the church and liked
Pachelbel Canon
Hymnus by Vangelis, a sort of simple hymn tune, very easy, a bit predictable but easy on the ear, as the bride entered.
All carefully timed so that the last piece ended about 15 seconds after the bride's arrival which she promised faithfully would be spot on time. It was.
During signing the register - Jesu Joy again
Postlude - Wedding March.
The hymns were Love Divine and Lead Us Heavenly Father
I was given double my usual fee and very kindly given credit in the
programmeorder of service.The next one of note was a funeral in the same church which turned out to be rather less musical. The only music required was "The Old Rugged Cross" played twice as the coffin entered, as the hymn and then again until the church emptied. Nothing else.
My most eventful in a non-musical sense was in one of the other churches where a couple were married with the costumes having a Peaky Blinders theme. The rector was concerned that she might have to abandon the service as there were fears that the whole bunch of them would be in the village pub until kick-off. In the event it wasn't that bad. Quite... The groom and best man were mostly sober and dressed as Peaky Blinders but did agree to remove their flat caps for the service. Some of the audience were a little the worse for wear but remained reasonably well behaved if a bit noisy and some even removed their headgear.
The music before was organist's choice, the hymns some odd words to the tune of Morning has Broken and I Vow to Thee My Country on the basis that they would at least know the tunes. For the register signing it was "Red Right Hand" aka the Peaky Blinders theme in a reduction for piano, and afterwards some noisy rubbish on CD.
The bride and groom made the short journey from church to pub in a horse and carriage for the reception. I was later told that true to form there was much drinking culminating in punch-ups to which the police were called. Twice.
Anyone else with some good stuff?
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Thank you posting that video from Liverpool. It's a wonderful performance of a piece that's not recognised as it should be. The sound of the Willis reeds at the end.... wow!
I played it through the fairly decent system in my study causing a complaint from downstairs where my wife was trying to practise relaxation yoga...ooops!
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I do hope that the BBC will offer a Red Button facility to avoid any commentary or that another broadcaster will do something similar. Pretty decent set of music...
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I have seen in a TV listing that a piano for use by anyone has been placed in a London terminus railway station and which is "secretly" monitored by well-known professional players with the aim of giving the best players an opportunity for on-screen publicity.
What a great shame it is that this wasn't done with the organ in London Bridge station with the accompanying chance to further general appreciation of the instrument and give the TV watching public who would rarely hear an organ some idea of the skills involved in playing one.
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Ah yes. I should have thought of that. I've taken a crop from the centre of the original RAW image and had a fiddle around in Photoshop and linked it.
It gives the name of the ladies who donated it to the church but not of the organ's origin. The dates don't give much of a clue unfortunately.
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I was near Tibberton, not from Worcester, yesterday and visited the beautiful church of St Peter ad Vincula to see if there was an organ in the building.
There is and a quite unusual one in my view. It's a single manual of short compass, no pedals and with stops at 8', 4' and 2'. There was no-one around so I couldn't play it but shall contact the church and return. The pipes are protected behind wire mesh in the wooden case and this I imagine is an addition made later, perhaps when the organ was taken to the church as it's the sort of instrument that might have been in a house at one time.
I took some photographs and links to some of them are below. I didn't have a sufficiently wide angle lens with me to take a full length view in the restricted space and a shadow from the lens was thrown by the on-camera flash.
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Yes, thank you Stephen; an interesting insight in the subject which confirms my initial thought. It strikes me that there may be scope for more cathedrals to operate the St Paul's model with a DoM who is not an organist. This would give new entrants to the profession with more interest in playing than directing opportunities to follow the course that they prefer. I can see no reason why a good organist wishing to play for the English tradition must of necessity be a good choir trainer and director.
A similar sort of career progression was followed in my own subject. The company for whom I worked automatically promoted a newly qualified actuary to a management position with responsibility for staff and related matters. In practice the two disciplines rarely coincided and caused many problems for everyone.
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6 hours ago, Martin Cooke said:
And, actually, this is what I meant. DoM leaves the chancel floor after the anthem or before the sermon, in order to play final hymn and voluntary. I don't know how much playing the DoM ever gets in some places. It must be quite a 'thing' to get promotion to a new post and end up largely conducting the choir. I wonder if some regret it.
I have often wondered this. I love the English tradition of choral music with and without organ accompaniment but would have no interest in training nor conducting a choir. With my inherent lack of talent the situation never arose but when very young I had the ambition to be a cathedral organist meaning just that. I would have wanted to be on the console at all times rather than in front of the choir waving my hands around, not at all to decry the traditional DoM doing this every day and for whose expertise I am grateful. It does sometimes seem a shame to me that one spends years learning, practising and gaining diplomas when much of the career is spent as a choral director rather than an organist.
I recall an interview with Thomas Trotter who expressed similar sentiments saying that the only choir he had conducted was that at KCC and that was fine by him.
Perhaps one of the forum members in this position might give us all an insight...
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Although not a cathedral but a choir with equally high standards a lot of the time, Andrew Fletcher sometimes would play the final hymn at St Mary's Warwick particularly after the installation of the then new Nicholson organ
This usually meant fireworks with a huge final verse re-harmonisation (I know that these have now fallen out of favour but I love them) going straight into a stunning improvisation on that hymn tune. On these occasions the choir would hang around by the vestry door to listen after processing west down the nave aisle and back up the north side.
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Thank you for posting these links. I'll sit down later and have a good browse.
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Thank you Tony, It looks to be a really fascinating instrument and I'm sure it will be appear in an online video soon.
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I have been sent this link to a newspaper article. Although short on detail and full of irritating advertisements the article might be of interest.
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I know that coincidences happen but...
I had just started watching and thoroughly enjoying this video when my 'phone rang. Not only is my ringtone this very piece but the caller was our organ tuner ringing to make an appointment.
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I've recently had to decline to play one of the organs in our benefice which I have played on and off since being a teenager when I was in charge of it for several years. The issue as age gallops on is that the organ bench is fixed to the unused choir stalls, is too high, too close to the manuals and without sufficient space for comfortable access and egress. It's a huge shame for me as it's a very decent Hewins/Nicholsons 2M + P with 9 stops capable of some lovely sounds. The only option would be to remove the central portion of the stalls and buy a proper adjustable bench. That will never happen.
The bench on one of the other 2 organs I play regularly was too low but 8 words-only copies of Mission Praise do the job nicely. I knew that there was a use for them in a church which has always used The New English Hymnal and no, I have no idea why Mission Praise is there.
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11 hours ago, Nic DAVIDSON PORTER said:
Touching briefly on funeral marches, does Purcell's EVER get an airing? It damn well ought to!
It will this Sunday; the first service at my church since the death of Her Late Majesty. (It's quite a lot easier to play than most of the others which are well outside my capabilities these days.)
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I did enjoy those - thank you. I have an organist's surplice but the chap in the first clip surely needs the equivalent jacket for his suit - what a stretch to the music desk. I did like his last verse harmonisation but have always loved a good meaty final verse alternative. It sems to have lost favour in this country. The turntable and lowering the console into a pit made me roar - a bit too much like a crematorium for some maybe...