Never seen that before...

[Martin Cooke]

Just watching Simon Johnson's Sunday afternoon recital from St Paul's - the first he's played in the current series commemorating 150 years of the 1872 organ. He's just opened with his arrangement of Holst's Uranus and has used his nose several times to play a note whilst his hands have been full! Thoroughly recommend this series of recitals involving all three organists.

[John Furse]

I do not claim any sort of equivalence with Simon Johnson, but was forced to use my nose once in a recital. This would have been in the 80s. 

The organ was not over-endowed with generals, the registrant had failed to materialise and there was one place where this was the only way to hold down a note, whilst simultaneously changing stops with one of my hands.

I cannot remember which piece it was, but had not practised this manoeuvre and felt right daft ! It probably did not look all that good, either.

[Vox Humana]

There's a reasonably reliable reference to Bach using a stick in his mouth, isn't there? Forkel's biography, or some equivalent source, if memory serves.

[Damian Beasley-Suffolk]

Peter Hurford mentioned this is his book "Making Music on the Organ". It took me some time to find the relevant passage (bottom of page 71), as the book is an enjoyable read. It's probably well known to many, but here it is:

" Praetorius wrote in 1619 that 'There are many matters of this kind where the impression can be given that there is only one right way of doing something. So, for instance, some keyboard players are held in contempt for not using some particular fingering or other. This is ridiculous, in my opinion. If a player can fly up or down the keyboard, using the tips, mid-joints, or the backs of his fingers - yes, using his very nose if that helps - and either keeps or breaks every rule in existence, so what? If he plays well, and plays musically, it matters little by what means he does so.' " (De organographia, Wolfenbuettel, 1619). 

[S_L]

I've seen it done with a pencil - stuck in the back of the key!

............. and isn't there a piece by Tim Souster that involves a small block of wood high up on one of the manuals? And then, of course, there is Ligeti - but that's smething different!

[Martin Cooke]

20 minutes ago, S_L said:

I've seen it done with a pencil - stuck in the back of the key!

............. and isn't there a piece by Tim Souster that involves a small block of wood high up on one of the manuals? And then, of course, there is Ligeti - but that's smething different!

Don't know the Souster, S_L, must investigate... there is the Dubois 'three kings' piece and also a short piece by Noel Rawsthorne that requires this pencil jamming technique. 

By the way, the whole recital is well worth watching. Uranus is totally captivating and it closes with the Duruflé Prélude et Fugue sur le nom d'Alain. One of the great things about all these recitals is that one is brought up close and personal to the player and the console and can see what's going on. The other two recitalists have, as far as I could tell, used only the chancel divisions, but Simon Johnson used dome resources yesterday, opening on the Trompette Militaire. You can't see the dome chorus stop knobs from the camera/phone angle, but one can notice the pedal stops pop in and out (even if you can't read them) as they are right on the LH side of the picture. There was also some delicious Herbert Brewer and some Ravel yesterday.

[S_L]

2 hours ago, Martin Cooke said:

... there is the Dubois 'three kings' piece

I'd forgotten about the Dubois 'Marche des Rois Mages'. Henry Fairs played it after High Mass in St. Chad's Cathedral on the Feast of the Epiphany one year. You could almost see the camels!!!!

Organ Music - Andrea Berti plays Dubois: Marche des Rois Mages.wmv - YouTube

I liked the comment that went with this, not very good, performance:

When this piece was first performed at Madeleine Church in Paris by Dubois, the organ builder of the organ of that church, Aristide Cavaillé-Coll, was present. When he heard the "star of bethlehem", he did not realize that it was part of the music, then went into the organ case during concert to remove what he thought to be an awkward trouble. After the concert, a mountain of curse fell onto the poor Cavaillé-Coll. Source: CD "La Madeleine et ses Organistes", by Francois-Henri Houbart.

[Tony Price]

One of George Thalben-Ball’s 113 Variations on Hymn Tunes requires a high note held throughout. I don’t have the music to hand, but I seem to recall it is Irby? There were specific instructions on the relevant page. I have always used a piece of paper folded the necessary number of times to achieve the objective.

Tony

[john carter]

This thread reminded me of the heroic performance by an injured Andrew Dewar with one hand and a stick:

 

[Damian Beasley-Suffolk]

I feel for him. It must require a particularly good aim to manage that with a stick and limited mobility, and your whole body aches from being lop-sided, if only temporarily. Last year I broke my right thumb which, being right handed, was more disruptive of life in general than I could have imagined. Although the daily urge to play was thwarted, I'd recently bought Anne Marsden Thomas' book on pedal technique, so could at least profit from that, even though it's surprisingly tiring on the ankles!

[Andrew Butler]

I believe Norman Cocker was known to use his nose

[Davidb]

The 'Bach and his stick' story certainly appears in one of the major biographies but like VH I can't remember which one. The use of the organ with other instruments isn't unheard of either... I know that Brühns would often play his own bass line on the pedals whilst playing a violin. Also, which of us hasn't used an errant elbow to get rid of swell to pedal?!

[Peter Allison]

On 07/02/2021 at 16:56, Martin Cooke said:

Just watching Simon Johnson's Sunday afternoon recital from St Paul's - the first he's played in the current series commemorating 150 years of the 1872 organ. He's just opened with his arrangement of Holst's Uranus and has used his nose several times to play a note whilst his hands have been full! Thoroughly recommend this series of recitals involving all three organists.

Watching? As on You Tube... is there a link if it was

[Dee Surtees]

2 minutes ago, Peter Allison said:

Watching? As on You Tube... is there a link if it was

Here is the link: 

I haven’t got round to watching it yet, but I’ve enjoyed the other recitals in the series, all of which are still available on the St Paul’s YouTube channel. 

[OwenTurner]

I think there's something going on with a pencil in this - jump to 45 mins in for about 5 mins. Player is Claire Innes Hopkins, on Hradetzky 1973 IV / 40.

 

[Martin Cooke]

40 minutes ago, OwenTurner said:

I think there's something going on with a pencil in this - jump to 45 mins in for about 5 mins. Player is Claire Innes Hopkins, on Hradetzky 1973 IV / 40.

 

Yes, that's right, Owen - this is the Dubois piece, cited above - Marche des Rois Mages - the held note supposedly representing the star. I think the composer actually specifies 'une gomme' to be used to fix the note!

[sbarber49]

Actually he suggests a third hand (presumably a 2nd person!). Or a small weight. He suggests it can be sustained or intermittent, and that the tremulant can be used from time to time (if my French isn't misleading me).

 

[Contrabombarde]

Possibly the record for the most number of people required to play a piece of organ music is held by Daniel Roth at Saint-Sulpice. In at least one video he has, in addition to himself, two registrants, a page turner and of course the camera operator!

I hope the nose technique isn't widespread as I tend not to wipe down keyboards before I start playing on an unfamiliar instrument (not that I've actually played anything other than my home practice organ since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic) but if Uranus becomes popular in the repertory I might need to reconsider.

[John Robinson]

Pencils, weights, rubbers?

I believe that Keith Emerson often made use of a knife!  🤨

[Tony Newnham]

10 hours ago, John Robinson said:

Pencils, weights, rubbers?

I believe that Keith Emerson often made use of a knife!  🤨

He did indeed.  There's a synthesiser etc. museum in the States that has one of his organs (an Hammond L100) complete with daggers!  I use a pencil if I need to set up a drone.

Every Blessing

Tony

[Rowland Wateridge]

I would guess that a weight would be the least harmful thing to use for this task.  There was a post here some time back strictly enjoining against use of a pencil - the risk of graphite particles contaminating key contacts.  I suppose a rubber in good condition might be safe.  My local cathedral has a strict instruction to visiting organists not to use a rubber on scores on the music desk, again, particles potentially getting down into the key spaces.  I think Contrabombarde makes a valid point about using the organist's nose!  As for knives! - with electric actions?

Not wishing to be a killjoy, and a controversial question, possibly, but are organists sufficiently respectful of their instruments, especially the console?  Someone once made the point that a fine console should be treated with the same respect as a Steinway grand, and that you wouldn't insert drawing pins into the music desk of the latter!  I possess a very old LP with a cover picture showing the cathedral's music list actually secured with drawing pins to the music desk of one of our most celebrated cathedral organs!  There's also the famous story of a student attaching a mirror to the Ahrend organ (designed by Peter Williams and Gustav Leonhardt) in the Reid Concert Hall at Edinburgh University using nails! - predictably resulting in the apoplexy of John Kitchen!

[OwenTurner]

21 hours ago, Contrabombarde said:

Possibly the record for the most number of people required to play a piece of organ music is held by Daniel Roth at Saint-Sulpice.

I'm sure the situation was not unique when I was once one of a group of three volunteers and an organ builder sitting inside a big instrument overdue a rebuild in one of its final fundraising concerts, under instructions to watch things that might stop working. So that was four of us regardless of the console crew.

[OwenTurner]

On 10/02/2021 at 22:45, John Robinson said:

Pencils, weights, rubbers?

I believe that Keith Emerson often made use of a knife!  🤨

I used to know a chap who made a wage of hiring out Hammond organs for gigs. He complained that he had to replace a lot of keys due to excitable tribute acts based on that precedent. I am sure replacing a broken key isn't an easy job, but gets easier with repetition!

[pwhodges]

I recall an occasion when an unfinished organ was required to be used for a Christmas service.  We had an organist playing manuals and pedals, another being the pedal couplers as they weren't in place, and as there was neither stop action nor swell linkage, someone with the running order manipulating the slides on each soundboard - the organist just had to trust that a suitable setup was available on each manual at any given time... 

Oh, and someone had to pull a piece of string to play bottom D on the unconnected pedal reed!  D is a very useful pedal note at Christmas, if you've only got one...

Five people other than the organist, I think it was.  It worked out.  My place was unjamming trackers that were getting stuck (until I saw the reason and fixed it).

Paul