Organ Stops: Saving the King of Instruments

[bam]

A shortened version (60 mins of the original 70) of James Dawson's acclaimed documentary will be screened on BBC4 at 9.10pm on Christmas Eve.  Narrated by broadcaster and organist Huw Edwards, it looks at the loss of pipe organs as churches, chapels and other venues close and the efforts of organ builder Martin Renshaw amongst others to save and rehome the best of them.  It will be available on iPlayer after the screening.

https://wingspanproductions.co.uk/what-we-do/read/80/Organ-Stops

[Colin Pykett]

I'm slightly surprised that nobody has yet replied to this post, given the moans and complaints elsewhere on this forum about the BBC not doing enough programming about the organ!

In the hope of kicking things off, I'll remark that the inclusion of digital organs seemed either irrelevant (because the churches receiving old pipe organs from Martin Renshaw had presumably rejected that option), or merely embarrassing (ditto), depending on your point of view.

[sotto]

I found the program disappointing giving disproportionate amounts of time to things of comparatively little interest, such as the guy with his house organ.

[bam]

I found the whole documentary coherent and well put together.  I was disappointed at some of the editing for the broadcast version, notably retaining the "guy with his house organ" (although that may be of great interest to non-specialists) at the expense of showing the youngsters learning the organ at the Seventh Day Adventist Church in London following the installation of the restored instrument, and the organ installed and being heavily used at London Bridge Station.

The Buckinghamshire and Northamptonshire OAs had a Zoom screening of the full version last November followed by a Q&A session with James Dawson and Martin Renshaw.  Martin emphasised that he almost always selects all-mechanical action instruments for saving as they are easier to restore and have a much longer potential life - very relevant after reading the "Interesting repair story" topic.

[Robert Bowles]

10 hours ago, sotto said:

I found the program disappointing giving disproportionate amounts of time to things of comparatively little interest, such as the guy with his house organ.

I am sorry that you found the programme disappointing, but I must point out that it was not aimed at members of the organ fraternity such as you and me, but at the other 99 percent of the population who have no idea about what pipe organs are all about.  The feedback that I have is that the time spent on things which we know all about, and the guy with the house organ was of great interest to them!!  

[Robert Bowles]

3 hours ago, bam said:

I found the whole documentary coherent and well put together.  I was disappointed at some of the editing for the broadcast version, notably retaining the "guy with his house organ" (although that may be of great interest to non-specialists) at the expense of showing the youngsters learning the organ at the Seventh Day Adventist Church in London following the installation of the restored instrument, and the organ installed and being heavily used at London Bridge Station.

The Buckinghamshire and Northamptonshire OAs had a Zoom screening of the full version last November followed by a Q&A session with James Dawson and Martin Renshaw.  Martin emphasised that he almost always selects all-mechanical action instruments for saving as they are easier to restore and have a much longer potential life - very relevant after reading the "Interesting repair story" topic.

I am sorry to hear of your disappointment about  the edited version, but, imperfect as it may have been, it has projected the pipe organ into the public domain in a way that has rarely been achieved - and on Christmas Eve!!  .  The original film was made, privately, over a year ago, and it was too long for the slot that was available on BBC4. Something had to be left out.  The wonderful experience of the Seventh Day Adventists and the youngsters learning the organ there may be the subject of a future programme, methinks.   The Henry Jones at London Bridge was only installed in August 2022, and couldn't be slotted in to a programme that was already too long.    Let's see what happens! 

I must, of course,  declare and interest.....I'm a trustee of  PIPE UP FOR PIPE ORGANS | Heritage charity fighting to save the King of Instruments (pipe-up.org.uk) 

[Martin Cooke]

It's a great project, Robert, and I hope to visit London Bridge one day for a play. BTW... It was good to spot you putting out the programmes on the choir seats at St Paul's at Messiah whenever that was before Christmas. What a wonderful performance that was, and we were lucky enough to have been given tickets through a connection with the CLS, so were in the second row. All sorts of memories rekindled, as you can imagine - my last Messiah in St Paul's was at Christmas 1969. (My first was in 1965 and then I caught the night train from Paddington to Par as probationers went home after the performance, I think. In those days, somewhat incongruously, we sang Lo, he comes with clouds descending half way through for a collection!) I had hoped to come and re-introduce myself - (we last met in September 1965!) - but we had to nip off to catch a train back to Salisbury. 

[Colin Pykett]

It is essential for the organ's survival that it engages the interest of the public at large.  The issue is similar to 'identifying your customer' in business, where it is surprising how many businesses don't have a firm idea of who their customers are.  This is why management consultants are so thick on the ground and continue to give so many seminars on the subject.  As Robert Bowles said above, the customer for the organ in this country obviously includes, but cannot be limited to, the likes of members of this forum.  Unless the wider public can be sufficiently enthused, then the organ - as a product with not enough customers - will die (a fate which plainly will embrace electronic organs as well in the long run despite the complacency of some in that business).  I use 'customer' in the widest sense: not merely to describe the few who buy an organ, but to include the far greater number who need to become interested in it to the same degree that they are currently interested in other musical instruments.

Unfortunately the wider public are not sufficiently enthused at present, and as Martin Renshaw said in the programme, the organ currently attracts mainly a minority middle class demographic.  I would go further and point out the uncomfortable fact that those of the middle class who are attracted to it are mainly of middle age or beyond, so when they die in the not too distant future, so will the organ unless something is done soon.  Even more uncomfortably, the majority of this demographic is male (otherwise we would not need the Society of Women Organists to campaign for a better gender balance), and an even greater proportion is white.  It would therefore be difficult to invent a worse societal mix than that reflected by the current 'customer base' for the organ within the population at large.

It was therefore heartening to see in the programme glimpses of the way things have developed in that Seventh Day Adventist church, as well as the endearing vignettes of the pipe organ installed in that enthusiast's house.  However, far more of the same will have to happen unless the organ of the future will be found only within the walls of a few museums.

 

[S_L]

15 hours ago, Colin Pykett said:

 

Unfortunately the wider public are not sufficiently enthused at present, and as Martin Renshaw said in the programme, the organ currently attracts mainly a minority middle class demographic.  

There are, of course, exceptions but - white, middle class, public school, male, Oxbridge all spring to mind!  I noticed a series of organ recitals, I won't say where, but, of the 25 or so recitals, all, bar one, were by white males!!  

There are so many barriers in place for the black girl from an inner-city comprehensive learning to play almost any musical instrument - let alone the organ! And, apart from whinging about it, very few seem to be doing anything!!! Again, there are exceptions!

I had a student, a white male, from a good comprehensive school who studied music at Oxford and got a First! At the time he was there he was the ONLY student in the music faculty from a comprehensive school. I don't know whether that is a condemnation of comprehensive schools or Oxford. 

It is a sad state of affairs - the music profession is becoming middle-class, public school and largely white. 

[bam]

17 hours ago, Robert Bowles said:

I am sorry to hear of your disappointment about  the edited version, but, imperfect as it may have been, it has projected the pipe organ into the public domain in a way that has rarely been achieved - and on Christmas Eve!!  .  The original film was made, privately, over a year ago, and it was too long for the slot that was available on BBC4. Something had to be left out.  The wonderful experience of the Seventh Day Adventists and the youngsters learning the organ there may be the subject of a future programme, methinks.   The Henry Jones at London Bridge was only installed in August 2022, and couldn't be slotted in to a programme that was already too long.    Let's see what happens! 

Apologies if my comments came over as less than positive!  It was a tremendous achievment to get the BBC to broadcast it and Huw Edward's narration came over very well.  But getting youngsters interested in and playing the organ is key to the future and I hope there will be a follow up with the London church.

I made an attempt to engage with one of the local schools that has a strong music department a couple of years ago to set up an introduction to the instrument but was not successful.  I will try again in the near future when I hope to be a bit more mobile.  Although (as far as I know) Aylesbury remains England's first and only county town with no pipe organs, there are some very good two manual mechanical action instruments in the outlying villages that would be ideal for teaching, but sadly there are few if any students.

[Robert Bowles]

Good to hear of your efforts with the school, BAM.  Best of luck!!

[Robert Bowles]

20 hours ago, Martin Cooke said:

It's a great project, Robert, and I hope to visit London Bridge one day for a play. BTW... It was good to spot you putting out the programmes on the choir seats at St Paul's at Messiah whenever that was before Christmas. What a wonderful performance that was, and we were lucky enough to have been given tickets through a connection with the CLS, so were in the second row. All sorts of memories rekindled, as you can imagine - my last Messiah in St Paul's was at Christmas 1969. (My first was in 1965 and then I caught the night train from Paddington to Par as probationers went home after the performance, I think. In those days, somewhat incongruously, we sang Lo, he comes with clouds descending half way through for a collection!) I had hoped to come and re-introduce myself - (we last met in September 1965!) - but we had to nip off to catch a train back to Salisbury. 

Do keep Henry at London Bridge on your list of things to do in London.  I'm sure he will still be there, as the Main Board of Network Rail have taken an interest, and we are confident that his licence will be renewed.  Behind the scenes a search is in progress for suitable sites on other stations.

Putting out the programmes for the Cathedral Chorus does not feature on the Chairman's Job Description, but it was expedient that I did so.  I realised about 15 minutes before the start that they weren't there, and that the Virger who normally made sure they were had retired during covid.  Locally-stationed Wandsmen only had a handful of copies, so I had to go all the way to the West Door to find a box full, return,  and dish them out with minutes to spare.  Didn't have time to check out the second row for people I know!!