Are we dying on our feet?

[Adnosad]

Interesting thread provoking some good positive comments.   I would certainly claim to be a bit of a " sleeping member" with regards to any input, but as with my regards to life generally I am not alone in preferring to be " off stage / in the shadow " and leave those who are more  more qualified, and ebullient even in making their contributions.

I am glad to read from one member that there is a greater sense of " democracy " operating within the forum than was the case in former days.

I  was called out as being  a troll very early on for daring to mention the " D " word , and  " CC  "    ( not Cavaille- Coll !! )   fortunately those days and members are now just history I hope.

[Adh]

Hi everyone, thanks to Martin, I have joined, after many a year of lurking with edification and gratitude. Unusually, I'm not an organist, but love the music and love to hear a fine instrument played well. Just being able to listen and to know there are people who dedicate their time and talents to the organ has sustained me in some very lean times.

I'm in my early 50s, live in Toronto, Canada, and also lived in London for 10 years. I went to as many recitals and concerts as I could. In youthful enthusiasm after the Albert Hall rebuild, I went in person to thank John Mander at the Bethnal Green workshops during my lunchbreak. He was gracious. Some of my best organ memories in London are of Sunday afternoon recitals in Westminster Cathedral with Martin Baker - 20 years ago now.

Organ music has immensely enriched my life and I'm deeply grateful to everyone here, and beyond, for all that you do to sustain it and reach new audiences. Along with the Anglican choral tradition, it was organ music that drew me into the church. As it happens, our local parish has a fine three manual tracker organ (Karl Wilhelm, 1982) and it is highly valued by the congregation. Many of our organs here are from the Quebec firm Casavant Frères and while I'm no expert, if you have any questions, I'll do what I can do help.

[John Robinson]

Like Adh, I am not an organist (my fingers and feet have a life of their own and prefer to do their own thing), but have had a lifelong interest in the organ (the real thing; not toasters).
I enjoy planning specifications and producing accurate diagrams of 'dream organs' which, admittedly, are never likely to be built, though could theoretically be (with unlimited funds!).
Consequently, I find such discussions on here not only very interesting, but also helpful.

[David.Dewar]

On 28/09/2023 at 17:33, Barry Oakley said:

But I certainly believe the decline in proper music education in state schools has a lot to answer for.

 

 

 

 

Sorry to be somewhat late in looking at this thread.

I have no experience with state schools, though friends in that arena make the decline evident.

Even many university music departments now have little in the way of what has been called 'art' music. It's obviously right that cosmopolitan cohorts of students are exposed to a large number of expressions of music from all parts of the world. The serious mainstream, though, gets rather crowded out, even the basic requirements of musical literacy are lesser compared with subjectivisation.

Naturally, peripatetic instrumental teachers can to some extent fill in the needs of proper understanding of composers' requirements in order to realise a composition, but that may well be somewhat 'piecemeal' and is likely to enlighten individuals rather than cohorts.  Those lucky enough to have gained sufficient fluency whilst still at school will tend to excel over those who have not had the privilege of gaining the musical 'tools' needed for carrying on in music. The emphasis seems mostly to focus upon free-expression and improvisation to the detriment of how it all works.

[Even then, as we all, I surmise, know, improvisation if it is to mean anything to a listener requires some musical discipline.]