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Help Needed


sjf1967

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Guest paul@trinitymusic.karoo.co.uk
I wonder if Stephen obtained the help sought? I note that Simon Preston managed without a page turner at his recent RAH recital.

 

http://www.stephenfarr.co.uk/

 

I do like Stephen's website. Although the caption claims that all three of the photos were taken at Guildford, the pic on the left looks vey much like the console of St Pauls.

 

 

Don't want to sound catty, but my theory is that some of the players who manage without page turners play (shall we say) a 'select' and 'closely defined' repertoire resulting in the fact that their one miniature paste-up or carefully memorised programme will serve a goodly number of venues.

 

I agree that the console looks like St.Paul's (in all but one of the photos given). Equally puzzling is the question why David Briggs should be placed centre stage and SF relegated to background. And yes, I did notice that SF has recently recorded a large chunk of DB.

 

I think SF needs more photos - nice site, I agree.

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Don't want to sound catty, but my theory is that some of the players who manage without page turners play (shall we say) a 'select' and 'closely defined' repertoire resulting in the fact that their one miniature paste-up or carefully memorised programme will serve a goodly number of venues.

 

I agree that the console looks like St.Paul's (in all but one of the photos given).  Equally puzzling is the question why David Briggs should be placed centre stage and SF relegated to background. And yes, I did notice that SF has recently recorded a large chunk of DB.

 

I think SF needs more photos - nice site, I agree.

Glad you all like it - some revisions are on the way imminently and I note the desire for more photos. One of the photos is indeed from St Paul's - London premiere of the Symphony DB wrote for me in 2004.

And yes thanks, I did get the help I needed on Saturday - many thanks to Robert Bowles of this site who did a super job. The St John's organ is really worth going to hear. By the way - there's no way I could have cut the scores out and pasted them on cardboard....

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Glad you all like it - some revisions are on the way imminently and I note the desire for more photos. One of the photos is indeed from St Paul's - London premiere of the Symphony DB wrote for me in 2004.

And yes thanks, I did get the help I needed on Saturday - many thanks to Robert Bowles of this site who did a super job. The St John's organ is really worth going to hear. By the way - there's no way I could have cut the scores out and pasted them on cardboard....

 

I agree, nice site ... Tip for you, though : take your e-mail address off there. Put in a contact form instead. You'll be receiving offers of organ extensions before you know it, otherwise.

 

e.g. http://www.adriantaylor.co.uk/pages/contact.php or http://www.laudachoir.org/page2/page2.php

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And yes thanks, I did get the help I needed on Saturday - many thanks to Robert Bowles of this site who did a super job. ..... By the way - there's no way I could have cut the scores out and pasted them on cardboard....

 

Yes, I confess - 'twas I! And thank you, Stephen, for your kind words. It was very brave of you to accept my offer, having no idea who I was, and there being no recognised professional qualification for page-turners which I could put in my CV!

 

That begs the question - how are page turners trained nowadays? I learned when I was a chorister at St Paul's, and John Dykes Bower/Harry Gabb operated a system whereby two boys, one senior and one junior, would go up into the organ loft after the service. The choir would have been played out to an extemporisation, and the boys in question were allowed to move very quickly to be in position by the end of the first page of the voluntary itself (the console was in the north organ case in those days, so there was quite a way to go). The senior boy would turn the pages and the junior would observe how it was done.

 

Being able to sight-read seemed to be the key to it all. Then one had to be tall enough to reach across to the music desk of the 5 manual instrument without getting in the way.

 

Some alumni of this sytem - e.g. Christopher Herrick http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/artist_p...sp?name=herrick

went on to rather greater things in the organ world than I did - but the arrangement was the first rung on the ladder. I learned all about infinite speed and gradation swell mechanisms (after asking why there were two fuel gauges like the ones in my parents' Morris Eight) and about acoustics (after asking why they released the last chord as a descending arpeggio - answer, because the bass notes die away faster than the trebles, and that way the chord seems to die away as one.)

 

Has the photocopier killed off this form of early training??

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Guest paul@trinitymusic.karoo.co.uk

I learned about acoustics (after asking why they released the last chord as a descending arpeggio - answer, because the bass notes die away faster than the trebles, and that way the chord seems to die away as one.)

 

 

 

 

Surely this is wrong? Bass notes die away last (anyway), don't they?? I would have thought that of all places, this would be extremely obviously the case in St.Paul's!

P.

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London premiere of the Symphony DB wrote for me in 2004.

 

The one you played here in Chester? Missa pro defunctis? I liked it so much I ordered your CD from Blackburn with it on!

 

 

after asking why they released the last chord as a descending arpeggio - answer, because the bass notes die away faster than the trebles, and that way the chord seems to die away as one.

 

Am I the only to find that method tacky?

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Re the DB piece, its good to hear of new music being played. Indeed, when I attended Stephen's recital at the Temple he played part of the Moore Sonata which impressed as a work of quality. Wonder if anyone will record that soon?

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Re the DB piece, its good to hear of new music being played. Indeed, when I attended Stephen's recital at the Temple he played part of the Moore Sonata which impressed as a work of quality. Wonder if anyone will record that soon?

parsfan - I have a feeling that Jeremy Filsell may have done it for Guild, if it's still available. Richard - yes, that's the one. Pleased you liked it.
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Yes, I confess - 'twas I!  And thank you, Stephen, for your kind words.  It was very brave of you to accept my offer, having no idea who I was, and there being no recognised professional qualification for page-turners which I could put in my CV!

 

That begs the question - how are page turners trained nowadays?  I learned when I was a chorister at St Paul's, and John Dykes Bower/Harry Gabb operated a system whereby two boys, one senior and one junior, would go up into the organ loft after the service.  The choir would have been played out to an extemporisation, and the boys in question were allowed to move very quickly to be in position by the end of the first page of the voluntary itself (the console was in the north organ case in those days, so there was quite a way to go).  The senior boy would turn the pages and the junior would observe how it was done. 

 

Being able to sight-read seemed to be the key to it all. Then one had to be tall enough to reach across to the music desk of the 5 manual instrument without getting in the way!

This reminds me of the time when I was a member of that sub-species, the teenager, and had popped into Westminster Abbey on a Sunday evening for the organ recital. I found myself chatting to a somewhat distracted young man hopping from one foot to the other, and told him I was a budding young organist. His interest in me immediately increased 100% and shortly afterwards I found myself up in the Abbey organ loft turning the pages for what turned out to be the Abbey's organ scholar (I have no idea now as to who it was), his page turner having failed to materalise.

 

It made me realise how important a page turner can be - get it right and no one but the organist will even be aware you exist. However, get it wrong and the merde will well and truly come down on your head!

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