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Messages - revtonynewnham

#961
New Pipe Organs / Re: A story that should "inspire"
September 07, 2010, 10:53:18 PM
Hi

The Laycock & Bannister from Heaton Baptist Church was sold for reinstallation in a large Anglican church - at which point, so I'm told, the organ builder went bust and the organ ended being dispersed for parts - a real shame.

As to congregational accompaniment, you don't actually NEED a large organ - but it does need to be free standing and well voiced.  A few years ago I played for a Christmas Eve communion service at an Anglican church close to where I was living at the time.  The church was one of 3 in a combined benefice, and the church was packed - at least 500.  The organ - a 4 stop chamber organ (NPOR N13313) and had no problem keeping tempos, etc. - I didn't even need full organall the time!  Agreed, something a little larger would give more variety - but a good extension organ should be adequate, asshould a well voiced straight organ with a good Diapason chorus.

Electronics will lats around 15-20 years unless you're lucky - and Hauptwerk potentially less given the rate of onsolescence in the computer world!  Large organs are often more a reflection of the organist's ego that the real needs of the situation.  (Not that I would argue if we had a slightly larger pipe organ - but then we would lose seating.

Every Blessing

Tony
#962
New Pipe Organs / Re: New organ for Taize
September 07, 2010, 10:37:47 PM
Hi

I agree re. the divided manuals issue - even on a 2 manual it can add extra flexibility - with a it of thought and juggling pitches you can have a virtul 4 manual!

The stop arrangement where astop can be drawn on either of 2 manuals is rare - but not unknown on small tracker instruments.  It can only be implemented where all the stops concerned are on a common soundboard, and again is a means of adding flexibility to a small organ.  It's a viable option - at the other extreme is http://www.npor.org.uk/cgi-bin/Rsearch.cgi?Fn=Rsearch&rec_index=E01520 - designed specifically to accompany the current RC liturgy - man 2 (1 stop) accompanies the Cantor and Man 1 the congregation.

Every Blessing

Tony
#963
House Organs / Re: New house organ in the North West
September 05, 2010, 02:15:36 PM
Hi

Sounds interesting - good luck with it.  I've had to abandon my house organ project FTTB - the windchest that I had porved to need too much work, and I don't really have time, nor workshop facilities.

Could you send NPOR (or myself) some details - NPOR is trying to list all UK pipe organs.  We don't publish complete addresses for house organs unless we either have the owner's permission, or the information is in the public domain through other sources - otherwise it's just described as"Private Residence" and the Town name.

Maybe a possible venue for an Organ Matters "get together" for those of us in the North???

Every Blessing

Tony
#964
Organs wanted / Re: 32 note pedalboard wanted
September 03, 2010, 03:17:28 PM
Hi

Try local organ builders!  They often have used pedalboards around.  Possibly even easier if you can manage with a 30 note board - they are rather more common.  It might also be worth trying Ron Coates (Classic Organs) in Boxhill.  See http://classicorgans.co.uk/  Ron sells practice pedalboards.

Every Blessing

Tony
#965
Hi

I think you'll find that BIOS Reporter magazines (the quaterly "newsletter") are available on line. BIOS Journals are available from Positive Press in Oxford, but I'm not sure what's still available (it's an annual production).

BIOS (The British Institute of Organ Studies) is worth joining for those who have an interest in the history and ongoing use of the organ, mainly in the UK.

Every Blessing

Tony
#966
Hi

I second the recommendation of Dr. Colin Pykett's web site.  His research is first class - and he's a nice chap.  His work on reconstructing lost organs is fascinating.  I was able to visit him a while ago, and played not only his 3 manual analogue organ (with both classical & theatre organ voicing) but also his prototype digital system, including some of the "lost organ" sample sets.

(Note to self:  Revisit Colin's website and see what's new!)

Every Blessing

Tony
#967
Hi

The item number of the R&D link has got missed off - copy and paste the whole link, including the number to get it to work.

R&D organs are, in my opinion, somewhat under rated at present, so it should be worth saving.  However, these post do highlight the problems in the UK of a glut of "surplus" organs - and churches in particular thinking that their pipe organ is worth more than it really is.  It's one thing for a redundant church to try and dispose of the organ, but my concern is many active churches are also getting rid of often good pipe organs because some sections of the church think that they are unfashionable/old fashioned/we don't have anyone to play it/ it costs too much to restore (delete as appropriate!).  This is a short-sighted approach - fashions change - usually in circles - and I can envisage a time when said churches will bemoan the fact that they got rid of pipe organs - especially when faced with the cost of replacement.  Also, such organs often represent sacrificial giving on the part of previous generations and are part of the church's history.  Now, the church is emphatically NOT a museum - but most organs could easily be retained - even if "moth balled".

Rant mode OFF.

Every Blessing

Tony
#968
Hi

Sounds like interesting organs.  Divided stops are, in my opinion, under rated, and tend to appear only in the smallest of organs these days, if at all.  Agreed, you have to remember where the break is, so that parts don't stray across it, but it adds a great deal of flexibility to small and medium sized organs.  Many early English organs had at least some divided stops, allowing a r.h. solo against accompaniment in the l.h. or vice versa.  of course, it's a concept well known to Harmonium players, as the classic French Harmonium always has divided stops - and Cesar Frank's "L'Organiste" includes many pieces which demonstrate their usefulness.

Every Blessing

Tony
#969
Hi
Our final major public event of our centenary is a recital by Jonathon Bielby (recently retired from Wakefield Cathedral).  This is at Bradford Cathedral at 7:30 pm (not st Paul, Shipley as previous planned).

Free admission (retiring collection).  Do join us for this event.

every Blessing

Tony
(President, Bradford Organists' Association)
#970
Hi

I'm playing some demonstration recitals on various reed organs at the museum in Saltaire as part of Saltaire Festival.  Sat 18th & Sun 19th September at 12:30 & 1:30 each day.  All being well, the 2 recitals on any one day will contain different pieces, but I'll repeat the programme on Sat & Sun.

Confirmed items so fare are 2 groups of pieces from Cesar Frank's "L'organiste" and arrangements of "War March of the Priests" and the "Hallelujah Chorus" - and probably a Karg-Elart piece (which will be repeated in each recital - I don't have time to learn another one!).  Hope I might see some forum members - admission is free (but donations very welcome!)

Every Blessing

Tony
#971
Hi

I wish I had space (and didn't live on the 1st floor!)

Hope you find someone who wants it - I've forwarded the info to a couple of Reed Organ mailing lists.

Where is the organ?

Every Blessing

Tony
#972
Organ building and maintenance / Re: Hybrid Organs
July 25, 2010, 09:13:00 AM
Hi

Peter Collins has also recently completed another hybrid organ at Higham Ferrers Parish Church - see NPOR E01660, which shows which ranks are digital, but not the derivations of the handful of pipe extensions (that info isn't on Peter's web site).

Every Blessing

Tony
#973
Atheists' Corner / Re: A friend sent me this...
July 24, 2010, 09:24:47 AM
Hi

These things may all be true - but it misses out the fact that God almost always gives sinners time to repent.  Just look at His dealings with the nation of Israel in the Old Testament.  We cannot say that anyone is condemned by God - He is the judge - and deathbed conversions are not unknown.

That said, the end of Acts 12 is a Biblical example of God's judgement on a man who persisted in ignoring Him.

More seriously, the final comment about sending it to others so that you will receive a blessing - I refuse to do that - it looks like the old "chain letter" thing.  God is gracious and can bless us if He so chooses regardless of our actions.

Every Blessing

Tony
#974
Hi

Moving stops are very helpful - especially to visiting organists.  Despite warning lights, etc it's very easy to forget which "blind" combination is in use.  On a small organ with no pistons, then solenoid stop keys are obviously not required.

I don't know about Comptons, but I have a batch of basic stop keys which actually have the pole pieces for the coils in place, so adding the coils should be relatively easy.

Compton stop keys usually have a "double-touch cancel" facility.  (I say usually, but I've not come across any that don't have this).  With this, a depper, non-locking, touch against a stronger spring operates extra contacts that cancel all the other stops on the relevant department.  Very useful, especially for selecting solo sounds.  Compton seem to get that right, and I've never had problems with inadvertant cancelling, but after Rushworth & Dreaper took over Compton they tried something similar - but on the organ of theirs that I used to play sometimes, the springs weren't strong enough, making it fatally easy to go to add, for example, the Great Mixture and cancel the rest of the Great!  (Why put dt cancels on stops that you will never use by themselves?) - and even worse, it was applied to every stop key on the organ, so a slightly heavy hand on the Sw-Gt coupler would cancel the entire Great - not very helpful.

Compton Manual to Pedal couplers are usually arranged so that the second touch will clear pedal couplers to the other manuals, and manual thumb pistons usually use the 2nd touch contacts to call up a suitable pedal combination.  All very useful once you get used to it.

They also applied the 2nd touch arrangements to some of their drawstop jobs.

Every Blessing

Tony
#975
Hi

We already have it!  The Redundant Organ Rehousing Company has run out of storage space!  There's also lists maintained by the IBO and BIOS of available organs.  The problem in the UK is the rate of church closures/rebuilding (which only rarely seems to include provision for a pipe organ) coupled with the number of churches that are throwing out perfectly restorable organs and going totally down the church band route.

Given how history tends to work in circles, I can envisage churches who have scrapped pipe organs facing large bills in the future when things have reached a stage where the organ is recognised as the versatile and useful inatrument that it isa.

Every Blessing

Tony
#976
New Pipe Organs / Re: A story that should "inspire"
July 22, 2010, 09:48:26 AM
Hi

It's amazing what can be done when a church steps out in faith.  My congregation of 20 here at Heaton decided that we would have our small pipe organ restored.  The quote was £10,000, and we agreed to fund it from the legacies fund (then standing at around £4,000) and raise the remainder; but since we had sufficient reserves (which at the time still produced a significant income), we gave the organ builder the go ahead immediately.  It took less than 2 years for the total amount to be covered - including a couple of very substantial anonymous donations.

It really makes me cross when churches take the cheap option (which in fact is no such thing) and opt for electronics.  Given that the average life of most digital organs is 15-20 years, it's like asking the treasurer to write a cheque for a couple of thousand pounds every year - certainly far more than a good pipe organ will cost in maintenance.

Every Blessing

Tony
#977
Hi

The link was interesting reading.  Yes - I remember "teaching tapes" - I used to do freelance work for a company that produces them (these days it tends to be CD's or mp3 downloads - and a very much smaller market).  I also remember the furore about "backwards masking" and "new age" - both typical evangelical knee-jerk reactions to something that many in the church failed to understand.

I agree with the writer that apathy (and the failure to recognise both Satan and God at work) is a major threat to the church.  I currently look after 2 churches in Bradford - the current state of both is, at least to some extent, due to apathy and a failure to react to changes in society.  One of them some 40 years ago had a membership of 300+ - today it's 7!  From what I observe of Isalm, they too have issues of apathy - our local community is probably 40-50% Muslim, but I see very few of them going to the Mosque on Fridays (but that's not the case in other less affluent parts of the city).

There are no easy answers.

Every Blessing

Tony
#978
Organ registration / Re: odd stop names on ebay
July 21, 2010, 09:43:39 AM
Hi

If you want the stop list, see http://www.npor.org.uk/cgi-bin/Rsearch.cgi?Fn=Rsearch&rec_index=N10596

Every Blessing

Tony
#979
Hi

An interesting site.  Organs in a truck or trailer are quite common in the mechanical organ world (fairground organs and the like).  However, the idea could limit available venues - not every auditorium has drive-in access for large vehicles, so something demountable, or in more easily handled modules might be the better approach.

Every Blessing

Tony
#980
Organ registration / Re: odd stop names on ebay
July 20, 2010, 10:00:16 AM
Hi

You don't need to look at e-Bay for odd stop names.  There are some real funnies on real organs - including one organ where the stops are labelled in Latin!  Mis-spellings are common, especially on pre-1870 or thereabouts instruments.

Every Blessing

Tony