Organ matters - Organs matter!

It would be great if someone could video this. Surrey is a little far for me on a Monday evening! :-[

Cheers
Marc

yes please!

The thin Viol D'orchestra look very interesting indeed. I've never seen anything that small scale before.

Bah! my wife would divorce me

You know you have lost the plot when you find this sort of thing highly exciting!

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Pipe-organ-ranks-swell-engines-direct-electric-chests-/130531275598?pt=UK_MusicalInstr_Keyboard_RL&hash=item1e6445334e

I seem to have same the attitude to collecting various organ parts as a squirrel does to nuts! if only I had the space

Marc

No, this is not an announcement of an upcoming organ concert at the well-known music festival, but maybe it is a pipe dream?

I was watching one of my teenage stepsons DVDs the other night about the Glastonbury music festival. It portrayed how diverse and wide ranging the festival is and how many different forms of music and people come together for the festival event. I then had a thought (a pipe dream!), wouldn't it be interesting to organise as part of the festival's program an organ concert.

My pipe dreamed continued involving world famous organists, Olivier Latry, Cameron Carpenter, Ian Tracey, etc, playing all the famous stuff

The organ would have to be the most modern of electronic conceptions, and it would need probably 10 to 20k of sound system, in its own self contained concert tent!

I felt that people would come to listen, even come to get away from the commercial roar of modern day music, they would come to be inspired and see something different, more than Jazz and roots music, something once heard and maybe lost.

I think Michael Eavis (Glastonbury's founder) might even consider it? Or is it another random pipe dream

Marc

Dear David

Very interesting discussions indeed!

Firstly I would like to say that for some people, myself included, it is sometimes quite difficult to express ones feelings, understandings and beliefs in a manner for another that is easy to read, understand and digest. Writing down an explanation of ones opinions can also be very difficult

Your discussions exhibit to me how wide ranging the scope of belief of Christianity can be and has become. It also confuses me about where your beliefs as a Christian start and finish? Surely the Bible is a literal text based book, based on events that happened in the past, a series of physical events starting from the dawn of time to life/death of Jesus?  Is it correct to try and turn this into some form of theoretical symbolism?

In my mind, I quite readily accept that there could have been a man named Jesus who existed long ago. He was the sort of person that you would want to show you the way, how to live your life, to respect and sacrifice things for other people; he seemed to be a totally nice bloke, and in sacrificing his life it seemed like the ultimate gift to others (excellent!)

If we go back in time in the bible, to the dawn of creation then I cannot accept that the universe/earth was created in 7 days. So is this part of the bible symbolism and not some form of the fact of the story? Centuries ago, we may have accepted this as being fact, but through the exploration and ingenuity of mankind we now know we are not the only planet in our vast universe. Did it take God 7 days to make all planets, and why aren't the other trillions of star systems/planets mentioned in any form of depth? (I accept that the writings of the Bible were man made and this understanding didn't exist then, but surely if there basis of the bible is from god then further mention of the real world outside the tiny boundaries of our own planet should have been talked about?)

I could spend a lot of time trying to pick out parts of bible that are not literal fact and are purely symbolic, but that would be futile.

You talk about people rejecting Christianity; well possibly it is because the definition is becoming more and more confusing?

You are also correct that the majority of people choose not to spend time thinking about religion and an afterlife, it is not in my belief because they are evil and don't care for other people, but it is because of the confusion of religion and the number of different opinions that exist. What is God, who is god, man, mouse, machine, gas, plasma, none of the above??

My major "bug bare" about Christianity (and I have tried to accept/jump in etc over the last 40 years of my life) is that you all have this claim to understanding about love and how to treat one another. This however does exist between millions/billions of people who don't believe in Christ. They understand about sacrifice/ forgiveness/ repentance. People have apathy; they can communicate without discussion but with looks, touch, and affection.

The afterlife, is it so important? No probably not

This is another anomaly about the bible. Your life is lived as best it can within the 70 or so years you have on earth. You should make the most and best you can within this time and not plan for some form of surreal, idealist afterlife. Surely this sort of promise of a perfect afterlife is unrealistic and even if you lived in your own mind to best of your intentions is still not rewarded?

The understanding of an afterlife is another reason lots of people do not believe in the bible, the definition and understanding is so extreme and so subject to people's earthly opinions that is it is rejected.

To some up, if I were a marketing agent for the Christian religion I would say, "Great idea, wonderful history, but too confusing to the common man and woman". The message may be clear, but the understanding is cloudy!

David you have asked for discussion and to put the cat amongst the pigeons, well hopefully I do not offend but offer some form of argument. Much more to come!

Marc

My house organ is developing into quite a musical little instrument, so maybe my pipe dream is becoming a reality? Ultimately I would like to end up with the following (trying to stick to Tony's six ranks (Yes I am cheating as some of the stops are unified!)

Great

8 – Clarabella
8 – Dulciana (the Holditch rank is quite broad, so this is half to being an open diapason
4 – Waldflote
2 2/3 – Twelfth
2 – Fifteenth

Swell – Enclosed

16 – Lieblich Gedackt *
8 – Stopped diapason *
8 – Voile damour
8 – Vox Celeste
4 – Dulcet
2 – Piccolo
8 – Clarinet *

Pedal

16 – Bourdon *
16 – Echo Bourdon *
8 – Bass flute *

* means ranks not installed yet or that electronic generation is in use

I know there has been talk of the unsuitability of 2ft stops for house organs and whilst I do not use the twelfth and fifteenth all the time, it does add a certain tutti when required which in my opinion makes up for the lack of reed ranks when aiming for full organ.

Marc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJIeOmNN60M&playnext=1&list=PLC882C4DA833C58B7

Not sure how much this one is worthy of merit, but I had never seen the cult classic horror film and one day was happily learning the Mendelssohn and then watched this film by accident!

We will not attribute Vincent price with the performance of the piece, but his acting skills are somewhat creepy! If anyone knows who and on what organ it was performed that would be interesting

Marc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZ6DlhCWln4&feature=related

Another good example of the organ's ability to encompass the works of the orchestra

Markus Wargh and his own arrangement

If anyone knows of a organ performance of Sibelius's last movement of the 5th Symphony I would be so glad to hear it, I'm not sure it has been done??


Best wishes
Marc

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/mighty-3-manual-church-pipe-organ-/260778919814?pt=UK_MusicalInstr_Keyboard_RL&hash=item3cb7a28786

surely this one is worth spending the money restoring instead of scrapping! or am I just missing something?

I think my friend wanted an instant answer, but considering they are local to us then, yes that would be the obvious answer!

cheers
Marc

Looks like it is missing most of the pipes

Some obvious bounty hunter thinks that its worth £ 5k, I highly doubt it. It was previously on at £ 50k !

Best Regards
Marc

The organ has been removed from a local church and is going into someones flat, so the general level is being asked to be turned down. I suppose they could stick to string and soft diapason stops for the time being, or stick a large 8 ohm resistor in series with the loudspeaker!

cheers
Marc

As the title suggests, does anyone know if the volume level can be turned down on a Makin analogue organ circa 1986. I have been asked by a friend if this is an internal adjustment? He has not specified a model number just an approximate year of manufacture

If any one can help or give pointers that would be great!

Some latest updates on my house organ construction

http://www.thecavendishorgan.com/apps/photos/album?albumid=11458753

The swell chest (no.1) has been installed. This contains the Voile and Vox ranks, with some unification to give 8,4 and 2'

Most of these pipes came from St Cyprians in Edge Hill, Liverpool. I am so glad I have managed to use some of this redundant organ so its beauty can be heard again. Here are some interesting links so you can see the very sad state of the church

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v733/4737carlin/2009/stcrypians/6IMG_9696a-1aw.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.urbexforums.co.uk/showthread.php/12179-St-Cyprian-s-church-Edge-Hill-Liverpool-report-March-2011&usg=__SqzoFgK7_tjMfjVSoKQicWR5OvM=&h=640&w=427&sz=227&hl=en&start=5&zoom=1&tbnid=IH5TDl1ohAerHM:&tbnh=137&tbnw=91&ei=UJR-Td7KHs6ChQfJ4KGvBw&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dst%2Bcyprian%2Bedge%2Bhill%26hl%3Den%26gbv%3D2%26tbs%3Disch:1&itbs=1


A lot of these images make me feel very sad, but I am pleased to have rescued some of this organ's history

These images are from an urban exploration website which in the first instance looks like trespassing, however the rules of urban exploration is to not disturb or damage what you find, but to record for all to see (I think quite a useful past time!)

Hi David

I'm afraid Youtube can be a bit like the world. People like to throw stones from far away places, i.e. ones they cannot be retaliated or held question upon. This also does not mean that all comments made by such people are agreed with, far from it; most of the time it goes to re-enforce whatever the author of the original post is making.

We should never be afraid of making comment, we can only be judged by our actions and what we say, be they correct or in correct!

Keep posting all your wonderful videos; they are very informative and interesting (to a majority!)

Best Regards
Marc

A happy easter to you all too, I'm off for my fourth service in a row now! phew!

Marc

MP3 format recorded at 320bps,which the Marantz unit can do, is pretty good. I would definitely consider even this compressed format to be better than compact cassette recording.

I am not trying to convince anyone that it is as good as WAV/CD quality recording however the advantage of a considerably reduced file size compared with WAV must be of some use especially when uploading media to the web. Each type of recording format has its pros and cons obviously

My home hifi set up is rather pro-audio orientated being a Yamaha mixer, QSC power amplifier and a pair of RCF ART300 loudspeakers. I can not tell the difference between 320bps MP3 and WAV, however I'm sure if I were listening to music through a pair of Tannoy Westminsters driven by Krell amplification and a Conrad Johnson front end, then the difference would probably be alarming

I use a Marantz PMD661. This is a very portable (size of an A5 piece of paper) SD recorder. It will record in full 48kHz quality or varying different qualities of MP3 format . The advantage of recording straight into MP3 format means you can plug the machine into your PC via a USB cable and just drag the file across, and if necessary straight onto the internet!

I use a couple of Audio Technica AT8010 omni condenser microphones, which plug directly into the XLR mic inputs on the PM661

Here is a link for the product information
http://www.d-mpro.com/users/folder.asp?FolderID=4405

There are a couple of recordings on my website which just use the internal mics on the PMD661
www.thecavendishorgan.com

I thought I would let everyone know about a great bit of free music notation software that is available. I have been using it now for over a week and it works a treat. A bargain compared to Sibelius!

My compositions for Good Friday have been made a lot simpler

http://musescore.org/

Best Regards

Marc

A good radio programme, well worth a listen

Hopefully more will understand the wonders of the instrument