The RFH organ restoration – last pipe delivered by bicycle
On Saturday a group of intrepid cyclists set themselves the challenge of delivering the last organ pipe required for the Royal Festival Hall organ rebuild in London, England, by bicycle, all the way from Harrison & Harrison’s HQ in Durham,…
More manuals-only repertoire – from the Royal School of Church Music
The Royal School of Church Music (RSCM) has published an excellent listing of organ music for manuals only, for organists who have no pedals or have not yet mastered the pedals. It includes relatively simple music from John Alcock and…
Update on Dobson Op91 at Merton College, Oxford
Christmas comes early for Benjamin Nicholas as he gets his hands on the new Dobson organ at Merton College, Oxford.
Five questions for…Catherine Ennis
Catherine Ennis takes up her post as President of the Royal College of Organists in the UK in its 150th anniversary year. This is highly appropriate, as she was one of the guiding lights behind the evolution of the RCO…
A Dobson organ from Iowa comes to Merton College, Oxford
The installation of the new Dobson organ at Merton College, Oxford, is underway, and you can follow it on Facebook and Twitter. Benjamin Nicholas, Organist and Director of Music at Merton, and Merton’s Chaplain, Simon Jones, have been tweeting pictures,…
Music copyright from the Music Publishers Association
A mark of a civilised community is the recognition of the concept of copyright, says the Music Publishers Association, and they have published a code of practice explaining when the use of the photocopier is fair, and when it is…
Five questions for…Neil Cockburn
Neil Cockburn is Head of Organ Studies at Mount Royal University Conservatory, Artistic Director of the Calgary Organ Festival, and Director of MRU Conservatory’s Purcell Ensemble. He is also the continuo-player and organist for the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra. I’m looking…
Carl Hemann, neglected Yorkshire composer – free download!
I wear this distinguished connection lightly, but I am in fact the great-grand-niece of Carl Hemann – ‘Barnsley’s leading composer of music’ according to his obituary in the Barnsley Chronicle of January 1930*. A church organist all his life, his real…
Five questions for…Roger Carter
Roger Carter studied with Sylvia Gostelow and Christopher Scarf and later with Richard Popplewell, gaining Fellowships from the Royal College of Organists and Trinity College of Music. His subsequent studies have taken him around Europe – in 1984 he was…
Five questions for…Simon Williams
Simon is Organist and Director of Music at St. George’s Church, Hanover Square, in the centre of London. Simon and the choir there broadcast regularly on BBC Radio3 and Radio4. He trained at Durham University and The Royal College…
Happy Birthday to You
For those of us asked to play Happy Birthday to You on a regular basis – and vaguely wondering each time about the copyright issues – there’s a comforting lawsuit (that’s a rarity) going through the US courts. See this…
Hymn book heaven
My church had a clearout of cupboards recently, and I volunteered a home for a selection of ancient hymn books. It’s not just the old music typefaces I love (often clearer than in modern hymn books) but the snapshot of…
Five questions for…Gerdi Troskie
Gerdi Troskie is one of the RCO’s tutors, and the person most responsible for the improvements in my organ technique over the past two years. She studied post-graduate with the early music specialist Jacques van Oortmerssen at the Amsterdam Conservatorium, …
Recent Comments