Young talent


Young talent         

I’ve told you about the fantastic organ players coming to the Abbey  to celebrate all that I have been able to do for 108 years

These are international players!  They are used to playing some of the finest organs anywhere in the world, yet now they’ve agreed to come and play me.  I am chuffed to bits

The first of these wonderful players is a young man, at the start of his career.  He holds a scholarship with the Royal College of Organists and is going to be organ scholar at Kings College Cambridge later in 2020.  I’m sure he will follow in the footsteps of the great musicians who have been Kings’ scholars

I am really pleased he is coming.  I love to encourage young people to learn using my keys, or even just to come and see what happens when my keys, buttons and levers are pressed.  I can tell you those young people building brick models of my face were astonished to see what I can do

But organ players are now in short supply.  Churches need organists to help with the singing and to accompany choirs in the wonderful music that is such an important part of the English tradition.  I’d love to see more and more young players coming along, using me to practise and learn new skills

So Mr Paul’s recital will I hope be the first of many by young players and I hope this lovely Abbey, and my special contribution, can build a reputation as a place of learning and choral and organ music making.  It has been a place of music excellence for many centuries already, and once restored and completed I will be playing a part in that for many more years to come


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Summer madness

Image
Summer madness Well I thought I'd heard it all, but obviously I haven't One of my lovely organists today is going to start a two week cycle ride, the length of the whole country, to raise money for my renovation and new pipes.  Wow! I'm told he's going from South to North  -  not sure why, but then I've never been on a bike  -  and will play 4 organs on the way.  He's playing my keys here in the Abbey next Thursday evening All my followers can easily check on his progress.  He's obviously seen how modern I can be and is going to keep a Blog  -  just like I do  -  and put photographs on something called Instagram How good is that!  And I do hope he will be able to raise lots of money for the work that I need to be done Now, Dear Follower, what are you going to do to raise £££s for me?
Read more

Wind (not a repeat!)

Image
Wind (not a repeat!)   I have already told you about wind, the sort that is used by my lovely pipes to make music   And I have told you about the massive reservoirs used to store wind before it flows through to my pipes.   These huge heavy chests, with hinged sides and floating tops, were carefully built by Mr William in 1911 and have survived all these years, just getting dirtier every year that’s past, and with their leather hinges increasingly having to be patched up   Three of the reservoirs are huge, and the fourth more of a baby size.   They have all been lifted down, and all four have gone for restoration.   This took a lot of heaving, and Mr Gary was fortunate to have such strong henchpeople on hand   Two of the reservoirs went with Mr Edward to his workshop, and the other two have gone to Mr Dave in East London.   Great progress is being made and soon these reservoirs will come back to my Abbey, to be hoisted high up into new positions, and the trunks from the
Read more

Let’s talk trunks

Image
Let’s talk trunks   Trunks and wind might not sound particularly exciting, but when your double risers and electric blowers are all moved around, this becomes a most important subject   In 1911, Mr William connected my blowing mechanism to 3 double risers and those were then connected to my windchests.   A whole series of zinc trunks made those connections   But with the passage of time, my trunks became rather the worse for wear.   Their bends began to leak (you can imagine straight trunks are a very good idea, but in practice bends are essential) but old newspaper stuffed in saved the day.   Joins too become a bit brittle, but drawing pin fixes have proved invaluable in keeping me going   After all these years, and now with my lower regions completely reshaped, my trunks too have therefore had to be given attention by Mr Gary   He told me that in these modern times, u-bends and black plastic pipes can be very effective.   Now I did have to remind Mr Gary that I’m
Read more