Number 5 June 2003 Editorial Comment FEEDBACK

It is very encouraging to hear — both directly and indirectly — that SOUNDBOARD is fulfilling a need, and these comments are both appreciated and helpful. Recent written comments include “I enjoy SOUNDBOARD very much”, “I have got great pleasure out of the SOUNDBOARD newsletters”, “Many thanks for SOUNDBOARD; Keep up the good work”.

One often wonders, when deciding on content for publication, “will this be of interest to some/many/all”, “will many read it”, “what will they find of greatest interest in this issue?” and so on. There are still some items about which we would like some feedback:

• The “Profile” of an organ personality which appeared in the first few issues has not appeared in this, nor the previous issue. Did you find these of interest? Would you like to see other organ people profiled? Anyone in particular?

• Is it worth devoting a page to a crossword? The number of correct entries received has been in the region of six to ten, but perhaps there are (many?) more who don’t quite complete it but still get some enjoyment and enrichment from it? (John Godden does anyway! Thanks for the last letter John.)

• Stephen Adams’ technical organ article has been welcomed by some but found too complex by others. Should it continue?

• The type size has been reduced slightly in this issue. Is it too small for comfort?

All comments, complaints (if any!) and suggestions will be welcome — by e-mail, letter or telephone (in order of preference). Do air your views. If you do not want your letter published, just say so. We’ll let you have a survey of the feedback in the next issue.

NEXT ISSUE

Planned for early December, material for publication should be with us by 20 November.

BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER 2004

Canon Ricky Rountree gives an update on progress

The final legislation to provide the material for the new

edition of the Book of Common Prayer has been passed

by General Synod in May. Now the work of proofing and

preparing for publication is well under way. It is hoped that

the book will be available for purchase in March 2004 and

order forms and publicity material will appear in the

Autumn of this year.

The 2004 edition of the BCP will include the main services

of the church in traditional and contemporary language

within the same cover, and will become the definite Book

of Common Prayer for the Church of Ireland on Trinity

Sunday (6th June) 2004. It will replace the BCP of 1926

and the Alternative Prayer Book of 1984 as well as the

Book of Occasional Services 1993.

Of particular interest to musicians is the fact that the book

will include the traditional and contemporary language

canticles. They will be printed with pointing both in the

body text of the services, as well as in a canticle section of

the book. General Synod has finally decided that there will

be one Psalter in the BCP, that is the Common Worship

Psalter of the Church of England, and it will be pointed

with the RSCM pointing. It will also have paragraph breaks

allowing it to be used in a responsorial way. The hope is

that the psalms can be celebrated in a number of different

ways and not only to Anglican chant.

The book will run to just over 800 pages and will be

considerably smaller in size than the new edition of the

hymnal. The quality of paper and binding will allow the

book to open flat even when brand new and will be printed

in two colours.

SOUNDBOARD A Newsletter for Church Musicians

Features in this issue

Where are the singers?

Anthems for Harvest &

Christmas

Organ Ciphers

Hymn Books

Committee News

Deep Bass

SOUNDBOARD is published by the

Church Music Committee of the Dublin

& Glendalough Diocese of the Church

of Ireland. Views expressed in signed

articles, letters and advertisements are

not necessarily those of the Editor or of

the Church Music Committee

Secretary:

Ruth Maybury

Editor:

Randal Henly

The recruitment of singers must be an ongoing concern for all who direct church choirs. It is probably an issue that needs to be given a higher priority than at present. It should not be the sole responsibility of the organist. Rather it should be shared with the clergy and others in the parish.

“Church choirs are dying out” is a frequent plaint. In some cases, perhaps, the worship tradition of the church no longer requires a formal church choir but this probably applies only in a small number of cases. There are more choirs, there is greater interest in choral singing in Ireland today than ever before. Yet most parish church choirs do not reflect this phenomenon; rather, the contrary. Why? There are several reasons and here I look briefly at two aspects of the problem: sourcing singers and the time of rehearsals.

Greater visibility Increasingly, in city and suburban parishes at any rate, the stark reality is that choir directors no longer can rely on the local parish to provide singers. Articles in parish magazines, requests from the pulpit, pleas at meetings, generally fall on deaf ears. My experience points more and more to the benefits of looking outside the immediate faith community and to seeking out those who enjoy singing and who value the church choir experience. Some of these may be denominationally blind; others may profess no particular interest in church, apart from singing. This is no more than a reflection of Irish society in the post-Christendom era and, paradoxically, in some ways can work to our advantage as choir directors, in that it makes for an eclectic group of people to work with.

So, to access the many who, I believe, are open to singing in a church choir, directors need to adopt a more proactive, externally orientated approach. We are in a competitive situation for singers

and, consequently, we need to sell our product – namely, singing in the church choir – using present- day market tools: photos and articles in community newspapers, fliers in shop windows, website promotion, local radio, leaflets through letterboxes, and the like.

We must increase the visibility of our choirs and make it widely known that we welcome singers. We must believe in our ability and in our product and then tell others.

Early on Sunday? The weekday evening choir rehearsal is a long established tradition. When a majority of the choir attends regularly, with all voice parts represented, it can be a vehicle for significant musical achievement. But pressures of modern day living militate against constant, near-full, attendance on weekday evenings. And it is extremely difficult to make a rehearsal interesting and stimulating if forces are inadequate. When talking to potential new singers, whether from within the parish or outside, I have found that the weekday rehearsal is a stumbling block to accepting my invitation. Those in the choir for many years have factored in that evening to their social calendars. New-comers find it difficult to make this commitment. Recognising this, some churches already have moved their normal weekly rehearsal to immediately before the Sunday morning liturgy. This certainly requires a more focused approach and good time management. However, it also permits last-minute changes to the music programme to align with forces actually present and, as an outcome, it should result in a more effective offering by the choir in supporting the liturgy.

A rector of a church in the inner Dublin suburbs, currently seeking a musician, tells me that he may offer a pre-Sunday service rehearsal slot as part of the job profile. He hopes that potential applicants may find this more attractive than a weekday rehearsal. When asked to discuss the Sunday morning rehearsal idea, singers usually recognise and agree with the logic but reject the idea for practical reasons: an unacceptably early start on a Sunday morning and the logistics of families having to travel to church in two batches. Nonetheless, I believe that singers are beginning to see the benefits, on balance, of the Sunday morning solution and experience in other countries also points in this direction.

Change is good

Promoting church choirs in the wider community and altering rehearsal times involve change. Change is often threatening and is frequently resisted. If it is to be successful, all involved must agree to and take ownership of what is happening. We must emphasise that, while change may mean moving away from former methods, it invariably leads to growth and achievement. Choir directors need to communicate their vision positively with cheerful optimism. Whether it is recruiting singers or managing choirs, we have to be hugely imaginative, at times must ‘think the unthinkable’, as we work to maintain and strengthen our

teams of committed singers who offer their voices Sunday by Sunday in leading worship.

NEWS FROM THE PIPE ORGAN SOCIETY OF

IRELAND

Steering Committee member Alistair McCartney has over the years assembled a database of around half of all the pipe organs in Ireland. The aim is to eventually assemble a database of all pipe

organs in Ireland and also, as many churches as we can find, having no pipe organ at all. In addition to providing information on Ireland's pipe organs, the data base will also serve to help active parishes seeking a good pipe organ to obtain a good used instrument from a church which is closing or has closed down.

As part of the Cork European Capital of Culture 2005 cele- brations, we are proposing to hold the Cork International Pipe Organ Festival 2005. More details nearer the time.

The Committee is working on organising visits to interesting pipe organs and other events to be held regularly starting in the next few months. Once we have some dates for real events we shall be inviting people to join the Society. Contact Norbert Kelvin at n.kelvin@ucc.ie for further information.

WHERE ARE THE SINGERS?

David McConnell examines some of the issues facing church choir directors in recruiting singers

David McConnell is organist and

choir director at Zion Church, Rathgar, chairperson of the

Dublin International Organ and Choral Festival and a member of

the Diocesan Church Music

Committee.

HARVEST UNLESS A GRAIN OF WHEAT. Bernadette Farrell, OCF publications (can be ordered through

Veritas). This is a versatile anthem, useful for both Harvest and Easter, and also flexible as regards resources. Verses can be in unison or SATB, and the refrain is easy to remember.

LET THE PEOPLES PRAISE YOU. John McCann GIA publications (also Veritas). A good setting of Psalm 100 and useful for any festive occasion. Optional trumpet part. Verses need care rhythmically but can be sung by either solo or choir, and the occasional SATB harmony gives interest for the choir.

A STABLE LAMP IS LIGHTED Music by Richard Shephard (available through RSCM). A carol which will guarantee a favourable response. Hymn-like, two of the verses can be sung as a solo or by a choir, and the last verse gives the sopranos a chance to soar. Organists beware — it’s in F sharp major!

THE EYES OF ALL WAIT UPON THEE, O LORD Music by William Harris, published by Novello. A simple Harvest

anthem but unfortunately it has long been out of print.

LET US WITH A GLADSOME MIND Alan Ridout, publ. Stainer & Bell. A clever arrangement of the hymn tune Monkland, with a natty little organ part. It's great fun and not too hard.

O TASTE AND SEE, John Goss O LORD HOW MANIFOLD ARE THY WORKS, J. Barnby Two favourites with the Howth choir. Relatively easy and with

great scope for expression. SATB with the occasional bits for single parts. Both published by Novello

ALL THINGS BRIGHT AND BEAUTIFUL FOR THE BEAUTY OF THE EARTH LOOK AT THE WORLD, All three by John Rutter; SATB, with wonderful and contrasting accompaniments and with typical Rutter key changes every so often. Publ. Oxford. BLESS THE LORD, O MY SOUL, C. Armstrong Gibbs, PLEASURE IT IS (2 PART), Cecil Cope, both from Oxford Easy Anthem Book. All are fairly simply harvest anthems.

THOU VISITEST THE EARTH, Greene BENEDICITE, Naylor THE HEAVENS ARE TELLING , Haydn LET THE PEOPLE PRAISE THEE O GOD, Mathias

CHRISTMAS SEE HIM LYING ON A BED OF STRAW This, which can be found in several books is a kind of Christmas calypso. It is easy, known to many, and worth doing by those who don't already know it.

SO GENTLE THE DONKEY Publ. Oxford, available either in a two part version (usable in

unison) or SATB (with piano or organ).

Mayhew publish quite a few good, easy ones WHAT CHILD IS THIS, Andrew Gant, QUEM PASTORES, George

Malcolm, VERBUM CARO FACTUM EST, George Malcolm

Some nice CAROL ARRANGEMENTS by John Barnard.

HE SMILES WITHIN and FLEMISH CAROL, both by John Rutter These are from CAROLS FOR CHOIRS edited and arranged by David Willcocks and John Rutter.

In his suggestion of "Easter Bells" in Soundboard #4, Donald Maxwell refers to a bar consisting of a solitary 32 foot pedal note! A real 32 foot stop, in the form of an Open Diapason, must be very rare, and even a bourdon of physical length sixteen feet, or about five metres, which would be at that pitch, would be unusual. (A stopped pipe is roughly half the length of an open pipe of the same pitch.) Yet I have known two fairly small pipe organs which have stops labelled 32. One stop was called a Harmonic Bass and the other (more accurately, I think) an Acoustic Bass, but they both work in the same fudgy way.

Organists should know that if two pipes are slightly out-of-tune, they will produce a regular rise and fall in loudness. The pipes are said to "beat" and the frequency of the beats is the difference in frequency of the two notes. Organ tuners, and other musicians, use this, and two pipes are adjusted so that the beat frequency becomes less and finally becomes zero when unison is achieved. The Voix Celeste also uses beats; in this case each pipe is tuned to produce beats of a few hertz with the rest of the organ, or sometimes with a unison rank of its own. The warbling sound is imagined to sound like the voices of angels. (I heard of a case, perhaps apocryphal, where an organ tuner had been called out because the Voix Celestes sounded out-of- tune!)

Now let us suppose we have a 16 ft bourdon sounding its lowest C at, for simplicity, 64 Hz. We now sound with it the pipe a fifth higher; the interval of a fifth is 3/2 so this pipe sounds at 96 Hz. But these pipes produce beats at 96 – 64 = 32 Hz, which is one octave below the original 64 Hz. So we get the impression that we have a stop one octave below our 16 ft pitch and we label it 32. All the stop key does is to couple each note of the Bourdon to the note a fifth above it and beats do the rest.

And we economically get 32 foot pitch from a

pipe only eight feet long or so. You can try

the effect by using your two feet.

CHRIST CHURCH CATHEDRAL

The last edition of SOUNDBOARD went to print just too late to mention the resignation of Mark Duley as Director of Music. Mark brought the Cathedral’s musical tradition to new heights, and we are sorry to see him go.

We note the recent appointment of Judy Martin, as Director of Music. Judy is currently Director of Chapel Music at Worcester College, Oxford, and Director of Music at the Church of St Mary Magdalene, Oxford. She takes up her post in September and we wish her every success.

ANTHEMS FOR HARVEST & CHRISTMAS

Some recommendations from Siobhán Kilkelly, Peter Barley, Ruth Maybury, Randal Henly

DEEP BASS Adrian Somerfield,

St Thomas’s, Mount Merrion, Co. Dublin

Why do organs cipher? (I bet whoever asked that in the first place is sorry by now!)

I will assume you have in front of you the last issue of "SOUND- BOARD". The sketch on p.3 is a very revealing section of a typical 3- manual organ, but don’t forget, it is a section at only one place. Therefore, for instance, we will find 56 (or whatever the compass is) trackers, squares, stickers….. 56 of everything to do with the manual key actions. And lots of stuff has been omitted for clarity (wind system, stop action). So it gets complicated.

I assume you can follow the chain of events (?) When a key is pressed it pulls or pushes the square "C", which converts the force from vertical to horizontal, and so on, until the action terminates at the pallet.

I don’t think it’s over-simplifying it by saying that if there’s any problem with any of these parts, that we will have trouble.

Typical problems: starting at the keyboard, what’s not drawn is the means to arrest the upward travel of each key. This is usually done using a heavy but pliable piece of metal, called the thumper. This allows the "off" position of the keys (i.e. the height) to vary a little, according to seasonal conditions.

Imagine the Swell soundboard’s supporting frame. It will be supported using hefty timbers,

maybe 6" 6". The squares "C" will also be supported from the same frame, at a lower level.

Then take an unusually dry period.

The trackers "L" will react to this quicker than the building frame, getting shorter at a faster rate. Therefore the height of the keys will rise as the tension on the trackers increases, thus increasing the key depth (i.e., raising the keys).

Since the Swell is almost always the highest division in the organ, it is

affected more than other divisions because its action is longer.

To demonstrate — say the Swell action is 3 m long, and the Great is 1 m long – it only takes a change in tracker length of 0.1% and the Swell will change by 3 mm, whilst the Great by 1.0 mm. Many modern trackers have compensation designed into them to accommodate such dimensional fluctuations — it’s a tricky business.

The net effect of the action becoming shorter is for the Swell action to become deeper relative to the Great or Choir. This will make the couplers contact at an earlier point such that, by the time the drawstop is pulled out fully, we have multi- ciphers and you can visibly see and feel the keys being pulled down.

The opposite happens too of course, where the action becomes longer and lowers the action depths — couplers can become ineffective, not pulling through fully.

(A clever way to overcome this is to site the couplers as far away from the keyboards as possible, thus lessening the effect on the keys — not something that can be retro- fitted.)

So the thumper can move, and the depth of the action can vary according to climate. A common source of a cipher is for a paperclip or similar to work its way in over the key and under the thumper. If you

have a cipher and you lift the key and the cipher stops, then this is a possible cause — worth having a peep using a torch.

Other reasons for ciphers are many and varied. A common problem would be excess friction at any pivot point. Builders used to use steel for the pivot points, and of course this rusts and causes problems.

Another fairly common thing is for a hymnbook or similar to fall onto the horizontal trackers. If it doesn’t break the tracker (which will cause a dumb note) it’ll effectively shorten its length, and of course the key will not lift due to the thumper, so the only variable thing left is the pallet, which will open. Indeed, sometimes the pallet can open under extreme conditions, either from an accident (or just enthusiastic playing) and hop up on its own guide pins, causing a cipher that requires access to the soundboard internally.

Looking generally at the drawing, it’s good to appreciate why an organ is laid out like it is. There are obvious things such as height, in terms of fitting the components at all.

However, this organ is well laid out for maintenance/tuning access. See how the tuner has passage boards to stand on, right next to the stops that most need maintenance, the reeds? See also how the reeds are situated

directly over the pallets, to get the first flush of air in the interest of prompt speech.

The opposite happens too, where a

complaint is received about the speech of bottom C of the Swell Open Diapason! Now that’s a sod!

Something not clear from the drawing is the purpose of the parts labelled "BC". We call this the rollerboard. If you’re sitting at the keyboard, the keyboard is say, 2’ wide. However, the soundboard(s) might well be 8’ wide, and so the spacing of the trackers at the keyboards (circa.1/2") will not suit the spacing of the pulldowns and pallets. So, a rollerboard carries the action sideways, whatever direction and amount that is required to make the key and pallet align and join.

The organ in the drawing is fully tracker. However, there are pneumatic or electric actioned organs, and mixes of different types. And indeed, every organ is different.

This quick glimpse at the workings

will not fully educate, but hopefully engender appre-ciation. If it does that, then I have been successful.

Dear Editor

Just a quick note to share the good news that we recently saved this lovely little Telford & Telford (Dublin) from likely scrapping. It dates from about 1860 and is in St Mary's Church, Navan, Co. Meath. It sounds sooooo sweet, and has received no alterations whatsoever. It was rebuilt from the ground up, and needed only one new drawstop to replace a shattered one, and a blower.

Stephen Adams, Organ builder.

ORGAN CIPHERS Stephen Adams

I have recently acquired a wonderful piece of computer software, a program called HymnQuest. Essentially, it’s a database of hymns and all the details that go with them — tunes, words, composers, authors, metres, biblical themes, and so on. I first came across this just three years ago, when the Hymn Society of Great Britain and Ireland held its Annual Meeting in Dublin, but at that time, no details from the Church of Ireland Hymnal were included. I was given a Demo Version (so were many others at that meeting) and was immediately impressed by what it offered. I wrote to the publishers, Stainer & Bell, and said what an extremely useful resource this is, and informed them that if details of hymns from the Church of Ireland Hymnal (particularly as a new edition was imminent) were included in an update, I would be the first to purchase!

On a recent visit to Stainer & Bell in North London, I

enquired about HymnQuest. “Oh yes, the latest edition has the details from the Church of Ireland Hymnal” I

was given a copy of the new Demo Version (these are free for the asking, but have a life of just one month).

Thrilled with what it does and it solved a couple of memory lapses during that free month. I have since

purchased it — £65 (sterling) for the unique code that makes the program permanent. Let me explain some of

the many ways it can be used.

I want details of the hymn “Guide me, O thou great Jehovah”. I go to the database of First Lines (it’s huge of course, with about 20 000 hymns listed) and select it. Up comes the information:

• the text is by Peter Williams who lived from 1722 to 1796;

• it is to be found in at least 40 hymnbooks, but that in which I am interested is the fifth edition of the Irish Church Hymnal, and I see that it is No. 647 in

this book, which was published by OUP in 2000;

• the metre is 878787;

• the only tune to which it has been set is Cwm Rhondda;

• this tune is by John Hughes, who lived from 1873 to 1932;

• I can bring up the full text, and copy and paste this into a hymn sheet if I desire;

• if I cannot recall the tune, I click on the appropriate button and listen to the first line of music.

I could have got the same information by consulting either the hymns written by Peter Williams, or the tunes by John Hughes; or I could have looked it up under the title of the tune — or I could have looked under the hymns whose metre is 878787.

And if that isn’t enough, just read on! I heard a hymn on “Sunday Half Hour”, missed the title of it but the tune was very appropriate to play during Communion. I have remembered the first few notes. Bring up the virtual keyboard and “play” these first few notes. (For the example, I have taken a hymn that is known to all.)

It doesn’t matter whether the key is correct key or not; the program searches for intervals, not actual notes. And this is what shortly appears

So I find that the tune is that of the hymn “Jesus loves me”, and that it is in lots of hymn books, but in “ICF” (the code for the fifth edition of the Irish Church Hymnal, Fifth edition) it is Hymn 100. The rest of the details are there too — author and her dates, composer and his dates, metre.

Contact Stainer & Bell for a copy of the Demo Version. You’ll be purchasing it a month later!

Stainer & Bell Ltd, PO Box 110, Victoria House, 23 Gruneisen Road, London N3 1DZ, Tel. 0044- 20 8343 3303, E-mail: post@stainer.co.uk, Website: www.stainer.co.uk

HYMNQUEST A review by

Randal Henly

Dear Editor, I would be very grateful if anybody could give me some information as to what happened the very fine organ (right) in St George’s Church, Temple St, after the church closed. Has it been cared for, or just left to rot?

Margaret Scarlett. (Can any reader help? Information will be passed on to Ms Scarlett)

Dear Editor,

The cancallation of the organists’ party was a disappointment. Extrapolating from my own case I must assume that it was greatly regretted by the 20-odd hopefuls (Note that hyphen. It is important!) who were willing, ready and able, that the 2003 party had to be abandoned because of seeming lack of interest. Parties 2002 and 2001 went with a bang with I believe about 50 in each case. Organists as a species generally are gregarious to a fault, and pull out all the stops given the opportunity to dine and talk. Your speakers and music-makers have been great. Only one thing I might suggest. Is it not so that in preparation for the first such party a survey was done to test the interest beforehand? Could we afford to do this again for 2004 (or later 2003)? The social contact is worth a rescue effort. So speaks a relatively isolated rural “musician”!

John Godden, St John’s, Laragh

Dear Editor I was glad to see a bit of positive feedback to my

"naughty" article, but on the whole I thought there was a bit too much of ME in the issue! Still, perhaps other organists will be encouraged to join in now. I think it is a nice idea to have articles written by organists describing their instruments, and I am sure you will be

encouraging others to join in this trend. There must be a large number of organs in the region, many sadly falling out of use, and it would be nice to see them "recorded".

I noticed on TV the other night the reconsecration of Harold's Cross C of I as an Eastern Orthodox Church, and one could see the organ in the background. I feel

sure it was a good instrument, but as I understand the Orthodox only use unaccompanied music, I suppose it will now fall into decay. Pity. Many of the older Dublin organs were built by Telford who had their factory on Charlemont St and I used to notice it when we went to town on the bus. I remember my mother telling me that an organ was a frightfully expensive instrument to buy — at least a thousand pounds! Telford are long gone of course (before 1939 I think), but they must have played a considerable role in the C of I of old. Certainly they built the original organ at St Columba's, powered by water coming down the mountain stream.

Adrian Somerfield, St Thomas’ Mount Merrion

The Hymn Society of Great Britain and Ireland has

issued a paper, written by the hymnologist Alan Luff, surveying new hymn books published during the past ten years. The paper suggests that what used to be called the ‘hymn explosion’ has now become a ‘flowing river’. A slight pause in the second half of the 1990s was reflected by increased activity around the turn of the millennium. Alan Luff points to a significant trend in the writing of worship songs. There now seems to be ‘a tendency to produce better crafted and more thoughtful texts’ and certainly the introduction to the The Source (1998) questions the extent to which the plethora of ‘subjective experience’ songs being written and the placing of existential experience and individual ful-fillment at the centre of things, has really influenced our worship. This trend appears to be confirmed by the following quote from a song writer in Kingsway’s Worship Together magazine:

Every so often, I really enjoy writing hymn-songs — pieces with a more stately feel, easy to sing, but lyrically working within a tight metre and rhyming scheme. For me the structure seems to add gravitas to the meaning. I also like the idea that a ‘historical’ feel makes a song accessible to a wider range of churches.

Comments such as these seem to suggest that the world of worship song is looking beyond the stylistic (and theological?) ghetto of their own making. And certainly it has become increasingly obvious that editors are convinced that any new hymn book now needs to include a selection of the worship songs that the tradition in which the editors work might once have totally rejected.

Alan Luf’f’’s paper ends with a list of all the new hymn books published during the decade. Commenting on Common Praise (2000), the paper points to a rebalancing of older material. Compared with 1950, J.M. Neale has been cut from 56 to 30, Charles Wesley is up from 30 to 39 and Isaac Watts’ contribution is up from 17 to 28. Heber is down from 11 to 5, Baker from 16 to 11 and Ellerton from 15 to 5. The editors of Common Worship ‘have introduced some older hymns of doubtful quality that their predecessors might have eschewed, on the grounds that the worshipping public demand them’. This fascinating obser-vation points to the influence of what might be called ‘pew power’ and applies equally to Church Hymnal 2000.

The above are just a few flavours from this informative

paper, A Hymn Book Survey 1993-2003, available from

The Hymn Society, The Vicarage, 7 Paganel Road,

Minehead, Somerset, TA24 5ET.

HYMN BOOKS, 1993-2003

Letters to the Editor

(

Correct entries to Crossword 4 arrived from John Godden, Eric de Courcey, Adrian Somerfield, E. Ashmore, William Yeoman and Iris Maguire. Well done to all! The lucky one whose name came out of the mythical “hat” was John Godden of Glendalough — to whom the prize is on its way. The full solution to the puzzle appears below.

Puzzle 5 follows, and solutions to

this should reach the Editor by the end of September. Be sure to include full name and address.

Clues across 1. A series of fugues and canons

by Bach all on the same theme (3,3,2,5)

8. Metrical division of music (3)

10. Italian title for a conductor or composer (7)

11. Alfred, English organist and composer, blind from birth (7)

12 Digit for lower piston (3)

13. Not ordained (3)

14. A 4 foot stop of closed pipes made by German builders in the 17th and 18th centuries (5+5)

17. Franz, Hungarian pianist and

composer (5)

19. Piece of music for violin and piano by Raff, at Cana VI perhaps? (8)

21. Jesus Christ hath done this today (5)

23 Short Italian river (2)

24. (3)

25. Broken dens finally (4)

26. “.... us a son is born”

27. Two performers (3)

28. Christopher, German composer of Orpheus (5)

29. A gospel writer (4)

30. Prefix signifying an instrument an octave lower (6)

31. Progression of notes in steps (5)

32. Ebenezer, 19th century English organist, conductor, composer and writer of musical textbooks

34. Charles, American 19th/20th century organist and composer, known for his Concord piano sonata (4)

36. Dramatic musical work (5)

38. String-toned diapason (6)

41. Louis, German 19th century violinist, conductor and composer of 17 violin concertos (5)

43. Useful appendages for music

appreciation (4)

45. Revert to original musical speed (1,5)

46. See 16 down

48. Musical copies, or 20s? (6)

49. Adolphe, inventor of brass

instrument (3)

Clues Down 1. George Thalben Ball was the

best known organist of this famous London church (6,5)

2. Probably Thalben Ball’s best- known composition (5)

3. Immediately slower (8)

4. Orchestral instruments found on most organs (5)

5. F in key C (3)

6. Vincenzo, 16th century Italian composer and lutenist. Had famous

astronomer son (7)

7. A biblical letter (7)

8. W.T, 19th century Liverpool organist; best known for orchestral arrangements for organ (4)

9. It’s indicated

by (6)

15. Choral work on biblical theme

16 (+ 46 across) A little night music (4,6,5,5)

18. Handel’s coronation priest (5)

20. One of twelve in plural becomes Elgar oratorio (7)

21. Pull out the stops! (8)

22. American bandmaster- composer of marches (5)

27. Organ fundamentals (9)

33. Exclamation of disgust (3)

35. This Christmas carol (from the south of England?) commences thus:

37. Full and plenty (5)

39. An original rustic dance becomes a Bach fugue (5)

40. Harmony’s bottom! (4)

42. In Royal David’s city (4)

44. Noah boats (4)

47. The penultimate note? (2)

Organists’ Crossword 5

be produced which will enable the

The Diocesan Church- Music

Committee

David McConnell gives news of recent and current activities

them to the participating groups and will

have skilled personnel available to give

start-up help in local situations.

Look out for more about this

WHAT’S OUR PURPOSE? innovative idea during the coming

months. The project will be led by

The Diocesan Church Music be present. Judy Cameron, cameronl@

Committee does not have a formal To cancel is always discouraging eircom.net, and Canon Ricky

‘mission statement’. Perhaps it and disappointing. The Committee Rountree, powerscourt@

should have. Words such as believes that many church glendalough.anglican.org. ‘support’, ‘encourage’, ‘inform’ and musicians welcome an opportunity

‘train’ come to mind when reflecting to meet socially from time to time. Committee on what we aim to do. There is Maybe we need to explore varying Archdeacon Edgar Swann never any shortage of ideas at ways of doing this. Any ideas? (Chairman), Rector, committee meetings. But Greystones Parish; implementing these ideas can be problematical in the absence of CHILDREN LEADING WORSHIP • Ruth Maybury (Secretary),

professional administrative support. When confronted with a host of

good ideas, focus is achieved by

Recent research has revealed a Organist, Christ Church, Dún significant need for help in Laoghaire;

establishing new junior choirs and • David McConnell (Treasurer),

prioritisng, and this is something the committee will have to look at if

it is to be effective.

children's groups involved in

leading the liturgical and musical

aspects of worship. With the help of a grant from the Church of Ireland

Organist, Zion Church, Rathgar;

• Randal Henly, (Editor),

Our mailing list now includes (we Priorities Fund, we intend to Organist, St Mary’s, Howth; hope) all church musicians establish a scheme on an initial • Kerry Houston, Organist, St (Anglican, Methodist, Presbyterian) pilot basis for the encouragement of Catherines, Donore Avenue;

in the dioceses of Dublin, Glendalough, Meath and Kildare, and even a few further afield. The

such groups through parish and school contacts. The scheme will involve the holding of a training

• Andrew Mackriell, Director of

St Patrick’s Cathedral

Committee always welcomes feed- back from church musicians, and

workshop, probably in Christ Chamber Choir. Church Cathedral, for children and • Canon Ricky Rountree, Rector,

suggestions. So, don’t be shy, let us music group leaders. Course Powerscourt with Kilbride;

know what you think. materials and resource packs will

• Donald Maxwell, Organist,

Our email address is participants to readily use the churchmusicdublin@eircom.net. material learned at the workshop in

Ballybrack,

• Judy Cameron, Organist,

Otherwise, 183 Stillorgan Close, their home parish situation. Enniskerry.

Stillorgan, Co. Dublin, tel: (01) 283 The project will produce resources

• Peter Barley, Organist & 1845.

TRAINING SCHEME on an ongoing basis and distribute

Director of Music, St Patrick’s

Cathedral.

Brochures about the diocesan training scheme for church musicians have been circulated

CHOIR TRAINING CLASS 2002-­­03 Peter Barley

widely. The course includes 28 On an early December evening, this year’s choir training class met for the

one-to-one organ lessons, and first time. Having run similar classes in London at the Merton Adult

group sessions on choir direction Education College, and the Royal Academy of Music, I was interested to see

and liturgy. The student, the how the Diocesan scheme here would compare. I was favourably impressed

nominating parish and the diocese by not only the standard of the students here, but also their eagerness to

share the cost of the scheme. The learn, not least from each other. This has always been a guiding principle in my

closing date for applications for the choir training sessions, namely that students can learn a lot from watching

2003-04 year is Friday 15 August. each other, as well as from hearing instructions and tips from a tutor.

DEPUTY ORGANISTS We had a good number of students, enough to form a small guinea pig choir

The revised list of deputy organists for each student to direct, but not so many that each didn’t get a fair turn.

was circulated recently and is now

published in the Dublin and

Glendalough diocesan directory.

Please keep us up to date with any

changes that need to be made. If

you would like your name added to

the list, just let us know.

EMPTY TABLES

Working mainly on repertoire from the Oxford Easy Anthem Book, we were

able to cover a wide range of the basic skills needed as a choral director.

Thus we began by learning beating patterns for different time signatures,

and then moved on to consider how to indicate dynamics, phrasing and

other musical subtleties. Alongside this, the practicalities of taking a

rehearsal, correcting mistakes, making good musical judgments, and use of

time were discussed.

One of the most important things as a conductor is eye contact with the singers you are directing. Much can be then conveyed to the singers, and

This year’s church musicians’ particularly for giving leads or warnings this is very important. A lot can dinner, scheduled for 19 May, had also be shown by gestures, and having mastered beating patterns, students

to be cancelled due to very poor were encouraged to try to become more independent with their left (i.e. advance bookings. We had 60 non-beating) hand. This hand can be used to shape phrases, to grade

people at the dinner in 2001 and dynamics, to encourage or to quieten, and to pinpoint leads.

those who did say that they would

2002, so the drop-off of interest is

hard to explain. If anyone can come

up with some reasons, we’d be glad

Many of these aspects rely on the conductor being properly prepared, and

knowing the score well. This was also covered in the classes, with

particular reference to marking up and preparing a score, and aids to

to hear from you. ‘Thank you’ to learning a score as a conductor.