The first edition of The English Chamber Organ was published in 1968. This new, revised edition takes into account the considerable research into chamber organs that has taken place over the last thirty years. Much of the book has been completely rewritten and expanded, and it includes a number of organs not detailed in the first edition. As its revised title suggests, this new edition covers foreign-make imports as well as British-made organs that were sent overseas. Part one comprises a series of chapters that cover the history of the chamber organ, its origins and development. Part two provides a general introduction to the construction of organs, while part three gives detailed descriptions of 196 British chamber organs, with information on their location, specifications, design, and suggestions for further reading. As a domestic instrument the chamber organ was often perceived to be as much a piece of furniture as an item of musical equipment. The Chamber Organ in Britain offers an assessment of the organ as both a musical instrument and as a decorative icon.
The first edition of The English Chamber Organ was published in 1968. This new, revised edition takes into account the considerable research into chamber organs that has taken place over the last thirty years. Much of the book has been completely rewritten and expanded, and it includes a number of organs not detailed in the first edition. As its revised title suggests, this new edition covers foreign-make imports as well as British-made organs that were sent overseas. Part one comprises a series of chapters that cover the history of the chamber organ, its origins and development. Part two provides a general introduction to the construction of organs, while part three gives detailed descriptions of 196 British chamber organs, with information on their location, specifications, design, and suggestions for further reading. As a domestic instrument the chamber organ was often perceived to be as much a piece of furniture as an item of musical equipment. The Chamber Organ in Britain offers an assessment of the organ as both a musical instrument and as a decorative icon.
For a pianist or organist new to playing the organ.This book has been written for the pianist who has never played an organ or an organist unfamiliar with the Roland, Rodgers or Infinity organs, but may be used by an experienced organist as well. Designed to be used for self-teaching but also useful when studying with a teacher.The Playing the Church Organ series is also useful for the experienced organist as it quickly introduces you to using all the stops on the organ, ones named on the stop tablets or drawknobs, and all that are waiting inside for you to call on them to more perfectly match the stops you choose to the music you are playing.This innovative teaching system works backwards - the goal is not to teach you all about playing the organ, it's to get you playing the organ with confidence and sounding professional from the first day you play, even if you have never had an organ lesson and just know how to play piano or a keyboard.Technique:We achieve this by starting you off with preset sounds, just as a teacher does, but here you control them yourself, right from the beginning. All that you need to learn to get started are three things:• Pressing Piston Buttons.When you press a piston button, the organ is ready for you to play. We have picked music for you that only uses the keyboards. This isn't simplified music - there has been a lot of organ music written for organs without pedals - in fact, even during the time of Handel, many organs only had keyboards. You will find the number of the piston to push at the top of the music - then you just begin to play. • Which Keyboard to Play?We mark every piece for you so you know which keyboard you [play.• The Expression Pedal Sets the Volume.You'll be surprised when you find out that the organ is not as difficult as you are able to focus more on playing the notes instead of also making them loud or soft or somewhere in between. • What happens then?“But...do I have to play the pedals?” You will find organ music written without pedals in books 1-4 that is easy to medium difficulty. As you play through the music you will be using 10 preset sound combinations that are enough to play services, including weddings and memorial services. This book also hows you how to use the Bass Coupler to play the pedals for you automatically on some of the music - we do this to get you excited and interested in playing them yourself.• This first book contains 33 pieces of useful music for you to enjoy playing the voices you are learning about. • The first four books in this series are a complete course in music for the organ, as well as exploring the stops of the organ.• Careful attention to encouraging you through lots of interesting music that is playable and that your congregation will appreciate. • These books may be used with or without a teacher.• Book 13 - A Playing Guide to the Roland, Rodgers and Infinity Organs is a good companion guide to this series qof instruments.
The Encyclopedia of Organ includes articles on the organ family of instruments, including famous players, composers, instrument builders, the construction of the instruments, and related terminology. It is the first complete A-Z reference on this important family of keyboard instruments. The contributors include major scholars of music and musical instrument history from around the world.
Organ, Volume 3 of the Encyclopedia of Keyboard Instruments, includes articles on the organ family of instruments, including famous players, composers, instrument builders, the construction of the instruments and related terminology. It is the first complete reference on this important family of keyboard instruments that predated the piano. The contributors include major scholars of music and musical instruments from around the world.
The Bloomsbury Encyclopedia of Popular Music Volume 1 provides an overview of media, industry, and technology and its relationship to popular music. In 500 entries by 130 contributors from around the world, the volume explores the topic in two parts: Part I: Social and Cultural Dimensions, covers the social phenomena of relevance to the practice of popular music and Part II: The Industry, covers all aspects of the popular music industry, such as copyright, instrumental manufacture, management and marketing, record corporations, studios, companies, and labels. Entries include bibliographies, discographies and filmographies, and an extensive index is provided.
Established for the building of keyboard instruments, by the mid-1790s the workshop of brothers Robert and William Gray had become one of the leading organ-makers in London, with instruments in St Paul's, Covent Garden and St Martin-in-the-Fields. Under William's son John Gray, the firm built some of the largest English organs of the 1820s and 1830s, as well as exporting major instruments to Boston and Charleston in the United States. In the early 1840s, with the marriage of John Gray's daughter to Frederick Davison - a member of the circle of Bach-enthusiasts around the composer Samuel Wesley - the firm became 'Gray & Davison'. Davison was a progressive figure who reformed workshop practices, commissioned a purpose-built organ factory in Euston Road and opened a branch workshop in Liverpool to exploit the booming market for church organs in Lancashire and the north-west. Under Davison's management, the firm was responsible for significant mechanical and musical innovations, especially in the design of concert organs. Instruments such as those built in the 1850s for Glasgow City Hall, the Crystal Palace and Leeds Town Hall were heavily influenced by contemporary French practice; they were designed to perform a repertoire dominated by orchestral transcriptions. Many of the instruments made by the firm have been lost or altered; but the surviving organs in St Anne, Limehouse (1851), Usk Parish Church (1861) and Clumber Chapel (1889) testify to the quality and importance of Gray & Davison's work. This book charts the firm's history from its foundation in 1772 to Frederick Davison's death in 1889. At the same time, it describes changes in musical taste and liturgical use and explores such topics as provincial music festivals, the town hall organ, domestic music-making and popular entertainment, the building of churches and the impact on church music of the Evangelical and Tractarian movements. It will appeal to organ aficionados interested in the evolution of the English organ in the later Georgian and Victorian eras, as well as other music scholars and cultural historians. NICHOLAS THISTLETHWAITE has written extensively on the history of the English organ and other aspects of English church music, and his book, The making of the Victorian organ (1990) is recognised as the standard work on the subject. He has acted as consultant for the restoration and rebuilding of organs, most recently at St Edmundsbury Cathedral and Christ Church