Organs (cinema, theatre, church, etc)

Hi Dreamtime, This was originally a piece of music written for Pianola. I heard several ragtime pianists play it including Winifred Atwell. Kitten on Keys I thought that you might enjoy listening to this Dreamtime. Theatre Organ in Sydney I realise that it is the wrong side of your big country for you.

Thank you so much, Philip. Slaughter on Tenth Ave. is always a winner, and what a brilliant organist. Ragtime is not a favourite of mine but I do admire the artistes who still perform. I do associate Winifred Attwell with Kitten on Keys now that you mention it. Heaven forbid was it that long ago, see what this forum does for us? The best music will always be remembered. How you can operate two feet, two hands and a brain all at the same time beats me, that is what I call clever. You mention a Pianola, my gran had one and the only roll I used to play was the 'Robin's Return' - oh those poor neighbours.

Hi all I am very fearful that one of our countries icon exhibits may be heading for the same scrapyard as most of the others. I am hearing rumours that Merlin Entertainments' (formerly THF) who run the Tower Ballroom in Blackpool may be pulling the plug owing to falling numbers. Blackpool as a holiday resort is in a spiral of economic decline as well as loosing chunks of its residential population each year. This is only a rumour, but has come from a former organist friend of mine who used to play there. I am glad that I have got my Yamaha. I will ask my friend to dig out a pit so that it can rise out of the floor in my music room.

From watching the Midlands News on Sky last night I see that 'Merlin Entertainments' are one of the entities vying to purchase the NECC and subsidiaries. Maybe their selling off other assets to obtain enough capital!

Is this our Philip without his cap? No, of course it's not, but the sound was wonderful nevertheless - North Pier, Blackpool, yesterday

Hi all I believe that the organist in the picture is Trevor Raven. Not only playing the reproduction theatre organ but also a Tyros synth*, which has been added at the top of the instrument. Thank you for the picture, Midland Red. Brill! Trevor Raven * The Tyros might be a modified HX1, incorporating Tyros software. This was I time of much development by Yamaha from the middle of the eighties.

Hi all It was my very sad duty when in my early twenties to play for the funeral of a former KHVIII master at St John's church in Fleet St. Earlier this year I happened to be in St John's listening to an organist playing, when at the first note, it became obvious that the organ was a classic electronic, not a pipe organ. I knew that the console (the bit with the keys) had been moved to the opposite side of the church, as I had seen that before, but never heard it played. The front visible pipes were still in their original position, moving the console was nothing out of the ordinary, as organs were often modernised & converted to electro-pneumatic, as apposed to the original mechanical tracker rod systems. It meant that an electro console can be positioned anywhere. It adds further to the sad reality that even our city centre churches can ill afford the costs associated with maintaining pipe organs. Some churches where there is a pretty ambience, where they are able to command a high fee structure for weddings & the like, may be able to keep their pipes, but that will be all. I bet that within the next five years, we will only have three churches in Coventry with pipes.

I saw this last week and thought of you Philip

Hi all Thinking of our friends down under, hope you like this - Cinema Organ Down Under

Hi all I am so excited. I am meeting an organ technical expert who is also a distinguished organist on Friday in Coventry, who has re-kindled my interest in the sampling software technology of theatre organs. So in the meantime, here is here is some music.

Hi all Not the best of pictures, but an insight into my sampled music software technology at home. My existing bought as vintage, Yamaha EL90 organ, has all that is needed in the shape of MIDI controlling, so as to accurately drive the software. I am also keeping my digital synths, the Korg micro with the monitor keyboard, as well as my giant Roland XV-3080 rack synth, probably the most sophisticated synth ever, in spite of being over a decade old. Synth manufacturers have had to cut back on specifications so as to match what folk can afford to spend. The hey-days of the late eighties, where every music band had tens of thousands' to spend on rack-mounts & synths, each costing several thousands each have long gone. The above picture shows my new 8g laptop, set on the "stop" setting page of the Tower Ballroom Wurlitzer, as well as the reflection of my window. I have three software organs loaded so far, which includes two medium sized classic organs. Enough for me to get to grips with using the technology. More instruments will be loaded in a few weeks time. If the bug really bites me on this, rather than a laptop, with its limited sound quality output, familiar to most of you I am sure, I may later invest in a dedicated sound controlling computer, which will permit a better distribution of sound to various speakers. The technology is so user friendly. For example, the settings on my Yamaha have not changed, yet I am able to used the pre-set buttons on my Yamaha, to select my pre-sets on the laptop organs. To be blunt, it is mind blowing for my low level of this technical understanding. I tell you what though, it's such fun & yes, I still love my neighbours, as indeed I hope they do me. I have not seen any houses for sale signs go up yet! Lastly, is there anyone out there that can play this thing?

Hi all To record this picture, my back is up against our railway, & everything to the right of the picture is our railway, so there is not enough space for a tea dance. The woolly animals don't seem to mind, hey! They put up with me.

Hi all The purest of music connoisseurs will understandably shun at the thought of theatre organs, being a compromise instrument. Neither a classical organ, nor sounding much like the instruments that it is reproducing. Most people like music, it is part of our culture of enjoyment whether socially for dancing to, or classical performance. It was what ever would meet a need at least cost. Accompanying silent movies was the original driver for the development of the theatre organ. One man cost less to pay, than having to pay a whole orchestral salary bill. The same theme of economics continues, as the talkie movies removed the need for an organ. The thing was that the organ itself had generated its own following. I remember the late Mr Deakin, one time manager of the old Coventry Gaumont cinema, employed an organist to entertain, not just between films, but separately advertised organ concerts, much the same as even now, Coventry Cathedral have mid-day organ concerts. The same economics continues unabated, as the one man disco virtually put the dance band out of existence. Each change in technology brings about its own wave of redundancies, but in its wake, some of us enjoy going to a dance where a live band is playing. Some folk even go to a church just to listen to the organ, but the shadow of costs & economics is hitting hard in churches, where they struggle to afford either an organist or the upkeep of an organ. My own church currently uses the smallest of spinet home organs, which is almost like using a child's pedal car to tow a bus, lacking in power to lead singing. It is my hope, if it has not arrive too late, that the arrival of my flavour of the month, digital sound sampling technology might provide an economic base for a recovery for churches, or even theatres to have as a music provider. I dream of a day when I am sat enjoying my breakfast bacon bun, in the Belgrade theatre cafe, of hearing the sounds of a theatre organ drifting around. These days the equipment does not even need the organist, just a digital auto player. Having said that, we are almost back to listening to a CD. Oh well, at least I can listen to my do it myself version. Is it just me, that I try to live in the past, with my model railway & music from times past?

Hi Philip, No, you are not living in the past. Your model railways and organ music can show others about the past. Here at Willowbrook we have several groups of young people coming in to learn about individual histories first hand - not the sanitised version printed in books that often passes as truth. With at least 10 residents over 90 the youngsters get a glimpse of life as it was. We are also interested in each others histories to broaden our own knowledge of the past. A few weeks ago I persuaded another resident to join me in exhibiting model cars. He was reluctant at the start but was amazed at the response we got. Just two dining tables of our model vehicles from the 1950s and 60s jogged the memories of others and brought forth their stories from that era. I wish I had made recordings at the time.

Hi Morgana & Pixrobin, Hi all There was a time when I was being pushed into music in order to make my living, but an accountant friend of mine summed my situation up with this. He was a keen birdwatcher, an expert in fact, even wrote a university degree paper on the subject that was published, but he said to me that he was enjoying a better standard of living as an accountant, than in the field of bird watching. Before I qualified, I took home more dosh from music engagements than as a trainee accountant. That all changed as you would expect. I have never been any good at cheating, so a life of music would have been so difficult for me. It is one thing to prepare & practice for specific events, but to practice so as to maintain 24/7 is a world of difference. For six years, I had turned my Pam into a piano widow, the term used to describe that period where every day of the week was either preparation or performance, with band work, church organ & so on. The reality is that what might have been hasn't, but I can still imagine a trainload of small folk, alighting at Hounds Hill station on our railway, so as to enjoy an afternoon cream tea under the sound of a virtual reality theatre organ. Tea & tune at Pamphilias! Oh dear! PS It's all in the mind, thank goodness.