Organs (cinema, theatre, church, etc)

Hello, My chapel piano has now been fully overhauled, saving a cost of around £12K to replace as near as possible. The piano that was originally my home piano, is twenty years old, bought at a time of relative prosperity in the industry. It had so much sophistication, that when the chapel were looking to replace their acoustic piano in 2015, the piano market was in recession, so much of the sophistication was being cut from new electronic pianos. It's usually the mechanical mechanisms that wear, so having had the instrument electronics fully inspected, it was recommended by our visiting piano & organ engineer, just to overhaul the mechanics. The end product, I'm literally over the moon. That's the keyboard, upside down having had all of the return springs & contacts replaced. I'm so fortunate to know such a skilled technician, because they don't grow on trees.

Hello, Sad news, The Coventry Gaumont Organ will not be commissioned in time for the Bilston tea dance hall, opening date.

Hello, Ages since I posted on here. Of all the skills of organ & piano playing that really for me take the biscuit, is the "Pasedina" stile. It's where the piano part is pre-recorded, set in motion with the organist then playing to it. My Uncle was brill at doing that at the Coventry Gaumont until his retirement in 1966. I will post a YouTube of this technique for you to see & hear what's going on. An organ & phantom piano duette. Sadly this artist has now passed on. The piano is playing from a pre-recorded scroll, whilst the organist plays to it. Hope you enjoy. Hi-fi, or earphone will bring it out for full enjoyment. I don't believe that there's half a dozen organists in the world that can perform like this. Half a decade on, I'm so proud of my Uncle who really shone with this skill.

Sadly, Not only are cinema organs a thing of the past, the dance venues I believe are possibly on their way out. The tower ballroom in Blackpool has very poor visitor numbers for the most recent years. I've see the dance floor crowded until the millennium, but not anymore.

FRIDAY NIGHT IS MUSIC NIGHT. Anna Lapwood Earphones or HiFi please to enjoy this treasure. I hope you enjoy. Anna Lapwood. Philharmonic Orchestra. Just one more

Hello, I listened yesterday to the complete performance of Handel's Messiah. I wondered if I could lay my hands on my full music score hard cover book, that was given to me as a birthday present in 1964. In reasonable condition considering it's usage. I was chatting with my dear forum friend, where I honestly cannot remember the last time I used it for a performance. Such is totally beyond my capability now. The speed of the staccato quaver accompanying is very demanding. I only try to tell it as it is. Yet, I've always loved that kind of choir accompanying. The Sunday, next day after my wedding to Pam, I accompanied a forty strong choir who sang a harvest cantata, Garnered Grain, which is loaded with that kind of accompaniment. A feature tune that used that kind of accompaniment Summer place. Only that in Handel's Messiah, it's nearly twice the speed & changing constantly.

The best thing is to look for something else in your home and then it will turn up ! But if you can't find it there are several on ebay for about £10.

Hello Anne, How often that happens, like it did on Thursday.

Hello, I bet you've never heard a theatre organ, piano & drums quite like this for a birthday party. Possibly the most modern theatre pipe organ.

Hello, Talk about technology! I'm in the slow lane. One of the problems with hi-tech instruments, is rather than having umpteen stops & switches, each one clearly labelled, most instruments use digital display screens where we choose, then modify to suit & away we go. I've been ok with that, but the minute the instruments are switched off, they resume their default setting. Bang goes my saved settings. Thank goodness for the skills of our chapel guitarist. Calmly, he's formatted a memory stick & introduced me to this wonderful scenario of arriving at chapel, switching the power on, inserting the memory stick, where in seconds I have the whole organ pre-set to my favourite settings. I've got a black stick & a pink stick. Will I soon have a green or blue stick? Tune in the same time next week. Bye for now.

Hello, I'm so grateful for the instruction that I'm receiving from our chapel classical guitar player, regards setting up pre-sets, to be recorded permanently on memory sticks. I'm now doing the same at home. Our home instrument is a dedicated symphony orchestra organ, which also includes classical organ. Instead of going through an index selector that's so long, I've narrowed it down to four main groups. At chapel, instead of a screen menus as here, we have variously coloured memory sticks. Does exactly the same thing. It's setting the pre-sets, not the sounds. I can do that as I'm going along playing. At chapel, I have a separate control to bring the phantom piano in or out. Oh I get so excited. Thank you Andrew. You give an old bod so much delight.

Hello, What a technology, all stored in a stick! For me to say that I'm not fond of organ music would be daft. My favourite music has to be symphonic orchestral music, with all of the texture of the instruments & voices if a choir is involved, plus a concert organ if the hall is grand enough to house one. That's a no no in my lounge. For years, space restricts to possibly a compromise upright piano, maybe an instrumentalist. Or a radio-gram. Just look at what's available now because of the electronics & digital revolution. I was seventy years old before I ever entertained the idea of an organ at home, just when their popularity bubble was dying out. I had always enjoyed electronic pianos along with synths. I then heard Hauptwerk™ software. So I bought a 25 year old Yamaha EL90 organ just to drive Hauptwerk™. Pictures of that setup on post 41&42. The best thing for me since sliced toast. There's always a snag. I had some symphony orchestra samples also, but that's when I realised the inflexibility of the samples systems. It's either on or off. The only variations is by dropping one instrument out & bringing in another. So the texture is lost. What I've got now is a compromise. Maybe I need another two organs at home. A maid of all works like our chapel organ. My orchestral instrument like I have, plus a sampled cinema organ. I suppose I could try & buy a village hall. Oh, I can just hear the complaints. "Turn that racket down". I'm very satisfied with what I have.

Err - umm, pardon my ignorance but what is a radio-gram. ??? I wish I could say I am not that old but I am he he he

Jo! My first thought was 'who reads ALL the instructions when they get a new toy?' Who hasn't discovered a feature years later and thought 'Oh, that's what that button's for'.