Viscount Organs are proud to support The Diocese of Leeds Organists’ Training Programme by providing them with a loan instrument. We wrote back in 2016 how we were delighted to provide this programme with an Envoy 35-F organ to be used during organ lessons.
The Diocese of Leeds Organists’ Training Programme was created in 2016 to provide high-quality organ tuition within the Diocese of Leeds in northern England. The Director of the Organists’ Training Programme is David Pipe, who is also Cathedral Organist. The Programme is in partnership with the Royal College of Organists, who works closely with the Diocese of Leeds to prepare their syllabus of entry-level qualifications to attract and encourage school pupils.
Inspiring young pupils to take organ lessons
We weren’t really sure how much our organ was being used so it was really encouraging to receive this message from David Pipe earlier this year.
The Diocese of Leeds Organists’ Training Programme is indebted to Viscount Classical Organs for their generous support in loaning an Envoy 35-F to help facilitate teaching in Leeds Cathedral.
The instrument has allowed many young pupils (some as young as nine years old) to begin lessons, and the Envoy’s wide tonal palette has given them the chance to explore the wealth of sounds that organs can create. Several adults have also taken the opportunity to have organ lessons, and the Viscount instrument has been particularly popular in supporting studies on a wide range of repertoire.
The Organists’ Training Programme has now been running for three years, and includes almost fifty young pupils on its teaching roster across much of West Yorkshire. Several pupils have left for university, and one is now reading Music as Organ Scholar of St Catharine’s College in Cambridge.
Pupils enjoy the Envoy’s musical range and comfortable playing-position, and many have made the most of using headphones to practise between lessons!
Hopefully many more pupils will have the opportunity to practice or take lessons on our organ and inspire them for the future. We hope that they will all share the love and enthusiasm for this king of instruments as much as we do.
I have had a passion for church organs since the tender age of 12. I own and run Viscount Organs with a close attention to the detail that musicians appreciate; and a clear understanding of the benefits of digital technology and keeping to the traditional and emotional elements of organ playing.
I wish there was such a program closer to where I live in the Medway (Kent). I’m losing my current teacher by June this year (she’s moving back to Derbyshire) and there is no such program that I know of locally, or even in Kent