The UK's leading Digital Church Organ specialist
David Pipe (pictured above and to right) heads the new Organists Training Programme, a partnership between the Diocese of Leeds Music Department and the Royal College of Organists. David studied Music as Organ Scholar of Downing College, Cambridge, and later as a postgraduate at the Royal Academy of Music. He worked at York Minster, for…
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Sir Charles Hubert Hastings Parry, ( 1848 – 1918) was a fine composer, teacher and historian of music. As a composer he is no doubt best known for the choral song Jerusalem which sets the words of William Blake. And recently he came to notice again when his coronation anthem I was Glad was part of…
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For our 2016 series of You Tube videos we have changed to present a Hymn of the Month. This is in response to customers requesting recordings of how our instruments would support church worship. The tutorial series has moved to a new channel dedicated to our custom built Regent Classic instruments. These videos can now be…
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As a fun challenge that runs until June 30th this year we have set up an online quiz. You can play for fun or have a chance to win our Envoy 35-F if you are resident in the UK, Northern Ireland or Eire. What is the challenge? We have 2 challenges – each comprising of…
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The Church of St Bride’s is justly world famous. With 2000 years history of worship on the site today’s landmark building was the invention of Christopher Wren famous for so many of London’s churches including of course St Paul’s Cathedral. An earlier building destroyed by the Great Fire of 1666 followed a succession of churches that…
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Our tune this month is written by a most remarkable American William Howard Doane Doane was born in Connecticut in 1832 to prosperous parents. His father was the head of Doane and Treat, cotton manufacturers. Doane showed impressive musical talent and by early adolescence he was playing the flute, violin and double bass fiddle. Doane attended…
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The first record of this tune is in a hymnal (Gesangbuch) published in 1784 for the Duke of Wurtemberg. Ellacombe takes the name of a village in Devonshire. It was first set to the words “Ave Maria, klarer und lichter Morgenstern.” During the first half of the nineteenth century various German hymnals altered the tune….
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I have not been to Newcastle for many years so was especially pleased to be invited to be the guest speaker at the Newcastle and District Society of Organists Annual Dinner. This invitation came from Peter Chatfield, one their Vice Presidents – a very passionate organ person and who, like myself, is very active on…
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Born about 1575 Dallam served an apprenticeship as a Blacksmith but went on to become an organ builder of great repute and is believed to have built the organs of Kings College Cambridge, Eton College and the Cathedrals of Norwich, Bristol and Worcester. But none of the commissions can rival the extraordinary instruction from Queen…
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This month we feature “Lord of All Hopefulness” as part of our Hymn of the Month series played by our in-house organist, Jonathan Kingston. Slane is believed to be an old Irish folk tune and the name is certainly common to a hill near Tara in County Meath, Ireland. It first came to significant attention…
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This month we feature “All My Hope on God is Founded” as part of our Hymn of the Month series played by our inhouse organist, Jonathan Kingston. The original words “Meine Hoffnung stehet feste” were written in around 1680 by Joachim Neander and these are often sung to an early German tune of the same name….
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Early on the morning of Friday November 13th (in 2015) we received an e-mail (9.30am) from a church asking if they could hire an organ, as their magnificent Rieger organ blower had failed. By 10.30 that morning we had offered the church 2 options and we had an agreement to supply but without commitment to make it…
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Earlier this year we received our largest ever enquiry for 20 single manual instruments to replace a variety of older instruments from various manufacturers used in the UGLE meeting rooms. Needless to say this was an exciting prospect and we duly sharpened our pencil and were delighted to have the order confirmed in the spring….
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When asked to play the organ, many pianists agree only very reluctantly. Often, they feel pressured into helping out during church services, when the regular organist is not available. Most times, they’re not unwilling but worried that they don’t understand how to ‘work’ all the knobs and certainly the pedals that manage the sound. The…
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I never cease to be amazed with the level of trouble some organists will go to, to ensure that they are able to play. Especially those in the hauptwerk community. These extraordinarily enthusiastic musicians often share with us on our Facebook Page – about the quite large and complex instruments they have put together from all sorts of…
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We have received a number of requests asking us to present music that our instruments would routinely play in a church context. So what better examples than well known and loved hymn tunes? This year we are launching our new tutorial series called ‘Hymn of the Month’. So watch out for them each month. This month we…
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It is always a joy to see a number of our loyal customers upgrading instruments over time as they move from 2 to 3 manuals or from older technology to the very latest we have available. Some of our customers even have more than one instrument! It is rare though to have the pleasure of…
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Wednesday September 30th (2015) saw an early evening recital by Thomas Trotter to celebrate the refurbishment of the Willis Organ in the main meeting room of the United Grand Lodge of England. Built originally in 1933 it is the largest of 3 Willis organs in the building but the only one that has remained in…
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In late October the Kings School Ely lent their Envoy 350-FV to the Cathedral for a performance of the Widor Mass for 2 organs. The instrument so impressed the Cathedral Music team that they approached us for an instrument to add flexibility to their Advent music programme. As you can see from the pictures below…
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Are you an organist in search of new and interesting pieces to add to your services and performance works? You’re not alone. I share some of the music I’ve found to be less demanding and delightful to play… I imagine most organists that fall into my proficiency bracket (reluctantly, I know my place) suffer the…
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In this final edition of the 2015 series, we bring you a request, the famous Toccata from Widor’s 5th Organ Symphony played on our Regent 356. A hugely demanding piece to play well requiring rock solid tempo and strength for the endless repetition of the arpeggio passages that at times are far from comfortable. But when…
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Why not try an organ lesson with one of the Royal College teachers? You do not have to be expert and lessons are graded for relative beginners all the way up to diploma students. Details of lessons can be found at on the RCO Organ School Page. I have attended a number now. Usually a…
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This post is part of a series where I share some of my world travels, which my love for organs has taken me. I help friends, associates and fellow organ lovers with projects that mean I get to see new and old organs in gorgeous settings and really experiment with this instrument. There are many…
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Mondaino is a beautiful historic hillside town just above Rimini with wonderful views out to the Adriatic. The walled medieval centre was highly defended with substantial gates but today the town has expanded well beyond its original centre. Mondaino is home to the headquarters of the Viscount International business which extends also to San Marino…
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