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Iain Stinson's
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Updated 25 February 2004 |
Send mail to Iain Stinson |
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Iain Stinson's
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Updated 25 February 2004 |
Send mail to Iain Stinson |
Quick Links |
 Organ Related Links |
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Link Index |
| Welcome to my pages about
organs
I've created these pages for my personal use and to share information about the organ with others through the Internet. From time to time I will also use these pages to publish things I think may be of interest to the Internet organ community. I would welcome comments about the contents of the site - please contact me by e-mail. A little bit about me... I have been interested in the organ since childhood and have played as amateur since my early teens. By profession I am a computer scientist and am the Director of the Computing Service at The University of Liverpool. Since the summer of 2003 I play the organ at All Saint's Church Thornton Hough where we have a delightful Norman & Beard organ built in 1912. Details of the organ will follow soon. Before that I was organist at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Heswall for more than ten years. The details of the two manual Rushworth & Dreaper organ in the Good Shepherd can be found here. As the style of music within our church (and many others) has become more biased towards a so called modern style, and the use of the organ and traditional (Anglican) music diminished, I decided to take steps to ensure that I could continue to enjoy playing the organ without the necessity of holding a church post by buying an electronic organ for practice and pleasure at home (and, of course, I had always wanted a home organ too). I decided to go electronic because of space limitations and the
high cost of even a very modest pipe organ. I know that some would
suggest I would have been better having even the smallest pipe organ
rather and an electronic instrument - and it may have indeed been a better
vehicle instrument for me to develop (and practice) my
technique. However, as well as improving my playing technique, I
wanted to enjoy the thrill of playing an instrument with complete choruses
and a wide range of solo stops: many of us amateur organists don't
have ready (or regular) access to such instruments. After very
careful investigation, I purchased
I have tried my hand at a home (well "garage" to be accurate) pipe organ. I am some way through a project to install a small two manual and pedal instrument at one end of our garage. The instrument was purchased from the family of a gentleman who had installed this organ (rescued from a chapel) in his living room - they needed to have it removed following his untimely death. The organ had lost its case and had been very much altered from its 1850 origins when it came into my possession. I will report progress on this activity on the web site. I am interested in the production of sounds (organ sounds) through computer based electronic systems. I have a lot to learn in this area but find the whole area fascinating. I listen to a lot of recorded organ music and attend concerts and recitals. There are a large number of organ CDs out there - some of them are very good both in letting you hear the qualities of the instrument and in preserving outstanding performances. I do other things as well (and go to work too) - life is very hectic and hugely enjoyable. I have a very understanding and supportive family to whom, I am very grateful. I am greatly blessed.
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Links
My pages of links provides access to a diverse set of organ related Internet sites that I have found useful, interesting or amusing. You can navigate these either from the Quick Links section or from the Link Index. As I find new resources I add them to the pages and maintain the links on the pages.
Featured web sites The Schulze organ at Armley (Leeds) in the UK is presently being restored by Harrison and Harrison. This is an important instrument within the UK and many of us are looking forward to the completion of the restoration. The church has undergone major restoration in the last few years and the completion of the restoration of the organ is seen as the crowning glory of the restoration work. The organ has a very interesting history - it has been in three different locations. The church has produced an excellent booklet about the organ - see their web site for details of how to obtain it. I was brought up in South Shields and my first appointment as an organist was in the parish of St Jude which was adjacent to the parish of St. Mary Tyne Dock where a three manual Schulze organs was installed. When St. Mary's closed the organ was transferred to the Great Hall of Ellesmere College, a public school in Shropshire. There are other famous Schulze organs in the England including the five manual organ in Doncaster Parish Church and organ in St. Peter's Harrogate. Edmund Schulze had a great influence on organ building in England and his legacy is to be found in work by other builders (including T.C. Lewis and Brindley & Foster). We spent part of our holiday in France this year and
found some interesting organs. The web site
La Route des
Orgues de France gives an overview of some of the special instruments
in France.
We visited the church at Saint-Savin-en-Lavedan (Hautes-Pyrénées) where we saw the organ that was originally built in 1557 and recently subject to a restoration that retained the hand blowing system, and the moving sun, moon and human faces on the case (operated by the player). This little one manual organ has a few pedal notes and sounds delightful on CD - we could not stay to attend the concert when we visited. The Mander web site contains an update on the work on their restoration of the Royal Albert Hall Organ (London). The programme of work to restore the instrument to its state after the extensive works carried out by Arthur Harrison in the 1920s is described. At Harrison and Harrison's you can see in their list of work the overhaul of the organ at Royal Holloway (University of London), my old College, alongside the restoration of the Armley Schulze. On the electronic organ front do visit the Phoenix Organ site to see and hear their instruments. Their portfolio of completed work is growing and makes interesting reading. I came across a very interesting item of shareware that implements a classical organ. The program runs on a fast PC and replays sound samples (one per note per stop) though the PCs sound card. It is played through a midi connected keyboard or console. Have a look at Hautpwerk - it is an excellent piece of work by Martin Dyde (It takes a very long time to down load the large organ files even if you have access to a very fast link (the server is on a slow connection) - but you can get a copy on a CD from Martin). By the way the Stinson Band Organ Company is nothing to do with me - but it is a lot of fun! |
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© Iain Stinson, 2002, 2003, 2004; Disclaimer and copyright statement. |
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