Monthly Archives: May 2012

Festal Evensong & Celebration of the ‘Handel’ Organ by the Bishop of Portsmouth

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On SUNDAY May 20th – 6.00, The Bishop of Portsmouth and the Portsmouth Cathedral Choir will be celebrating Festal Evensong at the Holy Trinity Church Gosport.

The Handel Organ at the Holy Trinity Church Gosport

The Handel Organ at the Holy Trinity Church Gosport

The service was to bless the newly-restored organ, unfortunatlely it won’t be playable in time. Romsey OrganWorks will be providing a replacement instument.

The canticles will be Brewer in D and the anthem, Blessed by God and Father by S.S. Wesley.

We will be using Haverhill OIC Extended sample set configured specifically to suit the acoustic of the building.

Please come and support us!

Console Dimensions

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I receive many requests regarding organ console dimensions. I thought it would be useful to host 2 documents that have proved to be of value. The first was created by the Wicks Organ Company.  It was originally hosted on their own web site but the link has been removed. It contains a significant error. The text is accuate, but the drawing shows the height of the manuals over the pedalboard as 29.5″ from the pedalboard playing surface to the playing surace of the middle keyboard. This is incorrect, you would never be able to get your knees under the keyboards! The dimension is 29.5″ from the pedalboard playing surface to the playing surface of the lower keyboard. Wicks AGO Console Dimensions.

The next document was drawn by Clive Sidney in 2003 and details British Organ Console Dimensions – . Recommended Standard 1967. British RCO Console Dimensions.

Finally I have a document simply labeled Hill Norman and Beard.

Expression Pedals

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The time has come to replace the trusty Yamaha FC-7 pedal on our 3 manual rental organ with some real organ expression pedals.
The pedals I’m using have a cast almuminium footplate and a 10K rotary pot. They are beautifully made. Please contact me if you would like more information.
The FC-7 was mounted on the pedalboard toe rail. This would not be satisfactory for the new pedals as they are much larger and require more support.
The solution was to fabricate a shelf thats sits above the toe-rail.

Expression Pedals Mounting

Expression Pedals mounting

The pedals are mounted in their own housing. The housing sits on the shelf. In order to prevent flexing, the shelf needs to be braced.

Expression Pedals Housing

Expression Pedals Housing

The knee-board needed substantial modification. The overall appearance is quite pleasing.

Expression Pedals Fitted

Expression Pedals Fitted

Just the electrics to do.

Tyntesfield 15th April 2012

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Romsey OrganWorks was asked by The Prayer Book Society to supply an organ for a service of Solemn Eucharist at Tyntesfield. The small, recently restored chapel used to have a pipe organ but it was removed in the 1950s.

Tyntesfield Chapel

Tyntesfield Chapel

Preparation for the event started some months before. The National Trust staff were extremely helpful and accommodating. The main issue was finding a space to locate the instrument. Our portable 3 manual with pedal instrument needs an area approximately 4′ 6″ square. It was decided to remove 2 rows of chairs from the back of the chapel.

Organ in the chapel

Organ in the chapel

On arrival we were faced with another challenge, access to the chapel was down a steep gravel path. Luckily our portable instrument completely dismantles.

The organist, David Bruce-Payne, acclimatised to the instrument very quickly. We spent some time voicing as the small volume of the chapel caused some low frequency booming.

David Bruce-Payne at the organ

David Bruce-Payne at the organ

The service went without a hitch – apart from incense setting off the fire alarm!