As ever all staff and customers had a wonderful time with a thrilling day of organ music and advice in playing provided by Professor Ian Tracey and Daniel Bishop at our showroom in Mixbury on Saturday 2nd May.
Having Dan present brought an extra dimension to this annual event, now in its 17th year, with his solo pieces but also duets with Ian. It was so noticeable how Dan and Ian’s playing knitted together so well, but since Dan had his first lesson from Ian when he was seven, this should be no real surprise. In the absence of our usual page turners Mark Johnson and Chrissie Rawsthorne, Ian and Dan turned pages for each other … this was a massive relief to Keith who is a reluctant page turner!
We heard four instruments during the day (the Makin Gigue 3-53, a Makin Thirlmere Draw 2-36, a Makin Continuo 1-6 and a Johannus LiVE III-AGO) with various combinations of solo and duets on each.
The big difference this year was the second session when, with Dan as the Guinea Pig, Ian provided a most enjoyable discussion about organ registration and then spent time talking about improving your hymn playing. There is no doubt that all present took a great deal away from this. Where else can you get such a wonderful lesson in such a friendly environment?
There was time for just a brief Q&A session between Keith & Ian whose repartee through the day went down exceptionally well.
As ever well over £500 was raised from ticket sales, all of which goes to help maintain the Liverpool Cathedral pipe and digital organs; food was as ever provided by ChurchOrganWorld.
Tickets are already available for the Shaw edition of this event (Autumn Shades) on Saturday 3rd October at £15.00 each from here. With similar sessions and the benefit of visiting the adjacent Holy Trinity Church to hear a Thirlmere 2-35 in situ this too will be a popular event.
Some customer comments of this rather splendid day can be read below:-
From David Perry:
Thank you (and Corbie, family and staff) for another wonderful event with your usual warm welcome and generous hospitality.
I loved the new feature of a masterclass on registration and hymn-playing. And the continuance of the Q&A session. Many thanks to Ian and Dan. Those anecdotes are a delight!
It is always a pleasure to be introduced to new music that is not too difficult to play. And to be able to buy some of it in your comprehensive stock display.
From Lewis Jones:
What a triumph! Thank you both for your kind hospitality yesterday and for arranging what was a wonderful “Sounds of the Summer” with perfect weather and plenty of musical and aural interest in a comprehensive schedule. It was lovely to see you both (looking well, if I may be so bold) yesterday in the company of your family and Church Organ World staff too.
Whilst Dan was practising ahead of the event, Ian commented to me on the “quart into a pint pot” success with the Thirlmere, in terms of every stop being carefully chosen and voiced to be useful in a wide variety of contexts. I replied that it sounded very good indeed, even in a somewhat dry acoustic. No wonder that they’re selling like hot cakes. Others I talked to yesterday thought the same.
I must say how much I enjoyed your, Ian and Dan’s Registration Clinic and the Hymn Accompaniment hints. That has very definitively taken the SoS event to yet a further level and almost everyone will have gone away with things to think about (and do).
As always, a very big thank you for all the delicious food, coffee and tea. It was a bounteous spread and many I spoke to commented on how generous it was. I hope you weren’t left with enough to feed 5000!
From James & Izzy Stanton:
Thank you for another excellent day on Saturday. It was most enjoyable and very well organised. Please could you convey our thanks to your family and staff for their hard work and delicious food and drinks.
There was, as always, an excellent programme of music, and it is good to hear Ian’s amusing anecdotes in between the pieces.
It was a real bonus having Dan there as well, both in the duets and when he was being used as a guinea pig in the registration and hymn playing; I found this part of the day particularly interesting and helpful with lots of good advice.
