March 2007
Notes and News (Soundboard March 2007)	Show Menu

New Committee Member

Jacqueline Mullen is a parishioner of St Thomas', Mount Merrion, where she is a member of the music team with responsibility of helping to teach new material, accompanying on piano and occasionally substituting on the organ. As a Sunday Club leader she teaches new songs to the children—who then teach them to the adult members of the congregation. She became involved in church music in her teens, playing piano for services in a Baptist Church. She took organ lessons while at secondary school. A piano diploma, obtained after leaving school, became very useful when she gave up her career to be a full time mother. She now teaches piano and the theory of music to children and adults, and currently she is studying for a certificate in sacred music with the RSCM.

Summer Organ Recitals at Saint Patrick's Cathedral

Each summer, the Willis organ in Saint Patrick's Cathedral is used to host a series of organ recitals. This year, the recitals occur in May and June, and also in conjunction with the Cathedral's Heritage Week at the end of August. Recitalists come from many countries, and are a mixture of established musicians, and younger prize-winning performers. This year the programme includes the Cathedral's own trio of organists, as well as Eric Sweeney, Head of Music at Waterford Institute of Technology, and Guttorm Guleng, winner of the 2005 Pipeworks Dublin International Organ Festival. Recitals take place on most Wednesday evenings at 18.30 from 23 May—27 June (except 13 June). Please contact the Cathedral Office at (01) 453 9472 for more information.

Limerick Organ Day

Norbert Kelvin, Secretary, Pipe Organ Society of Ireland

Michael O'Brien did a superb job of organising visits to several excellent organs in Limerick on Saturday 3 March 2007. The day before, Steve Smith and I visited two organs thought to be out of operation, but they were in excellent voice. The Jesuit Church has been sold and its fine organ (Telford 1924) may be seeking a new home if planning permission is granted to allow it to leave its present home.

We also visited the Dominican church where Derek Verso in 1991 had over-hauled and re-actioned the organ. For some reason it is not now being played but with some minor adjustments to fix ciphers, the organ showed off its fine voice. We heard from one of the staff at the church that they had been told it would cost several thousands of euros (I heard "a quarter of a million") to fix the organ. The symptoms seem to indicate that some maintenance and minor repairs may be in order, but not a major rebuild!

Saturday's organs were all very satisfying, especially the large Hill at Redemptorists and the Kenneth Jones rebuild at the Franciscan. The smaller organs of St Michael's C of I, St Mary's RC and Christ Church Presbyterian were all in fine voice and had their special charm and character.

Limerick University Concert Hall's Comptom theatre organ's pipes, chest, wind system and brain (console) are all in excellent condition. However it has contracted something akin to multiple sclerosis, probably due in part to lack of medical attention to the nervous system, not Parkinson's disease—none of the tremulants work. The University is anxious to see it moved to a home where it will be appreciated as they would like to expand the stage area for decent opera productions.

We were also treated to Anúna's concert in the Franciscan church, the finals of the choral competition (wow! were there some good Gregorian chant singers present) in the Augustinian church, and Jean-Paul Lécot's (of Lourdes) closing recital on the Hill instrument of St John’s Cathedral.

It is gratifying that by and large the clergy in all these churches appear to appreciate their organs as important parts of their respective liturgies. We have to work on one of them to see that they bring their fine organ back into regular service.

Deputy Organists

With the summer holiday season fast approaching, now is the time to book deputy organists. Recent additions to the deputy organ list are Alexandra Jobling (a former Cambridge college organ scholar), Peter Parshall (Christ Church Cathedral) and Raymond Russell (formerly organist at Castleknock & Clonsilla). The full list of names is on our website and to add or amend details, simply send us an email.

Organists' Crossword 10

The following are the entrants who sent in correct solutions to the Christmas Crossword puzzle in the last issue of SOUNDBOARD: Harry Grindle, William Yeoman, Roberta Shellard, Adrian Somerfield, E Ashmore, Derek Seymour. The lucky one whose name came out of the mythical hat is Roberta Shellard, to whom a token prize has been sent.

RSCM (IRELAND) Events

Thursday 19 April, 8.00 p.m., Church of the Assumption, Milltown, Dublin 7. In a follow up to our popular workshop for Cantors in January, John O'Keeffe from NUI Maynooth and freelance singer Aine Mulvey lead a workshop for choir trainers, organists and singers exploring a wealth of new music for choirs and congregations. Singing and voice training techniques will be explored as will methods help you to obtain the best from your choir and congregation. Cost 10.

Saturday 13 May. The Reluctant Choir Trainer. Belfast (venue TBC). 2.00 pm to 5.00 pm. Cost £5.00. Led by David Revels, and aimed at those who find themselves running the choir 'by default' this event will cover aspects of basic voice-training, effective repertoire for smaller choirs, running rehearsals and recruitment. With much to be gained from David's experience as a professional singer, teacher and choir trainer, this is an event that will appeal to all involved in training choirs.

Saturday 23 June. Voice for Life. Training the Trainers. Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin. Cost €10 including sandwich lunch. Time TBC. "I want to begin using Voice for Life with my singers, but I don't know where to start". "How can I fit Voice for Life sessions into our weekly rehearsal when we're so pressed for time?" These and other questions will be answered during an invaluable session aimed at all choir trainers planning to use the RSCM's Voice for Life training scheme.

Bishop Edward Darling's Lectionary Hymn Guide

Announcing the new revised CD version of Bishop Edward Darling's Lectionary Hymn Guide in CD format is available from The Good Book Shop, 61-67 Donegall Street, Belfast BT1 2QH, Tel: 028-9024 4825, or the Resource Centre Bookshop, Holy Trinity Church, Rathmines, Dublin 6, Tel: 01-4972821. Price £15.00 or €22.50.

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