When I was installed as President of the SFO, it occurred to me that very few people would have any idea as to who I was. Living as I do on the Isle of Skye, 120 miles from the nearest affiliated association – Inverness - of which I am a member this would not be surprising.

I am a retired GP who looked after the Dunvegan practice for ten years before my retirement and I have continued to live in the village and play the organ in Duirinish Parish Church. When I was about seven years old and a boy at Plymouth College, where I spent most of my formative years, I was given a 78 record of GD Cunningham playing Bach’s Toccata & Fugue in D minor and Liszt’s Prelude and Fugue on B.A.C.H. on the Birmingham Town Hall organ. This fired my enthusiasm for organs and their music and for Bach himself. For various reasons I wasn’t able to learn the organ at that time but I was taking piano lessons. It was not until I was about 45 years old and working in Dartford in N. Kent that I had my first organ lessons on the Harrison organ in Dartford Parish Church. One of the finest parish organs in Kent. I had a patient who was a gifted organist who played at the Bexley Hospital where there was a two-manual Gray & Davidson instrument in the hospital chapel. It was a Georgian building with a wonderful acoustic. I used to go along at the end of the day, lock myself in and ‘have a go’.

I moved up to Skye in 1978 and soon after retiring, I went on a ‘Music of Bach’ tour of E. Germany led by Peter Hurford and the late Lionel Dakers. This was a great experience – visiting organs contemporary with JSB (mostly Gottfried Silbermann’s), many of which he had a hand in designing and which he had opened. This led to membership of the IAO and establishment of many friendships among organists in Scotland whom I had met at Congresses. It also followed that I joined the Inverness Organists Society and, as we are hosting the SFO Organ day in 2006, I was asked to become President for the year. As I look at the illustrious names that have gone before me, I feel somewhat daunted by the position but greatly honoured to be in this position. I seek to be a worthy President, and hope that many members of the SFO will join us in Inverness on May 12th & 13th next year.

Greetings from the Silent Society!

You may have noticed that in the last SFO News every Society had reported on its activities during the last session – except Stirling & District. This was entirely due to an email glitch. Rest assured, the Stirling & District Society does exist, does hold meetings, and isn’t in a huff.

Actually, you won’t want to hear at this late stage about what we did last year. More interesting is what is coming up this session. We are having two or three recitals, a talk from Alan Buchan about organs’ innards, and a social event, but perhaps worth highlighting because of its unusual title is the demonstration to be given by Robin Bell of SCOTS, ‘Improvisation for the Terrified’.

SCOTS is making quite a big thing of improvisation just now, and it’s amazing how many people, even some experienced organists, are afraid to have a go. Yet being able to improvise is such a comforting skill, because you know you will never be stuck. Buskers like myself can’t do without it. The only time that I felt at a loss was when a bridegroom fainted in the middle of his vows. I thought it might appear a bit callous if I improvised while they were frantically resuscitating him, but once he had regained consciousness they actually asked for some calming music before proceeding with the wedding!

Robin’s talk is on Saturday 18 February 2006 in St Michael’s RC Church (which is not the famous St Michael’s, but has a very special Hill), Blackness Road, Linlithgow at 2.30 pm. Visitors from other societies will be made very welcome.

Evelyn (Dr Evelyn Stell)

President, Stirling & District Society of Organists

Everything Else an Organist Should Know by Robert Leach & Barry Williams

“Too many clergy use organists as “human jukeboxes”, demand impossible working hours, and refuse to bow to their superior musical knowledge when it comes to choosing hymns, according to a study this week.”

This is the first paragraph of an article that appeared in The Times on 22nd September. It goes on to say that though there are about 30,000 qualified organists an increasing number refuse to work with difficult and demanding clergy. The article goes on to say that organists spend at least £3,500 learning their art and have little or no training in theology, while the expense of training clergy is church based and has very few hours training in music.

A book called Everything Else an Organist Should Know has just been published. It gives advice on what to do when relations break down, and indeed on how to prevent them breaking down in the first place.

The authors describe an occasion when one organist was told by his vicar that tradition was out and he had to use ‘happy clappy’ music from Mission Praise. His fully robed choir was instructed to stand and mouth the words, which they did!

Organist Publications Ltd - £15.00

SFO Website

Members who make use of the SFO website may have noticed a few enhancements that have taken place over the past few months. Three new pages have been uploaded onto the site.

We now have reviews of books and concerts/recitals. The first to appear were three perceptive reviews of CH4 and these were followed by news of some organ recitals.

We also now have a page of redundant organs where details of instruments possibly suitable for “re-homing” can be posted along with contact details.

Contributions for either of these pages would be welcome and details should please be sent to Donald Maclagan at the usual address.

Thirdly, by the time you read this there should be full details available of the Advisers who serve on the Organ Advisory Committee. Although contact by Church of Scotland congregations is normally made via “121” George Street, the committee is keen to help any denomination needing assistance and in that case contact can be made direct.

In the year and a half since out website was given a new lease of life it has become highly regarded and widely used as a source of information for members and non-members alike.

Annual conference of the SFO - 2006

Make a note in your diaries now that the 2006 SFO Conference will be held in Inverness on Friday evening and Saturday 12th and 13th May.

Details have still to be finalised but it is hoped that we shall have music from Musick Fyne and from Corronach as well as a recital by Edward Barbieri on the new four-manual organ in St Andrew’s Episcopal Cathedral. During the day we shall hold the AGM and Saturday afternoon will end with Choral Evensong in the Cathedral.

Some of you will be aware that the new organ in St Andrew’s Cathedral is a “pipeless” instrument and some may find this controversial. However, we sincerely hope that as many of you as possible will make the effort to travel to Inverness for what promises to be a very interesting day.

There is good public transport, both rail and coach, connecting Inverness to Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow and conference will end in time for members to catch connections home.

Anyone who had planned to miss the conference in favour of attending the RSCM Scottish Triennial Choirs Festival in St Michael’s Church, Linlithgow originally planned for that day should note that the RSCM has kindly moved that Festival to Saturday 4th November 2006.

Beer (Barrel) Organ??!!

Following on from previous snippets about organs made from bamboo and from marble, I have now learned of one made by Petersen of Illinois, USA in which the pipes are replaced by real beer bottles. The sound is produced by blowing air over the tops of the beer bottles which are filled, or “tuned” using mineral oil that will not evaporate or change tuning during weather changes. It is played using a conventional manual. The concept dates from the early 1800s

*****

SFO News

June 2005 Issue 4

45^th Annual Conference

Editor

Around 630 members of the SFO missed a thoroughly enjoyable day at our Annual Conference hosted by the Glasgow Society of Organists on Saturday 14^th May 2005.

The 71 members who did attend gathered in Sherbrooke St Gilbert’s Church for the AGM which was followed by a Masterclass by Gordon Stewart of Huddersfield Town Hall.

After an excellent lunch we moved to Pollokshields Parish Church for an informative and enjoyable illustrated talk on the history of the organ case by Gordon Thorne. This was followed by our celebrity recital by Andrew Bryden.

Following tea and sandwiches to sustain us on our homeward journey Matthew Hynes, President 2004-05, installed Dr Philip Lyon, M.B., B.S., as President 2005-06.

Stewart Alston had intimated some time ago that he wished to retire from being SFO Secretary and Dr Philip Ross had agreed to take over. Philip’s sudden and sad death while on a lecture tour in India left us bereft and with an unfilled vacancy. We were therefore relieved and pleased when Mrs Bridget Black of Inverness agreed to take over from Stewart. Matthew Hynes, outgoing President, took the opportunity to thank Stewart Alston for his 14 years of sterling work as Secretary. The Edinburgh Society of Organists is planning a Memorial Recital for Philip later this year to be given by past Presidents of the SFO.

It being Lanarkshire’s turn to nominate the Vice-President, it was fitting that Stewart Alston was appointed.

Iain Galbraith reported on the work of the Salaries & Contracts Committee, in particular mentioning that work is in course to finalise recommended salary increases from January 2006. Some clarification will also take place in the model contract.

Donald Maclagan spoke on the work of the Publications Committee while Robert Lightband’s report on the Organ Advisory Committee was submitted via the Secretary.

Robin Bell advised that SCOTS is in a very healthy state with a total of 40 students enrolled. He mentioned the new syllabus, training days and “improvisation for the terrified”!

It was agreed that Norman Marr of Aberdeen would join Iain Galbraith and Stewart Alston as SFO representatives on the IAO.

Regrettably, lack of space prevents me from describing our masterclass, our lecture and our recital. I could fill a complete issue with these. However, our sincere thanks are due to Gordon Stewart; his pupils for the day: Hannah Gibson, Alasdair Sim and Andrew Caskie; Gordon Thorne and Andrew Bryden. They all contributed to a Conference to remember – of which the Glasgow Society can be

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The main aim of the SFO News is to distribute information around our 700 members and so in this issue we are focusing on what the various member societies have been doing over the past season.

Tayside Organists’ Society

Elizabeth I. Atkinson

Our programme for the winter started by visiting Sandy Edmonstone’s Forgandenny workshop and seeing bits of organs and hearing how they are voiced. At the time he was working on the instrument for Auchterarder Parish Church and in May the organ crawl finished at Auchterarder where Sandy explained the background, the difficulties to be overcome, and demonstrated the different stop sounds. Robert Quinney came to Our Lady of Victories in Dundee, gave an excellent recital and coped marvellously with an instrument with two stops removed by the builders for reasons unknown to us. Stuart Muir’s President’s Night took the form of a preview of the new hymns included in the forthcoming CH4. He was ably assisted by the Choir of St. Paul’s Cathedral who sang well. A look at the history of Music and Education in Dundee by Iain Flett, took us from ‘Reformation to Reorganisation’ and Alistair Warwick took us through the ideas behind ‘Voice for Life’. The Annual General Meeting on 24^th May will see Pauline Robertson taking the chair and we wish her well.

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The Aberdeen and District Organists’ Association

Allan Ritchie

The ADAO completed their 2004-2005 season with three quite significant and varied events.

In March there was a visit to see the Early English Organ Project housed in Kings College Chapel, Old Aberdeen. The two sixteenth-century English organs, the Wingfield Organ and the Wetheringsett Organ, were very ably illustrated and demonstrated by Dr. David Smith of Aberdeen University. He simultaneously gave an insight into music of that time.

The April meeting was held at Craigiebuckler Church in Aberdeen. The Rev. Douglas Galbraith gave an excellent presentation on the new hymn book CH4, covering lots of issues especially those involving church organists.

The final event was the annual country organ crawl. This year we visited Huntly Parish Church where the President, Donald Hawksworth, playing a piece by Peace on the organ. Dr. Peace opened the organ over 100 years ago. The association then left for Glass Church where Donald demonstrated the organ donated to the church by Sir Frederick Bridge, organist of Westminster Abbey in the days of Queen Victoria. Members sung a hymn composed by Sir Frederick before moving on to Walla Kirk cemetery to see the graves of both Sir Frederick Bridge and of his son-in-law, Stainer (son of John Stainer of St, Paul’s Cathedral). A few hardy souls undertook a slow ascent of Tap O’ North before the afternoon crawl! The outing concluded with high tea at the Gordon Arms Hotel in Huntly.

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Lanarkshire Society of Organists

Mary A. Smith

Although we are a small Society, we manage to accomplish a lot, and continue our outreach especially to new and inexperienced organists.

In October 2004, we had a recital by Kerr Jamieson, including the Baird-Ross winning pieces. In November we had our annual joint meeting with Stirling Society, with a programme of Scottish Classical music.

In December, we had a lecture and demonstration by Matthew Hynes on "How the Organ Works". January 2005 saw our yearly ecumenical Songs of Praise. In February we held another SCOTS Training Day at Uddingston. In March, we shared ideas for accessible anthems.

At the AGM in April, we expressed our thanks to James McRae, who is retiring from the Council after 43 years, having been a founding member of the LSO. Our new President is Jean Schofield.

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Inverness Organists' Society

Bridget Black

Our meetings this year have been varied and interesting. We started off with a Members' Night Quiz, which amazed us all with how much (or how little!) we knew. In October we held our customary Christmas Repertoire evening, with 4 members presenting some of the music they play during the Christmas period. It is quite a good idea to have this early on as it gives members time to buy and practise new music. Angus Bethune, Gordon Tocher, Ian Livingstone and Donald Maclagan played some of their repertoire and other people had brought music for folk to try. The Repertoire Evening is always a good evening, whether specific Christmas or any other music is demonstrated. Our November meeting had to be altered as it had been intended to have an evening in St Andrew's Cathedral but there were still certain modifications to be made to the new organ installed there – not to mention the cold! Instead of this, we had an evening of 78s, which Gordon Tocher very kindly organised. How recordings have changed over the years with the improvement of technique.

We had an excellent dinner in January at the Glen Mhor Hotel with a good representation of members and then in February, Archie and I presented slides and a talk on Peru, that had be kept in reserve since last year. Angus Bethune's President's Night was an evening of music and reminiscences, which was very enjoyable but unfortunately poorly attended.

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Glasgow Society of Organists

Jane J. Stirling

The 2004/5 season got off to a good start in October with an organ crawl in Glasgow’s West End. The afternoon began at St. John’s Renfield which has a 3 manual Brindley & Foster, rebuilt by HNB. We then moved on to Hyndland Parish Church with its Father Willis and finally St. Bride’s Episcopal’s 1865 Hill organ. A number of our members demonstrated all three organs showing off the different tonal qualities.

Later in October it was a great pleasure and privilege to be in Glasgow Cathedral to hear a most enjoyable recital for voice and organ by Susan and John Turner.

In December we headed off to Stepps Parish Church for our President’s Day. A selection of JSBach’s organ music was played by Professor John Butt on the Joseph Brook organ. The augmented Church choir also took part conducted by Nairn Young singing 16^th to 18^th century choral music suitable for Advent.

After recovering from the Christmas and New Year celebrations, we enjoyed a relaxed afternoon in January listening to Members favourite CDs.

In February Graham Mark Scott gave a very fine recital on the Cavaille Coll organ in Ibrox Parish Church.

In March Duncan Mathews of Harrison & Harrison came north to St. Columba’s Church in the centre of Glasgow to give a talk on recent rebuilds by this famous organ firm.

This was the final meeting before our Annual Business Meeting and the SFO Conference which our Society hosted in Pollokshields.

We are now looking forward to an Outing in early June to hear organs in the Stirling area.

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Edinburgh Society of Organists

Chris Johnson

ESO members have enjoyed another successful year beginning in St. Mary's Episcopal Cathedral with a demonstration of the "The Early English Organ Project" by John Kitchen back in September followed by several meetings, outings and workshops over the year. Our social lunch took place in St Leonard's where we were entertained by Bishop Martin Shaw, Bishop of Argyll and the Isles who was the speaker for the event. During the year we also visited Morningside Parish Church (formally Cluny Parish church) where the organ has just been restored by Harrison and Harrison, returning the instrument much to its Father Willis roots. We have just returned from a trip to the Newcastle area where we visited 4 instruments including the famous Lewis of St George's Cullercoats and much fun was had by all!

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Borders Guild of Organists

Sarah Aitchison

Back in October 2004 the B.G.O held a workshop in Galashiels. The guild had Sessions tutored by Sheila Robertson, Chris Achenbach and Brigitte Harris. Also the new RCO Access Officer for Scotland, Andrew Macintosh attended the workshop. On Saturday 27th November the B.G.O held their Social Lunch which took place at the Kingsknowe Hotel in Galashiels. The composer Alison Robertson gave a talk which was about a composer's mind and the multifaceted influences which make up her musical language. In the New year Sarah Aitchison gave an illustrated talk on Aristide Cavaille-Coll, the most influential French Organ Builder in the 19th Century. This took place at Lauder. Following this the AGM took place on Saturday 30th April at Lauder Kirk. The AGM was combined with an informal concert which contained singing and members playing the organ. Finally on Saturday 4th June Sarah Aitchison gave an organ recital in Old & St Paul's in Galashiels.

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Unusual Organ Building Material!

Editor

Following on from the item in the last issue about the organ built from bamboo, I recently came across information about an instrument built entirely from marble. It was built by Ivan Larrea in Spain for Rafael Garcia of Los Angeles, USA in 2001.

There is a single 4-foot rank of stopped pipes on a 49-note manual and the only parts not made of marble are the pull-down wires, guides and loops, pallet springs and pipe stoppers and the electric motor.

There is a lot more information at www.blackiris.com/organs/iof/iof9 where the builder points out that stone pipes are impervious to humidity and temperature changes and last much longer than either wood or metal!

SFO News

February 2005 Issue 3

Since the launch of SFO News in its present form in June last year it has been gratifying to receive many comments from people who have enjoyed reading it and have found it useful. A number of people did, however, find the use of different fonts and print sizes difficult to read and so in this issue we will print in Times New Roman 10pt throughout. Please do let the Editor know how you like this.

SFO committee members are reminded that the committee meeting traditionally held at the beginning of March will this year be on Saturday 2^nd April in the Ramada Jarvis Hotel, Perth and will commence at 2.30 pm, not 3.00 pm as previously.

The Borders Guild of Organists has appointed Brigitte Harris as President and Sarah Aitchison as Secretary. We look forward to working with them both and wish them well.

Tayside Organists’ Society had a wonderful recital from Robert Quinney, sub-Organist at Westminster Abbey, on 9^th November on the newly refurbished organ of Our Lady of Victories, Dundee. Even though the builders removed two stops just before the recital Mr Quinney coped magnificently. The January meeting was a talk by Andrew McIntosh, RCO Access Officer, combined with a New Year cheese and wine party. 15^th February sees Stuart Muir hosting his President’s Night in St Paul’s Cathedral, Dundee.

January 2005 was a special month for Aberdeen & District Organists’ Association and their President, Donald Hawksworth. A lunchtime concert on 15^th January given by Donald and Friends in the Cowdray Hall celebrated the 50^th anniversary of Donald’s first recital in that hall and included two works from the original programme – the Piano Sonata in E (Cortege) by Scarlatti and Brahms’ Intermezzo in A, op. 118. Then Donald’s birthday was celebrated on 25^th January at the ADOA Burns Supper. All present took part in an ad hoc performance of the Burns Fantasia by … … Donald Hawkesworth!

New International Organ Competition

Wolfgang Rubsam has announced a new competition for organ performance in July 2005 in Landsberg am Lech, southern Germany. Entry is open to anyone under 35 with total prize money of €19,000.

Perth Presbytery Training Scheme

Now in its seventh year, this scheme aims to train ‘reluctant pianists’ who have been persuaded into playing the organ for services. Candidates should be ABRSM Grade IV or equivalent and are given one or two years training. Contact Elizabeth Atkinson on 01738 552144 for more information.

Copyright Compliance

In the past some churches have paid scant regard to the law governing copyright. When the choir needed photocopies or the congregation needed a hymn sheet then it was just done without thinking about copyright. This is no longer an option and the penalties for disregarding the law are severe. We therefore give the following guidance, but please be aware that this is guidance only, based on our understanding of the law. Definitive advice and rulings should be obtained from Christian Copyright Licensing Ltd, PO Box 1339, Eastbourne, East Sussex, BN21 4YF, Telephone 01323 417711 or at www.ccli.co.uk

At present, churches may perform copyright music and play a professionally produced CD, video, cassette etc (but not a film or film clip) during Divine Worship without a licence. Virtually every other activity requires a licence.

There are six main types of licence available:

CCL = Church Copyright Licence

MRL = Music Reproduction Licence

PRSCL – Performing Rights Society Church Licence

PPL = Phonographic Performance Licence

CLACL = Copyright Licensing Agency Church Licence

CVL = Church Video Licence

The CCL allows churches to use overhead projection of hymn words, store and retrieve hymn words electronically, create words only hymn books and service sheets for congregational use only, and create audio/video recordings of services including copyright music for limited circulation.

The MRL allows churches to photocopy copyright words and music of hymns and songs for congregational use only. It is an addition to the CCL.

The PRSCL is required if the church plays or permits the use of almost any type of music in the church or church hall outwith Divine Worship. Where the use of music is strictly confined to Divine Worship a PRSCL is not required meantime.

A PPL is required in addition to the PRSCL if you play music from any professionally produced CD, video, cassette etc. outwith Divine Worship. Contact PPL, 1 Upper St James Street, London, W1R 3HG, 0207 534 1030

The CLACL allows churches to photocopy non-music copyright material from books (including Bibles), journals, periodicals and magazines. It does not cover the words or music of hymns and songs; they are covered by the CCL and MRL.

A CVL allows churches to show film clips of a few seconds right up to complete films both during Divine Worship and at other times. However, it does not permit the use of material copied from other sources or from television and you may not charge an admission fee.

So when does copyright material become “Public Domain”? This is not straightforward but in simple terms Copyright in a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work (including a photograph) lasts until 70 years after the death of the author. The duration of copyright in a film is 70 years after the death of the last to survive of the principal director, the authors of the screenplay and dialogue, and the composer of any music specially created for the film. Sound recordings are generally protected for 50 years from the year of publication. Broadcasts are protected for 50 years and published editions are protected for 25 years.

St Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral, Edinburgh

It was announced in November 2004 that Simon Nieminski has been appointed Master of the Music at St Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral, Edinburgh where he is currently Assistant Organist. Simon will succeed Matthew Owens who moves to Wells Cathedral as Organist and Master of the Choristers following the appointment of Malcolm Archer to St Paul’s Cathedral, London.

In Memoriam – Herrick Bunney

St Giles’ Cathedral, Edinburgh has instituted a new award – The Herrick Bunney Organ Scholarship. Our late friend and colleague, Herrick was Organist and Master of the Music in St Giles’ from 1946 until 1996. An award of £1,000 per annum will be available from September 2005. Further details and application forms are available from Michael Harris, Organist and Master of the Music, St Giles’ Cathedral, Edinburgh, EH1 1RE. Email m.harris@napier.ac.uk

Wood, metal or bamboo!

Most of us think of organ pipes being made of wood or metal although I do have a book of instruction on how to make them of paper! Saint Joseph Church in Las Piñas City, Philippines has a single manual and pedal, 23-stop organ in which the pipes are of bamboo. The manual is divided at c¹ with ten stops for each side and three on the pedals.

The organ was built in 1816 by Fray Diego Cera de la Virgen del Carmen, the first parish priest of Las Piñas and although it was playable by 1821 it was not until 1824 that it was completed by the addition of the horizontal trumpet rank. Cera found

CH4

The latest statement from SCM-Canterbury Press is that the full music edition of CH4 will be published at the end of March 2005, the melody + words edition will appear at the end of April 2005 and a large print words only edition will be available in June 2005.

that bamboo resonators could not give him the sound he wanted for the trumpet so he resorted to metal for these.

Through the years the organ has been damaged by typhoons and earthquakes and Fr. Cera and the locals whom he trained made repairs. However, by 1972 a major restoration was needed and this was undertaken by Johannes Klais Orgelbau. In 1989 the bone overlays of the keyboard were replaced by Helmut Allgauer. Two years later the reservoir was releathered. In November 2004 Diego Cera Organbuilders Inc. completed further restoration by repairing cracked pipes, windchests, keyboard, rollerboard and toeboards. The blower was replaced and the whole organ voiced and tuned.

For lots more information and a sound clip of the organ go to http://bamboo.diegocera.com

It is with great sadness that we have to report the death of Dr Philip Ross, Secretary of the Edinburgh Society of Organists on Friday 28th January 2005. Philip was on a lecture trip to India and had suffered a stroke earlier that week. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Philip’s widow and all his family. We understand that an appreciation of Philip’s life will be published in Console, the ESO magazine

SFO Annual Conference 2005

A date for your diary. The 45^th Annual Conference of the SFO will be hosted by the Glasgow Society of Organists in the Pollokshields area of Glasgow on Saturday 14^th May 2005.

It will take place at Sherbrooke-St. Gilbert’s Parish Church and Pollokshields Parish Church and the GSO is delighted to welcome Gordon Stewart, who will conduct a Masterclass, architect Gordon Thorne who will present an illustrated talk on the History of the Organ Case and Andrew Bryden, Director of Music at Ripon Cathedral (and former student of Aberdeen University Music Department), who will give the Celebrity Recital.

All members of the SFO (and therefore its constituant societies) are strongly urged to come to Glasgow for this not-to-be-missed event.

RCO Scottish Recital and Workshop

Hoping that this issue of SFO News will be in your hands before then, 25^th and 26^th February are the dates of the 2005 RCO Scottish Recital and Workshop in Aberdeen. “Three Organs, Two Traditions” will feature John Kitchen of Edinburgh University and Magnus Williamson of Newcastle University.

SFO News

October 2004 Issue 2

In this issue of SFO News we are focusing on the activities the SFO carries out on behalf of members. The order that these appear in here does not imply any order of importance, all are equally important. General news is to be found after these articles.

Publications Committee

Over the past six months the main tasks of this committee have been to resurrect the Newsletter (SFO News) and to get the website running again after being offline for some months in early 2004. Both of these have been achieved. Issue 1 of SFO News appeared in June 2004 and was well received. You are now reading Issue 2. It is planned to publish three issues per year with Issue 3 being available in February 2005.

Our website, www.scotsorgan.org, is available again and now includes, amongst much more, Daily News and Notices, updated virtually every day. Please visit the site regularly and also let us have news etc for inclusion.

Those of you who use our website may not know just how technologically complex this project is! It is not writing the site that is so difficult. Keeping all the component parts of a large site working together is technically quite tricky, but more difficult is finding economical ways of allowing more than one person to update the site without always involving the web master. (Hence the existence of so many web sites out there that are badly out-of-date.) There are lots of commercial systems available to solve this problem - but at prices we couldn't even contemplate. We are in the process of developing an approach that we hope will allow several people to take responsibility for updating web information and thus making the maintenance burden on any one person bearable. Stay with us. If it works, we might be able to give you guidance for similar sites (perhaps your church?) where a number of more-or-less computer literate people want to share a workload. We are working on this and at the same time plan to take the opportunity to modernise the appearance of the site. If you have good quality pictures of your organ pipe racks/consoles/etc. for inclusion on the developing web site please send them in. If you give us a little potted history of the instrument, we can build in a pop-up acknowledgement and information panel. Pictures can be in almost any format, but e-mailed electronic formats (PC not Mac) would be handiest and cheapest.

The next project we have in mind is the possibility of producing an SFO Yearbook. The two existing committee members have the technology and experience to get this off the ground but not the time to spend on it in addition to their present workload. We need at least one and preferably two more people to help get this under way. If you feel you could help here, please do volunteer. If the project goes ahead we would hope to have the first edition ready for SFO Conference 2006.

The Organ Advisory Committee

This committee is in reality about eight very active advisers, who meet in committee once or twice a year. We are a daughter body of the Committee on Artistic Matters of the Church of Scotland.

In most cases an enquiry or appeal for help will go to Douglas Galbraith at 121 George Street who will contact the nearest Adviser to the church. If a direct approach is made from a congregation, we usually ask them to pursue this through Douglas, for there is much to be said for a central intelligence system. Some enquiries will, unfortunately, be asking for an evaluation of an organ in a church which is destined to close or be demolished. More often it is to seek advice on what to do with an organ that has come to ‘that time of life’. The Adviser, at the expense of 121, goes to thoroughly inspect the instrument in question. A certain amount of research may well have to be undertaken to ascertain the history of the organ. A report is then written, which usually goes to Douglas and also, on occasions, to interested parties in the church. This report will often suggest several suitable organ builders who could be invited to come to inspect and estimate. The report will usually give a detailed recommendation of what work needs to be done, occasionally offering suggestions for improvement.

Then the reports of the organ builders come in. These will often differ widely in their diagnoses of faults and recommendations of what is to be done. This will often require a second visit from the Adviser. Usually this ends with a result for better or worse, though we do our best, having explained the estimates, to leave the choice of a builder up to the church.. There are occasions when we will advise that further investment in an instrument would be unwise and recommend a digital replacement. We will even advise on these.

If quite a lot of work, inevitably expensive, is envisaged, we usually recommend the appointment of a Consultant. This may or may not be one of us, but experience has shown that even the best of organ builders work better with a second pair of eyes and ears. At this point the congregation in question takes over the responsibility for the expenses and a small fee for the Consultant. The vast majority of organ builders work well with this system and have been more than helpful in the training of new Advisers.

Our experience is that most organ building, past and present, is of a very high standard indeed, but that there are one or two operatives, again, past and present, that have or do try to slip through the net. There is unanimous agreement, I believe, amongst the Advisers, who are the sheep and who are the goats.

There is much still to be done, but we take pride in what has been achieved, and it is a credit to the SFO that such a service is provided, with much cooperation from a variety of other people.

Scottish Churches Organist Training Scheme

SCOTS was born in 1997 when discussions were held in Dunblane between the SFO and the Scottish Churches. Looking to the model of organist training then operated by the Royal School of Church Music, it was agreed that a scheme along similar lines would be developed for Scotland. As the basis of such a scheme, the SCOTS Syllabus has recently been revised and updated, is thoroughly ecumenical in content, and is now a more comprehensive document, detailing the various practical elements of the organists' craft. As organists (we call them candidates) tackle more complex music, they work through the three Stages as appropriate, receiving certificates on completion of each Stage. A key component of SCOTS is a local expert organist appointed by the SCOTS administrator to mentor the candidate. Not lessons as such, more a helping hand.

Knowledge of improvisation is increasingly desirable as a skill. This is given appropriate emphasis in the new Syllabus and at training days which are held in various parts of the country. SCOTS training days are very popular and are open to all organists.

Those seeking more information about SCOTS should contact the Membership Secretary:

Dr. Evelyn Stell,

Email: evelynstell@scotsorgan.org org

The Alfred Hollins Memorial Fund

The Alfred Hollins Memorial Fund was established in 1943 to perpetuate the memory of Dr. Alfred Hollins, the distinguished blind organist and composer who died in Edinburgh on 17 May 1942. It was founded by members drawn from the Edinburgh and Glasgow Societies of Organists together with representatives from the Royal College of Organists and the Incorporated Association of Organists. It is now administered by the Scottish Federation of Organists but retains its own separate identity.

The Fund exists for the purpose of making awards as follows:

to a blind student of the organ who intends to become a professional musician

a prize for the best original organ composition by a blind student of the organ