Society of Saint Gregory

To assert, however justifiably, that digital manufacturers try and make their products look like Pipe Organs and then claim that this somehow makes them inferior is still to evade the central issue, which is that they are fundamentally different instruments. This may be a truism, but it behoves us t...

What people seem to be missing in this discussion is the central fact that Digital Organs have fundamentally different methods of sound production from Pipe Organs. The task then is not necssarily to get a Digital Organ to produce a sound similar to that of a Pipe Organ but maximise its own properti...

Looking at the issue of Pipe vs electronic instruments and, for that matter, other varieties of keyboard such as the piano, I think the key point to realise is that you are dealing with different instruments. A digital instrument produces sound in a different way from a Pipe organ; both are differen...

We sing plainchant sometimes in our church. However, I have some difficulty with the settings provided - for example - in Laudate. (1) I find the form of notation unsatisfactory. Neumes, of course, are archaic and alien for many people and anyway less precise than 'modern' notation. The trouble with...

Dear Nazard, Your question is much more penetrating than appears at first sight, as Alan's reply demonstrates. If one follows his lead and thinks in terms of style and technique as opposed to merely the date at which a composition was written then it quickly becomes apparent that, not only is a lot ...

Can I pick up on a point mentioned by 'contrabourdon'. He rightly observes that many Anglican churches manage to pay their musicians. In general they also find the money to pay for more facilities - choir rooms, a budget for new music etc. Indeed, I envy the resources they have in my local area. Whe...

I note that so far everyone is concerned about how much people should be paid (if at all). Why not look at how the money might be raised and the implications this holds for the character of your church community. Confining myself to musicians here are some simple calculations - which of course might...

Thought I might try and revive interest in this thread by drawing attention to the article (by yours truly) on writing additional instrumental parts in the latest issue of Music and Liturgy. This was intended only to be a starting point; and it certainly does not cover all the other permutations and...

Here is something rather different from that listed so far. Why not experiment with instruments in addition to the organ/keyboard? Or just have a piece of music for instruments other than a keyboard? This sunday (2nd after Easter) with the former we did a couple of slow movements from a sonata for v...

Dear Angela, Following on from the last reply. If you are interested in extra repertoire why not come along to meetings of the SSG composers group where new compositions of all types are regularly shown and copies are usually doled out for free. I am sure those attending would be only too pleased to...

Several points occur to me on this: (1) I doubt there is a 'fixed' way of introducing new repertoire. Much depends on local circumstance. For example, where I work the layout of the church favours using the choir as 'cheerleaders' since the organ - and therefore all the other instrumentalists and si...

We do it in Latin. However, in principle I have no problem with it in English, apart from the fact that the translations I have seen strike me as being unsatisfactory. Does anyone know of some really 'good' (always a subjective judgement) ones that convey something of the artistic poetry or turn of ...

With reference to the details about instrumentation in Paul Inwood's and Val Goldsack's articles (both worth reading, especially the latter), could I draw attention to the various contributions to the 'Tips for Composing and Arranging' and 'Tips for Organists' threads in the 'Sounds Off' section of ...

Here are some of the things I do, almost invariably at Communion (before the Communion hymn) and at the end of Mass after the final hymn. I must say I find the demands of producing two new pieces every week insatiable. The key factors for me are threefold: (1) We have a powerful digital two manual o...

Most interesting to see all the responses to the original question. I recently had occasion to think seriously about this myself, and to my surprise I found I had very mixed feelings. In favour of payment: (1) All the arguments put forward here about remuneration for hard skilled work (2) Envy at th...