Old Blue Clearout

[postwarblue]

As we have moved on to discussing Directors of Music, can anyone tell me why A H Buck had such a deep loathing of C S Lang?

[NEILL THE NOTORIOUS]

I am now reporting back, about the "Silent Stop"

Today, being Sunday, I had a chat with our Organist , whose profession is building Organs, and who knows the CH one.

He confirms that this "Signal stop" is possible . He is also putting the question on the "Organist's Forum"

He tells the story of, when he was repairing an Organ attatched to a Stately Home, and was shown to his Duties, by the Butler.
When he had finished the work, he was intrigued by an un-marked stop, and pulled it to see what note would play.
Nothing happened, but within a couple of minutes, the Butler arrived ----- with drinks !!!

I may report further, should the CH story develop.

[sejintenej]

I am now reporting back, about the "Silent Stop"

Today, being Sunday, I had a chat with our Organist , whose profession is building Organs, and who knows the CH one.

He confirms that this "Signal stop" is possible . He is also putting the question on the "Organist's Forum"

He tells the story of, when he was repairing an Organ attatched to a Stately Home, and was shown to his Duties, by the Butler.
When he had finished the work, he was intrigued by an un-marked stop, and pulled it to see what note would play.
Nothing happened, but within a couple of minutes, the Butler arrived ----- with drinks !!!

I may report further, should the CH story develop.

That sounds like a "Corks" one.

[J.R.]

PRICELESS....

"You 'stopped', Me Lord ????"

[Eruresto]

Was there not a special note that when played by the organ vibrated in the Head Master's stall at the far end of the Chapel? I remember Corks mentioning this at Choir Practice once.

Like all pipe organs, it can occasionally "cipher" - sound one note continuously even though nobody is pressing the corresponding key.

Why does this happen? We had it one Sunday at my church, and nobody knew why, or why it stopped when the organist reached up and lifted then replaced the pipe from its place...

[J.R.]

Was there not a special note that when played by the organ vibrated in the Head Master's stall at the far end of the Chapel? I remember Corks mentioning this at Choir Practice once.

Like all pipe organs, it can occasionally "cipher" - sound one note continuously even though nobody is pressing the corresponding key.

Why does this happen? We had it one Sunday at my church, and nobody knew why, or why it stopped when the organist reached up and lifted then replaced the pipe from its place...

Shades of that fantastic 'Dad's Army' episode when poulty is hidden in the organ pipes during the war rationing ?

[Buzzard]

In the early nineteen fifties c 1952-53 there was a famous occasion when one Grecian mimed
the Grace at lunchtime in Dining Hall the words being spoken by another boy who crouched down
between his feet.
Chris Bartlett

When I did this (circa 1966, but I'm fairly sure it was the evening meal rather then lunch) I had no idea I was merely imitating someone earlier. Unfortunately my friend - Donald Gate-Eastleigh - who spoke the grace (while I mimed) didn't quite get the words right. I was beaten for it by "Pongo" Littlefield, who in fact hadn't been there at the time.

Presumably someone told him. Any suggestions who it might have been?

[jhopgood]

In the early nineteen fifties c 1952-53 there was a famous occasion when one Grecian mimed
the Grace at lunchtime in Dining Hall the words being spoken by another boy who crouched down
between his feet.
Chris Bartlett

When I did this (circa 1966, but I'm fairly sure it was the evening meal rather then lunch) I had no idea I was merely imitating someone earlier. Unfortunately my friend - Donald Gate-Eastleigh - who spoke the grace (while I mimed) didn't quite get the words right. I was beaten for it by "Pongo" Littlewood, who in fact hadn't been there at the time.

Presumably someone told him. Any suggestions who it might have been?

Probably the term after I left, when you got "transferred" up the Avenue.
"Pongo" was doing less and less Dining Hall by the time I left, being replaced by J H Page, I think.

[Chris Blewett]

Was there not a special note that when played by the organ vibrated in the Head Master's stall at the far end of the Chapel? I remember Corks mentioning this at Choir Practice once.

Like all pipe organs, it can occasionally "cipher" - sound one note continuously even though nobody is pressing the corresponding key.

Why does this happen? We had it one Sunday at my church, and nobody knew why, or why it stopped when the organist reached up and lifted then replaced the pipe from its place...

Its quite interesting really - but to save my fingers I've found this!!

http://www.churchmusicdublin.org/ciphers

Sometimes to stop a cipher you need an organ builder to resolve the fault!!!

[NEILL THE NOTORIOUS]

Yes ! this explains the "Cipher" -- unwanted, continual, note.

But I still prefer the "Silent Stop", which warns the HM ==== or brings drinks !

[MrEd]

Regarding pranks, I recall early 1980s of being told a long past tale of someone locking a cow into the Dining Room one summer morning very early and letting the bockers (presumably) discover it. It might have been reported as a teacher, Mr Waller as a pupil having done that.

[Straz]

A cow in dining hall? What a great story!
But surely a case of pulling the udder one...

[Jabod2]

Pranks (or rumours of) that abounded in my time were the aforementioned cow (although in chapel), a rugby pitch marked with toilet paper in the quad (with a rugby ball attached to Edward VI), a urinal or toilet suspended from the dining hall cornice during the lav-end upgrades in the '60s, the cigarette smoke drifting up through the chapel gratings during morining service, the small car that was manhandled during break in the 1/4 mile and wedged between 2 trees, the (impossible) rumor that the pedal on Kit Aitken's bicycle was swapped to the other side to coinicide with his wooden leg, the radiator in Mr Todd's room being coated with chalk so that his habit of rubbing against it pinstriped his trousers, the positioning of a concrete doorstop above a door and narrowily avoiding the master's head on entry (potentially lethal, that one, resulting in an ashen-faced master), and my favourite, the removal of the chair from the side of the dais in Rocker Rae's (?) classroom so his habit of blindly stepping onto it to access the far end of the blackboard resulted in a perfectly drawn parabola as he keeled over sideways...

We certainly had the grace being mimed from below and escaping Pongo's eagle eye. The other challenge was to do it in one breath without gabbling.

There was a line between jape and stupidity that got crossed occasionally!

My regards to Paul Strange who I recall belting out tunes on the scout hut piano.

[Jabod2]

If there was such a note....

I recall being told that the lowest note reverberated in the headmaster's house, and those practicing on the organ expolored the limits of how much they could use/abuse it before the wrath appeared...

I might be mistaken in attributing this to John Shippen.

[ZeroDeConduite]

the small car that was manhandled during break in the 1/4 mile and wedged between 2 trees...

I seem to remember that was an Austin 7 (the pre-war variant) belonging to to a junior master (maybe music?) and the man-handling was done, very easily, by Beaky Davies and a fellow Harlequin rugby player. The only way to get the car out was to reverse the procedure, lifting the car out as the gap was too tiny to allow forward/backward movement.