A busy weekend with lots of people about and I suspect a big successs for the castle. Apart from a couple of showers which enforced short coffee breaks the weather was kind and the charity tins benefitted accordingly.
Thanks to my "monkey". Really he was with his own stall from "Swainswick Farm" but spent as much time with us as he did on his own. Took to organ grinding like a natural and I felt confident to leave him in charge while I took coffee beaks and so on. I didn't even get his name but if he's reading this he can have a job with Rosie any time.
We got several enquiries for future events and I've updated the "engagements" page so no more here.
Look out for us on the streets in and around Oxford and in Woodstock on the 26th of November outside the museum.
Monday 19 September 2011
Wednesday 7 September 2011
Seriously cool
Seriously cool and "Lush"
I had wondered about accepting an invitation to a local rock festival albeit one billed as small and family friendly but it was actually an enjoyable day. The site was restricted to 500 people and by my judgement wasn't quite full but the atmosphere was good. We were right next to the children's tent where plenty of painting, faces and pictures, was going on and a bouncy castle next to that. To our right the main stage, a couple of smaller stages opposite, a bar, catering and book stall around the edge of a site no more than about 100 yards square.
How were we going to compete amongst this I wondered. Easily answered, we didn't. The principle is that each stage makes enough noise that the sound from all the others is drowned out when you are next to it and although we couldn't compete on volume we worked the same way - except that with main stage going you couldn't hear yourself speak by the organ. In practice we played when someone asked, which was quite often, and between acts you could just about hear us if you got close enough. Mary Poppins was the favoured roll.
It was an interesting experience trying to explain the workings in sign language, and a lot of people were interested. The sort of questions asked suggested serious interest not just politeness and were beyond me when it came to modern midi operated organs. Mostly they knew more than I did about how that worked but they favoured paper rolls and card books as more traditional, aesthetically more satisfactory and pleasing to use, and "just more organic". There were quieter spots between the main acts when Rosie was just audible to those stood round to listen and we got a lot of compliments. We were announced from main stage as part of the event as "something well worth a look and listen" and "seriously cool". Several of them thanked us for coming and said they had been considering trying to build one but didn't know where to start. Lots of info re BOGA and John Smith were taken plus info on where and how to punch rolls or to get them made. One idea is to have a small organ on the back of a tricycle playing ragtime that can be pedalled round the sites. I've seen this done by Will Kelders sons so I know it can be done. Another was looking for something bigger, more café organ style though I'm not sure about heavy rock played on it. He wrote his own songs and knew enough about midi files, midiboek and so on though that I reckon he might just manage it. How about a DeCap type organ playing heavy rock at Banbury in a year or so?
All in all an interesting day. Far more interest than you get from a day on the streets, and serious interest, but would we do it again? Well I'd already accepted when were invited for the same day to a village fete that had been rearranged at short notice after a wash out earlier in the year. One of our regulars. I think next year we'll be back at the fete.
I had wondered about accepting an invitation to a local rock festival albeit one billed as small and family friendly but it was actually an enjoyable day. The site was restricted to 500 people and by my judgement wasn't quite full but the atmosphere was good. We were right next to the children's tent where plenty of painting, faces and pictures, was going on and a bouncy castle next to that. To our right the main stage, a couple of smaller stages opposite, a bar, catering and book stall around the edge of a site no more than about 100 yards square.
How were we going to compete amongst this I wondered. Easily answered, we didn't. The principle is that each stage makes enough noise that the sound from all the others is drowned out when you are next to it and although we couldn't compete on volume we worked the same way - except that with main stage going you couldn't hear yourself speak by the organ. In practice we played when someone asked, which was quite often, and between acts you could just about hear us if you got close enough. Mary Poppins was the favoured roll.
It was an interesting experience trying to explain the workings in sign language, and a lot of people were interested. The sort of questions asked suggested serious interest not just politeness and were beyond me when it came to modern midi operated organs. Mostly they knew more than I did about how that worked but they favoured paper rolls and card books as more traditional, aesthetically more satisfactory and pleasing to use, and "just more organic". There were quieter spots between the main acts when Rosie was just audible to those stood round to listen and we got a lot of compliments. We were announced from main stage as part of the event as "something well worth a look and listen" and "seriously cool". Several of them thanked us for coming and said they had been considering trying to build one but didn't know where to start. Lots of info re BOGA and John Smith were taken plus info on where and how to punch rolls or to get them made. One idea is to have a small organ on the back of a tricycle playing ragtime that can be pedalled round the sites. I've seen this done by Will Kelders sons so I know it can be done. Another was looking for something bigger, more café organ style though I'm not sure about heavy rock played on it. He wrote his own songs and knew enough about midi files, midiboek and so on though that I reckon he might just manage it. How about a DeCap type organ playing heavy rock at Banbury in a year or so?
All in all an interesting day. Far more interest than you get from a day on the streets, and serious interest, but would we do it again? Well I'd already accepted when were invited for the same day to a village fete that had been rearranged at short notice after a wash out earlier in the year. One of our regulars. I think next year we'll be back at the fete.
Thursday 1 September 2011
Suddenly lots to do
After a quiet spell when all our bookings seemed to coincide with the wet days and got cancelled we've four coming up in the next two weeks. Saturday in Banbury and Sunday at the Arcane Festival, Eynsham. Two weeks later it's Oxford castle again for a weekend at the food festival. Lots to do and so little time.
Last Sunday saw us in Witney. A pleasant afternoon till the trolley wheel went down a pot hole in the pavement and trolley, organ and me ended up in a heap. Lots of help but no witnesses! Anyway they got us back on our feet and a quick inspection suggetsed no serious problems. Back at home it was a different matter. Rosie's casing was protected by the covers (an old sleeping bag well wrapped round her, and the trolley took the battering from the fall. What has suffered is the tuning. Every single pipe way out and it sounded like a cat/bagpipe fight. Four hours so far and we sound like an organ again but it will still need another go to get a sound anywhere near what it should be - and I haven't even started on the celeste yet. I feel a compensation claim coming on and the county council are proving very hard to pin down, but the work has to be done now. It can't wait for them to send an inspector, and even if they do will he be able to tell if the organ is in tune or not. Most people can't.
Last Sunday saw us in Witney. A pleasant afternoon till the trolley wheel went down a pot hole in the pavement and trolley, organ and me ended up in a heap. Lots of help but no witnesses! Anyway they got us back on our feet and a quick inspection suggetsed no serious problems. Back at home it was a different matter. Rosie's casing was protected by the covers (an old sleeping bag well wrapped round her, and the trolley took the battering from the fall. What has suffered is the tuning. Every single pipe way out and it sounded like a cat/bagpipe fight. Four hours so far and we sound like an organ again but it will still need another go to get a sound anywhere near what it should be - and I haven't even started on the celeste yet. I feel a compensation claim coming on and the county council are proving very hard to pin down, but the work has to be done now. It can't wait for them to send an inspector, and even if they do will he be able to tell if the organ is in tune or not. Most people can't.
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