BIOS Reporter

If one searches NPOR using the terms ‘school’ or ‘college’ there are a large number of ‘hits’. At one level this is not surprising as many organists and organ scholars received their early training and exposure to organs at school. Long may this continue – but most of these schools are in the private sector. However, one thing which we… read more

Over the past few months a number of organ-related newspaper articles, spanning over 200 years, have come across my desk. Newspapers are a rich source of information about organs, and recent Research Notes have shown how much can be gleaned on organs, builders and organists from London papers. From 1700 onwards, newspapers flourished in Britain, both in the capital and… read more

Apologies for the late distribution of this edition of the Reporter. Despite timely submissions by contributors, your editor fell foul of some software glitches that led to a considerable delay in getting the file to the printers. This edition of the Reporter includes the first of an occasional series of guest editorials. The author is Paul Tindall who is a… read more

A sure sign of a ‘new boy’ in any position is an obvious change in style, not least in the world of publishing. With this new editor has come a change in font for the Reporter. It’s not that there is anything ‘wrong’ with Times New Roman, I have even dallied with Century Schoolbook in my time — no, it… read more

If anything was clear at the recent BIOS Day Conference at St Botolph without Aldgate it was the distinctive voice of the organ. This is not the place to employ vague adjectives to describe the sound, but rather to consider its place in the wider context of the organ. What is the purpose of the conservation and restoration so ably… read more

The relationship between the history of the organ, organ-builder, player and repertoire is the subject of perennial perusal; perhaps some of that attention needs to be transferred to the relationship of all four to the young organ student. Striking a balance between dealing with the organ and its repertoire in a scholarly, sober and weighty manner (akin to Bach’s gravititas)… read more

The Oxford Conference, reported elsewhere in this issue, was considerably more than a pleasant platform for the interchange of information and an opportunity to meet fellow BIOS members. It was certainly intellectually challenging, delving into the context and intricacies of the British organ, its music and usage up to 1600; if the occasional lecturer seemed burdened by the weightiness of… read more

It has been a daunting task to take over the Chairmanship of BIOS from Professor Peter Williams. BIOS is doing so much. The NPOR is a public face which, thanks to Frances Pond, the editors and all the corrections sent in by members, is still improving in accuracy and scope. The Historic Organ Sound Archive (HOSA) project is now complete,… read more

Discomforting the clergy may seem, at first sight, both a mildly amusing remark and one perhaps a little unfair on that calling. Yet it must surely be an essential task for any organist dealing with church music. At its most constructive, such discomforting should alert the clergy, in a sympathetic manner, to the contribution which the organist can make to… read more

Last month’s editorial produced several letters, expressing support and disagreement. The general intention was to highlight a perceived problem in contemporary music education in schools, one in which apparent deficiencies might hinder the development of young musicians to the point where they might be unable to contribute to the Aims of BIOS… read more