IMPORTANT NOTE:THIS IS A PURELY 'NOT-FOR-PROFIT' HOBBY EFFORT FOR THE LOVERS OF THE ORGAN-ENTHUSIASTS MUST VERIFY OTHER DETAILS PERSONALLY FOR THEIR NEEDS.
Introduction: This Web page initially evolved into an online diary to express my thoughts and emotions concerning Organs and Church Music. As a pleasant surprise, it helped me to connect with like minded individuals with similar tastes from all around the world, more so ,within India. The purpose of this website in the present context is to bring together likeminded individuals who share a love for Organ Music and the praise of our Maker, through the timeless Hymns, which have been handed over to us from the traditions of the Christian Church ,here, in India. It is our collective responsibility to uphold the values that were meant to be taken forward through the generations that were to follow. Organists and connoisseurs of Church Music are requested to share their thoughts, images and videos relating to this subject ,to enrich this web site as a collective effort. With Best Wishes to all of You-Praveen
THE ORGAN The Organ adds beauty to our Church Services ."For me ,the Organ connotes the Pipe Organ', says Clandia Heberlain Johnson, a professional Organist.Playing the organ in a Church can give one an unalloyed joy and naturally, it takes years of study and practice to perform music from this hallowed tradition in a church.
The Electronic Organs and the avant garde Digital Organs have in the process of imitating pipe organs acquired unique identities of their own. In the mid 1980 ,I was inspired or rather fired by the passion for the organ but I had to start from the scratch for in my early years I was captivated by Popular English Music belted out by Madras B Radio and Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation Radio. The Guitar seemed to be the instrument for me. It was this Doordarshan Interview of Mrs Jennifer Arul with Padma Sri Handel Manuel. Doordarshan also used to beam Late Mr Handel's playing of the Organ in St Andrew's Church. During my English Literature days in Loyola College, I was busy hunting for music help books in the British Council Library and the American Center Library. After a couple of years ,while I was serving as a Lecturer in Loyola Evening College I got one invaluable Book titled, 'How to play Electronic Keyboards' in the British Council Library .I got it photocopied at the Loyola Students Help Xerox Centre. I must have read that Book about a hundred time to understand Music Notes, Keys, Sight Reading of Notes(Though the notes were simple ones for learners)Once I got the basics of reading notes on the Treble Clef and the Bass Clef ,I wanted to play Music with reading of notes. I knew some music but there was no keyboard or Reed Organ for me. I drew the picture of a keyboard on my steel table at Ambattur and then played music of silence( there was no sound-a la Sound of Silence-Simon and Garkuncle!) for I was only touching the steel table in actual effect. That Summer, I went back to my ancestral Viragalur Village hoping to play on the Reed Organ with the New Life Hymnal(Sri Lanka Based Publication which I purchased at the ELS Shop in Purasawakkam for a song, I should say). Big Hymnals were costly. I was trying to step on to playing Four Part Music with the minimum introduction to Music and sight reading of Notes. Eventually in a few months I was to purchase the 'Hymns Ancient and Modern Hymnal' at the ELS Shop on Anna Salai near Devi Paradise Cinema Complex, for I was earning a little money of my own through my job at Loyola Evening College .The St Peter's Church at Viragalur was built by my great Grandfather, Mr Appadurai, and it had a 1970s Reed Organ which made Good Music when I fiddled with it in 1987 or so. The Organists in Viragalur had long faded away(passed away) and it was just lying there without being used. It was an Indian Built Organ with about five or six stops(I have not played on good old reed organs but this one sounded good but I do not know if the stops made any difference- at least it did not in its dying years. It was evening in the early nineties. I was excited thinking about the organ .Opening the church was not a problem .I went towards the organ, opened the organ's fall rest and then opened the Bellows cover and started to press the Bellows hoping to get Music. It was an anti-climax. It took a lot of labour to coax air out of the bellows to reach the reeds and I could get a much delayed sound. It was very disappointing but still I kept practising and tried to relate Sight Reading Notes to the Organ Keys .It was a worthwhile experience for a person starting out in the world of Organ Music.
The picture on the Top is my small Reginald 49 Organ made by Mr John George of Ambattur, Chennai.