Welcome     Parish     Services     Diary     Groups     Buildings     Music     News     Staff

The parish's brief to Kenneth Tickell was for a three-manual-and-pedal organ, with 56-note compasses, and a secondary division (named "Choir Organ") behind the choir and above the player's head. The Great Organ is above that, with the Swell
Organ behind the Great, allowing for a substantial (and physically heavy) division. The Swell box
opens at the back of the instrument, and the sound is reflected off the brick wall behind the organ.
The Pedal Organ is deployed in towers either side of the main case. The action is mechanical, the
winding by schwimmers (the firm's usual scheme), and the stop action electrical with modern
playing aids.

The congregation at St. Barnabas are hearty hymn-singers, and respond to "painting" the words of a
hymn using the organ's colours. This tradition of hymn singing, if it were to survive, needed
continuity of thought from the old instrument in the old church through to the new. This required a
powerful Swell division which could produce both dramatic and subtle effects, and diapason choruses
of nobility and power which could firmly lead the singing.

Scaling
Above all, there was to be detailed scaling of the pipes (i.e. the ratios in which the pipes halve their
diameters over the octaves). This is the factor which gives the flues and chorus relationships their
intrinsic character. By coincidence this was the subject of William McVicker's doctoral thesis:
"I have always been particularly interested in the derivation of flue scales and have long believed
that this is one aspect of organ-building which some of the continental builders have taken more
seriously than most English builders. A boring approach to scales can result in a boring instrument.
From the scale and its progression the dimensions of the pipe (and so the mouth) are born, and it is
the relationship of different parts of a stop's compass in ensemble with the other stops which gives
interest to the sound, clarity in the inner parts, and a feeling of growth in sound as a stop ascends or descends in its compass."

Using a computer programme he had written, refined by James Warbis, McVicker was able to liaise with Kenneth Tickell over the scaling of the instrument, and this work has helped to produce its wonderful tone.

Specification
The specification of the new organ is as follows:

An English organ?
I suggested to William McVicker that the organ was not fully "English" because it was built in the Continental "Werkprinzip" style, and had more reeds and mixtures than one might expect on a traditional English organ. He replied:
"With respect to the lay out, you are right: the organ is built broadly on Werkprinzip lines. The main difference is that the Swell is behind the Great. The Swell needs to have a distant quality when the box shuts that is missing from a pure Werkprinzip scheme. The Englishness comes from the concept of the Swell and the voicing. No open foot voicing here - not because I don't like it - it simply produces too much noise for a choir.

The mixture scheme is also interesting. The Swell mix is low, with a fifth rank added in the tenor. This beefs up the reeds. The idea is for it to mingle with the reeds and not sit above them. The Great mixture is designed to be complemented by the Sharp Mixture on the Choir, and this works very well. You can have seven ranks of mixture on the Great when you couple the two choruses together.

The Great is not very high and this follows the patterns of Hill. Now thinking of Hill - have a look at his specifications. With the exception of the extra 8' stops on the Great, a two-manual scheme might be:
Sw: 16 8 8 8 8 4 2 III 8 8
Gt: 8 8 8 4 4 22/3 IV 8
Ped:16 16 8 8

That is not too far off the Dulwich concept. To that scheme Hill added to the Swell, so it might become:
Sw: 16 8 8 8 8 4 4 2 III 8 16 8 4
Gt: 16 8 8 8 4 4 22/3 2 IV 8
Ped: 16 16 8 8 16

Looks close. Now think about how Hill gets the action light enough to cope on mechanical action with a large Swell - his invention was the Balancer, so we have balancer motors on Swell and Great. It is either that or an electric coupling action.

So where have we departed from that classic English concept of Hill's? The mutations and the fact that the Choir is really a secondary chorus. So when you suggest that "the organ has more reeds and mixtures than one might expect on a traditional English organ" – I would reply that it is right on track. Perhaps you define the English organ as Edwardian? For me it is the era of Hill. I have seen so many stunning schemes by that man."

Some text taken from "The New Organ" © 1997
Available in the Welcome Area of St. Barnabas

T: 020 8693 1524
F: 020 8693 0203