Automatic Hymn Player

[nullogik]

I don't know whether or not to be in despair over such a device. On one hand its a nice bit of kit that appears to be well designed, on the other hand this could indicate that there are many Churches out there that perhaps have an organ (pipe or digital) but don't have anyone to play it. There seems to be a large number of installations done which could be an indication of the lack of people available to provide music in Churches (of course it could be used to fill in when the resident organist isn't there).
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Its not cheap either at nearly US$4000. Any thoughts or ideas?</p>

http://www.hymntechnology.com/
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[Guest]

Re: Automatic Hymn Player



Doesn't surprise me. There is a desperate shortage of organists willing to play in churches, especially the smaller ones in the UK these days.</p>

There are cheaper/simpler systems around though. There is a site that does all the hymns on an i-pod.
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[nullogik]

Re: Automatic Hymn Player



Its quite sad really, there needs to be a drive of some sort to encourage the young ones to take up the organ - people like Cameron Carpenter really help the cause by making the organ "cool" which is what young people look for these days.</p>

That Ipod idea, is that Kevin Mayhew? I see that they sell hymn accompaniments preloaded on to a Ipod Nano for £300. Which is not bad value really, of course, I wonder at what bit rate and what format (MP3, WAV) the conversions are at seeing that the Nano is a 4GB version.</p>

And of course Allen has a new add-on unit which also plays hymns through the organ as well.
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[NYCFarmboy]

Re: Automatic Hymn Player

I like the idea myself (ducks)......not alot of pipe organs have been wired up for sequencing, but for the ones that do, this would be very useful for churches that don't have an organist, but perhaps someone who could at least then "operate" the organ for some hymns.

[Jay999]

Re: Automatic Hymn Player



Here's what's sad....</P>


I have a former organ service client over in Mississippi. Their organist died. Not able to find another organist, they installed a Peterson system with record/playback capabilities. They paid a professor of church organ music to come in and record their hymn book, and quite a few preludes, offertories, and postludes. They have been using that system for quite a few years now....</P>


Last year, one of my organists I had been working for in Birmingham, moved with his wife to Mississippi, so she could finish up her law degree at 'Ol Miss, in Oxford. The organist knew that I take care of a few instruments in Mississippi, and asked if I could possibly help him find a job over there for a couple of years. So, I called one of the members of this Peterson system church (who could have made a proposal to hire this organist). He replied that they were completely happy with their situation, and would not be interested in hiring an organist.</P>


That's sad!</P>

[Guest]

Re: Automatic Hymn Player



[quote user="NYCFarmboy"]I like the idea myself (ducks)......not alot of pipe organs have been wired up for sequencing, but for the ones that do, this would be very useful for churches that don't have an organist, but perhaps someone who could at least then "operate" the organ for some hymns.[/quote]</p>

I can understand why churches do it if they have no musician at all to lead the music.
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Why not just stick a DVD recording on of the sermon/homily or pass round a credit card reader round at the offertory or do prayer time via text if churches are going to allow a hymn karaoke.....
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[nullogik]

Re: Automatic Hymn Player

[quote user="Jay999"]

He replied that they were completely happy with their situation, and would not be interested in hiring an organist.</p>


That's sad!</p>

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Perhaps they have had bad experiences with previous resident organists. Unfortunately some of our fellow organist brethren let the side down by being bad tempered old gits and others are simply unreliable and turn up late (after the service has started) or phone up at the last minute claiming to be ill when we all know they have a hang-over. So I can understand if particular Churches can't be bothered dealing with such people when a computer playback system will always be there and never turn up late...but then every profession has it's "bad apples".</p>

Has anyone downloaded and listened to the demo CD from Hymn Technology's website? I was not very impressed with the sounds which appeared to have been pulled off some kind of el-cheapo digital keyboard - the organ sounds are laughable. I also got the impression they just typed a lot of scores into something like Sibelius/Finale and converted the stuff into MIDI, because they way the songs/hymns were played was like it was done by a robot with a perfect sense of timing making it very difficult to sing along to and sounding very robotic.
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[NYCFarmboy]

Re: Automatic Hymn Player

[quote user="Greg"]

[quote user="NYCFarmboy"]I like the idea myself (ducks)......not alot of pipe organs have been wired up for sequencing, but for the ones that do, this would be very useful for churches that don't have an organist, but perhaps someone who could at least then "operate" the organ for some hymns.[/quote]</p>

I can understand why churches do it if they have no musician at all to lead the music.
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Why not just stick a DVD recording on of the sermon/homily or pass round a credit card reader round at the offertory or do prayer time via text if churches are going to allow a hymn karaoke.....
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oh I am referring to sequencing actual pipes.......not simulated electric sounds. I do agree that just playing a hymn thru a electric setup...well that is no different than a DVD thru a bigscreen t.v. etc.......sorta like going to hear an orchestra and instead someone places a boombox on the stage and you sit there and listen ;)

[Guest]

Re: Automatic Hymn Player



oh I am referring to sequencing actual pipes.......not simulated electric sounds.</p>

I'm not sure even sequencing pipes is that much better than electronic sounds because say you have a service where there aren't many people in attendance and you have the organ registration set for a larger congregation it could be blasting everyone to death. At least with a digital organ someone can go and turn the volume down a bit.
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[soubasse32]

Re: Automatic Hymn Player

I used to play at a lovely chapel that had a very romantic organ from 1930 - it had expression chambers on either side of the altar with several beautiful celeste stops. It also had a very warm principal chorus with lots of fundamental - perfect for hymn singing.

This particular churchhad manyministers who would serve for a while and then move on. Oneof these ministerswas to preside at an extraservice immediately following the one I had played.

Heopened upa Bible-shaped gizmo, sat it on the altar and punched a few buttons. A hymn began to play - it was a very robotic, melody-only rendition which sounded to me like those silly greeting cards that play a song when you open them. [:(] I'm not sure it was even loud enough for anyone to hear, if they were singing.

This minister seemed entirely pleased with himself, and announced that this wonderful high-tech inventionwould completelydo away with the need for an organist or an organ. Hethen commencedto do the service without me. I didn't stick around.

I've pondered this moment on many occasions - how strange it was that this fellow and his infernal contraption were but a few feet away from an extremelyfine organ and avery ready/willing/ableorganist.

[Guest]

Re: Automatic Hymn Player



Haha.</p>

Did it come with a playing mannequin of Cameron Carpenter at the console[:P]
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[Guest]

Re: Automatic Hymn Player

It would really be dreadful if a churchused oneof those things to play their Stamps-Baxter stuff. Imagine a mechanical happy-clappy robot-like "I'll fly away" playing over and over again..

[Guest]

Re: Automatic Hymn Player

[quote user="Greg"]

There is a site that does all the hymns on an i-pod.
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Sounds interesting. Where is it? </p>

[Guest]

Re: Automatic Hymn Player



Soubasse32, your story sounds so sad, and not to mention, dare I say, insulting. There you are, ready to play, and this minister announces that this high tech gizmo will do away with the need for an organ or an organist. So I guess the minister in question would prefer a Bargain Bob's version of a worship service. I wonder how he would feel if someone came up and brought in an inflatable minister, a CD player and said, "And now we have someone who can do away with any need for a minister. And best of all, if the sermon is boring, or too academic full of theological treatises and no heart, or just plain uninspiring, we can just shut it off, and pick another CD!"</P>


On a separate note, every now and then I need totravel faraway from the city. There is a church there that has been using for the longest time a machine which is connected to their Rodgers digital organ which has the organ play all of their hymns for Sunday service. I've never had a chance to hear this thing. Sometimes I help them out as a thank you to them for letting me practice there. When the service ends, I've been told that they never knew the organ could sound that way, "you make me want to sing better," and "we'll never be able to afford you." They did get an organist a while ago butit's a casual position due to lack of funds there,but I've never met her in person. I do know, though,that she's cool with me being there (as a guest, I always check that it's okay first). </P>


So hey, there are people out there who know that a real human is better than any machine. And, there are churches out there who simply can't afford an organist, so what other recourse do they have I guess, than to have one of these machines. So as much as I dislike the machine being used to replace a human, if they don't have the money, well what else can they do? </P>
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[nullogik]

Re: Automatic Hymn Player



I don't know if Greg is talking abou this one, but I know Kevin Mayhew sells their hymn accompaniment CDs preloaded on to an IPOD Nano...</P>


http://www.kevinmayhew.co.uk/Shop/Se...spx?title=ipod</P>