Three films presented by Anne Marsden Thomas covering the teaching of pedal and manual technique, including remedies and resources for common problems encountered by organ teachers.

RCO Accredited Teacher, Anne Marsden Thomas, has curated a major new series of films for everyone involved in organ teaching.

The RCO’s first-ever Winter Conference this February was devised as the pandemic lockdown continued to prove a barrier to organists and organ enthusiasts getting together in person.  RCO Director Simon Williams decided to build on the experience through 2020 of putting all the major RCO courses online, with a new format – a complete virtual conference, with seminars, presentations, recitals, a keynote speech and a trade show. Over 200 people attended the three day event, including StopPress Editor, Morwenna Campbell-Smith, who writes this report.

Maintaining a livelihood during the Covid-19 pandemic is a serious matter, particularly for freelance musicians, and many are looking at the possibilities of going online, either to maintain an existing teaching portfolio, or to start teaching for the first time.  iRCO has resources for all organ teachers, and advice from a teacher experienced in teaching the organ online.

RCO-accredited teacher Robin Harrison writes from his own experience of teaching the organ online, discussing safe-guarding and professionalism, and the pros and cons of different forms of technology.

If, like many organists, you are already leading a choir, but feel diffident about your conducting technique, then join an exceptional RCO choir training workshop coming up in November.  David Hill, one of the country’s leading choral trainers, will be directing a day workshop on choral conducting on Saturday 2nd November, in St Mary’s Church in Newark. Experienced choral conductors will have the opportunity to take their conducting skills to the next level, and there are plenty of places for observers.

This year’s RCO study trip was focused around organ music of the French Romantic period, in particular the music of Jean Langlais and Oliver Messiaen.  Twelve RCO students, led by RCO tutor Richard Brasier, visited four churches in the center of Paris over several days in June, to play on instruments by the builder Aristide Cavaillé-Coll.  Rachel Pickering was one of these students, and she sent us this account of the trip.

The British organ world of the 1960s was shaken up by a generation of new, iconoclastic composers, and James Parsons leads an RCO class exploring this music in Newcastle, this October, on the Kenneth Tickell organ at St Mary’s RC Cathedral. If you think this music is difficult and daunting, think again – James has approachable and engaging suggestions of repertoire for the class for you to explore.

Part of the recent £26m restoration of the historic Armstrong Building at Newcastle University was the installation of an organ by Bernard Aubertin in the King’s Hall, one of only three Aubertin instruments in the UK.  You are invited to play this instrument on Saturday 27th July, in an RCO class on music of the French Classical era – organists at all playing levels are welcome to attend.