On Saturday 12th June there was held what has become an annual event - a members' playing day and Masterclass at the home of David Sanger. It is a very great privilege for members to be invited to the house of an International organist, and to benefit from his wisdom and experience. The Cumbrian Society is fortunate that David chose to make his home here, and that he is so generous with his time and his advice.

The player who ventures into the Old Wesleyan Chapel faces some difficulties, for the Victorian Bevington organ is not the easiest instrument to play. The stops Are 'back to front', the Great stops being on the left and the Swell stops on the right, with no aide to registration; there is a lever swell-pedal and the pedalboard is straight and flat. But on the credit side there are some beautiful stops, the tracker action is crisp and responsive, and with four stops the pedal department Is more comprehensive than is usually found on a small two manual. It includes a wooden Trombone whose bark is most definitely better than its bite!

Six members volunteered to play for us, their names and pieces are shown below. As usual David commented on each per-formance, always constructively, often playing over the passages calling for comment. We all, players and audience, gained from his helpful remarks, a few of which are:

• When playing Bach, try to use largely toes only, as Bach probably did, and pay particular attention to ornamenta-tion.
• The angle at which the fingers connect with the keys is most important. Keep the fingers curved so that the topmost joint is vertically above the key.
• Practise locating the pedal notes without looking for them. Playing on the unfamiliar flat pedalboard is an ad-vantage because the notes may not be where we expect, and so we must develop our locating technique.
• Maintain a steady tempo. This would seem to be self-evident, but there is often a tendency, of which the player may be unaware, to rush difficult passages, thus making them even more difficult.

There was much more than this, for which there is hardly space in this short report. One always feels that one has learned something at the Masterclass.

In his speech of thanks, our chairman Colin Rae compared the evening to a recital of the Litany, during which we confess our musical sins and ask David's forgiveness! This writer was put in mind of the General Confession - 'We have played the notes we ought not to have done, and we have not played the notes we ought to have done.' But in truth, wrong notes were rare during that magical evening.

Chairman Colin also thanked the performers who had steeled themselves to come and play, David's father, Stan, for unob-trusive help in the background, and those who brought food and did the washing-up. It would be unfair to mention names here, but I will make an exception for Colin,, whose rock-buns, as always, were light and tasty !

And since a pseudonym is normally expected., I will sign myself
J Barker Lever

PS: Mrs Barker Lever also enjoyed. the occasion very much.

List of Members who played at Embleton:

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