starting from elementary schools and takin' the kids to a church or hall and see/listen to a King and then answer all the questions right.
That was one of my favourite pastimes and I can tell you why it's a pastime and who is ruining it - the Occupational Health and Safety army. These draconian restrictions on Safety issues are basically robbing people like me of the chance to take student groups on excursions to certain church galleries/organs without orders signed in triplicate, sent in , sent, back, subjected to public enquiry, (etc, etc ...
Douglas Adams fans, you know the rest!).
I had to get permission simply to bring my young son up with me to the cathedral gallery on a Sunday morning. Given my 20+ year tenure there, I like to think I know reasonably well just where the gallery may be safe or unsafe!!
Last time I tried to take a class onto the stage at the Adelaide Town Hall to demonstrate the Walker organ to them, I got into trouble because of Occ, Health & Safety regulations - yeesh!!! Where does one draw the line?? :scold::scold: (Way too far back as far as OHS regulations go).
To a small extent I can appreciate wanting to ensure people's safety, but as always, a lot of it does come down to
commonbloodysense! (something which these days seems to be as politically incorrect as that archaic value known as respect).
Sorry - </rant>
I do agree with starting them younger which is why I do what I do at school and bring classes into the chapel. It's a substantial bonus for me having a small but good instrument to demonstrate to them.
@QFE: You're no doubt correct in the phrase "pulling out all the stops" being peculiarly English. I've always come to think of it as a generalisation rather than a literal direction. One thing I'm always quick to say to classes is that despite the wording, one
never pulls out every stop at the organ to make it louder. I suspect it's a visual thing - many people in the past have seen "a lot of" stops out when the organ is loud and therefore, as with a lot of phrases, stories, etc, it gets blown a little out of proportion.
My biggest fear is that the organ building trade itself may wither. An organ builder may not pass on the trade to his/her children because they may find more lucrative means of living. I feel that this is not a large danger in Europe as there are still many quality builders around, but down here, I do sometimes wonder.
There does still exist (here anyway) a
general interest in the instrument but it's sorting out whether it's a genuine
musical interest as opposed to some sort of novelty value (playing with the feet, making different sounds, etc). Either way, it's most likely up to to our sort to make it appealing to whomever shows an interest regardless of their motivation!