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Mark Goodhew
- Organist

5:30pm:
St Michael and All Angels Church, Adbaston, ST20 0QE

Sunday

2nd  July 2023

Programme:

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Johann Sebastien Bach -

Pastorella – 1st Movement BWV 590

Siciliano – From Concerto in D Minor

Badinerie from Suite No 2

Prelude and fugue in G Major – BWV 568

Prelude and fugue in C Major – BWV 553

Cello Suite No 1 – BWV 1007

 

Interval

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Arcangelo Corelli (arr Philip Lane)     Gigue -        

George Frideric Handel                     Organ concerto, Op4 No4. HWV 292 -

Dietrich Buxtehude                            Toccata in F BuxWV 157 -

Theodore Dubois                               Toccata pour Orgue in G Major -

Dietrich Buxtehude                           Canzona in C major BuxWV 166 -

George Frideric Handel                     Royal Fireworks suite -

Biography:

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Mark Goodhew started his musical career as a pianist at the age of seven in Southend-on-Sea, Essex. At ten he took up the double bass while continuing to play the piano and then added the organ to his list of instruments within a year, after being invited by his father, who was full time organist and choir master for Clifftown United Reformed Church in Southend to play after services whilst they had tea and biscuits.

Mark was spoilt by this instrument, designed for a church that could seat 2000 and would regularly be used for performing alongside the local brass and wind bands as a concert instrument. A 3 manual with 25 sounding stops and roughly 1800 pipes. The organ gave Mark the ability to understand registration and musical colouring from a relatively young age and lead to him conducting his first wedding at 12 and supported the church in services alongside his father.

Mark passed Grade 8 in both instruments before starting his A-Levels at Westcliff High School for Boys Grammar school. He went on to read Music and Music Technology as a dual honours degree at Keely University, graduating with a 2:1. Mark’s solo instrument was the double bass whilst at the university and he completed a recital for each of the 3 years of study, under the direction of his tutor, the late Anthony Morgan.

After his graduation, he was appointed as organist at St Peter’s CofE church in Alton, whilst performing at multiple churches for weddings in the area, such as All Saints Dilhorne, St Giles Cheadle (CofE), St Peter’s Caverswall, St Filumenas Caverswall and many others.

Mark is full time accompanist for the Moorlands Voices choir, supporting them on any instrument they require for the performance. Mark also has accompanied Stone Choral society and Cantiamo singers on organ, piano and double bass under the direction of Harriet Johnson.

The Organ at Adbaston:

According to the National Pipe Organ Register the organ was originally built in 1885. The Organ was rebuilt in early 1900 (between 1904 and 1916) but no detail is available for what was changed. The Organ Builder was Atterton and Sons of Leighton Buzzard. The organ had the mixture removed at some point, which was probably to match the registration of the other stops, as it would overpower the other stops and so was replaced with a swell octave.

The Organ would be considered small and consists of 5 Great Stops and 4 Swell Stops, including standard pedal couplers and Swell to Great coupler. The Octave exists on the swell to add texture and then the pedals have 2 stops, but only one sounding stop as the 8ft is an octave of the 16ft Bourdon.

The action is mechanical and so is heavy, but would be typical for music written in the Baroque Era (1600-1750). Electo-Pneumatic organs were not introduced until the romantic period, which lead to a faster and lighter action.

 

Registration:

Great

Open Diapason 8'

Lieblich Gedact 8'

Dulciana 8'

Principal 4'

Fifteenth 2'

 

Swell

Open Diapason 8'

Stopped Diapason 8'

Gemshorn 4'

Gamba 8'

Octave

 

Pedal

Bass Flute 8'

Bourdon 16'

 

Couplers

Swell to Pedal

Great to Pedal

Swell to Great

Mark’s Double Bass:

Mark’s Double Bass was designed and built by John Bedingfield in Southend-on-Sea, Essex. This was the second double bass he built for Mark, the first was bigger than the current bass and was a great bass, but too big for a man of Mark’s build to do solo work. The first bass was sold to the then principal of the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

Mark’s current bass was built specifically for his size and build and constructed ahead of his Grade 8 exam in 2002. Mark remembers it as 4 wedges of wood, for the front and back and then the ribs (sides) as flat pieces, when it was started in 2002, it took 4 months to complete, by hand. The Machine heads and plates were all made by hand on a metal lathe and all the detail work again, completely by hand.

It would be considered more Viol shaped than would be recognised for most post classical double basses, but is set up for a mixture of both Orchestral and solo work.

Mark uses Orchestral Tuning and Orchestral strings for his performance today, solo tuning would be strings designed to be a tone higher (F#, B#, E, A, instead of E, A, D, G), which would produce a brighter sound and would sound quicker and resonate more.

Marks double bass is considered a 3/4 size as is standard for most basses, this scaling is not based on the overall size of the bass, but the length from the neck to the bridge. My basses “stop”, as it is termed, is 1/2 inch shorter than full size.

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