The Organ Manual - Anna Hallett

Name:	The Organ Manual - Anna Hallett
Location:	Wiltshire United Kingdom
Contact:	I can be contacted through my parents e-mail address: y.martin.hallett@gmail.com Send The Organ Manual - Anna Hallett a message

Additional Info:

Anna Hallett is the creator of ‘The Organ Manual’. Anna is 15 and has been learning the organ for 5 years. As well as the organ, Anna plays the piano and sings in a church choir.

In 2019, Anna published a report, ‘Inspiring Organists of the Future – does more need to be done?’. It was on a subject close to her heart but she never dreamt the response, research, findings or report would be so large.

Anna was overwhelmed by the feedback she received from a questionnaire she sent out and because of the willingness of some big names in the organ world in giving their time to discuss what could be done to help improve things for not only young organists, but all organists.

Despite passion and activity in the ‘organ world’ through recitals, exams, competitions and more, during her research Anna came across countless sites, magazines, organisations and more that I wasn’t previously aware of. As a result of the project, Anna became a member of her local organ association, subscribed to various magazines, became the youngest member (or so they think) of Friends of Cathedral Music, learned about other courses and scholarships she wasn’t otherwise aware of. Anna wondered how she could be so ignorant of all this information and . It certainly wasn’t through lack of support from teachers, family or friends, nor was it for want of looking.

As research developed, it became more and more apparent that many organists benefit from memberships of different organisations, gaining experience, advice and/or qualifications from them. In addition, there are numerous ‘self-help’ groups set up to answer questions, some dealing with more specific areas of organ playing than others. And then there are the publications, the various magazines covering all aspects of the organ. Let’s not forget the sites that detail recitals, competitions, organ builders, vacancies and so much more.

And so, that is how ‘The Organ Manual’ came about. As Anna wrote the conclusion of her report, drawing months of research together she felt something needed to be done so others could hopefully benefit from all she had discovered.

Anna wrote down list after list of areas she thought should be covered, topics to write about and questions to answer. It was those lists that helped the logo for the site evolve. After much planning, more research, drafts, redrafts, discussions, templates, design and development ‘The Organ Manual’ took shape. Slowly but surely the site (www.theorganmanual.com) grew to what it is now.Yet there is barely a week that goes by without her adding another useful site, page or link to the manual, so it is ever evolving.

Anna's hope is that this site becomes the ‘go to’ place for every level of organ player to go to, from the 9 year old who is interested in having a play to the 89 year old (the oldest player who responded to my survey) who perhaps is considering hanging up his organ shoes after 70 years of playing. Perhaps it’s an over simplistic approach to the problem. Who knows? One can but try!