Episode 14 - Music therapy and the pipe organ - The organ at the West London Synagogue

In this episode, Mark O'Brien visits the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery in London, where the recent restoration of a 1938 Robert Spurden Rutt pipe organ has opened the door to the instrument being used for therapeutic purposes and wellbeing. Mark talks to a Consultant Neurologist about the therapeutic qualities of music and the possible use of the hospital pipe organ - and hears the organ being used by Christopher Batchelor, a former managing director of Harrison and Harrison, who is an out-patient at the National Hospital being treated for Parkinson's.

https://www.nationalbrainappeal.org/giving-back-through-music/

https://npor.org.uk/survey/N18315

Richard Hills, Director of Music at the West London Synagogue, demonstrates the synagogue's four manual Harrison and Harrison organ, and explains its role in accompanying the liturgy for the Shabbat services. He talks about how this organ has played an important role in assimilating and creating a British musical and choral sound-world that is distinctive to the West London Synagogue.

 Music at the West London Synagogue  

https://npor.org.uk/survey/A01141

Email the Organ Podcast: theorganpodcast@rco.org.uk

https://www.rco.org.uk/