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So I got a real sense, earlier today, Ìýof how powerful music can be! I'm in the front row of an empty Ulster Hall. In front of meÌýa big screen. OnÌýitÌýa still of theÌýcreepy looking vampire from the 1922 horror movie Nosferatu.ÌýAnd behind the screen, various organ soundsÌýcoming from the Mulholland Grand Organ.ÌýSome are soft and menacing, shivers down your spine sounds; others are, "stops pulled out" kind of stifle your screams, nervous giggle, grab the person beside you! Not that I did, as the person beside meÌýwas a complete stranger.ÌýMartin Baker, the Master of Music at Westminster Cathedral. He wasÌýcallingÌýout various instructions to the person behind the screen, who, it turned out, was Belfast City Organist Colm Carey.Ìý

Tomorrow night, MartinÌýwill be behind that screen for a special screening of Murnau’s classic 1922 Vampire movie - considered by many the first and greatest adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, even if Stoker's estate wasn't best pleased!

Anyhow,Ìýwhile the film is played, Martin will be playingÌýa live, improvised score.ÌýÌýAnd he's still not sure what notes he'll be playing. This is a man who takes his improv very seriously. It's a respite from his day job. Reading Martin's biog, he's a pretty significantÌýfigure in English Roman Catholic liturgical music. He's Ìýcommissioned and directed the Cathedral choir in the premieres of a number of new choral masses, including works by composers such as James MacMillan, Peter Maxwell Davies, Judith Bingham and John Tavener.ÌýÌýAnd he's hung out, so to speak, with the current Pope in the Sistine Chapel.ÌýÌý

As he calls out to Colm, behind the screen, with variousÌýorganists'Ìýtechnical inspeak,ÌýMartinÌýseems to know whatÌýhe's looking for. He's played the MulhollandÌýbefore.ÌýBack in the 90'sÌýbut this will be his first time since then andÌýsince it was refurbished. At one point, in response to a particularly "let it rip" sound from Colm, he says "that sounds exactly like Notre Dame".ÌýButÌýnow Charles Laughton'sÌýHunchback of Notre Dame and Max Schrek's Nosferatu are sharing space in my head. For someone who couldn't watch Dr. Who in the 70's, this is very scary stuff indeed.

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