Text 283, 99 rader
Skriven 2006-03-03 21:51:04 av James Bradley (1:134/77.0)
     Kommentar till en text av Ardith Hinton
Ärende: Music
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Ardith Hinton wrote James Bradley on 03-01-06 16:32

 AH>  There's a drummer in our community band, for example,
 AH>  who's a really nice guy... but a space cadet.
 JB>  Now, there's an original... NOT!
 AH>           And then there's the clarinet player with the
 AH> dictionary in her purse

I would first suspect a viola, or violinist, but I guess in a pinch... <L>
Never the oboe. I've heard their craniums shake with the lower registers.


 JB>  "Oh ya, and drummer... What's your excuse?"
 JB>  "I don't have one."
 AH>           A refreshing attitude, to be sure....  :-)

Took him, and everyone else off guard. The percussion section, at least, knew I
had no score for the performance. While everyone was blaming their hang-nails,
and new cream-rinse...


 AH>           Being a drummer, you could get away with winging
 AH> it... for awhile!  A lot of drummers seem to believe they
 AH> can do that all the time, however....  :-/

If there's any seat in the house that can get away with it best, I guess it
would have to be the tympanist' chair.


 AH> involves going over stuff one hasn't mastered yet, and it
 AH> can be quite humiliating if there are people in the
 AH> vicinity who tend to react as my father did.  He'd never

While practicing trap, (That's the hip name for drum set work.) I was asked to
'perform' for company. "Don't you know how to play Marry Had A Little Lamb?"
I'm still at a loss for a drum set score for the nursery rhyme. Years later, I
worked up a solo introduction based on Warner Brothers cartoon theme music,
performed on traps. <Wry G>


 AH> learned to play an instrument himself... but he'd interrupt
 AH> my practising to ask me why I couldn't play the piano as
 AH> well as his sister, who had started a few decades earlier,
 AH> or to complain that I'd been "murdering" some old song
 AH> which was unfamiliar to me. At least I could take the
 AH> clarinet into my bedroom.  And by that time I was old
 AH> enough to pay for the instrument & lessons, regardless of
 AH> what he thought.  :-)

Of all things, I imagine not holding a melody line an asset. <ROTF> 


 AH>           Okay, so you're human!  I found rhythm fairly
 AH> tricky from the start & I'm still working on the
 AH> interpretation of swing, jazz, and drag triplets.  ;-)

Like I told the B-I-L, playing poorly is one of the hardest thing for a
practiced musician to do. Nothing to take away from the "out of pocket"
rhythm/solo, or a biting swing, but I know some accomplished musicians who
couldn't perform a reggae beat if they smoked a *ton* of gange. Think of the
time we spent perfecting our meter, learning the difference between a march
versus cut time, or a waltz versus six/eight. Now, throw all that out, and we
play it like trench-town. "Like WA?"


 JB>  I did play up the role, but I did have *some* skills
 JB>  to back it up.
 AH>           Yes, that's more or less what I thought... [chuckle].

It's kinda a game I play in personal relations too. Just today, I twisted it up
a bit. I've put on a few inches in the waist-line again, and the pants fit few
and far between. "OK, pleats it is." Button down collar, scarf, (It's a bit
cold out here!) Harris tweed, and sneakers over wool socks. 

When I was dressed like a trucker, the staff and I had plenty of laughs.
Earlier tonight, only senior staff seemed to recognize me. (I can easily go
incognito.) I still had fun with the owner of the auction, and she was
comfortable enough to crack a few jokes in my direction. The #2 auctioneer,
even tossed a "Thank you!" to me after I succeeded in a late item, and I
reciprocated. 

To my point, it's almost like the conundrum (NO pun intended.) of being a
drummer, AND a serious musician. I almost relish underestimation, then I own
the drivers seat when they hear something closer to brilliance than they would
expect come from my mouth. Now, I know I'm no Issac Newton, but I know some
stuff. I'm still humble enough, that when a coworker asked me to solve a "skill
testing question" and I forgot about the order of operations, I can still have
a great chortle over it, and I guess that is the other side of my toast. Once
they realize I'm not a sluff-off, it surprises many to learn I laugh loudest
about myself.




... James
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