Text 320, 146 rader
Skriven 2006-04-28 10:12:02 av James Bradley (1:134/77.0)
     Kommentar till en text av Ardith Hinton
Ärende: Music...  1.
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Ardith Hinton wrote James Bradley on 03-25-06 16:20


 AH>           Yes, I see what you mean!  Perhaps
 AH> it's time to post a message I was holding in
 AH> reserve because you seemed to need a break from
 AH> all the stuff about temperament.  In the

At all times, I seem to need a break. That's never stopped me, but maybe it
should? <G>


 JB>  Never the oboe. I've heard their craniums shake with
 JB>  the lower registers.


 AH>           I took oboe lessons for a year, so I
 AH> think I'm qualified to poke fun at oboe players

I've never blown in one, but I heard about a report that stereotypes the
personality of the player to the instruments they play, maybe like your cartoon
author. I think you have to blow in one for years for the effect to show up
however. Twelve months, I suspect, you only become interestingly off-balanced.
(-|


 AH> too!  Many oboe players seem to be quite
 AH> unconventional... and the common wisdom has it
 AH> that the back pressure affects the brain.  While
 AH> they do tend to "march to a different drummer",
 AH> however, I can relate... [chuckle].

This study, equated the size of an average cranium, or sinus-palate (I didn't
take notes.) in that, it was vibrating in sympathy to the frequencies emitted
by the stick. 


 JB>  I was asked to 'perform' for company.

 AH>           Blechh.  I wouldn't do it.  I don't
 AH> audition either....  :-)

<chuckle>

 JB>  "Don't you know how to play Marry Had A Little Lamb?"
 AH>                                  |"Mary", i.e.
 AH> unless s/he was into some
 AH>                                   perversion I
 AH> don't know about....  ;-)

<LOL> See tagline!

 JB>  I'm still at a loss for a drum set score for the nursery
 JB>  rhyme. Years later, I worked up a solo introduction based
 JB>  on Warner Brothers cartoon theme music, performed on traps.

 AH>           Oh, very clever!  And why not??  These
 AH> cartoons have popular appeal, which is exactly
 AH> what's needed in such a situation... [chuckle].

I didn't even notice its origin, until a friend heard me practice it, and told
me what it reminded him of. Sure enough, the opening four bars or so, was an
exact takeoff from the lower, and upper register notes, replaced with a BD and
snare rhythm. I didn't like the equation at the time, as I was developing my
machismo then, in late grade school. 

 AH>           I'm reminded of the occasion when a
 AH> primary teacher asked me to play THE MARCH OF
 AH> THE THREE KINGS as background music for her
 AH> class contribution to the school Christmas
 AH> pageant. (No sweat.  I could hide in the wings,
 AH> which is where I like to be whenever I can't
 AH> hide in the orchestra pit.  If you haven't
 AH> already guessed... I'm an introvert.  I can read
 AH> anything, and I find it quite funny how
 AH> classical musicians panic at the sight of a
 AH> piece of music they have never heard before.
 AH> But as to memorizing or improvising... that's
 AH> where other folks get a chance to laugh at me!)

I find most crowds tend to encourage a player, unless they are a learned
audience. I just watched a documentary called Rock School. This guitar player
from Philadelphia, realized he wasn't going to be the best player in the world,
so he opened an institution, where kids would only learn how to play `popular'
music. I say in quote, because his advanced class would tear it up to Frank
Zappa tunes, and I do emphasize, "tear it up!"

The finale to the show, was an invitation to a Zappa festival in Germany, where
they tore it up, ripped it apart, and spit out the pieces. If you know anything
about early Frank Zappa, you know there are time signatures that have never
been written prior, or since, and chord progressions that just don't seem to
make sense, until you factor in a completed pass of his composition.

These kids, got up on stage, and after the drummer (Who else?) has a bit of
stage fright, the stringed instruments, and piano parts bring it together, and
the girl in charge of lead vocals, would drop Franks jaw. After the nine yo
guitar player, goes lick for lick with what was recorded, even the original
musicians start bowing at their knees, literally, Allah style. 

There was a learned crowd. Skeptical to begin with, and outright scoffing at
the appearance of 9-17 yo players on stage. The teacher was filmed giving the
`pre-game speech', and he nailed it, that they are capable of pulling this off,
and everyone is selling them short... His only technical assessment was to
insist the piano players not turn down through their solos, and in fact, his
only intervention during their presentation, was to turn her volume knob back
up. By the end, an original flutist, lead the crowd in a cheer, and everyone
behind stage was won over, and applauding fervently as they left the stage.

Normally, we aren't charged with as big a challenge as these kids were, and if
you squawk a note, or I have to fumble for a mallet, only the literate is
likely to notice, unless we are being complete screw-ups. The general public is
likely to say at most, "Did you notice when the kettle drum player dropped his
stick? He recovered so fast, he didn't miss a note." Chances are I would have
miss a note or three, but that's why we practice, so when things aren't going
according to plan, we can get back up on the horse that threw us, and hopefully
salvage a presentation.


 AH> she asked if I could play something else for the
 AH> kids... and there I was with no score. (Oops!!)
 AH> I did manage to play TWINKLE TWINKLE LITTLE STAR
 AH> by ear, with all the right notes.  That's about
 AH> my limit....  :-))

You know, I'd have to pound out a few bad notes on a mallet instrument before
I'd figure that one out. <L> "OK kiddies, this will be performed at sixty
quarter notes per minute. It may sound slow to you. ..."


 AH> can play only one note at a time.  You, OTOH,
 AH> probably have all the makings of a one- man band
 AH> except for the harmonica.  ;-)

Well, I'd have to rig the BD to the shin bone, and tap a pair of cymbal to the
top on my foot. Gee, maybe we *do* have the dexterity of an octopus! I never
was too good with a melody, though.


... "Siss, boom, bha: The sound an inflatable sheep makes." -Carson, J.
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