The way I see it, the music is a kind of survival strategy in these present dark times.
A great interview.
Saturday, October 8, 2011
Friday, September 16, 2011
QotD
We have also sound-houses, where we practise and demonstrate all sounds and their generation. We have harmony which you have not, of quarter-sounds and lesser slides of sounds. Divers instruments of music likewise to you unknown, some sweeter than any you have; with bells and rings that are dainty and sweet. We represent small sounds as great and deep, likewise great sounds extenuate and sharp; we make divers tremblings and warblings of sounds, which in their originalare entire. We represent and imitate all articulate sounds and letters, and the voices and notes of beasts and birds. We have certain helps which, set to the ear, do further the hearing greatly; we have also divers strange and artificial echoes, reflecting the voice many times, and, as it were,tossing it; and some that give back the voice louder than it came, some shriller and some deeper; yea, some rendering the voice, differing in the letters or articulate sound from that they receive. We have all means to convey sounds in trunks and pipes, in strange lines and distances.
- Sir Francis Bacon, THE NEW ATLANTIS (1624)
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Mozart - Horn duos
I recently discovered Mozart's horn duos and I love them; no. 4 and 6 in particular are great. The duos are written for a high and a low horn, whatever those are, but they fit well on trumpet and mellophone (Bb and Eb); so my transcriptions will also work for two saxes. I just finished the sixth (menuetto), might put up some of them in the next week. Others transcribed them before; someone is selling a two-trumpet transcription book on ebay.
Unfortunately, I could not find any commercial recording for these - unlike Bach's Inventions, for which there are at least a dozen recordings out there. I have to guess at the tempos from the titles (larghetto - must be sort of slow) and my technical limitations (the 16th-note run - can only play it so fast). I also wish I could hear the articulation and phrasing...
P.S. I stand corrected: the duos are available as a part of Marriner and AoSMitF's Wind Divertimienti recordings. They are truly beautiful, the horns almost sound like a piano. Here they are: mediafire.
Unfortunately, I could not find any commercial recording for these - unlike Bach's Inventions, for which there are at least a dozen recordings out there. I have to guess at the tempos from the titles (larghetto - must be sort of slow) and my technical limitations (the 16th-note run - can only play it so fast). I also wish I could hear the articulation and phrasing...
P.S. I stand corrected: the duos are available as a part of Marriner and AoSMitF's Wind Divertimienti recordings. They are truly beautiful, the horns almost sound like a piano. Here they are: mediafire.
Friday, August 12, 2011
Yay marimba!
I've heard that Bach's solo cello suites were done on marimba and was wondering how that sounds. That's still a mystery, but meanwhile the curious can check out Mozart's Flute Quartet done on five marimbas:
W. A. Mozart - Flute Quartet No.1 in D Major K285,
I. Allegro
II. Adagio
III. Rondeau
UPDATE 12/17/2013: A mystery revealed - BACH Cello Suite No. 5 for Marimba - Jisu Jung
W. A. Mozart - Flute Quartet No.1 in D Major K285,
I. Allegro
II. Adagio
III. Rondeau
UPDATE 12/17/2013: A mystery revealed - BACH Cello Suite No. 5 for Marimba - Jisu Jung
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Bach's Prelude No.1
This is, of course, one of the most famous Bach pieces - the opening prelude to his Well-Tempered Clavier book I, BWV 846. It's been called an encapsulation of the entire WTC and is a favorite of music theorists; there are multiple contrafacts on it, most famous being Gounod's Ave Maria. It is a favorite of classical piano and guitar players for being a sequence of arpeggios and thus relatively easy to play. Of course, that's exactly what makes it *hard* to play on a trumpet. This would be my "some day" piece, along with Tempo di Minueto from Partita No.5 - that thing is hardcore...
I had to transpose it to E and also move the bass notes up in bars 32-33 to fit it to a trumpet range. Obviously, the bass notes cannot be sustained under the arpeggios, so it's all in sixteenths. Here it is on Scribd.
I had to transpose it to E and also move the bass notes up in bars 32-33 to fit it to a trumpet range. Obviously, the bass notes cannot be sustained under the arpeggios, so it's all in sixteenths. Here it is on Scribd.
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
The human factor
I recently bought a 1927 Buescher on eBay; doubt I will be keeping it. It is in a rather good condition, with the original brass straight mute and those non-standard short-shank early Buescher mouthpieces still in the case. As I was digging through the stuff, I felt something move inside the mute. A closer inspection revealed a folded sheet of paper bouncing in there. As I was pulling it out, the paper - which, I surmise, sat there for at least 50 years and possibly more - deteriorated. I noticed some writing on it and tried to put it back together.
James Harrington
Virginia Blanchard
Angelina
Dorothy Grout
Who the hell are those people and what are they doing inside a mute? I truly can't think of an explanation...
As a PS, this was an early Buescher with their early-model non-standard mouthpieces and a tuning slide for a Bb/A; very well preserved except for the valve wear, and quite beautiful once cleaned and polished - but I did not care for the sound too much.
James Harrington
Virginia Blanchard
Angelina
Dorothy Grout
Who the hell are those people and what are they doing inside a mute? I truly can't think of an explanation...
As a PS, this was an early Buescher with their early-model non-standard mouthpieces and a tuning slide for a Bb/A; very well preserved except for the valve wear, and quite beautiful once cleaned and polished - but I did not care for the sound too much.
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Seikilos Epitaph
In one of the earlier posts I questioned the wisdom of putting music notation on your tombstone. I might have been wrong. At least one guy achieved immortality and endless gratitude of music historians by doing just that: The Seikilos epitaph is the oldest surviving example of a complete musical composition, including musical notation, from anywhere in the world + the score.
More gear history
From Arbuckle's Complete Cornet Method (~1880?).
THE CROOKS OR PIECES TO ADJUST THE TONE OF THE INSTRUMENT.
With each Cornet are furnished several crooks and pieces, or bits, to put the instrument into different keys, viz: the smallest straight piece marked Bb; the longest piece marked A; the smallest crook Ab; the next largest crook G; and the longest crook F. In England we seldom make use of any other than the two straight pieces, Bb and A, the proper Cornet tone being confined to those two keys, and the two smaller crooks, Ab and G. In France and other countries, however, they write for the F Cornet, and sometimes as low as E and Eb; the Cornet then becomes, in fact, a valve trumpet. The most desirable keys for the learner to use are the A and Ab.
TUNING THE VALVES OF THE CORNET.
Attached to each valve is a slide for the purpose of tuning the valve, when it is necessary to crook the instrument in any other key than Bb. The middle, or shortest valve, is never moved for any key not lower than G. You will perceive by the table, page 10, that [E above middle C] can be played with an open note or the first and second valves. To tune the first valve, sound the open note E, and then press the two valves down and sound the same note; if it accords with the open note, the first valve is in tune; if not, move the slide of the first valve until it does accord. As the third valve is equivalent to the first and second valves, it can be tuned in the same way; or, after tuning the first valve, you will perceive in the table, page 10, that the first and third valves produce the sound [middle G]. Sound the open note, and then press down the valves, and by moving the slide of the third valve make it accord in the same manner as before.
Also, a Conn and Dupont Four-In-One cornet designed to play in Eb, C, Bb, and A, and a patent for it - the forerunner of the Victor's pitch-adjusting system.
THE CROOKS OR PIECES TO ADJUST THE TONE OF THE INSTRUMENT.
With each Cornet are furnished several crooks and pieces, or bits, to put the instrument into different keys, viz: the smallest straight piece marked Bb; the longest piece marked A; the smallest crook Ab; the next largest crook G; and the longest crook F. In England we seldom make use of any other than the two straight pieces, Bb and A, the proper Cornet tone being confined to those two keys, and the two smaller crooks, Ab and G. In France and other countries, however, they write for the F Cornet, and sometimes as low as E and Eb; the Cornet then becomes, in fact, a valve trumpet. The most desirable keys for the learner to use are the A and Ab.
TUNING THE VALVES OF THE CORNET.
Attached to each valve is a slide for the purpose of tuning the valve, when it is necessary to crook the instrument in any other key than Bb. The middle, or shortest valve, is never moved for any key not lower than G. You will perceive by the table, page 10, that [E above middle C] can be played with an open note or the first and second valves. To tune the first valve, sound the open note E, and then press the two valves down and sound the same note; if it accords with the open note, the first valve is in tune; if not, move the slide of the first valve until it does accord. As the third valve is equivalent to the first and second valves, it can be tuned in the same way; or, after tuning the first valve, you will perceive in the table, page 10, that the first and third valves produce the sound [middle G]. Sound the open note, and then press down the valves, and by moving the slide of the third valve make it accord in the same manner as before.
Also, a Conn and Dupont Four-In-One cornet designed to play in Eb, C, Bb, and A, and a patent for it - the forerunner of the Victor's pitch-adjusting system.
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
The good old days
It is generally conceded that the use of brass musical instruments has greatly increased in this country during the last ten years. Few persons, however, have any accurate idea of the appalling progress which this terrible vice has made. There is probably not a village in the whole country without its habitual and shameless player on the cornet, while the number of those who are addicted to brass instruments, either openly and to an extent which they call "moderate," or secretly and to a ruinous excess, is estimated by trustworthy statisticians to amount to fully 3 per cent of our entire adult population. In comparison with these figures the prevalence of drunkenness becomes insignificant and opium-eating hardly deserves notice.
Brass Instrument Habit, NYT 7/28/1880 on New York Times site or Scribd
Another worthy read: American Brass Band, NYT 8/25/1880 on NYT site or Scribd
Brass Instrument Habit, NYT 7/28/1880 on New York Times site or Scribd
Another worthy read: American Brass Band, NYT 8/25/1880 on NYT site or Scribd
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
A complete assessment of a vintage horn by Tom Turner
There are some things that could have happened to your trumpet through the years that could contribute to the horn becoming even more stuffy, tight, and harder to blow. I'll list them below:
1. MOUTHPIECE TO RECEIVER GAP PROBLEMS
-- Some mouthpieces of that era used different diameters and tapers to the mouthpiece shank.
-- Additionally, even if your current mouthpiece's taper is correct, the receiver may be worn (probably from years of someone twisting in the mouthpiece or accidentally cramming the mouthpiece in the receiver and reaming the receiver out). This would cause a loss of gap.
When the correct gap is not maintained or attainable, it can really screw up how a horn plays. Take it to a good technician for analysis.
2. WORN OUT VALVES
If the valves leak due to being worn out, the horn will "go away" on the lower octave notes particularly and become much harder to play.
Again, a good technician can make sure your valves have decent compression. If they don't, the valves still CAN be rebuilt! Again, the technician can guide you in this direction. The retail cost would be about $100 per valve (possibly less)
3. MISALIGNED VALVES
Alignment felts shrink, harden and wear out! If the up and down stroke alignment is not precise the horn will play stuffy and even the intonation of notes can suffer.
4. LEAKY SLIDES AND/OR SPIT VALVES
It is amazing how many old horns now have leaky slides that kind of fit loose in a horn. And sometimes a spit valve key will be misaligned or even have bad, leaky cork.
5. STRESS PROBLEMS
If a horn is ever dropped and damaged, stress can be introduced to the horn that can totally prevent the horn from blowing free and easy! Some technicians make quick dent repairs but fail to disassemble all the parts in the area where the tubing got bent out of shape.
Horns are assembled new WITHOUT STRESS. Each part simply fits perfectly into the other without being forced into place to cause stress. It is very important that the horn NOT have any restrictive stress where bent and now ill-fitting pieces are under tension and pressure from the accident.
Again, the horn can STILL be disassembled and PROPERLY repaired so that all parts again are not under stress then the horn is reassembled. A Stress-free horn will sing but a horn with stress will be harder to play.
A NEW LEADPIPE?
I wouldn't do that until the above mentioned areas of common symptoms is professionally accessed. If all these potential problems are fixed, and the horn is still hard to blow there are two choices:
1. Leave it alone and enjoy it as what it is - a very old trumpet from a bygone era when the predominant trumpet design might still be a "peashooter."
2. Put another leadpipe on the horn that you've tested against other variances in leadpipes until you find the exact taper that makes the horn play as you like. However, by this time you'll have a lot of money tied up in a small bore trumpet that was known to be a bright-sounding trumpet anyway.
HEAVY VALVE CAPS?
This might tighten the slots a little, and MIGHT darken it a little, but this would be something that I wouldn't think would give you the best results overall. Heavy caps can just as easily lock down the slotting TOO MUCH.
Here's a cheap way to test if heavy caps will matter:
Take at least the lower valve cap with you to a local plumbing supply company and find a heavy, BRASS washer with a hole in it's center that is only slightly smaller in outer diameter than your valve.
Place it in your THIRD VALVE lower cap, slightly to one side all the way so that when you tighten your lower THIRD VALVE cap the washer will snug itself firmly between the bottom of the valve's casing and the lower cap. This, in essence, turns your conventional cap into a "heavy cap."
The washer won't cost more than a quarter or so, and is just as effective as the expensive heavy caps, IMHO.
WHY ONLY ONE 25 CENT HEAVY BRASS WASHER?
OK - since they are cheap, go ahead and get TWO. The second valve virtually never benefits from a heavy cap anyway, but the first valve SOMETIMES.
On most horns, a single washer on the third valve will tighten the slots a little. On a few horns, just a single washer on the FIRST valve slide will do the trick. On a very tiny number of horns, a combination of washers (or expensive heavy caps) on BOTH the 1st and 3rd valves will be the ticket.
Frankly though, if a horn is properly designed and in perfect playing condition, heavy caps WILL change things slightly, but NOT in a good way!!! This is because heavy caps can, and will also make the horn less responsive to play (in order to tighten up the slots - and as a by-product of killing some of the overtones).
If slots get too tight it becomes hard to do glissandos, rips and falls for jazz work.
As I said, most successful horns don't need heavy caps, for they were properly designed to balance the blow requirements perfectly so the slots would be tight enough for legit work, but loose enough for jazz.
Keep in mind though: ANYTHING one changes on a trumpet will also almost always make a CHANGE in how the horn blows or sounds - thus the popular after-market items available. HOWEVER... different is not always - or even slightly - better in the long run.
There are some things that could have happened to your trumpet through the years that could contribute to the horn becoming even more stuffy, tight, and harder to blow. I'll list them below:
1. MOUTHPIECE TO RECEIVER GAP PROBLEMS
-- Some mouthpieces of that era used different diameters and tapers to the mouthpiece shank.
-- Additionally, even if your current mouthpiece's taper is correct, the receiver may be worn (probably from years of someone twisting in the mouthpiece or accidentally cramming the mouthpiece in the receiver and reaming the receiver out). This would cause a loss of gap.
When the correct gap is not maintained or attainable, it can really screw up how a horn plays. Take it to a good technician for analysis.
2. WORN OUT VALVES
If the valves leak due to being worn out, the horn will "go away" on the lower octave notes particularly and become much harder to play.
Again, a good technician can make sure your valves have decent compression. If they don't, the valves still CAN be rebuilt! Again, the technician can guide you in this direction. The retail cost would be about $100 per valve (possibly less)
3. MISALIGNED VALVES
Alignment felts shrink, harden and wear out! If the up and down stroke alignment is not precise the horn will play stuffy and even the intonation of notes can suffer.
4. LEAKY SLIDES AND/OR SPIT VALVES
It is amazing how many old horns now have leaky slides that kind of fit loose in a horn. And sometimes a spit valve key will be misaligned or even have bad, leaky cork.
5. STRESS PROBLEMS
If a horn is ever dropped and damaged, stress can be introduced to the horn that can totally prevent the horn from blowing free and easy! Some technicians make quick dent repairs but fail to disassemble all the parts in the area where the tubing got bent out of shape.
Horns are assembled new WITHOUT STRESS. Each part simply fits perfectly into the other without being forced into place to cause stress. It is very important that the horn NOT have any restrictive stress where bent and now ill-fitting pieces are under tension and pressure from the accident.
Again, the horn can STILL be disassembled and PROPERLY repaired so that all parts again are not under stress then the horn is reassembled. A Stress-free horn will sing but a horn with stress will be harder to play.
A NEW LEADPIPE?
I wouldn't do that until the above mentioned areas of common symptoms is professionally accessed. If all these potential problems are fixed, and the horn is still hard to blow there are two choices:
1. Leave it alone and enjoy it as what it is - a very old trumpet from a bygone era when the predominant trumpet design might still be a "peashooter."
2. Put another leadpipe on the horn that you've tested against other variances in leadpipes until you find the exact taper that makes the horn play as you like. However, by this time you'll have a lot of money tied up in a small bore trumpet that was known to be a bright-sounding trumpet anyway.
HEAVY VALVE CAPS?
This might tighten the slots a little, and MIGHT darken it a little, but this would be something that I wouldn't think would give you the best results overall. Heavy caps can just as easily lock down the slotting TOO MUCH.
Here's a cheap way to test if heavy caps will matter:
Take at least the lower valve cap with you to a local plumbing supply company and find a heavy, BRASS washer with a hole in it's center that is only slightly smaller in outer diameter than your valve.
Place it in your THIRD VALVE lower cap, slightly to one side all the way so that when you tighten your lower THIRD VALVE cap the washer will snug itself firmly between the bottom of the valve's casing and the lower cap. This, in essence, turns your conventional cap into a "heavy cap."
The washer won't cost more than a quarter or so, and is just as effective as the expensive heavy caps, IMHO.
WHY ONLY ONE 25 CENT HEAVY BRASS WASHER?
OK - since they are cheap, go ahead and get TWO. The second valve virtually never benefits from a heavy cap anyway, but the first valve SOMETIMES.
On most horns, a single washer on the third valve will tighten the slots a little. On a few horns, just a single washer on the FIRST valve slide will do the trick. On a very tiny number of horns, a combination of washers (or expensive heavy caps) on BOTH the 1st and 3rd valves will be the ticket.
Frankly though, if a horn is properly designed and in perfect playing condition, heavy caps WILL change things slightly, but NOT in a good way!!! This is because heavy caps can, and will also make the horn less responsive to play (in order to tighten up the slots - and as a by-product of killing some of the overtones).
If slots get too tight it becomes hard to do glissandos, rips and falls for jazz work.
As I said, most successful horns don't need heavy caps, for they were properly designed to balance the blow requirements perfectly so the slots would be tight enough for legit work, but loose enough for jazz.
Keep in mind though: ANYTHING one changes on a trumpet will also almost always make a CHANGE in how the horn blows or sounds - thus the popular after-market items available. HOWEVER... different is not always - or even slightly - better in the long run.
Friday, May 13, 2011
Conn Victor New Wonder
Brass instruments are such a great collector's item for several reasons:
- Commercially produced trumpets have been around for over a century, which is a long time - twice as long as electric guitars, for instance.
- If they are not abused, they last a long time - there are plenty of functional instruments from the 50s and 40s and quite a few from the 20s. The cutoff seems to be around 1915 - stuff that's earlier than that and still functional in any sense of the word is exceedingly rare.
- Many are reasonably abundant, having been made by thousands, and thus not exorbitantly expensive - this depends on what one collects, of course, but there is plenty of interesting stuff that does not cost an arm and a leg.
- There are plenty of technical challenges in making and playing brass, and in a century of development, a lot of smart people working on them came up with a variety of solutions. Some are ingenious and some are just kooky; some stuck but many fell by wayside... Now only the very-highest profile makers like Monette dare to experiment and be different; in the golden age of brass every company tried to be original and inventive.
Conn 80A (Victor AND/OR New Wonder) is a perfect fit for all of the above. They are good vintage horns, made between about 1915 and the 60s. They have a whole range of experimental features: the "opera glass" tuning slide behind the first valve, a "quick-change mechanism" ("a system whereby the slides connected to the valves are automatically pulled out the correct amount when the main tuning slide is pulled out to A"), and two sets of slides, LP/HP (for low pitch of A=435 / high pitch of A=457, see "Musical Pitch and International Agreement" by Weinstein in TAJIL as reprinted here). There is also an adjustable valve spring gadget inside the pistons that allows to regulate the spring tension - not visible, of course, but still interesting and AFAIK not implemented by anyone else.
I was fortunate enough to get one last December. Mine is from 1918 and seems to never have been through a serious repair; no major dents or anything; everything is in place and working - key-change thing, high-pitch slides, even a mute seems to be original. It came with a mouthpiece that's an exact replica of the one I am using on my trumpet - a deep V cup Holton - which makes it easier for me to switch back and forth. I think the bore is .484 (one of the largest-bore cornets ever, they say), and the sound is massive; it plays real nice and easy all the way to the top. The biggest problem is the one you would expect: valve wear. It is still playable and above the middle G it's hardly noticeable, but as you descend, the attacks start to deteriorate, and it takes a long time to warm up on it. I kept reading about leaky valves and wondering what those are - now I know...
(Most of the) quick-change mechanism is visible in the pic above. Small shafts on the tuning slide pull on the system of levers that pulls out each of the slides by different amounts, keeping the horn in tune. I don't often switch to A, although it does happen - mostly on occasions of impromptu jams in guitarist's favorite keys. The sound of this thing is already as dark as it can be without trespassing into the French horn territory, and when in A, it gets even more so, maybe even too much...
I did not shoot the extra "high pitch" slides as they are pretty much useless and just sit in the case.
Incidentally, the present value of A=440Hz was officially standardized across the European nations by a provision in the Treaty of Versailles in 1919, so in a way, this instrument became conceptually obsolete at birth.
Grammar nazi says: I hate it when people call cornets "coronets".
- Commercially produced trumpets have been around for over a century, which is a long time - twice as long as electric guitars, for instance.
- If they are not abused, they last a long time - there are plenty of functional instruments from the 50s and 40s and quite a few from the 20s. The cutoff seems to be around 1915 - stuff that's earlier than that and still functional in any sense of the word is exceedingly rare.
- Many are reasonably abundant, having been made by thousands, and thus not exorbitantly expensive - this depends on what one collects, of course, but there is plenty of interesting stuff that does not cost an arm and a leg.
- There are plenty of technical challenges in making and playing brass, and in a century of development, a lot of smart people working on them came up with a variety of solutions. Some are ingenious and some are just kooky; some stuck but many fell by wayside... Now only the very-highest profile makers like Monette dare to experiment and be different; in the golden age of brass every company tried to be original and inventive.
Conn 80A (Victor AND/OR New Wonder) is a perfect fit for all of the above. They are good vintage horns, made between about 1915 and the 60s. They have a whole range of experimental features: the "opera glass" tuning slide behind the first valve, a "quick-change mechanism" ("a system whereby the slides connected to the valves are automatically pulled out the correct amount when the main tuning slide is pulled out to A"), and two sets of slides, LP/HP (for low pitch of A=435 / high pitch of A=457, see "Musical Pitch and International Agreement" by Weinstein in TAJIL as reprinted here). There is also an adjustable valve spring gadget inside the pistons that allows to regulate the spring tension - not visible, of course, but still interesting and AFAIK not implemented by anyone else.
I was fortunate enough to get one last December. Mine is from 1918 and seems to never have been through a serious repair; no major dents or anything; everything is in place and working - key-change thing, high-pitch slides, even a mute seems to be original. It came with a mouthpiece that's an exact replica of the one I am using on my trumpet - a deep V cup Holton - which makes it easier for me to switch back and forth. I think the bore is .484 (one of the largest-bore cornets ever, they say), and the sound is massive; it plays real nice and easy all the way to the top. The biggest problem is the one you would expect: valve wear. It is still playable and above the middle G it's hardly noticeable, but as you descend, the attacks start to deteriorate, and it takes a long time to warm up on it. I kept reading about leaky valves and wondering what those are - now I know...
(Most of the) quick-change mechanism is visible in the pic above. Small shafts on the tuning slide pull on the system of levers that pulls out each of the slides by different amounts, keeping the horn in tune. I don't often switch to A, although it does happen - mostly on occasions of impromptu jams in guitarist's favorite keys. The sound of this thing is already as dark as it can be without trespassing into the French horn territory, and when in A, it gets even more so, maybe even too much...
I did not shoot the extra "high pitch" slides as they are pretty much useless and just sit in the case.
Incidentally, the present value of A=440Hz was officially standardized across the European nations by a provision in the Treaty of Versailles in 1919, so in a way, this instrument became conceptually obsolete at birth.
Grammar nazi says: I hate it when people call cornets "coronets".
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Musician and his instrument pt.3
Boris de Schloezer saw technology as distancing the performer from the musical product. "All those splendid mechanisms, like Theremin’s or Martenot’s apparatus, ...are in a sense negligible, since they are not animated by the thought and will of man ... The development we have seen in the last twenty-five years ... consists in gradually replacing the direct relation between performer and auditor ... by an indirect and somewhat remote relation." (de Schloezer, 1931:3) Although he foresaw the eventual widespread impact of electrical technology on music, de Schloezer also dismissed its ability to contribute to music as an art: "Strictly speaking, there is no such thing as mechanical music ... [M]usic is, and always will be, essentially spiritual ... The ‘mechanization of music’ actually means the increase in the number of intermediaries between producer of music and listener." (de Schloezer, 1931:3)
This view was the exact opposite of Theremin’s, who saw electrical apparatus tapping more directly into the performer’s thoughts and intentions. Clearly, Theremin and de Schloezer were operating under different assumptions. De Schloezer held the view that music and its "humanity" lay in the direct, physical relationship between the player and the sound-producing device. The closer and more immediate the relationship, the better the instrument to express humanity. "Perfection for a musical device means ‘being human’", he claimed. The ideal instrument was, therefore, the human voice- an instrument inherently expressive of the human condition. He did, however, name a second best: "[B]owed instruments are incontestably the finest ... because they are in intimate contact with the human body and respond to its slightest impulses." (de Schloezer, 1931:4) Theremin also saw the ideal instrument as one sensitive to the performer’s actions, but didn’t see the technology as an "intermediary" or distancing apparatus, but a means to remove the physical restrictions of the very interfaces de Schloezer saw as in "intimate contact with the human body". Interestingly, both authors saw the voice as the ultimate expressive instrument, but came to completely opposite conclusions about technology’s ability to emulate its expressiveness. As I hope to demonstrate later, I think that six decades of development have shown that both men were essentially correct in their assessment of the potential and pitfalls of electronic interfaces.
http://www.yorku.ca/beckwith/Rashleigh.html
This view was the exact opposite of Theremin’s, who saw electrical apparatus tapping more directly into the performer’s thoughts and intentions. Clearly, Theremin and de Schloezer were operating under different assumptions. De Schloezer held the view that music and its "humanity" lay in the direct, physical relationship between the player and the sound-producing device. The closer and more immediate the relationship, the better the instrument to express humanity. "Perfection for a musical device means ‘being human’", he claimed. The ideal instrument was, therefore, the human voice- an instrument inherently expressive of the human condition. He did, however, name a second best: "[B]owed instruments are incontestably the finest ... because they are in intimate contact with the human body and respond to its slightest impulses." (de Schloezer, 1931:4) Theremin also saw the ideal instrument as one sensitive to the performer’s actions, but didn’t see the technology as an "intermediary" or distancing apparatus, but a means to remove the physical restrictions of the very interfaces de Schloezer saw as in "intimate contact with the human body". Interestingly, both authors saw the voice as the ultimate expressive instrument, but came to completely opposite conclusions about technology’s ability to emulate its expressiveness. As I hope to demonstrate later, I think that six decades of development have shown that both men were essentially correct in their assessment of the potential and pitfalls of electronic interfaces.
http://www.yorku.ca/beckwith/Rashleigh.html
Thursday, February 17, 2011
I love me some music criticism
Jazz Flayed
TIME Archives, Monday, Sep.20, 1926
At present jazz is not an art but an industry, the whirring of a standardized machine endlessly turning out a standardized article... The thing is already dead from the neck up. That it will remain popular for some time among the musical illiterate is quite possible and if the dancers like it there is no reason why they should not have it. But the day has gone by when musicians can even take a languid interest in the thing, for musical people it is now the last word in brainlessness and boredom.
TIME Archives, Monday, Sep.20, 1926
At present jazz is not an art but an industry, the whirring of a standardized machine endlessly turning out a standardized article... The thing is already dead from the neck up. That it will remain popular for some time among the musical illiterate is quite possible and if the dancers like it there is no reason why they should not have it. But the day has gone by when musicians can even take a languid interest in the thing, for musical people it is now the last word in brainlessness and boredom.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
WTF of the day
This is the second time I am seeing a contraption like this. The device in the picture above was sold on eBay without much info to go with it (i.e. "belonged to my grandfather, don't know what it is" or some such). I assume eight keys on this one are equivalent to a major scale.
I saw a similar instrument on shopgoodwill.com previously, except it had thirteen keys, arranged in a vaguely piano-like pattern (i.e. eight "white" keys on one side, five "black" on the other); not much info there, either. The absence of slides is also notable.
I am completely lost as to what this could be and how it is supposed to work... was it made for creatures with eight fingers on one hand and thirteen on the other?
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
A chapter from Lennie Tristano: His Life in Music by Eunmi Shim, detailing Tristano's pedagogical approach - read it on Scribd. Maybe jazz educators should get a f-ing clue...
I firmly believe that modern jazz education as it is practiced in American colleges serves only one purpose, and that is to castrate the student, kill his creative impulses, stamp out the natural ability to enjoy music making, and force him into conformity. The music that is taught and played there is not jazz, but modern American classical music that semi-convincingly emulates jazz.
The following four things can rectify the situation:
* The students should play by ear and from memory as much as possible.
* The focus should be not on individual solos, but on the band sound - namely, the arrangements, the balance, the communication and interplay between the group members.
* As a long-time student in the "jazz combo classes," I know first-hand that it is possible to finish the class and get an A without hearing the original tunes once. This SHOULD NOT be the case. If the students play covers, they MUST listen to the originals.
* The students should be not just encouraged, but forced to take creative control - come up with their own arrangements, write and perform their own tunes.
DIXI
The following four things can rectify the situation:
* The students should play by ear and from memory as much as possible.
* The focus should be not on individual solos, but on the band sound - namely, the arrangements, the balance, the communication and interplay between the group members.
* As a long-time student in the "jazz combo classes," I know first-hand that it is possible to finish the class and get an A without hearing the original tunes once. This SHOULD NOT be the case. If the students play covers, they MUST listen to the originals.
* The students should be not just encouraged, but forced to take creative control - come up with their own arrangements, write and perform their own tunes.
DIXI
Monday, February 14, 2011
Need to vent
I could never imagine that a teacher in a jazz combo class not only won't encourage playing by ear and/or from memory, but would actually discourage it. Truly the end of this style has come, my friends. The so-called jazz is dead.
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
The Cambridge Companion to Brass Instruments
I am reading The Cambridge Companion to Brass Instruments. I doubt I will read everything, so instead of a full review I'll just make a few points.
It's a collection of essays by different authors on brass-related topics. A majority deals with academic music, with subjects like instrument history (sackbut, keyed trumpets, ophicleide, Baroque/Classical horn etc.), repertoire, brass pedagogy; also several essays on the topics outside of academic music. Of what I read, the essay I liked the least was the one on jazz. Best ones were essays on the rise and fall of cornetto and "Vernacular Brass Traditions".
Cornett(o) is a fascinating instrument; looks much like a recorder with a trumpet mouthpiece. It first rose to prominence in the early 16th century, together with the early trombone (AKA sackbut), and developed in tandem with it; a good amount of music was played by the cornetto/sackbut consorts, and both instruments went into a steep decline after about 200 years of prominence. However, sackbut had a rebirth and second flowering as a trombone we all know and love (or hate), and cornetto disappeared without a trace. The mystery, of course, is - why? Cornetto is claimed to be a difficult instrument, but trombone is, perhaps, even worse. It should also be not that difficult to make; there's a master in UK doing semi-pro level resin replicas for ~$200, so I am sure they could crank out some cheap ones in China...
The other article I liked is about brass bands and "vernacular" brass music around the world - which I much appreciate. The following passage I found particularly interesting:
In Jakarta, bands retaining the name by which Portuguese colonists called them — Tanjidor — play what Ernst Heins has described as "Jakarta-Chinese, and Sundanese gamelan music. .. on the instruments of the European brass band," the effect of which is a "dazzling heterophony, which defies any rule and regulation of European musical theory" This case is a particularly vivid example of a phenomenon that has become widespread in the twentieth century. Any western brass player uninformed of such practices who listens to one of these non-western brass bands could be forgiven for mistaking the sound it makes for a cacophony. In fact the players in such bands are exercising a different set of values. They may be playing western brass instruments, but the musical culture that shapes their terms of reference derives from their own indigenous roots.
A big ethno-music boom is happening nowadays; there is a multitude of small labels that seek out, unearth, or record music in rural Eastern Europe, Nigeria, Colombia, Senegal, Turkey, Thailand, and basically anywhere else, yet it seems that tanjidor is virtually unknown. Most links that turn up on Google are in Malay. There are a few scattered mentions in scholarly ethnomusicological research, but even there the 1975 article by Ernst Heins appears to be the only serious treatment of tanjidor. And the recording evidence is even more scant: I think the disc below is the only thing available. I am yet to hear it, and I really want to.
It's a collection of essays by different authors on brass-related topics. A majority deals with academic music, with subjects like instrument history (sackbut, keyed trumpets, ophicleide, Baroque/Classical horn etc.), repertoire, brass pedagogy; also several essays on the topics outside of academic music. Of what I read, the essay I liked the least was the one on jazz. Best ones were essays on the rise and fall of cornetto and "Vernacular Brass Traditions".
Cornett(o) is a fascinating instrument; looks much like a recorder with a trumpet mouthpiece. It first rose to prominence in the early 16th century, together with the early trombone (AKA sackbut), and developed in tandem with it; a good amount of music was played by the cornetto/sackbut consorts, and both instruments went into a steep decline after about 200 years of prominence. However, sackbut had a rebirth and second flowering as a trombone we all know and love (or hate), and cornetto disappeared without a trace. The mystery, of course, is - why? Cornetto is claimed to be a difficult instrument, but trombone is, perhaps, even worse. It should also be not that difficult to make; there's a master in UK doing semi-pro level resin replicas for ~$200, so I am sure they could crank out some cheap ones in China...
The other article I liked is about brass bands and "vernacular" brass music around the world - which I much appreciate. The following passage I found particularly interesting:
In Jakarta, bands retaining the name by which Portuguese colonists called them — Tanjidor — play what Ernst Heins has described as "Jakarta-Chinese, and Sundanese gamelan music. .. on the instruments of the European brass band," the effect of which is a "dazzling heterophony, which defies any rule and regulation of European musical theory" This case is a particularly vivid example of a phenomenon that has become widespread in the twentieth century. Any western brass player uninformed of such practices who listens to one of these non-western brass bands could be forgiven for mistaking the sound it makes for a cacophony. In fact the players in such bands are exercising a different set of values. They may be playing western brass instruments, but the musical culture that shapes their terms of reference derives from their own indigenous roots.
A big ethno-music boom is happening nowadays; there is a multitude of small labels that seek out, unearth, or record music in rural Eastern Europe, Nigeria, Colombia, Senegal, Turkey, Thailand, and basically anywhere else, yet it seems that tanjidor is virtually unknown. Most links that turn up on Google are in Malay. There are a few scattered mentions in scholarly ethnomusicological research, but even there the 1975 article by Ernst Heins appears to be the only serious treatment of tanjidor. And the recording evidence is even more scant: I think the disc below is the only thing available. I am yet to hear it, and I really want to.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
What is the sound of a fly smashing on a windshield?
Why are trumpets pitched in Bb? Here's the clearest explanation I've seen so far.
There are three kinds of instruments which are transposing:
1. Instruments where historically players would have been expected to change instruments to play in different keys. This includes trumpets and horns which started as natural instruments (and where changing instruments was typical in the early days of the valve) and also instruments like the clarinet (in orchestras it is assumed that players use B flat and A clarinets).
2. Instruments which are conceived as part of a consort, that is a range of sizes all with the same fingerings pitched in different keys and octaves like saxophones and saxhorns.
3. Auxiliary instruments like English horn, alto flute and so on which use the same fingerings as the "main" instrument.
There are three kinds of instruments which are transposing:
1. Instruments where historically players would have been expected to change instruments to play in different keys. This includes trumpets and horns which started as natural instruments (and where changing instruments was typical in the early days of the valve) and also instruments like the clarinet (in orchestras it is assumed that players use B flat and A clarinets).
2. Instruments which are conceived as part of a consort, that is a range of sizes all with the same fingerings pitched in different keys and octaves like saxophones and saxhorns.
3. Auxiliary instruments like English horn, alto flute and so on which use the same fingerings as the "main" instrument.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Careers in jazz by Bill Anschell
For those who haven't seen it, a hilarious article on careers in jazz (should I put "careers" in quotes?). Read it on Scribd or AAJ.
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