Back to index of "this and that in my life" pages by Donald Sauter.
Dedicated to the proposition that every thought that's ever been thunk may be of interest to someone . . .
ME: I found Vina Johnson's "Echoes from the Casino" at LC, right
where it should be. I like the piece, a nice variant on the
Spanish Fandango. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.
THEE: I've just spent about an hour looking through your
evolution webpage. now I'm no entrenched evolutionary biologist.
in fact like you (perhaps - lets assume nothing here!) i'm just a
guy whose was brought up, so to speak, on evolution and remains
deeply interested in the whys and wherefores and hows and so on.
there are large gulfs between the islands of certainty in
evolutionary theory and the natural history of Earth; anyone who
doesn't acknowledge that or attempts to paper over them with
conjecture is being, well, conjectural rather than scientific,
and if they try to rope science into their guff, especially those
'scientists' who should know better, then they deserve to be
shown up - and you do, quite rightly and very well.
i get the impression that you're not a creationist either, so i
won't start trying to pull apart creationism (although perhaps
you'll agree that apart from a scriptural backing and its
prerogative to explain anything and everything with 'God made it
that way', or 'God caused it to happen', it doesn't have a very
solid footing either).
there's a philosophy in science which goes along the lines of
'the simplest solution is often the correct one'. if one made a
precis of the creationism and of evolutionary theory, and
compared them according to this philosophy, creationism would
probably come out on top, because it is essentially a very
simple, easily understood causative paradigm which reflects the
order and cause-and-effect evident in the human world today.
evolutionary theory has no obvious cause or order. any dynamic
basis which it requires or creates is not clearly evident in the
human experience of the present, or in human history. the methods
proposed for its propagation (random mutations) appear, as you
demonstrate, highly unlikely, often contrary to the progression
of diversification, and theoretically more or less impossible.
over the time span of human experience, there is no good evidence
for the continuum of gradual variation required by evolution.
from a human, or perhaps a biblical perspective, evolution does
not stand up.
now leave aside biology and consider the physical world in which
we live. the study of the history of the earth and the wider
universe does not require evolution - although the reverse of
this statement is not true. the evidence for a very old universe
is much more solid than the evidence for evolution, whether one
considers geology, astronomy or cosmology. a creationist would
dispute this (assuming s/he believed in a 10000yr or 6000yr old
world) but, isolated points of contention aside, the overwhelming
physical evidence suggests a very old place indeed (unless one
argues that 'God made it like that' - in which case I'll stop
now. You can't beat that one.)
if one puts the age of the earth at, say 4600 million years
(fairly sound estimate, based on repeated rock dating, solar
system structure, possible age of universe, solar chemistry
etc.), and the first life on earth at maybe 3000 million years,
and first good fossil evidence for a wide variety of life at
about 600 million years, and then consider the two precis again,
some different questions arise
if all the species currently in existence were created at the
same time (600 my ago? 3000 my ago?), why aren't they all
recorded at some point in the fossil record? why don't modern
marine crustaceans (for example) coexist in the fossil record
with long-extinct species? why is the recorded history of man so
short? why do now-extinct species not appear at all stages in the
fossil record up to their extinction point (e.g. dinosaurs 215My
- 65My ago - why not before?) why is there apparently a
progression (no implication intended) from 'low' simple life
forms to increasingly diverse and complicated ones as the rocks
in which their fossils are found decrease in age? in fact, given
the enormous time spans, and the short time between generations
for most organisms (even humans, with a generation gap of maybe
20 years, could have had 30 million generations in 600 million
years), and the fact that single mutations do occur at present
(is that a fact? I think it is) why HASN'T some significant
variation taken place?
from this perspective, the evolutionary theory, whatever its
actual mechanism, perhaps looks more attractive than the 'fixed
species' theory.
i'm sorry i haven't been very specific in my points - its late
and i'm tired and I think that perhaps people get bogged down in
specifics when they haven't even worked out a proper framework in
which to put them yet.
all i think i'm saying is that from a geological scientist's
viewpoint (you may have guessed that's more or less what i am)
biological evolution looks more possible, if not more probable,
than it does from an ordinary 'human' viewpoint (i'm not implying
that geological scientists are not human - although perhaps
that's evolution for you :-) ).
the arguments will always run on and on because we'll never know
for sure what went on in prehistory, or even outside each
individual's direct personal experience. You could swear blind to
me that you were wearing pink pyjamas when you read this, you
could even send me a sample of cloth or a picture of you wearing
them, but I could never be absolutely sure. there's always a
point beyond which you've just gotta believe. truth, where it
rests on the experiences of many different people, just can't be
pinned down.
I've already mentioned the 'God did it' conversation-killer.
perhaps its true, but if so then a lot of good scientists should
pack up now and go home, and the world would maybe be a blander
and less exciting place to live in.
so, you see, although I see big gaps in our knowledge of
evolution, and big problems with our current understanding of it,
from my viewpoint, God notwithstanding, it seems to fit the
evidence we have.
sorry for the unwarranted length of this email; i hope you've had
as absorbing a time reading it as I did reading your webpage. I'm
not familiar with the world of internet discussion groups, but if
you think its worth it then feel free to add this to the
talk.origins debate. I just felt that the debate which you
presented so well on your webpage was somewhat blinkered - this
has been an attempt to look at the issue from a different angle.
PS. You kept on setting challenges for people. Can I do the same?
Based on the evidence we have, present and (pre)historical, and
without invoking divine intervention (for reasons explained
above; is that an unfair condition? why?), outline an
alternative, better than the concept of evolution, to explain the
diversity of biological life as seen today. Alternatively,
assuming evolution is the best fit solution, is there a more
likely mechanism than random mutation?
PPS. :-) re. the evolution of languages [DS: Again, I am trying
to show how hard the single, huge-jump mutation scenario is to
swallow. Moreover, I have a very difficult time accepting
analogies between the evolution of languages and the evolution of
species. Languages do not have anything at all like DNA, random
mutations and sexual reproduction.] In reply - (DNA)The written
or spoken word itself; (random mutations) 'thwory, 'pf',
'evolytion' - three random mutations easily cured by a spell-
checker; (sexual reproduction) 'igneous', 'francophile',
'dinosaur' - all examples of two words spliced together to
produce another which inherits both their qualities.
ME: [I don't see my response to this thoughtful email. I presume
it went along the lines of: Just because a totally impossible to
swallow "explanation" is the best anybody's come up with so far
doesn't make it any less impossible to swallow.]
ME: I bought a record at the local library yesterday. It's one I
think you had bought and thrown away - The Hoffnung
Interplanetary Music Festival from 1958. It has an almost album-
side opera parody, plus lots of other interesting things. I need
a complete Hoffnung collection.
Did you see Who Wants to be a millionaire Sunday night? There
was a question involving Yoko that was definitely lawsuit
material.
P.S. I suppose you can guess by now, but what do these words have
in common?
accumulate
activates
analysis
applying
appointed
apropos
arrests
attitude
beatlesong
ME: 'Tween you and me, even though I always pretend to be
apologetic about my old computer techniques and equipment, I'm
not really (smiley). There's something to be said for
simplicity! If somebody *gave* me the most up-to-date computer
system available, it would probably set me back 3/4 of a year
trying to figure out how to do everything I already do. My claim
is that for what the vast majority of people need out of their
computer (email, a bit of into off the web, and word processing)
any old 286 pulled out of a trash can would serve them forever
(or at least until the darn battery goes dead, or they go to 32-
bit ascii.)
Anyhow, thanks for explaining why on rare occasions people foul
up my email reader with Microsoft Word 97 riffraff. Hey, I
wouldn't send *you* a Wordstar 1.0 document file!
THEE: Comments, please, on an LP from 1979 called "The Beatles
Concerto" by Rostal & Schaefer, Ron Goodwin, and the Royal
Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra.
THEE: I wrote you this am about "Echos from the Casino" and lo
and behold it arrived today after lunch. You do good work! You
mentioned you played it for a friend recently. I would be curious
to hear it if you ever take a notion to record it on cassette or
something. I have some other early pieces like Sebastapol which
I want to hear played, because I do not understand the parts
where they want the guitar to sound like a drum.....know what I
mean? How are you supposed to drum while also making melody? I
also get very confused in the ones which tune the guitar to an
open chord, but instruct you to play the notation as if you are
still in standard notation. Passages with harmonics are also
confusing sometimes, so it would be interesting to hear a real
musician like you play these things. I am an amateur.
ME: Aguado's Polonaise is one of his Trois Rondo Brillants, Op.
2. I think that should be available. For instance, it's in
Volume 3 of the Complete works of Aguado, by Chanterelle. See if
that's still in print. It's well worth getting the whole volume.
THEE: I wrote once before saying this, but can I just say
again... You have an excellent site and thanks for putting it on
the web.
ME: Thanks again for the kind words. I enjoyed your work on the
Beatles and their money, too. I sent your web address to some
friends. I wish there were more fans who'd rather channel their
energy than just fritter it all away.
ME: First of all, I'm no "real" musician - just an enthusiastic
amateur who's been at it a long time. I heartily suggest giving
Vina's piece a go. You'll find it's not too confusing. After
you retune to the E major chord, all you have to keep in mind is
to play 3rd string notes one fret lower (the A is at the 1st fret
now) and the 4th string notes 2 frets lower (the F# is at the 2nd
fret now). But there's only a few instances of that since the
reason for retuning is to get a lot of open strings.
ME: I always suggest tuning to E-flat instead of E. This gives
about the same overall tension, and even though it involves
changing 5 strings, tuning goes very quickly because you're not
changing any string more than a semi-tone, so they don't keep
drifting back.
Tune the 1st string to the 2nd string, 4th fret.
Tune the 2nd string to the 1st string, 5th fret.
Tune the 6th string down to match the 1st string.
Tune the 4th string up to " " "
Tune the 5th string up to match the 2nd string.
Voila! and good luck.
P.S. About the Sebastopol pieces with drumming, I think that
almost always involves the tambora effect - drumming with the
thumb near the bridge while holding the indicated notes.
ME: Thanks for stopping by the other day and getting me out. I
searched by record catalog for Romberg, but didn't find the piece
we heard, Softly As In A Morning Sunrise.
Search string = Romberg
*** Complete Operas, Opera Highlights and Opera Without Words ***
The Desert Song, Romberg (hl): Barr Tozzi Galjour Morgan
The Student Prince, Romberg (hl): Kirsten Rounseville Warner Harvuot Dalton Rogier Miller Geyans Goss Holland Eckles Engel
*** Opera Highlight Sets (maybe only 1 composer) ***
TREASURY OF GREAT OPERETTAS (Reader's Digest)
The Desert Song, Romberg: Moffo Fredricks Lewis Smith
Blossom Time, Romberg Schubert Berte: Pracht Endich Fredricks Lewis Gaynes Rubin Smith
*** Mixed bag (all opera) ***
78's - Popular (cassette)
My Maryland, Romberg (hl): Victor Light Opera Company
ME: Great write-up on Stars & Stripes Forever [arr. Henlein]! It
would have never occurred to me that there was any more to the
story than, "some guy wrote a really popular piece for band and
some guitarist did what he could with it." How do you do it?
Thanks again.
THEE: Are you a music teacher? Did you teach in Idaho in the late
1950's early 1960's
ME: Nope, I've only ever been a music hobbyist and have always
lived on the east coast. Was there a Donald Sauter in Idaho? I
know there was one in California who got into some political hot
water.
ME: Somehow I didn't know, or have forgotten, how serious the
attack on George was.
Not real pleased with this nonsense about Beatles vs. current
teen idols.
Hself visited on Tuesday and he left right stunned with the
Hoffnung Interplanetary Music Festival 1958.
THEE: I like all that bollocks about today's groups vs. the
Beatles, because the Beatles still win.
I just finished watching the official 1995 Abkco "Rolling Stones
Rock & Roll Circus" video, which a friend at work lent me. They
should have released it. It was good! I made the appropriate
audio transcriptions for you.
THEE: I got a little confused on your instructions for tuning
into open E flat. I can figure it out if you tell me this: what
are the resulting open string notes from 6th to 1st? (I
calculated D# B D# G G# D#, which seems wrong to me).
Tambora Effects: If you hit near the bridge with just the thumb,
are you thereby playing the melody simply by fretting with left
hand fingers so you get a kind of muffled melody muddied up in
the drum sound?
ME: Sorry for the confusion about the E-flat major tuning. The
notes you end up with are:
Eb Bb Eb G Bb Eb
This is the same as:
D# A# D# G A# D#
but maybe a better way to think of it is this, since it shows
what you do with each string starting from its normal tuning:
Eb A# D# G Bb Eb
Thus strings 6, 2 and 1 (low string = 6) go down a half step, and
strings 5 and 4 go up a half step.
Note that if you just tuned the guitar to E major you'd get
E B E G# B E
You only change 3 strings, but they go up a total of 5 half-
steps.
THEE: While searching the internet for sheet music for Lichner's
"Forget Me Not" (a piano piece I heard some months ago on WNIB
FM, a classical station in Chicago) I came across your great
page. I'm going back and study your page carefully. In the
meantime.....
I'm interested in transposing the piano version of "Forget Me
Not" to guitar. It's such a pleasant melody which seems suitable
for a guitar rendition.
If you have any tips you'd care to share as to where copies of
this music can be found, I'd be greatly in your debt.
THEE: Much worse, the voice-over narration of "Revolution" is
almost brain-dead daft. At one point, we learn that "teenagers
loved how the Beatles looked, but adults were shocked by their
long hair." Get out, you guys! There's this, too: "The Beatles,
like the Rolling Stones, started out in small clubs in England,
but their music had its roots in America." And here's a news
flash: "The Beatles and Rolling Stones brought African American
music to a much wider audience."
ME: I'd say statements 1 and 2 are true and bear restating on
occasion. (I'd say only about a percent of the population alive
at the time remember the uproar over Beatle hair.) Statement 3 is
a bunch of baloney.
Statement 1 brings to mind a song I heard today on WMUC. The
lyrics went something like, "I don't mean to throw a wet blanket
on everybody's party, but am I the only one who remembers the
bomb?" We are forgetful creatures.
THEE: Well, I guess you're right. Some of those truisms do need
repeating. At first, I thought no, but then I remembered that
even five years ago, newscasters were having great fun asking the
youth to name all four Beatles. The typical answer was, "John,
Paul, Elton, Billy?"
THEE: Thanks, for getting back to me. Your web site was an
amusing read. I wish you success.
THEE: Greetings. I am a composer working on a tone poem based on
Edgar Allen Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher" in which a
character plays a guitar arrangement of "the last waltz of von
Weber." I found your site and the lising -
Bateman/Reissiger/Weber's last waltz - under the American
Collection. Is there any information you might be able to share
about this piece? I would like to add the guitar to the
orchestra to play this piece during the work, as Poe wrote, "an
amplified and perverted version." Are there recordings
available, sheet music, etc?
ME: Wow, I never knew Poe mentioned "Weber's Last Thought" in The
Fall Of The House Usher! I went right to it. That's neat,
Thanks!
What I know about it is that it really was written by Karl
Gottlieb Reissiger (1798-1859). Originally titled "Webers
letzten Gedanke", it was No. 5 in his Danses brillantes pour le
pianoforte (1822). I have this on impeccable authority, even
though I've never pulled up the original piano work. (I wouldn't
be able to prove that Reissiger didn't take it from Weber or
someone else, anyway.)
I have 3 or 4 versions for solo guitar in my collection, plus 2
for guitar & piano. (See my web page.) I suppose you wouldn't
need to see these prim and proper version to make your
"perverted" one, but if you want to see any of them I'd be happy
to send copies.
I don't recall ever hearing a recording of any version of the
piece.
By the way, have you ever heard the solo guitar piece "The Usher
Waltz" by Nikita Koshkin (I think)? It's pretty demented,
especially the way a great local guitarist, Michael Bard, plays
it. He uses a huge vibrato on big chords that's more like a
bend. Recordings, such as by John Williams, should be easy to
find.
ME: I've got a few editions of "Weber's Last Waltz/Thought" for
you. Just send me a complete mailing address and I'll get them
off. Might as well tell you now what you'll get.
About 4 or 5 different arrangements for guitar, some with
variations that might give you ideas for your treatment.
Two versions for piano 2-hand. There were about 30 different
editions of these in the M1.A13R box at the Library of Congress.
This is a class for American publications dating from 1820 to
1860, so these were all the rage in Poe's time. I intentionally
copied one of the Baltimore editions since Poe had a connection
with that town (among others, of course.) Most all of them were
in A-flat or B-flat, so I got you one of each.
A 2-piano version in C from the same box. By the way I found
another solo guitar version there for my collection.
Three piano & guitar versions from my own collection (which I got
from LC.) Maybe they'll give an idea of what to do with a
"guitar part".
I know that's a lot more than you really need, but most of them
are just 1- or 2-pagers. I thought you might get a kick out
seeing so many different editions. (Only one is a modern
engraving.) You will shortly be the Weber's Last Thought world
expert.
ME: Here are some web pages that have some interesting info on
Mattiwilda Dobbs. See if you can search for "dobbs" in the pages
that are not exclusively about her.
Linkname: Columnists - Ottawa Citizen Online
URL: http://www.thecitizen.com/columnists/perry/990718/990718.html
Linkname: Going South: From Chapter One of You Can't be Neutral on a Moving Train
URL: http://www.zmag.org/zmag/articles/jan94zinn.htm
Linkname: AFROCENTRIC VOICES--Marian Anderson Biography
URL: http://www.afrovoices.com/anderson.html
Linkname: History | Atlanta Georgia
URL: http://www.insiders.com/atlanta/main-history.htm
THEE: Hmm...my news....I don't think I've written you since PJ
[pearl jam] came to town. I actually made it to 9 Pearl Jam
shows this year...and of those, I was in the FRONT ROW twice!!!
I really love the front row!! Sounds really silly, but I ended
up with Eddie Vedder's water bottle at one show. So, I keep it
in a little display on my dresser. Silly...but kind of cool.
ME: Nothing silly about Eddie Vetter's water bottle. I'm still
kicking myself for not grabbing the Three Stooges smashed cigar
that was right in front of me on the stage at Gwynn Oak Park back
in the late '50s. I was so afraid that maybe they would need it
again in their act. Then a kid near me grabbed it, boo hoo.
Also reminds me of the time I saw the Monkees in Philadelphia
back in 1980-something. The young man on the bus back to the
hotel asked me, "Would you like to see Petah's towel?" (He had a
nice british accent.) He had scored Peter Tork's sweat towel
when it was thrown into the seats. He also told me about the
time he saw John Lennon's Rolls Royce somewhere in London when he
was a kid.
ME: I spent 10 or so minutes trying to find Baron Munchhausen on-
line, without success. I was wondering if your search techniques
can turn up something.
THEE: Oh, there was water in the bottle...it was about 2/3 full.
Eddie had tossed the bottle our way, and it fell between the
barrier and the stage. The girl with me, Hself, asked a security
guy for it later in the show. He gave it to her, but removed the
cap. Hself gave it to me. She loves the Bass player, and she
knows how I feel about Eddie. I was also disappointed earlier,
when Eddie smashed a tambourine, and seemed to be walking right
to me (he always gives his smashed tambourines away). I had such
a rush of adrenalin!!! But...he ended up giving it to the girl
to my left... passing me by. I was really pretty devastated.
So, I ended up with a bottle of water...that Eddie had drank out
of. So, I drank the water too. From his lips to mine. Ok, tell
me I'm sick. I know it. AND, you ate Thanksgiving dinner
sitting across from a person who drank after Eddie Vedder.
Makes you think...huh...like...'what kind of germs did he give
her!!!'
THEE:
I don't usually use the name "Michael Tolson" anymore
- having long since switched to "tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE"
& a slew of other conceptually significant redefinitions.
You'll also note that there are a bunch of web-sites
that keep that not necessarily interested general public
abreast of my activities
- particularly as a filmmaker, publisher,
'performer', & mischief-maker.
If you have a computer that can support such things
I think you can even find sound files of mine
for your irritainment.
&, indeed, Jack Dean was "Teeny-Weeny Beanie-Brain";
I was "Tinsel-Toes" (probably named by Jack
- who was quite a character - I'm tempted to look
for him on the web next) & Leo Wurmer was "Worm"
(big surprise, eh?).
I suspect Leo's parents might've been 'beatniks'.
I'd love to be in touch w/ them again.
"Anything is Anything"
"No More Punching-Bag Clowns!"
"Neoism Now! & Then!";
"Kill Normality Before It Kills You!"
"The Revenge of the Impotent is to Try to Neuter the Fertile"
"Before You Decide Against Biting the Hand That Feeds You,
Ask Why It Has So Much Food in the First Place"
self-description:
Mad Scientist / d composer / Sound Thinker / Thought Collector / As Been /
PIN-UP (Postal Interaction Underground Participant) /
Headless Deadbeat of the Pup tENT Cult /
booed usician / Low Classicist / H.D.J. (Hard Disc Jockey) /
Psychopathfinder / Jack-Off-Of-All-Trades / criminally sane /
Homonymphonemiac / Practicing PromoTextual /
Air Dresser /
Sprocket Scientist / headitor & earchivist /
Sexorcist /
Professional Resister of Character Defamation /
Proponent of Classification-Resistant What-Have-Yous /
tOGGLE nUT cASE /
Princess of Dorkness's Right Hand Man /
Human Attention-ExSpanDex Speculum /
SPLEENIUS /
social associations:
nuclear brain physics surgery's cool founder & graduate
Krononaut / Church of the SubGenius Santa / Neoast?! / Pregroperativist
co-founder of the S.P.C.S.M.E.F.
(Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Sea Monkeys by Experimental Filmmakers)
Borderline Kneelite in the KNEEHIGHS GANG
emphatic member of the No-No Class
Street Rat Liberation Front
Money Against Capitalism
Here in Pittsburgh (my current home)
my girlfriend (& some others) publish a magazine called
"Street Rat" (currently: "Street Rat-Bag")
that expresses some political views that you might find agreeable.
I'm certainly with you against the current
Criminal Injustice System.
I've also been publishing tapes & CD-Rs
(the tapes since 1981 & the CD-Rs recently)
& I have a tape of my guitar stuff called
"Guitar Running Thru It Like A Rotten Thread".
Mainly I make Musique Concrete
(or "Concrete Mixing" as I prefer)
that I call "Low Classical Usic"
& guitar is NOT my preferred instrument
so the title of the tape is a bit derisory
of my guitar playing but, HEY!, you might find it interesting.
SO, do you have any recordings of your music
that you'd like to trade?
Would you like a copy of my magazine?
Send me a mailing address & I'll launch the goodies
in the mail if & when I have a few bucks to do so
(it takes WKS! sometimes so don't hold your breath).
All for Now & Now for All!
Michael "tENT" Tolson
THEE: Subject: The Chipmunks sing the Beatles Hits
I was wondering if you knew of any place that sells that
cd or tape. i loved the tape as i was growing up and i just
recently found the tape but it has been destroyed due to wear and
tear and i was wondering if you had any info on how i can get a
new tape. if you could please write back to me and let me know i
would appreciate it.
THEE: Congratulations on your tenacity during your Presidential
run. A question: given the closeness of the Presidential
election, and the attendant controversy that has arisen, have you
conceded the 2000 election, or do you, at this point, intend to
continue to press to be installed as President on Inauguration
Day, 2001?
Thank you for taking the time to answer this query.
ME: By the way, LC has misplaced a *whole box* of music for
guitar and voice that has 5 hefty booklets edited by Trinkaus and
published by Witmark. I thought there was a small chance of
finding something in those by O'Hare arranged for voice and
guitar. This is the sort of place that only I would think to
look - no search of any catalog would lead you there. Of course,
there's who-knows-how-many-other little crannies worth looking
into that would never occur to me.
ME: Thanks for the vidfest last night. It occurred to me that a
comparison with Birth Of The Beatles might also tell anybody who
cares something about how society has changed over the last 20
years. I remember it as being warmer and pleasanter.
THEE: I'm headed to a friend's Christmas party Saturday (lots of
musicians in the group: pianists, singers, and the friend plays
a saw. ;-)). Then Sunday, it's off to Tulsa's ragtime society's
holiday party. Pianists there, too, of course! Should be a fun
weekend. In the remaining time--between parties and loads of
laundry, that is--I'm working on an article on hoodooism as
related to Scott Joplin's opera Treemonisha, bringing in cultural
and literary history from the period. Seems to be a topic no one
else has touched, but it suits my literature background.
Besides, I like odd topics, though you should have seen the looks
I got from the public librarians in Des Moines when I asked for
all the voodoo/hoodoo books kept behind the reference desk! Oh,
well, let them think what they may.
THEE: I hope this finds you well and happy. I'm sorry this has
taken me so long, but I want to thank you for sending "Our
Director" out to me. It is quite an enjoyable little piece. It
reminds me a lot of the pieces in "Jacobs' Easy Guitar Folio" of
1899. I have a full photocopy (minus page one) from the Boston
Public Library copy. I was lucky enough to be there when a
permissive librarian was on duty.
ME: You've got me curious about "Jacob's Easy Guitar Folio", but
no need to send it - I'll see if it's at LC first. Why I'm
curious is because I thought I noticed a difference between
Jacobs' work before and after 1900, going from a slightly more
high-brow classical style to a more pop-style afterward, such as
the Our Director arrangement. I wonder where his Easy Guitar
Folio fits in.
ME: That instrument [saw] is amazing - who could ever guess
that sound would come out?? [Sounds like a theremin to me.]
Regarding Treemonisha, you might read my modest little thoughts
on the opera at
http://www.geocities.com/donaldsauter/books.htm
[now at http://www.donaldsauter.com/music-book-reports.htm#mbr34 ]
Keep me up to date, though, on all of your articles and theses on
O'Hare, hoodoo, ragtime, etc. I'm impressed. I mean, what do
you do, read every book ever published in Treemonisha's era, in
the hopes that they have a hoodoo reference, and then hold 'em
all in your head until they slide into place in one big, unified,
coherent picture? Authors amaze me.
ME: Hi Michael!
Great to hear from you! You were the first "old friend" I ever
snagged from that page, after more than a couple of years.
Sorry for the delay in writing back - been bogged down with other
things. Another excuse is that, for me, writing is work! It's a
real chore dredging up the next word. I know this is in complete
contrast to yourself. (If you ever got stuck in my quicksand
brain for a few moments, it'd kill you.)
Now, don't get all teary-eyed, but I can't imagine being more
thrilled with any other first-time responder to my old friends
page. You've always been a hero in my eyes. I have it
somewhere, but can't put my fingers on it despite being organized
to the teeth, the newspaper clip about you dancing around in the
train tunnel or whatever. I know that guy!!! The proudest
memory of my life is when you got sent to the guidance counselor
in 1st grade for smashing Ms. Dill with your lunch box, you
asked, can I take a friend along - and you chose me! Do you
remember the session? The guidance counselor asked, what do you
want to be when you grow up; I said "carpenter" (my father's
occupation); you said "a skippy man". I've related that story a
few times over the years.
Social events were so terrifying for me that I puked on your back
yard at your birthday party, e.g. (Your mom tried to put the
blame on rotten marshmallows. Nope, it was purely emotional.)
> & you've become an astronomer or some such?
Not really. I went in that direction, having worked at a radio
astronomy observatory while in college. I only took it as far as
1 year of graduate school before throwing in the towel. By that
point, the competition was *very* stiff, and the professors made
sure that they didn't get *too* much across. I remember one
physics test where the average score was 18. I got a 12.
Math and science will always be a big part of my constitution,
but if you ramble around my web site, you will see that I've
reacted against science to some extent. I claim that scientists
can say any stupid thing they want and get away with it, because
there's nobody to police them.
> Do you ever read George Perec? The French 20th century writer?
I was just reading something by him yesterday about memory.
Like I say, our brains are on 2 different plains. Sorry, never
heard of Perec. Right now I'm reading a children's book from
1850 called Beechnut by an unidentified author. I find myself
drawn to old music and books. Not a big deal, but probably
related to a distaste for the modern world. Before Beechnut, I
read an 1870 edition of Baron Munchausen, which was written about
a 100 years before that.
Did you see my web page on dreams? People take dreams for
granted, but I claim there's something *really* bizarre going on
there. I can't imagine what the explanation is.
When you emailed there was, coincidentally, a paper lying about
my computer with the poem, "The Frog". Do you remember that? It
was one that cracked up Jack Dean. It starts, "What a wonderful
bird the frog are - when he stand he sit almost." That was my
first introduction in life to the truly weird.
> Anyway, I've managed to pursue my visions in life w/ tenacity &
the financial result has been a sort of jet-setting extreme
poverty (go figger).
I've finally discovered what I really want to do - tutor
elementary school kids. I'm *not* interested in being a
conventional teacher, for a bunch of reasons. But working one-
on-one or, better yet, one-on-two, is grand. In a nutshell, my
idea is to work one-on-one with *all* the students in a certain
grade, such as third, with the specific goal of raising scores on
some standardized test. So far, I've been thwarted in my efforts
to get such a position. It would take a visionary principal. If
I could prove the merit of my idea, it would behoove schools to
add a "home-schooler" for each grade. (Don't worry - I wouldn't
quash Michael Tolson-types.) I recently had a job at an
elementary school that ended quite disastrously.
> If you have a computer that can support such things I think you
can even find sound files of mine for your irritainment.
I'll have to bug a friend for that. I use equipment that would
be considered prehistoric. That's just like me - resistant to
change; striving for simplicity.
Don't know what the problem is - nobody else has mentioned it.
My stuff is (almost) completely text-only; all the java business
is what geocities puts on my pages.
> 3rd, do you ever "ego-surf" & investigate your name-sakes?
Once or twice. There's a Donald Sauter politician in California
who got himself in trouble a few years ago. There was a Donald
Sauter little league coach who had to eat his hair or something
after losing a bet.
> & I've been arrested for Trespassing when performing my "Poop &
Pee Dog Copyright Violation Ceremony" in connection w/ the 3rd
Church of the SubGenius Convention in BalTimOre. Strange
Coincidence (ok, I'm stretching it a bit w/ this last one).
Did you find the SubGenius ref in my quotes page? I used to
listen to the Hour of Slack every week, until the U. of Md.
station stopped running it.
> I just visited your index & I was pleasantly surprised to find
you proposal for "Unarchy" & to find that you're a classical
guitarist, etc..
Yeah, my bag is to introduce a dose of common sense to this
insane world. Of course, who am I to say what "common sense" is,
but I was totally dumbfounded by what I saw when I served on my
first jury. Just unbelievable... Anyhow, I don't presume that
you would agree completely with unarchy, but it should at least
do away with victimless "crimes". By the way, you're good with
words - can you come up with something better than "unarchy"
before it gets implemented (ha ha).
You'd think my guitaring totally square - and it is! So square,
in fact, that it's radical. I'm the only person on earth playing
that late 19th C. American guitar music I find at the Library of
Congress. Another means of time-travelling for me...
> Here in Pittsburgh (my current home) my girlfriend (& some
others) publish a magazine called "Street Rat" (currently:
"Street Rat-Bag") that expresses some political views that you
might find agreeable. I'm certainly with you against the current
Criminal Injustice System.
For years, I subscribed to Factsheet Five. I found some
politically oriented zines in there that I inflicted my unarchy
ideas on. How's the zine scene nowadays, what with the internet?
I also got a bunch of basement recorded tapes from the music
review pages of F5.
THEE:
> You're more than welcome. You've got me curious about
"Jacob's Easy Guitar Folio", but no need to send it - I'll see if
it's at LC first. Why I'm curious is because I thought I noticed
a difference between Jacobs' work before and after 1900, going
from a slightly more high-brow classical style to a more pop-
style afterward, such as the Our Director arrangement. I wonder
where his Easy Guitar Folio fits in.
Yeah, though I hadn't thought of it before. The only other
Jacobs' book I have access to is Vol. 1 of "The Guitar Soloist",
and the content is much more demanding, with more European
material in with the American. Among my favorites there are
"Love and Beauty; the famous waltzes for banjo by Thomas(?)
Armstrong" and "Lizotte, Mazurka de Salon". The Easy Guitar
Folio repertoire is more American, though not emtirely "easy" by
modern standards; a couple of trios in Fmajor, for example.
THEE: My copies have the following covers: The Czarevitch--an
eagle crest; The Awakening--a photo of a woman in an exotic
costume, dedication to Mme. Adelaide Herrmann. After much
searching, initially futile searching, I identified Addie & the
photo as Addie. I first came across her, or the person I
suspected, while reading Shreveport papers--advertisements for a
touring magician named Alexander "Herrmann the Great" Herrmann,
assisted by Mme. Herrmann, the troupe's dancer. After futile
Internet searches early in my research, I eventually found both
Alex & Addie on the Internet and have since found them in magic
history books and the New York Times. They lived on Long Island
for some time, even had their own theatre for a while in
Manhattan.
While we'll have an extraordinary pianist at the party, who works
in my college Registrar's office, I'm hoping we can convince Hself
to play the saw, too. He's amazing--one of our campus media
dept. crew, but with knowledge of so many subjects that I marvel
at him.
You would have loved it--piano & saw duets--everything from
"Hungarian Dance" and "Flight of the Bumblebee" to "Memory" and
"Bali Hai," with a bit of blues and early jazz sandwiched
between. When Hself finally wore out, we all got a shot at
getting sound from the saw. I think I know something I need to
buy my husband for Christmas. We already have the violin bows
sitting around unused since the kiddoes played.
And, yup, sounds like a theremin.
Have you read Ed Berlin's King of Ragtime, his bio of Joplin? If
not, read it. Good chapter on Treemonisha. Book as a whole reads
like a mystery, really fascinating. He also has a Treemonisha
review on the website of the Center for Black Music Research in
Chicago. You can find the site address in Ed's recent Treemonisha
posting at rec.music.ragtime (Dejanews.com). Ed has also
answered 1001 questions for me via e-mail and we've met at the
Joplin Fest the past two years. Nice guy. He has helped me learn
the rigors of music research.
I stumble across things. Seem to have many serendipitous
experiences. Reading Shreveport papers on one of 3 trips to the
city, I spotted a voodoo article--fairly long one. Not wanting
to waste time reading it while scanning newspaper microfilms for
material on my ggfather, I copied it. When I returned home, the
voodoo article made its way into a general Shreveport history
file. Maybe 6-8 months later I read it. "Wow!" I thought.
"This parallels Zodzetrick." In Des Moines during Thanksgiving,
I hung out at the public library for much of a day. Looking for
"hoodoo" in a book's index, I spotted the term "goofer dust."
Eureka again. Since then, I've turned to black Southern
literature from the period and have hit paydirt, also some later
blues lyrics.
THEE: p.s. Most people don't even get the "Arbeit Macht Frei"
reference. How soon they forget, eh?!
> Another excuse is that, for me, writing is work!
For me too but I still like doing it.
My current writing challenge is to write a letter
to a hospital contesting their truly OUTRAGEOUS
overcharge of me for a recent emergency room visit.
I had a severe toothache & couldn't take the pain anymore.
They gave me a shot of local anesthetic
& wrote a prescription for penicillin & a pain-killer
& charged me almost $1,000.
In 1996 (when I 1st moved to P-Burgh
& had extreme trouble finding a job)
that wd've been 1/3rd of my annual income!
All for about 15 minutes of attention from an intern!
As it is, that's probably about 1/6th to 1/8th of my income
for this yr!
I'm thinking of sending them a bill
for my letter-writing services -
claiming that I'm a widely published writer (somewhat true)
& that they've forced me to produce great literature
wch'll go down in history
& is therefore more important than any services
they're likely to provide.
Naturally I'll accept all dropping of their charges to me
for their incompetent & purely mechanical services
as their 1st payment for my great literature.
You get the idea.
I REALLY DON'T WANT TO WRITE THIS LETTER TO THEM!!
I've got better things to work on
(like my feature-length movie re going to Australia this yr)
but if I don't do something
they'll sic the moneyhounds on me
& that'll stress me out even more.
The medical industry in this country
is an utterly unscrupulous industry of greed
(& the laughingstock of countries like Canada).
Whew! That really took me by surprise.
Of course, we all grow up & lead our lives
(if we're lucky)
& grow apart from those that circumstance
throws us together w/ as children.
Even though I've lead a public life
as a filmmaker, musician, performer, writer,
political activist, & troublemaker,
I'm still completely obscure
& basically take it for granted
that my early friends have little or no idea
what's happened in my life over the yrs
(just as I know little about theirs).
So it takes me by surprise that you even have
any idea of anything I've been asociated w/!
> I have it somewhere, but can't put my fingers on it despite
being organized to the teeth, the newspaper clip about you
dancing around in the train tunnel or whatever.
"T he Poop & Pee Dog Copyright Violation Ceremony".
That was certainly the action I performed
that garnered the most publicity
(completely distorted of course
- including "quotes" from me that I never sd
from people who never interviewed me!).
Somewhere I have a tape of a group of the organizers of
the 3rd SubGenius Convention that that was part of
sitting around in a planning session
where I proposed that action
as a publicity stunt - saying that if I got caught
doing it it wd make great news anyway!
Little did I know how true that wd turn out to be.
If I'd continued beating dead dogs
I'd be a 'famous artist' today but WHAT A BORE.
For the next 2 yrs that's just about all I heard about.
I was glad to move onto something else.
I made a film in London about 8 mnths later of me
being a seeing eye dog for a blind girlfriend of mine
called "Neoist Guide Dog".
I'll be screening it at the Museum of Modern Art
in NYC in February.
The film's not that big of a deal but I like it.
I showed it once in NYC where an audience tried to
stop the screening saying I was being a "sadist"
to that "poor blind girl"!
If only they knew!
She was stronger than I ever cd be!
her name was Gail Litfin. Did you ever know her?
She probably went to Woodlawn.
Anyway, back to the story:
I showed the film at a party in B-More
shortly after I made it & a guy who had loved
the "Ceremony" came up to me afterwards
& told me he liked the film but thought the message
was kindof "trite"
(the film ends w/ me acting as her seeing eye dog
on all fours walking past a
"Please Help the Blind" collection box
in a shopping mall)!
Apparently, he thought the film was some kind of
plea to help those poor blind people
when it was really an attempt to show
that misery can be turned on its head w/ absurdity
- something Gail understood very well
or she wd've probably never
lived as long as she did.
She died from diabetes about 5 yrs ago.
> The proudest memory of my life is when you got sent to the
guidance counselor in 1st grade for smashing Ms. Dill with your
lunch box, you asked, can I take a friend along - and you chose
me!
Egads! I have a vague memory of hitting Ms. Dill
but I'd completely forgotten about any aftermath!
I've always been 'naturally' anti-authoritarian
&, even though I have no memory of whether Ms. Dill
'deserved' my attack,
I reckon that it was a manifestation of my anti-authoritarianism!
I started rebelling as soon as I was put in Kindergarten.
> Do you remember the session? The guidance counselor asked,
what do you want to be when you grow up; I said "carpenter" (my
father's occupation); you said "a skippy man". I've related
that story a few times over the years.
A "skippy man"?! I wonder wht the **** that is?
A Skippy peanut-butter salesman?!
I hope I was trying to be funny!
I was once very shy too.
I went to a reading by Ed Sanders
(yippie, member of the rock band "The Fugs",
& author)
& someone asked him what to do about being shy.
He wasn't really much help
but he sd something like
"You just have to get over it."
Even though I didn't find his answer particularly brilliant
it's stuck w/ me.
I did get over it - my sex drive saw to that.
It's never too late you know.
You're obviously a very smart guy
w/ a sense of humor, a good memory, & lots of opinions.
If you can handle being rejected by stupid snobs
you'll find alotof compatible people out there
just from getting up the nerve to talk at parties & such-like.
> Math and science will always be a big part of my constitution,
but if you ramble around my web site, you will see that I've
reacted against science to some extent. I claim that scientists
can say any stupid thing they want and get away with it, because
there's nobody to police them.
Maybe that's part of why we were friends in elementary school?
I was mainly a mathematician
but I made the decision around age 9 that
being an 'artist' would probably be more fun.
I still have a certain affection for math though
&, of course, I still use my proclivities in that direction
in 'music'.
Science is definitely a religion
that's just as 'fallible' as any other religions
& I don't worship at its alter.
My girlfriend & I were recently hosted by
a nuclear physicist who was defending the use of
depleted uranium weapons in Iraq.
He lived in a VERY EXPENSIVE HOUSE
& it was pretty obvious that being an apologist
for crimes against humanity earns big bucks.
Needless to say I wasn't very impressed by his arguments.
> I find myself drawn to old music and books.
I was in the bookstore business for 8 yrs.
I was co-owner of "Normal's" in B-More.
I sold my share 6 yrs ago but the store's still going strong.
Anyway, my specialty is more the last 115 yrs or so
in both music & literature
but I've read & listened to quite alot prior to that
so my interests aren't so exclusive.
I love Rabelais, eg, & count him among my 20 most favorite writers.
I've keep dream diaries off & on over the yrs.
I kept them at age 15 & destroyed them unfortunately.
I'm sure they were a remarkable document of adolescent angst.
> And I can't imagine having left out Leo Wurmer.
Leo was GREAT. He turned me on to
Spike Jones & the City Slickers
the ONE time I visited his house.
I didn't hear them again for a long time after that
but I'm still a Spike Jones enthusiast!
After I went to your web-site
I tried searching for him & Jack Dean on the net
to no avail.
> "The Frog". Do you remember that? It was one that cracked up
Jack Dean. It starts, "What a wonderful bird the frog are - when
he stand he sit almost." That was my first introduction in life
to the truly weird.
Don't remember it.
I do remember Jack telling me about
sitting naked in the window of his house.
That made a big impression on me
(I've spent alotof time being a public nudist).
The FREEDOM & DEFIANCE OF IT!
He put together a book called "Lavatory Lore"
of 'dirty' jokes.
He was quite a character.
Love to know what happened to him!
> But working one-on-one or, better yet, one-on-two, is grand.
Sounds good to me.
That sounds similar to ideas I have about mental health care.
I'm proud that no friends of mine have committed suicide
or been put away WHILE THEY'VE BEEN CLOSE TO ME.
I feel like much of the stuff I've been involved in
that probably seems weirdest to society-at-large
has very efficiently served the function of satisfying
'needs' of people who are in extreme pain.
Naturally, the people in extreme pain understand it just fine.
The rest wd probably rather see me locked up.
> I recently had a job at an elementary school that ended quite
disastrously. Just remember - Andre Stevenson is no Michael
Tolson!
I reckon his dad's in jail or dead?
I doubt that I'd be able to deal w/ Andre either
but it sounds like you gave it a pretty damn good try.
> Did you find the SubGenius ref in my quotes page?
No, but I'll give it a look.
Truthfully, I HATE web-browsing
& wdn't blame anyone for not looking at my sites.
Just by reading your letter re Andre
I've spent more time reading your stuff
than I usually wd.
The personal connection helps motivate.
> I was totally dumbfounded by what I saw when I served on my
first jury.
I can imagine.
In the time I've spent in court
I've seen judges as arrogant frustrated performers
lording it over the 'lower classes'
obviously showing off 'how smart they are' [NOT].
I DETEST the legal system.
> You'd think my guitaring totally square - and it is! So square,
in fact, that it's radical. I'm the only person on earth playing
that late 19th C. American guitar music I find at the Library of
Congress.
I might understand more than you realize.
Do you know that it's not that uncommon for 'modern'
experimental classical composers to reuse
older material partially to pay homage to it?
Check out Lukas Foss' "Baroque Variations",
John Cage's "Hymns and Variations" & "Cheap Imitation",
Mauricio Kagel's "Ludwig Van", etc, etc..
As a music scholar, I'd like to hear the obscure music you play!
> For years, I subscribed to Factsheet Five.
Good old Mike Gunderloy.
I started getting FF when it was still 2 xeroxed pp
folded together.
He & I have long since lost touch w/ each other.
He had the most incredible capacity for reading
of anyone I've ever known!
> I found some politically oriented zines in there that I
inflicted my unarchy ideas on. How's the zine scene nowadays,
what with the internet?
Still thriving but I don't pay much attention to it.
I've read a few anarchist 'zines lately
mainly because my girlfriend is into them
so I'm back to being surrounded by them again.
> I also got a bunch of basement recorded tapes from the music
review pages of F5.
Did you ever read the "Cassette Mythos" book
that came out of the hometaper world?
That was the peak of those times for me.
They published an article of mine.
>> "Guitar Running Thru It Like A Rotten Thread".
>> Would you like a copy of my magazine?
> Yeah, I'd get a kick out of those things. The drawbacks are I
have a tremendous backlog of music and reading material to get
to, and I don't have anything to trade.
I'll send them off soon. You might find
that the guitar tape represents a violation of everything
you like in guitar playing.
I make no claims of being a good guitarist.
I put that tape together
just becuase I went on a slight guitar kick
by teaching my girlfriend how to play in '96
& that stimulated me to want to edit together
some samples of my playing.
I was probably best when I was 19
& I don't have any recordings from those early yrs..
> Still, I could reimburse you a few bucks.
If you like, but a tape of you playing guitar wd be great!
Either way, don't feel obliged to send anything.
They're presents sent to show my appreciation
of how nice it is to touch base w/ you again.
Of course, I have the highest respect for trading
so if you do send anything I'd receive it w/ enthusiasm!
> Keep up the good work keeping the world a little off-balance.
Back atcha!
Aloha, your pal,
tENT
THEE: I am looking at your web page when I probably should be
working. Nevertheless....
I found your page following a Google search for Zahr Myron
Bickford. I noted that you had recovered music from (presumably)
original pages in the Library of Congress. Did you perhaps find
any MANDOLIN music by Mr. Bickford?
I am a mandocellist with the Munier Mandolin Orchestra in
Philadelphia, a mandolin orchestra of long standing. I would be
very interested in obtaining a copy (for money, of course!) of
anything in your collection of a mandolin (mandola mandocello)
nature by either the aforementioned Bickford, or Rafaelle Calace,
or Carlos Munier, if you happen to also know those names.
ME: Subject: inspite of all those spelling tests...
I got the idea to go back to ebay and search on the word "alot".
There were 20,487 hits.
ME: Tell Hself that I heard her friend play in an honors music
chamber recital at U of M last week. Her quartet was called the
Choo Choo Quartet. I like it, even though I'm still not sure
whether it's supposed to be humorous or not. (Is "choo choo"
Chinese or something?) Tell Hself to tell Hself that I thought
they "absolutely sparkled."
ME: I know that Bickford wrote a 4 volume mandolin method, and my
understanding is that that is still available without difficulty.
Would that be something you need? I know I already have a 3-
movement duet for guitar and mandolin called the "Story of the
Strings". Interested?
ME: I'm going to see Hansel and Gretel at the Baltimore Opera
tonight (Wednesday). It's got lots of delightful tunes. Did I
mention I went to a Washington Opera production of Il Trovatore
with a $15 standing room ticket? Makes you feel like you just
saved $500 (compared to the expensive seats.) Heck, take a
friend and save $1000!
THEE: Hey, I think I remember Michael Tolson. Did he have a
sister named Hself Tolson? She was in my classes. Very nice
girl. Think I was jealous of her since everyone liked her. If
I knew Michael, it was just by sight. Too funny about his claim
to fame...ego surfing. I didn't try to go to his webs though.
I did read your school story. I don't understand how you dealt
with that no-win situation for so long. Everything you said
about Andre Stevenson made sense to me. But, I don't
understand how they expected you to succeed at all, when they
didn't give you any power...or support.
THEE: Mandolin, mandola and guitar parts are usually written in
treble clef. Bass or mandobass is usually written in bass clef.
Mandocello parts are properly written in bass clef too. HOWEVER,
it was common practice to draft a mandolinist into playing the
mandocello. As a consequence, Gibson and others promoted a
bastard notation, called Universal Clef, which shows up as a
treble clef symbol with a line through it for the baritone and
bass parts. (It was a transposing clef such that if a
mandolinist put his fingers where the music told him to for a
mandolin (though he was playing a mandocello) everything would
come out fine.) For me, it's just a pain in the a**, because I
am a native bass clef reader. Nevertheless, anything that you
find like that please RETRIEVE, because I can easily un-transpose
it into proper bass clef with the computer.
By the way, you may also run across common abbreviations like:
M1, M2 for Mandolin 1 and 2, MA for Mandola, MC for mandocello, G
for Guitar, B or MB for Bass or Mandobass
ME: My most recent trip to LC [the Library of Congress] was last
night to see the firstreading of a folk comedy play by Zora
Heale Hurstoncalled Polk County, written in 1944. It
brought Treemonishato mind, maybe a little bit. I wonder
if Hurston knew of Joplin's opera.
THEE: A few months ago, I read _Their Eyes Were Watching God_ as
a college book club activity. (We have an on-line discussion
group, which works out well. Members come from all areas:
faculty, staff, students, even members of the community with no
affiliation with the college.) Just to keep up on my Hurston and
Hughes (the latter, one of my favorites), I have a copy of their
collaborative play, _Mule Bone_, tucked away for my Christmas
reading. Looks like fun - about a song & dance team, if you're
not familiar with it. One member gets angry and hits the other
with a mule bone, causing all hell to break loose in the town,
especially a controversy between the Baptists & the Methodists.
Too bad, though, that a copyright dispute led to a permanent rift
in Hurston & Hughes' friendship. While on the subject of
Hurston, I've just read some of her anthropological work--an
early essay on voodoo and segments from _Mules and Men_
pertaining to voodoo/hoodoo. Strange work; the novelist comes
out in her style even when she's wearing her anthropologist hat.
A couple of years ago, Theatre Tulsa--in conjunction with a local
children's theatre workshop--staged _The Wizard of Oz_. It was
delightful and included music not in the film. I've read the
1903 NY Times reviews of the original production, which must have
been a hoot. No Toto, but instead a pet cow named Imogene.
Couldn't put that one in a basket & ride away on a bike, nor
could the flying monkeys carry it off. I got interested because
one of WC's ms arrangements sent to me from the Sousa Archives,
Univ. of IL, was "Witch Behind the Moon" (a coon song) from the
original production. How times have changed! You can see the
sheet music (great cover art) on the Lester S. Levy site, Johns
Hoplins. I'm guessing you know the URL.
It's almost time for our big Christmas lunch. Smaller crowd than
usual today, though. Many people have stayed home due to a
blizzard Tuesday night/Wednesday. By now, city roads are okay,
but a lot of people commute from outlying small towns. These
"Southern" folks are wimps. When I was a kid . . . we used to
walk 10 miles to school through 3 feet of snow. Okay, would you
believe a mile and a half through 18 inches, with drifts up to 3
feet? 'Tis true, 'tis true, we all believe it's true.
[Treemonisha quote there.]
THEE: I am a fairly dedicated amateur musician, mandocellist
(the violincello analogue in the mandolin family). I play
regularly with a mandolin orchestra in Philadelphia and I am also
a member of the Classical Mandolin Society of America, whose
purpose is to retrieve or create and promote "popular" classical
mandolin music that was (more common) around 100 years ago.
Firstly, I'm interested in knowing what the LC holds under the
headings MUNIER, CALACE and (Zahr Myron) BICKFORD. Particularly,
what I am looking for for myself is: *mandocello* sheet music by
any of these three composers. My immediate goal is to increase
my knowledge of the existent mandocello literature (NOT very
extensive, I'm certain!), then to retrieve and present some of
this music for my instrument, since there is very little
presently available.
BICKFORD wrote (or arranged) for all stringed instruments is my
understanding, but I know he created at least one mandocello
(alternate mandolin) / guitar duet which I'd like to recover as a
first dip into the archive. He also created a Mandocello Method
Book, which I already have, courtesy of Jim Bollman of Music
Emporium in Lexington, MA (big-time banjo expert, but gathers
lots of old stuff, like back numbers of Cadenza and other early
music pubs).
I have no idea if CALACE or MUNIER wrote for the mandocello, per
se, since I don't think that's what they called it. They
possibly referred to it as the LIUTO, which is a baritone 10-
string (5 course) mando family instrument (in the Neapolitan, or
bowl-back branch of the family), so anything for that instrument
would probably be of interest as well.
Maybe next in priority is MUNIER mandolin orchestra or quartet
sheet music (this always means score and parts, if available, but
score alone if not). I have the ability to scan sheet music into
the PC and convert to annotated (dynamic marks, etc) MIDI files
to re-create individual parts, if I can get a readable score.
(Incidentally, 8-1/2" x 11 to 14" format, if it makes sense, is
easiest for me to use this way)
Under this heading, I already have the Munier Quartet in D Major
(Op 126), and I think I have a line on the CALACE "First
Concerto" from a (primarily Vahdah-Olcott Bickford guitar)
archive at Cal State, Northridge (Ron Purcell).
I play in the *Munier* Mandolin Orchestra, so-named because the
Orchestra's first conductor, Dr. Joseph Tiracchia's father was a
student and friend of both Calace and Munier in Italy. But, the
Orchestra has only the Quartet that I mentioned, so we'd be keen
to consider anything else there is.
As far as CALACE is concerned, most of his work is in fact too
difficult for most mandolinists I know. There are exceptions.
That is, I know of a couple of mandolinists who can passably
render his "Ten Preludes", like the German mandolinist, Gertrud
Troester, who recorded them last year or so. Also, I have been
told that his "First Concerto" is too difficult, but my plan for
that work is to give the first mandolin part to a strong soloist
I know, then get Munier Orchestra to learn the accompaniment for
presentation in 2002. And, as stated, anything with a solo
mandocello or liuto part would be particularly welcome, if such
exists.
I really thank you for the opportunity to search the stacks at
LC. The only other person I know who might be able to help this
way is Neil Gladd, who works there. He's a well-respected
mandolinist and scholar in his own right, but dealing with him as
a librarian has certain "difficulties", shall we say?
(He is often too busy to correspond and my belief is that he
tends to hoard up some of the good stuff for his own publications
which, alas, never seem to appear in print...)
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