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 use or interest to someone . . .
ME: Subject: newsletter
Bob says that Hself asked him what he played at the members'
recital. (A very heartening development, in my view.) In case
Bob didn't remember precisely, here it is again, plus a few of
the solos he played for us on the spot. I doubt he mentioned
those. They sounded good, and he should get credit.
Duo No. 8 ..... Heinrich Albert
Mvmt. 1: Mit Schwung
Bob Wysong, Donald Sauter
The Earle of Salisbury .... William Byrd
Theme From Sixth Symphony .... Tchaikowsky
Le Petit Rien .... Francois Couperin
arr. Joseph Castle
Bob Wysong
Remember to give John Duarte credit for the Silent Night
arrangement. We don't need to overdo it, but a little apology
(something like "Oops, we goofed") would be nice. Plus, we could
make it up some by plugging his recent book, "Andres Segovia, as
I knew him", published by Mel Bay.
Have you figured out what to do with Hself's article? I still
feel it would be ok to run as is. After all, he meant to create
a bit of a stir with it. Maybe you'd like to whip up a little
response piece? I'm sure he'd be happy if his article got any
sort of feedback.
I'll send you an intro paragraph for the Prayer From Moses in
Egypt, unless you know you want to run a 1-page piece of music,
in which case I'll send an intro for Gypsy Love Song.
How did the Kennedy Center job go? It was on my calendar, but it
turned out I had to do too much running around that Saturday.
THEE: Re: Guitar duo for Black Composers Concert
Thank you for the information. I plan to put you in the first
half of the concert. You will most likely be the second or third
performers. Please be at Ward Recital Hall in 5:30 p.m.
If you have any questions, feel free to contact me. I am looking
forward to meeting you and hearing your performance.
-----Original Message-----
>Here's what we've decided on for our guitar duos. They should
be fun.
>Scraps from the Opera (1868) .................. arr. Justin Holland
> Fra Diavalo (Auber, 1830)
> Martha (Flotow, 1847)
> Brian Kent, guitar
> Donald Sauter, guitar
>I would think that they should go at or near the beginning of
the concert since the guitar sound is so much smaller than the
voice or other instruments.
>Here are a few comments on Justin Holland, if your mistress of
ceremony would like something for an introduction. There's an
article about Holland in the September 1903 issue of "The Negro
Musical Journal", if your library has the Negro Universities
Press reprint.
>Justin Holland was born to free African-American parents in
Virginia in 1819. He was the most important American guitarist
of his generation. He was active as a teacher and an arranger.
He taught himself Spanish so that he could read the Spanish
guitar methods. His own guitar method of 1867 is probably the
best American guitar method of the 19th century.
>I'm looking forward to the concert.
ME: Subject: a concert on sunday
There's a Black Composers Concert this Sunday (Feb 14) at
Catholic University. I have a very small part in it playing a
guitar duo with a friend, but it should be a good concert anyway.
At least the one I went to a few years ago was great.
ME: Subject: huh?
You added a [huh?] after the reference to an outdoor D.C. Beatle
concert, but none after the masked ball reference. Have I
forgotten about the masks?
Just heard a nice set on WWMD [the other night]. A jazzy From Me
To You, followed by Without Your Love, then an extraneous one,
and ending with God Only Knows. Nary a voice in sight.
The Mike Sammes Singers reference in the last subject line was
one of the Beatle tie-ins on the Nana Mouskouri record that
distinguished itself by not making us cringe.
Found a copy of the Monday Post and forced myself through the
jury nullification articles. Nothing new, but I'm sure FIJA is
thrilled. I did find a little fodder for composing and sending
off a letter, but maybe it's not a masterwork. I used the Post's
web site to send it off. The form there is only 15 lines, so
they got 15 *long* lines from me.
Good question about Anna and Anthony Quayle. I 'spose a web
search should answer that fairly easily.
Spent the evening up in Towson listening to the Baltimore
Mandolin Orchestra, which my mandolin buddy plays in. It was in
a "managed care facility" for millionaires. How about a nursing
home with real china and lobster and prime rib on the menu?
It looks like our guitar duo is a go for Sunday. It's part of a
Black Composers Concert at Catholic University. Our pieces
should be a lot of fun. They are operatic arrangements by 19th
C. Black guitarist Justin Holland. Hope I don't let nerves get
in the way too badly.
P.S. Presuming no Anna/Anthony relationship. A site for Anthony
gave as a trivia bit that actress Jenny(?) Quayle is his
daughter. Surely they would have mentioned Anna if they were
related.
I found this on a new search engine, www.google.com . Try it!
THEE: Sounds like you checked into Anthony Quayle on the Internet
Movie Database. If you look up the silent actress Mae Marsh, and
click on Trivia, you'll find my prose.
Sorry, I don't know anything about any masked ball at the British
Embassy. Nor did I know any of that stuff about the British
ambassador changing his plans. I just found the concept of an
outdoor concert particularly egregious. It was cold here that
day!
THEE: Dude - I cannot sign your guest book - I cannot seem to get
into your system. Lets talk about this. Love your website - you
are amazingly prolific! Its Thursday night and late, but I am,
as is always the case with you, very impressed. We will knock
them dead Sunday night!
THEE: I was listening to "Rubber Soul" last night. I think "DMC"
followed by "NW(TBhF)" may be the best one-two opening punch the
Fabs ever delivered. Comments?
Hself and I watched another OK "Avengers" last night called
"Never, Never Say Die" (1967), featuring a small appearance from
John Junkin (Shake, or was it Norm?). I just had to add that
detail to the Internet Movie Database's list of Junkin's credits.
THEE: Scanned your web site and enjoyed. The letters are of
interest especially with respect to your comments about Fiset.
Of interest to you, his letters will be compiled into Vol III
(complete run) along with more than 700 other letters, all of
which will give a historical view of the guitar in America,
1890-1950.
THEE: The Black Composers Concert was good. We didn't play up to
par - in fact, I don't think we had ever made as many flubs. But
we made up for it with some really hot moments. Also, none of
the 12 to 15 or so people I personally invited made it. (I've
long known that I'm a ghost on this earth.) Still, the positives
swamped these disappointments.
Went down to the Kennedy Center this evening for the Rhode Island
mandolin orchestra with my mandolin buddy. The program called
Come Back to Sorrento a "traditional" song. The man who
introduced it said the same thing, and he was the one who
arranged it. Anyhow, it was composed around 1905, I think, by
Ernesto De Curtis.
About Rubber Soul, to be honest I couldn't have even told you
that DMC and NW kicked it off. I guess I'll never really know
the UK albums. I can think of one person whose musicality I
respect greatly who lists DMC as his least favorite Beatle song.
I've always liked it, but I can't help but wonder what part
loyalty plays in some of my opinions.
Looks like the Post didn't want my recent letter. It wasn't
great - but it was a lot better than the 2 pages of articles it
responded to.
There's a "treasure talk" on that Abe Lincoln photo at the LC
exhibit tomorrow. I'll be there.
Remember to try the new search engine google.com.
ME: Subject: ascii tab
Still curious as to how easy or hard it is for you to get a good
print copy of my ascii tablature, and your thoughts on how hard
it would be for the common man with no formal computer training.
Lots of other things on my site, too.
THEE: Real sorry no one showed for your concert. I certainly
know how that can be. I recall a party we threw at the Rockville
house, in which two people I invited actually showed. I was so
frustrated that I fled my own party and stayed at one of my
invitee's house for the night, on his couch. Try to forgive.
They probably all had valid excuses, because people seem to have
lots of commitments.
I did pick up one interesting CD, a Best Buy promo of Macca's
"Oobu Joobu--Ecology." It's a single-track, 41-minute CD,
apparently a complete radio broadcast. Do you remember hearing
about this?
ME: Subject: (no subject inspiration tonight)
Thanks for sympathetic position regarding invitees not
showing up. There's no hard feelings on my part. I did take a
shellacking from Hself regarding my invitational techniques. To
hear him tell it, you have to be about as aggressive as looking
for a job.
I know of the Oobu Joobu album. In fact, thought it was a bit of
yours that I heard or saw. Guess not, huh. Anyhow, can't
remember anything about its contents.
Had forgotten Yoko's birthday until your wire service. Never
knew it was the same as Segovia's. Never could remember
Segovia's birthday. Thought it was in March. Also thought there
was some confusion about it.
Had another fun day at school today. Worked with Adeleye,
Aminata, Ajay, etc. Babatunde seemed to be mad at me, but it was
Mrs. Jackson who scolded him last week when we were goofing
around. (I get more kids in trouble that way.)
I completed my self-imposed LC chore of going through all of the
unbound M129 - arrangements for guitar in sheet music format.
This would generally be considered the "low-brow" class, but I
was interested in arrangements of opera and pop songs of the
time. Next best thing to finding a bunch of records from the
turn of the century.
Can you guess what I found at the end of the rainbow? That's
right - Yradier. There were 4 different transcriptions of La
Paloma for guitar at the bottom of the last box.
The Abe Lincoln talk at the LC Treasures exhibit was interesting
and very informative for me. It wasn't about that photo I had
mentioned, which is gone now. There's an "Abram Lincoln"
campaign poster in that case now.
When I was at LC last week I left my 15" ruler on top of the
lockers there. I was thrilled to find it was still there
yesterday. People are apparently very honest, or at least
dishonest but chicken. I need the ruler for getting good margins
on my photocopies. It is so crucial to my operation that I had
to buy a replacement (actually two) on my way to LC. That
rankled me, but now I can return them.
Forgot to mention that a jazz-singer friend invited me to her
performance at the East Coast Jazz festival last Saturday night.
She only did one song I knew - "Blue Turning Gray Over You."
I never mentioned that I happened to see the Washington Post the
first day it got color. Saw it at school. Have you gotten used
to it yet?
ME: Subject: Happy belated Valentine's Day!
Valentine's day had no overt romantic angle to it, but it was
nice. I played a couple of guitar duets at a Black Composers
Concert at Catholic University. I had dug some pieces out of the
library of Congress by 19th C. black guitarist Justin Holland.
We didn't play up to par but it was enjoyed very much.
THEE: Re: (no subject inspiration tonight)--I know the feeling
I see that a Mamas and the Papas greatest-hits LP is floating to
the top of my to-listen pile. Do you need a recording of the
studio "ICYN"?
I'd love to learn a little more about your photocopying
technique. I did a lot of photocopying of Doyle rarities in
Indiana (my true reason for wanting to go this year?), but I
didn't even try to make good copies. I only tried to make them
good enough for me to copy from. I'm currently talking to the
boss of the Doyle discussion group about whether I should offer
my copies (in MS Word) to members who are interested.
My reaction to the first color cover of the "Post" was negative.
The page, if I recall, featured two photos of people walking down
hallways. I thought, "MGM had it right 60 years ago--only Oz
should be in color. Kansas looks fine in black-and-white."
Obscure or profound?
ME: Subject: till the fat lady sings
You won't believe this, but I went to a record convention on
Sunday and found a Billy Tipton album! For 50 cents!!! It was
the absolute pinnacle of my record-bin-scrounging life.
I've had a blast with my other records, too. I've played duos
with one of my flute/guitar (minus guitar) record several times
over. I've found all the bits I was looking for in my two
operas, plus lots of other wonderful passages. I could almost
see becoming an opera fanatic. [How prophetic!]
There will be a web page one day on my photocopying techniques.
Although they are awesome, they won't be worth a hill of beans to
someone who isn't concerned about perfect margins.
I've added a few things to my web site. If you find a sentence
in the newest page containing the word "cross", it was written
prior to our discussion. (It's tongue-in-cheek anyhow.)
THEE: Subject: Billy, don't be a hero
Glad you're enjoying your record haul. Of course, I have not
listened to any of my purchases yet. I'm still in a quandary
about whether to save the Redd Foxx LP (you'll recall that volume
seven was in a volume one jacket). I'll probably toss it. These
days, I seem to get as big a charge from throwing away records as
i do from purchasing them. Speaking of which, I just heard the
trashmen come--that voodoo LP is now officially disposed of.
THEE: Thought you might enjoy reading the story of the beginnings
of the Beatles Museum now located in Virginia Beach--not far from
us.
My Personal Finances: A Long and Winding Road...
http://www.kiplinger.com/magazine/archives/1998/May/pfmay98.html
P.S. We were there for the private grand opening on July 3, 1998
with Louise Harrison attending. Great party!
THEE: Subject: commercialism
Yesterday, I happened to be reading a story by Bret Harte (1836-
1902) called "A Romance of the Line." It appears in a book
called "Under the Redwoods," published in 1901, though the story
itself could be much older. In the story, the main character is
bothered by seeing billboards advertising the same products at
each station his train passes through. This struck me as a
precise 19th century equivalent to repeated commercials on TV.
And, in line with our conversation last Sunday, here's this from
the story:
"Falling back on the illustrated advertisements again, he
wondered if their perpetual recurrence at every station would not
at last bring to the tired traveler the loathing of satiety;
whether the passenger in railway carriages, continually offered
Somebody's oats, inks, washing blue, candles, and soap...would
not there and thereafterforever ignore the use of these articles,
or recoil from that particular quality....Had he ever known any
one who confided in him in a moment of expansiveness that he had
dated his use of Somebody's soap to an advertisement persistently
borne upon him through the medium of a railway carriage window?
No!"
More proof that the times they are a'samin'. eh?
ME: Subject: a blank again
Thanks for the advertising bit from the old story. Neat! For the
record, I've never thought that advertising would actually turn a
person away from a product he uses and likes.
Struck out on "Billy don't be a hero".
Another successful day at LC on Wednesday. Got the rest of the
Sousa marches transcribed for guitar, and a few songs for voice
and guitar arranged by Justin Holland. My next quest is looking
like digging out everything the library has by Holland.
I was a hero when I found a piece by Gustav Holst for voice and
violin misfiled in the box for voice and guitar. I occasionally
find mistakes like that, but this was an important one. Wayne
said that people would ask for that one. He also said it was a
good piece. Wayne's knowledge is astounding.
I went to a show at the Archives called Let My People Go - The
trials of bondage in Words of Master and slave. Very powerful
and educational. The words were taken directly from documents in
the Race, Slavery and Petitions Project at U of NC. For one
example, a young free black woman petitioned to become a slave
because she couldn't find good, steady work. The request was
denied.
Another fun day at school today. I helped the kids complete an
"If I were a dinosaur, a ________________ I'd be" poem/story.
For Larry we went with larryhardysaurus, for Rahsaan it was a
cubosaurus (with square eyes and nose, etc.) and Zalika was a
bringondayouthosaurus (we got that from her tee-shirt). I was a
doggiesaurus (with a big black nose and droopy ears).
About Segovia's birthday: when you brought the subject up in an
email saying it was Feb 18, I didn't have energy to run around
and research it. Today (about Tuesday?) I looked up at the
calendar hanging next to my computer and, lo and behold, there it
was: "Andres Segovia, b.1893" in the box for Feb 21. I dug out
the British magazine Classical Guitar dating from the time of his
death, and it also said Feb 21. Soundboard magazine from that
time said Feb 17, 1893 and included this appositive, "(There has
been some confusion over the exact date... but the date February
17 is confirmed by the baptismal certificate.)" The baptismal
certificate is translated in a book I have called "Andres
Segovia". It says "I have solemnly baptised a boy... born on the
17th day of this month..." However, the item began, "In the city
of Jaen, on the 24th of March 1893, I Don Juan Garrido..." So
where did February come from??? In case we think this baptismal
certificate is the final word, keep in mind what we have is an
English translation of a "literal copy" a priest made from the
book of baptisms in 1930 for guitar biographer Domingo Prat. In
this copy, Segovia's father's name is spelled Segobia.
My turntable may be going belly-up. It was wobbling today, and
actually ground to a halt. I did get it going again after some
fiddling.
Record anecdote: my sister bought a thrift-store stereo for an
older couple because they wanted a record player. When she took
it to them, it turned out their records were all 78s! They said,
"Well, we do have some bigger records", and Hself breathed a sigh
of release figuring that had to mean LPs. When they brought them
out, it turned out they were even bigger, thicker 78s the man's
father had owned in Italy. This couple is 80, by the way. Hself
felt bad about all this, so she bought them a bunch of records at
a Goodwill up there - for $.25 apiece. Should I get the address?
ME: Subject: fingering notation
I hope the emphasis I used when I wrote that I never use barre
notation or string numbers wasn't taken as an attack. I'm afraid
sometimes my arguing style sounds like that. It was only meant
to make sure the reader understands "never" does in fact mean
never - which should cause most guitarists some degree of
surprise, or shock, or at least curiosity, I think.
> What people are used to conditions what they find easiest to
read. One advantage that I find in barre notation is being able
to precisely indicate *when* to place, hinge or lift the barre.
I think all of that can be communicated with position/finger
indications, with the exception of hinge notation. And I'm not
aware of an easy-to-understand-on-the-fly hinge notation, much
less a standardized one. I just write the word "hinge" above the
note(s), and that's enough to remind me what to do.
Here's what Michael Lorimer had to say on this topic during the
fingering notation discussion back in 1989 initiated by Frank
Koonce. "The more I play guitar, the more I prefer to see C
alone. I do not like to see fractions or other symbols for the
partial barre, nor would I like to see the "h" for the hinge
barre. When I read, I never take time to decipher modifications
to C, do you? For me, at least, why write anything more than C?
Do other guitarists read as I do?... I wonder what Jack [Duarte]
thinks, and what the other panel members who have not expressed
an opinion think about Donald Sauter's system for the barre - he
eliminates it altogether. Do you like that idea?"
> Sometimes it is most efficient to place the barre *before* the
notes that actually require it.
I agree. My notation for that is really performance note
notation - numbers in square boxes - where performance notes 1
through 6 are understood to mean "barre through that number of
strings."
About m21 in the Zipoli you wrote:
> I cannot agree that [a "-1" in front of the low C] gives *more*
information [than the "VIII---,"] about how to finger the C - it
gives the same amount.
For me, the -1 says "play the C with finger 1, moving finger 1 up
the string from whatever note it was just playing". That's a lot
of information, to my mind. Not only does it nail down which
choice of the note to play, it moves you to the desired position
and tells you which finger to press it with - and tells you how
to get there.
There are problems, for me, associated with roman numerals. The
first is counting up all the I's on the fly, not to mention
distinguishing X's V's and I's, which are all just vertical
strokes in various degrees of dishevelment. The second problem
is knowing whether the editor uses the roman numeral to mean
barre or position. Even if we instituted a standard starting
today, there would still be tons of existing guitar music not in
compliance, so you would always have to make a study to figure
out if the roman numerals in a given piece mean barre or
position.
If the editor means barre, the question is, do I really need or
want to barre at that moment? In the Zipoli example, I find that
I don't completely form the barre - that is, completely press the
high C - before playing the notes on beat 1.
If the roman numeral means position, then the burden is still on
the player to choose a finger to play any unfingered note, since
in any position 2 or 3 fingers might reasonably be called on to
play a given note. The final choice depends on personal
preference, what happens before, what happens after, and
simultaneously played notes. In this specific example, I'll
admit I wouldn't give consideration to playing the low C with
finger 2, but that's only because I see it is in use on the E.
In no case does the roman numeral tell the player, "hey, you can
easily get to this note by moving finger 1 up the string it's
already on."
> If I had come upon this measure and seen a one on the low C
and then again on the high C my first thought would be that the
intent was to move the 1 finger. This would have then seemed
ridiculous and I would have deduced the barre was intended.
It would never occur to me to do that, especially seeing that the
low C is supposed to sustain through the high C, and is
immediately followed by another bass note (which would have a 1
in front of it in my notation system.)
> I do not see the goal of a fingering notation to be determining
the minimum number of symbols necessary to specify the finger
movements.
Neither do I. I view it as a nice fringe benefit that a piece
completely fingered according to my system may use less symbols
and look a lot less cluttered than the same piece fingered
partially, or ambiguously, according to another system.
> Sometimes I will include more than the necessary information.
Look at the last beat of m.22. The 3 finger symbol and the string
number are unnecessary - but they may be helpful. Would you put a
VI position symbol right where the 3 string symbol is? How would
that provide more information?
I think you mean a IV position symbol. My system could handle
that in 2 ways. Yes, the editor could put a C4 there (again, I
don't use roman numerals) for that one beat, and it would be
instantly understandable - and not unsightly - but I would just
leave the position indication out, in which case finger 1 playing
the G# would be viewed as an extension down from the C5 position.
I find redundant information a potential for disaster. In this
case, I am in position C5. I see the D note fingered with a 3.
That tells me, "stay right here and play D with finger 3". But
at the last moment I see a string number way above the note and I
panic, thinking, "Oh no! I'm supposed to *move* somewhere else
to play that D!" and I frantically shoot for the same note up or
down the fingerboard. After the train wreck, I take a closer
look and see that the string number was telling me to play the
note where I would have, anyway. (In a conversation with Matanya
Ophee once, he chuckled and agreed that he also knows this
experience of a string number scaring the player out of the
position he should stay in.)
> I also find [string numbers] useful at times to show that a
melody line follows a particular string for a while. When the
player knows this then he can deduce the positions necessary, and
it helps elucidate the pattern of the music.
I can understand and sympathize with that. Yes, an editor may
find it desirable to give *partial* information, and leave it to
the player to nail down the specific fingerings. I guess my
system would fail pretty badly at that; after all, it was
developed for the purposes of telling *me* precisely what *I*
should be doing for every note in the piece.
> [This] could make an article. We could select a short piece,
notate it using different styles, and have an accompanying
article in the form of a dialog about the symbols that makes us
both sound erudite and clever.
I'd be willing to give that a go, if you will help make sure I
don't put something out that embarrasses myself.
ME: Subject: What I should've said was...
... in this society at this time, as in every society in
history, rape is considered a very serious crime by the vast
majority of the people - very possibly 100% . End of discussion.
Hi Hself,
1. Regarding your assertion that an email invitation cannot
possibly bear fruit, and one must be as aggressive as in a job
search, for example, it had slipped my mind that just the very
night before the Black Composers Concert I observed first-hand an
exception to that assertion. I showed up at a jazz singer
friend's concert at the East Coast Jazz Festival in response to a
tiny note. We had been out of touch for about 1.5 years, and she
was quite surprised to see me show up.
3. Regarding your suggestion to look up "anal" in the dictionary
upon my good-humored correction of your packing job of my gack, I
finally did that after some years of hearing the word "anal" pop
up every time somebody makes an effort to do something right. I
can't see the tie-in. If I were at all curious, I would request
that somebody explain this usage. As it is, I'm sure it's
nothing more or less than all of the other bathroom humor that
keeps this society laughing itself silly.
ME: Subject: newsletter
Thanks for writing a response to Hself's piece. Like I said, I
know that he was hoping to stir things up a little.
My only comments are extremely minor. There were a few places
where you matched up "someone" with "they", and it should be the
singular "he". I forget where it was, but I think I saw an "is"
that should have been an "if".
Looking forward to getting a copy.
THEE: Subject: Heroes and villians
Make me Boredosaurus, at least at work.
"Billy, don't be a hero"? I was thinking of Billy Tipton and an
awful '70s pop tune--"Billy Don't Be a Hero"--popped into my
head. Sorry.
Incidently, I got a record on Billy's label on Sunday, too.
Topps, isn't it? So, if you need the label's entire run (and I
think you do), see me.
THEE: Subject: Re: fingering notation
>> What people are used to conditions what they find easiest to
read. One advantage that I find in barre notation is being able
to precisely indicate *when* to place, hinge or lift the barre.
>I think all of that can be communicated with position/finger
indications, with the exception of hinge notation. And I'm not
aware of an easy-to- understand-on-the-fly hinge notation, much
less a standardized one. I just write the word "hinge" above the
note(s), and that's enough to remind me what to do.
I use an 'h' at the start, middle, or end of the line that shows
the barre duration.
>Lorimer: " When I read, I never take time to decipher
modifications to C, do you? For me, at least, why write anything
more than C? Do other guitarists read as I do?... I wonder what
Jack [Duarte] thinks, and what the other panel members who have
not expressed an opinion think about Donald Sauter's system for
the barre - he eliminates it altogether. Do you like that idea?"
This, and phrases you used earlier (and later) - "understand on
the fly", "remind me what to do" - suggest that we have differing
_purposes_ for fongering notation, and hence prefer different
notations. The slant I get is that, for you, the ideal fingering
is that which best facilitates sight-reading. My purpose is
different. Once I (and I assume other players) learn a piece,
there are a much smaller number of symbols that are necessary if
the purpose is only to remind me. Of course, in the extreme our
notational systems converge as the piece is entirely memorized
and no notation is necessary. As I learn a piece more and more of
the notes and the fingering become unnecessary. I have no trouble
NOT seeing these - they in no way distract me. So, for me, the
primary purpose is to communicate the intended fingerings:
Unambiguously - That is, in a way that anticipates all reasonable
misunderstandings as to what is intended. Note, this varies
considerably with a player's experience and skill.
Efficiently - By this I do not mean quickly (as in sight-
reading), or with the minimum number of symbols (as I seem to
have inferred in your notational system) but, rather, directly
and allowing the shortest deductive path to the intended
information. This varies with the circumstances. Tarrega used
string numbers in ways that require a lot of figuring to deduce
what goes where. But sometimes, for me, a string number is the
easiest and most natural way to clarify.
>About m21 in the Zipoli you wrote: I cannot agree that [a "-1"
in front of the low C] gives *more* information [than the
"VIII---,"] about how to finger the C - it gives the same amount.
>For me, the -1 says "play the C with finger 1, moving finger 1
up the string from whatever note it was just playing". That's a
lot of information, to my mind. Not only does it nail down which
choice of the note to play, it moves you to the desired position
and tells you which finger to press it with - and tells you how
to get there.
You are right that '-1' (not '1') does give more infomation
(guide finger) than VIII about playing the C. I was wrong here.
But VIII gives other information, i.e. "begin to form a barre as
you move the hand".
>There are problems, for me, associated with roman numerals. The
first is counting up all the I's on the fly, not to mention
distinguishing X's V's and I's, which are all just vertical
strokes in various degrees of dishevelment.
Again, my concern is not to facilitate quick reading on sight. I
agree that the similarity of form of Roman numerals could
contribute to errors.
>The second problem is knowing whether the editor uses the roman
numeral to mean barre or position.
But this begs the question doesn't it? What you recommend
requires explanation as well. And then, as long as the notation
is used consistently, there is no misunderstanding. I always use
it to means barre, not position.
>In no case does the roman numeral tell the player, "hey, you can
easily get to this note by moving finger 1 up the string it's
already on."
That's right. I use the guide finger notation very often. I can
imagine even using a '-1' AND a VIII in a situation such as m.21!
Actually, in the m.21 situation, I find your suggestion fairly
reasonable, especially since the barre is not really necessary at
that moment. It seems to me I thought of putting it at the high C
but it would run into the VII (in which case it would have
looked like VIIIVII!)
>> I do not see the goal of a fingering notation to be
determining the minimum number of symbols necessary to specify
the finger movements.
>Neither do I.
Could you write a little about my hypothesis about different
purposes?
>> "Sometimes I will include more than the necessary information."
>I find redundant information a potential for disaster.
Well, certainly if the information is contradictory. Sometimes it
gives the player a choice of which signal he finds most useful.
>In this case, I am in position C5. I see the D note fingered
with a 3. That tells me, "stay right here and play D with finger
3". But at the last moment I see a string number way above the
note and I panic, thinking, "Oh no! I'm supposed to *move*
somewhere else to play that D!" and I frantically shoot for the
same note up or down the fingerboard.
Again, this sounds like an at-tempo-at-first-sight run through.
>> I also find [string numbers] useful at times to show that a
melody line follows a particular string for a while. When the
player knows this then he can deduce the positions necessary, and
it helps elucidate the pattern of the music.
>I can understand and sympathize with that.
!!!
>> [This] could make an article. We could select a short piece,
notate it using different styles, and have an accompanying
article in the form of a dialog about the symbols that makes us
both sound erudite and clever.
>I'd be willing to give that a go, if you will help make sure I
don't put something out that embarrasses myself.
I will keep an eye out for something suitable. Thanks for the
dialog. You help me question my assumptions about these matters.
THEE: Subject: Fingering notation article and music
Following up from my other message this morning, I have a fairly
easy Chopin waltz that would be both suitable for the difficulty
level that I aim for in The Transcriber's Art articles, and to
illustrate notational different systems. It has nice regular 4
bar phrases that I can engrave one to a line. I imagine us each
notating the fingering for alternate phrases/lines. There are
recurring phrases so each could get a different treatment. Could
be interesting. The accompanying SOUNDBOARD article could
include:
RY: Intro to the topic - problem of lack of standardization,
etc., then introduce you with a little bit of biographical info.
DS: Description of your notational system RY: Description of the
music and its layout DS and RY: Commentary/criticism of selected
spots in each other's fingerings.
To do this it would be good to have an efficient way of sending
scores. I will be putting it all into Finale and want to make
sure that I am accurately representing your notation. We can use
snail mail of course but something electronic would be better.
I can send you scores as PostScript files, Finale98 files, or as
faxes.
Please let me know how this sounds to you. I may not be convinced
about all of your notation proposals, but it is an interesting
topic and deserves broader exposure than just on your website.
THEE: Subject: Fingering article
I am sending by snail mail a transcription of the Chopin Waltz I
mentioned in yesterday's e-mail. I have included an unfingered
version also. Perhaps you could write in how you would notate the
transcription that I have made and sent it back. Then we could
discuss which lines to alternate in a final version for a
SOUNDBOARD article. I hope I am not getting too far ahead of
myself here - I am getting excited about an article as I outlined
yesterday.
ME: Subject: newsletter
I got the newsletter yesterday. It looks good. Thanks for all
the hard work, and especially for taking good care of the music
and my intro.
My biggest disappointment was not finding the bit on the Guitar
Nebula. I'm also concerned that we still haven't given John
Duarte credit for Silent Night. As I said before,
> We don't need to overdo it, but a little apology (something like
"Oops, we goofed") would be nice. Plus, we could make it up some
by plugging his recent book, "Andres Segovia, as I knew him",
published by Mel Bay.
I guess somebody's pointed out the discrepancy in the Youth
Concert dates. I hope this doesn't panic us into a special
mailing. Anybody who is interested will inquire.
ME: Subject: C6, etc.
Thanks for all your enthusiasm about this issue of fingering
notation. This could be a lot of fun. I received the Chopin in
the mail today. That's the best mode for me to transmit
graphics. (I still use a 286, and am, for all intents and
purposes, text-only. There are reasons for this...) I look
forward to fingering the Chopin according to my system.
Yes, we definitely do have different ideas about the purpose of
notated fingerings. You hit the nail on the head when you said
that my (Sauter's) "ideal fingering is that which best
facilitates sight-reading." That is *all* I do - read.
Everything I can get my hands on. I don't memorize, and am in
fact incapable of memorizing.
Putting it in my own words, I might say the goal is: assuming no
memory of having played a piece before, to play it perfectly on
the second time and every time thereafter.
The first run-through is expressly for the purpose of solving
every problem in the piece and deciding how each and every note
is to be played. (The first run-through may take minutes... or
days.)
This is the ideal, of course. (I've certainly never played a
single piece perfectly!) And since there's no gold and silver
falling out of the sky if one *does* play the piece perfectly on
the second shot, sometimes I dilly-dally and just hack through it
as many times as I want with the supplied fingerings - or lack
thereof - for the pure fun of it. (I am pretty good at reading
all manner of fingering notations - or no fingerings at all.)
And, of course, I may continue to find even better fingerings on
the Nth play-through.
>>DS: The second problem is knowing whether the editor uses the
roman numeral to mean barre or position.
>RY: But this begs the question doesn't it? What you recommend
requires explanation as well.
Good point! Think ya got me, huh??? My answer is that my system
is proposed for the *player himself* to write on the page of
music. If one adopts my proposed system, he *must* know that C6
means position only. (If he sometimes uses it to mean barre,
then he hasn't adopted my system.)
But, (you might ask), how would a player know what an *editor*
means by C6? A: He won't, at least until he studies those spots.
Even if an editor uses my system with complete rigor, the player
who has adopted my system would still have to use that proverbial
"first run-through" to verify that all fingering notation is, in
fact, in compliance. (And even then, he will have to decide for
every note whether or not he likes the editor's solution.) After
the first run-through, the player will know that when he sees a
C6, whether he wrote it himself or whether he let a published C6
survive, that it means *position* 6. (Another aside: In reality,
I never bother figuring out an editor's barre and/or position
notation convention. Since it will be converted into my own, it
can almost always be ignored.)
I hope I made the above point clearly; it is fundamental to what
I am proposing.
My question to the guitar world is, guitarists, would you like to
play any piece perfectly from the second play-through on,
regardless of your memorizing ability?
Afterword: While composing the above letter, I presumed I was
trying to explain things which I hadn't explained before, or had
glossed over. Then I took another look at my 2 web pages that
deal most directly with this topic and I do see that all of the
points are covered there. Please take a careful look at those
2 pages for the points discussed here in different words.
ME: Subject: surprise surprise
About the Topps catalog - thanks, but all I really need are their
opera records (and Beethoven's poems).
I have a pot of split pea soup stewing now (Sat. morning).
Always good for a cold, dreary day.
Ran across an article about George Martin at the Birchmere in the
Times. It was a positive article, but it didn't make me feel
like I missed anything. He's still at it with his jabs at the
talent of the early Beatles. I think it barely mentioned a film
clip and no mention of him working a 4-track tape machine. In
fact, it gave me the impression that people paid $30 just to be
in the vicinity of such a personality.
In the "Rock Stars Do The Dumbest Things" book at LC I found this
one under Ringo Starr. "In the film AHDN, Ringo explained when
people made cracks about his nose, 'It goes up one nostril and
down the other.'" Does that sound familiar to you?
There's a new WGS newsletter out with a submission by me after a
6-month break. My idea is, no brainy articles, just some music
and a few introductory words. I figure I can survive the
complete lack of appreciation of that effort, and complaints
even, but it was insane putting up with that after also sinking a
thousand dollars worth of time and effort into the production,
copying, folding, distribution and mailing of each newsletter.
I made a funny little miscalculation at LC. I asked for all of
M1.A13 Ho- , figuring that couldn't be more than half-inch stack
or so, but it turned out to be a whole cart's worth!
I've taken to borrowing books and things from the elementary
school library, at the librarian's invitation. I'm in the middle
of listening to some tapes of Maggie Comer's life story.
THEE: Re: newsletter
> I guess somebody's pointed out the discrepancy in the Youth
Concert dates. I hope this doesn't panic us into a special
mailing. Anybody who is interested will inquire.
WOW! Major OOPPS! There is a WCM Guitar Recital on the 18th. I
must have gotten confused when typing it out. I think there
won't be too many problems with this goof as most of the people
who attend the Youth concert are the performers and their
families.
As for the Guitar Nebula... I decided to try to get official
permission from "Astronomy" magazine and they haven't gotten back
to me yet. I figure that will be good for the next newsletter.
ME: Subject: monopoly rulesheet
I always keep forgetting to ask - next time you're in your attic,
would you take a look at the Monopoly rules in your game? If
they are pre-1973, I'd like to see them.
THEE: Subject: Your website
Hello. I really have enjoyed looking through your website. I have
no idea how I found it, though.
Anyway, I have a question about your presidential campaign
platform: How would voters who do not have phones, or who
couldn't afford a toll number, be represented? If you're going
for the majority, shouldn't you be sure that your polling covers
everybody?
Well, that's it from me. I would like to see your recipe for ice
water, though.
Hself
"Yet another case of gibberish being passed off as gospel."
ME: Subject: ice water
Thanks for visiting, and thanks for the feedback. You've got a
good question. I guess it never occurred to me because so few
people don't have access to phones. I suppose civic-minded,
concerned people could make phones available to those people
without. And I hope this doesn't come off sounding heartless,
but I would imagine it would be impossible to devise any system
which doesn't let at least a tiny number of people fall through
the cracks. How do destitute people get to the polls nowadays?
They make it easy for people to register to vote when they get an
automobile license, but what about the millions of people without
cars?
By the way, are you familiar with eBay, the auction web site
that's very successful? If you take a look at its guiding
principles you'll see they're very unarchic. The operation
hinges completely on the basic goodness of people.
http://www.ebay.com
About the ice water recipe, I haven't quite decided if I want the
public to have that - for free, at least.
See you.
ME: Subject: rules
I got the impression that my suggestions for changing game rules
which seem to get people upset had rubbed you the wrong way, and
I was content to drop it, but after taking a look at R. Wayne
Schmittenberger's book, "New Rules For Classic Games" I had to
drop you a note. You sounded convinced that what I was saying
wasn't anything new.
I could find hardly anything in his book that overlaps with the
suggestions in my web pages - absolutely nothing in his chapters
on Monopoly or Scrabble. He doesn't discuss Password or Family
Feud. Regarding Pictionary and Trivial Pursuit without boards,
he retains as much of the excess baggage of those games that he
can. The place where he comes closest to anything in my pages is
softball, oddly enough. I suggested how to have good games with
a limited number of people. Schmittenberger gives advice on
playing it (with a wiffle ball, good grief) in a limited space.
THEE: Re: newsletter list
> "I would like to know all the people, societies, etc., who
get it for free. Either make a copy or send it email, whichever
is easiest."
Neither of these is "easy" & I see *no reason* to do this for you
since (1) the only societies on the list are the ones you gave me
address for. I did not include them on this last mailing; nor did
I include the guitar magazines you gave me address for. All old,
expired members were sent a newsletter. (2) The people that get
them free are people like you, Kevin, Morey, a few others--same
as months ago when you were involved with the newsletter (you
still have old lists?)
Sorry to deny you like this but the above seems to answer all the
questions you might have.
THEE: Subject: Split! Pea
I hope your split-pea soup was scrumptious.
So, who's Maggie Comer when she's at home?
Before I left, last Thursday, I finished a tape for you. It's
OK. It included much of the audio portion of an odd little
documentary on the Lennon family, which I taped from the Fox
Family cable channel last week.
Do you need all covers of Ben Vaughn songs? I came across one
last week.
Thanks for the "A Hard Day's Night" quote. My guess is that "up
one nostril..." is what John wrote on the reporter's pad. I'm
glad I finally know.
ME: Subject: bert kaempfert fan club
Didn't let the snow get in the way of guitar and mandolin duets
today. Plan on sledding tomorrow.
The actual title of the book the tapes are from is "Maggie's
American Dream" by her son, James Comer, M.D. From the back of
the box: "The true story of an illiterate Southern black woman
who moves North... She vows that her children will be
educated... When her husband dies tragically, Maggie must hold
the family together and enables her children to earn a total of
13 college degrees."
Truth to tell, none of my soups, stews or chowders are as good as
standard-issue Campbell's. What's the secret? How do people do
it? I wish I knew, I wish I knew...
Are you familiar with eBay, a very successful auction web site?
Take a look at its guiding principles - unarchy in action.
http://www.ebay.com
On eBay I found someone selling the marching band Beatles record,
and I almost put in a bid before gathering my wits about me.
Winning with a very low bid, even, plus postage would probably
get it up to $10. Heck, I passed up a still-sealed copy at that
price once. Dumb ol' records (meaning all of them, now) should
be a quarter, no matter how great they are.
I didn't mention that I had to remove a few skips from "Billy
Tipton Plays Hi-Fi Piano". Couldn't fix one of them, but it's an
unobtrusive forward skip. I can live with it.
Ben Vaughn covers can't hurt, can they? How many could there be,
anyhow? Let me at 'em.
Spent a whole day Saturday catching up with email. It's a bummer
not getting paid to do it, like the rest of the world. Some of
it's not frivolous, though. Been in touch with a man who writes
a regular column for a guitar magazine and he wants to do an
article about guitar fingering notation, including my system.
THEE: Re: Guitar arrangements in the Library of Congress
I am interested in any guitar arrangements of Chopin that you
found. Please let me know what you have and what it would cost.
Thanks.
Hself (typing frantically to try to be first in line)
THEE: Subject: question
Esta i uma mensagem de mzltiplas partes em formato MIME.
You are doing a
great job
I would be very grateful
if you would please tell me
how can we get
the sheets
from abroad
if you have
time
and curiosity enough
that's the site of the
Department of Music of the
National Library
in Brazil
http://www.dpt.bn.br/dimas
scores will be available soon
thank
you
Hself
brazil
THEE: Lots of people ask me, "Hself, have you tried ebay yet?"
sort of like they used to ask me about Amazon.com a couple years
ago. Well, I looked at Ebay and I even started registering, then
realized that i already get entirely too many packages in the
mail. I restrained myself. Who can say how long that will last?
Perhaps Campbell's soup tastes so good because it has a lot of
salt? Listen to me, here, I'm sounding like a tree-hugger!
The snow did not crimp my style much. I was one minute late
getting to work yesterday morning, however. The big victim is
Hself the Wonder Dog, because it's hard to play fetch with him in
snow. So, we take him for long walks, and he seems to like that
fine. Hself did manage to play a little fetch with him this
morning.
THEE: Subject: Hayden
Got the latest Washington GS newsletter and am glad to see you're
back presenting your little goodies. Yes, I've got a bunch of
American opera snippets, and, based on what you say, maybe I
ought to trot out one or two others. Back when I was collecting
stuff for that anthology, I looked at maybe 20 Haydens and most
of them were as bad as I said. Since then I guess I've seen about
20 more (a bunch are currently running on the LofC web site) and
the guy is looking a bit better. I still wouldn't want to make
Winslow the focus of a concert, however.
The reason I didn't offer a commentary to Vorhauer's "Cavalleria"
is that I couldn't really find anything to say. It was offered
mainly as a supplement to Doug Back's article on St. Louis
guitarists in that issue.
THEE: Hello. I caught your water and wine problem on your web
page. I just wanted to add that the problem really doesn't
require any visualization :
Each bucket ends at the same level it started. Liquid is
conserved, so wine and water must have been equally traded.
Cheers,
Chris Reiss
ME: Subject: transcription fodder
You had asked for opinions on things to transcribe for guitar,
and I had pleaded "Not Qualified" to make such recommendations.
Something has occurred to me, though. It might be infeasible, or
crazy, or both, but here it is.
I think a guitar arrangement of the section of Mozart's Magic
Flute which surrounds "Das klinget so herrlich" would be a lot of
fun, should work very well on guitar and would be of great
curiosity value to guitarists.
Specifically, I am thinking of the section starting with "Wie
stark ist nicht dein Zauberton" (right near the end of Act 1,
Scene 14) and going through to the end of "Ko"nnte jeder brave
Mann" (Scene 16). This lasts a total of 5.5 minutes.
Part of this is already done for you - Sor arranged "Ko"nnte
jeder brave Mann", note-for-note and in the original key, in his
opus 19. He calls it by the Italian "Se potesse un suono".
(Sounds a whole lot like "Heidenro"slein" to me.) You might use
that transcription as a model and do the whole arrangement "in
the style of Sor".
He also arranged "Das klinget so herrlich" (which directly
precedes "Ko"nnte jede brave Mann") but while it is closer than
Sor's Opus 9 theme, it still isn't what Mozart wrote. Why this
is, I don't know; everything else in Opus 19 is note-for-note.
I think guitarists would get a kick out of hearing the real magic
bells theme and "Das klinget so herrlich" ("Oh cara armonia")
after all these years.
The reason I would back it up to "Wie stark ist nicht dein
Zauberton" is because it's all fun music, and a great little
excerpt from the opera. The intro to "Wie stark" is the magic
flute theme played by the main character, Tamino. So we get both
the magic flute and the magic bells in this one little extract.
Incidentally, Antoine de l'Hoyer arranged "Wie stark" in his Op.
40, "La Flute Enchante'e" for guitar, violin and viola. He gave
the guitar the magic flute part. He also used the original key.
Plus the action is pretty funny. It involves Tamino; Pamina, the
woman he is trying to rescue; Papageno, the comic bird-catcher;
and Monostatos, the funny villain. For example, there's some
back and forth between Papageno's pipes and Tamino's flute. It
would be neat to supply the words along with the guitar music.
So check a recording out of the local library and give it a
listen. Let me know what you think. If you are interested and
there's anything that you'd like to see that you can't get
easily, like the l'Hoyer arrangement or Mozart's score, let me
know.
THEE: Re: Guitar arrangements in the Library of Congress
That's a fascinating bit of research. Have you submitted this
for publication in Guitar Review. I hope this information
resides somewhere more permanent than in cyber space. Did Wayne
Shirley really let you photo copy all that? He can be very
sticky about that copy machine!
I live in Washington, DC and used to poke around on the guitar a
lot, but kids and career have distracted me.
THEE: Subject: Music from the Library of Congress
Thanks for your interest in the guitar music. When I posted the
message to the guitar group, it never occurred to me anybody
would be interested in buying what I was describing. I haven't
had any luck in the past trying to stir up interest. In fact, a
few people from the group did ask about it, and here's my idea.
I don't have a catalog listing the individual pieces, and even if
I did, I would have to charge more than what people would be
willing to pay for custom orders - probably something like $.50
per page.
However, if an adventurous soul wanted to buy the whole batch -
about 1500 pages - I think $.20 per page would leave me enough
for my effort.
Does that sound like a good deal? On the one hand, that is
extremely cheap for a page of music nowadays; on the other hand,
$300 might sound like a lot of loot for a stack of photocopies 8
inches high. On the other hand, the copies are exquisite and
much more functional than conventionally published music; you can
organize it however you want, and you can easily make copies for
others to have. Also, $300 represents about a $3000 savings over
doing it yourself. (More if you have to fly in from Brazil for a
few weeks!) On the other hand, there aren't many pieces here
John Williams would record... (You can see I'm not a salesman!)
How does that deal strike you?
You also may be interested to know that only a small fraction of
the pages are covers. Many pieces had uninteresting covers that
I didn't copy (generally just a list of other pieces in the
series), and some pieces had identical covers, in which case I
would only copy it once.
ME: Subject: LC music
Thanks for the kind words. I'll admit I did put some effort into
making the post entertaining to read, but I didn't think of it as
"research". That, plus the fact that I don't consider myself a
writer is why it wouldn't occur to me to submit it to a "real"
guitar journal. The Washington Guitar Society newsletter
maybe...
Wayne Shirley has always done good by me, from when I first moved
to Lanham 18 years ago. On the other hand, there is a librarian
named Hself who tries to make everything as difficult as
possible.
More to the point, the library is not overly protective of music
from the latter half of the 1800s on. Generally, they have been
very gracious (except for Hself) about granting permission to
copy even the "case" (rare) items. I once sheepishly asked if I
could copy a few representative pages from a lute book by Milano
from 1538, and they said, sure, go ahead! (So I carefully copied
the whole thing.)
ME: Subject: NaCl
Had an excellent snow day. Went sledding down at the park. Met
some good kids there. They had those plastic sled-tubs. Of
course, they've never ridden, or maybe even seen, a good, old-
fashioned sled with runners like my Flexible Flyer III. The
first one who took a ride didn't know the bar in front was for
steering and couldn't hear me yelling to steer it with the bar.
He ended up against the fence. Then they got the hang of it.
After that we rolled the largest PG County snowball, for this
snowfall, at least. It got close to 5 feet high, and 6 people
couldn't budge it any further. I thought it would make a good to
great picture so I called the Gazette. The Lanham editor was
interested (or maybe just polite) but Wednesday was production
day for the Thursday edition, and it didn't work out.
Another good day at school on Thursday. Zakiya was being
rambunctious and Shacura was being obstinate, but we got some
work done. Shacura's contribution to modern literature was, "If
the dinosaurs came back, I would fede [sic] them dinosaur
cookies." Most other kids were content to ride them to school. I
gave Adeleye some pointers on wielding a pair of scissors to
leave her classmates in the dust.
I also assembled to rolling computer carts for the librarian,
oops, media specialist. I've never seen a set of instructions so
disentangled from reality. I also made off with another batch of
library books.
Some kid's books are junk (I've gone through a few science
stinkers) but a lot of them have just the right amount of
information presented very clearly and logically. I read a book
about Jesse Owens and a book about Jackie Robinson. Neither one
mentioned the other, but there was an eyebrow raising tie-in for
anyone cross-correlating the two. Jesse Owens won one of his
1936 Olympic gold medals in the 200 meter. The other book
recounted that Jackie Robinson's older brother, who was an
inspiration and kind of a father figure to Jackie, won a silver
medal in the 1936 Olympics - in the 200 meter. Maybe the rest of
the world already knows this...
Why does the world worry so much about the salt in Campbell's
soup - if something is too salty you will know it and not eat it
because it tastes bad. I have a very low tolerance for salt in
my food, and Campbell's doesn't offend my taste buds. From a
scientific point of view, we see that a can of Campbell's soup
has about 900 mg of sodium. That's .9 grams. Does the world
know how small a gram is? Hint: a nickel weighs 5 grams. Salt
is half sodium, so a can of soup has about a third of a nickel's
worth of salt (by weight, not cost). And the can of soup is
diluted to almost twice its original volume with water. Is
somebody getting a bum rap here, or am I missing something?
While at ebay, did you catch the unarchy connection?
Some interesting stuff in one of those rock histories about UK
charts and the accomplishments of Jeff Barry.
THEE: Subject: NaCl--all good!
I don't have a copy of the message I sent you concerning salt in
Campbell's Soup, but I don't recall saying anything negative
about there being a lot of salt in those cans! Salt is good!
Ever see the first "Star Trek," which involves a monster that
drains the salt out of people? The after effects to the victim
were rather severe.
Went to Joe's Record Paradise yesterday and bought a lot. I got
the Rycko CD of "Approximately Infinite Universe." Maybe I
should have looked at "Onobox" first, since it looks like most of
the album made it onto the box. There are two bonus cuts. I
also got an easy-listening (I think) LP of Beach Boys covers by
the Surfsiders; X's LP, "More Fun in the New World" (1983), which
features one of my favorite songs from the '80s, "I Must not
Think Bad Thoughts"; another presumably eezee LP by the Assembled
Multitude, which features covers of "Singalong Junk," "WMGGW,"
and "IWY(SsH)." Do you have that one? Also, they had Mouth and
McNeil's LP for $1.99. Do I need it or is that price $1.86 1/2
too much?
Sorry things are getting hairy with the guitar society.
Obviously, we know that any group of enthusiasts will feature
some people with strong but dumb opinions that they're not
ashamed to share. I recall your on-line chat group experiences
whenever I post something to the Arthur Conan Doyle Society but I
still occasionally get blown out of the water.
ME: Subject: Why? Why Not?
Wednesday night here sounds fine. I'll have to kick you out by
2 am or so because the next day is school day.
Here's your salt quote. It alludes to the world's salt-bashing,
not your own.
>Perhaps Campbell's soup tastes so good because it has a lot of
salt? Listen to me, here, I'm sounding like a tree-hugger!
Nope, don't have the Assembled Multitude album. IWY(SSH)? Cool!
Mouth and McNeill was priced $1.99 too high for you; about $1.70
for me (if I already didn't have it.)
Yoko cds for bonus tracks? I think me and Hself need to talk to
you. (Can I borrow it?)
You've gotten flamed on the Doyle list? Man it's a crazy world.
By the way, would they be interested in the bizarre little Doyle/
guitar tie-in (which I forget right now, but might stumble on
again)?
Played with some 200 year old opera scores at LC a few days ago -
Mozart's Magic Flute and Lachnith's reworking of it, Mysteres de
Isis. I was hoping to blow the lid off of an ongoing guitar
issue, but didn't find what I was hoping to see. It was fun
anyway.
THEE: Subject: I'm a cruel chick, baby
I'd be very interested in a Doyle/guitar connection. As with any
e-mail list, there's a lot of fanatics out there so I may not be
able to stump them, but I won't stop trying. Here's an example
of the kind of completism at work here: You might have noticed
that I plugged the next "Mystery Science Theatre 3000" in this
morning's "Today in Rock" message. The movie is "The Deadly
Bees." I was alerted to it because a Doyle scholar announced it
to the group because the novel (or maybe just the original
screenplay) had a character named Mr. Moriarty in it. Moriarty,
of course, was the arch-villain in the Sherlock Holmes stories.
The scholar did at least note that the Mr. Moriarty character
didn't make it into the finished film.
I went back to Joe's Record Paradise yesterday. I saw (but did
not spend $1.99 on) a 1976 LP on a small label by Stan Bronstein
and Elephant's Memory.
The two bonus tracks by Yoko aren't much but I do like
"Approximately Infinite Universe."
Last night's "Simpsons" was awesome. Homer decided to embrace
hippie ideals. The program featured a lot of period music like
"Incense and Peppermints," "Time of the Season," and "White
Rabbit." I was surprised at the total absence of references to a
certain fabulous foursome. Then, at the very end of the closing
credits (played psychedelic style by Yo La Tengo) came Homer's
muffled, "I buried Ned Flanders." Genius! I tell you all this
because unfortunately I didn't tape it. I'll catch it on repeats
someday perhaps.
ME: Subject: Magic Flute transcription
I don't suppose you're so attached to the Zauberflo"te
transcription idea that you don't want it spread it around? If
so, that's fine with me; but if not, I might send it out to the
guitar discussion group. I'd sort of like somebody to do it - so
I could play through it!
THEE: Re: Magic Flute transcription
Thanks for the consideration, Donald. By all means, do what you
can to get it done. I am so mood-driven in this work, I can't say
when the spirit will move me. I still haven't finished Hself,
started Gottschalk, or written any more originals.
THEE: Subject: new web site
Thanks for your concern about Hself's web page. I'll be helping
her to put it up. A problem developed with the computer I gave
her and we can't get the files she typed off of it. Believe me,
her life story has some episodes more unbelievable than fiction.
I couldn't have survived some of the things people have done to
her.
ME: Subject: it's for you
Thanks for the tape and the Brenda Lee. I look forward to
digging in.
I remember not completing a thought. The green pie was for a
reason.
Still can't think of where Mouth and McNeill might be.
Hself and I went out to a concert at the U of M last night. We
didn't last long; just the first 2 pieces. It was
uncompromisingly experimental and I'm getting too old for that.
Hself was very reluctant to go to the concert in the first place,
but was willing to tough it out. I figured life is too short and
said let's roll it.
Does the Doyle list know about that copy of Sherlock Holmes left
in the Antartica hut from the 1905(?) expedition. It was shown
in a National Geographic article.
THEE: Subject: It's for me?
Why was that pie green? What was it again? I told Hself that it
was pecan pie and she said, "Pecans aren't green, but pistachios
are." Whatever it was, it was good. Was it an acknowledgement of
St. Patrick's Day?
I had a swell visit, too. Thanks for all the food and
hospitality, plus Melvin Van Peebles.
You said you and Hself went out to a concert last night. Really?
After I left? Are you a night owl? I look forward to finding
out how late you were rockin'.
I checked my record-buying log. I paid $2.98 (plus no tax, since
we were in Delaware) for the Abbott and Costello CD. I paid 50
cents for the Limbo LP. Now I'm listening to "Bottoms Up" by the
Ritchie Brothers (bought with "Limbo"). It's more blue comedy
from the early '60s, recorded at yet another Miami hotel
ballroom. The brothers are lively enough but I find the whole
thing off-putting. Perhaps I'm getting prudish in my old age or
perhaps they're just not funny..
THEE: Subject: early catalogs
I recently read that in a 1900 Sears catalog, there was an ad for
their "new patented product, heroin". Any truth to that, and if
so..please explain. I used to work for Sears in Merchandise
Control, for years, so I am a Sears fan. Curious....please
reply.
THEE: Subject: Rummikub
Help! We were given a (secondhand) game of Rummikub. Alas, no
instructions were included. can you help us out? Thanks.
ME: Subject: rocky?
I know I've been incommunicado lately. There are reasons. Not
necessarily sensible ones. I don't answer my phone, either.
(You may have noticed that when you were here.) The messages
might sit there for days before I grit my teeth and hit playback.
My last message was composed the night of your visit, so "last
night" meant the night before that. No, I don't often head out
for recreation at midnight.
Hself was right, it was pistacchio pie. You were right, it was
concocted (not baked) for a St. Patrick's celebration at my
sister's house. That was snowed out on Sunday, but I managed to
come into possession of part of mom's pistacchio pie.
The Brenda Lee album was very enjoyable on the first listen.
Lucky I'm not a lyrics person - a bit too many bars and guiltless
but sordid affairs on that record. The Leiber-Stoller song is
cool!
What is the current disposition of your parrot record? My sister
is covetous.
Mom made a slip of the tongue last Sunday that was good enough to
craft a little joke around: What would someone who subscribes to
Yoko's "Born In A Prison" philosophy call coming back to life
again? A. reincarceration.
Have you ever been in possession of The Singing Nun's record? It
is quite a deluxe production, including some of her artwork. Of
course, thinking about her makes me sad.
Saw the strangest thing in D.C. the other day - there was a
raccoon walking around the grounds of the Jefferson building. I
alerted the guards. My understanding is that raccoons can be
*very* nasty creatures.
THEE: Subject: Rocky!
You say you saw a raccoon in broad daylight downtown? I'm
surprised that the copper you told this to didn't draw his weapon
immediately! The few nocturnal animals I've seen in the middle
of the day always looked like they went through some sort of
personality crisis before emerging. They stumbled, ran back and
forth. It's scary.
Do you need a copy of John Green's book "Dakota Days"? I've
unearthed some boxes of books to go in a new bookcase and that
one doesn't make the cut.
Tell me about the Liverbirds on the Star Club label. A friend
here at work lent me "More of..." on CD. At least i thought he
was my friend until I began listening.
ME: Subject: if a fish weighs...
About the fish problem, it's a simple algebra problem.
Call the weight of the fish W.
Then, W = 10 + W/2
Solving for W,
W/2 = 10
W = 20
ME: I asked my buddy Alex about scanning pictures and what he
thinks is you scan them at a high, or the highest, resolution,
and then compress them when you save them in the final format,
such as jpeg. Those big files your scanner produced were what
your scanner software works with, not the end product. The
picture on Alex's home page is only 18000 bytes, and looks good.
If you're interested in experimenting with your system, scan in a
photo, save it (or whatever the terminology is) in various
compressions, and then see what they look like in your browser.
That's what the world will see.
To bring up the photo in your browser, you set the url for
file://c:[directory and filename]
I hope you know how to find directories and filenames from
Windows (I sure wouldn't). Notice how "file:" takes the place of
"http:" in web addresses.
Take notice when you save the image if it gives you the option of
GIF files at that stage.
ME: Subject: green, green and more Green
My Star Club Show album has one Liverbirds cut, "It's Got To Be
You". That one's fine with me, although I would shorten it a
minute down to 2 minutes. Is your "More of..." cd all
Liverbirds?
Don't throw out the John Green book. I'll try and do something
with it, or you could make oodles with it on eBay.
Went up to Baltimore today for another of my sister's parties.
This was the rescheduled St. Patrick Day's party. (The first was
snowed out.) Green food, green clothes, green contests, etc. We
had to guess green commodities that were wrapped up in green
plastic, so you only had feel to go on. Items included a bottle
of Scope, toy John Deere tractor, brussel sprout, wintergreen
lifesavers, jar of olives, bar of irish spring soap, plantain,
etc.
On the car radio on the way up a dj mentioned the score of the
Oriole/Cuba baseball game. I didn't know that it was being
played today. I found it on the am dial, and watched most of it
to the end up in Baltimore. It was a good game. I'm glad it was
close. I was rooting for the Cubas - the underdog effect, I
guess. I was hoping it would end on a close play at the plate,
one way or the other. So bizarre, seeing Castro sitting there in
the stands watching the Orioles.
Diane fired up a Sing Along With Mitch record she bought at the
thrift store. Hself, I have to report that the amount of
enjoyment derived from all of our records put together is naught
compared to what we got out of that single Mitch record. And
then they went through the other one she bought. Both records had
all of the sing-along sheets still attached.
Forgot to report another fun day at school on Thursday. Got a
brief chance to look over all of the science projects set up in
the cafeteria. Showed the kids I was helping my Jupiterscope.
Also turned some of their names into snazzy-looking rainbows.
Zakiya got reprimanded for running down the hall when she saw me
in the morning.
Took another batch of books from the library. Read a bio of Hank
Aaron written in 1969. I was curious about what they thought of
his chances of catching Babe Ruth at that point. It wasn't
considered a possibility. At that point he was 34 and had 461
home runs. The writer hazarded that if he stayed healthy another
6 years (a big if), and maintained his pace of 100 home runs
every 3 years (a big if), he would pass everybody except Ruth.
THEE: Subject: Pretty Green
Important questions!
How many pages did you say you could bind? My latest masterpiece
runs between 240 and 250. I can easily lop off the last story if
you say so.
Do you have an Elektra LP, "Judy Collins #3"? It's got at least
three songs you might want to hear (or feel you have to hear).
THEE: Subject: MONGALOID BALL!!!!
Baseball is the inventor of softball, if baseball had never been
invented softball would not exist ! That is why baseball is
emulated.
I dont disagre with how you suggest playing when youare playing
with family and friends playing under any rules is better than
not getting to play at all. but thats playing ...PLAYING....not
compeating and its your drunk uncle and some cousins in the feild
next door to your house, change the rules there all you want ,
Amature organized softball is a sport [ not much of one compared
to baseball ] it is allready organized with set rules and the
game is already easy enough we dont need sillyness like your
suggested ....stop when the pitcher gets the ball ? are you
smokeing crack test that arm lets see what hes got
THATS COMPATION
A while back in a game I sent one screaming down the third base
line the ball took a nasty hop and hit the third baseman in the
forehead he fell down [like a girl ] the ball rolled to the
grass as his teammates ran to his side yelling timeout no one
picked up the ball play was not dead four base error I kept
running and would have steped on him if he was in the base path
THATS COMPATION
THATS SOFTBALL
THATS BASEBALL If you cant handle it dont play spectate from the
bleachers
As far as the rules go there to far away from baseball as it is
they dont need screwed up any more
I suggest you get your drunk uncle and your cousins neibhors
friends, whoever dosent tihink your crazy then you can
invent your own game with all the sissyboy rules you want and
may I suggest a name for your game
MONGALOID BALL!!!!
I have a feeling you will excell at this game!
Please leave softball to the serious those who want to compete
test limits push themselves and others to new heights!
p.s. Watch out for your drunk uncle when hes got a bat it
could get dangerous!
bu bye
H8inc...
THEE: Subject: Albert C. Sauter
Dear Mr. Sauter
I work at the office of sites and monuments of a part of
Switzerland. I'm searching for the sons an daugthers of Albert C.
Sauter, who had a Company for paper specialities in Philadelphia.
Sauter was coming from Germany and had a brother (Franz Xaver)
who restored the wall-paintigs of the church st.Johann in
M=FCstair of the late 8th century.
In his late years Sauter probably sent material of documentaition
to his brother Albert.
Can you help me?
THEE: Subject: Beatle Books
Please send me
39. AND THEN WE MOVED TO ROSSENARRA. Richard Condon. HB. 2 lb.
I'll pay up promptly - Thanks!
ME: Subject: testing, testing
Made it up to Baltimore for Easter. My cherry cheesecake was
roundly appreciated, although I don't think anybody would have
starved without it.
Hself played another thrift shop record she bought recently -
Paul Puckett and the New Sky Riders (or something.) It was top-
notch old style country (like late '60s). What was neat is that
it was autographed by Paul to some apparently close friends. We
tried to find Paul on the 'net, without success. One contingent
thought it would have hurt his feelings to tell him those friends
tossed his album. We also couldn't find the record company on
the web. I forget the name of it.
Caught some Simpsons while watching the dogs. I saw the one
where Lisa has a Yellow Submarine hallucination. I know you
busted a gut watching that one where the dentist pulls out the
"Big Book of British Smiles". On another episode I caught the
"Ravi Shanker/Shankar" snippet. Enjoyed the one where Bart
nested 20 bullhorns and busted every pane of glass in
Springfield. (I'm chuckling right now, even.) I liked the beer
can explosion in the April Fool's episode, too. Caught the last
half of a goodie with Homer on a jury. Had to pull the plug on
the "Shining" parody.
I took even more books from the school library on Thursday.
Current big idea is to write short book reports and stick 'em on
the web.
Quiz: how does the subject tie-in with the body of this email?
THEE: Subject: I dunno
It's been a hectic several days. Firstly, I had some sort of
annoying stomach bug yesterday, which kept me home from work all
day (Monday). At least I got to treat myself to a bonus LP of
the day (sides 3 and 4 of a 1982 live album by Arlo Guthrie and
Pete Seeger, "Precious Friend") but it was weird.
I'm still feeling queazy and things sort of look out of focus
from my illness yesterday, so I don't know why your e-mail was
headlined "testing, testing."
THEE: Subject: Harry's Dream: The Scuffle.
> Generally, that's not a problem. It happens all the time in
works of fiction. But in this case, the author (dreamer) and the
main character in the story (dream) are one-in-the-same person.
The paradox here is that a person must both know something and
not know it at the same time.
> Looking at it from a different angle, how can a character in your
own dream provide the explanation of what's going on? (In this
case he did it with his behavior, not words.) It's your dream,
darn it."
I can neither explain or give you any insight that may be of much
use.
I will say this, many years ago during a period of extreme work I
also had paradoxical dreams. They are as fresh in my mind now
as when it happened. I dreamed on one occasion I met Barrios and
he gave me advice. What's more I took the advice in real life
and it worked for me.
I indulge in some intense speculation here but I have thought,
maybe our native (child's) mind knows things that our adult
learning masks. Maybe we are telling ourselves the truth in some
way.
Often I have thought about that child's story "The Emperor's New
Clothes" and how it relates to CG.
When I first studied in D.C. it really came home to me, a country
boy at heart.
Maybe you were just having a little seeing through, in your
dreams.
Maybe you are making a break through in some area of your life.
I think these things are always positive.
For what it's worth, keep dreaming.
THEE: Re: Power problem in old Dodge Aries (was: Pat Goss failed
me)
I frequently tell my customers, after pricing them a head job...
"it will be $XXXX.XX to repalce the head, blah blahblah... and
then we'll see what was really wrong with it"
Head gaskets on most engines don't just blow. A blown head
gasket is almost always a symptom of another problem. sticky
thermostat, clogged radiator, inoperative radiator fan, etc...
If it happened while in traffic, I'd have to say that the coolant
fan isnt working correctly. if a radiator is stopped up, it will
run hot while driving at highway speeds, too... not just stopped
in traffic.
And yes, an overheated engine is an engine with a shorter life,
for many reasons.
ME: Subject: OO
"Testing, testing" was what Bart spake into his 20 nested
bullhorns, the shock wave of which utterance came close to
leveling Springfield.
Are we more than a little surprised that Imagine is the No. 6 all
time greatest pop song? Not only because I presume that it's
been making everybody cringe for the last couple of decades, but
where's "Ding Dong The Witch is Dead"?
Marmalade's Beatle connection is that they had a No. 1 hit with
Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da. It was released Dec 4 1968. I can play you a
copy.
Played with my mandolin buddy today. Otherwise, not much to
report since yesterday. A week or so ago I switched over to no
long distance carrier.
THEE: Re: thanks
OK, good luck. I hate to see a good car go down the tubes
because nobody can find a trivial problem. My mother has an old
Aries (or Reliant, I forget) that's getting a little tired, but
still crusing. --
THEE: Subject: Testing
I don't think I ever saw that "Simpsons" where Bart says,
"Testing, testing." Could this be?
I thought I was the only one who thought "Imagine" was the worst
song John Lennon ever recorded. Have we talked about this?
Thanks for reminding me about the Marmalade. Yes, sign me up for
a listen next time we get together.
THEE: Subject: 8-stg guitar
I recently purchased an 8-stg guitar mostly with Dowland in mind
but I am now looking for anything else that might be arranged or
transcribed for 8-stgs. Do you know any other 8-stg players that
might share ideas? I really enjoy your WEB page.
THEE: Subject: scores: bosa nova, 16-17 chanson
Nice web page!
I'm looking for concert worthy renditions of bosa nova standards
for (classical) guitar and soprano. No hum and strum stuff, but
something I could put on a concert program. Also, do you have
any editions of 16-17th century French chanson for lute and
soprano?
THEE: I was reading your page regarding the Beatles playing of
the Scottish tv program 'roundup' in 1963. To My shock, you
say that the actress Morag Hood was on that program. I adore
Morag Hood and wonder if you know whether you had a copy of
this tv program (I also love the Beatles). Please drop me a
line.
ME: Subject: domoneek - a - neek - a - neek
The "Testing, testing" episode was where Bart (as punishment) and
Lisa (by choice) ended up at a military school. Sound familiar
now?
About the Hefner/Beatles/book/early 1970s connection - is that
the collection of Yob interviews, with Ringo on the cover? I
would have guessed that came out earlier. You have a better
answer up your sleeve?
"No countries"? (cringe) "NO POSSESSIONS"??? (triple cringe) And
even atheists don't go around making a big thing of "no heaven"
and "no religion". John had to fix this up retroactively, saying
he meant "no religion*s*". Remember, he was in his no-imagery
song-writing mode, so we shouldn't have to guess at what he was
saying. (And he was bugged that no one "got" Working Class
Hero.) Too bad he didn't leave it as an instrumental.
Do you know Morag Hood? A big fan of hers emailed me in response
to her mention on my "Beatles on Scottish tv" page.
Started and finished my taxes today.
Look forward to a joyful day at LC tomorrow. Will copy a whole
box of Justin Holland arrangements that I discovered last time.
Saw a Madalyn Murray-O'Hare article in the Times (Apr 9) at the
library today, but not in the Post. Maybe that's why you haven't
heard about it. I saw it on tv news last week, though.
Thanks for stopping by last night. We forgot to *look* at my
Singing Nun album, which is a very worthwhile activity.
THEE: Subject: Silence is golden
I honestly don't think I've seen that "Simpsons" you enjoyed.
Shocking, eh?
Never heard of Morag Hood. I knew someone when I lived in
England named Morag Ogg, which I thought was one of the great
names of all time.
Have fun at the L of C. How hard would it be for you when you're
down there next to check and see what the library's holding of
the spiritualist magazine "Light" are? Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
was a big contributor from 1916 to 1930.
THEE: Subject: Fingerings
I have had a chance to read your letter and
look briefly through the packet that you sent. I believe that
there is some way to include your ideas about fingering as part
of a future article without making it seem like a contest. The
next article is not due for three months so there is time to
ponder the problem.
Also, thank you so much for sending the LOC Chopin pieces. I
would not dream of trying to sight read that odd tuning - too
much for my brain. However, I am able to see what kinds of
harmonic and textural simplifications were made and this is
useful to me in my own work. It is still remarkable to me that
there has been so little Chopin done for guitar.
ME: Subject: (no inspiration tonight)
Your mention of an "interest in starting an online encyclopedia
of obscure Beatle information" takes me completely by surprise.
I agree, Morag Ogg has got to be the greatest name ever - and I
don't know how to pronounce either one.
What do we think of John Lennon being selected as the number 1
all-time singer?
I got about 160 new pages of Justin Holland guitar arrangements
on Wednesday. 15 pieces were arrangements from varous operas.
I'm thrilled to pieces.
Will surely check the Periodical room card catalog for "Light".
(There will probably be 50 of them.)
ME: Subject: Beatles/Morag Hood
Thanks for your interest in the Scottish tv page. I'm afraid
that I can't supply anything else of interest to you. If by
"copy of this tv program" you mean a video copy, I'm sure none
exists - at least the studio didn't make video tapes (because it
didn't have a recorder.) When I took another look at my web
page, I see that Morag Hood was a regular host of the show - not
a guest on that particular one.
ME: Subject: 8-string players
About the 8-string guitar, the main proponent that comes to my
mind is David Harris. He wrote an article for the Soundboard a
few years ago about 8- and extra-string guitars. I don't know if
he is on the net.
By the way, your name is very familiar to me. I believe we
crossed paths at 1 or 2 of Parkening's Master Classes at Messiah
College in the early 1980s.
THEE: Subject: So there's that one for further consideration
I just dug out an Arbutus Fire Hall schedule. Yup, there's a
convention on tomorrow. I'm up for it!
Thanks in advance for checking on "Light." Any chance we could
ask the L of C folks if we could just move in for a week or so,
so I can go about my Doylean researches properly?
Did I mention this before? My new favorite musician is Louis
Jordan, a big band leader of the '40s. Please name one song he
performed that the Fabsters covered. I know of two. (Hint:
They were not "formal" covers by any means, although I believe
Macca did a formal cover of one of them in the last 10-15 years
or so.)
Hself and I saw "Animal Crackers" at Arena Stage last night.
That's a revival of the 1928 Marx Brothers Broadway show. The
concept of a bunch of other guys impersonating the Marx Brothers
is a little strange (after all, "the Marx Brothers are
unique...and so are the Rutles!") but the imitators did a fine
job. Also, the play is considerably different than the Brothers'
1930 movie, so it was fun seeing "fresh" Marxian material.
As for the database of really obscure beatle tie-ins, I thought
of it when I came across some piece of trivia the other week,
which, alas, I've already forgotten. This would be the place for
information on when Salisbury Plain became an Army training area
or when Madam Tussaud died. Weird, huh? Of course, only you and
Hself got the Beatles/Tussaud connection, I'm sure.
Oh yes, Hef's publishing empire published what's-his-name's book,
"The Longest Cocktail Party." That's the answer I was looking
for.
THEE: Subject: Paganini fun
N Paganini's Sonata in E minor Op 3 No 6 and Sonata in A major Op
3 No 1 transcribed by Barrueco went by so fast on the CD that I
dont know if all the notes were there. Maybe you can tell
sometime. You read better than I do.
ME: Subject: french chanson
I got your message a week ago and at that time really didn't have
any good info for you. Today I was talking with an early music
specialist and off the top of his head he mentioned two
publications.
The first, from 1536, was by (or called?) Sermisy. He
transcribed some French songs originally for vocal trio to voice
and lute.
The second, from the mid 1600s, is called Air de Cour (spelling?
"Songs from the court" in French). I think there are a variety
of composers included. French lute songs apparently picked up as
the English lute songs were dying out.
I hope this is enough info to track down the modern editions.
ME: Subject: request form
I received a mailing from Project Vote Smart today asking me to
fill out a form with information about my candidacy for the
presidency. I would be happy to do this, but as far as I could
tell, there was no form enclosed - just the cover letter. Could
you send or email the form? I like what your organization is
doing.
ME: Subject: Thanks!
Hope you enjoy the book. There's a sort of dry humor to his
style - reminds me a little of Derek Taylor.
ME: Subject: miserere
I looked into Light for you today. They couldn't say from the
computer the exact range of years they have, but I think you're
in luck. The card catalog card mentions the early years, so why
wouldn't they have them?
Longest Cocktail Party - of course. How come things can be right
there in my brain but I can't pull them up?
As far as I know, Louis Jordan is nowhere to be found in my
brain.
See you today. Il Trovatore or bust! (Probably bust.)
ME: Subject: Welcome to the 'net (moneybags).
I read you LOUDANDCLEAR. Congratulations on getting your email
off. No problem with the broken lines - I've seen worse, and I
don't even think about it.
Those Paganini sonatas - those are from the set which originally
had a simple violin part, but usually gets incorporated in the
guitar part nowadays?
By the way, your musical ear is a million times better than mine.
I need you to figure out a simple 1- or 2-chord cadence I hear in
a Magic Flute aria.
By the way, I'm finding so many references to old editions of Das
Klinget So Herrlich/O Cara Armonia/O Dolce Concento that I hardly
know how to attack the problem.
THEE: Subject: Let there be Light!
Thanks a lot for looking into "Light" for me. When can we visit
the L of C together?
My "The Best of Louis Jordan" CD has two songs of interest. One
of the songs is part of the title of my current tape for you:
"Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits Vol. 4 (The What's the Use of getting
Sober (When You're Gonna Get Drunk Again) Years)." I've always
been interested in the title "What's the Use of Getting Sober..."
since reading about it in Castleman and Podrazik. Johnny Leopard
sings the title (official time--seven seconds) on side 10 (I
think) of "Get Back Journals." Jordan's other song of interest is
"Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying." Look for these gems in a
few years on another tape.
On the back cover of Dylan's "Desire," who's the guy with most of
his face obscured on the upper left side of the back cover?
THEE: RE: 8-string players
I have a 10 year old daughter who has had lessons every day from
me since she was 5 (poor girl) and she really plays. Parkening
spent 5 days with our family 2 years ago when he was playing in
Chapel Hill and we also put the L.A. quartet up when they were
playing in Raleigh. It was, of course a big thrill, for all of
us.
As for David Harris, unfortunately he died about 6 months ago. I
did correspond with him before that and procured some of his
arrangements.
I just acquired 2 new instruments this past year. One was an 8-
string by Eric Sahlin and the other a 6-string by Robert Ruck
that I waited 5 years for.
THEE: I enjoyed your webpage and brain teasers. I had Mr. Lieske
as my seventh grade SCIENCE teacher; never had him for a math
class unfortunately. I suspect that I came along after you did
at Johnnycake; he did not try to teach calculus to the Math Club,
but he did introduce us to probability theory and trigonometry.
By the way, his full name is George Spencer Lieske, though he
usually went by G. Spencer in my time at the school. His last
year there was during my ninth grade year; he moved on to an
administrative position at the Baltimore County Board of
Education--a true loss to the teaching profession. What you said
on your web page about reaching for the general solution over the
specific solution (with regard to the quarters) is very Lieske-
esque. I remember him allowing me to fumble around with the
Tower of Hanoi disks for awhile, then suggesting that I start
with only one disk and to build up to the six disks that came
with the set. It was a true introduction to mathematical
induction. Thanks again.
THEE: Subject: Fun times
I did a lot of yappin' in the car but I forgot to ask you a
question: I get a catalog from a good independent book seller
who sells a lot of remaindered books. He has that authorized
Macca bio ("Many Years From Now"?) for $5.95 (this is the
original hardcover marked way down). Are you interested? I'm
going to order something else from the catalog, so postage would
probably be another buck or two at most.
Contact Donald Sauter: send an email; view guestbook; sign guestbook.
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Abbreviations: Hself = generic name, male or female (Himself, Herself). DMC = drive my car. NW = norwegian wood. ICYN = i call your name. IWY(SSH) = i want you (she's so heavy). CG = classical guitar.
Parents, if you're considering tutoring or supplemental education for your child, you may be interested in my observations on Kumon.