Figures of a..... musician

first of all, I find your little story very funny and I too would have many similar ones to tell.

i was a bit disappointed by the tone, subtly between ironic and mocking, that you gave with the use of the word "southern".

i could give you an infinite number of characters similar to your "bride's uncle" who are "non-southerners".

i don't want to cause controversy, but anyway... it ends here, okay?!

ScalaQuaranta

Hi Pasquale....the story is cute and funny. I see you are from Prato....we are neighbors then...I understand that you direct a choir. I also sing in the S. Cecilia choir of Borgo San Lorenzo directed by Andrea. Do you know him?

He really wrote that he was speaking in Campanian dialect, so I assume he is Campanian and, consequently, also from the south

Well… Here is mine (from a non-professional musician and… without perfect pitch)

The organ in our church (a 40-year-old GEM Prelude, which unfortunately doesn't want to leave us) is always down by a semitone during the freezing season when it is turned on. Even if the tonal transpose slider is correctly in the “0” position.

Only after playing it for a while does it—suddenly—rise by a semitone to the correct frequencies. Perhaps you are already imagining "how lovely" the first two or three times when the key rises by a semitone during performance… while accompanying the singing!!!

Later I realized that it was enough to induce it immediately at the moment of switching it on: it was sufficient to move the slider a little. In this way, the device (‘instrument’ would be too big a compliment) immediately took the right tone and never abandoned it again.

I know, I read the whole text carefully.

but that doesn't change the fact that a certain aftertaste of a very distant and probably even involuntary denigration, or rather self-denigration,

that I perceived it. Nothing, well... leave me alone! ;-P I wrote that post during a burst of Southern patriotism....

Real directions from conductors to orchestras collected by fellow musicians (during rehearsals)

"Listen to the melody, and accompany it in a non-shameful manner."

"It is very difficult to make money with something that sounds this way."

"You know, there is a fine line that separates art from shit. Not that what you are doing is shit, but we are close."

"Imagine receiving enough money for what you do."

"Play short, especially if you don't know where you are."

"Horns, imagine you had a very bad breakfast and it is coming back up."

"You are trying to fish for the notes. I wish you luck in catching them."

"I know what you're thinking: <With all the problems there are, why am I playing?> Well, this is not the time for existential questions."

"This must be much more agitated. Think of someone you hate. Think of your mother-in-law."

"The point where you will get shot if you enter too early is the bar before number 26."

"Now forget all the unpleasant things I have said and play naturally."

"Play like you are musicians."

"Good morning gentlemen, today we start from the beginning"

"Strings, this is not a sforzando, it is a forte-piano, or rather.... a piano-forte"

During a rehearsal of one of my pieces, at a certain point the pianist starts rhythmically doing her own thing; I ask for clarification and she replies to me:

“I read it loco, so I performed the passage in a bit of a ‘stravagant’ way”

Famous phrases from the conductor of the wind orchestra where I play:

"we are making orchestral music, we are not Pink Floyd!"

"Now that you have vented yourselves... play with gusto!"

"it's a bell, not a flock of sheep!"

"compliments on the sweetness of the sound... you've made my hair stand on end!"

"but it's not like that...it's ta ta ta tatatàtta!"

"baritone sax, we are not on a cruise! you must be light!"

GILDA wrote:

Hi Pasquale....the story is cute and funny. I see you are from Prato....we are neighbors then...I understand that you direct a choir. I also sing in the S. Cecilia choir of Borgo San Lorenzo directed by Andrea. Do you know him?

I have played a few times on that terrible (because it's in bad shape) organ of the pieve and I also followed the restoration of the ancient organ of Faltona which will have to be relocated.

If I'm not mistaken, I know Andrea, perhaps I have even heard him on some forum.

If you happen to be around here, give me a whistle. I am an organist at the Basilica of Santa Maria delle Carceri in the center of Prato. You can also find me in the Duomo sometimes (if I'm not arguing with anyone...)

ScalaQuaranta wrote:

first of all, I find your little story very funny and I too would have many similar ones to tell.

i was a bit disappointed by the tone, veiling between ironic and mocking, that you gave with the use of the word "southern".

i could give you an infinite number of characters similar to your "bride's uncle" who are "non-southerners".

i don't want to start a controversy, but anyway... it ends here, okay?!

ScalaQuaranta

I think that my "South Tyrolean" name well betrays my origins, of which I am proudly proud.

Tell me what you want, but some characters are typical of the south, just as others are typically Tuscan (in my case, for example) and are inimitable.

And certainly a mocking tone, and I won't hide it. It would have been so if I had spoken about the typical Tuscan, and maybe I will do so with an ironic and mocking tone towards Tuscans, just as I will be ironic and mocking towards Romans.... etc....

The beauty of our beautiful Italy is also (and above all) this.

I agree with Pasquale, diversity has always been and will always be the richness of every culture

Year 1995 ... I was accompanying my composition teacher's choir at Christmas Midnight Mass ... I had to play on a pedal harmonium dating back to the 50s and in conditions that were nothing short of disastrous ... a real piece of junk ... stops that don't sound, bellows that leak air, etc. ... the result was that whoever was playing had to pump the pedals like a madman just to get a sound that perhaps reached the 5th row of pews ... every Sunday, all that pedaling was like doing step aerobics at the gym ...

anyway ... during the mass the choir starts and at a certain point the music increases in volume and the teacher asks me for sound ... I was already pedaling at my maximum and I couldn't do more otherwise I would have broken the pedals ... he was asking for volume and to do something, I started singing the tenor part (my voice) ... so pedaling with two feet, using my knees to expand the harmonium flaps (octave doubling and forte) and singing simultaneously ... I was exhausted ... seeing me out of breath, the teacher says to me:

"boy ... you were a bit flat ... have you started smoking?"

for everything else, there's Mastercard !!!!!

...how beautiful the harmoniums are...RStrauss ...

pasquale wrote:

I have played a few times on that junk (because it's in such bad shape) of an organ at the parish church, and I also followed the restoration of the ancient organ of Faltona which will have to be relocated.

If I am not mistaken, I know Andrea; perhaps I have even heard him on some forum.

If you happen to be around here, give me a whistle. I am an organist at the Basilica of Santa Maria delle Carceri in the center of Prato. You can also find me in the Duomo sometimes (if I'm not arguing with anyone...)

pasquale wrote:

I have played a few times on that junk (because it's in such bad shape) of an organ at the parish church, and I also followed the restoration of the ancient organ of Faltona which will have to be relocated.

If I am not mistaken, I know Andrea; perhaps I have even heard him on some forum.

If you happen to be around here, give me a whistle. I am an organist at the Basilica of Santa Maria delle Carceri in the center of Prato. You can also find me in the Duomo sometimes (if I'm not arguing with anyone...)

Hi Pasquale, yes, it is a real shame to let the organ of the Pieve go to ruin. Andrea initially wanted to restore it to hold concerts in the Church, but then with the project to reopen the lyric-symphonic season of the Giotto Theater in Borgo San Lorenzo (a true gem).... everything fell through. It's a pity that these organs are left to go to ruin. Next January 2nd, we might perform a replica of Verdi's La Traviata at the Giotto Theater. If you feel like it, you can come and hear us.... I agree with you on the fact that a person must feel free to joke even about differences. Whether it concerns the North, the Center, or the South, without creating taboos in the process. Jokes are jokes and they should remain as such, without looking for intentions that do not exist except in someone's complexes

Organista94 wrote:

...how beautiful the harmoniums are...RStrauss ...

and imagine that I am even a trained pianist ...