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English Folk Song Sweet |
Exposing the secrets of cellists…
Last week, in my post “Stressed Note” I described a
music theory question where the task was to compose a rhythm to given words.
It is a little known fact that the players in the cello
section of our orchestra do the reverse of this; inventing words and phrases to
fit a given rhythm.
For some reason, these words and phrases always seem to revolve
around food and beverages. Pineapple Cake for example is three short notes
followed by a longer note.
When you see the cello section elegantly and faultlessly
executing 30 bars of relentless rhythm; are they emotionally connecting to the
composer and describing, through music, the complexities of human existence? The
bitter-sweet experience of strolling through the English countryside on the eve
of war? The exhilaration, passion and pain of unrequited love? The wild-eyed
madness of pirates landing ashore after months on the salty high seas?
No.
It is much more likely that they are thinking “PINEapple
cake a PINEapple cake. PINEapple cake a PINEapple cake. PINEapple cake a PINEapple
cake.” Possibly interspersed a few bars of “GIN and Tonic. GIN and Tonic.”
This prosaic practice is often frowned upon, especially
by us lot in the violin section, which is completely unfair as we at least, more
often than not, have the melody to keep us on track. The cello section is the
heartbeat of the orchestra and as such must be reliable and steady – if culinary
devices help to achieve this then who are we to judge?
The orchestra rehearsal on Saturday however revealed that
this practice is not without its pitfalls…
At an important and dramatic entrance for the cellos, the
rhythm fell into complete chaos and the music collapsed like a house of cards.
When Maestro asked what had gone wrong, one of the
cellists confessed: “Sorry! It was supposed to be ‘have a cup, have a cup of
tea’ and I did ‘blackberry ice cream’ by mistake.”
Maestro, who is seemingly unaware of the cello section’s
dark secret, looked a little baffled and said “Well let’s get this right FIRST
and THEN we can all have a tea break.”
Nothing is ever as it seems.
Love the blog - I play the piano and violin and I used to find myself putting words to rhythm as regards the piano but not the violin - thanks for sharing will know what's going on in the minds of some of the orchestra now - not sure what rhythm went with brandy and soda!! Patricia Elliot
ReplyDeleteThank you for commenting Patricia and I’m glad you like the blog. Hmm “Brandy and Soda”… Sounds like a tango rhythm to me.
DeleteLove it, just love it
ReplyDeleteLove it! Counting is so passe.
ReplyDeleteYou should send this to letter of the month in a music magazine. It's wonderful!
ReplyDeleteThank you for your lovely comments :)
ReplyDelete