Various Thoughts About My Work
(and a few other things)
by Bruce
Duffie
First posted
in March, 2017, with additions from time
to time
On editing
my interviews...
As you may or may
not be aware, my full-time employment
from 1975-2001 was with WNIB, Classical
97 in Chicago. Except for four
hours overnight during the week, and four hours
on Saturday afternoons, the programming
was exclusively classical music in its great
variety. In addition to my regular duties
as announcer, I also gathered interviews with various
musicians for use both on the air and in selected
magazines and journals. In all (through about
2005), I did over 1600 exclusive interviews.
A few guests I met twice, and very rarely even more times.
While it was not the original intent
of the management to include atonal or cutting-edge
repertoire, I was able to add that material on my weekend
overnight shifts, and part of those programs were the
interviews with composers and performers of new music.
Preparing and
presenting these interviews on webpages
is very different from editing sections
for use on the radio. What sounds good
to the ear may not look good to the eye. Hence,
various changes need to be made in order for
the resulting impact to be virtually the same.
Let me state here
that it is my purpose and duty to render
the thoughts and ideas of my guests as completely
and accurately as possible. It
is also my feeling that I should make the guests
look good. I have a genuine interest
and overwhelming love of my subject, and always
tried to solicit ideas from my guests in response
to my own inquires and proddings. Occasionally,
I would ask a question which was purposely ambiguous
in order to allow the guest to have the freedom
to answer in whatever way he or she chose. This
would, however, come after at least a few questions which
would indicate to the guest that I, as the interviewer,
knew what I was talking about, and that I was interested
in knowing what they had to say.
As to the actual
editing, when doing it for the radio,
I would always try to select sections that
showed my guest to their best advantage.
I would also make sure to end the section on
a positive note.
Let me inject here
that when WNIB was going off the air
on its final day, I chose an opera that ended with
a positive sound in a major key
— Turandot
— and the final piece of music at 12 Midnight
— Lyric for Strings by
George Walker
—
was also a chosen because of its aural impression,
and the fact that it ended
quietly in a major key. My first thought
was to use Adagio
for Strings by Barber, but
that piece was so associated with the movie Platoon and other works
and dates, that I desired something more unique
and somewhat unknown with the same feeling.
To read more about the final broadcast, click
HERE.
When editing the
spoken words for visual (print) use, certain
mannerisms and repetitions become really
annoying, and when something is annoying,
it detracts from the overall impact. So the
phrases ‘you know’ and ‘I
think’, and the interjection ‘well’
were almost always dropped. I
also usually removed the phrases ‘kind
of’ and ‘sort of’ in most instances
since they diminished the thought and derailed
the impact. My guests were strong
and vibrant, and there was no reason to veil them in
any kind of namby-pamby cloak. In speech, sentences
would often begin with the word ‘and’,
so I would either drop the word, or simply connect the thoughts
into one sentence. Parenthetical material, which
is meant to amplify or clarify ideas, makes for tricky
reading, so I would often re-order the sentence to get the
thoughts together.
I hope you notice
that in all of the instances I never
changed any ideas of my guests, nor did I put
words into their mouths. Their thoughts
are what has come through... at least that has
always been my hope, and what I strive to accomplish.
On the rare occasion that my guest would not
answer my question directly — or at all!
— I would change my question in the print edition
so that my guests could answer in the way they
saw fit. If there were any digressions or
extraneous portions, those were usually omitted, and
any glaring errors were either fixed or explained.
Again, those instances were very rare.
I did change English-English
to American-English, but mostly
only in spelling. ‘Labour’
became ‘labor’,
‘theatre’
became ‘theater’,
‘programme’
became ‘program’,
‘organisation’
became ‘organization’,
and references to a group
became singular rather than plural.
‘The audience don’t care’
became ‘The audience
doesn’t care’. This adjustment, by
the way, is only in the text of the interviews.
The biographical boxes and reprints of obituaries
were almost always left intact.
People whose first
language is not English will often become
quite proficient with English vocabulary,
but will continue to use their original structure
patterns. Whereas in English we put
the modifiers first — a lovely blue
sky — others might speak about ‘a
sky blue lovely’.
Those quirks have often been fixed, though not
in every instance.
It always was my
intention to present these conversations
as something to learn from and enjoy.
The transcripts are not of the ‘legal
stenographic’ kind.
My guests were not on trial. I was a guest
at their concert venue or in their hotel, or
they were guests in my home or studio. I always
treated them with kindness and respect, and allowed
them to express themselves without fear of any kind of
accusation or derision.
It is special to
be able to do it at all, but I have managed
to do it quite well in both the audio medium
and the printed renditions. Not to
toot my own horn, but most people seem to think I am
pretty good at both. I have found it necessary
to look not only at the big, overall picture,
but also the smallest details. I’m
sure there is nothing new or extraordinary about
this, but keeping that in my mind as I edit goes a
long way to strengthening the impact of each interview.
I know
these interviews are generally
long, but they are what I have, and I
want to share what is there. In a radio
broadcast, people have to sit there until it
is over... or go away and miss whatever comes next.
On the printed page, readers can interrupt their
journey and (hopefully) come back at some point to
pick it up again without missing a beat.
Occasionally I
will update the pages with new photos
and links. So even though a date at
the bottom might indicate the page was uploaded
before others, that is why later interview
links can appear. I do not do this chore very
often, so there may be links which could be on a
page, but are not. However, as long as there is
the possibility of additions or corrections, things
might get improved!
On that thought,
it always pleases me to be able to include
links to other interviews within each new
one that is posted. In most cases, these
are names that are brought up by the guest, or appear
in the biographies or obituaries. Only
occasionally have I introduced them in the course
of asking questions, and in each case, the reference
was, I hope, relevant and logical.
I freely
admit to being a cheerleader for my
topic and my guests. This is not a bad
thing since I am not a news gatherer, but rather
a feature reporter. Because my interviews were
Features rather than News, some of the basic rules
and formats did not apply. For instance, the
old adage for news gathering is to ask these questions:
who, what, where, when, why, how, huh? That
last one (which I have added) is usually where
I got the best and most interesting responses.
[A brief related addition, posted on November
5, 2019] Regarding my webpages, several
times I have received requests to place advertisements.
In all cases I have declined, and despite
my tight financial situation, I hope to be able to
continue to say a resounding “NO!”
to any and all inquiries of that sort.
= = = = = = = = = = =
The following list
appears on a couple of the interview
pages, but since people continue to ask, here
is the answer . . .
I have
done interviews with several musicians
who were born in the Nineteenth Century.
My guest with the earliest birth-date (March
10, 1892) was soprano Dame Eva Turner.
However, composer/administrator
John Donald
Robb (June 12, 1892), though three
months younger than Turner, was nearly two
years older at the time of our conversation.
Hence, a clarification is needed when I am
asked who my oldest guest was! Next in
birth-order is composer Paul Amadeus Pisk
(May 16, 1893), followed by composer/pianist
Leo Ornstein (December
2, 1893), and
lexicographer Nicolas Slonimsky
(April 27, 1894).
Then come mezzo-soprano Sonia Sharnova
(May 2, 1896), composer/critic Virgil
Thomson (November 25, 1896), and composer Vittorio Rieti (January
28, 1898).
The order continues with composer/pianist
Ernst Bacon
(May 26, 1898), followed by composer Marcel Dick (August
28, 1898), conductor
Werner Janssen
(June 1, 1899), and composer
Alfred Eisenstein (November 14, 1899).
The remaining four are composers Elinor Remick Warren
(February 23, 1900), Otto Luening (June
15, 1900), and Ernst Krenek
(August 23, 1900), and finally publisher Hans Heinsheimer (September
25, 1900).
The rest of my
guests were born in the Twentieth Century.
Perhaps, if I have the opportunity, I might
interview someone born after January 1, 2001,
and thus have conversations with people born
in three different centuries and two different
millennia! Though there is no clerical
error involved, and it is not my intent to pad my
statistics, somehow the film Mr. 3000 comes to mind.....
= = = = = = = = = = =
Many of my guests
are mostly or completely unknown, and in
an odd way, that pleases me very much.
If someone who is little-known becomes more-known
through my efforts, then I have succeeded in
bringing forth something special to the composite knowledge
of mankind. A lofty statement, certainly,
but when one thinks about it, each of us is asked to push
our tiny segment forward, and my task seems to have
been to enrich the musical world through discovery of interesting
items. Yes, I have also presented some of the best-known
and most popular figures, but, as John von Rhein mentioned
in a Tribune article
about the station, he admired my collection of
‘oddball’ composers and performers.
Many times, after doing a program featuring
one of them, I would get a call or two asking why this
person was not better-known. The callers
would remark to the effect that the music or performing
artistry just presented could certainly stand up
against the output of the well-knowns.
Editing these
interviews from a quarter-century ago
or more, I often find interesting sidelights
and tidbits that either amplify ongoing ideas,
or give new insight into little-explored or un-spotlighted
areas of the subject. It is truly amazing
that these thoughts would be found in the most remote
places and come from such unlikely sources.
This is why I do what I do, and I hope that others
both enjoy and are enlightened by it all.
= = = = = = = = = = =
Despite the fact
that my early exposure to great music
was on radio (mostly WEFM, the station sponsored
by Zenith in Chicago), and that I built
up a huge collection of recordings on LP and open
reel tape, and that I made my living at another
station (WNIB, Classical 97, also in Chicago),
I maintain — and have
said openly many times — that
the real place to hear great music is live in a concert
hall or opera house. The collision of these two
worlds becomes the so-called ‘pirated’
performances. Usually operas,
these gained wide circulation amongst
the cognoscenti, and in my teens and twenties I
found a number of people who traded copies
of various things with me. However, once I became
a professional radio announcer, I was very careful
NOT to use any of this material on the air. First
of all, the sound quality was often poor, and even though
those of us who obtained these performances understood
this, the casual listener would not be expected to be
aware of the reason(s) for presenting something in poor
sound. Besides that, broadcast rights were very tricky,
and I did not want to involve the station in anything which
could have caused legal problems. It is a thorny issue,
and the musicians I have spoken with have not come to any kind
of consensus about it. Many of them collect copies
— not just of themselves but of others, both
past and current — even while decrying
their use and existence! I remember specifically one
top record executive remarking on the Texaco Opera Quiz
that he does, indeed, collect them, but would immediately
bring suit against anyone who tried to distribute copies
of one of the artists on his label!
These days, though
I am not involved in the day-to-day broadcasting
activities, I am posting interviews with
my guests and illustrating the webpages with
photos of the artists and their recordings.
I find things on the internet, but try not to use
any copyrighted material, and I eschew the
placement of images of pirated recordings on my sites.
The commercial recordings are fair game,
especially since I am giving them free publicity,
but usually not the broadcasts and in-house items
which seem to abound.
= = = = =
= = = = = =
A few random
thoughts.............
Whoever named
the Butterfly committed a spoonerism.
I think that every time I see one flutter
by, no matter what the articles on its etymology
say.....
Technically, I
was born in Elmhurst, Illinois, on March
11, 1951. My mother’s
doctor was at Elmhurst Hospital, so that is
where she went to deliver me. My father,
however, always insisted I was born in Evanston,
since that is where we lived at the time.
With the myriad suburbs surrounding most major
and minor cities, I wonder how often this kind
of thing happens... It is pleasing to
me that I am exactly — to the day
— 100 years younger than Rigoletto. Another
Verdi opera, Don Carlos also
had its premiere on March 11, but in a later year (1867).
I also share that date with composer Carl Ruggles
(1876) , and band leader Lawrence Welk
(1903). A quick Google search just now
also revealed many others, including Shemp Howard
(1895). [Related story... I met Michael Fine
when he was producing one of the recordings made
by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. I inquired
if he was related to Vivian Fine, whom I
had interviewed. He said no. I then asked if he was related
to Irving Fine, another composer, and he said no. Finally,
I asked if he was related to Burton Fine, principal violist
of the Boston Symphony. Once more, the
answer was no. He then volunteered that he
was related to Larry Fine of the Three Stooges.] More
March 11 birthdays... Astor Piazzola (1921),
Mercer Ellington (1919), and Henry Cowell (1897).
When I interviewed Geraldine Decker,
we had a great laugh that she, also, was born on March 11
(1931).
They left out the
letter ‘D’
from the name Arizona. I’ve
never been there, but I know it’s
quite arid in the South West...
There are three
major musical works in three different
languages, all of which the public quite
often mistakenly adds the word ‘the’
before the name. To wit:
Messiah, Pagliacci, and Winterreise. Each one is named
as just shown, NOT The Messiah,
nor I Pagliacci, nor Die Winterreise. [Note that the
title of the TV Game Show Match Game
also lacks the article. More about that
program later on this webpage.]
What is with this
overwhelming compulsion to cite the excrement
of the male cow?
English is not the easiest of languages… It can be
understood through tough thorough thought though.
General observation... Regarding professional sports, we,
in the Twenty-First Century
are just like the Ancients.
We
take delight when our city’s
hired gladiators defeat any other city’s
hired gladiators. [GO CUBS!]
= = = = = = = = = = =
[September 1, 2017]
While there have always been doomsayers
and other prophets predicting the end
of time, in the past twenty years, there have
been three distinct events which many people truly
believed signaled the End of Days. Obviously,
they were wrong, but it is interesting to
make note of them...
(1) Y2K. In anticipation of the numbered-year
leaving the 1900s
and moving to the 2000s, the hue and cry
was heard all over the world that the computer
systems could not handle that change, and all
our electric and electronic grids would fail, and
we would be destroyed. Much time and effort
was put into correcting the problem, which apparently
worked.
(2) One version of the Mayan Calendar simply stopped
on December 21, 2012, and many people
felt this was to be the last day of Earth.
Another version (which carried on for many more
years) was later discovered, but that did not seem
to prevent a few people from weeping and wailing and gnashing
their teeth.
(3) On November 2, 2016, the Chicago Cubs won the World
Series.
= = = = = = = = = = =
[December 26, 2017]
A number of people have asked me
about how I selected which interviews
would be used on the air, and when they would
be presented. These days, on the WNUR series
— and also on the late (and hopefully
lamented) series on Contemporary Classical Internet
Radio — there really is no
rhyme nor reason for selection. Programs were
prepared, and now the ones which exist are simply
repeated after two or three years, and usually
in a different month. HOWEVER, in my quater-century
at WNIB, I was very careful and rather ingenious
about timing. Fairly early on, I stumbled onto
the use of ‘round birthdays’. This simply
meant that when a composer or performer had a ‘round
birthday’ — 50, 55, 60, 65, 70, etc.
— they got a show. Every five years each one
would come up, and a few of the early interviews aired
several times. These programs were in addition
to any promotional use — such
as when one of their works was being presented in live performance
in the Chicago area, or in conjunction with a new recording.
The advantages of this system meant I did not have
agonize over who had been done and who might be neglected,
and so forth. It also was completely color-blind and gender-blind.
There are only 366 possibilities, and everyone has
one whether they like it or not. It also suited my style,
in that I celebrated life and not death. Yes, I mourned
and eulogized my guests when they passed away, but I did not,
thereafter, mark their dates of death with special progams.
What brings all
this to mind is a brief article in the newspaper,
which is reproduced at right. Since
I am not doing fresh interviews any more,
I wondered just how well I did during the time I was
gathering them, from 1978-2006. So, I counted
up just the composers, and of the 496 names, 62 are women
(12.5%), and 15 or 16 are African-American (approximately
3%). The discrepency is a man named Roque Cordero.
He was included in the series of recordings of music
by Black Composers issued on Columbia LPs,
but in our interview he told me quite forcefully
that he did not like that label. He insisted he was
Panamanian, not black. There are probably others
— both in general and on my list — who
dislike or even disown one category or another, but that
is for another discussion. As to other minorities,
I cannot accurately compute them for various reasons. First,
I am often unaware of their background. A name might
come from a few generations back, or perhaps have been
lost or changed through marriage or assimilation. Further,
I have met a number of composers who belong to countries
other than America. How should I count them? Are
they to be lumped into a vague category of Minority-Citizens?
Then, to discount the entire exercise, it is not my desire
nor intent (nor responsibilty!) to ascertain any kind of pedigree.
My interest is their music, and their ideas about its
creation and presentation. Beyond that, I truly do not
care. Their race or sexual orientation or any other
factors are not my concern. As long as they are part
of the Classical Music community, I accept them as such,
and will give them their shot (as I like to say). In
truth, I consider all these kinds of labels both insulting
and unnecessary. We are all people, citizens, musicians,
etc. Naturally, I do not want to purposely include or exclude
anyone, and without really paying much specific attention to the
matter, I think I have been rather fair and equitable. Looking
at the numbers mentioned above, I assume that this percentage
also holds for the performers... though the women will have
a higher resulting-number since they account for nearly
all of the sopranos and mezzos! As to conductors
— which are even more neglectful of the distaff side
— there are 14 women in my group of 224 interview
guests, which is 6.25%, plus six African-Americans.
= = = = = = = = = = =
[January 6, 2018]
During this Holiday Season, I was
listening to some old favorites, including The
Typewriter, a novelty piece by Leroy
Anderson. It occurred to me that it might
not be too many years until that device, which was
once ubiquitous, would not be even recognized by most
of the populace. In musical terms, it would be
like mentioning the Ophicleide or the Serpent...
Just a note regarding
soft timbre... Throughout musical
history, usually the brighter and louder instruments
have won the battle. However, the actual
idea of being ‘loud’
is, ironically, soft-pedaled!
There are two significant instances
where the idea (and nomenclature) of being ‘loud’
was dropped. One of the early
hammer-struck keyboard instruments
was the ‘fortepiano’
or the ‘pianoforte’. Forte
means loud, and piano means
soft, so it was literally the ‘loudsoft’
or the ‘softloud’, indicating
its ability to be both, contrasting to the plucked-instruments
such as the harpsichord and the
virginal. Quickly, the name was abbreviated
to simply ‘piano’,
as we know the instrument today. So,
the idea of being
‘loud’ was dropped. The same thing happened
to the box which actually turns electrical
signals into sound, namely the ‘loudspeaker’.
We all know it as a ‘speaker’,
which, again, drops the idea
of being loud. [You may insert here any
and all puns involving the word ‘allowed’.]
= = = =
= = = = = = =
On the subject
of things that are obsolete, I have wondered
for a long time if the slide rule was the object
which went the fastest from being absolutely
necessary to being completely useless. Everyone
who did any kind of mathematical computation
needed one, and relied on it in every instance.
But as soon as the electronic hand-held calculator
came out, the slide rule was immediately pushed
aside, never to return to any kind of use... except
as a relic of a bygone age.
Of course, we
can always look back even farther in time
to the abacus . . .
Chinese type (5
plus 2) above; Japanese type (4 plus 1) below
Noting the two
different systems shown, today, one might
think of the rivalry between Mac and PC,
and realize that such dualities have existed
for centuries. Recently, there was the
debate between VHS and Beta video tape systems,
between 45 rpm and 33 rpm records in the late 1940s,
and cylinders vs. lateral-cut 78 rpm discs at the
turn of the Twentieth Century. There was
no real problem with the introduction of electrical
recordings in 1925, since reproducers in the home could
accommodate both. The only real need for new
equipment was at the production end, and the record companies
invested in the new system. The same could not
be said for the introduction of stereo in the mid-1950s.
There, the home consumer had to be persuaded to purchase
new equipment, and this was not even a decade after everyone
had to abandon their 78 machines in favor of the LP players. A
similar upheaval in the music industry was seen with the advent
of cassettes and CDs.
A story I heard many
years ago (and have repeated in the hopes
it was mostly or completely true) involves
the size and playing-time of the compact disc.
It seems that one of the people who were calling
the shots at the time of its creation was a Japanese
man who knew that his countrymen simply adored the Beethoven
Symphony #9. So, to accommodate
that piece of music, the CD needed to hold about 74 minutes
of sound. The story may or may not be true,
but it makes a good legend, and I simply choose to believe
it.
[August 31, 2019, and inserted here to
keep the topics together] Thinking again
of 78s, here's the famous image of our old friend
Nipper, and a couple of tidbits about its origins
. . . . .
His Master's Voice (HMV) is
a famous trademark in the recording industry,
and was the unofficial name of a major British record
label.
The trademark image comes from a painting
by English artist Francis Barraud titled
His Master's Voice. It was acquired from the
artist in 1899 by the newly formed Gramophone Company,
and adopted as a trademark by the Gramophone Company's
United States affiliate, the Victor Talking Machine
Company. According to contemporary Gramophone Company
publicity material, the dog, a terrier named Nipper, had
originally belonged to Barraud's brother, Mark. When
Mark Barraud died, Francis inherited Nipper, along with a
cylinder phonograph and recordings of Mark's voice. Francis
noted the peculiar interest that the dog took in the recorded
voice of his late master emanating from the horn, and conceived
the idea of committing the scene to canvas. The incident
took place at 92 Bold Street, Liverpool.
A different source relates a cautionary
tale for artists about getting and keeping
the copyright for art...
When Barraud painted Nipper curiously
searching for his master's voice in the
phonograph's horn, not only was the artist turned down
for a copyright for the image, but he was also rejected
by the Royal Academy, and various magazines. The Edison
Bell company responded that "dogs don’t listen to phonographs."
Barraud eventually sold another painting,
with a Berliner brass horn, to one of the company's
managers, where it caught the eye of the Emile
Berliner, the company's founder, who commissioned another
copy AND bought the rights to it! The famous image
went on to become the trakemark of the Victor Talking Machine
Co. Victor was Berliner's partner, and the image ultimately
survived Victor's merger with RCA in 1929. It was printed
on record labels, letterheads, novelties, and catalogues
for decades, but Barraud, the original artist, only
received two payments of £50 each.
Here are a few more details about the
dog, and the original painting (shown below,
which depicted a cylinder machine, and not the flat-disc
machine we all know)...
Nipper was born in 1884 in
Bristol, England, and died in September 1895.
He was a mixed-breed dog and probably part Jack Russell
Terrier, although some sources suggest that
he was a Smooth Fox Terrier, or "part Bull Terrier".
He was named Nipper because he would "nip" the
backs of visitors' legs.
Nipper originally lived with his owner,
Mark Henry Barraud, in the Prince's Theatre
where Barraud was a scenery designer. When Barraud
died in 1887, his brothers Philip and Francis took care
of the dog. Nipper himself died of natural causes in 1895
and was buried in Kingston upon Thames in Clarence Street,
in a small park surrounded by magnolia trees. As time progressed
the area was built upon, and a branch of Lloyds Bank
now occupies the site. On the wall of the bank, just inside
the entrance, a brass plaque commemorates the terrier
that lies beneath the building. On 10 March 2010,
a small road near to the dog's resting place in Kingston
upon Thames was named Nipper Alley in commemoration of this
resident.
In 1898, three years after Nipper's death,
Francis Barraud, his last owner and brother
of his first owner, painted a picture of Nipper
listening intently to a wind-up Edison-Bell cylinder
phonograph. Thinking the Edison-Bell Company
located in New Jersey, USA, might find it useful,
he presented it to James E. Hough, who promptly said,
"Dogs don't listen to phonographs". On May 31, 1899, Barraud
went to the Maiden Lane offices of The Gramophone
Company with the intention of borrowing a brass horn
to replace the original black horn on the painting.
Manager William Barry Owen suggested that if the artist replaced
the machine with a Berliner disc gramophone, that he would
buy the painting. The image became the successful trademark
of the Victor and HMV record labels, HMV music stores, and
the Radio Corporation of America, after the acquisition
of the Victor company in 1929. The trademark was registered by
Berliner for use in the United States on July 10, 1900.
Francis Barraud said, "It is difficult
to say how the idea came to me beyond the
fact that it suddenly occurred to me that to have my
dog listening to the phonograph, with an intelligent
and rather puzzled expression, and call it 'His Master's
Voice' would make an excellent subject. We had a phonograph
and I often noticed how puzzled he was to make out where
the voice came from. It certainly was the happiest thought
I ever had."
The slogan "His Master's Voice", along
with the painting, was sold to The Gramophone
Company for £100 (equivalent to £10,628
in 2018) – half for the copyright and half for the physical
painting itself. The original oil painting hung in the
EMI boardroom in Hayes, Middlesex, for many years.
The two cartoons below reflect our 'progress'
as we firmly embrace the Twenty-First Century,
and amplify my remarks vis-à-vis the typewriter
. . . . .
[February 3, 2020,
and inserted here to (again) keep the topics together]
I just ran across an interesting article about
the latest in sound reproduction. It is reproduced
HERE.
[Another observation, from May 11, 2020] Future
generations may wonder why something called
a "compact" disc held more material than a "long playing"
record!
Next is a cartoon from 2017
(below-right), which was originally placed on this page on
September 27, 2021.
The other cartoon (on the left, and
probably from a couple of decades ago) just seemed appropriate,
and was added January 30, 2022.
Statement seen: "Classic LPs are going
for record prices!!!!"
Next, yet another vinyl gag [added to this page
on July 16, 2022]
= = = = = = = = = = =
[June 29, 2018] Alert
observers might notice that as of the
end of March, 2018, many of the links to my interviews
which appear in Wikipedia articles
have a slightly different format. Specifically,
my name has been removed from the line. For
several years, it was <<<Interview
with (name of guest) by Bruce Duffie, on (date of
interview).>>> Because
someone complained that I was spamming, and felt
the only reason for these links was my own self-promotion,
that person urged the removal of all of these
links. A discussion was launched, and several
Administrators weighed in with their opinions. Fortunately,
enough of them saw the importance of the interviews
themselves, and the complainant was admonished
to cease the battering, and even urged to apologize
(which did not happen). After about a week, the
discussion was formally closed, and the upshot was that
I removed my name from many of the links, and am not including
it in future postings. However, a number of the
old-style links remain, so there might be a bit of confusion
since they are not uniform. For anyone who cares to read
it, the entire discussion is reproduced HERE.
[Updated information about the above
item] Since I had "corrected" many of
the links (to remove my name), another editor(s) felt
this was wrong, and undid some of those corrections...
thus replacing my name in the link. One editor contacted
me about the removals, and I showed him/her the discussion
(linked above). Since I don't go back to old Wikipedia
pages very often, I do not know whether the changes have
been made to a few or many of them. It is unimportant...
as long as the link itself is there, I am satisfied.
[Further updated information about
my involvement with Wikipedia] In August of 2021,
another editor started deleting my links. Upon inquiry,
he stated that I had no rights to use the images of record covers.
I explained that record companies sent me promotional
copies of their material in hopes that I would use it on the air,
and also (where possible) show their images. I even checked
this out with one President of a major record company, but this did
not stop him from saying he would continue to delete my links. Despite
having been praised as "an asset to Wikipedia" by several Administrators
(shown above via the link), I knew that he would see anything I added
or deleted from Wikipedia. So, I have simply withdrawn from any
further involvement. My hope is that he has lost interest in me,
and that my earlier links would be left intact. I say all this
to (a) let you know that no further interviews will be linked, and (b)
tell why some links might disappear from existing pages.
= = = = = = = = = = =
[January 3, 2019]
In reading some of the comments about
my interviews, a couple people have noted
that a few of my questions tend to pop up with regularity.
While this is certainly true, I do hope
that in each case the inquiries come naturally, and
at an appropriate place in the conversation. I
never worked with a specific list of questions,
and always tried to discuss the specific strengths of each
guest. However, since all were involved in so-called
Classical Music, there were bound to be common points
of interest and expertise. To look at it another way,
when you eat at my restaurant, each meal on the menu will be
unique, but many will have some ingredients in common. Since
all are being prepared by myself as chef, there will be
some resemblances and similarities. I hope this does
not discourage anyone from sampling my cuisine.....
It is also interesting
to see how various people respond and
react to the same question(s). Continuing
the metaphor, there will certainly be differing
opinions from various people to the same item
on my menu. Observing those reactions should
not, necessarily, cause me to change the recipe. Perhaps
having a few condiments on the table will allow
for each person to season the dish to their own taste,
but this can only happen when a certain stability is built
into the process. Once again, my goal with the interviews
is to allow each guest to express their own views, and I trust
that a few similar questions will get a variety of responses.
= = = = = = = = = = =
A few years ago, I met a fine
baritone whom I had known on the stage
for a long time. Warren Fremling has performed
in local and regional productions over the years,
and has had a significant impact each time. Lately,
he has been an invaluable help to me by proofreading
my interviews before they are opened to the public
on my website. I am grateful to him for pointing
out not only mistakes (of which, fortunately, there are
few), but also for occasionally suggesting better ways of expressing
the ideas. As I have mentioned, I never change
the focus nor direction of the words my guests use, but
by tightening and sometimes re-gathering thoughts, their
objectives are made more clear to readers. In several
cases, Warren has suggested slight changes which bring these
thoughts into sharper focus, and for that I am eternally grateful.
In our exchanges, he also has
provided me with further insights into the
world of professional singing, and his most recent
gift to me was a clear and succinct explanation
of the various voice-types, and how they can be viewed
by experts and novices alike. With his permission,
it is reproduced here...
There
are two things that
decide this. The first is color.
Richness in the middle voice is revealing.
The second, and much more reliable, is
the location of the bridge or passagio. A mezzo’s
bridge is a-kin to a baritone’s. It’s on the D,
a ninth above mid-C (a baritone’s being an octave
lower, obviously). I’ve diagrammed voices according
to their interest and comfort to the listener’s
ear – not what the singer does, but what is natural
to the instrument. A soprano or tenor sound
like this: \/ - the bottom is light and the voice
sounds more interesting and easier as the voice ascends.
The mezzo and baritone sound like this: () –
the voice is fattest in the middle. We have some
of the low notes of the contralto/bass and some of the high
notes of the soprano/tenor, but you can’t live there.
The middle is where we’re most at home. The
contralto/bass is the exact opposite of the soprano/tenor
– the voice gets fatter and more beautiful with the descent.
|
= = = = = = = = = = =
[February 4, 2019]
As the the shortest month of the year
rolls around once again, I am reminded of the one
word which I simply gave up trying to pronounce correctly.
I made an effort, but it simply was too awkward
to do both correctly and smoothly at the same time.
I could say Feb-ROO-rary, but it required slowing
down the enunciation to the point where it was simply untenable.
[You may insert any kind of joke here, regarding
it not being a ten, or even a nine, but perhaps a two or three
at best...] Imagine, if you will, a car on the highway,
and for some unknown reason it just slowed to a crawl. It
would certainly look strange, to say nothing about impeding
traffic and being hazardous. This is not to say that
an announcer mis-pronouncing a word on the radio could be
hazardous in any way, but you get my drift... So if any
tapes exist of my work where I say the name of the second month,
you will hear a firm and confident FEB-you-air-ee. I know
it is wrong, and I knew it at the time, and I make no excuses.
I am sure I made other mistakes,
and, indeed, I was corrected on a few
occasions. But by and large, I was complimented
by members of the public on my accuracy and
stylistic manners. It was especially nice
to hear that I had pronounced the name of a person or location
properly from someone who was from that particular
locale. I want to say, however, that when someone
called to make a correction, my first task was to ascertain
if that person on the telephone was accurate! There
were a few occasions when a caller would berate
me and give a different version of the way to pronounce
a name, and when I checked with a known authority, I found
that my own rendition was correct, and the caller had
been wrong. It reminds me of the sign which famously
hung in the City News Bureau for many years, which screamed,
“If your mother says she loves
you, check it out!”
On that particular subject, I
remember one evening when we aired a syndicated
broadcast of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
The announcer (who shall remain nameless)
proclaimed the conductor to be Esa-Pekka Sa-LOH-nehn.
Well, I had interviewed the Maestro,
and, as usual, had asked him to do a station
break, in which he said his name. His pronunciation
was SAL-oh-nehn. At some point during the
evening, I must have said his name myself, and pronounced
it his way, and immediately received a phone call screaming
at me for my stupidity. “If
the announcer on the Los Angeles Symphony broadcast had
said it one way, that MUST be the accurate way!”
I tried, very calmly, to explain, but the
caller simply slammed the phone down. The next
evening, I brought in my interview tape and played the station
break. I have no idea if that caller from the previous
night heard it, but at least I settled the matter for anyone
who was listening . . . . .
= = = = = = = = = = =
[April 22, 2019] Consider,
if you will, the following scenario...
Bill opens a small restaurant that features Fine
Dining. He is successful, and over the course
of forty-five years, the eatery becomes well-known
and highly-respected. After spending his adult life
maintaining this establishment, he decides to retire.
As it happens, the location he originally chose
-- which was, at the time, perfectly good but not very
popular -- had become very desirable. So Bill closed
the restaruant and sold the location to Bonney, who brought
in her own staff and opened a shoe store. It immediately
attracted business, and became very competitive.
Now when one thinks of the history
of the restaurant vis-à-vis the
ongoing story of the shoe store, it should be obvious
that aside from the physical location, there is no
connection whatsoever. Right? Perhaps,
the historical account of each one should have a
mention of the other as being at the same address, but
that's certainly all the crossover interest there would
be.
With that in mind, I ask you to
look HERE.
= = = = = = = = = = =
[June 28, 2019] Following
up on my remarks about diversity (above, with
the date of December 26, 2017), much has transpired
in the short time since then. While I do
not — and did not — go into
the political area when conversing with
my musical guests, it has come to my attention that
the Music World is, nonetheless, very much involved
in such social matters. For example, the editorial
in Opera Canada of Summer, 2019, discusses
the “central debate about how
to keep the art form relevant for an audience which
no longer passively accepts the racist, misogynist and
sexist tropes of yesteryear.” It goes
on to discuss the “challenges faced by women
singers portraying some of the standard repertoire’s
iconic roles... many of which are mired in
stereotypes we find unacceptable in the #MeToo
era.”
My reason for bringing this up is
to point out that in several of my interviews
— which date from 1978-2006
— I specifically ask the question
of my female singer guests. To wit: “How
do we keep these Eighteenth and Nineteenth
Century characters relevant to women (and men)
today who have gone through world wars, and social
upheavals, and other developments of our times?”
This is not to just pat myself
on the back for being so forward-looking,
but to show that my own curiosity was such that it
became imperative to inquire about these ideas,
and to ask how they resonated with audiences far removed
from the original mores and strictures.
Of course, in the theater, the production
team can (and often does) re-set the action
to a later era, or even to the present day. That
is, again, a discussion for another time and
place, but it does move the ideas in ways that can provoke
or amuse. There is also the need to remember
that it was only in the early Twentieth Century that the
classical musical public abandoned its craving for anything
and everything which was new. Until then, while
there were performances of older pieces, it was the newest
and latest symphonies and operas which were anticipated
with genuine eagerness. Once this trend was lost, the
oft-repeated repertoire began to show signs of losing its immediate
contact with concert-goers, and from there it is the famous
‘slippery slope’.
In any event, I just wanted to call
attention to my own small attempts to
make inquiry when possible, and to show that my own
feeling is that opera can remain a viable and
exciting living breathing art form.
= = = = = = = = = = =
Music Joke... Question:
What are the names of the Three Bears?
Answer: Smokey Bear, Yogi Bear,
Jacques Ibert
Second Music Joke... What
if we discover that’s what it
really is all about? [Reference:
Hokey Pokey]
Third Music Joke... Question:
What is the voice-range of the quarter-hour?
Answer: People often say,
"It'll be tenor fifteen minutes!"
Fourth Music Joke... A woman
is on trial for beating her husband to death
with his guitars.
The judge asks,
“First offender?” She replies, “No, first a Gibson,
then a Fender.”
Musical variation on an old joke... If
Mezzo-Soprano Shirley Verrett
married Tenor George Shirley,
she’d be Shirley Shirley!
Continuing with a bit of music humor, for
those who wish to look at a slightly risqué image, this R-rated item is
the photo of a sculpture depicting the realization of a very
old (music-related) joke. While it is nothing more bold
than what one would see at a museum, remember, no one is forcing you
to look. So, by clicking the link you implicitly agree that your
viewing is voluntary, and no complaints can be made.
= = = = = = = = = = =
[August 29, 2019] I stumbled
upon this item just now, and thought it would
be fun to post it here. For those who do
not read music, or for anyone interested in seeing a nifty
connection between this tune and the main thrust of
my website, click HERE.
Lest you think it is only one or
two goofballs at a single establishment
who would make such an error, consider the fact that
the government of the former DDR (East Germany) issued
two postage stamps in 1956 to mark the 100th anniversary
of the death of composer Robert Schumann. They
were the same portrait of Schumann, used for two denominations,
but the music in the background was by Franz Schubert! These
are the top two stamps in the illustration below. Soon,
the error was discovered, and a new version of the
stamps (with music by Schumann) was issued, as seen in the
bottom two in the illustration.
There have been other philatelic mistakes,
but most have been caught before the stamps
were available to the public for use as postage. This
is not about printing errors, such as inverted
images, or mistakes in colors or perferations. Rather,
place names have been mis-attributed and people have
been wrongly identified. But those shown below
are the only foul-ups I know which involve music or
musicians.
= = = = = = = = = = =
[September 19, 2019] The
following is from an essay about the (missing?)
"A" in Neil Armstrong's famous first statement
when he stepped on the moon, which was posted on
the website "The Conversation" 7/16/19.
----------------------
When we talk, we formulate a thought, retrieve words from memory
and move our mouths to produce sound. We do this quickly, producing,
in English, around five syllables every second.
The process for listeners is equally complex and speedy. We hear
sounds, which we separate into speech and non-speech information, combine
the speech sounds into words,
and determine the meanings of these words.
Again, this happens nearly instantaneously,
and errors rarely occur.
These processes are even more extraordinary when you think more
closely about the properties of speech. Unlike writing, speech doesn’t
have spaces between words. When people speak, there are typically very
few pauses within a sentence.
Yet listeners have little trouble determining word boundaries in
real time. This is because there are little cues – like pitch and rhythm
– that indicate when one word stops and the next begins.
But problems in speech perception can arise when those kinds of cues
are missing, especially when
pitch and rhythm are used for non-linguistic
purposes, like in music. This is one reason
why misheard song lyrics – called “mondegreens”
– are common. When singing or rapping, a lot of the
speech cues we usually use are shifted to accommodate
the song’s beat, which can end up jamming our
default perception process.
[October 18, 2019] When I was
a teenager in the mid 1960s, I actually did some
work with computers... designing flow charts
and writing code in FORTRAN. The lines were then
put onto punch cards, which then ran through the computer
to execute the (very simple) programs. I didn't
stick with it, though, and only came back to computers via a
Memorywriter (a word-processor) which the radio station
had, and used for awhile to publish the WNIB Program Guide
in the late 1980s.
My reason for mentioning this at all is that
some time back then I saw the famous saying which
is reproduced below. Recently I remembered
this saying, and looked it up via a Google search. The
many presentations varied a bit, but had the same
basic content. Besides the signs and posters
there was a tee-shirt, a coffee mug, and even one going so
far as to use faux nazi stationery.
In any event, here is one rendition for your
enjoyment.................
In the same Google search, I spotted the
following item, which probably should be posted
in every office................
[March 23, 2021 (yes,
a year after the item which follows)]... This
next image actually belongs with both the items above and
below! .................
= = = = = = = = = = =
[March 24, 2020] During the coronavirus
pandemic, I happened upon this article,
and felt it was significant enough to share. Perhaps it should
also be posted in every office, along with the item
shown directly above (about the rising cost and increase
of stupid questions), as an antidote to the situation . .
. . . . . . . (!)
Obviously, there is nothing funny about
the coronavirus, but there is some humor to be found
in the actions of a few individuals . . . . .
[April 22, 2020] Current version of old
joke: Why did the chicken cross the road?
To maintain her social-distancing!
[November
9, 2020, and Covid is still the #1 topic everywhere...
*sigh*]
[April 17, 2021... as it all still drags on] My
local grocery store has gone too far.
They’ve put a big X on the floor to show where to stand
in line at the register.
I’ve seen enough Roadrunner
cartoons... I’m not falling for that.
[October 30, 2021] Do
we even need Halloween anymore? I’ve
been wearing a mask and eating candy for 14 months…
= = = = = = = = = = =
[June 24, 2020] We owned a Smart Car (shown on
right in the photo above) for about five years. It was really very
comfortable, and fun to drive around
town. Our other car was a mini-van, which
we used for transporting larger items, and took on longer
road trips. One day, when our Smart Car was
parked in a lot that was full, the owner of the white Smart
Car asked if she could use the ‘other
half’ of our space. The
result looks as though our cars are kissing! In
the spirit of admonishing a couple who are showing too
much PDA (public display of affection) to “Get
a room!”, a passer-by shouted, “Get a
garage!!!”
= = = = = = = = = = =
[September 12, 2020] As people
who have read my interview with Charles
Nelson Reilly know, one of my guilty pleasures
is watching re-runs of Match Game. The
ones I like best are from the 1970s, with host Gene Rayburn,
and panelist Richard Dawson, who was there until 1978. Of
course, Reilly was there throughout, and he truly made the
show funny. One of the other regular panelists, Brett
Somers, said that a fan had declared that the program should
really be called Charles Nelson Reilly's House Party,
alluding to another program actually called Art Linkletter's
House Party. One week, Raymond Burr was in the lower-middle
position of the six panelists. My reason for mentioning
all of this is that on one episode that week, there were
two questions relating to music! The first one went something
like this... Tough Teddy said, "Our school was soooooo
tough... [audience shouts, "How tough was it?"] ...it was
so tough that the the school orchestra kidnapped the janitor and
put him in the _______." [The panel and contestants were
to fill in the blank at the end of the sentence, and when they matched,
it scored a point for the contestant.] The more popular
answer was "Tuba", given by the contestant and four of the panelists,
but Reilly (and one other panelist) said "Drum". This
was what the writers were going for, since there was a commercial
product called "Janitor in a Drum". The second musical
question was, "Pat Pending (!) invented a juke box for people who
hate music. You drop a quarter in the slot, and it ______s
the record." The obvious answer (which won the game for
the contestant) was "breaks" (or smashes).
[November
2, 2020... amazingly this goes with the
Match Game item above!] I continue to
enjoy these re-runs, and now they have added the evening
series Match Game PM. Each week had a stand-alone
game which was edited a bit to get through the entire game
in one segment. (The weekday edition just played for
the time allotted, and games spread over to the next day when
necessary - which was most of the time!) Anyway, there
were two music questions in recent PM programs... The
first was "Lawrence _______". The panelists gave Lawrence
of Arabia, and Lawrence Welk, then Reilly chimed in with, "I
know this is an old reference, but Lawrence Tibbett!" Rayburn
acknowledged that he knew of "the famous baritone", and began
singing the Toreador Song from Carmen, but the audience
was not impressed. The third response from the polled
audience was Lawrence Olivier. For the record, Lawrence Welk
was chosen by the contestant, and won the top prize. The other
question was more obscure. The question was "_______ foxes."
The panel suggested sly foxes, and, being theater people, Little
Foxes (the play by Lillian Hellman). I don't remember the
third choice, nor which was the winning item. I was engrossed
in the fact that while Somers and Rayburn were trying to remember which
actress starred as Regina on Broadway, and which one was in the film,
Reilly screamed, "AND BRENDA LEWIS STARRED IN THE OPERA REGINA
BY MARC BLITZSTEIN." I was so proud of him at that point. For
the record, it was Tallulah Bankhead on Broadway (1939), and Bette
Davis in the film (1941). The opera premiered in 1949 at the
46th Street Theatre, with Jane Pickens as Regina, conducted by Maurice Abravanel.
Lewis sang Birdie, but then moved to the title role when the
opera was revived in 1953 at the City Centre Opera.
[December
2, 2020... a couple more related items] Two
more questions come to mind, and both relate to music
in the nude. (!) A well-endowed lady volunteered
for the All-Nude Orchestra. Unfortunately, she played
_________. The contestant responded with Cymbals,
and some panelists also said that. But after all six made
their contribution, Rayburn said that his answer was the Accordion!
[Huge laugh from the audience.] On another episode
was this question... A man complains to the conductor
of the All-Nude Marching Band, "I don't mind playing in your
ensemble, but do I have to walk in front of the _________???"
Again, the contestant said Cymbals, but a couple of the panelists
said Trombone!
[December
27, 2020... one more item!] This is from the
third version of the program, the Match Game-Hollywood
Squares Hour. This incantation of the program
only lasted one season (October, 1983 - July, 1984).
Rayburn returned as host of the Match Game portions,
and Jon Bauman (who had been Bowzer with Sha Na Na) hosted the
Hollywood Squares segment. Bauman dressed normally,
in a suit and tie, with regular hair, not all greased up. However,
he did occasionally refer to his Bowzer character "from a previous
life," and sometimes showed his famous open-mouth fists-in-the-air
pose. Anyway, on one segment, there was this (musical) question:
"When well-endowed Wanda played her accordion, Lady
of Spain became Lady of _______." As it happened,
one panelist (Mark Russell) gave away the punch line by saying
that the title became Lady of Pain, and they had to throw
out the question before the contestant had a chance to respond.
For those who are interested, see my interview with accordionist
Robert Davine.
On another program,
the question was "George was always tired when he
got home from work because he was a ________ salesman." I
don't remember any of the other responses, but Bauman said
"Anvil", and promptly started singing the "Anvil Chorus"
from Il Trovatore. (Remember that Bauman
had attended Juilliard!) Rayburn also joined in, but
no one else seemed to respond to their rendition. *sigh*
[January 16, 2021...
though the date of my posting is not really relevant
since all the Match Game programs are re-runs
from 45 or more years ago!] Another couple of musical
questions... "George knew his son would be a musician
because his head was shaped like a __________." The
contestant said Violin, and the six panelists said Drum, Grand
Piano, Heart - which is an Organ (the panelist made that clarification!),
Triangle, Tuba, and Reilly said a G-Clef, and drew a very respectable
image on his card. The last panelist (Joyce Bulifant)
noted that it was quite an ensemble, and Rayburn pointed out that
there were seven different excellent responses. [The following
was added on November 27, 2021, but placed here for obvious reasons]
On another program, there was a different set of seven responses.
The question was, "Ugly Edna was the center-fold of Musician's
Monthly because her legs looked like a ___________. The
contestant said Violin, and the six celebreties said Baton, Tuba,
Piano Legs (Reilly), Cello, Slide Trombone, and a Pair of Bassoons
(Patti Deutsch).
Another question was, "When Joshua
wanted to destroy the wall in Jericho, his trumpet wasn't
enough, so he used a _________." The contestant
and one panelist said Tuba, another panelist said Piano, one
said Bulldozer, and the other three said Hammer. Rayburn
lamented that four of the six panelists just didn't understand
the question! Though there were no 'right' or 'wrong'
answers, he often would gently deride them when there was one
(or more) obvious answer, and the contestant or panelists would completely
miss the joke.
[February 12, 2021]
Yet another "Audience Match" question was,
"Bella _______." Dawson rightly said that the audience
often mis-spelled their responses, and that despite his
name being Bela, they might have said "Lugosi," which, indeed
was the number-one answer. Incidentally, other questions
on the program often used the character of Count Dracula, and
Rayburn spoke the quote in an accent quite close to Lugosi's.
Again, I forget what the number two response was, but Reilly's
(third position) response was, "Bella figlia dell'amore,"
which is the opening phrase of the Quartet from Rigoletto.
Rayburn then began singing the phrase (correctly). It's
just another reason why I love that show.
[March 21, 2021...
yet another one to SPRING up... ! (Sorry for
the pun. I just wanted to SEASON this line.)] Rose
phoned her psychiatrist. She said, "My husband is
on the roof! He thinks he's a ________" The contestant
said Cat. Three panelists said Bird, one panelist
said Weather Vane, and another said TV Antenna. Reilly
said FIDDLER ! (Get it? Fiddler on the Roof!)
[January 23, 2022] One more
re-run just seen... The question for the big money
was "______ toast". One celebrity response was "French"
(which was the $500 (top) audience response, and the one the
contestant chose). The next celebrity response was "White",
and then Reilly said, "I'm going to give a Nellie answer. MELBA!"
He had to explain who Nellie Melba was, and that she was a
famous opera singer. It turned out that Melba Toast was the
$100 audience response.
[February 19, 2022] From another re-run
of Match Game 75... The tuba player said, "I don't think
that new conductor likes me. In the middle of my solo,
he started __________ing in my tuba!" While the celebrities
were writing their responses, CNR asked, "How far was the tuba
from the conductor?" (Some laughter from the audience)
Betty White asked, "And what was the trajectory?" (More
laughter) CNR continued, "How old was the conductor? All
those strings to get across..." (Much laughter) The
contestant's response was, "Tinkling". Rayburn then pretended
to be on the podium looking at the orchestra, pointing to the violins,
then the cellos, then the basses farther away, and, "Waaaay in the
back are the tubas." The celebrity answers were a bit boring...
Allen Ludden said "Blowing", Brett Somers said, "Barfing", CNR
said "Eating lunch", Dolly Martin said "Expectorating", and Betty White
said "Pouring Water." Richard Dawson was the only one who matched
the contestant with "Tinkling".
[March 7, 2022... I just keep watching
the progams, and they keep serving up the music questions] On
a PM show, the question was: A Marching Band member said,
"I learned a painful lesson today. Never stop fast when there's
a ______ player behind you." The contestant said Tuba, but
all six celebrities said the 'right' answer, which was Trombone!
From another (regular weekday) show from 1978...
Jack said, "This t-shirt craze is really wild. I
saw a girl with an entire orchestra on her front. She had
the biggest ________ I ever saw!" The contestant said Cymbals.
The celebrities said Tubas, Instruments, Bassoons, and Maracas.
CNR said Kettle Drums, to which Rayburn commented that when
they were upside down they'd look... (he never bothered to finish the
sentence since everyone was laughing). By this time, Richard Dawson
had departed for Family Feud, and Bob Barker (host of The
Price is Right) sat in the lower-center seat that week. He
said Boobs, to which the audience loudly booed. He then said,
"This audience is the pits... like orchestra pits!" and the audience
continued to boo. After everything settled down, Rayburn said that
in the office, they all thought the answer would be Bongo Drums. Yes,
there were more boos from the audience. It's really a fun show...........
[March 17, 2022... and the shows just
keep coming along!] A Match Game Limerick: A kinky
young pianist named Twist/Played piano with only his wrist./When
he got on his knees/And banged on the keys/He said, "I'm bound to
be ________." The contestant and four on the panel (including
CNR) said Kissed. Dawson said Hissed (which was my answer),
but Bobby Van had the best response, which was LISZT !
Another question from another show... A
stripper said to the night club owner, "I want a new dressing
room! The musician next door just poked a peep hole through
the wall with his __________." The contestant had the best
answer, which was Trombone, but none of the panel said that.
CNR was away doing a Broadway show, so Gary Burghoff sat in
his seat and said Drum Stick. (He had actually worked as a
jazz drummer, and was seen in M*A*S*H playing a drum solo
(which was not overdubbed!). Other responses were Piccolo,
Horn (which matched), French Horn (which did NOT match), and two said
Instrument.
[August 19, 2022] From a very early program
in the series, since Rayburn was called the Host rather than the
Star... A music teacher said to Dumb Dora, "You don't play
a _________ by blowing on it." The contestant and five of the
panelists all said Piano. CNR was the only one who said Violin.
[October 17, 2022] Here's yet another pair of questions...
They call Oscar the Orchestra Leader "The Ostrich" because
when the band plays bad, Oscar sticks his head in the _______. The
contestant and three panelists said Tuba. Arlene Francis said
Pit, and CNR said Toilet. [The contestant had matched one in the
previous round, so only 5 panelists responded.
The other question was an Audience Match. Slide _________.
Brett suggested Rule, Betty White said Projector, and Richard
Dawson made a joke of Slide, Kelly, Slide (the 1927 silent
film), but then opted for Trombone. I was amazed that Trombone
did not show up as any of the audience's responses. The third most
popular response ($100) was Home, the second ($250) was Projector, and
the top one ($500) was Rule. I don't remember what the contestant
picked, but it was not Trombone..... *sigh*
[November 18, 2022] A baritone asked a tenor, "How
do you hit those high notes?" The tenor replies, "Before each
performance, my wife _______s my shorts." The contestant and four
of the panelists said starches. Patti Deutsch said heats, and
clarified that it was because the theater was cold. CNR said lights.
Dawson then remarked that if she lights the shorts, only dobermans
would hear the high notes!
= = = = = = = = = = =
I
am proud to say that a quotation from my interview with
Maria Tallchief was used as the text with the animation
in this Google Doodle.
To see
the video, and read about its creation, click HERE.
= = =
= = = = = = = =
[December
20, 2020] A couple of images for the season
. . . . . The first one is not new, but does involve
some wonderfully appropriate critters!
On
the other hand, it has been a very tough year
. . . . .
= = = = = = = = = = =
The following panel contains two separate jokes.
Do NOT try to make them into one idea.
They just happened to be inspired by the world
situation . . . . .
All of his reminds me of an
actual musical chord, concocted by Nicolas Slonimsky,
which he calls The Grandmother
Chord (shown immediately below)...
From the interview, here
is how he explains its derivation...
Technically, it is a mathematical problem because you
have to use all twelve different notes and all eleven different intervals.
It's not so easy; if you start by just trial and error,
you won't get anywhere because you will either repeat a
note or repeat an interval! But I also found that musically
it's very easy. Jocularly I say that great adventures
always have very elementary fundamental principles, and this principle
is extremely simple! Using a convergent system of intervallic
progression, the first note of the scale, let's say C, then the
last note of the chromatic scale, B. Then the second note
of the chromatic scale, C-sharp and the one before — the
penultimate — B-flat, then D, A, E-flat,
A-flat, E, G, F, F-sharp. So it's convergent, and when
it's expanded [sings, alternating between low and high notes] "da-DAH-dee-DAH-dah-DAH"
and developed throughout seven octaves, then I have my Grandmother
Chord.
= = = = = = = = =
[February 10,
2021] While editing my interview with my old
bassoon teacher Wilbur
Simpson, he said something which led me to find more info about
it. To wit: "When you were
a kid, some of the most interesting things that I can remember
real early were when Walter Damrosch was piped into school.
We used to listen to those programs." My research
produced the material shown in the box below...
Walter Johannes
Damrosch (January 30, 1862 – December
22, 1950) was a German-born American conductor and composer.
He is best remembered today as long-time director of the
New York Symphony Orchestra and for conducting the world
premiere performances of George Gershwin's Piano
Concerto in F (1925) and An American in
Paris (1928). Damrosch was also instrumental in the founding
of Carnegie Hall. He also conducted the first performance of
Rachmaninov's third piano concerto with Rachmaninov himself
as a soloist.
Damrosch
was the National Broadcasting Company's music director
under David Sarnoff, and from 1928 to 1942, he hosted
the network's Music Appreciation Hour, a popular
series of radio lectures on classic music aimed at students.
(The show was broadcast during school hours, and teachers
were provided with textbooks and worksheets by the network.)
According to former New York Times critic Harold
C. Schonberg in his collection Facing the Music,
Damrosch was notorious for making up silly lyrics for the music
he discussed in order to "help" young people appreciate it, rather
than letting the music speak for itself.
|
Now, ninety
years later, what would be the long-term effect of
even a mere five million listeners (and viewers) of similar
presentations on their computers? I hereby "donate"
all the interviews which
are posted on my website as research materials
to be used as any kind of compendium or supporting material
to a venture such as this.
= = = = = = = = =
[October 16, 2021] Occasionally,
people notice that my name (DUFFIE) is spelled differently
than usual. As a young boy, I asked my father about
it, but he just dismissed it with a shrug and a throw-away line
about an ancestor being a horse-thief. In any event, when
heard and not seen, most people will assume it's DUFFY. That
has never bothered me, except when necessary... like directing people
to my website! There, the name needs to be spelled correctly.
When speaking with composers,
or others involved with new music, they often asked if
I was related to John
Duffy. A few even thought I was him! John
was a composer himself, who also founded Meet The Composer
in 1974, and ran it until 1996. When John and I eventually
met, I distinctly remember that we both had to carefully write
the other's name when scribbling our contact info. I also
interviewed the violinist Robert McDuffie,
and there is a woman named Duffie Adelson, who ran the Merit School
of Music in Chicago. In college, after we music students
learned about the early Renaissance composer Guillaume Dufay (or
Du Fay, pronounced doo-FYE, or dew-FY, in either case it rhymes
with defy) (1397-1474), I was always called by that name.
What brought all this to my
mind recently was watching baseball games of the Chicago
Cubs. (Yes, even after trading away several of their
best players, I will still follow them, as I have since I
was a kid.) After being with other teams, the infielder
Matt DUFFY signed with the Cubs for 2021. It always pleased
me to hear the TV announcers say his name, especially when he hit
a home run, or made a spectacular fielding play. As it happened,
there were a couple of Cubs games against the Minnesota Twins. (They
don't play each other very often because they are in different leagues,
but now, with inter-league contests, they do meet every few years.)
Until I happened to hear my family name spoken on the Twins'
roster, I was unaware of pitcher Tyler DUFFEY. Unfortunately,
I didn't pay close enough attention at the time to know if DUFFEY
pitched to DUFFY.
After the fact, I e-mailed
the Cubs to find out, but received no answer. So,
I sent the same e-mail to the Twins. Again, no answer.
Finally, I contacted the Cubs Insider, an unofficial
website. Well, you guessed it, I got no response.
That's three strikes, so I'm out. This is too bad,
because it would have been fun to speculate about DUFFIE watching
DUFFEY pitching to DUFFY. Of course, the best would
be if I was at Wrigley Field to catch a homer, or even a foul ball
in this situation! *sigh*
Oh well, as they say, "Wait
'til next year . . . . ."
[May, 2022] It's now 'next year', and
DUFFY has been traded to the Los Angeles Angels. *big sigh*
[October 19, 2021] Also
regarding names... The Poet and Peasant Overture
by Franz von Suppé is certainly one of the more popular
items on concerts of light music. It's from an 1846 Viennese
operetta Dichter und Bauer, to use the original title.
For a long time, my interview with pianist Mischa Dichter has
been posted on this website. Earlier today, I uploaded
my conversation with conductor Harold Bauer.
I just thought it was a nifty happenstance.
= = = = = = = = =
[October 30, 2021] A
friend of mine sent me the following item. It reminds
me of Emily Litella, the malaprop character played by Gilda
Radner in the early years of Saturday Night Live.
[November 17, 2021]
With all the re-thinking about language these days,
just as we call 8:00 "eight o'clock", perhaps we should call
August "eight o'calendar."
Also, what
is the difference between a thingamajig and a doohickey?
= = = = = = = = =
[November 27, 2021] The
cartoon below could easily have been inspired by my own
work-space... *sigh*
= = = = = = = = =
[December 31, 2021] Three
thoughts as we move from one year to the next.....
A guy walks into a bar on New Year’s Eve and orders a glass
of champagne.
“It’s finally happened!” he exclaims. “I’ve made enough money that
I don’t have to work for the rest of the year!”
-----------------------------
My New Year’s Resolution is to go to the gym more often, get into
grad school, pay off my bills, and learn a new language.
I don’t have a clue how I’m going to get all that done by tomorrow.
-----------------------------
I’m going to stay up on New Year’s Eve this year.
Not to see the New Year in, but to ensure this one leaves.
= = = = = = = = =
[January 8, 2022] First, let me say that I
am NOT a gamer. I don't play video games, and really never have. When
I was in undergraduate school, I played Pinball, which
had flippers controlled by my hands, and a round steel ball
which knocked down targets and banged into bumpers to accumulate
points. It was kinda fun, and I wasted a bit of time
on the machine in the basement of my dorm. Partly, it was
also that we discovered a way to 'cheat' a bit, thus gaining free
games, and allowing us to keep playing for no extra cash.
Later, while working for WNIB, there
was a pinball machine in the coin laundry next to my 'L'
stop, and I'd sometimes go in and play a bit. Being
cheap, I'd put in 50 cents, and play until that was gone. Sometimes
I'd spend an additional 50 cents, but never more than that amount
of money. Usually, that meant fifteen to twenty minutes,
but occasionally a half hour, and sometimes a mere five minutes.
What brings this all to mind was
an article by Jake Peterson which I just stumbled on in
the Lifehacker website. It was titled, "Why
Do Retro Games Look Better On Old TVs?" The subtitle was,
"8-bit Mario is never going to look great on your 65-inch 4K
TV." Here are the opening two paragraphs...
<<<If you own
retro consoles—say, a Super Nintendo or a Sega Genesis—you
have access to some of gaming’s greatest roots. However, you
might find plugging these awesome consoles into your current
TV doesn’t result in the experience you remember from years past.
Games look fuzzy and distorted, and it can be tempting to think your
memory is playing tricks on you. It’s not your memory, though; it’s
your TV.
For retro gamers, the CRT is the
display of choice. Those giant, boxy television
sets that nearly everyone threw out or gave away in favor
of modern flat panels are actually coveted for their ability
to properly display games from the ‘80s, ‘90s, and even part
of the aughts. Retro games are not designed for modern, pixel-dense
TVs.>>>
The article then goes on to explain
the thesis in detail, most of which I do not understand and don't care to
explore further.
My reason for bringing this up is that
since discovering 78 rpm records as a teenager, and learning
of the difference between 'acoustics' and 'electrics', the
old collectors insisted that acoustics sounded better on outside-horn
machines [as shown here on the right, and also seen above
where the dog Nipper is listening to His Master's Voice].
This means that these records do not sound as good when played
by equipment which has speakers. A variation of the outside-horn
machine was the inside-horn cabinet, which simply put the horn into
the box, and allowed it all to look nicer in one's living room. In
the photo at left, the horn is in the short chamber immediately below
the turntable, and below that is a larger chamber where records could
be stored. When not in use, it could be all closed up, and was
a distinguished piece of furniture. A photo of two of the
greatest singers of that era, Tita Ruffo and Enrico Caruso, listening
to their efforts can be seen on the page of my interview with George Jellinek. They
only made one record together, on January 8, 1914. That
page also has a self-caricature made by the tenor of the recording
process of singing into the horn.
Acoustic records were recorded
by singing or playing into a horn that looked like a megaphone,
and electrics were recorded by using a microphone. The
date of change from one to the other is 1925. All records
made prior to that date are acoustics, and after that date
they all are electrics. The change was almost immediate,
and generally universal, because it was the record companies which
had to invest in the new equipment, which they did. Both acoustics
and electrics would be playable on either horn or speaker machines,
so it was not that urgent for the public to get new equipment. It
is similar to film, in that all movies prior to The Jazz Singer
of 1927 were silent, but after that date, little by little sound
was incorporated, and they were called talkies. But the change
was more gradual because it meant that all the movie houses had
to invest in sound reproduction equipment. Other huge changes
happened in 1948 with the introduction of Long Playing records, (although
a few 78s were still being made as late as 1955 or so), and again in
the mid-1950s when Stereo came along.
Anyway, it just hit me that no matter
what development comes along, a similar upheaval probably
occurred in the past... *sigh*
[January 13, 2022] Continuing
with the idea of recordings, while preparing to post my
interview with oboist Ray Still, he mentioned
that early in his career he had played on a record called
Classical Music For People Who Don’t
Know Anything About Classical Music, conducted by Robert
Russell Bennett. A bit of searching turned up some interesting
items, which are shown below.
= = = = = = = = =
[January 30, 2022] For a very
special music joke about Mary Had a Little Lamb, click
HERE.
[February 5, 2022] Remember the old
PSA (public service announcement) shown below-left? Well,
I've devised a new one relevant to my topic, shown below-right
. . . . .
[March 5, 2022] Three computer
jokes . . . . .
I heard Reggae music coming from my printer.
The paper was jammin’.
—
I bought a 3D printer, but I didn’t like it.
So I 3D printed a dumpster to throw it in.
__
On Ash Wednesday
I will be giving up spreadsheets for 40 days and 40 nights.
It’s going to be completely Excel Lent.
= = = = = = = = =
[April 28, 2022] C'mon... we all
knew this was going to happen, right???
[August 21, 2022] As the new school
year begins, perhaps we should re-examine the curriculum . . .
. .
= = = = = = = = =
[September 17, 2022] It is known
that I never discuss politics, and rarely post items of topical interest.
However, back in 1987, I had a wonderful interview with Lord Harewood.
During his lifetime, he was (among other things)
editor of Opera Magazine
and the famous Kobbé's Complete
Opera Book, Director of the Royal Opera Covent Garden and
the English National Opera, as well as several festivals, and the BBC.
He had boundless enthusiasm for opera in general and Verdi in particular
– equating his music with Shakespeare's plays.
He was also a member of the British Royal
Family. Captain George Henry Hubert Lascelles
acceded to the title of 7th Earl of Harewood on 23 May 1947.
Lord Harewood [pronounced HAHR-wood] was the grandson of
King George V, and first cousin to the late Queen Elizabeth.
With her passing, and the accession of King Charles
III, I wanted to present this small bit of my conversation . . .
. .
BD:
You are first cousin to the Queen. Has your involvement and
interest in the arts engendered more interest on her part?
H: I
don’t think she would put it down first in her list of hobbies
if she were asked to write in Who’s
Who. The one member of the family who likes it a lot
and is very involved is Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales.
He likes music a lot, but he is the first person for a generation
who has.
BD: Permit
me to ask one question, and you may dodge it if you like.
Will he make a good king?
H: [Matter
of factly] Oh yes. I think he’s a marvelous man.
He has so many qualities and so many experiences and he’s so judicious
about how he estimates them and how he goes about them. I think
he’ll be extraordinary.
* * * *
*
[September 19, 2022] [This item by Norman
Lebrecht appeared on September 18, 2022, in the column SlippedDisc,
‘the #1 Classical
Music News Site’.]
In 2016, Judith
Weir received the Royal Command to become the first woman ever to
serve as Master of the Queen’s Musick, a title that dates back to
1626. No-one proposed, then or now, to modify the term Master in a
manner that made it more gender inclusive. Now she is Master of
the King’s Musick.
She tells the Washington Post: ‘I think most of us
have grown up with, as we knew him, Prince Charles. He actually
is a most unusual lover of classical music. He was a cellist in his
youth, played in college orchestra and really intensely loves classical
music. He’s made some very touching statements when interviewed about
his interests and has made it clear that it’s absolutely top of the
list. I don’t expect there to be less interest in what we musicians
do, and I’m sort of anticipating that there’s a chance for us to do
even more, once he gets over the huge backlog of work he has to do.’
* * * *
*
In another item, Weir says: ‘“For this funeral service,
Westminster Abbey requested that I set to music the first seven
verses of Psalm 42, “Like as the hart desireth the water-brooks:
so longeth my soul after thee, O God”. The words and music speak at
first of the soul’s great sadness and thirst for God’s reassurance;
but as the psalm progresses, the mood becomes calmer and more resolved,
culminating in consolation, with the words “Put thy trust in God”. The
Queen’s strong faith in, and support of, Anglican worship was an
inspiration for me when setting this psalm to music.”’
= = = = = = = = =
[October 1, 2022] Over the years, Kathy
Cunningham has created several groups of hand-made ceramic pumpkins.
One is pictured below, and more can be found HERE.
= = = = = = = = =
[Thanksgiving, 2022] As we head into the Holiday
Season once again, the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago
presents their annual exhibit Christmas Around the World and Holidays
of Light. Since 2011, Kathy Cunningham has been in charge
of the USA TREE, which is always a highlight of the display.
This year, she made a set of enamel ornaments depicting the birds,
flowers, and trees of each state, plus Washington D.C., and the four US
Territories. These, along with the set of wooden ornaments and other
items from previous years adorn the tree. Everything except the
crystal icicles and the flags is hand-made, and can be seen on the various
webpages starting HERE.
Shown below-left is a shot of the tree after being decorated
by the Friends of the USA Tree, but before it had been placed
into the exhibit. On the right is a close-up of one of the new
ornaments (front and back) as an example.
= = = = = = = = =
[December 4, 2022] I ran across the following
cartoon a couple months ago, and saved it for Christmastide. Having
grown up as a choral singer, this particular carol appeared regularly.
Like Ninety-Nine Bottles of Beer on the Wall, it can become
repetitious. (!) If I may, allow me to recommend one (of
many) recorded versions for your listening pleasure. When Joan Sutherland
committed it to disc, she used an arrangement by Douglas Gamley. Since
it only runs 3:10, let me suggest that you listen to it twice. The
first time, just enjoy her lovely voice. The second time, ignore
her singing (as much as possible), and concentrate on the rest of the
sounds. It is the 'arrangement' which is notable, and can even
be used as a teaching-device to demonstrate the possibilities of making
a terrific version of an over-familiar (and over-repetitive) piece.
= = = = = = = = =
[December 27, 2022] A few months ago, I ran
across some cartoons by a Canadian pianist. I saved this one
(below) for an appropriate time . . . . . . . . .
= = = = = = = = =
[January 19, 2023] As we head into the New
Year, here's a bit of news that's sure to cause consternation among
lovers of Classical Music... *huge sigh*
= = = = = = = = =
[February 14, 2023] It's Valentine's Day, which
reminds me of a wise-crack I used to say in years when I was on the air
that evening (1975-2001). [Note that when one hears the term 'VD',
it usually refers to venereal disease, which is now called STD, or sexually
transmitted disease.] Anyway, on Valentine's Day I would, "Wish
everyone a safe, happy, and prosperous V.D." While I was never reprimanded
by the management for saying that, I do wonder if such a phrase might
not be decried as unacceptable in today's socio-political climate. Being
on a Classical Music station, perhaps my listeners were a bit more sophisticated
than those tuned to the Top-40 bubble-gum frequency... (!)
= = = = = = = = =
[March 2, 2023] Throughout my adult life, I have
always encouraged people to experience live Classical Music concerts.
As far back as when I was in junior high school (7th and 8th grades),
my growing knowledge and enthusiasm manifested itself in this quest.
Later, I have been quoted as saying that though I made my living
on radio via recorded performances, the LIVE variety was The True Way.
Some months ago, I saw the following cartoon, and stuck it in my
file for future amusement...
Little did I know that the idea would actually come to pass...
What follows are two news items from a regular daily feed called
Slippedisc. There have, of course, been occasional disruptions
in concert halls over the years, but this seems to be a first. Let
us hope that it is the last...
Here are more details from the following day ...
= = = = = = = = =
[March 14, 2023 (
day) ] A special version.....
= = = = = = = = =
[April 2, 2023] I wonder if anyone
has ever tried speakng the phrase, "Alexa: Klaatu barada nikto."
[Reference: The 1951 film The Day the Earth Stood Still.]
= = = = = = = = =
[April 30, 2023] With budget considerations
always being discussed, this item should be kept handy . . . . . . . . .
= = = = = = = = =
[August 8, 2023] Some bad news, and then some good
news.....
= = = = = = = = =
[October 28, 2023] For those who drive around
looking at Halloween decorations, here's a scary group that might appear
on your dashboard...
= = = = = = = = =
[December 31, 2023] As the year comes to a close . .
. . . [12/31/23]
[March 11, 2024] Today I am 73. A quick Google search
of that number presented several items. This one was my favorite .
. . . .