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Schickelecture
Nov. 3rd, 2005 10:14 pmFirst viola (in tears): Conductor, the oboe player untuned one of my tuning pegs!
Conductor: Well, that's a little immature of him, but why are you so upset?
First viola: He won't tell me which one!
I lifted that joke (which was a joke about music, not a musical joke, and thus not really on-topic) from tonight's Peter Schickele lecture, called "What's so funny about music?" It might have been better-named "A survey of humor in classical music, plus some anecdotes," since the talk didn't do much more than describe a few categories of comedy (quotation, wrong notes and funny noises, anachronism) and provide us with a bunch of amusing examples of each. The basic theme ("Context is what makes things in music funny or not") was, well, basic, but I didn't mind a bit; it was lovely to hear him talk about Spike Jones in one breath and Bartok's parody of Shostakovich in the next, with audio illustrations for us heathen who don't lizzen to da gud moosik. And he told a Swarthmore anecdote, so, yay.
I laughed a lot, I learned a bit, and I got to hear him try to sing the high note in I Want to Hold Your Hand and a Tom-Waitsy version of Hamlet's soliloquy; who can complain? Now, I need to see if I can score tickets to either the concert or the dress rehearsal. Hmmm.
Conductor: Well, that's a little immature of him, but why are you so upset?
First viola: He won't tell me which one!
I lifted that joke (which was a joke about music, not a musical joke, and thus not really on-topic) from tonight's Peter Schickele lecture, called "What's so funny about music?" It might have been better-named "A survey of humor in classical music, plus some anecdotes," since the talk didn't do much more than describe a few categories of comedy (quotation, wrong notes and funny noises, anachronism) and provide us with a bunch of amusing examples of each. The basic theme ("Context is what makes things in music funny or not") was, well, basic, but I didn't mind a bit; it was lovely to hear him talk about Spike Jones in one breath and Bartok's parody of Shostakovich in the next, with audio illustrations for us heathen who don't lizzen to da gud moosik. And he told a Swarthmore anecdote, so, yay.
I laughed a lot, I learned a bit, and I got to hear him try to sing the high note in I Want to Hold Your Hand and a Tom-Waitsy version of Hamlet's soliloquy; who can complain? Now, I need to see if I can score tickets to either the concert or the dress rehearsal. Hmmm.
