Klarinet Archive - Posting 000199.txt from 1995/07

From: John Baetens <JSBtens@-----.COM>
Subj: Re: something trivial
Date: Sun, 23 Jul 1995 18:23:59 -0400

Scott McChesney writes:

> A while back, a local music store made a TV commercial
>about renting their instruments for beginning students.
>They brought in several button-cute youngsters and had them
>all do the barely-credible job of faking playing the instruments
>while the voice-over happily babbled away about rates and such.

This note reminds me of a pet peeve of mine. It really irks me
when I am watching a movie or watching something on TV and
the script calls for a band to play and the actors playing the
band members are obviously not only not playing the instruments,
but probably have never even held the instruments before in their
lives. They look so stupid pretending to play, with an embouchure
so loose that if they actually were playing, they would get nothing
out but a big squawk. I know that for every actor playing a bit
part, at least 20 or 30 out of work actors tried out for the part.
You would think that the casting director would be able to find
actors who had enough experience on the instruments they are
supposed to be playing to at least fake it with some degree of
believability.
I must admit, though, that hollywood has improved somewhat
when the actor is playing a lead role as a musician. They now
employ "music teachers" to teach the actors how to fake playing
and make it look real.

   
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