Klarinet Archive - Posting 000014.txt from 2000/10

From: Bilwright@-----.net (William Wright)
Subj: Re: [kl] Silly things with Clarinets
Date: Sun, 1 Oct 2000 14:07:46 -0400

<><> James Marioneaux wrote:
We were always playing jokes on each other in college like saying that
Leopold Stokowski's real name was Leo Stokes but he changed it to sound
more famous.

<ulp!> You mean it *wasn't* ??

All morning, a little voice inside my head has been telling me that
I needed to say something here, but I couldn't remember until now:
Last night I saw STOMP! which has 'silly things' that make real
music. Their routine with cigarette lighters challenges the meaning of
'music' and 'musical language' because the stage goes dark and as the
flames from the lighters pop on and off, you perceive -- if you're
willing to open up your mind -- that the shifting patterns of light
create a spatial melody over time, complete with intervals and rhythm.
Spatial coordinates replace pitches. (But is it language?)
I suspect that most of you have seen the show, but they even play
the kitchen sink, and they control its pitch by changing the water level
(while carrying it around the stage). At the end of the kitchen sink
routine, the audience was laughing hard and my 13-yr-old daughter asked
me what was so funny about shaking the sink. I declined to answer that
one.
They played a symphonette (?) with tuned pieces of rubber tubing
while tap dancing the percussion, they played match boxes and
newspapers, and even plastic bags -- which they wave in the air and
'rustle' at first, but then they inflate one of them and add some melody
by controlling how tight they compress the bag.

Okay, we've all seen it, but it deserves mention here anyway. If
any of you haven't seen it, it's worth driving 3-4 hours in order to do
so.

Cheers,
Bill

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