Klarinet Archive - Posting 000035.txt from 2001/01

From: "Tony Wakefield" <tony-wakefield@-----.net>
Subj: [kl] M. L`s Millennium/comm. clarinets
Date: Tue, 2 Jan 2001 05:22:46 -0500

1)Michael`s Millennium

I wonder if that Roman monk did his sums <correctly> Michael. Going
backwards
<from> 525, did Dionysius manage to contact and consider all parties
involved, reaping & recording true dates, enabling him to come up with an
accurate point
he could call year 1. It seems not even Pope Gregory could handle <zero>
without giving himself a breakdown. I was born in 1942, but the world didn`t
celebrate my birth in 1943. (another aside - it still hasn`t, not even
1942).
It would seem, (above all) that 4BC could be <the> most accurate date, as
the astronomers`
have discovered that around that date, a large comet, (Halley`s?) would have
been passing, thus creating the "Star" which our three kings were supposed
to have followed. How did the astronomers calculate the year <zero> tho` in
order for them to further calculate 4 years <before> zero?
We will <never, ever> know will we?
I think we`d better just live and let live and get back to some new year
practising.

2) Band clarinets.

A strange phenomena! America does not have enough clarinettists` for their
service <and> community bands. How can this be? In the U. K. we do have a
predominance of other instruments, but it would seem not to be in such a
crisis as in the U.S. Could it be that there are too many younger people
taking up for example - brass? Could it be that the band directors are
taking on too many of other departments? Could it be that there are just too
many bands? I have also found that once some parents discover that a
clarinettist will be forever purchasing reeds, then that becomes a
disincentive to continue studying the instru. It`s an unintelligent
consideration, as we all know, so how can we get that message across.
Perhaps the "plastic" reed, (<and> plastic instru. <is> the future for all
single and double reed instru. We do have to consider the environment in the
long term: and sooner than what we realise, short term.
But in the end, the "band" as we know it, was and is required to play
outside. The sound of brass carries further than what reeds do, so I would
think that that predominance of brass sound, in itself discourages reeds
from joining those bands. I Spent 9 years in a forces band, with an
excellent clarinet section, then eventually couldn`t stand the domineering
sound of the brass. I think that a lot of band directors are over zealous to
a degree, influenced, if you like by this "louder" tone of brass, to such a
degree that the clarinets become the "back" row of the band instead of the
"front" row. The brass also play consistently sharper than the wind, which
makes the clarinets especially, sound like a rush of slurping mud, with no
definition whatsoever.
Come on band directors - SORT IT! Then I`m sure the clarinet recruiting will
improve.
Best,
Tony W.
P.S. I`m off to a funeral now. A relation of my wife. She was a
clarinettist.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Michael Lawrence" <belgarath10@-----.com>
Subject: Re: [kl] Michael L`s Millennium

> Yeah, I think you're right about the 4 BC... I remember the 4, but then I
> can never remember if it's AD or BC. Every Monday, here in Lubbock, there
> is "[a] page produced by teens, for teens"... and one of the articles
today
> was "History says new millennium starts today." Just for a point of view
> that was (hopefully) researched a little bit, I'll type it up:
>
> "Last year skeptics debated whether the year 2000 was the real
millennium
> and many asked, "Why should it be?"
> "Here is the reason. Going back to the year 525, a Roman monk,
Dionysius
> Exiguus, designated the year A.D. 1 as the birth of Christ. The
surrounding
> years are 2 B.C. 1 B.C., A.D. 1 and A.D. 2. He excluded the year 0
because
> in his counting system zero was not used.
> "Then in 1582, Pope Gregory XIII reformed the standard calendar into
The
> Gregorian Calendar Reform. This calendar, which retained the starting
point
> at A.D. 1, is the calendar we use today. In light of the calendar
starting
> at A.D. 1, millenniums begin with a year ending in one and conclude with a
> year ending in zero. For example, the first millennium was from A.D. 1 to
> A.D. 1000, the second millennium was from A.D. 1001 to A.D. 2000, and the
> third millennium is from 2001 to 3000.
> "This concept also holds true for the centuries. The 20th centuray was
> from 1901 to 2000, and the 21st century is from 2001 to 3000.
> <snip>"
> -By Kristen Pajares
>
> The part I snipped was just quotes from students saying "wow, I didn't
know
> that the millennium was really this year" etc. Anyway, that's what she
has
> to say about it (hehe, so I was off by a century or two for when it
> started;-)
>
> -Michael L.

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