Klarinet Archive - Posting 000055.txt from 2001/01

From: "Tony Wakefield" <tony-wakefield@-----.net>
Subj: [kl] Re: M. L`s Millennium/comm. clarinets
Date: Tue, 2 Jan 2001 16:09:33 -0500

Test. - Originally sent (U.K.) 10.22 local time. At 17.18 local time, no
sign of having been received at klarinet.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Tony Wakefield" <tony-wakefield@-----.net>
Subject: M. L`s Millennium and community clarinets

> 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>
> To: <klarinet@-----.org>
> Sent: 01 January 2001 21:59
> 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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