Klarinet Archive - Posting 000369.txt from 2004/05

From: Tony Pay <tony.p@-----.org>
Subj: [kl] Truth in the hot dog stand
Date: Wed, 19 May 2004 18:14:11 -0400

On 19 May, ormondtoby@-----.net (Ormondtoby Montoya) wrote:

> > You can get used to a musical mistake to the extent that you can't judge
> > impartially the evidence for the correctness of the correct alternative.
>
> Perhaps the discussion should be: Which musical details actually have a
> 'right' and 'wrong' --- rather than being matters of individual
> preference via habituation?

You sometimes sound to me rather like someone who wants to have an
explanation from first principles why a particular passage written in German
is actually written in bad German -- without being a fluent German speaker
yourself.

> Humorous real-life example from this morning's news:
>
> Baseball fans (in New York City, I believe?) are in an uproar because
> the stadium concessionaire has replaced Cracker Jacks with Munch-A-Bunch
> (I may have the name wrong). The song "Take Me Out To The Ball Game",
> which is almost the national anthem of baseball parks, says "Buy me some
> popcorn and Cracker Jacks", and therefore it is 'wrong' to replace
> Cracker Jacks at the hot dog stand.

Sounds a pretty good argument, of its sort, to me. A large part of what is
attractive about attending something like a baseball game probably lies in
the sum of the security you get from sharing an established ritual with the
other spectators, plus the uncertainty and excitement you get from exposing
yourself to the hazard that the team you support may lose.

"And some damned hot dog company wants to change what we've always had just
to make a few extra bucks? And render our *song* obsolete!!!??"

> Clearly (?) this is a matter of violating tradition rather than a matter
> of "gastronomical truth'..... I think.

I don't know that there is such a thing as gastronomical 'truth' any more
than I know there is such a thing as musical 'truth'; but if there is such a
thing as gastronomical 'truth', I think this would be quite a good contender
for the position.

Tony
--
_________ Tony Pay
|ony:-) 79 Southmoor Rd tony.p@-----.org
| |ay Oxford OX2 6RE http://classicalplus.gmn.com/artists
tel/fax 01865 553339

... Thesaurus: ancient reptile with an excellent vocabulary.

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Klarinet is a service of Woodwind.Org, Inc. http://www.woodwind.org