Les Paul Would Have Loved This!
09 Jun 2011 Leave a Comment
in Instruments
Today would have been Les Paul’s 96th birthday. Google commemorated it by an interactive guitar Google Doodle, which is pretty neat. I discovered it last night, and since then have been having way too much fun sounding terrible!
This brings back memories of visiting relatives in another state. My 16-year-old cousin had been given an electric guitar for his birthday, and he let me try it out. I was almost 12. I refused to use a pick, and I ended up rubbing a water blister on my thumb, but I didn’t care. I was way too into strumming it and playing the various chords. The guitar was glossy and red, yellow, brown, and black–or some combination of those colors–and I couldn’t get enough. When I got tired trying to hold it the regular way, I laid it carefully on my lap, picking the strings fast–just like I’d seen some country musicians do. My cousin helped me when I needed it.
Good thing there were no music critics around. If my cousin–always a big teaser–was annoyed, he never, ever showed it. I’ve always appreciated that.
The neat thing about this Google Doodle is that you can record, play back, and use the keyboard to strum rather than work with a mouse or trackball. I learned a lot from the Post’s blog today. Melissa Bell shared the work of someone named Mark, who played Pachelbel’s Canon in D. Here’s the Post’s Michael Cavna, who posted someone’s version of “Ode to Joy.”
Here’s a little on Les Paul, the great man himself.
And here’s me, being my usual untalented, quirky self. I know this sounds awful, but I got a real kick out of it. Enjoy it if you can. I named “Just Hangin’ Around.”
The Contrabassoon and Contraforte
22 Oct 2010 Leave a Comment
in Instruments
My entire knowledge of the contraforte and contrabassoon comes from an October 14th Washington Post article by critic Anne Midgette. She interviewed Lewis Lipnick, who has played the contrabassoon for the National Symphony Orchestra for a long time. At the time the story was published, he had just bought a contraforte, which sounds a lot smoother. The low tones of both instruments invite humor (both off-color and gently sarcastic), which players take in stride as best they can. I enjoyed learning about the history of both instruments, and the clip where Lipnick is playing them.
Beethoven used the contrabassoon in one of the movements of The Ninth Symphony. That’s not shabby at all!
Classical WETA 90.9 has been celebrating “Christoph Eschenbach Month.” He’s the new music director of the NSO, and I really liked the cover profile Midgette wrote about him for the Washington Post magazine in early October. Both may be found in the archives.
A long time ago, our neighbor gave me a pocket guide to musical terms and instruments. I read and kept it for many years. Now that I enjoy listening to classical music more, I wish I still had it to refer to. Nowadays, there are tons of resources on the Internet. I picked this one from the Dallas Symphony Orchestra–for the audio and explanations that get kids (and anyone else) interested.
