Hi, Richard!  Awhile ago you commented about Braille music & whatnot:   
      
   RW>  For piano and organ folks one learns about intervals   
   RW>  and scales in the process of learning music   
      
      
              Sounds good to me!  I'm glad I started on piano because it made the   
   theory so much easier to understand.  At beginner level the sharps & flats are   
   the black keys.  If you can't see them you can feel that they're assigned to a   
   different position on the keyboard and, on older instruments, may be made of a   
   different material.  Even now I visualize the piano keyboard at times when I'm   
   struggling to get a handle on a chord symbol or a theoretical concept....  :-)   
      
      
      
   RW>  often all that's written is the chord notation and the   
   RW>  melody line along with words.   
      
      
              Ah... I've seen a similar style of writing in the "fake books" used   
   by dance band musicians.  In this context, if Joe Doakes asks for a song which   
   the musicians aren't familiar with they can probably look it up... and he will   
   probably be quite content if the tune is more or less as he remembers it.  ;-)   
      
      
      
   RW>  in my younger days often by the time I'd received my sheet   
   RW>  music transcriptions, unless I did it with somebody else   
   RW>  dictating I'd already memorized the part by just attending   
   RW>  rehearsals .  My mother learned to read sheet music   
   RW>  enough to do the dictation while I transcribed to braille,   
   RW>  with resources she could call on the phone such as the band   
   RW>  director to decipher an unfamiliar symbol when needed.   
      
   AH>  If I'm expected to memorize or play by ear or copy what   
   AH>  somebody else has done, I feel like a fish out of water.   
   AH>  [The blind woman in our community band] probably did too.   
      
   RW>  INdeed, as do I often, can do it, but it isn't quite as   
   RW>  easy.   
      
      
              I hear you.  I coped when somebody turned out the lights because it   
   was somebody else's birthday & they were determined to show off a cake adorned   
   with sparklers to best advantage, but didn't think to warn the musicians about   
   their plans (and evidently didn't notice what *we* were doing at the time).  I   
   coped when one of my fellow teachers asked me to show her grade two students a   
   bit more about the clarinet I used to play THE MARCH OF THE THREE KINGS behind   
   the scenes in rehearsal for a school Christmas pageant & discovered only after   
   my arrival in class that the kids also expected me to play something they were   
   more familiar with.  Now I know I can play TWINKLE, TWINKLE LITTLE STAR by ear   
   if need be.  My heart was in my boots & I still prefer to read the music.  :-)   
      
      
      
   RW>  I guess that's why I'm a jazz person .   
      
      
              Dallas is a jazz person too.  That's how I know about "fake books",   
   and that's why I was wondering how you managed to pull off a gig in a style of   
   music you don't usually play.  At a formal concert one might have a few pieces   
   up one's sleeve... but I imagine a C/W gig as an informal situation, where one   
   might be expected to deal with requests.  Quite a challenge, in any case.  :-)   
      
      
      
   AH>  Now you've got me wondering about that C/W gig in   
   AH>  Lethbridge....  ;-)   
      
   RW>  WAs fun and interesting for a few days.  I couldn't   
   RW>  quite get used to the fact that if I had a drink, even   
   RW>  nonalcoholic while on break and wished to take it to the   
   RW>  bandstand I couldn't do that, one of the wait staff had   
   RW>  to bring me my drink on the bandstand.   
      
      
              We have... or used to have... a law in BC to the effect that anyone   
   drinking an alcoholic beverage must not walk around with it in a public place,   
   including (e.g.) a restaurant open to the general public.  I think the law has   
   now been changed.  But perhaps Alberta had a similar law 'way back when... and   
   perhaps some folks find it easier to make a blanket prohibition than to bother   
   keeping track of whose soda, coffee, etc. may have been spiked with what.  :-)   
      
      
      
   RW>  OTherwise, was just another 6 day stand in another   
   RW>  town basically .   
      
      
              Uh-huh.  Dallas did that sort of thing, and you've just reminded me   
   of an Oktoberfest experience after which he resolved not to do it again.  :-))   
      
      
      
      
   --- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+   
    * Origin: Wits' End, Vancouver CANADA (1:153/716)