Hello Ardith,   
      
   On Wed 2039-Mar-30 20:16, Ardith Hinton (1:153/716) wrote to Richard Webb:   
      
   RW>  For piano and organ folks one learns about intervals   
   RW>  and scales in the process of learning music   
      
      
   AH>            Sounds good to me!  I'm glad I started on piano because   
   AH> it made the theory so much easier to understand.  At beginner level   
   AH> the sharps & flats are the black keys.  If you can't see them you   
   AH> can feel that they're assigned to a different position on the   
   AH> keyboard and, on older instruments, may be made of a different   
   AH> material.  Even now I visualize the piano keyboard at times when I'm   
   AH> struggling to get a handle on a chord symbol or a theoretical   
   AH> concept....  :-)    
      
   IT always did for me too.  YOu learn to think in intervals,   
   especially when you learned braille keyboard music notation, because the   
   notation on staves isn't possible, so interval   
   indicators are used to tell you how the chord should be   
   voiced.   
      
      
      
   RW>  often all that's written is the chord notation and the   
   RW>  melody line along with words.   
      
      
   AH>            Ah... I've seen a similar style of writing in the "fake   
   AH> books" used by dance band musicians.  In this context, if Joe Doakes   
   AH> asks for a song which the musicians aren't familiar with they can   
   AH> probably look it up... and he will probably be quite content if the   
   AH> tune is more or less as he remembers it.  ;-)    
      
   YEp, very similar for a lot of what I"ve done.  USed to   
   transcribe stuff from them, but usually found it simpler to   
   just learn it by ear.  MOre on that in a minute .   
      
      
   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.   
      
   I'm sure she did .  sHe might have done a lot of   
   memorization by hearing the part in rehearsal played by   
   other instruments in her section too.   
      
      
   RW>  I guess that's why I'm a jazz person .   
      
      
   AH>            Dallas is a jazz person too.  That's how I know about   
   AH> "fake books", and that's why I was wondering how you managed to pull   
   AH> off a gig in a style of music you don't usually play.  At a formal   
   AH> concert one might have a few pieces up one's sleeve... but I imagine   
   AH> a C/W gig as an informal situation, where one might be expected to   
   AH> deal with requests.  Quite a challenge, in any case.  :-)    
      
   AS long as somebody on the bandstand knows the changes I'll   
   do fine, I'll lay back usually the first time through the   
   series verses choruses and any bridge, play fill and make   
   sure I've got the chord changes in my head, and/or melody   
   line if I'm supposed to support that as well.  Even if a   
   colleague doesn't know it, if he's got the fake book we're   
   fine.   
      
      
   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.   
      
      
   AH>            We have... or used to have... a law in BC to the effect   
   AH> that anyone drinking an alcoholic beverage must not walk around with   
   AH> it in a public place, including (e.g.) a restaurant open to the   
   AH> general public.  I think the law has now been changed.  But perhaps   
   AH> Alberta had a similar law 'way back when... and perhaps some folks   
   AH> find it easier to make a blanket prohibition than to bother keeping   
   AH> track of whose soda, coffee, etc. may have been spiked with what.    
   AH> :-)    
      
   Indeed, am sure that's what it was.  They told me was   
   provincial law iirc.  At least it was summertime when I was   
   up there.   
      
   RW>  OTherwise, was just another 6 day stand in another   
   RW>  town basically .   
      
      
   AH>            Uh-huh.  Dallas did that sort of thing, and you've just   
   AH> reminded me of an Oktoberfest experience after which he resolved not   
   AH> to do it again.  :-))    
      
   Can understand that.  Did a lot of the one nighters too,   
   both as sound person and musician.  They're almost worse,   
   don't get enough sleep, etc.   
   WHen we'd do the multiple night things though I'd try to   
   look for the unique things to visit or enjoy wherever I was   
   and check them out.  ONe band I played with (the same one I   
   did LEthbridge with) used to do a lot of fishing after work. We'd end the show   
   around 1:00 A.M. and late night television was a vast wasteland, with or   
   without cable which not every   
   hotel/motel we stayed at offered.  FIshing was cheap   
   entertainment.  But, if we caught anything we had to be   
   careful, because we almost never acquired the local permits   
   because they're a pita often for transient folks to get.   
   IF we thought we'd be coming back there throughout the rest   
   of the year though we'd go ahead and find the place to   
   acquire them.   
   I think we spent most of the lEthbridge week cruising the   
   national park area in MOntana next door, etc.  Guitar man's   
   girlfriend was with us that week, and she was a nature   
   photography buff.  I'd ride along with them just to   
   alleviate boredom sitting around the motel room.  I think   
   first couple days I wandered around lEthbridge a bit,   
   otherwise I rode with them to various scenic spots where she could burn some   
   film.   
      
   Regards,   
              Richard   
   --- timEd 1.10.y2k+   
    * Origin:  (1:116/901)