There is no "H"
Monday was a dull day.
Until 6:30 0r so when Dennis James put on a pre-concert concert at Town Hall wherein he set out a table of tuned wine glasses and instructed the gathered on rubbing the rims to make the sound we all love.
The glasses were marked with colored dots to identify the pitch.
When this pick up band was sufficiently schooled in the technique, Mr James led them in performance of some songs accompanied by the wine glass chorus by holding up paddles of colors to signal which glasses were to be rubbed.
Against these ethereal sounds, Heather Bentley played the tune on her viola.
It was as much fun as the main concert itself, which featured Mr James on a glass armonica.
That's right "Armonica" it's a word coined by Ben Franklin for his music machine, from the Italian "armonia" (Harmony)
After promising my many and sundry internet followers that I would ride Cecelia the Vespa to my dental appointment the next day,I was disappointed to find, after I had started the machine and donned the helmet, a flat tire.
Sic Semper Machina Mundi.
But...M. also had a dental appointment that day (yesterday[scrambled eggs according to Paul])
So she gave me a ride.
Figured I'd take the bus home.
But why not walk downtown and take the bus from out front of Benaroya Hall?
Why not?
A little exercise, and another chance to moon that infra dig establishment.
So I did that.
But...after coffee and a cookie at Caffe Ladro I decided to walk the whole way.
'zonly 15 miles so WTHay?
Stocked up on Cliff bars and a liter of water an trudged onward.
My legs hurt today, which is a school day.
So I'm going to do that now.
Until 6:30 0r so when Dennis James put on a pre-concert concert at Town Hall wherein he set out a table of tuned wine glasses and instructed the gathered on rubbing the rims to make the sound we all love.
The glasses were marked with colored dots to identify the pitch.
When this pick up band was sufficiently schooled in the technique, Mr James led them in performance of some songs accompanied by the wine glass chorus by holding up paddles of colors to signal which glasses were to be rubbed.
Against these ethereal sounds, Heather Bentley played the tune on her viola.
It was as much fun as the main concert itself, which featured Mr James on a glass armonica.
That's right "Armonica" it's a word coined by Ben Franklin for his music machine, from the Italian "armonia" (Harmony)
After promising my many and sundry internet followers that I would ride Cecelia the Vespa to my dental appointment the next day,I was disappointed to find, after I had started the machine and donned the helmet, a flat tire.
Sic Semper Machina Mundi.
But...M. also had a dental appointment that day (yesterday[scrambled eggs according to Paul])
So she gave me a ride.
Figured I'd take the bus home.
But why not walk downtown and take the bus from out front of Benaroya Hall?
Why not?
A little exercise, and another chance to moon that infra dig establishment.
So I did that.
But...after coffee and a cookie at Caffe Ladro I decided to walk the whole way.
'zonly 15 miles so WTHay?
Stocked up on Cliff bars and a liter of water an trudged onward.
My legs hurt today, which is a school day.
So I'm going to do that now.
posted by Lane Savant at 10:56 AM
14 Comments:
OK, OK, I can dig it, the
instrument was a Armonica,
and "There is no H".
Wine glass music, like bell
choirs, are so very unique.
A music machine, wow, and
old Gentle Ben was involved too?
I gotta admit that I was number
one Dummy about this instrument,
so for the other ill and uninformed types out there:
The Armonica, also called the glass harmonica was invented by Benjamin Franklin in 1761. In 1757, while in England he attended a concert given on the wine glasses. He thought it was the sweetest sound he had ever heard but he wanted to hear more harmonies with his melody. Thus the Armonica was born and named by Franklin for a word taken from the musical Italian language. It has been said that if the harp is "the instrument of the Angels", then the Armonica is "the voice of the Angels".
Graduated size bowls with holes and corks in the center were put onto a horizontal spindle and rotated by a fly wheel and a foot pedal. Moistened fingers rubbed the edges to produce the beautiful sound. Franklin used a most unique way to identify the notes of the bowls. He painted the seven white keys the seven colors of the rainbow and the five black keys, white. The practice of gold banding was begun in 1785 by Karl Rollig of Germany (see picture below of Franklin's own Armonica and remaining bowls at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia)
The Armonica was an instant success. Marie Antoinette took lessons on it and Dr. Mesmer, the famous hypnotist, used it to put his patients into a deeper trance. Composers started writing for it. The most famous...Mozart, Beethoven, Donizetti, Richard Strauss, and Saint-Saens.
By the mid-1800's, it suddenly lost its popularity, and gradually vanished. Superstitions ran wild.. Armonicas were said to drive performers mad and evoke spirits of the dead because of its eerie and haunting sound. It had a rebirth in 1982 through the efforts of the late master glass blower named Gerhard Finkenbeiner, of Waltham, Massachusetts. The "new-old" Armonica is now reaching into many corners of the world and has moved into the 21st century.
Did we know that your Vespa
was named "Cecelia"? I guess
she just did not want you to
ride her yesterday. That is
the scooter Miss M. used to
ride to work, right?
Jesus H. Christ, most of
us old farts out here could
not walk 15 blocks, let
alone 15 miles. Hopefully
you didn't walk down Ranier
Ave. taking your life in
your hands, you walked east
to the Lake, and then along
the shore all the way home,
enit? So, Mr. Sore Legs,
how was David and school?
Lynne Rees got back to me on
email, and in a very "kind"
way confirmed that
a) my multiple submissions are
difficult to cope with, both
in terms of her reviewing them,
and the effect on the other
poets who submit their work,
b) my last two poems, GAY MUST
PAY and THE ART OF DEATH were
not fully within the parameters
of poems about "ritual", but
where more abstract, out there.
But she also said that she
certainly does not want to
dampen my enthusiasm for writing.
So ONCE AGAIN, Buttkus presents
himself with both barrels
and some decent person out
there does not quite know what
the hell to do with me, to me,
or for me. Must be a bitch.
Last night Melva was at a
meeting for a while, and my
son-in-law had dropped by
so we conspired and he helped
me order the new Mac lap top
on line from Best Buy for
Melva. I will present to
her on April 3rd, our 17th
wedding anniversary. She is
out of town tonight and
tomorrow, so I will head
over to the store after
work Friday, and pick it up.
Joel recommends the wireless
blue tooth mouse and fancy
carrying case to go with
it. Should be a nice surprise.
I have alterior motives, of
course. When I retire in
June, and get into doing a
project on the table top
Mac, when she gets home from
work, she usually has some
school stuff, or AER stuff
to do, and there will be the
one computer family conflict
going on. No she can sit in
the living room, Skype the
grandchildren, or read her
email, or work on her reports
without yanking me off the
Big Mac, enit?
Hey Dummy....dat wud be "Now she can sit..." not "No she can sit",
dont youse tink? Funny how youse write so damn much so damned fast dat you don chek it out. Den sum
dude like meese hasta cum alongg
annd cleen up yer mes.
.......Vinnie
There is no "H"
in Ell, or in
Ouse, or in Ammer,
or in Anger, or in
Amburger, or in
Armonica, enit?
.......Thomas BuildsAfire
Hey Vinnie, why did you use
my name with your comment.
Makes us all wonder about
who's the dummy, Dude.
Usyouly, one uzes a "?" affter
an inquiry der Mister Big Pants!
Dummys are Us, right?
.........Vinnie
All that's truly missing now
is a comment from Anonomann,
or Jannie, or Robin, or
Lane, or some of the rest
of us who have been kind of
quiet lately.
.........Edgar Poo
Have you guys been over to
FFTR lately? Man, Glenn has
written this poem,
GAY MUST PAY, and it is one
tough bit of poetic. It
is also gay bashing and
sexual harassment, but perhaps
he was just taking poetic
license, and his creative
POV was seperate from his
own persona?
.........Dame Elton Johns
Kind of got me excited just
reading it, and Lane liked
it right up front.
.......Tiny Tim
Actually, I liked Glenn's
poem, LUCILLE better. It was
pure Duke Nukem.
.......Eddy Emerald
Go take a peek at
JEHOVAH'S WET DREAM,
that one is way cool.
.......Mike's Jackkboy
Actually if one wants to read
"quality" poetry, they need
to ferret out the over 80+
poems posted on FFTR written
by my Dear Douglas. Glenn posted
the entire list within these
comments last week. Doug does it for me.
.............Emily
Hallo, Lane+Readers!
"Sounds" like the Pre-Concert was better than the "Concert"!!
Tschüß,
Anonomann (+LL)
I gotta admit that I was number
one Dummy about this instrument,
so for the other ill and uninformed types out there:
home jobs without registration
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