Brad Nelson
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Dec 17, 2019 14:08:37 GMT -8
Post by Brad Nelson on Dec 17, 2019 14:08:37 GMT -8
This guy does a pretty fair rendition as well:
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Brad Nelson
Administrator
עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
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Dec 17, 2019 14:25:01 GMT -8
Post by Brad Nelson on Dec 17, 2019 14:25:01 GMT -8
That's a hell of a lot of trombones:
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Dec 17, 2019 14:37:15 GMT -8
Post by kungfuzu on Dec 17, 2019 14:37:15 GMT -8
Note how Wilson works this theme into Pick a Little Talk a Little.
You have come upon the importance of themes in music. Good composers constantly play with themes and weave them into their compositions. I can't think of a great symphony that doesn't do this. Themes catch the listeners' attention and stay with them. Too much of modern music has discarded themes, which is why few listen to it.
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Dec 17, 2019 14:47:16 GMT -8
Post by kungfuzu on Dec 17, 2019 14:47:16 GMT -8
That guy is not bad, but the tape shows why setting makes such a difference and how histrionics can be useful in theater. The energy Robert Preston has in that number is fantastic. |
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Dec 17, 2019 14:53:26 GMT -8
Post by kungfuzu on Dec 17, 2019 14:53:26 GMT -8
That video of the high school bands was made less than 10 miles north of us. It is in the Allen High School Stadium; an insane edifice which cost something like US$65 million. McKinney, another 5-10 miles further north has now matched Allen in building an equally crazy football stadium. They take high school football seriously in Texas. It might also be a nice way for city fathers to help their friends in the construction business.
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Brad Nelson
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עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
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Dec 17, 2019 15:10:08 GMT -8
Post by Brad Nelson on Dec 17, 2019 15:10:08 GMT -8
I’ve listened to a few versions of “76 Trombones.” There are dozens of them on Apple Music. Surprisingly, the John Williams version is pretty boring. The one by Judy Garland is just awful. But the one by Montovani is rather spirited and good. (I'll see if I can find that.) And I ran across this one that I thought was unique:
This one above by The London Trombone Sound (Geoffrey Simon, arranged by Eric Crees) captures a certain something that is fun, quirky…and completely consistent with the movie.
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Dec 17, 2019 15:12:34 GMT -8
Post by kungfuzu on Dec 17, 2019 15:12:34 GMT -8
I'm going to change the mood and link the listener to one of my favorite movie themes. The movie it is from also deals with a small town, but the mood is very different.
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Post by timothylane on Dec 17, 2019 15:14:51 GMT -8
I'm pretty sure that the MP3 image we have of The Music Man (which is part of my regular music sequence) is from my copy of the soundtrack, which Brad's example certainly looks like. (All my albums and CDs were left behind in the house when we sold it.) I had it on both LP and CD.
Brad's analysis of the songs is pretty good. One thing I liked in "Pick a Little, Talk a Little" is the way they intersperse Hill and the Biddies (I think they're referred to that way on the soundtrack) with hens hunting on the ground for grains of corn. And that whole front sequence with the traveling salesmen is fun -- all the way through Harold Hill revealing himself as he decides to give River City a try.
And notice Hill's listing of band leaders in the introduction to "76 Trombones", ending with a reverential "and John Philip Sousa". I have a CD image of Sousa songs. Some (especially "The Stars and Stripes Forever") show up on a collection of marches I have as well as on various collections of patriotic music (which I tend to play on certain days -- you can probably guess which).
And if you think 76 trombones is a lot, imagine 110 cornets or "more than a thousand reeds".
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Brad Nelson
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Dec 17, 2019 15:16:43 GMT -8
Post by Brad Nelson on Dec 17, 2019 15:16:43 GMT -8
Good point. And they film it briefly from above. The women really do look like a bunch of clucking hens. I wonder if they could get the same effect in the stage play.
Indeed. I can hear the strings of the main title wafting through Lawrence of Arabia.
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Brad Nelson
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Dec 17, 2019 15:18:00 GMT -8
Post by Brad Nelson on Dec 17, 2019 15:18:00 GMT -8
It’s a small world . . . and a big stadium.
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Dec 17, 2019 15:19:26 GMT -8
Post by kungfuzu on Dec 17, 2019 15:19:26 GMT -8
That was excellent! The arranger did a wonderful job of highlighting the versatility and range of the trombone. I will listen to that again soon.
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Brad Nelson
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Dec 17, 2019 15:20:28 GMT -8
Post by Brad Nelson on Dec 17, 2019 15:20:28 GMT -8
That’s a nice song from Picnic. I’m still picturing Kim Novak naked. (Did I say that out loud?) Is that when they do the dance out on the patio at night? |
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Dec 17, 2019 15:22:57 GMT -8
Post by kungfuzu on Dec 17, 2019 15:22:57 GMT -8
I believe so. Even though Holden felt he was too old for the part, it doesn't get much better than him and Novak dancing on a summer evening.
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Dec 17, 2019 15:42:08 GMT -8
Post by timothylane on Dec 17, 2019 15:42:08 GMT -8
I'm not at all familiar with Picnic, but there is a Petula Clark song (on her Now album) called "Song Without End" that may well be the one mentioned in that video. The MP3 doesn't list the songwriter.
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Dec 17, 2019 15:51:25 GMT -8
Post by artraveler on Dec 17, 2019 15:51:25 GMT -8
It’s a little risqué Now that is a band worth following up close American musicals are by definition thin on plot and characters. They are based on the light opera of the 19th century and are intended as light entertainment, (television in an era without television), suitable for the hoi polloi who perhaps don't bath as often as the elites in their gilded towers. i. e. the same folks who made Shakespeare famous. In the overall line of public entertainment musicals fall just above burlesque and vaudeville but the social impact is much wider. The age of movie musicals, call it 1935 to 1980 roughly covers the depression, WWII and the Cold War. surely a time when "feel good" entertainment was needed. It also covers the biographical musicals of Al Jolson and George M. Cohan, Jazz Singer and Yankee Doodle Dandy, Larry Parks and James Cagney. Both are excellent bios and full of the music of the age. Larry Parks was blacklisted as a communist, never proven, but his career was over. Both Jolson and Cohan played vaudeville and burlesque and in blackface so to the PC culture they are persona non grata, but Rock-a-Bye your baby to a Dixie melody and Yankee Doodle Dandy can not be forgotten. www.bing.com/videos/search?q=I%27m+a+Yankee+Doodle+Dandy+James+Cagney&&view=detail&mid=02F2C9983BAEE3918B7902F2C9983BAEE3918B79&&FORM=VRDGAR&ru=%2Fvideos%2Fsearch%3Fq%3DI%2527m%2Ba%2BYankee%2BDoodle%2BDandy%2BJames%2BCagney%26FORM%3DVDMHRS www.bing.com/search?q=toot+toot+tootise&form=APMCS1&PC=APMC |
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Brad Nelson
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Dec 17, 2019 20:53:43 GMT -8
Post by Brad Nelson on Dec 17, 2019 20:53:43 GMT -8
Fred Astaire got a bit old for some of his roles, as did Bing Crosby. In the case of Crosby, what woman of any age wouldn’t want to be attracted by this bazillionaire (for his time)? His commanding presence could make it work, even if in White Christmas he was 51 and Rosemary Clooney was 26. She looked (because of her maturity) older than that. And Crosby is a case of you’re as young as you feel.
In the case of William Holden, I think they were a good match. This age difference seems normal. Holden was 38. Novak was 23. Is that perfect or what? And it would take a slightly older man to tame the wild Novak.
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Brad Nelson
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Dec 17, 2019 21:02:34 GMT -8
Post by Brad Nelson on Dec 17, 2019 21:02:34 GMT -8
This is where I was slightly on the fence with The Music Man. It certainly seemed to be full of the lampooning of fly-over America to the extent that it exudes down-talking. Make your own judgment on the motivation of Meredith Wilson. His short bio mentions: If the guy actually lived the life, it’s easier to be comfortable about his motivation. He knew his own people. He loved his own people. And yet, yes, there were plenty of things to lampoon. That’s what we don’t see much of regarding the non-fly-over country people. Perhaps this is why many conservative (so-called) movie reviewers typically fall all over themselves to praise some movie that might be taking some mild shots at the Libtards. But regarding Quinten Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, that’s more in the realm of “I’ll believe it when I see it.” And so far I haven't wanted to pay the $6.00+ price to rent it. |
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Dec 17, 2019 22:00:15 GMT -8
Post by timothylane on Dec 17, 2019 22:00:15 GMT -8
Well, I guess that explains the reverential take on John Philip Sousa.
There are a lot of big city leftists who came from small towns in flyover country and only want to leave it behind. I don't think that was the case with Wilson. In the end, the townspeople were good people, even Mayor Shinn's wife. (Maybe not the mayor himself, but after all he was a politician.) I seem to recall that the cover notes on the LP -- by Wilson himself -- suggest that Winthrop Paroo was to some extent inspired by his own childhood. That's why the musical in many ways is about the boy coming out of his shell, and the effect that has on his mother and sister.
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Brad Nelson
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Dec 18, 2019 8:32:30 GMT -8
Post by Brad Nelson on Dec 18, 2019 8:32:30 GMT -8
That sounds likely. But wouldn’t you like to see a lampooning of Libtard Life in the big city? Think of the rich material for song writing about the homeless. Possible song titles:
• Needles and Ordure on the Boulevard
• I Took a Leak in Town Hall.
• Six Months Without a Wash
The possibilities, as they say, are endless.
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Brad Nelson
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Dec 18, 2019 8:47:16 GMT -8
Post by Brad Nelson on Dec 18, 2019 8:47:16 GMT -8
There was a definite herd mentality on display there. At least the musical is honest about that. Liberals claim to be “free thinkers” while engaging in the most onerous groupthink. But at least their stated aim was to make sure that their youth were hard-working and not corrupted. When I hear (as I did at my mother’s memorial service) a father praising his son for “her” sex change, you have to wonder if Mayor Shinn and the other elders didn’t have a point.
The impression I get from the end of The Music Man is that good times are a rush, a lark, a moment that comes (and we are glad of it) but that might blow away again in the wind. It would be interesting to see a The Music Man II. Did Professor Hill and Marian Paroo get married? Was Hill like a second father to little Winthrop Paroo?
If Harold Hill was to stay more or less in one place, what profession did he pick up? Wouldn’t there have been an enormous tug to be back on the road again, if only temporarily?
It would certainly be a wonderful opportunity for a sort of compromise between them and a chance to branch out the franchise. Marian and Harold could move to the big city where Harold Hill has been offered a job writing for a mail-order catalog. His bamboozling skills would be perfect for him being head of the copywriters.
But then they would encounter all the absurdities of the city, as well as its pleasures.
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