Random Thoughts

[kurumi]

OK, so I just whipped up an arrangement of the second line of "Christmas Time Is Here" by Vince Guaraldi (A Charlie Brown Christmas).

The two lines of music shown below are identical, except for the third beat of the second measure.  Only the highlighted note is different:  the C♭ and B♮ are enharmonically equivalent.

Piano players:  which spelling makes the most sense to you in that A♭m6 chord?  Does spelling it as a C♭ help you conceptualize it as the third of the chord?  Do you even care that it's the third of the chord?

I do care; chords help explain structure and modulation, and help group together what would otherwise be a bunch of accidentals. The A minor to A♭ minor echoes the B minor to B♭ minor one measure earlier, and the consistent notation does help.

[Hunty2022]

Total amount of time spent in states this year, at 10/21/23, 10:10 AM Eastern:

Virginia: 9 Months, 12 Days, 23 Hours, 54 Minutes
Maryland: 3 Days, 20 Hours
Georgia: 2 Days, 5 Hours, 8 Minutes
North Carolina: 12 Hours, 13 Minutes
Florida: 10 Hours, 36 Minutes
South Carolina: 8 Hours, 48 Minutes
Tennessee: 1 Hour, 17 Minutes
Delaware: 13 Minutes

[kphoger]

Sealand has never lost a soccer match against Seborga.

[kphoger]

(Then again, sharps annoy me in general, since music for trombone is not often written with them; the most common key signatures for music which would call for a trombone to be around at all tend to have one to three flats.)

Doesn't written trombone music automatically transpose down from C to B-flat anyway?

Truth be told, I have no idea—I went to school in Oklahoma, so music education didn't actually cover anything beyond how to play the notes on the page. They never told us how transposition works or even what a chord was since none of our instruments could play more than one note at a time.

No, it doesn't.  Trombone music is written in concert pitch.

His confusion lies in the fact that it is a B♭ instrument.  But that just means first position is a B♭, not that your sheet music is written a whole-step off.  What is written on a trombonist's sheet music as a G is actually a G.

[tmoore952]

Also musically related but in a different way.

The Jefferson Airplane song "3/5 of a Mile in 10 Seconds"  -- computes to 216 MPH.

Why the song is called that I have no idea. Lyrics are not about speed, either velocity-related or drug-related.

[US 89]

(Then again, sharps annoy me in general, since music for trombone is not often written with them; the most common key signatures for music which would call for a trombone to be around at all tend to have one to three flats.)

Doesn't written trombone music automatically transpose down from C to B-flat anyway?

Truth be told, I have no idea—I went to school in Oklahoma, so music education didn't actually cover anything beyond how to play the notes on the page. They never told us how transposition works or even what a chord was since none of our instruments could play more than one note at a time.

No, it doesn't.  Trombone music is written in concert pitch.

His confusion lies in the fact that it is a B♭ instrument.  But that just means first position is a B♭, not that your sheet music is written a whole-step off.  What is written on a trombonist's sheet music as a G is actually a G.

Heh - I knew many of the usual band brass and woodwind instruments transpose to B-flat, so I assumed the trombone would also be among those. Today I learned.

[GaryV]

(Then again, sharps annoy me in general, since music for trombone is not often written with them; the most common key signatures for music which would call for a trombone to be around at all tend to have one to three flats.)

Doesn't written trombone music automatically transpose down from C to B-flat anyway?

Truth be told, I have no idea—I went to school in Oklahoma, so music education didn't actually cover anything beyond how to play the notes on the page. They never told us how transposition works or even what a chord was since none of our instruments could play more than one note at a time.

No, it doesn't.  Trombone music is written in concert pitch.

His confusion lies in the fact that it is a B♭ instrument.  But that just means first position is a B♭, not that your sheet music is written a whole-step off.  What is written on a trombonist's sheet music as a G is actually a G.

Heh - I knew many of the usual band brass and woodwind instruments transpose to B-flat, so I assumed the trombone would also be among those. Today I learned.

And trombone is written in bass clef too.

Now French Horn - that's a whole nuther animal. Some music concert pitch is written in F, some in E flat.

[kurumi]

When I was in marching band, a neat trick (as a trombone player) was to just sightread an alto saxophone player's part. Trombones are concert C (as in, same as a piano) in bass clef, and alto sax is E♭ in treble clef.

The lowest line of bass clef is G, and the lowest line of treble is E. However, an alto sax E sounds like a G. If you play the sax part as if it were bass clef, and do the right thing regarding accidentals, the differences cancel out (you're just 2 octaves lower).

[Rothman]

When I was in marching band, a neat trick (as a trombone player) was to just sightread an alto saxophone player's part. Trombones are concert C (as in, same as a piano) in bass clef, and alto sax is E♭ in treble clef.

The lowest line of bass clef is G, and the lowest line of treble is E. However, an alto sax E sounds like a G. If you play the sax part as if it were bass clef, and do the right thing regarding accidentals, the differences cancel out (you're just 2 octaves lower).

But then you're playing the alto saxophone's part and not your own?

[dlsterner]

When I was in marching band, a neat trick (as a trombone player) was to just sightread an alto saxophone player's part. Trombones are concert C (as in, same as a piano) in bass clef, and alto sax is E♭ in treble clef.

The lowest line of bass clef is G, and the lowest line of treble is E. However, an alto sax E sounds like a G. If you play the sax part as if it were bass clef, and do the right thing regarding accidentals, the differences cancel out (you're just 2 octaves lower).

Having been a trombonist in marching & symphonic bands during junior high & high school, that never occurred to me!  But I see how it could work.  As you said, just have to watch what key you're in and the accidentals.  (I'm assuming this trick would also work with the euphonium or baritone).

Although, having a high school band director who definitely favored the brass side over the woodwind side and made his own arrangements of (most) of our marching music, I of course would want to stick with the trombone part, as it was likely more interesting than the alto sax part.

But then you're playing the alto saxophone's part and not your own?

I see this as more of a "parlor trick" than something you would make a habit of doing.

[kurumi]

When I was in marching band, a neat trick (as a trombone player) was to just sightread an alto saxophone player's part. Trombones are concert C (as in, same as a piano) in bass clef, and alto sax is E♭ in treble clef.

The lowest line of bass clef is G, and the lowest line of treble is E. However, an alto sax E sounds like a G. If you play the sax part as if it were bass clef, and do the right thing regarding accidentals, the differences cancel out (you're just 2 octaves lower).

Having been a trombonist in marching & symphonic bands during junior high & high school, that never occurred to me!  But I see how it could work.  As you said, just have to watch what key you're in and the accidentals.  (I'm assuming this trick would also work with the euphonium or baritone).

Although, having a high school band director who definitely favored the brass side over the woodwind side and made his own arrangements of (most) of our marching music, I of course would want to stick with the trombone part, as it was likely more interesting than the alto sax part.

But then you're playing the alto saxophone's part and not your own?

I see this as more of a "parlor trick" than something you would make a habit of doing.

Yeah, this was during the occasional "downtimes" between practice, performance, etc. but people are standing around with their instruments ou.

[hotdogPi]

Top 506 by post count, minus the unknowns of FritzOwl, ixnay, johndoe, and RoadMaster09. 475 are within the 50 states.

State	Forum members	Representatives
Alabama	6	7
Alaska	0	1
Arizona	11	9
Arkansas	11	4
California	33	52
Colorado	9	8
Connecticut	14	5
Delaware	4	1
Florida	15	28
Georgia	12	14
Hawaii	0	2
Idaho	1	2
Illinois	22	17
Indiana	19	9
Iowa	5	4
Kansas	5	4
Kentucky	7	6
Louisiana	11	6
Maine	2	2
Maryland	11	8
Massachusetts	20	9
Michigan	19	13
Minnesota	5	8
Mississippi	4	4
Missouri	7	8
Montana	2	2
Nebraska	1	3
Nevada	4	4
New Hampshire	3	2
New Jersey	19	12
New Mexico	2	3
New York	22	26
North Carolina	16	14
North Dakota	0	1
Ohio	18	15
Oklahoma	9	5
Oregon	10	6
Pennsylvania	23	17
Rhode Island	1	2
South Carolina	3	7
South Dakota	3	1
Tennessee	5	9
Texas	23	38
Utah	4	4
Vermont	1	1
Virginia	17	11
Washington	10	10
West Virginia	4	2
Wisconsin	22	8
Wyoming	0	1

US territories and Canada. I'm not doing other countries because this is primarily a US/Canada forum.

Other location	Forum members	Theoretical representatives
Washington DC	3	1
Puerto Rico	0	4
Ontario	9	19
Quebec	4	11
Nova Scotia	1	1

[JayhawkCO]

Right off the get go, looks like Wisconsin is the outlier.

[mgk920]

Right off the get go, looks like Wisconsin is the outlier.

Yep, LOTS of us proud cheeseheads in here!   

Mike

[Scott5114]

Top 506 by post count, minus the unknowns of FritzOwl, ixnay, johndoe, and RoadMaster09. 475 are within the 50 states.

If you're going to compare against the US House, shouldn't you take the top 435 by post count?

[Hobart]

When I was in marching band, a neat trick (as a trombone player) was to just sightread an alto saxophone player's part. Trombones are concert C (as in, same as a piano) in bass clef, and alto sax is E♭ in treble clef.

The lowest line of bass clef is G, and the lowest line of treble is E. However, an alto sax E sounds like a G. If you play the sax part as if it were bass clef, and do the right thing regarding accidentals, the differences cancel out (you're just 2 octaves lower).

Late to the party, but it's also worth mentioning the other trombone party trick: you can get away with reading music written in Bb treble clef (like for trumpet or British trombone music) by reading it as it were in tenor clef. The B in the middle of the staff for Bb treble clef sounds the same as concert A, right in the middle of tenor clef.

I actually do this backwards to read tenor clef. I started on trombone, but picked up trumpet for my college's pep band before actually having to learn tenor clef to a reasonable extent.

[Scott5114]

People actually use tenor clef?????

[kphoger]

People actually use tenor clef?????

Usually just cello and bassoon players, though that doesn't mean they're happy about it.

[paulthemapguy]

If Wawa expands to Wisconsin, they will have to rebrand as WauWau.

[Hobart]

People actually use tenor clef?????

In addition to bassoon and cello mentioned before, most orchestral pieces usually write the tenor (first and second) trombone parts in tenor clef, with the clef shifting to bass or alto if range dictates. This is extremely rare in concert band music, but happens there as well. I recall most of my excerpts for the Chicago Youth Symphony being in tenor clef (though I never actually auditioned).

Bass trombone generally never reads tenor clef (though there may be odd one-off exceptions), and jazz trombone people fear anything besides bass clef, even if it means writing five ledger lines above the staff.

[kurumi]

People actually use tenor clef?????

In addition to bassoon and cello mentioned before, most orchestral pieces usually write the tenor (first and second) trombone parts in tenor clef, with the clef shifting to bass or alto if range dictates. This is extremely rare in concert band music, but happens there as well. I recall most of my excerpts for the Chicago Youth Symphony being in tenor clef (though I never actually auditioned).

Bass trombone generally never reads tenor clef (though there may be odd one-off exceptions), and jazz trombone people fear anything besides bass clef, even if it means writing five ledger lines above the staff.

I've done jazz, marching, and symphonic, and was always bass clef. Regarding 5 ledger lines: my "one rep max" was a D5 (9 notes above middle C) which I think was exactly five lines. I couldn't reliably hit it (thankfully never came up in performance), and there's no way I could get close to that now.

[mgk920]

If Wawa expands to Wisconsin, they will have to rebrand as WauWau.

With their first outlet o be Wausau, WI?

Mike

[kphoger]

If Wawa expands to Wisconsin, they will have to rebrand as WauWau.

With their first outlet o be Wausau, WI?

If only Barbara Walters were still alive, she could get a temp job as Baba Wawa of the Wausau WauWau.

[D-Dey65]

OK, so I just whipped up an arrangement of the second line of "Christmas Time Is Here" by Vince Guaraldi (A Charlie Brown Christmas).

The two lines of music shown below are identical, except for the third beat of the second measure.  Only the highlighted note is different:  the C♭ and B♮ are enharmonically equivalent.

Piano players:  which spelling makes the most sense to you in that A♭m6 chord?  Does spelling it as a C♭ help you conceptualize it as the third of the chord?  Do you even care that it's the third of the chord?

I do care; chords help explain structure and modulation, and help group together what would otherwise be a bunch of accidentals. The A minor to A♭ minor echoes the B minor to B♭ minor one measure earlier, and the consistent notation does help.

Can you get sheet music for "Starlust," by Lush, or the opening theme from "Up the Down Staircase" by Fred Karlin?

Anyway, this "mom" in some of the Winn-Dixie TV commercials looks like a shorter version of Brooke Shields:
https://www.ispot.tv/ad/1HCf/winn-dixie-winn-and-save-with-winning-prices

[DriverDave]

How many inhabited planets do you think exist within 100 light years of Earth? That's about 50,000 stars in total.