Music is the universal language

[Uncle Al]

My son posted this on his FaceBook page.

This young lady is in Japan, but she makes that Yamaha Electone
sound like John Williams and Orchestra

Star Wars

Enjoy

Uncle Al

[Stevie D]

Whilst I have nothing against the skill of the player here, I really detest this sort of thing. It is merely a nasty, sterile, sampled electronic approximation of orchestral instruments, and it sounds dreadful.

Orchestral music should be played by an orchestra, where the instruments are real and the musicians are real people who have worked hard at their art for years. Stuff like this is an insult to them.

[Uncle Al]

Well excuuuuse me What orchestra are you affiliated with
What instrument do you play To me, your mind is a closed as
a locked safe. If you just listened to, not watched, the clip you could
hear the orchestra voices playing the Star Wars Theme.

A theatre organ, of which Compton in the UK comes to mind, was
designed to replace the pit orchestra at the movie houses of the
20's and 30's. It does take talent, and plenty of practice, to get
as good at playing said instrument as the girl from Japan.

Do you have anything against a player piano? It is not a real
person playing the piano but a roll of punched paper running
through the mechanism which then plays the piano.

Frankly the girl in the clip had to learn how to read music, learn the
instrument, learn registration and arranging to be able to play as well
as she did.

I'm sorry, but the closed mindedness of most people really burns
me up. This is the same thing as the closed mindedness of men
and women when it comes to skirted garments for men.
Think outside the box for a change. You might find something
interesting out there, out of your own little world

Uncle Al
A Pianist, Organist-both electronic and pipe,
Keyboardist and I retired my saxophone
40+ years ago.

[Stevie D]

Yes, Al, I thought I might touch a raw nerve. But perhaps this should not have ever been posted on this forum in the first place. Although it's off-topic, what place does this have in "Skirt Cafe"? Shall I go ahead and post a whole lot of stuff about upper Carboniferous bivalves, or the physical and acoustic properties of concertina reeds as opposed to accordion reeds? How about natural degradation of pesticides in groundwater in the east of England?

Well excuuuuse me What orchestra are you affiliated with
What instrument do you play

I am a woodwind player (clarinet, bass clarinet, flute, saxophone, baroque recorders) with 40+ years orchestral, chamber music and theatre orchestra experience. I currently play for the Sheffield Chamber Orchestra and the Mayfield Wind Sinfonia. I am also an experienced traditional musician on button accordion and concertina, and teach music workshops in the east of England.

To me, your mind is a closed as
a locked safe.

Your opinion based on no evidence - you don't know me.

If you just listened to, not watched, the clip you could
hear the orchestra voices playing the Star Wars Theme.

Believe me, I did listen to it carefully. The 'orchestra voices' you mention are, as I said, synthesised or sampled electronic sounds, which can never replace the high quality and timbre of real instruments. There is no 'soul' in this performance.

A theatre organ, of which Compton in the UK comes to mind, was
designed to replace the pit orchestra at the movie houses of the
20's and 30's.

I am aware of these instruments and the tradition and skill of the musicians who play(ed) them. But they were still organs, and recogniseable as such. They weren't trying to be an orchestra in disguise.

It does take talent, and plenty of practice, to get
as good at playing said instrument as the girl from Japan.

And I acknowledged this in my reply. I have nothing but admiration for her skill and musicianship. I could not play like that on that instrument.

Do you have anything against a player piano? It is not a real
person playing the piano but a roll of punched paper running
through the mechanism which then plays the piano.

Absolutely not. Once again, you misunderstand my original post. In the case of a player piano, it is still a piano. The piano roll does not attempt to turn it into a violin or a drum kit. Also the piano generates its sound by a real piano mechanism with hammers striking real piano strings, not 'by lightning prison'd up in cables'.

Frankly the girl in the clip had to learn how to read music, learn the
instrument, learn registration and arranging to be able to play as well
as she did.

Of course she did. See my earlier response.

I'm sorry, but the closed mindedness of most people really burns
me up.
This is the same thing as the closed mindedness of men
and women when it comes to skirted garments for men.
Think outside the box for a change. You might find something
interesting out there, out of your own little world

No - I'm not being closed minded. But I am objecting to the promotion of sterile electronic imitation of the full range, timbre and expression of real wind, brass string and percussion instruments, especially when the idea may be to render orchestral instruments and their players redundant. You have only to read some of the posts in the Youtube clip to see some of those comments.

As a Musicians' Union member I feel particularly strongly about this, as professional orchestral musicians find it increasingly hard to find work in the popular and entertainment fields because a single player on one of these monstrosities can apparently do the same job at a fraction of the price. But at what cost to the overall quality? It's like buying an expensive solid walnut or oak dining room table, only to find that it is plastic, photographically printed veneer on chipboard.

I am all for innovation and evolution of musical instruments - after all, look how the piano developed from the clavichord, harpsichord and spinet. There is indeed a place for instruments which utilise electronic sound generators, but let's hear real music composed for them, not a pretense of something else with the intention to replace it.

OK....
You asked - and that's what my original reply was all about, and I've tried to explain why I feel so strongly. But ultimately, as I try to point out in my opening paragraph of this reply, I don't really this thread should be here at all.

Peace.

[crfriend]

Well excuuuuse me What orchestra are you affiliated with
What instrument do you play To me, your mind is a closed as
a locked safe. If you just listened to, not watched, the clip you could
hear the orchestra voices playing the Star Wars Theme.

Stevie is a professional clarinettist with an ensemble in his hometown in the UK, something that he's mentioned in the past.

It's worth noting that no matter how "good" the electronics get, they lack the human element that really makes music special -- in fact, the "better" the electronics get the more sterile they sound. I'm not talking about the virtues and vices of analogue-versus-digital recording here, but rather the mechanism which produces the original sound. The genius is in the vagaries of the human state and the human performance.

A theatre organ, of which Compton in the UK comes to mind, was designed to replace the pit orchestra at the movie houses of the 20's and 30's. It does take talent, and plenty of practice, to get as good at playing said instrument as the girl from Japan.

True enough, and the instruments themselves are remarkable pieces of work -- but, they're machines not human beings. I, too, play clarinet (but nowhere near professionally) and the amount of work it takes to get good is astounding; what I find utterly amazing is that an orchestra is made up of dozens of humans, each with foibles, and the ensemble comes together as one coherent instrument "singing" in one voice. That's vastly more amazing than a piece of hardware that can hit a note *perfectly* *every time* and never falter.

Now, don't get me wrong: I like the machines as much as I love an orchestral performance. They both have their places, and both are very different from one another.

[Uncle Al]

Steve,

OK - I fully understand where you're coming from. It's just that anything
about music, I'm partial to. I definitely agree that musicians are finding
it harder to get jobs. I really had my 'gourd' twisted last December.
The Nutcracker Ballet was in town. The music was to be the best.
The musicians unions protested the Ballet. All of the music for the show
was produced from a CD, running through the house sound system.
That was totally unfair, to the musicians and the audience. You go to
the Ballet and expect to find a story told in dance and music. All live
performers. Not this time. The whole thing made the 4 channels of
local news.

OK, I forgot about your credentials. For that I'm terribly sorry.
Another list-serve I'm on has this one person that, if it's anything
other than a Theatre Pipe Organ, it's a "Fusebox" or "Toaster".
His response was 'Yuck'. Well not everyone can afford, nor has the
room for a Theatre Pipe Organ. Some of these instruments are
difficult to get to play, similar to having a church organ locked and
only the organist can play it. If you wanted to play it, you felt like
you had to go to the Bishop to get permission. Why do people think
that an organist, other than 'their' organist will damage 'their' organ
Also - to some people - if the 'band' does not have a guitar in it,
it is not a 'band'.

Yes, this is the Off Topic area of this forum. Anything goes here
as long as it is 'family friendly'. Music is family friendly. Unfortunately,
too many people feel that a career in sports is more important than education.
That learning to play a musical instrument is not masculine.
It has been proven that anyone who plays a musical instrument has
an easier time learning a foreign language.

When parents tell me their son/daughter is interesting in learning to
play such-n-such instrument, I tell them to start them on piano. This
gets the basics of reading music, understanding tempo, etc. Then
it becomes the smaller task of learning a new instrument, what ever
it is. Violin to Viola, Trumpet to Tuba, each 'new' instrument becomes
easier as time goes by.

I'm rambling a bit here because I have a meeting with the Assistant
Director of the Performing Arts Center where our Wurlitzer is housed.
The 'Management' is messing up our scheduled dates & times for our
'shows'. I reserved dates for 2010 & 2011 on June 25, 2009.
This foul-up has me on edge, and I haven't had any sleep.

Time to hit the shower and get ready to fight the traffic for the
50 mile drive to the Performing Arts Center.

Uncle Al
On my second cup of coffee, with no sleep.

[crfriend]

Although it's off-topic, what place does this have in "Skirt Cafe"? Shall I go ahead and post a whole lot of stuff about upper Carboniferous bivalves, or the physical and acoustic properties of concertina reeds as opposed to accordion reeds? How about natural degradation of pesticides in groundwater in the east of England?

Whilst this is the "Off Topic" forum, and many, if not most, things are fair game, it's also where it's frequently pointed up that none of us are one-dimensional critters whose lives revolve around skirt-wearing: we are all three-dimensional living breathing full- (if not high-) functioning human beings. We all have personal interests, and we have the potential to enrich others by sharing those interests; passion is contagious. Share it!

I firmly believe that we as humans should take a broad and active interest in the world around us. That's what makes this forum -- the "Off Topic" one -- so important: it exposes us to things we might not have considered before and, hopefully, piques curiosity and a desire to learn. So, whether it's listening to a new musical performance, getting a look inside mine-shafts, or naval architecture, or even "old" computers, it has a place here.

Share the wealth.

[Bob]

Oh where oh where is my moderator hat?

OK guys, let's cool it, OK? Off topic threads are OK in the off topic forum.

No doubt this person has put a lot of work into replicating an orchestra on a keyboard instrument. But as for the original question... how good a replica is it? I suggest the reader listens to the original full-orchestra recording of the same piece of music, and make up his or her own mind:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjD07BFX ... re=related

To me at least, the sonic difference between the two is pretty clear.

[Kirbstone]

An interesting clip. We didn't even get to see the girl's face. I expect she and her ilk have their place, and as such will successfully entertain most casual listeners. Musack, or canned music one hears in lifts and hotel foyers springs to mind.

To even broach the subject of whether that sound emulates that produced by a full orchestra betrays just a passing interest in music without any time devoted to the subject.

The details escape me now, as it is some time ago, but a very famous English conductor, during his interview on 'Desert Island Disks' on BBC Radio 4, mentioned that once he was on his way down in a hotel lift in NY. on his way to conduct a major symphony in the Carnegie Hall, when he heard a snippet from that very symphony emerge from the speaker in the lift.

He couldn't help but be amused.