[rodgersorgan] Re: You have a right to remain silent,
- From: "F. Richard Burt" <effarbee.aaa@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <rodgersorgan@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 28 Apr 2003 07:03:18 -0500
Good Morning, Noel:
Perhaps you should ask for the sound man's musical
credentials "...to play that thing." From your
description, he has no concept of the music being
played, and, ...as most choir directors I have known
over the last 50 years or so will tell us, ..."If
you don't know what notes to sing, mouth it, but
don't make noises that detract from what the rest
of us are singing."
I know both sides of the business: choral expression
with natural acoustics and amplified sound. The man
is treating the orchestra, harpsichord, etc., as if he
were recording in a padded studio. That is not how
to reinforce the music of a choir and orchestra. He
can only destroy what the musicians are trying to
express.
If a player could not hit the right notes at the right
time, he would not be allowed to play. If the sound
man cannot reinforce the sound without having to
mix everything from scratch, ...which is impossible
to do (not enough ears and hands on one person), then
he cannot possibly do his part in playing the right
notes at the right time as the musician do. He ought
not be allowed "to play."
The essence of good sound reinforcement is accomplished
with as few mics as possible, and, when it is done right,
no one will even notice that sound is being amplified,
and above all the musicians will be in control of their
sound expressively. There are few sounds so beautiful
as a dimenuindo that slowly fades to silence at the end
of an otherwise beautiful expression of music. Most
sound men, unfortunately, do not understand the musical
dynamics at all, and will never allow dimenuindo.
May you find grace from the Lord to endure this nonsense
until He can straighten things out in His own time.
Appreciatively,
F. Richard Burt
.
----- Original Message -----
From: noel jones
To: rodgersorgan@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Sunday, April 27, 2003 12:53
Subject: [rodgersorgan] You have a right to remain silent,
You have a right to insist the sound system be shut off!
Today at church the children signed Jesus Loves me...after a 3 minute wait
while
the sound person played the wrong tape, then searched for the right
one...just
after rehearsal a few minutes before.
Then the soloist sang with tape...played perfectly except for a very high
howl
of feedback throughout the whole song.
Could things get worse?
I then went to a large church where my wife is playing continuo on the
Roland/Rodgers harpsichord today.
She performed with this community chorus two years ago, also doing the
Messiah
in the local college auditorium, with string quintet and it was lovely.
Today during lunch I mentioned that the sound guy would probably plug
directly
into the harpsichord.
When we got to the church he had already patched directly into the
harpsichord,
had 4 mikes suspended over the chorus and had soloist microphones up and
running. He seemed to be looking over the string quintet instruments rather
carefully, looking for the 1/4 sockets to plug his microphone lines into.
Following a short heated meeting whit my wife, during which I (peacemaker!)
told
him that if he didn't disengage from the harpsichord she wouldn't play. Hey,
am
I tactful or what? He then turned up the stage monitors which amplified the
strings into the choir area, then turned up the soloist mic's.
At this point the string players and the harpsichordist are hearing
themselves
playing and also being surrounded with the sound of themselves playing...and
hearing the soloists bigger than life.
How loud should they play? If they play soft, the sound man turns them
up...loud
and the sound man turns them down. We moved the harpsichord up into the
center
of the orchestra to get it away from the choir mikes, and, as I was leaving,
he
was putting microphones at each string player.
Where have we all gone wrong?
One year a delightful chamber performance of the Messiah, much as it was
heard
in small venues at Handle's time...this year the power...but not the
glory...of
the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and the Utah Symphony Orchestra without the
payroll
to match.
What hat Edison wrought? Moderation in all things. Using electricity to
power
a blower on an organ, using electricity to make the sound of a pipe organ
available to even those humble churches without the means for instruments
made
of pipes.
--
noel jones, aago
athens, tennessee, usa
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