[rodgersorgan] Re: You have a right to remain silent,


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
  -------------------------------
  frog music press
  rodgers organ users group
  www.frogmusic.com

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