Reminds me of this scene from "This Is Spinal Tap", 1984 mock
documentary of "the world's loudest rock and roll band", where the
interviewer is being shown the band's amplifiers:
Nigel Tufnel: The numbers all go to eleven. Look, right across the
board, eleven, eleven, eleven and...
Marty DiBergi: Oh, I see. And most amps go up to ten?
Nigel Tufnel: Exactly.
Marty DiBergi: Does that mean it's louder? Is it any louder?
Nigel Tufnel: Well, it's one louder, isn't it? It's not ten. You see,
most blokes, you know, will be playing at ten. You're on ten here,
all the way up, all the way up, all the way up, you're on ten on your
guitar. Where can you go from there? Where?
Marty DiBergi: I don't know.
Nigel Tufnel: Nowhere. Exactly. What we do is, if we need that extra
push over the cliff, you know what we do?
Marty DiBergi: Put it up to eleven.
Nigel Tufnel: Eleven. Exactly. One louder.
Marty DiBergi: Why don't you just make ten louder and make ten be the
top number and make that a little louder?
Nigel Tufnel: [pause] These go to eleven.
On May 17, 2007, at 7:48 AM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
In a similar vein, I was taught there are six written dynamic
levels, pp, p, mp, mf, f, and ff. Anything in between is art.
Anything outside those boundaries is just hyperbole. Many
musicians have enough trouble just making six distinct volume
levels, let alone anything else.
Although I once sat with a tuba player who could only be said to
know one dynamic level, fffff (put in as many f's as you like). I
thought he was going to rupture the instrument, or my ear drums.
Dave Weiner
Brass Arts Unlimited
_______________________________________________
post: horn@music.memphis.edu
unsubscribe or set options at
http://music2.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
