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| And it is time now for Schickele Mix with Peter Schickele. Loud and portable, Peter? What's that all about? | |
| Who wants to know? Here's the theme. | |
| [No speech for 15s.] | |
| Hello there. I'm Peter Schickele, and this is Schickele Mix, a program dedicated to the proposition that all musics are created equal. Or as Duke Ellington put it, if it sounds good, it is good. And how good it is to be able to report that our bills are paid by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and by the National Endowment for the Arts, with additional support from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, and from this excellent radio station, where my music is heard and heard and heard. My every whim is suffered gladly, and some of the less expensive ones are even indulged. The results of all this, it is to be hoped rigorous whimsy, are distributed to the outer edges of civilization as we know it by PRI, Public Radio International. | |
| Recently at a recording session, I asked the trombonist to play something using a different slide position to get a smooth glissando, and he said that he was impressed at how well I knew the instrument, and I admitted to him that it isn't just because I, you know, know the principles of how the instrument works, but also because, when I was playing bassoon in high school orchestra, and I knew we were going to be having a substitute teacher that day, I would switch instruments with somebody else before the period got going, and my favorite instrument to have an illicit affair with was the trombone. Now that's not only a comment on my instrumental inquisitiveness, or on my feelings about music, but also on my feelings about music. I remember once it was the typing teacher. | |
| It's also a comment on my feelings about band period. Or should I say, about band period period. In the first place, since some school bands don't have any bassoons, everything I played of course was doubled by the saxes or the trombones or the horns, which means I might as well have not been there. I could have been learning typing instead, but that was for girls. And then on top of that, They made me be in the marching band. We're talking about Fargo, North Dakota here, folks. I remember thinking once, here I am, marching down Broadway. The temperature is 10 degrees above zero. I'm chewing up a $5 reed playing an instrument that nobody can hear. Even in a concert situation, I never liked that sound of everything doubled all the time. And the thing is that in this country anyway, almost all bands are school bands. In a professional symphony orchestra, you use as many instruments, more or less, as a composer asks for. But in a high school band, you've got to let everybody who wants to play, play, even if it means having 17 trumpets and one clarinet. Of course, I'm loading the dice here, I'll admit it, talking only about high school. We teenagers are notoriously self-centered. Colleges and universities with good music programs have more than one band, and the top bands are carefully proportioned, as are military bands. | |
| But still, is all that doubling? I guess what it comes down to, really, is this. I don't like the sound of a lot of clarinets in unison as much as that of a lot of violins in unison. So maybe I'm a snob. But I will admit that after I got some commissions to write band pieces myself and started doing some guest conducting, I found out an amazing thing. Bands don't have to sound like the Fargo Central High Band did in 1950. And anyway, let's face it. | |
| Regardless of the niceties of orchestration, that reminds me, my teacher, Vincent Persichetti, used to say, when you write for orchestra, it's called orchestration. So when you write for band, shouldn't it be called bandstration? I told him that I hoped he never wrote anything for men's chorus. Anyway, regardless of the niceties of instrumentation, when it comes to certain kinds of occasions, band instruments have two big points in their favor. They're the most important. They're the most important. They're the most important. They're loud, and they're portable. For music to be played outdoors in big spaces, loud is not just an advantage, it's a prerequisite. If you had a string quartet in the middle of a football field with 60,000 people in the stands, well, it reminds me of the old viola joke. | |
| That's the viola joke warning signal. So if you're a violist, turn your radio off. Question. How can you tell if a violist is a violist? Is playing out of tune? Answer. The bow is moving. Well, that's the only way you could tell if a string quartet was playing at all in a football stadium, in or out of tune. When the | |
| King of England ordered a fireworks display for Green Park in April 1749 to celebrate the signing of a peace treaty, he approved the use of music as long as it was for warlike instruments. I love the idea of celebrating a peace treaty, with warlike instruments. But I guess victory is probably what was really being celebrated. Anyway, warlike instruments meant winds and percussion. The designated composer, however, wanted strings too. The master of the ordinance wrote that, Händel proposes to lessen the number of trumpets, etc., and to have violins. I don't at all doubt, but when the King hears it, he will be very much displeased. I am sure, it behooves Händel to have as many trumpets and other martial instruments as possible, though he don't retrench the violins, though I believe he will never be persuaded | |
| to do it. In the end, Händel did use strings, and the | |
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| strings never play alone. No problem hearing this outfit, even from the other side of the park. | |
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| The end of the overture from Händel's Royal Fireworks Music. Macarys and the London Symphony Orchestra. | |
| It's quite an oral experience, isn't it? You know, you just don't associate the sound of more than French horns, and two is the more common number, with the 18th century. Listen to this place from the same movement. Now, it's true that as far as I know, we are hearing modern instruments here, which tend to be a little bit fuller and louder, but still, this is a sound that makes me think of romantic music, and Richard Strauss or Mahler, not Baroque music from the mid-1700s. | |
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| Hey, that'll put hair on your eardrums. And oh, all right, all that doubling sounds great. Okay, now, Handel needed loud for that occasion, but he didn't need popular music for that. He needed loud music for that. | |
| So it was easy to include strings. Military musicians, however, have to be able not only to march, but also to scurry around and provide ceremonial music at the proper time and place. A while ago, I was part of a gala concert celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and part of the festivities was a reception at the White House. When my wife and I got up to the second floor, there was a combo playing the music. The music was playing dance music, maybe six or eight musicians. And even though they weren't in full military uniform, I figured they were probably Marines. Then later, when we were in, I think it was the green room, waiting for the president and the first lady to arrive, all of a sudden, we hear, out in the hall... | |
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| Of course, everybody stood up then. | |
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| We're still standing. | |
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| And then in came the prez and the first lady. By the first lady, I mean Hillary, not Eve. Now, I was impressed. I guess I'd always assumed that Hail to the Chief was only played at the first lady's house. But I was wrong. I was wrong. I was wrong. I was wrong. I was wrong. | |
| important state functions, you know, big diplomatic deals like the signing of a peace treaty or even more important a trade agreement allowing us to export hula hoops to the Canary Islands. And yet here it was being played when all Bill and Hillary were going to do was say a few words to a few hundred musicians, actors, and Kennedys. And I assume that it was the same musicians who we saw before providing background music. They became a small ceremonial band outside the green room and then after the speeches they went back to being a society band. Now what we actually heard back there in the program was the United States Air | |
| Force Tactical Air Command Band, perhaps the longest name of an ensemble I've ever seen. Lieutenant Colonel Lowell E. Graham, Commander Conductor. I know some symphony orchestra conductors who would love to have Commander be a part of their title. Actually, I have worked with the Lieutenant Colonel and his musicians and it was a pleasure indeed. On the PDQ Bach album Music for an Awful Lot of Winds and Percussion, the credit for the Turtle Mountain Naval Base Tactical Wind Ensemble reads, the National Symphonic Winds under the direction of Lowell Graham has asked that their participation on this album not be revealed, far be it from us to deny their wishes. We'll be here. We'll be hearing from them again later in the show. In the meantime, we're talking about bands and of course the place where portability counts the most is parades. Concert bands often include a string bass but not marching bands. Now we won't hear much in the way of marches today only because we deal with them on a separate show. But there is one marching situation, a non-military marching situation, that was very important in the development of one of America's greatest gifts to the American people. I'm talking about jazz and I'm talking about black funerals in New Orleans. The procession to the cemetery was accompanied by sad music reflecting the mourners feelings of loss. But going back home, the music was happy reflecting the survivors faith that the deceased had gone to a better place. | |
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| Okay. I couldn't find any actual field recordings of New Orleans funeral music from a century ago. So that was the Les Miserables Brass Band playing Precious Lord, Hold My Hand, which was followed by the Olympia Brass Band playing Bourbon Street Parade, which was followed by the host of a radio program back announcing those numbers, which will now be followed by that host giving his name, which is Peter Schickele, followed by the name of the program, which is Schickele Mix from PRI, Public Radio International. | |
| Loud and portable. We're talking about bands, which have been an important part of our musical life in many ways. I mean, aside from parades and marching. For instance, there's the circus. | |
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| Igor Stravinsky's Circus Polka, played by the Turtle Mountain Naval Base Tactical Wind Ensemble, this time going by the name Air Combat Command Heritage of America Band, another blockbuster name, under the direction of Commander Conductor Lieutenant Colonel Lowell E. Graham. You know, I think that the Juilliard Quartet should change its name to the Juilliard Quartet, to the Juilliard School of Music at Lincoln Center Heritage of Western Civilization String Quartet, under the direction of Commander First Violinist Founder Robert N. Mann. | |
| Oh, I know that string quartets don't have commanders. A four-way conversation among equals, right? A family, right? | |
| Which is why the members of some quartets get so mad at each other that they stomp out of the room during rehearsals and sit as far apart from each other as possible. On the plane, going to gigs. | |
| Anyway, the Circus Polka was written in 1942 for an elephant ballet choreographed by George Balanchine for the Ringling Brothers Circus. | |
| Ah, those were the days when a major classical composer and a major ballet choreographer would agree to, hey, would even be asked to, create something for the circus. | |
| Oh well, Tempest Foo Chick. Another way in which bands have been an important part of our musical life. Oh, brother. Excuse me. Hello? Oh, hello, sir. Tempest Foo Chick? Oh, it's just a little joke, sir. A little play on words. You don't. Well, you know the expression, Tempest Foo Chick, time flies? Okay, well, Tempest Foo Chick refers to the composer, Foo Chick, who wrote, one of the most popular circus pieces ever, the Entrance of the Gladiators. It's, um, you know, dum-bum-ba-da-da-dum-bum-ba-da-dum-bum-ba-da-da-da-da-dum-bum. Yes, sir. | |
| Well, I guess you're right. I guess it is a little bit too much of an in-joke. I'll keep that in mind, sir. Okay, thank you. Glad you're listening, sir. Bye. | |
| No, it's true. I don't want to be an elitist or anything. Particularly, when the subject is bands, which appeal to a broad, you know, to the lowest common denominator. Anyway, I was saying that, especially in the days before radio and recordings, and even now in schools, bands have been an effective way of introducing people to good music. | |
| You know, music originally written for orchestra. As well as your typical, Oh, all right, all right, I take it back. I'm not even going to answer that. Here we go. An effective way of introducing people to, to good music from other genres, such as symphonic music and opera, as well as the many fine classics that some of our greatest composers have written for instruments that you slobber into or hit. A century ago, the inhabitants of many towns and even small cities might never in their lives hear a symphony orchestra, but a top-notch touring band might very well come through, like that of John Philip Sousa, who often included transcriptions of, of orchestral pieces on his programs. | |
| The tradition of band transcriptions continues to the present day. And here's an unusually skillful example. This piece originally comes not from the orchestral literature, but from the organ repertoire. You might want to keep in mind, as you listen to this very effective transcription, that the organ is a wind instrument. | |
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| The Takata from Bach's Takata and Fugue in D Minor, performed by the Eastman Wind Ensemble conducted by Donald Hunsberger, who also made the transcription. | |
| If you're used to that beginning, going , , , didn't you sometimes think of Zaurddin, and you notice that here was do-do-lee-lee, do-do-lee. Bach didn't write those notes out. He used a mordant, a sign for an embellishment, and I guess there is maybe some room for difference of opinion or for performer leeway in exactly how to play it. Okay, now get out your blue books, because here comes a test. | |
| Since bands were very popular in Europe in the 19th century, and since the 19th century was still in the heyday of colonialism, there are bands all over the place, including parts of the world that I never would have thought of as being band-prone. This suite is called Citizens' Bands, a World Tour. Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to guess in which country or even general area each of these three selections was recorded. You've got eight minutes before you have to turn your answers in. | |
| [No speech for 1069s.] | |
| Oddball in the Side Pocket, music by Stravinsky, Mozart, and Frank Zappa. Stravinsky did that arrangement of the song of the Volga boatman for a performance by Diaghilev's Ballet Russe in Switzerland when the Russian Revolution made it inappropriate to be able to play it. begin with God Save the Tsar. That was recorded in 1952 by Ensermer and members of the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande. | |
| The Mozart was part of a divertimento K-188 for, are you ready for this, two flutes, five trumpets, and four timpani. Okay, so that's not exactly, it's pretty small for a wind ensemble, but it's not your typical chamber music either. Michael Laird conducting members of the Academy of Saint Martin in the fields. And finally, Frank Zappa's delicious envelopes, love the glue on those flaps, played by the Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music Wind Symphony under the baton of Eugene Corporan. Puzzled by some of those sounds? There's an electric guitar in there in addition to the piano. | |
| Well, we're just about to the end of the road here of our program on band and wind ensemble music. You might say we're just getting a little bit out of breath, but I do wonder, what is that? That sounds familiar. It must be right out there in the hall. What could be going on? That's hail to the chief. The president must be in the building. You know, I wonder if he isn't a fan of Schickele Mix. He's probably in town and heard that it's on right now and, you know, decided to drop by unannounced. Excuse me, folks, I'm just going to go and open the door for you. | |
| What's that? | |
| Well, it is the president, but he's going on down the hall there. One of those guys wearing an earpiece says that the president heard that Garrison Keillor's in town and he wants to meet him. It's really not fair. | |
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| And that's Schickele Mix for this week. Our program is made possible with funds provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and by the National Endowment for the Arts, with additional support from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences and from this radio station and its members. Thank you, members. Not only that, our program is distributed by PRI, Public Radio | |
| International. We'll tell you in a moment how you can get an idea of what's going on in the official playlist of all the music on today's program with album numbers and everything. | |
| Just refer to the program number. This is program number 126. And this is Peter Schickele saying that I've been around a lot longer than Garrison Keillor and also goodbye and also reminding you that it don't mean a thing if it ain't got that certain je ne sais quoi. | |
| You're looking good. See you next week. | |
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| If you'd like a copy of the playlist that Peter Schickele mentions and a stamped self-addressed envelope to Schickele Mix, that's S-C-H-I-C-K-E-L-E, Schickele Mix, care of Public Radio International, 100 North 6th Street, Suite 900A, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55403. | |
| This is program number 126. | |