Until last October, the only time I had used the word 'quaver' in a musical context was during my freshman year of college when Sean, my flute teacher, had me read part of Quantz's 'On Playing the Flute. Then, I heard it at rehearsal and I almost couldn't suppress my laughter. In my mind, the word 'quaver' had been buried after the Baroque.
I remembered this specific language difference when one of my friends asked me if musical ensembles (or, to be more specific, the orchestra I play with) are different in England. For the most part*, I don't notice any difference. Except for those pesky note durations. Who would have thought that a minim is a half note?
In other (musical) news, the concert I mentioned a while back was last night. It went really well; the orchestra gelled just in time and I (miraculously) pulled off all the flute solos!
---
*There is a huge choral music tradition here that is unlike any I've encountered elsewhere; however, that doesn't spill over that much to my music making experiences here so far.
No comments:
Post a Comment