Ambling on with two Christmas carols

When your Christmas spirit makes you want to skip down the lane, consider using John Fahey's medley of "Hark, The Herald Angels Sing" and "O Come All Ye Faithful" as your accompaniment.  Fahey gives each carol a bounce on the guitar, and pairing them illustrates their common thematic ground.  Neither carol is ordinarily intended for ambling down a country road, but in this case...

Not a statistically valid sample, but...

After remembering this announcer's turn of phrase, I should admit saying a comparable example on-air.  When a baseball team defeated a team from Limestone, I reported that the winning team "took Limestone to the quarry."

My phrasing amused the newscaster.

"Took Limestone to the quarry!" he exclaimed off the air.  "Drew, that's a good one.  I like it a lot."

Because that was the only feedback I received to my choice of phrasing, I'll continue to say the reaction from listeners was 100% positive.

Favoring variable chair placements

My college orchestra director had the right idea about chair placements.  He told me during my freshman audition that seating was rotational.  It wasn't a precise rotation, however, as in volleyball.  Typically, each section would have three or four seating arrangements per year, resulting in up to four different concertmasters and two or three different principals in the non-violin sections.  That way, multiple talented musicians got to have a turn at having a lead role, and the other musicians got a chance to hear pieces from different perspectives in the room.  Once, he told the orchestra, "Some years, over the course of a school year, I've been able to take all of the second violinists and make them firsts.  Some years, I haven't been able to do that."  That impressed me.  It would have been even more impressive if he'd said, "Some years, I've been able to take all of the second violinists and make them trumpeters," or "I've been able to give each trombonist a turn at playing timpani."  Admittedly, it would have stretched the definition of rotational seating, though.

Context? XXXIV

Perhaps I heard this wrong.  However, yesterday, I could have sworn I heard a radio announcer on a program spotlighting British choral composers say, "He managed to keep his head and return to being a priest." 

"Avoided being beheaded" isn't an accomplishment you typically see in a composer's biography.

Sort of a compliment, perhaps

Once, I answered the phone for a business and read off the required introductory spiel.  When I didn't get a response, I read the spiel again.  The caller responded, "Oh, I'm sorry.  Your voice is so well modulated, I thought it was a recording."

In one sense, that's a compliment; the caller thought I sounded professional.  By the same token, it could also mean I sounded robotic and soulless.

I imagine this has happened to a lot of radio announcers.

FM dial scan highlights XC

Highlights from this afternoon:

KDHX 88.1 FM

• Take The A Train-The Quebe Sisters (Old school-style strings fit this country-based take on the Duke Ellington classic well.)
• M.T.A.-The Kingston Trio (A political ad expanded into a sing-along folk hit; one of my teachers led our sixth grade class in singing this at camp.)

WSIE 88.7 FM

• White Christmas-Lee Ritenour (One of the subtlest, most soothing renditions of this; Ritenour shows this carol works as a contemplative guitar instrumental.)
• Jingle Bells-Oscar Peterson (Possibly the hippest instrumental version of this, thanks to the jazzy bounce of Jack Schantz on flugelhorn and Peterson on piano.)

W279AQ 103.7 FM, a.k.a. KLOU-HD2

• Silent Night-The Temptations (Although the group's earlier, shorter version is moving and reverential, their longer, six-minute rendition is even more impressive, showcasing the warmth of their tenor and baritone vocalists.  The band's closing wish, "Merrrrry Christmas--to. all. of. you," is a sincere, effective ending.)

Shouting "Wilma!" with gusto

You're the director of a high school jazz band.  The score for "The Flintstones" theme calls for the band to shout, "Wilma!" in unison near the end of the piece.  Do you perform the piece as written, or do you ask one person who can shout, "Wilma!" with full commitment to carry it off?

My director took the latter approach, and it was the right call.  Will, the saxophonist, belted it out with the right volume and inflection each time.  With a voice that's best suited for Classical and late night jazz shows, I'm sure I wouldn't have done that half as well.