A little baseball humour.
>> A number of years ago, the Seattle Symphony was doing Beethoven's
>> Ninth under the baton of Milton Katims. At this point, you must
>> understand two things:
>>
>> 1. There's a long segment in this symphony where the bass violins
>> don't have a thing to do. Not a single note for page after page;
>>
>> 2. There used to be a tavern called Dez's 400 right across the street
>> from the Seattle Opera House, rather favored by local musicians.
>> It had been decided that during this performance, after the bass
>> players had played their parts in the opening of the Ninth, they
>> were to quietly lay down their instruments and leave the stage
>> rather than sit on their stools looking and feeling dumb for twenty
>> minutes.
>>
>>
>> Well, once they got backstage, someone suggested that they trot across
>> the street and have a few brews. After they had downed the first
>> couple rounds, one said, "Shouldn't we be getting back? It'd be
>> awfully embarrassing if we were late."
>>
>> Another, presumably the one who suggested this excursion in the first
>> place, replied, "Oh, I anticipated we could use a little more time, so
>> I tied a string around the last pages of the conductor's score. When
>> he gets down to there, Milton's going to have to slow the tempo way
>> down while he waves the baton with one hand and fumbles with the string
>> with the other."
>> So they had another round and finally returned to the Opera House, a
>> little tipsy by now. However, as they came back on stage, one look at
>> their conductor's face told them they were in serious trouble.
>>
>> Katims was furious! And why not?
>> After all . . . It was the bottom of the Ninth, the score was tied,
>> and the basses were loaded.
>>
>>
>
>
>
|
