Amen to that Evan--post WW2 up until the mid 70s or so was the Golden Age in California as far as the public schools are concerned. Even the jc/cc scene was incredible--2 years of college for next to nothin'....
ok, ok, on topic... I am somewhat rusty on the recorder these days but used to really enjoy it. Great for 2,3,4 piece ensembles. Nice, organic sound from the wood and pretty to look at, to boot.
I understand being drawn to unusual instruments. My second accordion is very ugly. I bought for $ 20.00 so I can use it when I go camping. It has a silver body with gold colored bellows! When I play it in the bright sunshine people have to avert their eyes.
Dear Diazbro:
Have you seen the movie "A Mighty Wind"? It is about the folk music scene and it was written by the same people who did "Spinal Tap".
wyteduv: I'd like to learn the bagpipes, but I think that would strain my wife's tolerance to her limit...and kill 4 of my 5 cats. (Buster's a tough ol' bird--he can take anything Papa plays...)
:D-->
The fool hath said in his heart, "PFAL is the Word of God..."
I play guitar, bass (guitar), and trumpet. I attempt mandolin and Banjo and a little piano.
Tuning on the mandolin is not that strange. The bass strings on the guitar top to bottom are E, A, D, G. The strings on a mandolin are (top to bottom) G, D, A, E. A mandolin is just the bass strings on a guitar upside down.
I find the mandolin easy to play, but it would be easier if my fingers were not so pudgy.
For me it is the 12 string guitar and keyboards, but it's mostly the keys though, specifically the synthesizer.
Someone here mentioned the Theremin, which is basically a synthesizer type instrument - although one could say it is a very primitive synthesizer. Bob Moog further deveoloped the Theremin, and it is still one of his great passions. His developments brought the Theremin into the limelight of popular music. He was only 19 back in 1954 when he started making them, and had formed a sole proprietorship called R.A. Moog, Co.
He didn't know much about buisness though, and in 1967 took the advice that was given him and incorporated. Shortly after he sold the controlling interest in his company to a guy who had a company called Musonics, and changed the name to Moog/Musonics. Then he sold it to Norlin Music, which was the largest instrument Mfg. at the time. (They owened Gibson, Lowery Organs, Maestro Effects, Epiphone, and Pearl Drums) and were listed on the NYSE. Moog became a division of Norlin, and remained that way until the mid 1980's.
Then came the era of the digital synth and it buried the analog synth completely, and Moog Music languished and became inactive. Under trademark law, if a trademark isn't used for a specific period of time it's declared abandoned and other people can apply for the right to own the registration - which is exactly what happened. Several people applied without Bob's knowledge and by the time it was brought to his attention there was a brawl going on over the rights to use the name. Of course, Bob had the right to the name as much as anyone else.
To make a long story short, a year or two ago Bob aquired the registration of Moog, Minimoog, and Moog Music trademarks. There is a company in the UK still calling itself Moog Music, LTD, who at one time produced fake Minimoogs - five in all. Under British law they were able to aquire registration in the UK, and Bob is contesting it on the grounds it is misleading.
The good news is, Bob is back! He never really went away, but he is once again doing business under his own name: Moog Music. Now he's shipping his first keyboard synth in 25 years, an updated all-analog totally voltage controlled (yet very MIDI savy) Minimoog called the Voyager.
I don't know where he got the idea for the instruments name (maybe from Startrek?) but some serious analog genius brain cells had to come up with this reborn Minimoog. The oscillators are special, and one part of the Voyager's oscillator design is that's extremely advanced is you have voltage control of everything! The more things that are voltage controlled and you can play with, then the more alive the sound is going to be. Thirty sonic parameters on the Voyager are completely voltage controlled, which is way more than the three or four that were on the original Minimoog.
Bob chugged along for years as the brains behing "Big Briar" where he continued to produce the instruments he loves like the Theremin, the Moogerfooger analog effects pedal - but just no keyboard synthesizers per se. You might be surprised to find one of the biggest names in synthesizers now plying their high-tech trade in Asheville, NC, sharing it's share of commercial space among the autobody shops and woodworkers.
You could say Bob is happy to be an ex-member of an exclusive music-industry club called the "Dead President's Society". Well, it's not really a club, but one could become a member simply by losing the right to use one's own name for one's business. Other unwitting members have included Raymond Kurzweil and Tom Oberheim. The process of regaining his trademarks has been arduous and expensive, and Bob's still got a way to go before he has worldwide rights.
The business in the UK refuses to give up the rights to the name, so every Voyager shipped there has to have every mention of "Moog" removed from every possible part - from circuit board to chassis, right down to the manual and shipping carton - which is not exactly how Bob wants to spend his money. The company that had been doing business as Moog Music in Cleveland, OH is no longer in business. The story of how Bob got his name back might be interesting, but the story behind the development of the Minimoog Voyager is far more intriquing I think.
[This message was edited by What The Hay on May 03, 2003 at 0:15.]
I play bass guitar, play in the band in our church. I can also bash out chords on the guitar, mainly for writing songs or figuring them out of off records.
The Moog Voyager is right around $3,495. One may think that is a bit pricey for a analog, monophonic, 3-1/2 octave synth today. But in the early days, the first embodiment of the synthesizer was in order to get a sound you had to plug each module into another. You couldn't memorize sounds (you had to draw the connections on a sheet of paper). The keyboards were monophonic (i.e. you could only play one note at a time, therefore, no chords were possible), but you could create an infinite number of sounds providing you could get the number and type of modules you wanted.
The Arturia Moog Modular V is also quite an impressive Moog synthesizer. You can get the full version of the software for only $329, which is a high quality computer emulation of the analog modular synth technology Moog Music introduced. With the possible exception of perhaps Keith Emerson or Wendy Carlos, I really don't know anyone who would use the "hardware" version of the Moog Arturia.
If you're interested, you can download a demo version of the Arturia Moog Modular V software.
I play the trumpet, guitar, concertina, Jews harp, kazoo, dobro guitar, recorder, and kalimba. But I am most proficient on the harmonica. Blues, bluegrass and such with the harmonica.
What do I wish I could play? The PIANO. I love boogie woogie piano, and if I could play piano, I would have a major outlet for the music that constantly runs through my head. I am always inventing tunes, but if I could play "pie-anny" as my dear old Pappy used to call it, I think I would just plain love that. I used to love to hear the piano work of Commander Cody And his Lost Planet Airmen. Well actually, I still do! Download the song "Beat Me Daddy, Eight To The Bar" sometime and you will see what I mean. Maybe swallow a few shots of Jim Beam whiskey before you do. Hah!
I guess it isn't to late to learn, but with four kids and lots of things to be responsible for, I seem to find it hard to get around to. I can play the old pie-anny fairly well with my right hand, but my left hand is just a plain old retard. I should take lessons and start at the beginning with fundamentals I spose...
Geez, Jonny, if you can play the guitar, your left hand can't be all THAT retarded! :D-->
Zixette just got her hammered dulcimer this weekend--talk about weird string arrangements! I guess it will make sense in time, though. The worst thing was that I had to tune it for her. I thought tuning an autoharp with 36 strings was tough--her new HD has FIFTY. Took me about an hour to finish.
The fool hath said in his heart, "PFAL is the Word of God..."
Ya know, that's a good point Zix. But it is still really hard for me when I make a chord with my left hand and plunk the keys with my right. Just a matter of practice I spose...
Morey: If you want some amazing mando strings, you have to try the Thomastik-Infeld flatwounds. They're imported from Austria, and rather steep in price ($21 per set or so) but they are FANTASTIC. They come in three different weights, light, medium, and heavy. They last a lot longer than ordinary roundwound strings, they stay in tune forever, it seems, and they're MUCH easier on the fingers. My calluses have nearly disappeared, and I can play a lot longer with them. I doubt I'll ever use any other strings now. They're hand-wound with some sort of tiny special nickel-alloy metal ribbons, which probably accounts for the expense.
Some of the guys at MandolinCafe have said they've had a set last over a year in normal use!
Thomastik-Infeld also makes violin and guitar strings, too. Elderly Instruments sells them online, among others. Well worth it.
The fool hath said in his heart, "PFAL is the Word of God..."
Been everywhere you've been, done that, and got a drawer full of t shirts. Especially the admonishing by leadership. To the point where I was told the ministry had ENOUGH musicians and I needed to find my place in the body (ie something ELSE).
Maybe we should start our own thread..........
I play guitar, sing demos and have a little studio myself. "Almost heaven, SW Florida."
To the point where I was told the ministry had ENOUGH musicians and I needed to find my place in the body (ie something ELSE).
>>
Interesting situation. At different times I
was interested in joining a Way Prods group though because I wasn't going to go WOW or go Corps on their schedule (I wanted to go directly
to college after high school) was given
the cold shoulder and told that "unless you are
willing to put down your guitar for a year then
you will be of no use to God since you are idolizing music".
But I was making a living with music - I notice they didn't give people doing construction ultimatums like that - "put down your hammer for a year". No. It applied only to musicians.
There was a "way prods music" thread and a "early way music" thread several months back with alot of interesting posts by various people Ted F. posted a bit as did Socks.
Seems leaders had a problem sharing the stage
with musicians - Way musicians felt iced out by leaders at times -they wanted to tell you how to smile, when to smile, what words to emphasize, how to stand - but they weren't even performers. Maybe cuz they had done the "kum-bah-yah" thing a few times or strummed some of the way songbook classics they felt qualified to dispense advice. More likely
they wanted to keep you boxed in. I don't know
for sure.
I just wanted to play for people both secular
and minsitry music but way leaders didn't want it cuz the full time way lifstyle did not appeal to me.
I'm quite happy with my mandolin. I find I can play it by ear more and more. (although I'm better when I use my hands--old joke) Still haven't gotten good at tremolo on it yet, but since that's found more in Italian music than bluegrass, it hasn't hindered me much. If I need a little more sustain, I just plug it up to my amp and turn up the reverb...
Although some chords are very easy (lots are two-finger chords with the other strings open) the closed "bluegrass chop" chords are real finger-busters. Due to the way it's tuned, songs in the keys of D, G, and A (and their relative minors) are very easy to play, and you can cheat for E, B, and C with a capo.
The fool hath said in his heart, "PFAL is the Word of God..."
I bought a violin on e-bay for $60.00 with a book and a CD. In 4 months time I learned to play 6 songs very badly but I have a lot of fun. My friends just smile but It's not easy without lessons.
My two cats will immediately leave the room when I start to play. Do you think that is a sign?
Anyone have a suggestion to help me out? Know a good book or CD?
I play the piano and the clarinet...it's been years since I played clarinet...but when one of my kids took up the trumpet, I was able to help with the notes! (though the fingering was lost on me...after all...it's the trumpet!)
I still have keyboards and can play some piano (more if I practice a bit)...bet I could pick up the clarinet again, too. I WAS first chair!
Ovr50: Get back on eBay and get an inexpensive mandolin, too. They're tuned exactly the same as a violin, and the frets make it much easier to hit the right notes. Getting good on one translates into getting good on the other.
The fool hath said in his heart, "PFAL is the Word of God..."
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Amen to that Evan--post WW2 up until the mid 70s or so was the Golden Age in California as far as the public schools are concerned. Even the jc/cc scene was incredible--2 years of college for next to nothin'....
ok, ok, on topic... I am somewhat rusty on the recorder these days but used to really enjoy it. Great for 2,3,4 piece ensembles. Nice, organic sound from the wood and pretty to look at, to boot.
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E. W. Bullinger
Dear Padwan Magi:
I understand being drawn to unusual instruments. My second accordion is very ugly. I bought for $ 20.00 so I can use it when I go camping. It has a silver body with gold colored bellows! When I play it in the bright sunshine people have to avert their eyes.
Dear Diazbro:
Have you seen the movie "A Mighty Wind"? It is about the folk music scene and it was written by the same people who did "Spinal Tap".
EWB
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Zixar
wyteduv: I'd like to learn the bagpipes, but I think that would strain my wife's tolerance to her limit...and kill 4 of my 5 cats. (Buster's a tough ol' bird--he can take anything Papa plays...)
The fool hath said in his heart, "PFAL is the Word of God..."
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Keith
I play guitar, bass (guitar), and trumpet. I attempt mandolin and Banjo and a little piano.
Tuning on the mandolin is not that strange. The bass strings on the guitar top to bottom are E, A, D, G. The strings on a mandolin are (top to bottom) G, D, A, E. A mandolin is just the bass strings on a guitar upside down.
I find the mandolin easy to play, but it would be easier if my fingers were not so pudgy.
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johniam
I play guitar. I owned an electric guitar for awhile, but acoustic seems to be better for me. I couldn't play lead to save my life.
Sometimes I wish I could play drums. I saw Rush in 1996 and I swear everywhere I looked there were air drummers.
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What The Hay
For me it is the 12 string guitar and keyboards, but it's mostly the keys though, specifically the synthesizer.
Someone here mentioned the Theremin, which is basically a synthesizer type instrument - although one could say it is a very primitive synthesizer. Bob Moog further deveoloped the Theremin, and it is still one of his great passions. His developments brought the Theremin into the limelight of popular music. He was only 19 back in 1954 when he started making them, and had formed a sole proprietorship called R.A. Moog, Co.
He didn't know much about buisness though, and in 1967 took the advice that was given him and incorporated. Shortly after he sold the controlling interest in his company to a guy who had a company called Musonics, and changed the name to Moog/Musonics. Then he sold it to Norlin Music, which was the largest instrument Mfg. at the time. (They owened Gibson, Lowery Organs, Maestro Effects, Epiphone, and Pearl Drums) and were listed on the NYSE. Moog became a division of Norlin, and remained that way until the mid 1980's.
Then came the era of the digital synth and it buried the analog synth completely, and Moog Music languished and became inactive. Under trademark law, if a trademark isn't used for a specific period of time it's declared abandoned and other people can apply for the right to own the registration - which is exactly what happened. Several people applied without Bob's knowledge and by the time it was brought to his attention there was a brawl going on over the rights to use the name. Of course, Bob had the right to the name as much as anyone else.
To make a long story short, a year or two ago Bob aquired the registration of Moog, Minimoog, and Moog Music trademarks. There is a company in the UK still calling itself Moog Music, LTD, who at one time produced fake Minimoogs - five in all. Under British law they were able to aquire registration in the UK, and Bob is contesting it on the grounds it is misleading.
The good news is, Bob is back! He never really went away, but he is once again doing business under his own name: Moog Music. Now he's shipping his first keyboard synth in 25 years, an updated all-analog totally voltage controlled (yet very MIDI savy) Minimoog called the Voyager.
I don't know where he got the idea for the instruments name (maybe from Startrek?) but some serious analog genius brain cells had to come up with this reborn Minimoog. The oscillators are special, and one part of the Voyager's oscillator design is that's extremely advanced is you have voltage control of everything! The more things that are voltage controlled and you can play with, then the more alive the sound is going to be. Thirty sonic parameters on the Voyager are completely voltage controlled, which is way more than the three or four that were on the original Minimoog.
Bob chugged along for years as the brains behing "Big Briar" where he continued to produce the instruments he loves like the Theremin, the Moogerfooger analog effects pedal - but just no keyboard synthesizers per se. You might be surprised to find one of the biggest names in synthesizers now plying their high-tech trade in Asheville, NC, sharing it's share of commercial space among the autobody shops and woodworkers.
You could say Bob is happy to be an ex-member of an exclusive music-industry club called the "Dead President's Society". Well, it's not really a club, but one could become a member simply by losing the right to use one's own name for one's business. Other unwitting members have included Raymond Kurzweil and Tom Oberheim. The process of regaining his trademarks has been arduous and expensive, and Bob's still got a way to go before he has worldwide rights.
The business in the UK refuses to give up the rights to the name, so every Voyager shipped there has to have every mention of "Moog" removed from every possible part - from circuit board to chassis, right down to the manual and shipping carton - which is not exactly how Bob wants to spend his money. The company that had been doing business as Moog Music in Cleveland, OH is no longer in business. The story of how Bob got his name back might be interesting, but the story behind the development of the Minimoog Voyager is far more intriquing I think.
[This message was edited by What The Hay on May 03, 2003 at 0:15.]
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TOMMYZ
I play bass guitar, play in the band in our church. I can also bash out chords on the guitar, mainly for writing songs or figuring them out of off records.
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wyteduv58
Zixar, My dad used to say the bagpipes sounded like two cats in heat. lol
Dovey
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TheInvisibleDan
Evan -
wow! I wish I had attended California public schools back then.
What-the-Hay -
thank you for the fascinating post on Bob Moog.
Do you own a Minimoog Voyager? It looks very impressive.
Danny
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What The Hay
The Moog Voyager is right around $3,495. One may think that is a bit pricey for a analog, monophonic, 3-1/2 octave synth today. But in the early days, the first embodiment of the synthesizer was in order to get a sound you had to plug each module into another. You couldn't memorize sounds (you had to draw the connections on a sheet of paper). The keyboards were monophonic (i.e. you could only play one note at a time, therefore, no chords were possible), but you could create an infinite number of sounds providing you could get the number and type of modules you wanted.
The Arturia Moog Modular V is also quite an impressive Moog synthesizer. You can get the full version of the software for only $329, which is a high quality computer emulation of the analog modular synth technology Moog Music introduced. With the possible exception of perhaps Keith Emerson or Wendy Carlos, I really don't know anyone who would use the "hardware" version of the Moog Arturia.
If you're interested, you can download a demo version of the Arturia Moog Modular V software.
Arturia Moog Modular V
For more info on Moog Music:
Moog Music
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Yanagisawa
Man, George Duke played the crap out of those old analog Moogs. I still dial up Brazilian Love Affair when I feel like getting tropical.
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J0nny Ling0
I play the trumpet, guitar, concertina, Jews harp, kazoo, dobro guitar, recorder, and kalimba. But I am most proficient on the harmonica. Blues, bluegrass and such with the harmonica.
What do I wish I could play? The PIANO. I love boogie woogie piano, and if I could play piano, I would have a major outlet for the music that constantly runs through my head. I am always inventing tunes, but if I could play "pie-anny" as my dear old Pappy used to call it, I think I would just plain love that. I used to love to hear the piano work of Commander Cody And his Lost Planet Airmen. Well actually, I still do! Download the song "Beat Me Daddy, Eight To The Bar" sometime and you will see what I mean. Maybe swallow a few shots of Jim Beam whiskey before you do. Hah!
I guess it isn't to late to learn, but with four kids and lots of things to be responsible for, I seem to find it hard to get around to. I can play the old pie-anny fairly well with my right hand, but my left hand is just a plain old retard. I should take lessons and start at the beginning with fundamentals I spose...
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Zixar
Geez, Jonny, if you can play the guitar, your left hand can't be all THAT retarded!
:D-->
Zixette just got her hammered dulcimer this weekend--talk about weird string arrangements! I guess it will make sense in time, though. The worst thing was that I had to tune it for her. I thought tuning an autoharp with 36 strings was tough--her new HD has FIFTY. Took me about an hour to finish.
The fool hath said in his heart, "PFAL is the Word of God..."
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J0nny Ling0
Ya know, that's a good point Zix. But it is still really hard for me when I make a chord with my left hand and plunk the keys with my right. Just a matter of practice I spose...
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moreyt
Guitar, mandolin, some bass, some keyboards.
Playing music is fun.
moreyt
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Zixar
Morey: If you want some amazing mando strings, you have to try the Thomastik-Infeld flatwounds. They're imported from Austria, and rather steep in price ($21 per set or so) but they are FANTASTIC. They come in three different weights, light, medium, and heavy. They last a lot longer than ordinary roundwound strings, they stay in tune forever, it seems, and they're MUCH easier on the fingers. My calluses have nearly disappeared, and I can play a lot longer with them. I doubt I'll ever use any other strings now. They're hand-wound with some sort of tiny special nickel-alloy metal ribbons, which probably accounts for the expense.
Some of the guys at MandolinCafe have said they've had a set last over a year in normal use!
Thomastik-Infeld also makes violin and guitar strings, too. Elderly Instruments sells them online, among others. Well worth it.
The fool hath said in his heart, "PFAL is the Word of God..."
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masterherbalist
DIAZBRO:
Been everywhere you've been, done that, and got a drawer full of t shirts. Especially the admonishing by leadership. To the point where I was told the ministry had ENOUGH musicians and I needed to find my place in the body (ie something ELSE).
Maybe we should start our own thread..........
I play guitar, sing demos and have a little studio myself. "Almost heaven, SW Florida."
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diazbro
masterherbalist said:
To the point where I was told the ministry had ENOUGH musicians and I needed to find my place in the body (ie something ELSE).
>>
Interesting situation. At different times I
was interested in joining a Way Prods group though because I wasn't going to go WOW or go Corps on their schedule (I wanted to go directly
to college after high school) was given
the cold shoulder and told that "unless you are
willing to put down your guitar for a year then
you will be of no use to God since you are idolizing music".
But I was making a living with music - I notice they didn't give people doing construction ultimatums like that - "put down your hammer for a year". No. It applied only to musicians.
There was a "way prods music" thread and a "early way music" thread several months back with alot of interesting posts by various people Ted F. posted a bit as did Socks.
Seems leaders had a problem sharing the stage
with musicians - Way musicians felt iced out by leaders at times -they wanted to tell you how to smile, when to smile, what words to emphasize, how to stand - but they weren't even performers. Maybe cuz they had done the "kum-bah-yah" thing a few times or strummed some of the way songbook classics they felt qualified to dispense advice. More likely
they wanted to keep you boxed in. I don't know
for sure.
I just wanted to play for people both secular
and minsitry music but way leaders didn't want it cuz the full time way lifstyle did not appeal to me.
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mstar1
Bringing this back for up on high-
I play things with strings and occasionally the spoons or anything I feel motivated to bang on
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Zixar
I'm quite happy with my mandolin. I find I can play it by ear more and more. (although I'm better when I use my hands--old joke) Still haven't gotten good at tremolo on it yet, but since that's found more in Italian music than bluegrass, it hasn't hindered me much. If I need a little more sustain, I just plug it up to my amp and turn up the reverb...
Although some chords are very easy (lots are two-finger chords with the other strings open) the closed "bluegrass chop" chords are real finger-busters. Due to the way it's tuned, songs in the keys of D, G, and A (and their relative minors) are very easy to play, and you can cheat for E, B, and C with a capo.
The fool hath said in his heart, "PFAL is the Word of God..."
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Raf
I'm a karaoke addict. Does that count?
Don't worry about the copyright. The owner's my pal.
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ovr50nfree
I bought a violin on e-bay for $60.00 with a book and a CD. In 4 months time I learned to play 6 songs very badly but I have a lot of fun. My friends just smile but It's not easy without lessons.
My two cats will immediately leave the room when I start to play. Do you think that is a sign?
Anyone have a suggestion to help me out? Know a good book or CD?
"Let Your FREAK FLAG Fly"
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Cindy!
I play the piano and the clarinet...it's been years since I played clarinet...but when one of my kids took up the trumpet, I was able to help with the notes! (though the fingering was lost on me...after all...it's the trumpet!)
I still have keyboards and can play some piano (more if I practice a bit)...bet I could pick up the clarinet again, too. I WAS first chair!
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Zixar
Ovr50: Get back on eBay and get an inexpensive mandolin, too. They're tuned exactly the same as a violin, and the frets make it much easier to hit the right notes. Getting good on one translates into getting good on the other.
The fool hath said in his heart, "PFAL is the Word of God..."
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