...then, I don't know what to say. I'll FedEx them a cookie or something.
Allie walks into the Family Hardware store down the block and walks up to the desk.
Hardware Expert Person: How can I help you today.
Allie: Well, I need some glass
HEP: Ok, well, follow me into the back.
Allie follow HEP into the back of the store where the glass cutting apparently takes place and orders are kept.
HEP: 'Bout how much do you need?
Allie: I need it to be 9 inches long and as narrow as possible.
HEP: .....
Allie: .....
HEP: (finds a piece of glass, already cut, exatly 9 inches long and about 3 inches wide) SO what exactly are you using this for?
Allie: (biggest, cheesiest grin ever) I'm going to put it inside a grand piano!
HEP: What?
Allie: I also need a chisel.
No, seriously, though. 9 inches cover an octave (8 notes, like C to C or in this case, F to F) and a third (like F to A) inside of a grand piano. When you play those 10 notes with a piece of glass sitting on the strings (remember, on a piano notes are produced when little hammers hit the strings inside) it makes a different timbre (or sound color) and it sounds jangly and percussive. If you apply the end of a chisel (5/8") lightly to the string and slide it up and down the string, it will produce different pitches from the sounding pitch called natural harmonics, which are part of the overtone series (an overly simplified explanation of this would be when you smack one chime in a wind chime and it sounds full and echoey, you're not just hearing one note, you're hearing several. Those other notes are natural harmonics and they make the sound full and ringy. What we're doing with the chisel is isolating all of those pitches).
The piece we're playing is by a living composer named George Crumb and it's called "Vox Balaenae (Voice of the Whale) for three masked players" (yes, we also need to go out and buy half theatre masks, think along the lines of Phantom of the Opera here) and it's scored for Electric Flute, Electric Cello and Electric Piano. We'll be "electrified" using conventional mics. We're also using a paper clip on the piano strings and for a large part of the piece the player plays directly on the strings inside the piano. Cool, huh?
Anyway, I just wanted to share a) this piece and more hilariously, b) my absolutely bizarre conversation. After he got me my chisel, I told him exactly what I just typed and he said "Well, I sure have been educated, haven't I?!" It was a little bit adorable.
Allie walks into the Family Hardware store down the block and walks up to the desk.
Hardware Expert Person: How can I help you today.
Allie: Well, I need some glass
HEP: Ok, well, follow me into the back.
Allie follow HEP into the back of the store where the glass cutting apparently takes place and orders are kept.
HEP: 'Bout how much do you need?
Allie: I need it to be 9 inches long and as narrow as possible.
HEP: .....
Allie: .....
HEP: (finds a piece of glass, already cut, exatly 9 inches long and about 3 inches wide) SO what exactly are you using this for?
Allie: (biggest, cheesiest grin ever) I'm going to put it inside a grand piano!
HEP: What?
Allie: I also need a chisel.
No, seriously, though. 9 inches cover an octave (8 notes, like C to C or in this case, F to F) and a third (like F to A) inside of a grand piano. When you play those 10 notes with a piece of glass sitting on the strings (remember, on a piano notes are produced when little hammers hit the strings inside) it makes a different timbre (or sound color) and it sounds jangly and percussive. If you apply the end of a chisel (5/8") lightly to the string and slide it up and down the string, it will produce different pitches from the sounding pitch called natural harmonics, which are part of the overtone series (an overly simplified explanation of this would be when you smack one chime in a wind chime and it sounds full and echoey, you're not just hearing one note, you're hearing several. Those other notes are natural harmonics and they make the sound full and ringy. What we're doing with the chisel is isolating all of those pitches).
The piece we're playing is by a living composer named George Crumb and it's called "Vox Balaenae (Voice of the Whale) for three masked players" (yes, we also need to go out and buy half theatre masks, think along the lines of Phantom of the Opera here) and it's scored for Electric Flute, Electric Cello and Electric Piano. We'll be "electrified" using conventional mics. We're also using a paper clip on the piano strings and for a large part of the piece the player plays directly on the strings inside the piano. Cool, huh?
Anyway, I just wanted to share a) this piece and more hilariously, b) my absolutely bizarre conversation. After he got me my chisel, I told him exactly what I just typed and he said "Well, I sure have been educated, haven't I?!" It was a little bit adorable.
