You have quite an elaborate background in music. It's not surprising in that you probably utilized the same creative capacity that you used in your mechanical engineering adventures. I studied the clarinet while I was in grammar school and worked my way up to 1st clarinet in the school orchestra. That was in my last year. When I got to high school the game was different. They didn't have an orchestra but they did have a marching band. There also was a music class from which they drew candidates for the band. The instructors were so different and the music books so foreign that I only took that class the first semester of high school I never went back to playing after that. I did acquire an acoustical guitar several years later and attempted to learn how to play that. I might have done well but I did not appreciate the callouses on my finger tips, which were to be expected and necessary. Be that as it may I wanted normal fingers and stopped playing the guitar. That's it for MY music career.
My dad played the drums and one of his brothers played the concertina. That was a marvelous sounding instrument and totally complicated. I have no idea how anyone could make music with all those buttons that were arranged more like a typewriter than a piano keyboard. These two would go to neighborhood taverns on weekends and entertain the folks therein. That was pretty normal back in the days.
FLoC
Re: FLoC
I got away from reed instruments as fast as I could, because of the cost and time involved in keep the reeds perfect.
Basically, anyone who can play a piano, can play an organ, or accordion with little difficulty.
But just because you can play an organ, doesn't mean you can play a piano. They work differently.
Think of it like someone who has only used electric typewriters, or computer keyboards, then set them down in front of an old manual typewriter. They would not have mastered the snapping of the keys or hitting the carriage return.
An organ is like an electric typewriter, a piano is like an old manual typewriter.
You can go from old manual to electric with ease, but going the other way, not so easy.
The fingering on a saxophone or clarinet is about the same.
But the fingering on a trumpet, french horn, tuba, etc. are all identical.
I played the guitar also for a while, actually played lead guitar with The Renegades before I became their singer.
That of course lasted less than two years before the orchestra broke up.
It just kills me when a group advertises themselves as a Band, when in fact they or an Orchestra.
There are NO STRING INSTRUMENTS in a Band.
But since you can't get people to quit wrongfully using the word Band for an Orchestra, the two words now basically mean the same thing, and if you do want a true band you have to ask for a brass band.
Playing an accordion is not much different than playing a Magnus Chord Organ, hi hi.
Or some of the Keyboard Style Harmonica's.
The hardest organ to play is the old wind powered pipe organs where the keyboard was the valves, instead of using solenoids at the pipes themselves. There was a long delay after you played a note and it could be most confusing if you don't plug your ears, hi hi. That big organ at the St. Louis Cathedral had a 3 second delay, which is why everyone hated playing it. It got revamped to use solenoids at the pipes in later years.
If you liked the guitar, perhaps you would like a steel guitar, since your fingers never touch the strings.
Basically, anyone who can play a piano, can play an organ, or accordion with little difficulty.
But just because you can play an organ, doesn't mean you can play a piano. They work differently.
Think of it like someone who has only used electric typewriters, or computer keyboards, then set them down in front of an old manual typewriter. They would not have mastered the snapping of the keys or hitting the carriage return.
An organ is like an electric typewriter, a piano is like an old manual typewriter.
You can go from old manual to electric with ease, but going the other way, not so easy.
The fingering on a saxophone or clarinet is about the same.
But the fingering on a trumpet, french horn, tuba, etc. are all identical.
I played the guitar also for a while, actually played lead guitar with The Renegades before I became their singer.
That of course lasted less than two years before the orchestra broke up.
It just kills me when a group advertises themselves as a Band, when in fact they or an Orchestra.
There are NO STRING INSTRUMENTS in a Band.
But since you can't get people to quit wrongfully using the word Band for an Orchestra, the two words now basically mean the same thing, and if you do want a true band you have to ask for a brass band.
Playing an accordion is not much different than playing a Magnus Chord Organ, hi hi.
Or some of the Keyboard Style Harmonica's.
The hardest organ to play is the old wind powered pipe organs where the keyboard was the valves, instead of using solenoids at the pipes themselves. There was a long delay after you played a note and it could be most confusing if you don't plug your ears, hi hi. That big organ at the St. Louis Cathedral had a 3 second delay, which is why everyone hated playing it. It got revamped to use solenoids at the pipes in later years.
If you liked the guitar, perhaps you would like a steel guitar, since your fingers never touch the strings.
Re: FLoC
Back when I was exploring my talents with guitars, I did consider electric and/or steel guitars. The mechanics of the steel guitar fascinated me, but it had two thing going against it. It was expensive and most of the music was country style. At least that's what I was exposed to back then, but I do understand other genres can be played on steel.
The roller rink I skated at had a Hammond organ that was gigantic and exceptionally loud. I don't know if it had relays or not but it was said the organist was a specialist playing that kind of organ. He made a couple record albums too, which, oddly enough, they sold at the roller rink. LOL The church I belonged to at the time also had a pipe organ but it had to be one with relays. I auditioned for the choir when I was going to school there and got accepted. As I recall there was no delay. He pressed a key and there was instant music. Then again, that was an entire lifetime ago. I may have some of the details mixed up.
You're probably right about the misuse of the word band. We hired a "band" to play music at our wedding. It was one of the kids I went to school with who was a trumpet player and a bunch of his buddies. Over the years bands as such seemed to have gone extinct, other than the marching bands. Now the music is typically supplied by a DJ when you go to one of those family occasions. I think when ballroom dancing lost its popularity, the people who loved Big Band music disappeared with them. I never was into dancing so that I didn't miss any of it. There were rock bands in my generation, and perhaps they are still around. But that seems to be all commercialized and not anything you could hire for a bar mitzvah, for example.
The roller rink I skated at had a Hammond organ that was gigantic and exceptionally loud. I don't know if it had relays or not but it was said the organist was a specialist playing that kind of organ. He made a couple record albums too, which, oddly enough, they sold at the roller rink. LOL The church I belonged to at the time also had a pipe organ but it had to be one with relays. I auditioned for the choir when I was going to school there and got accepted. As I recall there was no delay. He pressed a key and there was instant music. Then again, that was an entire lifetime ago. I may have some of the details mixed up.
You're probably right about the misuse of the word band. We hired a "band" to play music at our wedding. It was one of the kids I went to school with who was a trumpet player and a bunch of his buddies. Over the years bands as such seemed to have gone extinct, other than the marching bands. Now the music is typically supplied by a DJ when you go to one of those family occasions. I think when ballroom dancing lost its popularity, the people who loved Big Band music disappeared with them. I never was into dancing so that I didn't miss any of it. There were rock bands in my generation, and perhaps they are still around. But that seems to be all commercialized and not anything you could hire for a bar mitzvah, for example.
Last edited by yogi on 23 Nov 2021, 20:50, edited 1 time in total.
Re: FLoC
My cousin bought a steel guitar because he was into Hawaiian music. He hated western music with a passion, hi hi.
Hammond organs use tone generator boards, which are controlled by slides.
This is the type of organ the normal musician played at the loop lounge.
I could not play that type of organ, so on the nights I played, I brought my Lowery Organ which was down right heavy, hi hi.
I had something similar to movers carts and would put one under each end and roll it from my apartment to the top of the steps to the parking lot. Back my van up to the steps and slid out a wide rack to roll it onto the truck. But once I got to the lounge, I had to have someone help me carry it in, which was usually one of the prep-cooks. Once I found out I would be playing there every third weekend, I built a metal frame very similar to those used to move pinball machines around. I made it go as high as the rack on my truck, and as low as the back door step up to get into the kitchen. Since no workers could be at the counters while I wheeled it in, I always had to get there an hour early. I didn't stop paying until an hour after the kitchen had closed up and cleaned up for the night.
I also used this extendable frame to bring my organ to a few other gigs I was asked to play at.
I also played at one of my aunts houses for an annual party she held, and at one of my dads brothers houses when he had a big shindig. However, I was not the only musician or group to play at his shindigs. He had a a few groups there for early afternoon, another group for dinner, another group for after dinner dancing, and then came I, until the party broke up, hi hi.
Married to a Jewish gal for 20 years, I did my fair share of playing at a few of their get together's. Had to learn quite a few of their songs too, hi hi. They weren't any worse than some of Debi's strict Baptists. When the strict ones leave the party, then the phun begins, hi hi.
You can laugh, but I spent thousands of dollars on both ballroom dancing and later swing dancing.
We still had several ballrooms in and around St. Loo, and from about 1978 to 1980 I was at one two nights every weekend with Barbara. Once we l learned to swing dance really well, our dance club got invited to all kinds of new places that just opened up and wanted to draw customers in. Those invites were usually short lived. As soon as the customer count was up, they didn't want swing dancers in there anymore. Fortunately, there were plenty of new places opening up so we always had someplace to go every weekend. As an aside: You wouldn't believe how many church bazaars we were invited to, to dance outside for the crowds to enjoy. But by then I had met Ruth, and although she would come along, she would just sit and watch us until the slow dances came around, then we would dance together. By then too I was so tired I'm glad it was slow dancing. Sadly, I couldn't dance a lick now if my life depended on it. All that money wasted, hi hi. Use it or lose it as they say.
I had a neighbor who was big into doing DJ work for parties. He had a whole van full of equipment, and cases and cases of LP records, 45s, and several reel to reel tapes too. You probably don't remember them, but 4-track tapes were also popular and came in all sizes in the beginning, then the 8-track sized 4-track became popular. You could play a 4-track tape in an 8-track player if you had this little gizmo called a gidget to add a wheel to the tape cartridge. I actually liked 4-track tapes better than 8-track.
And speaking of old tapes items. After KXOK had the fire in their studio, I bought their 16 track recorder. Got it before it was too rusted. A fire always causes steel items to rust real fast, even if they are in another room away from the fire. So I cleaned it real well, took it pretty much apart to do so, and used long sticks with rags on the end to clean and oil all the steel parts, the frame and covers etc. I only played with that thing for about 2 years before someone offered me a hefty price for it. No way could I turn down what he offered me, so away it went, on to its new home.
Over the years, I've owned a Wire Recorder, a VM Tape-O-Matic reel to reel, which I passed to my son only a few years ago, and several reel to reels after that. Currently I no longer have any of my old equipment, it all went at auction.
Hammond organs use tone generator boards, which are controlled by slides.
This is the type of organ the normal musician played at the loop lounge.
I could not play that type of organ, so on the nights I played, I brought my Lowery Organ which was down right heavy, hi hi.
I had something similar to movers carts and would put one under each end and roll it from my apartment to the top of the steps to the parking lot. Back my van up to the steps and slid out a wide rack to roll it onto the truck. But once I got to the lounge, I had to have someone help me carry it in, which was usually one of the prep-cooks. Once I found out I would be playing there every third weekend, I built a metal frame very similar to those used to move pinball machines around. I made it go as high as the rack on my truck, and as low as the back door step up to get into the kitchen. Since no workers could be at the counters while I wheeled it in, I always had to get there an hour early. I didn't stop paying until an hour after the kitchen had closed up and cleaned up for the night.
I also used this extendable frame to bring my organ to a few other gigs I was asked to play at.
I also played at one of my aunts houses for an annual party she held, and at one of my dads brothers houses when he had a big shindig. However, I was not the only musician or group to play at his shindigs. He had a a few groups there for early afternoon, another group for dinner, another group for after dinner dancing, and then came I, until the party broke up, hi hi.
Married to a Jewish gal for 20 years, I did my fair share of playing at a few of their get together's. Had to learn quite a few of their songs too, hi hi. They weren't any worse than some of Debi's strict Baptists. When the strict ones leave the party, then the phun begins, hi hi.
You can laugh, but I spent thousands of dollars on both ballroom dancing and later swing dancing.
We still had several ballrooms in and around St. Loo, and from about 1978 to 1980 I was at one two nights every weekend with Barbara. Once we l learned to swing dance really well, our dance club got invited to all kinds of new places that just opened up and wanted to draw customers in. Those invites were usually short lived. As soon as the customer count was up, they didn't want swing dancers in there anymore. Fortunately, there were plenty of new places opening up so we always had someplace to go every weekend. As an aside: You wouldn't believe how many church bazaars we were invited to, to dance outside for the crowds to enjoy. But by then I had met Ruth, and although she would come along, she would just sit and watch us until the slow dances came around, then we would dance together. By then too I was so tired I'm glad it was slow dancing. Sadly, I couldn't dance a lick now if my life depended on it. All that money wasted, hi hi. Use it or lose it as they say.
I had a neighbor who was big into doing DJ work for parties. He had a whole van full of equipment, and cases and cases of LP records, 45s, and several reel to reel tapes too. You probably don't remember them, but 4-track tapes were also popular and came in all sizes in the beginning, then the 8-track sized 4-track became popular. You could play a 4-track tape in an 8-track player if you had this little gizmo called a gidget to add a wheel to the tape cartridge. I actually liked 4-track tapes better than 8-track.
And speaking of old tapes items. After KXOK had the fire in their studio, I bought their 16 track recorder. Got it before it was too rusted. A fire always causes steel items to rust real fast, even if they are in another room away from the fire. So I cleaned it real well, took it pretty much apart to do so, and used long sticks with rags on the end to clean and oil all the steel parts, the frame and covers etc. I only played with that thing for about 2 years before someone offered me a hefty price for it. No way could I turn down what he offered me, so away it went, on to its new home.
Over the years, I've owned a Wire Recorder, a VM Tape-O-Matic reel to reel, which I passed to my son only a few years ago, and several reel to reels after that. Currently I no longer have any of my old equipment, it all went at auction.