Rock me, Amadeus
There are a few kids in the neighborhood, and I have noticed something missing as they walk back and forth from the bus stop. When I was in school (not all that long ago), there were always a couple kids, including myself, toting a hardsided black or a leatherette case with them. Yeah, I was one of those kids who got out of half of gym class because I was in ochestra. The next year, I switched to band. I didn’t get to cut class, because lots of kids were in band. My decision was mostly made by the conductor of the orchestra who told me that I stunk, but said it far more politely. Her loss, as I was second chair trumpet/cornet in the band after a few months.
The school district was not particularly wealthy, nor were my parents. I got my trumpet by trading in my cousin’s old, beaten viola that she decided I could use as a downpayment. Even beaten up, it had a higher value so the trumpet wasn’t that much on a monthly payment plan. Some kids rented their instruments from the school, or borrowed.
It just seems to me that fewer and fewer schools around here are making at least trying out an instrument a rite of passage. Studies have shown that kids who are introduced to sheet music, and syncopation have a better time grasping math, not to mention the social skills developed from collaborating.
I hope parents consider choosing music, even if they do it in their own home. There are groups like the Amadeus Home Music School that have a stable of good teachers that will teach your child one on one at their pace. Piano, drums, mandolin….most instruments that you can think of are represented.
We may have long graduated from band class, but my cousins and I still get together once in a blue moon and jam. One of my cousins is very serious and precise about what we play, but mostly we just goof around and have a lot of laughs and fun memories with our motley assortment of drums, guitars (3 people want to play lead!), a trumpet, and a casio keyboard. I am so glad we learned.
Uncategorized | Comment (0)1947: The Three Faces of Steve
As a teenager, I became a student of early photography. I enjoyed watching documetaries anbout it, and sitting at the library going through photo books. There was a lot of early “trick photography” made possible by the extended exposure times. You could create “ghosts” by moving the person every few seconds or so. Occassionally, a mistake would happen in the modern photolab and you would get pictures run together. It doesn’t happen now with digital, but sometimes with 110 or even 35 mm film, you got someone who was asleep at the switch or you just didn’t advance the film far enough and got an overlap.
Why am I even talking about this? There is a very disturbing 1947 suit advertisement I came across and I am just trying to figure out the purpose/inspiration behind it. It reminds me of a particularly creepy multiple exposure.
I don’t know what it is that creeps me out the most. Maybe it is not really the three headed multi exposure but the haughty glare this young man has on his face. He seems to say, “How dare you disturb me, a pox on you!” Maybe he is a vampire. Shame on me for “judging” someone who I don’t know, and may have never existed in the first place.
I understand that the advertiser is attempting to illustrate that the satin rayon lining comes in three wonderful colors - navy, black, and brown (woohoo!), but even to the trade, I could imagine that they would have inadvertantly scared people away from their booth at the trade show.
Maybe I am oversensitive or just have an overactive imagination, but if I was a child in 1947 and got ahold of this, I would have had nightmares for sure (worse than clowns).
1940s, vintage ads | Comment (0)