{"id":1244,"date":"2020-03-27T09:14:58","date_gmt":"2020-03-27T09:14:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/?p=1244"},"modified":"2020-03-27T09:25:53","modified_gmt":"2020-03-27T09:25:53","slug":"we-are-the-music-makers-come-meet-the-band-with-norman-warwick","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/2020\/03\/27\/we-are-the-music-makers-come-meet-the-band-with-norman-warwick\/","title":{"rendered":"WE ARE THE MUSIC MAKERS: Come Meet The Band with Norman Warwick"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

COME MEET THE BAND <\/strong>with\nNorman Warwick<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since retiring here to Lanzarote we have heard Baroque\nOrchestras, string quartets, and Camerata ensembles from Russia, Holland,\nGermany and various other countries and have enjoyed the island\u00b4s own Lanzarote\nEnsemble Orchestra, that played in London a year or so ago. We have even heard\norchestras playing in caves and in convents. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wikipedia tells us, though, that the word orchestra was\nfirst used by the ancient<\/a> Greeks<\/a> and was actually a word\nto identify the front part of a stage<\/strong>. During the Middle Ages<\/a> the word came to\nalso include the musicians on the stage<\/strong>. The first orchestras were\norganized by kings and queens of France and in Italian churches and places\nduring the late 6th and early 7th centuries<\/strong>. Most of the orchestras of\nthis era used stringed<\/strong> instruments and played for ballets, operas and\nat dance parties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the early 1700s some European composers<\/strong>,\nlike Johann Sebastian Bach or George Frederic Handel, wrote music just for\norchestras. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang A. Mozart<\/a> and Ludwig van Beethoven<\/a> perfected<\/strong> the classical symphony<\/strong> in the late<\/strong> seventeen and early eighteen hundreds. In the twentieth century composers<\/strong> like Richard Strauss and Igor Stravinsky created<\/strong> musical works that required large ensembles to perform them<\/strong>. Later on electronic instruments were added<\/strong> and new sounds created<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

An orchestra has now become a term for a group of\nmusicians who play together on various <\/strong>instruments. Sometimes it performs<\/strong>\nalone, at other times it plays along with a group of singers. Orchestras give\nconcerts and play for ballets or operas. They also provide<\/strong>\nbackground music for movies<\/a> and TV shows. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we speak of orchestras we usually mean symphony<\/strong>\norchestras. They have many instruments and play mostly classical music which is\nperformed<\/strong>\nin concerts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some symphony<\/strong> orchestras have only professional<\/strong>\nmusicians. The most famous are in the larger cities of the world. Among<\/strong> them\nare the Berlin Philharmonic, the Vienna Philharmonic, the New York<\/a> Philharmonic, The\nBoston and London<\/a> Symphony orchestras and\nThe Halle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Orchestral music is written in the form of a score,\nwhich shows the notes<\/strong>that are\nplayed by each instrument. Each musician only sees the notes<\/strong> that\nhe or she plays. The conductor<\/strong> stands in front of the orchestra and directs<\/strong>\nthe musicians<\/strong>. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

An orchestra can have up to 20 kinds of different\ninstruments. Large symphony orchestras can have a hundred musicians<\/strong>.<\/strong> Smaller ones like chamber orchestras<\/strong>\nhave between 5 and 40 players. They originally were small enough to play in a chamber<\/strong> or\nhall. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

A modern orchestra consists of four sections or families of instruments. The string section is the most important part of a symphony orchestra. It has more than half of the musicians and consists of violins, violas, cellos and string basses. The violinists play high sounds and are divided into two groups. The first violins and the second violins usually play different parts. The leading first violinist is the concertmaster of the orchestra. He helps the other musicians tune their instruments and serves as the assistant. Cellos and string basses play low sounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The woodwind section consists of flutes, bassoons, oboes and clarinets. An orchestra can have between two and four of each of these instruments. Sometimes these musicians change instruments, for example, a flutist may switch to a piccolo. These two instruments have high piercing tones.  whereas the bassoon may have the lowest tones of the whole orchestra. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The brass section has several trumpets, French horns, trombones and one tuba. These instruments are especially important in the loud, exciting parts of the music. Trumpets and horns play the higher parts, trombones and tubas dominate the lower parts. This section is located mostly at the centre and back of the orchestra<\/p>\n\n\n\n

.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The percussion section has all sorts of instruments, especially those that you can hit, rattle or shake. The drums are the best known among these instruments. In a symphony orchestra, kettledrums or timpani make the music more exciting. Other percussion instruments include bells, cymbals, gongs, tambourines or xylophones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other instruments like the harp, piano or saxophone may be added to the orchestra if they are needed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

A conductor directs the musicians with a stick, called the baton. But he also does important things in preparing for the performance. He chooses the music that is to be played at a concert and decides how it should be played – loud or soft, fast or slow. Then he calls the musicians to rehearsals where he often lets sections or individual musicians play their parts over and over again until the sound is perfect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, who\namongst our circle of lovers of classical music can honestly say they have\nnever dreamed of conducting a magnificent orchestra. Surely, I am not the only\nperson ever to have spilled my late night cocoa and hobnobs by waving my arms\nabout like a whirling dervish whilst listening to Classic FM, and giving my\nbest Simon Rattle impersonation as I have the New World Symphony played exactly\nas I love it to sound. And who among us has not laughed out loud at comedic\nturns by the likes of Eric Morecambe and Andrew Preview pretending to lead the\nmusicians?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whilst\nwe\u00b4re in the confessional let us admit, too, that most have sometimes sat back\nand listened to a recording of one of our favourite pieces and whilst doing so\nhave begun to head-hunt the musicians and instruments we would select for,\u2026oh,\nwhat shall we call it,\u2026.Norm\u00b4s New Wave Symphony Sound.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, I am\nabout to show you round the orchestra and introduce you to some of the\nmusicians I have recruited, aided with information from a Google top hundred\nlist of songs that mention instruments in their titles !<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Sir Cliff Richard<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

If we start here, with the woodwind section, we not only have some great virtuosos but we also have some real characters, too. On flute, for instance we have the man who virtually invented ambient music: Moby is here by virtue of his track Guitar, Flute And String, so he does tend to flit about from section to section when needed. Also playing flute, with similar licence to roam is the group called Sculptured who earned their place with Fulfilment In Tragedy For Cello And Flute, so you will occasionally find them in the string session as well. Next to them, because of his track Peace Pipe is the peter pan of pop Sir Cliff Richard, and beside him our Flute Girl, Melar. She has Magoo And Timbaland beside her on Indian Flute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The five\nlads behind them, in the Hawaii shirts with surf boards under their arms are\nThe Beach Boys who recorded an album track called Whistle In. In fact we do\nalmost have a \u00b4whistle in\u00b4 because also playing a Whistle For The Choir are The\nFratellis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have\nquite a little studio of recorders, too, with Pete Townsend of The Who in charge\nof that little area after paying homage to recorders with a track by that name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These\nmusicians here are called Cartoonjazz Orchestra, and are led by Jeff Sandford.\nThey all play the same instrument by dint of their recorded track The Bull\nFighter And His Piccolo, and guesting with them we have Ciao Italia who once\nrecorded Piccolo Amore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nbrass section, of course, is even larger And as you can see I am The Music Man\nwho is also in charge of The Seventy Six Trombones, a record I made many years\nago now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nfellow you can hear tuning up that Mellow Saxophone is Roy Montell, as I\u00b4m sure\nyou know, and he\u00b4s sitting with James Cotton and The Mississippi Saxophones. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u00b4s\nThe Waterboys, over there, on the trumpets. They play with us every night now,\nso it\u00b4s been a while since they last saw The Whole Of The Moon I can tell you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\nhave itinerant musicians in this section, too. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For\ninstance these two Talking Heads over here have a criminal record for Sax And\nViolins, so sometimes they are sentenced to go and play in the string section\ninstead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Tom Waits is another master musician on a number of musicians and on another night you might find him at the piano, but tonight he\u00b4s here in this rather large brass section on his famous Swordfishtrombone. Next to him on the Blue Trombone is JJ Johnson, and in some performances we include the Trombone Poetry of Paul Taylor. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

All\nthis, together with the 928 Horn Jam, separately conducted by Trombone Shorty\nmakes for a pretty powerful part of the Orchestra.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mind\nyou, the percussion section can make itself heard, too. Marc Bolan over there\ncertainly likes to Get It On & Bang The Gong, and When The Angels Play\nTheir Drum Machines, led by Helner, we strike up quite a rhythm. That lady over\nthere is Linda Rondstadt, next to the guy in the woolly hat, Mike Nesmith, who\nused to be a Monkee and they each prefer to play the beat of a Different Drum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even\nhere we have multi-talented players who sometimes sit in other areas of the\norchestra, like Joni Mitchell, here. She plays The Fiddle And The Drum, and so\nsometimes takes a Big Yellow Taxi from one side of the stage to the other. She\u00b4ll\noften give a ride to Aswad because he plays Drum And Bass, of course,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Down\nin the front row, of the audience, you might recognise Jimmy Buffett. We don\u00b4t\nlet him play with us, you know, because of his lifestyle of cocktails and\ncigars, but he always comes to listen When Salome Plays The Drums.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\nsometimes amazes me that some of our musicians are not only maestros of their instruments\nbut are also highly qualified in other fields as well. For instance the chap on\nthe Hard Pan Di Drums is Dr. Alban. A doctor, no less, on the drums ! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\neven have a Giant, playing Drumstick, and that can certainly  Scare The Snare as Jakwob once said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All\nthat rattling and shaking you can hear emanates from those fellows in the\nflashy clothes that you can see. They are The Lemon Pipers play the Green\nTambourine and our Mr. Tambourine Man is that funny little chap with a mouth\norgan wired round his neck. You\u00b4ll have heard of Bob Dylan? Mr. Zimmerman is no\nlonger the only audience member with a mouth harp however, as he has been\njoined by Yuri Lane on The Beatbox Harmonica.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\nare other hand held percussive instruments, too, of course, so as we wander\naround you will probably see and certainly hear John Sebastian giving us a\nLovin\u00b4 Spoonful of Maracas as well as Spoons by Tungg. Chiddy even gives us Handclaps\nAnd Guitar, and so scoots around the orchestra throughout the recitals. We have\nold skiffle instruments, too, in the orchestra, which is a unique selling point\nto be honest. We are very proud to include among our numbers Coney Island\nWashboard Woman by Israel K even if our very own Tubelord is always proclaiming\nNever Washboard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oh,\nand that other sound is The Cymbal Rush by Thom Yorke and you can also identify\nTimpani by David Ashton, and Tapes N Tapes playing Cowbell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The Pogues<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Many people overlook it, but let me point out that a little metallic triangle might be last, but is not least, amidst the percussion section. That is especially true when The Auld Triangle, like ours, is played by The Pogues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We come now, though, to the strings which might\nbe our biggest part of the orchestra, although I\u00b4ve never done a real headcount\nof instrumentalists or their instruments, to be honest. With so many players\nrunning around performing on two or three different pieces in the course of a concert\nit can all get a bit complicated to be honest. Some play more than one\ninstrument in this section alone, so there can be  a fair old game of musical chairs between\npieces. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jean Shepard, over there, for example used to be\na country singer but these days she plays Second Fiddle To An Old Guitar, which\nnow I come to think of it, actually sounds like the title of a country\nheartbreak song doesn\u00b4t it? Of course, the guitar was once memorably described\nas Six Strings That Drew Blood by The Birthday Party even as their fellow\nmusician in the orchestra, singer writer Julie Matthews, talks of playing Blue\nSongs On A Red Guitar, in similar tones to those in which John Denver describes\nThis Old Guitar, you see just lying there on the floor. Lendanear meanwhile\ndescribe their own Old Black Guitar Case as being like a lover and best friend.\nSome people, though, are never satisfied. Even in such a globally acclaimed\norchestra as this one Johnny Preston still hangs around my office telling me he\nWants A Rock And Roll Guitar, whilst Waylon Jennings is always bemoaning\nGuitars That Won\u00b4t Stay In Tune.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, the ukulele has become quite the\nubiquitous instrument these days and I hear there are ukulele bands, featuring\nthe likes of Maureen Harrison, springing up all over the UK, including at the\npoetry nights I used to attend at The Baum on a Sunday night in Rochdale. Our\nown Ukulele Lady is, \u2026may I introduce you to, Daphne Walker, and she sits with\nHolly Kirkby who delivers My Little Ukulele Song.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have a pretty heavy bass back line, as well\nwith a bass trap by U2<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With Simon Harris constantly asking them, Bass,\nHow Low Can You Go?\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

See,\nwe\u00b4ve caught up with Moby again, too, with his Guitar, Flute And String.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\ncall those two lads in the corner The Duelling Banjos, but they are young and\nthey\u00b4ll soon learn to play nicely, together, instead of trying to be the quickest\non the strings. Until they do, though, God grant me Deliverance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of\ncourse, the violins play a massive part in the string section so we have\nBagatelle on Second Violin and Aisles And Glaciers play the Viola Lion, whilst\nDonald O Connor, over there packing his instrument into his case, always jokes\nthat playing the violin keeps him as Fit as A Fiddle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You\nmet Talking Heads earlier in the brass section because, as we said, they play\nSax and Violins. An unfortunate title, perhaps, but sometimes I think I know\nwhat they mean. Joni Mitchell you bumped into in the percussion section but as\nyou know, she is proficient on The Fiddle And The Drum so she often drifts over\nhere, too. They make an interesting contrast with Alban Berg who joined us\nafter he had written his Violin Concerto.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nbig beast here is the cello, of course, as recorded by Slowdrive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Playing\nMandolin Wind we have Rod Stewart. He used to be a rocker ! Some people thought\nhe had hot legs and was kind of sexy, but he\u00b4s been a pretty sober member of\nthe orchestra ever since he started recording the American Songbook with a full\norchestra, I think he\u00b4s just released Volume 67 or something like that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All\nthe members of Boney M each play a lute they call El Lute and claim they found\nit on a trip to The Rivers of Babylon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

We have some pounding bass, of course, with,\u2026and you\u00b4ll like this, you remember I introduced you to Mike Nesmith, The Monkee who plays a Different Drum in the percussion section, \u2026well, we not only have a Monkee but we also have Gorillaz playing Double Bass ! It\u00b4s Aswad, there at the back, who actually holds the Drum And Bass Line together for us. He has to ensure that the Bass Rave played by Bass Mekanik keeps to the beat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sometimes,\nthough an exotic instrument can bring something different to the sound and, in\nthis section, that comes from the Sitar Magic of Ashwin Batish. Sometimes too,\nit is musicians who made their names on another instrument, who discover such a\nlove for a slightly different sound that they create real beauty on a second\ninstrument. Peter Frampton was a hot rock guitarist back in the day, but now\nhe\u00b4s a real Vaudeville Nana With The Banjolele.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keyboards\nplay an important role in any orchestra of course and we are lucky to have a\ngroup of musicians who can play anything, it seems. Hello Goodbye just say they\nSaw it On Your Keyboard and away they go, to start a Piano Party with Winifred\nAtwell, who sits next to Christopher Manik who somehow plays Two Pianos at the\nsame time. Of course, we also have electronic keyboards, with Synthesise by the\nElectric Six and Organ Song by Boxer Rebellion. And we even have a Mellotron 1,\nplayed by Apples In Stereo. That Tom Waits chap we met over in brass tries to\nwork his way into this section, too, and puts away his swordfishtrombone and\ncomes to try to play the piano. He makes a lot of mistakes though, and always\noffers the same excuse that This Piano Has Been Drinking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then,\nfinally, we have the instruments that people seem to find hard to classify,\nbeing uncertain to which section of the orchestra they belong. So, there is\nsmall section for bells and there you can find Mike Oldfield on Tubular Bells\nand Radiohead, who seem to be itinerant musicians in this orchestra, sometimes\njoin him to play Morning Bell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nWho applied to join us, apparently, just because Mama\u00b4s Got A Squeezebox, and\nthe hippy dippy guy over there is Donovon, the folk singer. We call him Hurdy\nGurdy Man but he makes some strange sounds with that instrument. We even have Bagpipes\nFrom Baghdad rapped out by Eminem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sometimes\nI have to step in and wave my baton to stop an argument, usually when  The Band play Daniel And The Sacred Harp but a\nvery strange old rocker called Captain Beefheart starts demanding that they\n\u00b4Gimme Dat Harp, Boy.\u00b4<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As\nyou have probably gathered by now, my job is a lot more than just waving my\narms about and pointing a stick. And does anyone call my name out? Do they\nheck.. Instead, all I ever hear is \u00b4let\u00b4s hear it for the band !\u00b4<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u00b4ve\nbeen trying to count up whilst I\u00b4ve been talking to you, though,  and I reckon that in this particular\norchestra we have more than a thousand instruments, so you can imagine what I\nhave to put up with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\nare plenty more instruments around, of course, so I can only recommended that\nyou check out <\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.songfacts.com\/category\/songs-with-musical-instruments-in-the-title<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

for a far more comprehensive listing. Go on, you\nknow you want to.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

COME MEET THE BAND with Norman Warwick Since retiring here to Lanzarote we have heard Baroque Orchestras, string quartets, and Camerata ensembles from Russia, Holland, Germany and various other countries and have enjoyed the island\u00b4s own Lanzarote Ensemble Orchestra, that played in London a year or so ago. We have even heard orchestras playing in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1259,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,45],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aata","category-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1244"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1244\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}