[Dixielandjazz] REcorded vs Live Music

[Paul Edgerton]

I went to high school in Colorado, and one year our football team won
the state championship -- during a blizzard. The brass players all
used a mixture of alcohol and glycerin in place of the usual valve
oil, but eventually switched to straight alcohol because the valves
kept freezing. You wouldn't have enjoyed the sounds our band made on
that chilly afternoon!

When cold, strings shrink, making them tighter and therefore higher
pitch. Cold = sharp for the strings, including the piano.
But cold air is denser, the speed of sound in dense air is slower and
therefore lower pitch. Cold = flat for the winds.

I'm thankful that we weren't forced to listen such great artists
fighting with physics and were instead treated to what they could do
under better controlled circumstances.

John Williams really gave a big tip of the hat to the dean of American
composers, Aaron Copeland, didn't he?

On Fri, Jan 23, 2009 at 9:48 AM, Robert Ringwald <rsr at ringwald.com> wrote:
> I suspected as much.  Playing under those conditions would certainly be
> brutal.
>
> I was wondering about the horn players, playing in 20 degree temp.