[Dixielandjazz] Recorded vs Live Music

[Ken Mathieson]

Hi Folks,

I once heard a village band in Austria playing in a village square in a snowstorm and sub-zero temperatures, supposedly to initiate the pre-Lenten carnival in style. It started off OK but went downhill pretty fast as the cold got to the players and the instruments. About 15 minutes in, the clarinets had icicles hanging from their bells and, while I understand Paul's statement that cold dense air lowers pitch, if the bore of a clarinet is reduced due to ice forming in it, the pitch must surely rise, but not uniformly, since the air is warmer nearer the mouthpiece, so ice forms further down the bore.

Whatever the physics may decree, the results were fantastic. Not only did the brass and reeds get wildly out of tune, but the effects of cold on lips and fingers soon made any kind of  musical accuracy impossible. It got funnier and funnier until the water keys of the brass instruments started to freeze up and the whole band headed for the village inn to thaw out with mulled wine.

I only caught up with the Obama inauguration on UK TV news later on, so I didn't hear any of the musical selections, but I can understand why the classical musicians elected to play to a pre-recording. What happened to the performance of the other bands?

Cheers,

Ken Mathieson
www.classicjazzorchestra.org.uk