[Dixielandjazz] OK WISE PEOPLE - Let's Talk About Coronet versus The Cornet

[Dr. Richard J. Sojka]

OK Folks,

 

It seems like I have received numerous EMAIL's deriding me because I
misspelled cornet as coronet. So you  grammar traditionalist's THINK that I
play a crown on top of my head or that I blow into a dodge power car. Ha!
Ha! I  find this to rather "corny" or "corony."

 

Firstly, since I am a trumpet player what makes you think that I should be
an expert in spelling. 

 

Secondly, since I am committed to my craft of playing traditional jazz, my
focus should be on playing and practicing this type of music rather than to
spelling the names of brass instruments.

 

Thirdly, the word 'jazz' is a slang "misspelling"  or "mispronunciation" of
a common practice in the Red Light District of New Orleans. Why can't I take
the liberty of misspelling "cornet" as "coronet?"

 

OK! Let's have some fun and go over some of the trumpet jokes I have heard
over the last 60 years of my life:

 

1.       Three trumpet players are in a car. Whose driving? - The Police

2.       What do you call a beautiful girl on a cornet player's arm? - A
tattoo.

3.       Why is the trumpet an instrument of worship?-Because when one blows
in it, GOD only knows what comes out of it.

4.       Why can't a gorilla play trumpet? - A gorilla is too sensitive!!

 

Now let's go over some of the "Freudian"  or psychological reasons of why I
wrote that 'I was a "coronet" player.' Could it be that I was speaking
metaphorically. You see a metaphor is when "one transfers the sense of one
word to another or a "figure of speech" in which one thing is likened to
another, different thing by being spoken of as if it were the other."

 

So when I said that I play "coronet," I was referring to my role of a cornet
or kornet (polish spelling) player in the traditional jazz band. The cornet
player metaphorically wears the coronet because he or she calls out the
tunes, counts the time or beats for introducing the tune, calls out the
solos of the tune, and orchestrates the form of the tune including the
chorus/verse and how it should be played. So you see the cornet player is
the sovereign who makes sure the other members of the band know their roles
and allows them to express themselves and have fun playing the music that
they enjoy.

 

In zoology there is the "coronet band" that refers to"the area above the
hoof containing the germinal cells from which hoof tissue is formed." Since
I am an aging musician, one might say that I am just an "old hoofer."

 

You see folks, I am just a simple person living in the high desert who wants
to start a traditional jazz band so that those of  us who  love to play this
music can have fun and Jam.

 

My heart goes out to all of you who love and play Dixieland jazz.

 

Rich Sojka

 

PS - For those of you obsessed with spelling and grammar,  I am including
the standard definitions of (1) coronet, (2) cornet, and (3) cornet a
pistons which in the strictest sense refers to the brass instrument that we
play.

 

Coronet:

1.       A small crown worn by princes and others of high ranks

2.       An ornamental headdress; a coronal

3.       The margin around the upper part of the hoof of a horse, where the
skin joins: called also the coronamen. (In jazz jive talk, this would
similar to saying, 'I play the "cornet, Man!")

Cornet:

1.       In music, (a) the smallest of the brass-wind instruments of the
trumpet class, consisting of a variously curved metallic tube with a
cup-shaped, removal mouthpiece, three valves controlled by pistons; (b) a
loud organ stop; (c) an instrument resembling the oboe, now no longer used

2.       (a.)a woman's headdress worn about the sixteenth century; also, the
spreading white headdress that a Sister of Charity wears.

3.       In military affairs, (a) a flag; (b) a company of calvary; (c) a
British cavalry officer of the lowest rank, who carried his troops flag.

4.       A piece of paper or pastry twisted like a cone, for holding sugar,
candy, ice cream, etc

          ,

Coronet a pistons:

1.       A small, musical  brass instrument using pistons commonly referred
to as the "cornet."