NOTEWORTHY CHANGE
Each of us has some rather firm ideas about what we call a “change.” Most of us, I would say, like to see any new angle or modification appear to be an improvement on the previous condition . Each of us, too, might be ready to question change if it comes too suddenly upon us, without some hint that things might be son be different. Sudden change can come as and unpleasant shock. What about a change which is kept secret, or , at least not noised about so that many of us might come to know that a thing had been modified?
One change - a musical one which affects just about all of us at one time or another - has been put in place, it seems, and not made known publically.
It occurs at a rather solomn moment in the lives of most of us, too. It is applied in other, less serious circumstances, I'm sure, with the idea that if it works better, involve less expense can be used again-and-again accomplishes the desired result more effectively with less chance of error and with marked improvement in dependability. With all that in its favor it, automatically, seems better and should not excite any opposition.
Example: If you watched the Memorial Service honoring President Ronald Regan you were no doubt impressed by the scenic background of the vast Pacific Ocean segment in the background and by the general arrangement of the partricants during the ceremony. You also will recall that a young man in military dress then placed a trumpet to his lips, and in the traditon of the ceremony played the notes known as “Taps”. It is a touching passage and adds a traditonal coda to such ceremonies. You may not have listened too intently but you “felt” the tonal splendor of the simple notation deep within you and may may have wondered how that young musician could do it so perfectly, with such meaning and without any hint of error. The truth of the matter is that the so-called “bugle” is never used at such ceremonies. Instead, an electonic device is fitted in the instrument puts to the musician's lips and he carefully syncs his apparent breathing to the sound emitted from the bell of the horn. The perfect union of tone with movment results. He lowers the saluting instrument and you never realize it was recorded.
It is, somehow, disturbing to me.
Have we become so enamoured of perfection? Do we deem it necessary that emotional qualities be exorcized? Must we have the nth in everything? Must we do so in a mechanical way? Somehow it detracts from the entire cemmony it is intended to enhance.
We do this more often than we think we do. The vast majority of the shows you watch so avidly on television have been long ago been taped ,edited, cut, patched, enhanced and colorized to provide you with a program timed to the very second, edited to remove all obvious errors (even to the point of adding a few unintentionaly, such as a sudden flicker or flash where a portion of the film has been cut to shorten the length so that it will fit in the exact space between commercials.) We demand such detailed preparation in the TV shows we watch, and movies had been that way for decades. More and more we are realizing that some producers of News Progamming on radio and TV, are applying such methods to bring about ”perfection” - in their light - for events we share.
You have, no doubt, heard taps blown poorly. We all have. It is a difficult thing for a musician to be called upon to do, and some are not more ready to do so than some vocalists who try to sing our national anthem at sports events. On such occasions we may feel sorry for the inept player or singer, but they are part of an emotional moment and even the best artists may vary a bit from perfection ...just as did the life of the deceased, perhaps, or the status of the sports teams in the arena when someone butchers our banner song.
It's here. We go with the change, like it or not. It time we will come to accept such modifications and wonder why were disturbed by such a petty thing.
A. L. M. October 13, 2004 [c740wds]
