Mobile gizmo that will store and scroll lyrics?
CCE
that could store them all. Has anyone come across a mobile gizmo, that
doesn't cost an arm and a leg, which will download lyrics from the Internet
and scroll them like an autocue as you sing the words? Something you could
take along to an event and use as a memory jog? Preferably Guinness-proof.
Joel Shimberg
>I have a lousy memory for lyrics and I am looking for a small mobile device
>that could store them all., etc.
I hate to sound like a luddite, but do you have any thoughts about
those people who bring books of music notation to events and proceed
to use them?
I would urge you to spend the time and effort to actually learn songs
that you want to sing. This does take some work, of course, and you
might think it preferable to use technology instead of your brain, but
you'll be missing something important, and everybody around you will
know it, and they'll talk about you behind your back. And they'll be
right!
Joel Shimberg
Peanutjake
"Joel Shimberg" <Fiddl...@cs.com> wrote in message
news:2abcd0tbmd29f1vf6...@4ax.com...
Joel, you are so right.
I remember my friend, Mrs. William Siller who used to play the piano at Square Dances in New York.
She was losing her sight and was going blind.
She was 70 years old and supporting her older sister.
She memorized 600 tunes so that she could keep on playing after she her sight was gone.
May her tribe increase.
PJ
Steve S
a song (or for that matter, a tune) involves what I call, for lack of a
better term, "personalization". That is to say, based on your personal
ability to assimilate musical materials with a greater or lesser degree of
accuracy, there will occur certain imperfections in the assimilation process
that are unique to you, and the result will be the generation of your own
version of any musical material you try to assimilate. I am of the opinion
that this is a very good thing, because it maintains vitality in a musical
tradition, as opposed to ossification that is sometimes found in other
genres and music that depend solely on printed sources for transmission,
such as classical music.
An extreme example of using printed source material as a basis for group
singing and transmission of musical material may be found in the recent
publication of a book called "Rise Up Singing". This book is a collection of
lyrics of songs much beloved by urban aficionados of folk music and mid-20th
century extensions thereof. It was very common in Philadelphia to see a
singing session develop, all of the participants take this spiral-bound book
from the knapsacks, and somebody make a joke, "let's open our hymnals to..."
Within the space of a year, the material sung by an entire community (PFSS)
became standardized and boring. Many people forget that "Rise Up Singing"
has a first edition in which nearly all of the songs, especially traditional
songs, were given new sets of lyrics more in keeping with the political
viewpoint of the publishers of the book. Standardization of such lyrics
would have been awful, in my opinion.
However, technology can contribute to old-time music session playing. I've
participated in many sessions in which somebody calls a tune, but nobody can
start it because of collective memory problems. (Many times, I've had the
experience of my entire brain turning to oatmeal with the only tune I could
access being old Joe Clark, and in some cases only the A part). I saw that
David Lynch had a huge collection of tunes on his iPod that allowed him to
access tunes by name and listen to the first three notes, thus saving a
session call for Duck Shoes rag from oblivion.
s.
--
______________________________________
Steve Senderoff & Trish Vierling
"...Ya run your E string down oh, I don't know, about three frets...anyway,
it corresponds to the third note on the A string...here's ya tuning..."
.........Tommy Jarrell
http://home.comcast.net/~steventrish/start.html
"Joel Shimberg" <Fiddl...@cs.com> wrote in message
news:2abcd0tbmd29f1vf6...@4ax.com...
CCE
In case you hadn't noticed, this is the 21st Century--the age of computers,
the Internet and mobile devices. Are you saying that we should turn our
backs on it all and, if so, why are you yourself using a computer and the
Internet? You could have replied to me on paper--you only had to ask for my
mailing address. Why use labour-saving technology when you can do things the
hard way?
> I would urge you to spend the time and effort to actually learn songs
> that you want to sing. This does take some work, of course, and you
> might think it preferable to use technology instead of your brain, but
> you'll be missing something important, and everybody around you will
> know it, and they'll talk about you behind your back. And they'll be
> right!
Thanks for the homely advice, Dad, but were these off-handed, pompous
remarks REALLY necessary? Of course I try to remember the words of songs.
But there are too many songs I want to sing for it to be possible to learn
all the words and remember them faultlessly. And some of us are less than
perfect.
"Joel Shimberg" <Fiddl...@cs.com> wrote in message
news:2abcd0tbmd29f1vf6...@4ax.com...
Erik Newman
A friend of mine has a phone/PDA gadget with internet access that can do
that. We've tried to use it as a lyrics reference but the text is too
small and not enough of it fits on the screen at once to make it useful.
What you need is a tablet PC (think of a laptop screen detached from
the rest of the laptop that you can write on with a stylus) but those
are pretty expensive and definitely *not* Guinness-proof.
I think the kind of thing you want is definitely coming in the future,
hopefully as some type of ebook reader that is easier on the eyes than a
PDA but not too expensive or heavy so you can carry it anywhere you
would a book.
Joel Shimberg
>In case you hadn't noticed, this is the 21st Century--the age of computers,
>the Internet and mobile devices. Are you saying that we should turn our
>backs on it all and, if so, why are you yourself using a computer and the
>Internet? You could have replied to me on paper--you only had to ask for my
>mailing address. Why use labour-saving technology when you can do things the
>hard way?
We should use new technologies for things that they are appropriate
to. I find it amusing to get to be lectured by snotty kids who don't
read or reflect upon what their betters write. (Take that, child!) If
you had been able to understand what I wrote, you would have noticed
that I wasn't deprecating your electronic toys. Rather, I was urging
you to sing from your memory, however faulty, rather than from written
learning substitutes. The point was that as you learn a song well
enough to sing without reading you come to understand the song in ways
that people who don't learn them are cut off from. You can't listen to
yourself singing if you're reading instead of listening. If you don't
listen to yourself, why should anyone else listen to you? If you
haven't learned a song, what do you bring to it that gives it more
value than a page in a book?
>Thanks for the homely advice, Dad, but were these off-handed, pompous
>remarks REALLY necessary?
Obviously they were wasted. They were well-intentioned, but one is
never surprised to have cast pearls before swine.
Joel
Steve S
news:%vJBc.1387$Mf4....@newsfe5-gui.server.ntli.net...
> In case you hadn't noticed, this is the 21st Century--the age of
computers,
> the Internet and mobile devices. Are you saying that we should turn our
> backs on it all
do you realize that after several tens of million years of human evolution,
exponential growth in the power of technology during the 20th-century, and
the unprecedented development of inter-networked personal computers, that
you are a _single mouse click_ away from the lyrics to "Surfin' Bird" by a
1950s ensemble called the Trashmen, a surf band from Minnesota?
http://home.t-online.de/home/walterv/trashm.htm
- Surfin' Bird
A-well-a everybody's heard about the bird
B-b-b-bird, bird, bird, b-bird's the word
A-well-a bird, bird, bird, the bird is the word
A-well-a bird, bird, bird, well the bird is the word
A-well-a bird, bird, bird, b-bird's the word
A-well-a bird, bird, bird, well the bird is the word
A-well-a bird, bird, b-bird's the word
A-well-a bird, bird, bird, b-bird's the word
A-well-a bird, bird, bird, well the bird is the word
A-well-a bird, bird, b-bird's the word
A-well-a don't you know about the bird?
Well, everybody knows that the bird is the word!
A-well-a bird, bird, b-bird's the word
A-well-a... [N.C.]
A-well-a everybody's heard about the bird
Bird, bird, bird, b-bird's the word
A-well-a bird, bird, bird, b-bird's the word
A-well-a bird, bird, bird, b-bird's the word
A-well-a bird, bird, b-bird's the word
A-well-a bird, bird, bird, b-bird's the word
A-well-a bird, bird, bird, b-bird's the word
A-well-a bird, bird, bird, b-bird's the word
A-well-a bird, bird, bird, b-bird's the word
A-well-a don't you know about the bird?
Well, everybody's talking about the bird!
A-well-a bird, bird, b-bird's the word
A-well-a bird...
Surfin' bird
Bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb... [retching noises]... aaah!
Pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-
Pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-ooma-mow-mow
Papa-ooma-mow-mow
Papa-ooma-mow-mow, papa-ooma-mow-mow
Papa-ooma-mow-mow, papa-ooma-mow-mow
Ooma-mow-mow, papa-ooma-mow-mow
Papa-ooma-mow-mow, papa-ooma-mow-mow
Papa-ooma-mow-mow, papa-ooma-mow-mow
Oom-oom-oom-oom-ooma-mow-mow
Papa-ooma-mow-mow, papa-oom-oom-oom
Oom-ooma-mow-mow, papa-ooma-mow-mow
Ooma-mow-mow, papa-ooma-mow-mow
Papa-a-mow-mow, papa-ooma-mow-mow
Papa-ooma-mow-mow, ooma-mow-mow
Papa-ooma-mow-mow, ooma-mow-mow
Papa-oom-oom-oom-oom-ooma-mow-mow
Oom-oom-oom-oom-ooma-mow-mow
Ooma-mow-mow, papa-ooma-mow-mow
Papa-ooma-mow-mow, ooma-mow-mow
Well don't you know about the bird?
Well, everybody knows that the bird is the word!
A-well-a bird, bird, b-bird's the word
Papa-ooma-mow-mow, papa-ooma-mow-mow [repeat to fade]
______________________________________
Steve Senderoff & Trish Vierling
"...Ya run your E string down oh, I don't know, about three frets...anyway,
it corresponds to the third note on the A string...here's ya tuning..."
.........Tommy Jarrell
http://home.comcast.net/~steventrish/start.html
> Hey Joel,
Cleoma
however faulty, rather than from written learning substitues....as you learn a
song well enough to sing without reading you come to understand the song in
better about not having a songbook! Still, I very much admire the kinds of
songbooks that various friends have, handwritten song lyrics often adorned with
drawings, photos, cards, and other visual stuff. I find that it helps me to
commit a song to memory if I write it down by hand. Somehow this sticks with
me more than if I type it into the computer. But I think that what Joel was
referring to was commercially printed songbooks. Sometimes these handwritten
ones contain their own quirky personalized versions of songs!
Suzy T
To reply to this posting, remove "nojunk" from my email address. Visit Suzy on
the web: http://www.bluegrassintentions.com/suzy.htm
Neil Rossi
defeats the purpose of music, to my way of thinking, because lyrics
lose their impact and emotion when the singer reads them from the
page. Singers should always make an attempt to memorize lyrics before
singing them.
Now, having said that, I am finding a peculiar problem as I get older.
Joel probably remembers that I know lyrics to hundreds of songs (and
can play the melodies to upwards of a thousand fiddle tunes and other
instrumental pieces) but... if I don't play them frequently, I forget
one or more verses or parts of verses. Drives me nuts. So most of
the country songs from the 50's and 60's that I used to know -- gone.
Some of the old-time tunes I used to be able to sing in my sleep --
disappeared. I'm fine if I can see the lyrics once before I play it.
So I confess that I've been looking for just such a solution. I want
to be able to download the lyrics database that I keep on my computer
onto a device, something larger than a PDA and smaller than a laptop,
low power consumption, and a screen large enough and bright enough so
I don't have to put on my reading glasses first.
I will continue to memorize lyrics -- I was always pretty good at it
-- but I need something to prompt me when I forget a verse.
Joel Shimberg <Fiddl...@cs.com> wrote in message news:<2abcd0tbmd29f1vf6...@4ax.com>...
David Sanderson
> "CCE" <drcc...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:%vJBc.1387$Mf4....@newsfe5-gui.server.ntli.net...
>
>
>>In case you hadn't noticed, this is the 21st Century--the age of
>
> computers,
>
>>the Internet and mobile devices. Are you saying that we should turn our
>>backs on it all
>
>
> do you realize that after several tens of million years of human evolution,
> exponential growth in the power of technology during the 20th-century, and
> the unprecedented development of inter-networked personal computers, that
> you are a _single mouse click_ away from the lyrics to "Surfin' Bird" by a
> 1950s ensemble called the Trashmen, a surf band from Minnesota?
>
> http://home.t-online.de/home/walterv/trashm.htm
You mean you didn't know them already?
--
David Sanderson
East Waterford, Maine
**** NEW EMAIL ADDRESS ****
Steve S
news:5o2dnclnU6L...@adelphia.com...
> You mean you didn't know them already?
Mister Sanderson has apparently forgotten that the study of the songs of
the Trashmen is central to the standard required curriculum of most
departments of English in major American universities. I have studied the
lyrics and social history of the Trashmen for nearly a half-century, as is
common among most American intellectuals.
The world of the Trashmen, a rich cultural fabric of fast customized
automobiles, women with inconceivably tight sweaters, sand, surf,
hamburgers, french fries, tribal social organization, and pounding, frenzied
music meant to invoke the cool daddy-o world of hyperkinetic pin head glue
sniff teenagers seeking a less than angry fix (to paraphrase Allen Ginsberg)
is a world that truly merits continuous studies.
When one considers that an entire literary universe may be constructed
around the phrase "Bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb... [retching noises]... aaah!", the
mind is truly infused with the possibility of universal communion with the
muse.
--
______________________________________
Steve Senderoff & Trish Vierling
"...Ya run your E string down oh, I don't know, about three frets...anyway,
it corresponds to the third note on the A string...here's ya tuning..."
.........Tommy Jarrell
http://home.comcast.net/~steventrish/start.html
> Steve S wrote:
>
> > "CCE" <drcc...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> > news:%vJBc.1387$Mf4....@newsfe5-gui.server.ntli.net...
> >
> >
> >>In case you hadn't noticed, this is the 21st Century--the age of
> >
> > computers,
> >
> >>the Internet and mobile devices. Are you saying that we should turn our
> >>backs on it all
> >
> >
> > do you realize that after several tens of million years of human
evolution,
> > exponential growth in the power of technology during the 20th-century,
and
> > the unprecedented development of inter-networked personal computers,
that
> > you are a _single mouse click_ away from the lyrics to "Surfin' Bird" by
a
> > 1950s ensemble called the Trashmen, a surf band from Minnesota?
> >
> > http://home.t-online.de/home/walterv/trashm.htm
>
>
David Sanderson
> "David Sanderson" <dwsande...@adelphia.net> wrote in message
> news:5o2dnclnU6L...@adelphia.com...
>
>>You mean you didn't know them already?
>
>
> Mister Sanderson has apparently forgotten that the study of the songs of
> the Trashmen is central to the standard required curriculum of most
> departments of English in major American universities. I have studied the
> lyrics and social history of the Trashmen for nearly a half-century, as is
> common among most American intellectuals.
>
> The world of the Trashmen, a rich cultural fabric of fast customized
> automobiles, women with inconceivably tight sweaters, sand, surf,
> hamburgers, french fries, tribal social organization, and pounding, frenzied
> music meant to invoke the cool daddy-o world of hyperkinetic pin head glue
> sniff teenagers seeking a less than angry fix (to paraphrase Allen Ginsberg)
> is a world that truly merits continuous studies.
>
> When one considers that an entire literary universe may be constructed
> around the phrase "Bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb... [retching noises]... aaah!", the
> mind is truly infused with the possibility of universal communion with the
> muse.
>
Showing my age, I guess. My narrow escape from a PhD. in English
several decades ago involved pre-Trashmen material such as Beowulf, back
when fiddles were still fithele.
Jack Aldrich
"Steve S" <st...@tommyjarrell.gov> wrote in message
news:bt2dnYR9zt-...@comcast.com...
Joel Shimberg
going to assume that people have read their posts.
I have no problem with people keeping songbooks, either compiled by
themselves or printed collections. I have a couple of the first and
loads of the second. I find making one's own collection is especially
usefull -- listening carefully enough to get the words right and
writing them down really helps to fix then in the mind. And it's an
opportunity to give a song concentrated thought. I'm reminded of my
experience with what people call "Bright Morning Stars Are Rising".
While writing this down I had the chance to really think about what
the words were saying, and I realized that there was only one Morning
Star, and that what the song was really saying was "Bright Morning
Star's A-Rising." As far as pda stuff goes, I am working on entering
into a cheap electronic 'phone book, in abc notation, the first eight
or ten notes to each parts of lots of tunes that I play. I am so tired
of not being able to recall how "Dogs Among The Dishes" goes, and if I
can just get the first three notes the rest follow easily.
What bothers me is the idea of bringing such a collection to a jam or
a performance and sitting there, reading out of the damned thing. As
far as forgetting lines or whole verses goes, it's not a competitive
sport. It's not a question of who can remember more verses than whom.
How many recordings of old-timers have you listened to where somebody
who obviously loves a song and can make you love it too forgets a part
of it? Did it really matter to you? The proper (in my opinion) use for
a songbook or a tunebook is to read through them fairly often and
remind yourself. They're friends, not crutches.
Joel
Brad
When the number of covers you do starts to number in the hundreds, it
really does become unrealistic to memorize all the lyrics, especially
when having to focus on playing an instrument at the same time. I find
myself relying on lyric sheets more and more as time goes on. Nothing
like having a brain fart at the beginning of a second verse or a
chorus. As someone suggested, a cue is often all that's needed. I
would welcome a practical electronic solution, like something that
would display the first word of every line...maybe files on a PDA
sitting on a music stand. I don't think typical bar room or club
audiences would fault a guy for glancing down at the thing
occasionally. I agree with Joel that an effort should be made to learn
the lyrics but when your old head has been crammed with literally
hundreds of lyrics over the years, what's wrong with a nudge from a
gizmo if it'll keep you on track? Better than standing there looking
desperately to your bandmates for a clue.