[Trombone-l] Conch shell on Reveultas

[Dave Tall]

I agree with Dave Buckley.  He actually didn't critique your conch 
performance, either positively or negatively.  I think he was looking 
for a clever way to note the unusual event of someone playing a conch 
shell, and the even more unusual situation where it is being played at a 
symphony concert.  The "do you think his mother beams..." strikes me as 
a maladroit, snarky way of commenting on the rarity.  He's probably 
something of a smartass.  Plus, he has column inches to fill.  He 
noticed you, he commented on you, and he didn't say anything negative 
about your conch playing.  I'd give it a pass.

Years ago at a day job something negative happened between me and a 
client.  I was incensed.  I wrote a steaming, vituperative letter to the 
client.  I passed it by my manager.  He read it, and said that I should 
rewrite it for clarity as to what the infraction was and to remove any 
frankly libelious statements.  I did so and sent him the new version.  
He said "OK, now throw it away.  You can't send that.  Writing it makes 
you feel better; sending it would compound the damage."

I can't remember what the event was, but I can still remember how angry 
I was about it and how proud I was of the letter.  I've done this a 
number of times over the years: write the letter in the heat of anger, 
let it sit for a couple of days "to be edited", read it again.  I've 
sent very few of these, but writing them did make me feel better.  That 
manager fellow was pretty smart!

David W. Buckley wrote:
> The statement, "never argue with someone who buys ink by the barrel" seems 
> appropraite here. He clearly was just trying to be a smartass and make his 
> column interesting to the general public.
>
> Dave Buckley.
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Raymond Horton" <rayhorton at insightbb.com>
> To: "List Trombone" <TROMBONE-L at server5.samford.edu>
> Sent: Monday, September 10, 2007 8:27 AM
> Subject: Re: [Trombone-l] Conch shell on Reveultas
>
>
> OK, remember about three weeks ago when I was asking for advice on the
> conch shell part on Revueltas "La Noche de los Mayas?" I got some very
> helpful advice from the list - particularly Jeff Albert and Jackie
> Harris-Stone. I practiced the shell, and was ready for my four-bar
> cadenza, (wailed a couple of high E's - you guys would have been proud
> of this bass trombonist) and the whole thing went absolutely superbly.
> So this is what I get to read in the paper, in the midst of a favorable
> review (you can see the whole review at:
>
> <http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070909/SCENE05/709090582/1011/SCENE>
>
>
> “You don't often see a large man in white tie and tails blowing into a
> conch shell (do you think his mother beams, ‘My son, the conch player!?’).”
>
> This reviewer is a really snide person whom I have known for years -
> he's been in my house. He really thinks he is hot stuff, I guess because
> he is the nephew of a famous composer with the same last name. Years
> ago, when the paper would print the reviewers "credentials" at the top
> of their reviews, his would read "Mr Adler took a music appreciation
> course at Eastman School of Music."
>
>
> I wrote a letter to the paper, but I don't know if I should send it.
> Does this just make me sound defensive and pathetic? Here it is:
>
> -------------
>
> To the Editor of the _/Courier-Journal_/:
>
> Right in the midst of reading Andrew Adler’s positive review of a
> glorious night by the Louisville Orchestra (“Fanfara is a full and
> fabulous night of fun” September 8 SCENE) I was surprised to read a
> rather odd, humorous reference to myself: “You don't often see a large
> man in white tie and tails blowing into a conch shell (do you think his
> mother beams, ‘My son, the conch player!?’).” I don’t know why the
> comment bothered me (perhaps because my mother passed away this last
> March, but yes, she was proud of me). The comment would be bad enough if
> I were, indeed, a lonely conch player, waiting by the phone for my next
> gig, but Andrew knows me – I have been Bass Trombonist of the Louisville
> Orchestra for a third of a century, have played in a solo capacity with
> the orchestra on bass trombone and euphonium (according to my scrapbook,
> he called my euphonium playing a “modest astonishment,” whatever that
> means), have had compositions performed by the LO and other groups in
> town (two that Andrew reviewed – he liked one, sort of passed on the
> other). No, not a lonely conch player, I was just handed the shell three
> weeks ago (it often falls to the bass trombonist, since the Revueltas
> work we were performing has no part for our instrument) and asked to
> learn to play it. I researched the instrument, listened to other players
> and recordings, practiced it, and did as much with the part and my
> improvised four-bar cadenza as I possibly could. Afterwards, musicians,
> conductor, and members of the audience complimented me for it, a
> composer offered to write for me and the instrument (I had to tell him I
> had already packed it up to send it back), and, oh yes, I read the
> ridicule of myself and my mom in the paper. I suppose some try to make
> the most of their opportunities, some don’t.
>
> Raymond Horton
> Bass Trombonist
> Louisville Orchestra
>
>
>
>
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