Playing Music 1

[CajunCenturion]

Trumpet, fiddle, oboe, and violin are all musical instruments. Why is it acceptable 'to trumpet' and 'to fiddle', but not 'to oboe' and 'to violin'?

Good Luck
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[AnotherHiggins]

In an effort to align my post with the thread - drum is also an instrument that can act as a verb.

Now that that's out of the way, I used to know a ton of musician riddles. Here are a few I remember:

Q: What's the difference between a violin and a viola?
Q: Trick question, there is no difference. The violin only looks smaller because the violinist's head is so much bigger.

Q: How do you get two piccolos in tune?
A: Burn one.

Q: Why is an grand piano better than an upright piano?
A: Because it makes a much bigger BOOM when dropped over a cliff.

Q: What's the difference between a baritone saxophone and a chain saw?
Q: The exhaust.

Q: What is the difference between a dead trombone player lying in the road, and a dead squirrel lying in the road?
A: The squirrel might have been on his way to a gig.


And my personal favorite (since I'm a drummer)
Q: What did the drummer get on his S.A.T.?
A: Drool.

[tt]-John[/tt]
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[sleipnir214]

Q: How do you know a bass player is at your door?
A: He keeps knocking faster and faster and doesn't know when to come it.



Want the best answers? Ask the best questions!

TANSTAAFL!!

 

[AnotherHiggins]

Q: How many drummers does it take to change a light bulb?
A: 5 or more. One to hold the light bulb still and the others to drink until the room spins.


[tt]-John[/tt]
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[flapeyre]

Q. What dou you call a drummer without a girlfreind?
A. Homeless.

Q. What's the difference between an accordion and an onion?
A. Nobody cries when you cut up an accordion.

Me transmitte sursum, Caledoni!

 

[mscallisto]

Not to "rattle" you or to "horn" in on your conversation but lets get bach to the question, to "harp" on someone means what? and please no remarks from "lyres

 

[SF0751]

From the Online Etymology Dictionary:

To horn in (meaning) "intrude" is attested by 1880, originally cowboy slang, on the notion of buffalo behavior.


Susan
"Few things are harder to put up with than the annoyance of a good example." - Mark Twain, Pudd'nhead Wilson (1894)

 

[mscallisto]

Thanks Susan now for the to "Harp" on someone

 

[SF0751]

Oh - so you wanted an answer to your question?

From the same source:
The verb is Old English "hearpian". Fig. sense of "talk overmuch about" first recorded 1513, originally to harp upon one string.

Susan
"Few things are harder to put up with than the annoyance of a good example." - Mark Twain, Pudd'nhead Wilson (1894)

 

[mscallisto]

Thank you SF0751

 

[KenCunningham]

SilentAiche. I'm intrigued. Is that the same as the 'dropped aiche'?

 

[MakeItSo]

I don't know about "to fiddle", but what concerns "to trumpet / to drum", I think I have an idea:
Perhaps it is because instruments like trumpet/fanfare and drum were used as a means of communication. (royal court, battle field...)

So, "to trumpet" would have a distinct communication meaning as e.g. "to alarm", and "to drum" would be e.g. to spread news (like in Africa or the way the red indians used it)

Violins as well as most other instruments normally aren't used as communication means, so "to violin" would not "fit" into the same category as "to trumpet" does.

P.S: violin/fiddle:
From

http://www.frontiernet.net/~fujithedog/review/joe-e.html

I get this question a lot -- they're actually the same instrument, the only difference in the pretentiousness of the player. A haughty and exclusive section violinist in the New York Philharmonic might look down his nose at you and say, "I studied for 8 years at the conservatory to be a violinist," but I've also taken a masterclass with Itzhak Perlman and he called his 1714 Stradivarius, which he acquired from Lord Menuhin, his 'fiddle'. Jascha Heifetz also called his instrument the fiddle, but as a Russian Jew he probably meant the Yiddish word fidl, where the term comes from.

P.P.S: What's worse than a flutist? Two flutists...

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[SilentAiche]

KenCunningham: It's probably the same, depending on one's definition(s).

Think of "humming" becoming "umming".

(I just noticed the rhyming of that last phrase...)

You say that you're intrigued. Is that near Prague?

THanks,
Tim

 

[tsdragon]

FYI: The proper term for one who plays is flute is "floutist". (Talk about pretentious)



Tracy Dryden

Meddle not in the affairs of dragons,
For you are crunchy, and good with mustard.

 

[Thadeus]

FYI tsdragon: The proper term is NOT floutist.

A "flautist" is someone who plays a "flauto" which is Italian for flute. That is where the term flautist comes into play, not due to pretentiousness.

One can imagine along these lines that a promoter in an attempt to make the act sound more "high-falutin" would use the more exotic sounding "flautist" as well as change Hank to Henri if he happened to be the flutist in question.

~Thadeus

 

[tsdragon]

OK, I misspelled it, but I am correct about the usage. According to M-W a flautist IS a person who plays a flute. It did originally refer to one who plays the flauto, but now it refers to anyone who plays ANY flute. If nothing else, common usage makes it so. I did a quick search for the word and got these results:

Ask Jeeves: 59,500 hits
Google: 97,700 hits
Yahoo: 84,300 hits
MSN: 154,710 hits

I can pretty much guarantee you without doing more than scanning a couple of them that it is extremely unlikely they all refer to one who plays a flauto.


Tracy Dryden

Meddle not in the affairs of dragons,
For you are crunchy, and good with mustard.

 

[MakeItSo]

LOL!

tsdragon: from your quoted M-W:

Main Entry: flau·tist
Pronunciation: 'flo-tist, 'flau-
Function: noun
Etymology: Italian flautista, from flauto flute, from Old Provençal flaut
: FLUTIST

Seems we're both (all three) right...

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[ToniL]

How 'bout flatulent? Does that count?

Peace,
Toni L.

 

[Thadeus]

Right MakeItSo, as I pointed out, a flauto is a flute. So in answer to tsdragon's assertion:

I can pretty much guarantee you without doing more than scanning a couple of them that it is extremely unlikely they all refer to one who plays a flauto.

It is rather extremely likely that all of the articles do in fact refer to someone who is able to play a flauto.

~Thadeus

BTW: I was not commenting on your spelling... honestly.

 

[snuv]

I just have to "pipe" up that I like this thread. In fact I may have to castanet wider to find more instruments with other meanings



"If it could have gone wrong earlier and it didn't, it ultimately would have been beneficial for it to have." : Murphy's Ultimate Corollary

 

[SilentAiche]

My left kidney suggested I mention the word "organ."

Tim