'Soul Purpose'
There's a lady plays her fav'rite records/On the jukebox ev'ry day/All day long she plays the same old songs/And she believes the things that they say/She sings along with all the saddest songs/And she believes the stories are real/She lets the music dictate the way that she feels.
That's because the French Horn is never in tune.
Hee! That thing was f-ing impossible to tune, and then you sort of controlled everything with your lips anyway. Or by whether or not you were using the part that was tuned to F or the part that was tuned to b-flat.
I just learned my first french horn joke! (How do you tune two french horns?)
(what is the punchline?)
In a smaller orchestra where there are fewer parts overlapping, I can definitely pick out the individual players, especially if I know them and am used to their intonation or whatnot. Listening to the local symphony that the SO played with, I could pull out the 3rd trumpet part that was him (he hopped in midseason, so declined to challenge any chair, although he was clearly a better player (I dunno why I had to assert that, but there you go)) pretty easily. Although picking it out live is easier than listening to a recording without any visual cues to line up.
But it's a learned skill. I mean, I think in general, musicians have a hard time hearing themselves, which is what leads to the "more of me in the monitor" escalation problem. I always ask for less of me in my monitor, and I have nothing else in there at all because the stage levels are so hot overall. But that's because my job requires that I pick out one line of melody (on the same instrument as everyone else) in a roomful of cacophony, so it's a skillset I've deliberately worked on and improved over the years.
what is the punchline?
Shoot one of the players.
That is sooo funny!
Aw, damn. From the linked article:
During sessions for Springsteen's 1975 breakthrough "Born to Run," Clemons spent 16 hours recording his solo on "Jungleland," the nine-minute track that closes the album.
"Creating is like religion," Clemons said later of the marathon session. "I was willing to relinquish myself to him (Springsteen). I've had people say to me, 'That sax solo saved my life.' So I did my job."
I think I'm going to listen to it right now, and light a candle.
Ah, shit. I hadn't realized it was that bad.
R.I.P. Wild Man Fischer [link]
I love the Times' transcription of the lyrics to one of his songs:
Come on, let’s merry-go, MERRY-go, merry-go-round.
Boop-boop-boop. [This is Mr. Fischer making a calliope-like noise.]