tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1568334561722760329.post722595265912871228..comments2024-03-04T04:08:39.755-08:00Comments on The Fies Files: Old SoundsBrian Fieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16347700145666751363noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1568334561722760329.post-63921474698524046462012-03-30T08:51:24.907-07:002012-03-30T08:51:24.907-07:00Just what I'd expect from a down-home fiddle p...Just what I'd expect from a down-home fiddle player....<br /><br />Agreed that participating in making music is a wonderful thing, but audiences--spectators--have been part of musical performance since the beginning. The first guy who pounded a log with a stick was surrounded by a dozen others who couldn't keep a beat, and Mozart never invited his audience on-stage. The phonograph brought the concert hall into your living room.<br /><br />I just imagine someone growing up far from a big city. Maybe once in a while they get to a hoedown, maybe a trumpeter plays on the Fourth of July. And then one day Pa brings home a box that plays Beethoven's Ninth by a full symphony orchestra. The thought gives me goosebumps. Even from a musician's POV, imagine a fiddle player who learned everything he or she can from their little community of local fiddle players, then one day hears the best violinist in the world. A church singer who one day hears the best choir in the world. Wouldn't that be an eye-opener? <br /><br />Remember too that early records weren't just music. An old 78 might've been someone's first opportunity to hear a great speech, another language, or their president's voice. I admit there's a narrow window of time before radio accomplished the same thing, but I bet that time was amazing.Brian Fieshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16347700145666751363noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1568334561722760329.post-47796075188728693982012-03-30T05:04:51.020-07:002012-03-30T05:04:51.020-07:00Your post spawned a lively discussion between Nanc...Your post spawned a lively discussion between Nancy and me about the impact of the phonograph on domestic life. Nancy agrees with you that the phonograph filled people's lives with things they'd never (quite literally) heard of before.<br /><br />I take the contrarian position: the music of the phonograph had been a part of American homes for decades, in the form of the parlor piano. Sheet music sales were at their all-time high in the first decade of the 20th Century, and folks were already well-acquainted with Beethoven and Wagner because many had played their compositions on their own instruments. To me, the phonograph hastened the era of the spectator and diminished the role of ordinary folks being the creators of entertainment. Double-edged sword and all that.Jim O'Kanehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01806624628546492210noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1568334561722760329.post-35414242969927766272012-03-29T23:53:33.736-07:002012-03-29T23:53:33.736-07:00Thanks for the comments! Never fear, the phonograp...Thanks for the comments! Never fear, the phonograph is one of our great family treasures, we'll treat it right.Brian Fieshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16347700145666751363noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1568334561722760329.post-63671141559269634052012-03-29T16:27:04.595-07:002012-03-29T16:27:04.595-07:00This is amazing - one of the best posts you've...This is amazing - one of the best posts you've done for sheer "wow" value. I love your thoughts about how bringing one of these into the home opened up the world - never thought of phonographs that way. Take care of that baby and continue to not "fix" it - any devoted viewer of Antiques Road Show knows that more antiques are ruined by good-intentioned efforts to protect/fix them than to the ravages of time.ronniehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14044863062652781155noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1568334561722760329.post-44702998207426177272012-03-28T17:36:32.470-07:002012-03-28T17:36:32.470-07:00Very awesome!!Very awesome!!Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03046951353574075667noreply@blogger.com