MORE STRINGS ATTACHED

posted by James Reel

    I keep forgetting to link to my articles in Strings magazine, at least those that are posted at the Web site. Here’s one from the latest issue, but I’m afraid it will be of interest only to beginning and intermediate string players; it starts like this:

    Have you ever put bow to string and found, to your horror, that the instrument croaks like it’s had too much whiskey and a few packs a day too many? Where is that singing tone that made you fall in love with your stringed instrument? If you’re producing a sick sound, it’s time to visit a doctor—someone like Dr. Laura Talbott, who’s not an MD but assistant professor of violin and viola at Oklahoma State University. She knows how to cure your sound-production ailments.
    There are about as many different varieties of sick sound as there are childhood diseases; let’s consult the doctor about just two of the most common maladies. She’s diagnosed them as “stressed-out sound” and “anti-sostenuto-itis”.

    By the way, the editors moved that final period into the wrong position. In American usage, periods and commas ALWAYS go INSIDE quotation marks. NO EXCEPTIONS. EVER. Colons and semicolons, on the other hand, always go outside the quotation marks. The placement of question marks and exclamation points depends on the context.
    Anyway, other recent Strings articles of mine to which I’ve hitherto neglected to link cover how to deal with stage fright and the cello duets of Friedrich August Kummer—much more interesting pieces than you’d think.

ARTICLE ADDENDA

posted by James Reel

    It occurred to me this morning that there’s one very consistent exception to my rule about applying the definite article to names of performances spaces, and I unconsciously alluded to it in my last post. Seems that if a space is called “hall”—just “hall,” not “music hall” or “residence hall”—and is prefaced by an individualizing name, it doesn’t take the definite article. Thus: Verizon Hall, Centennial Hall, Toad Hall. Although I can imagine somebody talking about an encounter with “the Monty Hall.”
    Meanwhile, friend of the blog Michael Dauphinais sends this note about my admonition to use “theater” rather than “theatre”:

    Your blog posting mentioning this spelling variant got me thinking. I was taught once upon a time that "theatre" was the general term for the art form and that "theater" was the building. Upon re-examining a few on-line dictionaries, I can find nothing to corroborate this explanation. Most sources seem to view the two spellings as interchangeable.
    Perhaps you should have a British/Canadian spelling day on your blog? Think if the colourful language opportunities. Readers would have something new to analyse. It would be the cat's pyjamas.

    I’ll let Michael’s message serve as this blog’s effort toward Canadian Spelling Day, at least for now. Anyway, the Associated Press style book (which is ignored by the stylistically peculiar and anachronistic New York Times) tells us to prefer the “theater” spelling in all instances, except when a theater or a company’s title uses the other spelling. “Theatre” is a Britishism (borrowed, like so many English words, from the French) that is nearly but not quite as pretentious in American usage as “centre” (employed here only by certain pretentious shopping and arts centers) and “amongst.” Please, fellow Americans, use these spellings only if you really want to look like an utter twit.