| "The Typewriter" | |
|---|---|
| Composition by Leroy Anderson and His "Pops" Concert Orchestra | |
| Written | October 9, 1950 |
| Released | October 1953 |
| Recorded | September 8, 1953 |
| Genre | Light music |
| Length | 1:34 |
| Label | Decca Records |
| Composer(s) | Leroy Anderson |
"The Typewriter" is a short composition of light music by American composer Leroy Anderson, which features an actual typewriter as a percussion instrument.
Anderson completed "The Typewriter" on October 9, 1950 in Woodbury, Connecticut. [1] "The Typewriter" received its first performance on September 8, 1953 during a recording Anderson and the Boston Pops Orchestra made in New York City for Decca Records. [2] Anderson composed the melody for symphony and pops orchestras; William Zinn and Floyd Werle arranged it for string orchestras and wind bands respectively. [3]
Its name refers to the fact that its performance requires a typewriter, while using three basic typewriter sounds: the sound of typing, the "ring" of the carriage return indicating an approaching end-of-line (a standard desk bell is used for it), and the sound of the typewriter’s carriage returning. In some cases the sound of the typewriter’s carriage returning is made by a musical gourd, [4] flute, string or other instrument.
The typewriter was modified so that only two keys work to prevent the keys from jamming. According to the composer himself, as well as other musicians, the typewriter part is difficult because of how fast the typing speed is: even professional stenographers cannot do it, and only professional drummers have the necessary wrist flexibility. [5]
It has been called one of "the wittiest and most clever pieces in the orchestral repertoire". [6] Author Steve Metcalf has written that "Despite the almost total disappearance of typewriters in everyday life, the statistics show that "The Typewriter" is still a favorite Anderson item." [7]
The typewriter is considered a percussion instrument, [8] and the typewriter part is usually performed by a percussionist or drummer, or rarely by the conductor. [9] [5]
The piece was featured in the Jerry Lewis film Who's Minding the Store (1963)[ citation needed ] and in the musical montage that opens Lewis' 1980 film Hardly Working ,[ citation needed ] although his first recorded performance was on a January 1954 episode of The Colgate Comedy Hour.[ citation needed ] The Radio 4 satirical programme The News Quiz has adopted the tune as its theme song (though, oddly, in an arrangement not featuring a typewriter).[ citation needed ] It also plays during Max's first typewriter scene in the Adam Elliot film Mary and Max . [10]
A musical ensemble, also known as a music group or musical group, is a group of people who perform instrumental and/or vocal music, with the ensemble typically known by a distinct name. Some music ensembles consist solely of instrumentalists, such as the jazz quartet or the orchestra. Other music ensembles consist solely of singers, such as choirs and doo-wop groups. In both popular music and classical music, there are ensembles in which both instrumentalists and singers perform, such as the rock band or the Baroque chamber group for basso continuo and one or more singers. In classical music, trios or quartets either blend the sounds of musical instrument families or group instruments from the same instrument family, such as string ensembles or wind ensembles. Some ensembles blend the sounds of a variety of instrument families, such as the orchestra, which uses a string section, brass instruments, woodwinds, and percussion instruments, or the concert band, which uses brass, woodwinds, and percussion.
An orchestra is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments:
A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Excluding zoomusicological instruments and the human voice, the percussion family is believed to include the oldest musical instruments. In spite of being a very common term to designate instruments, and to relate them to their players, the percussionists, percussion is not a systematic classificatory category of instruments, as described by the scientific field of organology. It is shown below that percussion instruments may belong to the organological classes of idiophone, membranophone, aerophone and chordophone.
Musical composition can refer to an original piece or work of music, either vocal or instrumental, the structure of a musical piece or to the process of creating or writing a new piece of music. People who create new compositions are called composers. Composers of primarily songs are usually called songwriters; with songs, the person who writes lyrics for a song is the lyricist. In many cultures, including Western classical music, the act of composing typically includes the creation of music notation, such as a sheet music "score", which is then performed by the composer or by other musicians. In popular music and traditional music, songwriting may involve the creation of a basic outline of the song, called the lead sheet, which sets out the melody, lyrics and chord progression. In classical music, orchestration is typically done by the composer, but in musical theatre and in pop music, songwriters may hire an arranger to do the orchestration. In some cases, a pop or traditional songwriter may not use written notation at all and instead compose the song in their mind and then play, sing or record it from memory. In jazz and popular music, notable sound recordings by influential performers are given the weight that written or printed scores play in classical music.
This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1951.
Leroy Anderson was an American composer of short, light concert pieces, many of which were introduced by the Boston Pops Orchestra under the direction of Arthur Fiedler. John Williams described him as "one of the great American masters of light orchestral music."
Arne Nordheim was a Norwegian composer. Nordheim received numerous awards for his compositions, and from 1982 lived in the Norwegian government's honorary residence, Grotten, next to the Royal Palace in Oslo. He was elected an honorary member of the International Society for Contemporary Music in 1997. On 18 August 2006, Arne Nordheim received a doctor honoris causa degree at the Norwegian Academy of Music. He died at the age of 78 and was given a state funeral.
Donald Erb was an American composer best known for large orchestral works such as Concerto for Brass and Orchestra and Ritual Observances.
A Trumpeter's Lullaby is a short composition for solo trumpet and orchestra, written by American composer Leroy Anderson in 1949. The two and a half minute piece was premiered on May 9, 1950, by the Boston Pops Orchestra with Arthur Fiedler conducting and French-born American Roger Voisin as trumpet soloist. It was composed at the request of Voisin, who was principal trumpeter of the Boston Pops Orchestra at the time. It was first recorded on June 18, 1950, with Fiedler conducting Roger Voisin and the Boston Pops. Three months later it was recorded with Anderson himself conducting and James F. Burke (Musician) as trumpet soloist. The first stereo recording was made in October 1956 with Frederick Fennell conducting the Eastman-Rochester Pops Orchestra, recorded in one take without rehearsal. The (uncredited) soloist was Sidney Mear.
Allan Gilliland is a contemporary Canadian composer.
A clapper is a basic form of percussion instrument. It consists of two long solid pieces that are struck together producing sound. They exist in many forms in many different cultures around the world. Clappers can take a number of forms and be made of a wide variety of material. Wood is most common, but metal and ivory have also been used. The plastic thundersticks that have recently come to be popular at sporting events can be considered a form of inflated plastic clapper.
Marios Joannou Elia, is a Cypriot composer and artistic director. He was the youngest director in the history of the European Capital of Culture (2013–15). He is ambassador in tourism of the Republic of Cyprus. Since 2016 he has been the director of the large-scale project "Sound of Vladivostok", on behalf of Zarya Foundation, in Russia; from January 2018, director of "Sound of Kyoto", on behalf of Kyoto City and Kyoto Arts and Culture Foundation after an invitation of the Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan.
Peter Jarvis is an American percussionist, drummer, conductor, composer, music copyist, print music editor and college professor.
Betty Olivero is an Israeli composer and music educator.
Anaklasis is a composition for 42 string instruments and percussion, composed in 1960 by the Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki. It was first performed at the Donaueschingen Festival in 1960. At this first performance, it was well received by the audience who demanded an encore.
Simon Steen-Andersen is a Danish composer, performer, director and media artist.
Russell Peck was an American composer born in Detroit on January 25, 1945 to Thorland (Tom) and Margaret (Carlson) Peck. He died in Greensboro, North Carolina on March 1, 2009, at the age of 64.
Michael Alden Bayard is an American percussionist, drummer, composer, recording artist, music lecturer, and author. A graduate of the Juilliard School of Music Pre-College Division and the Curtis Institute of Music who made his Carnegie Hall debut at age 16, Bayard has performed percussion and timpani under numerous conductors. As a percussion soloist, he served with the Sacramento Symphony as the principal percussionist for 17 years and has been featured with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Boston Pops Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony, Queens Symphony, Joffrey Ballet Orchestra, Jacksonville Symphony, Reno Philharmonic, Stockton Symphony, and Santa Rosa Symphony. Bayard currently performs with Grammy award-winning Mary Youngblood.
Philippe Leroux is a French composer living in Montreal, Quebec, who has been identified as "one of the most important composers in contemporary music."
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