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It's Fun to Play the Piano ... Please Pass It On!
Not a joke per se, but this video is from a British TV game show '3-2-1' from the 80s:
The audio isn't the best quality so here's a transcript:
Ted Rogers: "This is a composer. German by birth, English by adoption. Best known for an oratorio published in 1741. It was called Messiah. You're bound to know his handle." Female contestant: (presses buzzer) "Oh God, I used to have it at school... Handel's Water Music..." Ted Rogers: "Well, so who's the composer?" Female contestant: "Chopin?" (audience shrieks in disbelief) Ted Rogers: (shrugs shoulders and turns to other team) "So I can offer it to you." Male contestant: "Beethoven?"
^ I remember being at a table quiz where there was an argument at one table over who wrote Ravel's Bolero.
The answer is, of course, Dudley Moore (in '10').
Reminds me of some funny questions I would add to my biology tests to get my students to loosen up a bit such as: "What color was Napoleon's white horse?" and "Who is buried in Grant's tomb?" Inevitably someone would whine, "How are we supposed to know that? You didn't teach that." I'd lower my chin and stare up at them.
^ I remember being at a table quiz where there was an argument at one table over who wrote Ravel's Bolero.
The answer is, of course, Dudley Moore (in '10').
Reminds me of some funny questions I would add to my biology tests to get my students to loosen up a bit such as: "What color was Napoleon's white horse?" and "Who is buried in Grant's tomb?" Inevitably someone would whine, "How are we supposed to know that? You didn't teach that." I'd lower my chin and stare up at them.
We could add: "In which US state is Kansas City, home of the 2020 Super Bowl winning team?" (Missouri) Or a musical question: "Who wrote the Diabelli Variations?" (Beethoven)
My grand piano is a Yamaha C2 SG. My other Yamaha is an XMAX 300.
^ I remember being at a table quiz where there was an argument at one table over who wrote Ravel's Bolero.
The answer is, of course, Dudley Moore (in '10').
Reminds me of some funny questions I would add to my biology tests to get my students to loosen up a bit such as: "What color was Napoleon's white horse?" and "Who is buried in Grant's tomb?" Inevitably someone would whine, "How are we supposed to know that? You didn't teach that." I'd lower my chin and stare up at them.
Deborah's story reminds me of a similar one of my own. I was teaching hematology to medical students at Temple University (Philadelphia) in the early 1980s. There is something in medicine called the "Philadelphia Chromosome" which is a chromosomal translocation found principally in a disease called Chronic Myeloid Leukemia [CML] (essentially all cases of CML have this translocation). A multiple-choice test was coming up for the students and while driving into work I decided to make a question about the Philadelphia Chromosome the first question on the exam and to loosen them up a bit, one of the four choices would be "the local team in the North American Soccer League." Unfortunately, I had to pass my exam questions on to a committee before they were finalized and, unknown to me and without my permission, they changed that possible answer to "Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML)." I was disappointed for two reasons: (1) the committee couldn't take a joke (spoiling my fun with the students), and (2) It was a terrible substitution because rare cases of AML, possibly arising in a background of CML, could have the Philadelphia Chromosome (obviously the correct answer to the question was going to be "is found in CML").
^ I remember being at a table quiz where there was an argument at one table over who wrote Ravel's Bolero.
The answer is, of course, Dudley Moore (in '10').
At least he made it quite memorable...
“The first time I sang in the church choir, 200 people changed their religion.” Fred Allen
“My definition of an intellectual is someone who can listen to the ‘William Tell Overture’ without thinking of The Lone Ranger.” Billy Connolly
“I love to sing, and I love to drink scotch. Most people would rather hear me drink scotch.” George Burns
“When she started to play, Steinway came down personally and rubbed his name off the piano.” Bob Hope
Casio PX-S3000 Nope, no issues with it at all. Took lessons from 1960 to 1969, stopped at age 16. Started again in July 2020 at age 67. Lots more fun now!
“My definition of an intellectual is someone who can listen to the ‘William Tell Overture’ without thinking of The Lone Ranger.” Billy Connolly
My definition of a person who isn't old & decrepit is someone who can listen to Mozart's K467 (II) without thinking of Elvira Madigan, and who can listen to Rach 2 without thinking of Brief Encounter, and the Warsaw Concerto without thinking of............er, I'm too old to remember.
Some jokes do get lost in translation, especially if they have to be translated across the vast expanses of the shark-infested Atlantic.
Here across the pond, it's customary to refer to orchestras by their initials, e.g. LSO, RPO, RSNO, BBCNOW etc. We also refer to orchestras across the puddle the same way too, viz: NYPO, LAPO, BSO etc.
