Wednesday, March 4, 2009

What we really need is a rapid accelerando out of this largo economy...

According to this article, the Czech piano making company, Petrof, is cutting back, laying off, and switching from piano making to a more lucrative and recession friendly kitchen cabinetry business. Sad. Sadder still are the number of musical terms used as cheap puns in the article (i.e. "piano maker Petrof to hit the soft pedal" or "orders...have gone decrescendo").

Also, (I can't help myself...) if you're going to insist on using puns involving musical terminology in your article, please use the terms correctly. For example, it would have been more accurate to mention that orders are in the midst of a ritardando (which indicates a gradual slowing down) than to use the term decrescendo (which indicates a gradual decrease in volume). That is (the snarky graduate student/music professor in me continues), unless you meant to indicate that people are ordering pianos in increasingly hushed tones...

Good god, I need a break from grading papers and thesis writing!

2 comments:

Paul said...

hey katie, don't be a ritard. you'll have plenty of tempo to conduct your sforzando during the coda. and if you can swing a secondary dominant, you might even get a recapitulation. power chord!

c.e.w. said...

Paul,

Thanks for your *note! I was feeling a bit like a blues chord, but your message transposed my day and helped me modulate from minor to major.

(I could go on...but maybe we should stop while we're ahead?)...

k