Wheat Williams

8,763 reputation

734

bio	website	wheatwilliams.com
	location	Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America
	age	49
visits	member for	1 year, 9 months
	seen	14 hours ago
stats	profile views	72

Apple Certified Macintosh Technician (ACMT) and Apple Sales Professional (ASP).

Microsoft Windows SBS 2008 (Small Business Server) Network Administrator, supporting Windows 7 clients.

Volunteer business administrator for the Atlanta Baroque Orchestra.

I have also been a technical writer, computer magazine tech journalist, music critic and music journalist, copywriter and publicist, and professional musician.

Languages: English, with some German (Deutsch), Spanish (español), and French (français)

	8,763 reputation	bio	website	wheatwilliams.com	visits	member for	1 year, 9 months
734 badges		location	Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America		seen	14 hours ago

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Mar 18	comment	What type of music is Cirque du Soleil's “Steel Dreams”? Why is it important to identify a "type" for the music? The only important question is whether you enjoy it or not.
Mar 17	comment	Getting a youth band to look up Q: How many choir directors does it take to change a light bulb? A: "We don't know. No one was watching."
Mar 15	comment	What are the ABRSM graded examinations, and why would one want to take them? And of course Canada is in the British Commonwealth and the USA is very pointedly not. It seems to me to be a cultural thing. I think we could certainly benefit from a nationally-recognized system in the USA, but as far as I know, there is none.
Mar 15	comment	What are the ABRSM graded examinations, and why would one want to take them? I can see already why we don't have such a system in the USA. It is cultural and political. We have 50 sovereign states that have their own separate educational systems, and states have historically resisted any national standards being imposed on education, particularly in childhood. In the professional realm, for instance, accreditations are established individually by each state, and one state usually will not recognize accreditation from another state. For such a system to work we would need a culture where national standards were accepted everywhere. We have quite few.
Mar 15	comment	What are the ABRSM graded examinations, and why would one want to take them? Do these grade levels imply that you've learned to perform a particular set list of repertoire established by the committee that gives the exams?
Mar 15	comment	What are the ABRSM graded examinations, and why would one want to take them? This is quite astonishing to me. We have nothing even remotely resembling this in my country, the USA. In this country, for any performing group, or school, you show up for an audition, play two or three pieces of music that you select that will demonstrate your skill level, they ask you some questions about your background, and then they invite you to join the group or matriculate at the university, or not. The idea of "what grade have you achieved" is inconceivable, because in this country we have no system in place to measure anything like that.
Mar 15	comment	Any tool to vizualise musical playing in 3D aka in many dimensions? What do you mean by "dimensions"? How knowledgeable are you about music theory? About acoustics and the physics of sound? Any meaningful answers would be explained in those terms.
Mar 15	comment	Which diploma, ATCL or dipABRSM Thank you, slim. But please realize that many users of this site are not in the UK or the Commonwealth and we don't know what you are talking about. I have tried to edit the question to explain what these bewildering acronyms actually stand for.
Mar 15	comment	Any tool to vizualise musical playing in 3D aka in many dimensions? This question is so vague I have no idea how we could help you. Can you clarify things? Are you a musician, and do you understand musical concepts?
Mar 15	comment	Which diploma, ATCL or dipABRSM Could you please provide some details about what all these long acronyms mean? I've never heard of any of them. Are they particular to some education system in a particular country?
Mar 12	comment	On a piano scale what is considered “middle C”? Hmm. That's not how I interpret cross-staff beaming. I have always understood that because the two notes are beamed together, they are intended to be played by the same hand. See my extra example above.
Mar 11	comment	On a piano scale what is considered “middle C”? I made a quick example and added it.
Mar 10	comment	On a piano scale what is considered “middle C”? Yes, NReilingh, you are correct. I was thinking about that complication. Perhaps I can find the time to put up another diagram, or you can edit my answer yourself if you like.
Mar 10	comment	What are all those extra controls on the Fender Jazzmaster? The Jazzmaster was a commercial failure for Fender at its first release, which is probably why they didn't continue to use the novel tone control arrangement in other guitars. Many years later rock artists like Sonic Youth, Dinosaur, Jr. and Elvis Costello popularized old Jazzmasters (some of the players had custom-modded the circuitry anyway) so Fender brought the model back.
Mar 10	comment	What are all those extra controls on the Fender Jazzmaster? a) The Jazzmaster, when introduced, was the most expensive guitar in Fender's lineup. Most people were much happier with the existing and less expensive Stratocaster. b) Users just found the extra electronics too complicated to negotiate. c) It was marketed to jazz musicians who were probably playing a Gibson archtop. Jazz musicians did not like the Jazzmaster, and in its first run it wasn't on the market very long, and they ceased promoting it.
Mar 9	comment	What are all those extra controls on the Fender Jazzmaster? I modified my answer based on your comment. Thanks.
Mar 9	comment	What music notation software can handle this complex beaming? I think it's fair to say that open-source or shareware solutions and text-based quasi-programming code systems like Lilypond will be popular with the kinds of people who frequent this site (computer geeks who are musicians). But I want a scoring program that works more like writing notes on staff paper -- from a musician's point of view and not a computer programmer's point of view. That is why I favor Finale and Sibelius.
Mar 8	comment	Is a violin's shape (particularly the f-holes) necessary or is it just for aesthetics? I have not heard any of these instruments, and I am not good enough to notice the difference, but I see that the Mezzo-Forte carbon violin uses a traditional ebony fingerboard. That probably contributes quite a bit to a more traditional sound.
Mar 6	comment	Keeping a drummer in time with my keyboard Anecdote from a documentary about the famous pianist Ray Charles. He was always very hard on drummers for not following him. He would growl "Watch my feet" at the drummer in rehearsals -- ironic of course because Ray was blind and could not watch anyone else (and didn't need to).
Mar 5	comment	Getting my Daughter Started in Music Good point. I had not considered the Suzuki method. But this approach with children so young is not without controversy. I'll amend my post.