Hi, James! Recently you wrote in a message to Ardith Hinton:

I did read an article, where the drummer tried to

sympathize his breath to coincide with brass' or

|synchronize ("with" + "time")?

woodwinds' in a big-band setting.

Okay, you've got me hooked! What did he learn from this experiment?

(Proper apostrophes?)

Assuming you were trying to make the nouns in question possessive, I
think you're on the right track... you just forgot to pluralize "brass".

The drummer tried to match his own breathing to that of other people
in the band (often referred to collectively as "brasses" and "woodwinds"). The
possessive form of a noun which ends in "s" does not require adding another "s"
unless you can actually *hear* another "s" when you say the word aloud. What I
would say in this case is "brasses' or woodwinds'". And there is an example of
why I prefer to use double quotation marks initially, as the Americans do. :-)

I never practiced it much - besides using it as an
excuse to oggle over the French horn cuties. <L>

I know what most boys in grade ten have on their minds... and I know
it has little or nothing to do with academic pursuits! But now I can use other
examples which you might find more relevant. The French horn cuties' breathing
was interesting... from a purely scientific viewpoint, of course... because you
wanted to see whether they were breathing from the diaphragm or the chest. ;-)

(Remember: Proximity to the percussion section weighs
heavily on our sight line.)

So the drummers' (plural) breathing depends on visual stimuli? :-))

"At bar xxx, you can *not* hit that tympani hard enough
at the triple forte," was emphasized and repeated. Try
being in the tuba section for that piece!

Thanks, but no thanks... [wry grin].

I put my mallet through a batter on one practice. I guess
I executed his orders to a tee that day.

I soon found out when I began teaching clarinet that some kids would
take my words quite literally. When I speak of "soaking" reeds, for example, I
don't mean ensuring they're dripping with saliva before leaving them wrapped in
plastic until the next lesson. By then they'll have grown a fine crop of bread
mould, i.e. a sure sign the owner hasn't done a lot of practising... [chuckle].




--- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+
* Origin: Wits' End, Vancouver CANADA (1:153/716)