Twilight Zone
[email protected]
I just got a joke from 1961 <g>
I'm listening to a Twilight Zone episode I'm recording for Holly. It's
called "90 years without slumbering," and is based on the song "My
Grandfather's Clock." She likes that song, and she likes Twilight Zone.
So...
The old guy, who's played by Ed Wynn, known by Holly from Mary Poppins, goes
to a psychiatrist.
At some point he says "Do you think I'm crazy?"
The doctor hesitated and said "'Crazy' is a big word."
That's funny.
In the 60's people were really afraid of psychiatry. Very skeptical. But
the "right" phrase would have been "schizophrenic is a big word" or some
such. "Crazy" isn't a big word. Lots of good jokes on Twilight Zone just
go by, since there's no laugh track, and it's not usually intended to be
funny anyway.
Look what I found!! This kinda follows (in an overkill kind of way <bwg>) a
conversation at unschooling-dotcom, but it will be more interesting here. On
some website someone has annotated this twilight zone episode MUSICALLY.
Check it out:
R2 M1521 Cue IV["You Really Believe That?"]Lento in C. 26 bars, 1
minute.
Scene:At Carol's suggestion, Sam visits a psychiatrist who
asks "You really
believe that?" when Sam states that if the clock stops,
he'll die.
The harp sff is again acciaccatura Bb up to Bb whole note,
then tacet till
Bar 5.
The divisi clarinets play ff half note dotted dyad notes
D/Ab, repeated
next bar. The bass clarinet plays E half note dotted, ff >
followed by a
quarter rest. After a quartervrest, the vibe plays rising
quarter notes Ab,
Bb, Cb, sounding pp. Repeated next bar.
In Bar 2, the bass clarinet plays F half note dotted.
In Bar 3, the clarinets play unison half notes Bb to Ab
to(Bar 4)F whole
note. The bass cl plays half notes D down to C to(Bar 4)Ab.
In Bar 4, after
a quarter rest, the vibe sounds rising quarter notes Ab, Bb,
Cb. Etc etc.
In Bar 10, the cue changes to "Allegretto" in 6/8 time as
the flute and
oboe are soli playing a cheerful melody. The flute plays
descending
quasi-triplet notes(D/C/Ab to ascending quasi-triplet
F/Ab/C. Repeated
next bar. Then, in Bar 12, the flute plays quarter note D to
Eb 8th note, C
down to Ab 8th note up to(Bar 13)D half note dotted.
In bar 10, meanwhile, the oboe plays descending
quasi-triplet Bb/Ab/F,
and rising D/F/Ab. Repeated next bar. In Bar 12, the oboe
plays Bb quarter
rinforzando up to C 8th, then Ab quarter down to F 8th up
yo(Bar 13)Bb
half note dotted.
In Bar 13, the clarinets take over that melody pattern. Etc.
That's just one scene.
http://www.comcen.com.au/~agfam/rundowns/cuetz4.html
Sandra
I'm listening to a Twilight Zone episode I'm recording for Holly. It's
called "90 years without slumbering," and is based on the song "My
Grandfather's Clock." She likes that song, and she likes Twilight Zone.
So...
The old guy, who's played by Ed Wynn, known by Holly from Mary Poppins, goes
to a psychiatrist.
At some point he says "Do you think I'm crazy?"
The doctor hesitated and said "'Crazy' is a big word."
That's funny.
In the 60's people were really afraid of psychiatry. Very skeptical. But
the "right" phrase would have been "schizophrenic is a big word" or some
such. "Crazy" isn't a big word. Lots of good jokes on Twilight Zone just
go by, since there's no laugh track, and it's not usually intended to be
funny anyway.
Look what I found!! This kinda follows (in an overkill kind of way <bwg>) a
conversation at unschooling-dotcom, but it will be more interesting here. On
some website someone has annotated this twilight zone episode MUSICALLY.
Check it out:
R2 M1521 Cue IV["You Really Believe That?"]Lento in C. 26 bars, 1
minute.
Scene:At Carol's suggestion, Sam visits a psychiatrist who
asks "You really
believe that?" when Sam states that if the clock stops,
he'll die.
The harp sff is again acciaccatura Bb up to Bb whole note,
then tacet till
Bar 5.
The divisi clarinets play ff half note dotted dyad notes
D/Ab, repeated
next bar. The bass clarinet plays E half note dotted, ff >
followed by a
quarter rest. After a quartervrest, the vibe plays rising
quarter notes Ab,
Bb, Cb, sounding pp. Repeated next bar.
In Bar 2, the bass clarinet plays F half note dotted.
In Bar 3, the clarinets play unison half notes Bb to Ab
to(Bar 4)F whole
note. The bass cl plays half notes D down to C to(Bar 4)Ab.
In Bar 4, after
a quarter rest, the vibe sounds rising quarter notes Ab, Bb,
Cb. Etc etc.
In Bar 10, the cue changes to "Allegretto" in 6/8 time as
the flute and
oboe are soli playing a cheerful melody. The flute plays
descending
quasi-triplet notes(D/C/Ab to ascending quasi-triplet
F/Ab/C. Repeated
next bar. Then, in Bar 12, the flute plays quarter note D to
Eb 8th note, C
down to Ab 8th note up to(Bar 13)D half note dotted.
In bar 10, meanwhile, the oboe plays descending
quasi-triplet Bb/Ab/F,
and rising D/F/Ab. Repeated next bar. In Bar 12, the oboe
plays Bb quarter
rinforzando up to C 8th, then Ab quarter down to F 8th up
yo(Bar 13)Bb
half note dotted.
In Bar 13, the clarinets take over that melody pattern. Etc.
That's just one scene.
http://www.comcen.com.au/~agfam/rundowns/cuetz4.html
Sandra
marji
Oh! You have to admit, the music from the Twilight Zone was absolutely
FANTASTIC! And, it was great television, too. I sure wish we could see
it. That annotation you found is a cool find. That was back when
television stations had in-house orchestras for playing scores and stuff
like that. I think it was easier to be a working musician back then
because of that. The digital age has made some things a lot easier and
made other things (like in-house studio orchestras) dinosaurs.
Thanks for posting that!
Marji
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
FANTASTIC! And, it was great television, too. I sure wish we could see
it. That annotation you found is a cool find. That was back when
television stations had in-house orchestras for playing scores and stuff
like that. I think it was easier to be a working musician back then
because of that. The digital age has made some things a lot easier and
made other things (like in-house studio orchestras) dinosaurs.
Thanks for posting that!
Marji
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
[email protected]
In a message dated 2/16/03 4:03:08 PM, marji@... writes:
<< And, it was great television, too. I sure wish we could see
it. >>
We're getting them from Netflix. They're not copy protected, so I'm putting
Holly's favorites on video. From websites, we downloaded lists of what
episodes are on which disks and separately a directory of all the episodes.
So we can look up episodes I remember or thing she's heard about or seen
reference to on other shows and we order that DVD. We've had lots of fun
with them!
Sandra
<< And, it was great television, too. I sure wish we could see
it. >>
We're getting them from Netflix. They're not copy protected, so I'm putting
Holly's favorites on video. From websites, we downloaded lists of what
episodes are on which disks and separately a directory of all the episodes.
So we can look up episodes I remember or thing she's heard about or seen
reference to on other shows and we order that DVD. We've had lots of fun
with them!
Sandra
[email protected]
**Oh! You have to admit, the music from the Twilight Zone was absolutely
FANTASTIC! And, it was great television, too. I sure wish we could see
it.**
We're working our way through the episodes on DVD. Our library has the set.
Some of them have sparked a lot of discussion with my kids. Lots of them set
off hoots at the special effects.
The fear of nuclear war and global devastation weaves through so many of the
episodes that it's really brought home to my kids what it felt like growing
up right at that time. They didn't quite get the emotional impact of "bomb
drills" when I'd talked about them before.
Deborah in IL
FANTASTIC! And, it was great television, too. I sure wish we could see
it.**
We're working our way through the episodes on DVD. Our library has the set.
Some of them have sparked a lot of discussion with my kids. Lots of them set
off hoots at the special effects.
The fear of nuclear war and global devastation weaves through so many of the
episodes that it's really brought home to my kids what it felt like growing
up right at that time. They didn't quite get the emotional impact of "bomb
drills" when I'd talked about them before.
Deborah in IL