"Awww, not classical!"

[vakkotaur]

ladyniniane will appreciate this:

Once upon a time I worked at a post office, nights. This is when trucks come in, mail gets unloaded, sorted, loaded, and the trucks leave. Naturally there is a lot of activity when the morning is one of a delivery day, Monday through Saturday, as local mail is processed outbound and inbound and then thing are made ready for the local area. But Sunday mornings tend to be slow. Fewer trucks in, fewer going out, no local delivery except for express.

I liked working on the loading dock, despite the lack of air conditioning. It had a few advantages. One was that a supervisor that even USPS wasn't stupid enough to reward with a day shift tended not to go out on the dock very much. Another was that when you unloaded a truck, or loaded a truck, you had an end that could be seen getting closer and there was some feeling of accomplishment when that bit was done. Things changed, even if only a little bit. Working on a sorting belt inside there was no end other than the clock. Things seemed to stay the same.

So Sunday mornings I'd often be on the dock without anyone else around but the (acting) dock supervisor. Sundays had a minimal crew and regular supervisors were normally not around, having the day (or night) off. There was almost always a radio playing, which helped some. Since the thing was also a tape player I asked if I could bring in a tape, since I was about the only one around anyway. This was quickly agreed to and I made up a tape.

I included some Animaniacs tunes, some Big Band Swing, and some Classical. When I brought the tape in, the (acting) dock supervisor asked what was on it and I told him. The Animaniacs and Swing didn't get much reaction but when I said "Classical" I got the reaction, "Awww, not classical!" and I quickly explained I did not mean opera. That helped a bit, but he was still leery.

As the night went on the tape played through. One truck driver commented, when the Big Band stuff was playing, "It's about time you got some good music around here." And later the classical stuff started. And the dock supervisor looked at me, "Hey, that's cartoon music!" It was both. If I recall right, he caught on sometime while Rossini was playing.

Comments

[ladyniniane.livejournal.com]

"The Rabbit of Seville" - of course. And I would hope that you'd also have "Kill da wabbit" somewhere on that tape...

It's almost frightening how many people (students and adults alike) will be able to tell you exactly what the action is in one of the old Bugs Bunny cartoons when you play snatches of certain Rossini or Wagnerian operas. I've even tried giving a written test on it - have yet to have anyone fail it...

[vakkotaur.livejournal.com]

I probably did, but I don't recall. That tape is long gone.

[ladyniniane.livejournal.com]

Then you probably need to order this:

http://www.amazon.com/Cartoon-Classics-Robert-Merrill/dp/B000003F3O/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1207624473&sr=1-2

I use this one in my Cartoon Classics lessons.

[thecanuckguy.livejournal.com]

Oh, cartoon music like "Kill da Wabbit!" is definitely a "gateway drug" to real classical music. I believe I heard somewhere that that's specifically why the "classic" cartoons have lots of the "good" music in there, to get the kids interested in it. And, by god, as former kids, we all perk up when we hear certain bits!

[vakkotaur.livejournal.com]

Classical music had a great advantage: it was public domain and therefore royalties were not an issue.

And those cartoons were not aimed at kids. They weren't even really aimed at the audience. It was largely the cartoonists just having fun and playing off (and trying to outdo) each other. Chuck Jones said that for a while he went to the theater to watch audience reaction to see what worked, but he stopped doing it because all it did was make his cartoons worse.

[jcw-da-dmg.livejournal.com]

I think I'm the only person I know (do I?) who heard that music BEFORE seeing those cartoons.

[nefaria.livejournal.com]

I can sympathize with your desire for dock work. There's nothing more frustrating than having more work come in each day than you can complete, and the only satisfaction you get is at quitting time.