Ronne drumming on his milk tin

Fanne is running a promotion for her products, which invites parents to enter a competition by uploading videos of toddlers or young children dancing, rocking or taking any form of exercise to the official promotional song.

This promo song is a cover version of an advert tune from years ago with lyrics rewritten. I was requested to take on the task to produce a newly arranged backing track, coach the singer (actually a staff member of Fanne) and make the recording.

Fanne decided to let Ronne do whatever he liked in front of the milk tin, a sample of her products under promotion, and shoot a video as well. Crikey, nobody gave Ronne any instruction; he just started drumming on the milk tin.

However, his father, as a musicologist, couldn't figure out any rhythmic patter or relationship between his beating and the soundtrack.

What can you make with a handkerchief?

Last Monday was the national day in Taiwan, which commemorate the Wuchang Uprising on 10 October 1911, which led to the collapse of the Qing Dynasty and the establishment of the Republic of China.

As this Chinese Republic nowadays has only its sovereignty over Taiwan and is not recognised as a country by the UN, it's alawys under debate whether Taiwan is still part of China and whether ROC still exists.

I don't bother to bother join the debate any more; those issues will be settled after I die, I strongly believe. Therefore, I celebrated this day with my son by playing a with handkerchief.


A cocoon.


Now a wrapped sweet.


Now a carrot.


And finally back to a handkerchief, and it can also become a cap.

Duck family for Ronne

Haven't got interesting records recently worth writing a blog entry here, but bought some interesting toys (including the previous two: handbell set and magic mirror carousel) for my son.

Here comes another selection. I bought Ronne a big mother duck with three little lovely ducklings, produced by Ambi Toys, an Italian company. The three wee ones can hide inside their mother. The happy family can swim together to allow endless water play at bath time and can, of course, play out of water on the ground as well.



Certainly it's unnatrual— a duck is not a kangaroo and has no pouch. However, so what, I would ask. It's a creative design. It doesn't matter; kids will learn more about animals later at school.

Unlike the previous two I bought earlier this month which are reserved for Ronne's coming birthdays, the duck family were given to him immediately. He has had some good time with them for a couple of days.

Red Raven magic mirror movies

Lucky boy! Dad bought Ronne another toy—well, not to be played with at the moment but to be reserved as another gift on your fourth birthday.

I bought an interesting item, Red Reven Magic Mirror, from eBay a couple of weeks ago. It's made in the late 1950s by Morgan Development Laboratories in New Canaan, Connecticut (a strange company which also made a multi-functional Lucite letter opener, which is plastic but extremely sharp and thus can be carried onto the plane without sounding the alarm at the security point).

This device is a modern version of the Zoetrope and its successor, the praxinoscope.

This 16-sided mirrored carousel is to be operated with special 'movie records', on which a 16 image cycle is printed on the outer two inches of a large paper label. Placed atop a 'movie record', the 16 mirrors are aligned at an angle to the surface of the record. When the record spins on the turntable of a record player, the quick succession of reflected static images produces a looped animation.

What's more surprising, that the animation comes with music, because a Red Raven movie record is really a vinyl music record. While the magic mirror brings out the animation, the music is delivered through the stylus on the phonograph.

Although once designed as a toy, Red Raven Magic Mirror is now a collectable item, a novel gadget. Lucky Ronne! Dad has prepared you another birthday gift and something to show you future classmates.

As I haven't got time to shoot a video about how it actually operates, refer to the YouTube clip to see how magic the Magic Mirror is.

Toy handbells for pleasure or campanology?

Campanology (formed by Latin 'bell' campana and English suffix -ology) is a word which designate the knowledge and study of manufacturing, tuning and ringing bells. Somehow, I was told when I lived in Britain that campanology is a pretentious term to and thus loathed by serious bell-ringers, particularly those who consider ringing primarily a service to the church.

I don't expect my son to become a professional ringer or campanologist; he can decide later by himself. Nevertheless, I think it's good fun and musical exercise, especially in this day and age when most young children spend too much time on playing video game and surfing the internet, to play handbells so I bought a vintage toy handbell set made in 1954 from TimeWarp Vintage Toys (not very pleasant experience —they charged me 35 US dollars for postage while the actual cost was only 20) for my son.



There are eight plastic bells, each of which comes in a different colour with a real metal bell inside to produce different pitches, which encompass an octave . This toy set was approved by educators and endorsed by Ding Dong School, an daily educational TV programme produced for pre-school children in the 1950s. An illustration of a bell with DING DONG SCHOOL on it is placed at the right side of the outer box.

(Watch streaming video of several complete broadcasts on the contribute website of this old-time children's TV show to have an idea what sort of programme it is, if you fancy.)

As I suppose an 18-month-old toddler is obviously too young to ring bells in an organised manner to produce a 'tune' (don't ask me if a music prodigy, such as Mozart, can do it; I don't know either), I would reserve them as a gift for his second, or probably third, birthday.

A Mystery Record

Side 1
Side 2
(Listen to the sides of this Mystery Record and see how many artists you can recognise)

The 2011 autumn semester is commencing. I shall write down something special to mark the arrival of the new semester from which my full-time job terminated. As life indeed has so many turns and is full of mysteries, I deem a 'Mystery Record', which I've just received yesterday, to be appropriate for this occasion.

Daily Mail, a British national daily tabloid established in 1896, once organised a 'voice recognising' competition in late 1932. In collaboration with EMI, which had just been formed in 1931 by the merger of two big companies–the Columbia Graphophone Company and the Gramophone Company–Daily Mail issued a 'Mystery Record'.

This record was actually a compilation of recordings released previously on labels of HMV, Columbia, Parlophone, Regal and Zonophone, all of which were then owned by EMI. Daily Mail offered a prize of 1,950 Pound Sterling for any reader who could correctly guess the identity of the more than two dozen artists on this record. The winner would be awarded in January 1933.

Under Agricultural Wages (Regulation) Act 1924, the average minimum wage paid to ordinary agricultural labours 51 basic hours (roughly weekly pay) in late 1932 is £1. 10s. 9d. Therefore, £1,950 is undoubtedly a big fortune.

Apart from the super-mega prize provided by the tabloid newspaper, what really amazes me is how the producer/engineer pieced together all the audio clips. There was no tape editing, no digital audio workstation, but how they managed to compile such a record?

I couldn't even name a single person on this record. How many can you?

Duck calling lesson on a gramophone record

(Listen to the instruction on this interesting record and learn duck calling)

Gramophone machines and records used to be good aural aids in teaching and studying foreign languages before the introduction of cassette tapes, CDs or even digital formats. However, much to my surprise, though conceivable, 78 rpm records could also serve as a medium for learning bird language.

An interesting record I bought last week arrived yesterday. It's Duck Calling for Mallards and All Ducks of the Puddler Class, published by Philip S. Olt Company. (not in business anymore but restructured into P. S. Olt LLC now), a manufacturer of hard rubber game and bird calls from Pekin, Illinois.

It's a lesson, if I grasp the content correctly, which teaches you how to communicate with ducks, beguiled them to get within range of the rifle and then shoot them.

The lesson was given by Philip Olt, the eldest son of the founder of the original company. According to the company's website, Philip had made five instructional records to demonstrate duck calling, goose calling, diver duck calling, squirrel calling and crow calling.

Well, while we learn foreign languages to facilitate communication with people from distant lands, with good intentions I suppose, hunter study bird languages to coax them into termination.

Have you manage to speak some duck language after listening to the recording?

Chiense Version 'Polly Wolly Doodle'

(Zhou Xuan at her late teens, image from this site)

Zhou Xuan (周璇), one of the greatest and most popular Chinese singer and actress in modern times, whose life accounts need not be reiterated here but can be read on Wiki, IMDb or many other websites through Google, once made a recording of 'Polly Wolly Doodle' with Chinese lyrics in 1935—'Roses blooming everywhere' (Qiangwei chuchu kai 薔薇處處開).



The Chinese lyrics were newly written and had nothing to do with the original lyrics published in 1880 nor the lyrics Shirley Temple sang in the 1935 film The Littlest Rebel.

Although there had been several recordings of 'Polly Wolly Doodle' made in and before the 1930s, such as Vernon Dalhart's 1929 version (Victor V-40132A), I believe Shirley's performance in the film would be an interesting one to be compared with the Chinese version.

While the Chinese singer-actress recorded 'Roses blooming everywhere' at her 17, Shirley starred in the film at 7 years old. I can't find a recording made by Shirley and don't even know if there was an original soundtrack ever released, but fortunately an enthusiastic YouTube user has made a video clip with the song against a photo.



Which version do you prefer, the late teenager Zhou Xuan's innocent voice in her 78 rpm single or the cherub Shirley Temple's naive interpretation in the film?

Somewhere At Sea

Although this recording may sound like an ordinary piece by a 1930s British dance band, a typical jolly cheerful one, there is indeed something special.

The recording was made in London in May 1936 by the BBC Dance Orchestra directed by Henry Hall, with vocal by Dan Donovan. It is the official signature tune of RMS Queen Mary and Henry Hall is the director of the dance orchestra aboard this ocean liner.

Comparing to other ordinary Columbia records pressed in Britain, this one bears a special label designed to commemorate the ship's maiden voyage on 27th May 1936, sailing from Southampton to New York.

Queen Mary was retired from service in 1967 and is now a tourist attraction with restaurants, a museum and a hotel, mooring permanently at the port of Long Beach in California.

I have yet to convert the 78s record to the digital format. Therefore, watch the YouTube clip below to listen to a fantastically remixed version this piece while screening some images onboard.

As Time Goes By

(Listen to 'As Time Goes By', a recording made more than ten years before Casablanca, reissued on Victor following the success of the film)

As time goes by, my postdoctoral contract has ended. I am now only an adjunct assistant professor, teaching part-time at two universities, and freelance composer and radio host, or broadly speaking, unemployed.

......

When I decided to write this weblog entry beginning with ‘as time goes by’, the melody of ‘As Time Goes By’ struck my mind. I came to know this song, just like most people I believe, through the all-time classic 1942 romantic drama film Casablanca, in which this song was sung by Sam, the singer-pianist who performed in the bar in the film played by Dooley Wilson, and the tune was used throughout the film as a leitmotif.

However, this song was not written particularly for the film but was a piece originally from the 1931 Broadway musical Everybody's Welcome. The song was recorded later in the same year by several singers after the debut of the musical, but didn't draw much public attention until it was employed in the film.

Interestingly, despite his hauntingly beautiful interpretation of this piece, the actor Dooley Wilson couldn't manage to make a recording for it because of session musicians' strike. As an alternative, the film company reissued a recording made by Rudy Vallée, one of the several who recorded the song in 1931 (Victor 22773), which made Rudy's version a massive No.1 hit in 1942.

Most people are familiar to the tune with the words

You must remember this
A kiss is still a kiss
A sigh is just a sigh
The fundamental things apply
As time goes by

Nevertheless, few people are aware that this is actually the chorus and there is a verse before it. As the verse was utterly left out in Sam's performance in the film, most people don't even know its existence.

Follow the lyrics below and enjoy the 1931 recording (reissued in 1942) by Rudy Vallée, with the verse which is normally omitted in all the cover versions recorded after 1942.

(Verse)
This day and age we're living in
Gives cause for apprehension
With speed and new invention
And things like fourth dimension.

Yet we get a trifle weary
With Mr. Einstein's theory.
So we must get down to earth at times
Relax relieve the tension.

And no matter what the progress
Or what may yet be proved
The simple facts of life are such
They cannot be removed.

(Chorus)
You must remember this
A kiss is just a kiss, a sigh is just a sigh.
The fundamental things apply
As time goes by.

And when two lovers woo
They still say, 'I love you.'
On that you can rely
No matter what the future brings
As time goes by.

Moonlight and love songs
Never out of date.
Hearts full of passion
Jealousy and hate.
Woman needs man
And man must have his mate
That no one can deny.

It's still the same old story
A fight for love and glory
A case of do or die.
The world will always welcome lovers
As time goes by.

Oh yes, the world will always welcome lovers
As time goes by.