[comp.music] Info Wanted on Typewriter music

jeff@retina.mitre.org (Jeff Graber) (02/06/91)

I am looking for the name and composer of a piece of music
that included a typewriter in it.  It was very popular in
the late fifties, early sixties.  It may have been called
the typewriter symphony or something.  If you know anything 
about it please reply.

Thanks....


Jeff Graber

mir@opera.chorus.fr (Adam Mirowski) (02/07/91)

In article <1991Feb5.212609.4371@linus.mitre.org>, jeff@retina.mitre.org (Jeff Graber) writes:
%% 
%% I am looking for the name and composer of a piece of music
%% that included a typewriter in it.  It was very popular in
%% the late fifties, early sixties.  It may have been called
%% the typewriter symphony or something.  If you know anything 
%% about it please reply.

Let me guess... Spike Jones? :-)
-- 
Adam Mirowski,  mir@chorus.fr (FRANCE),  tel. +33 (1) 30-64-82-00 or 74
Chorus systemes, 6, av.Gustave Eiffel, 78182 Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines CEDEX

eaker@sunbelt.crd.ge.com (Charles E Eaker) (02/07/91)

In article <7756@chorus.fr> mir@opera.chorus.fr (Adam Mirowski) writes:
>In article <1991Feb5.212609.4371@linus.mitre.org>, jeff@retina.mitre.org (Jeff Graber) writes:
>%% 
>%% I am looking for the name and composer of a piece of music
>%% that included a typewriter in it.  It was very popular in
>%% the late fifties, early sixties.  It may have been called
>%% the typewriter symphony or something.  If you know anything 
>%% about it please reply.
>
>Let me guess... Spike Jones? :-)

No, it wasn't Spike Jones. I can hear snatches of the piece including
the ringing of the bell at the end of the line. As I recall it was
written by a "semi-serious" American composer, but I can't remember
the name of the piece or its composer.

--
Chuck Eaker / P.O. Box 8, K-1 3C12 / Schenectady, NY 12301 USA
eaker@crd.ge.com        eaker@crdgw1.UUCP       (518) 387-5964

jlbeug@polyslo.CalPoly.EDU (Jim L. Beug) (02/07/91)

I can remember playing this in our high school band ca. 1958... 
seems to me we did not use a real typewriter, but then I wasnt a percussionist.
The composer was Leroy Anderson, but the title still escapes me


-- 
jim beug    Professor, CSc dept, Cal Poly
internet: jlbeug@polySLO.calPoly.edu
uucp:  {csun|csustan|sdsu}!polyslo!jlbeug
(805)756-2824

tmm@sdd.hp.com (Tim McDonough) (02/08/91)

In article <16530@crdgw1.crd.ge.com> eaker@sunbelt.crd.ge.com (Charles E Eaker) writes:
>In article <7756@chorus.fr> mir@opera.chorus.fr (Adam Mirowski) writes:
>>In article <1991Feb5.212609.4371@linus.mitre.org>, jeff@retina.mitre.org (Jeff Graber) writes:
>>%% 
>>%% I am looking for the name and composer of a piece of music
>>%% that included a typewriter in it.  It was very popular in
>>%% the late fifties, early sixties.  It may have been called
>>%% the typewriter symphony or something.  If you know anything 
>>%% about it please reply.
>>
>>Let me guess... Spike Jones? :-)
>
>No, it wasn't Spike Jones. I can hear snatches of the piece including
>the ringing of the bell at the end of the line. As I recall it was
>written by a "semi-serious" American composer, but I can't remember
>the name of the piece or its composer.

Wasn't there a piece named "The Typewriter" By Leroy Anderson?!?

                            -Tim
-- 
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16399 W. Bernardo Drive                                  1350 N. Esc. Blvd. #40
San Diego, CA 92127          tmm@hp-sdd.sdd.hp.com       Escondido, CA 92026
(619) 592-8657            uunet!hp-sdd.sdd.hp.com!tmm    (619) 489-7863

ray@blia.sharebase.com (Ray Gebbie) (02/08/91)

> In article <1991Feb5.212609.4371@linus.mitre.org>, jeff@retina.mitre.org (Jeff Graber) writes:
> %% 
> %% I am looking for the name and composer of a piece of music
> %% that included a typewriter in it.  It was very popular in
> %% the late fifties, early sixties.  It may have been called
> %% the typewriter symphony or something.  If you know anything 
> %% about it please reply.
> 

You are probably referring to 'The Typewriter' by Leroy Anderson.  It is a 
'cute' novelty piece for orchestra and typewriter.  Anderson was a 
composer/arranger for the Boston Pops, and wrote a number of lighter
'classical' and novelty pieces, many of which are played by school groups.
He wrote a pretty common christmas piece called 'sleighride'.  I have
a record of his works, and the Cincinatti Pops just put out a CD of his
music.

Probably more than you really wanted to know, right?

arra@inmet.inmet.com (02/08/91)

The composer was Leroy Anderson, I forget the name of the piece.
=====================
 arra@inmet.inmet.com
 Arra Avakian
 Intermetrics, Inc.
 733 Concord Ave
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 (617)661-1840 x4500
=====================

tjr@cbnewsc.att.com (thomas.j.roberts) (02/09/91)

"The Typewriter", by Leroy Anderson.

I played this as a percussion solo in 1967, with the Willowbrook
H.S. Band (Villa Park, Illinois). I used a REAL old-fashoned
manual typewriter, with the following modifications:

 1) a plastic sheet instead of paper, to give a louder, better
    sound for the keystrokes; it was left loose on the platen.
 2) a carefully-tuned "margin bell" connected to a foot pedal
    (the bell has to be sounded at particular times in the music,
     without accompanying key hits).
 3) a piece of plastic attached to the carriage which rubbed on the
    groved rod which determines character spacings - this gave a
    much more satisfying "r-r-r-rip" when the carriage was returned.
 4) a microphone about 2' in front of the typewriter, just below
    the table height, connected into the auditorium PA system.

I sat in front of the band, center stage right, with my right side
(where the carriage-return is) facing the audience. This piece got
quite an audience response, partly because of the visual effect.
It took quite a lot of practice for this (then) non-typist to avoid
entangling the keys; I typed A LOT of gibberish, but without a
ribbon it is forever lost to posterity :-).

Tom Roberts
att!ihlpl!tjrob  TJROB@IHLPL.ATT.COM

carroll@ssc-vax (Jeff Carroll) (02/09/91)

In article <16530@crdgw1.crd.ge.com> eaker@sunbelt.crd.ge.com (Charles E Eaker) writes:
>In article <7756@chorus.fr> mir@opera.chorus.fr (Adam Mirowski) writes:
>>In article <1991Feb5.212609.4371@linus.mitre.org>, jeff@retina.mitre.org (Jeff Graber) writes:
 
>>%% I am looking for the name and composer of a piece of music
>>%% that included a typewriter in it.  It was very popular in

>>Let me guess... Spike Jones? :-)

>No, it wasn't Spike Jones. I can hear snatches of the piece including
>the ringing of the bell at the end of the line. As I recall it was
>written by a "semi-serious" American composer, but I can't remember
>the name of the piece or its composer.

The piece you're looking for is "The Typewriter" by Leroy Anderson,
who is perhaps better known as the composer of "Sleigh Ride",
"Fiddle Faddle", and "The Syncopated Clock".

I don't know whether it would be fair to describe Anderson as
"semi-serious"; he was clearly a "pop" composer, and there was
certainly nothing serious about either "The Typewriter" or "The
Syncopated Clock". This stuff is a couple notches down from "Flight
of the Bumblebee", to which "Fiddle Faddle" bears something of a
melodic resemblance. Anderson's stuff, with the notable exception of
"Sleigh Ride", all starts to sound alike after awhile, although I
was quite fond of it as a young piano student.

Leroy Anderson, as far as I know, was sort of a cross between Victor
Borge and Skitch Henderson.

	Jeff Carroll
	carroll@ssc-vax.boeing.com
-- 
Jeff Carroll
carroll@ssc-vax.boeing.com

mes@sequent.UUCP (Mike Seyfrit) (02/12/91)

re: Typewriter music:

I think you're trying to think of Leroy Anderson.  I'm not sure of the
title, but I think it might have been something like "the typewriter" :-)

-- 
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        net: uunet!sequent!mes or              | \       Portland, OR 97232 =
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  ===== org: Sequent Computers, Beaverton, OR  | / \  ===USA=================

melby@daffy.yk.Fujitsu.CO.JP (John B. Melby) (02/13/91)

> %% I am looking for the name and composer of a piece of music
> %% that included a typewriter in it.  It was very popular in
> %% the late fifties, early sixties.  It may have been called
> %% the typewriter symphony or something.  If you know anything
> %% about it please reply.

[various responses omitted]

The typewriter is by no means new in orchestral music...it is used
in Erik Satie's "Parade".

-----
John B. Melby
Fujitsu Limited, Machida, Japan
melby%yk.fujitsu.co.jp@uunet

daver@felix.UUCP (Dave Richards) (02/15/91)

This was used in a film from the 50's or 60's.  I think it was either a Jerry
Lewis movie or a funny musical like "Singin' In the Rain" or something sim-
ilar.  At the conclusion of the piece the typewriter carriage flew off while
it was being returned (unless I'm confusing typewriter scenes from different
movies).

I know the piece has already been identified, but someone may want to actually
see/hear it, in which case they could research this more.

Dave