Day 079: John joins the Vienna Boys' Choir; Grammar Girl questions
36yearsago.com
Vienna 1971—A Student Journal
A year of music, study, travel, sightseeing &
friends.
Day 79
— John joins the Vienna Boys' Choir; Grammar Girl
questions
20-October-1971
(Wed.)
TRANSCRIPT
2 things I forgot to mention yesterday. (1) Alan
[Civil] has a gigantic trunk for his [horn]
case—wild! (2) While we were talking, he took a swig
from a bottle of rum. I guess after all of that
playing he could have used it.
Had first “Mathematical and Physical Acoustics”
course—with my knowledge of German it’s going to be
rough. But, anyway, so far there are only 3 people in
the class. Great. I wish I knew the language better.
The other 2 are 2 unbelievably [well-] built girls.
Perhaps they’ll help me.
It’s getting rough to find practice rooms.
Mailed a Christmas card to M.S.C. [Montclair State
College]. A picture of [the] Vienna “Choir Boys”—and
one of them was me (my face). Really funny. I enjoyed
doing it.
REFLECTIONS
John
joins the Vienna Boys' Choir. The
opening photo is a Christmas postcard that I sent
both to my family and my friends at Montclair State
College. Yes, I joined the Vienna Boys' Choir. If you
don’t recognize me, I’m in the first row, last boy,
far right. I fit in perfectly and I really know my
solfege syllables. If you want to see the letter
text, I’ll post it on the Pictures/Photos page. I
apparently also sent an audio tape. I'll try to hunt
for it.
I will generally place most of my original 1971
photos on this Photos page in chronological order.
Scroll to the end (today) to see this postcard and
writing.
Alan
Civil. (From
yesterday.) Yes, he just didn’t have a French horn
case, it was a gigantic trunk. I love it. The best
part is that he took a swig of rum (or whatever) from
a whiskey thingy in the trunk. I love it, again.
After playing such a wonderful concert, God Bless
Him, he deserved it. Professional performers, as you
may know, are under immense pressure in these
world-class ensembles—they must
play
perfectly.
All the time.
Mathematical
and Physical Acoustics class. I’m
already in the electronic music program. I do have a
great interest in contemporary music and am very
happy to be in this class. I like science and
acoustics as well. There are only three of us in the
class, and two of us are well-built girls. Err, uhm.
Remember, I’m young, I’m male. I got de hormones.
It’s just natural. I apologize now for not being
politically correct and sensitive in 1971. In the
class itself, all of us become great classmates and
friends. No, I didn’t forget Anjali, I still miss
her.
I wish I had more German under my belt. What do I
expect? I only took a one-month course.
Journal
writing style—Time to call Grammar Girl.
As the
journal progresses, I think I’m becoming sloppier in
my journal writing. Remember, I am not writing the
journal for posterity, only to myself. Never did I
think any idiot (me, of course) would publish this 36
years later.
In the journal transcription today, I’m into numbers
(2, 3). It’s more proper to write numbers out. I’m
also dyslexic when it comes to the Vienna Boys'
Choir—I’m always calling them the Vienna “Choir
Boys,” as if they are mafioso, and I also went back
and added the possessive apostrophe to Boys' when
referring to them. I say “and one of them was me”
instead of “and one of them was I.” I consistently
write in fragments. I don’t use sentences. I way
overuse the em dash “—“ as an indicator of
hesitations or new thoughts. My comment as to
"well-built girls" 36 years ago may have been caused
by youthful hormones, but today, the comment is not
politically correct, nor would I say that about
anyone. I have matured. 
I have mentioned a few of these writing issues in the
past.
Early on, I only corrected a few minor spelling
errors and sometimes added punctuation to the
transcription of the journal. I wanted to keep it
“pure.” Now, I am adding editor comments in brackets
[like this] for clarity. When overdone, the
paragraphs get choppy.
I
am not rewriting. I think
that is important to the purpose of this journal. So
the spirit of the journal, the words, and the style
in which I wrote in 1971, is still here.
In the Reflections section, I am writing in what I
call “informal conversational style.” I just made
that up. Actually, it's the way I talk. Short,
incomplete phrases (like this). I inject a lot of the
sentences with interruptions in parentheses (see?),
as a type of secondary remark. I do break many of the
“proper” rules of writing—partly because some of
these are bad habits. I overuse small conversational,
comma-based phrases.
So, what do
you think? Just yesterday in Episode 80, Grammar Girl
acknowledged that the use of
“so” is
so frowned
upon. I
so overuse
all of these unnecessary “introducers” or whatever
they’re called.
So, see, thus, well, regardless, and
remember. And I also
overuse em dashes, parentheses, and editor brackets.
I actually like speaking and writing this way. What
to do? What to do?
I need help. I need Grammar Girl.
In my defense, I write these blog posts
very fast, most
often late at night, and without much proofing. I
like the spontaneity.
Is my writing part of the “charm” of the blog? Or is
it just plain “frowned-upon” writing?
Grammar
Girl. A little
background first. I love the Grammar Girl
podcasts,
Grammar Girl Quick and Dirty Tips for Better
Writing. Her style
and presentation are wonderful, giving us great
examples and enjoyable historical tidbits. I never
remember the “grammar rules” but it’s nice to know
that at least she understands them. I’ve just ordered
her audio book. All in all, a great podcast and book.
Check out
her
website, if
you can. You can listen to her podcast through her
website or subscribe through the iTunes Store as
well.
Here are my questions to Grammar
Girl. Here goes.
(See,
everything
I do in this blog is in this stream-of-consciousness,
fragmented style.)
Journal
writing
• Should
I be “true” to the 1971 journal?
This
is
the big
question. Should I leave in the mistakes and all? Or
is it ok to correct minor spellings and punctuations?
I would find them annoying after a while. Is the Anne
Frank Diary true to the original diary or slightly
edited? Anne was certainly a better writer than I.
• Should
I continue to add editor remarks in the
transcription? Or cut
back on these? Sometimes these are grammatical,
adding missing articles; or they correct something
[Vienna Choir Boys to Vienna Boys Choir]; or clarify
[M.S.C. = Montclair State College]. I don’t want to
necessarily always correct things in the Reflections,
either. Or just let these go and leave it as
“understood” that there will be mistakes?
• Is my
informal, conversational style ok?
Ok for a
blog? Not ok for a book? In reading back posts, I can
certainly see where I can rewrite sentences, however,
I do not go back and rewrite very often. Is
spontaneity bad?
To
your listeners. If you
visit 36yearsago.com, I would love to hear your
comments. If you want to write and don’t have a
publishing outlet, I would recommend blogging as one
of the best ways to start writing and gain
experience. While paper publishers may not publish
web blogs, you will be writing, and that is what is
good. For most of my life, I thought that I couldn’t
write
at all. Don’t
think that. You can write.
The benefits.
You are writing. You are
your own author, editor, designer, and publisher.
Look how much money you are paying yourself! Four
salaries. You can’t beat that.
36yearsago is my
first blog.
Thanks Grammar Girl. You’re doing a great job. It
would be nice to have your readers visit this blog. I
will leave it up to you whether you can mention it.
It may be against your publishing policy. Take care.
John
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