My friend recently applied for a job as the music librarian for the Kansas City Orchestra. Part of the application process was a diagnostic exam with a bonus question asking to name a piece in which a susfun is used. Despite asking other music librarians, professors, and friends we have yet to discover a piece in which a susfun is used. Much less what it is. My only guess is the use of sus- as in below or hushed, much like the word MB and GB used to describe the sound of wind in the trees, and -fun meaning -phone. Basically, I have no idea...
Wonderful! I'm reminded of a help-wanted ad that I once heard about, where a restaurant was looking for an experienced Sioux chef.
I'm also reminded of a story, recounted by Dudley Moore in a book of musical anecdotes, in which someone put in a special order with a music librarian for a score to an old madrigal called "Could I But Express In Song". Some weeks went by, and he got a card from the librarian saying that, sadly, they were unable to find any music for "Kodaly's 'Buttocks-Pressing Song'".
Those Hungarian composers can suss fun even in a music library.
I'm looking up some possibilities, but none of them are very convincing. I can find a few references to a "fundamental sustain" pedal, but I can't find any evidence of any abbreviated notation for its use. I am also looking into some offbeat suspended chord, regularly noted as sus and called "sus chords", but so far, no fun in that.
I also put the call out to some friends who know a heck of a lot more about music theory and notation than I do.
chuckyc243 said:
My friend recently applied for a job as the music librarian for the Kansas City Orchestra. Part of the application process was a diagnostic exam with a bonus question asking to name a piece in which a susfun is used. Despite asking other music librarians, professors, and friends we have yet to discover a piece in which a susfun is used. Much less what it is. My only guess is the use of sus- as in below or hushed, much like the word MB and GB used to describe the sound of wind in the trees, and -fun meaning -phone. Basically, I have no idea...
A: Anything written by The March King, John Philip Sus. Seems pretty obvious...