Discussion Forum (Archived)
Guest
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...
I also think sousaphone could be an option. My only reservation is that a major orchestra rarely, if ever, plays Sousa outside of Stars and Stripes for pop concerts. And, why use a cheap sounding tuba invented for marching when you can sit down and play the real thing. There is a good possibility a new composer could have written a piece requiring a moving tuba player or the raunchiness of a sousaphone but I can't find it ever being referred to as a susfun. The only other name I could find associated to it is helicon.
chuckyc243 said:
I also think sousaphone could be an option. My only reservation is that a major orchestra rarely, if ever, plays Sousa outside of Stars and Stripes for pop concerts. And, why use a cheap sounding tuba invented for marching when you can sit down and play the real thing. There is a good possibility a new composer could have written a piece requiring a moving tuba player or the raunchiness of a sousaphone but I can't find it ever being referred to as a susfun. The only other name I could find associated to it is helicon.
So it definitely wasn't a joke or a typo? Or maybe some sort of "thinking outside of the box" type of question? It was a bonus question, after all...
My friend has given up and thinks they might have made the word up to see if people would bite and make up an answer. Apparently, the entire test was a tad ridiculous. On the spot translation of Cyrillic and other fun questions even librarians working for major orchestras found unnecessary. If it is a real instrument, it must be as obscure as they come. And I really want to find out what it is...
Martha Barnette
Grant Barrett
Grant Barrett
1 Guest(s)