Chris in San Antonio, Texas, a professional musician, asks where the word gig comes from. While gig is now the standard term for a musical engagement and has broadened to any short-term job, its early origins are murky. It may be related to the term...
Matt from Portage, Wisconsin, says that as a musician, he often finds himself focused on analyzing the structure and quality of a piece of music rather than just sitting back and enjoying it with everyone else. He asks if the hosts face a similar...
What does it mean to have chops? In the 1500s, chops was a slang term for the face or lips, but it carried into African-American jazz culture to mean that a brass or wind player had good embouchure. The idea is reflected in the old jazz musician’s...
Get out your umbrellas — it’s raining pitchforks and … bullfrogs? This week, it’s odd expressions that mean “a heavy downpour.” Also, holistic vs. wholistic, recurrence vs. reoccurrence, flash drive vs. thumb drive, whether it’s good or bad to be...
What would you serve a group of musicians and cardiologists? How about beets? This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Serving Up Beets” Grant, what would you serve if you had a bunch of musicians and cardiologists coming over for dinner...
Crescendo is not the high point of a sound, at least in the strict musical sense. Linda from Fort Worth, Texas, a retired symphony bassoonist, notes that a crescendo is the increase in volume or intensity, whether written out, abbreviated, or shown...
