Transcript of “Woodshedding Music”
Hello, you have A Way with Words.
Hello, this is Tim, and I’m from Tucson.
Hi, Tim. We’re glad to have you. What’s up?
Well, I’m calling about a word, or a phrase, actually, that I’ve been a choral singer for quite some time, since way back in the early 60s.
And way back when I was about 15, I first heard the word, and it refers to when a piece is particularly difficult and requires a lot of extra work. You are supposed to do woodshedding, which means doing a lot of work about the details, about the performance, about the right notes, about the right rhythm, things that are particularly difficult.
And I’ve never heard it used in any other realm of my life.
And I’m just wondering where this started and whether it really applies only to musicians.
Woodshedding, W-O-O-D-S-H-E-D-D-I-N-G, woodshedding?
That’s correct.
And so is this something that you do alone or do you do it with the rest of the choir?
Well, ideally, it should be done, you know, in both.
But generally, it’s with a group because and it has, you know, like each section might have to rehearse a short phrase separately.
And then you have the next section do it and then those two do it.
Then you do, you know, each one has to get this all figured out by themselves.
Then you have to start all over again and do the whole thing.
It’s, you know, just a lot of detail, kind of frustrating work.
At least that’s what I consider woodshedding to be.
And ideally, if you also do the same thing at home, eventually you’ll get a beautiful piece of music.
That’s right. Yeah, that’s exactly how it’s used throughout music, whether your people are singing or playing an instrument.
And it goes back to the early 1900s.
There’s a quote from a newspaper from Kansas in 1908.
It’s several of us would like to see our tuba player get busy woodshedding on that tuba solo.
And doesn’t that sound so contemporary?
Doesn’t that sound like something someone could say today?
Well, yeah.
I wouldn’t want to be around that.
Well, there’s an important point, Martha.
And that’s why, so the first uses of shedding were the idea of retreating to a private space to do something like smoke or drink or get up to other mischief so you wouldn’t be detected.
It’s something that you would want to do alone so that other people wouldn’t harass you.
But also, when you do something like practice an instrument or singing, it’s so that you don’t harass other people because this repetition is so annoying to others.
They do not want to hear you do scales.
They do not want to hear you play the same part over and over and over because it’s frustrating to them.
And so you do it in private.
You do it alone, perhaps in the woodshed.
And so that’s the whole concept of woodshedding.
You’ll find throughout the years, up through the jazz era, people like Tommy Dorsey using this expression and the great blues artists using this.
And even today, people still talk about in every part of music, they talk about woodshedding.
So, yeah, that is it’s still an expression.
You’re not you’re not the only one that uses it that way.
So that’s that’s what we know, Tim.
Well, that’s great. Thank you.
Because, you know, I had kind of assumed that it started, you know, in Kentucky or West Virginia, where I was born, you know, that taking someone out to the woodshed and punishing them, you know, by beating them.
So this is really interesting to find out.
No, it’s just about the woodshed being separate from the main house as a place that you can go and not annoy others with your, you know, just doing your solo over and over and over and over.
Yeah, it’s interesting because there is an early use of it, too, in the field of law to prepare or coach a witness before a trial or a deposition.
And it’s about the repetition, right?
Well, it’s about going someplace that’s really private and discreet, you know.
But yeah, woodshedding a witness back in the 19th century.
So, Tim, thanks so much and good luck with the choir.
Thank you.
Thanks for calling.
Bye-bye.
Take care.
Email words@waywordradio.org.
