Sunday, September 27, 2009

Organ lesson and tape worms

On Thursday, at long last, I met up with organ teacher Herr Doktor Professor D. By the end of my two-hour power lesson, I had learned a huge amount about pedal technique, lyrical French style, swell work, and how to have faith in reed-heavy French registrations, as well as how much work I still have to do on Franck's Grand Pièce Symphonique.

In exchange for that first lesson, I'm translating some text into English for Professor D., who kindly suggested that I don't need to replicate the "tapeworm-length sentences" so typical of German. According to Wikipedia, "Taenia saginata, the beef tapeworm, can grow up to 40 feet long (12 m); other species may grow to over 100 feet (30 m)." I thus thank Professor D. not only for the excellent organ lesson, but also for the most vivid yet accurate metaphor for German sentence length that I've ever had the privilege of hearing.

1 comment:

Nancy Kimberly said...

That image is a beautiful thing. Having spent a good two weeks last Spring contemplating tapeworms, I find this particular use of the word very satisfying. Thanks for sharing.