vision2020@moscow.com: Granny-dumping
Granny-dumping
Jo Williams (tajs@potlatch.com)
Fri, 12 Dec 1997 05:58:56 -0800
Last evening's Daily News story about the U. of Idaho's
carillon,"Restoring the chimes to campus" (a nice local story) prompted a
Vision 1997- that of 183 metal bars parked in a wheelchair and left at
the dog track. Some broken parts, a faulty memory and out she
goes......replaced by "digitally-sampled bell sounds" at age 33.
Cruelly, (I thought) the story points out that she's only getting what
she deserved, having herself once replaced the original tradition of
100,000 lb. bronze bells. Sure- try and stay healthy, lose a little
weight- this is what happens. But at least she was real metal.
Though this list is about visionary solutions, as with restaurants and
journalism, sometimes the 'old ways' are visionary. Before spending
$40,000 in donations for a digital 'grandson', could the Carillon
Restoration... Project committee look into alternatives;
l) "...many of the mechanical pieces needed to get the carillon back in
shape are no longer available." Can the U. of Idaho's School of
Engineering design/rebuild/repair them?
2) "... a digital- tape system...to trigger pre-programmed music..." is
worn out. Can the U. of Idaho's Computer Science Department/Computer
Engineering Dept. do anything for this?
3) "The carillon can still be played manually..."; I think that would be
great! A daily School of Music production- live entertainment.
Maybe none of these suggestions will be practical. Maybe, like so many
other things, no one will really notice the difference between real metal
and 'bell sounds'. Maybe after awhile I won't either.
Jo Williams
tajs@potlatch.com
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