Fake the Frets

Source

I know, I know--you are probably wondering why I have called you all here. This is why:

You are watching a great movie and one of the characters decides to play a musical instrument.  Maybe it is a guitar.  Or a banjo.  A violin or a piano.  Just some musical instrument. 

Suddenly this actor starts to play some awesome, technically interesting music.  Enthralled you watch as he/she plays away, and you wish that you could play like that. 

Well, hold on a minute, pilgrim. 

Maybe you can.  If you look very carefully at the movements of the hands, arms, and fingers, you will see something: 

The actor is faking the frets.

With the piano, the camera can cut away and film some talented pianist take over the keyboard.  But with a stringed instrument?  It is impossible to ‘act’ the changing of the fingers on the strings. 

This has become a real issue with me, as you can tell.  While there are several movies from which to choose, the two that have disappointed me are “Songcatcher” and “O Brother! Where Art Thou?”.  Both are excellent movies with music as the key focus of the movie. 

In "Songcatcher", a professor of musicology at the turn of the 20th century sets about to document the songs of the Appalachian Mountains.  In this segment, singer Iris DeMent (Rose Gentry) does a cameo appearance. Awesome performance.  Muse Watson is a fine (one of my favorites) actor playing her husband Parley Gentry playing the violin.  But, he is not. 

Muse Watson with Iris DeMent in "Songcatcher": source

More information about "Songcatcher" can be found here.

Iris DeMent singing Pretty Saro from Songcatcher

 Then there is "O Brother! Where Art Thou?"  Another excellent movie, by the Cohen Brothers, based on The Odyssey.  I really wanted the actors to be actually singing.

The guitarist looks like he does an incredible job, but he is not the guitarist we hear.  Actually these are the musicians as per Wikipedia: "The original band soon became popular after the film release, and the country and folk musicians who were dubbed into the film, such as John Hartford, Alison Krauss, Emmylou Harris, Gillian Welch, Chris Sharp, and others, joined together to perform the music from the film in a Down from the Mountain concert tour which was filmed for TV and DVD.^[5]" Perhaps I am disappointed because over the years, I have endowed these actors with super-normal talents. I have assumed that they can sing, dance, play an instrument, talk coherently without a script, have a degree of intelligence, or are able to behave well.  Obviously I am wrong on many counts.. While this is a rant, and I know it, I just wanted to see if anyone else finds Faking the Frets disappointing?

PhotoPrompt: The walk way

Many thanks to Delores at myfeatherednest

The walk-way was long and narrow, but blessedly even.  Darren had waited until nearly dark, avoiding any who might observe him tonight. 

Tonight, I had to do it tonight.  Darren grumbled, dragging the heavy bag along the walk way.  He had not figured on this bag being so heavy.  Otherwise, he would have made more cuts, and had two smaller bags.

Darren was a slow, methodical man.  But such a man finds time constraints stressful.  He pulled harder on the bag, going a little faster.

Finally he arrived at the garbage bin and realized that the bag was almost too heavy for him to lift.  Girding his loins, Darren heaved the bag up and over his shoulders.  Clump.  The bag fell with a satisfying sound; it meant the bag didn’t fly open.

His neighbor, Lloyd came out with his heavy bag.  Clump.  They nodded at each other.

“Ain’t too much left of the ol’ girl, is there?”  Lloyd nodded at the bin.

“Nope.  Next week will do ‘er.”  Darren shut the bin tight.  “See you soon at the pub, then…” 

Both men retreated into their very silent, very dark houses.

PhotoPrompt: The Baby

 

The party’s over…Benjamin has been the ‘hit’ of the gathering.  So, now this is your Monday PhotoPrompt! 

What is going on here?  All those people admiring the wee little man—what could they be saying?

Sometime this week, write something—poetry, prose, flash fiction—using this photo.  Please check the blog sites in the right side-bar for other photos. 

Here is my bit for this week:

I came, I cooed.  I ate, I drank.  I pee-ed, I poo-ed.  Mummy put this party hat on me.  And, now leave me alone, as I go to sleep.

                                                                             Benjamin Thomas

 

My two-week old grandson Benjamin