h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Now you've made me feel all evil and guilty. Thank you for this opportunity to soften my rhetoric between us. How about this? I say that I misunderstood your intent as the author of the article and you write the article anyway you see fit. As far as humor is concerned make it outlandish. For example. The trumpet is an orchestral instrument of an incredibly wide range of musical nuance. That is, at least, when its operator is not caught up in a "HIGHER FASTER LOUDER" mind set. As this unintentional enthusiasm elicits an ear splitting migraine due to the sonic phallus they tend to express in such raptures. Your prose are much cleaner and more succinct than mine, I tend to get wordy and babble, so I am certain that you would do better in your own words.

There is a tumultuous history in the Late Middle Ages about the trumpet. The Field or tower trumpet players verses the court trumpeters. The trumpet guild had very strict and well defined rolls for the players to adhere too, "oddly enough it resembles a familiar debate that you and I have shared. For example, in regards to the type of playing between the above entities of the trumpet guild, it is recorded that one group of players (physically) beat up another that was heard playing out of his designated register. THE HISTORY OF THE TRUMPET OF BACH AND HANDEL by Werener Menke as well as THE TRUMPET by E. Tarr address this issue very well. I think that you will find a lot of humor in these books. It has been a long time since I have read these books so I am sure that you will find better detail than I have just provided off the cuff.

Hmm.

A simple one-line change like the one I suggested can be slipped in easily. I could ask the editors and they would do the change the same day.

What you're proposing is a much bigger change, so it would have to go through the Update Forum. This is a longer process, which could take a week or two. If you're interested, why don't you create a new entry, copy the text of mine into it, then starting adding all your bits. When you think you have something worth looking at, let me know. How does that sound?

How do I get my hands on that Scientific American article?

Scientific America (1973 299(1) 24.) should be able to be accessed in the periodical section of a good-sized library. I had a copy that I made from the Microfiesh(Sp) {I mean the machine that takes micro film and enlarges it so you can read it} machine but I lent it out to someone and have never had it returned. As for the posting I feel that our discussion has been rather thorough, and really did not want you to use my posting verbatim. I simply felt that it was funny. I need to buckle down and finish my Doctoral dissertation this semester. So writing an article (it is a good idea) would be a little inconvenient at this time.

OK. I'll ask the editors to make a few slight changes to the entry so that it is less offensive to your ears, but I won't change the physics. Then when I get hold of a copy of the Scientific American article, I'll decide whether the physics is right or wrong and change it accordingly.

Cool, I think you would also enjoy reading: The Trumpet - E. Tarr, The History Of The Trumpet of Bach And Handel by Menke, and The Trumpet and the Trombone by Phillip Bate. This is not a comprehensive bibliography by any means but it is a really really good start.