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Is Tintin musically talented?

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cigars of the beeper
Member
#1 · Posted: 20 Nov 2008 20:10
In the episode of the elephants in Cigars of the Pharaoh, Tintin, as I'm sure you all remember, comes up with a way of communicating with them via a large wooden horn. He tells Snowy things like "'SOL LA FA FA' Means 'I want a drink.'" Unless I'm very much mistaken, most people would need a tuning fork to identify those notes just like that, and Tintin doesn't seem to have one. What does everyone think of this?
Balthazar
Moderator
#2 · Posted: 20 Nov 2008 23:36
Tintin certainly needs some musical knowledge to break down the elephants' notes into those of a scale, and a lot of musical talent to play the right notes on a wooden trumpet (not to mention phenomonal wood-carving skills in the first place!), but he doesn't actually need to know what key the scale is in or to identify the actual notes. So I don't think the question you raise of whether his brain can do the job of a tuning fork (what people call perfect pitch) is quite so relevant to his accomplishment or indicative of his talent.

What I mean is, the doh re me fa sol la tee doh scale (famous from the Sound of Music song) is a system of naming the notes in any scale, with doh being the starting note of the key (ie: bottom note of the scale). So doh doesn't have to be any particular note; it could be A, A sharp, B, C, C sharp, D, etc, all the way through to G sharp, depending on which key you choose or happen to be in. So Tintin wouldn't need to have perfect pitch to play the different notes in his scale without a tuning fork, since he's simply chosen to call one of the notes that comes out of his wooden trumpet doh (presumeably the note that seems to be the key note of the elephant's scale), and works from there. In fact it may be because he doesn't know what actual notes he's playing that causes him to name the notes using the doh re me scale instead.

Whether the precise key is unimportant to the elephants, or whether sol la fa fa means something different when played in the key of A than it does when played in the key of F, etc, is unclear. But as people, without perfect pitch (most of us!), we wouldn't usually notice if a tune we're used to hearing in one particular key is transposed and played in another, as long as its not drastically higher or lower. It's the pattern of notes - the intervals and relationships between them - that we recognize, rather than the precise wavelength of each note. Happy Birthday still sounds like Happy Birthday (sol sol la sol high-doh te) whichever note you randomly start on. You only need a tuning fork or perfect pitch if you need to make sure you're singing it in a particular key.
tuhatkauno
Member
#3 · Posted: 22 Nov 2008 09:14
Hello musical fellows :)

I would like to remind that with the horn Tintin carved is impossible to play any full scale note by note (do, re, mi, fa and so on) because Tintin didn't make any holes or buttonmechanism to it. If you blow the Tintin's horn the notes would be the follows:

do1, do2 (octave higher), so2, do3, mi3 ...

I don't know, what is the right word in English, but naturally horn (or any tube) gives a serie of notes (upper note serie?). The size and shape of the tube determines what is the ground note.

The lowest note is difficult to play that's why the playable serie is ground note (1st) then quint (5th) then octave (8th) and then from that octave 3th (major)...

The point is, Herge hardly was a hornplayer, because Tintin thought he could play so-la-ti-do or so-so-fa-fa. So-so-mi-mi is possible. The elephants can play scales because their trunks are flexible, they can change the space inside the trunk.
Harrock n roll
Moderator
#4 · Posted: 22 Nov 2008 10:56
tuhatkauno:
The elephants can play scales because their trunks are flexible

Q: Why couldn't the elephants play scales?
A: Their trunks were too tight...
tuhatkauno
Member
#5 · Posted: 22 Nov 2008 17:39
Harrock n roll:
Q: Why couldn't the elephants play scales?
A: Their trunks were too tight...

Is this a riddle / joke? Now I don't understand.

I meant that an elelphant can make notes (sounds) next to each other like c, cis, d, which is impossible with the horn Tintin made. I didn't think elephants can play scales like Miles Davis. Oh boy I've made an ass out of myself :/
Ranko
Member
#6 · Posted: 22 Nov 2008 21:46
It is indeed a joke, tuhatkauno.
The 'elephant joke' has been around for as long as I can remember.
The jokes themselves are almost completely absurd. Wiki has an article on them.

One of my favourites;
Q. How do you know there is an elephant in your bed?
A. There is an 'E' on it's pajamas.

A lot of people in the UK refer to swimwear as 'Trunks'

Anyway. That is a good point about the horn. Surely the only thing he could have played would have been a long flat note?

However, I do agree with Balthazar. What we are seeing is Tintins interpretation of those notes which, having confirmed with a tuning fork, could be anything.
tuhatkauno
Member
#7 · Posted: 23 Nov 2008 07:35
Damned, actually I know that "trunks" is swimming suit, my head wasn't functioning well last night.

Ranko:
However, I do agree with Balthazar.

So do I, no fork is needed.

Ranko:
Surely the only thing he could have played would have been a long flat note?

It is possible to play certain melodies with Tintin's horn. Think about military horns (which are just tubes) and the melodies which can be played with them.
tintinspartan
Member
#8 · Posted: 23 Nov 2008 11:32
I would have wished Herge could show more of Tintin playing mordern instruments or even sing.

In fact, one of the Christmas drawings i believe Herge drew showed Tintin singing a Christmas Carol. Wonder how would Tintin sound like when he sings.
Harrock n roll
Moderator
#9 · Posted: 23 Nov 2008 12:01
Yes, apologies for the elephant joke, tuhatkauno. And thanks to Ranko for clarifying it. I wasn't trying to mock you, but I was rather taken with the idea of elephants being able to play scales because their trunks were flexible. Admittedly I'm no elephant expert, but does their call actually issue from their trunk? I always thought it came from their mouth!

Obviously Hergé was having a bit of fun, but it's amusing to speculate. Actually, if you listen to real elephant sounds they're more like grunts, wails and screams (not quite 'Sol-La-Fa-Fa', etc). And from what I've read, they also communicate with very low frequencies below the range of human hearing. I don't know, perhaps Tintin's horn playing sounded more like that, kind of modern jazz. ;-)
tuhatkauno
Member
#10 · Posted: 23 Nov 2008 14:00
Harrock n roll:
apologies for the elephant joke, tuhatkauno

Never mind. My mistake, I should have understood the joke, it was quite obvious.

:)

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