Acrochallenge!

Hello, hello, hello to all those out there who acro. Yes, you know who you are. You can't see a series of letters without making a tawdry phrase out of it. You snicker in the car and at your desk at work while your companions give you the stink-eye. This little corner of the world's for you.

I've been practicing my clarinet. Yes, I know it's hard to believe. I've been going over band music, and frankly, I find some of it as offensive as a broadcast of "The Man Show." Ridiculous key signatures, weird time signatures, thirty-second note triplets, and, as in the case of Community Band's composer-in-residence, notes that don't exist on a clarinet. In sixteenth notes. I've marked those passages for long breaths and cosmic trips to the bathroom. Or I'll just cross my arms in protest, I don't know.

Anyway, that brings me to what's going to be a musical round of Acromania, and turn this into an entire musical blog. This week's topic is - "Why Composers Should Be Shot." And believe me, there are plenty enough reasons to go around. Style, substance, ego, looks, or the way they wield their batons. You pick 'em.

The rules are the same. Everyone gets three entries to come up with the best acronyms they can that match both the topic and the letters below, which are randomly drawn from the happy acrobasket. He's happy because he doesn't read music. Nor do I, much.

The topic is "Why Composers Should Be Shot." The letters are:

D E A N I B

And a-one-a, and a-two-a, now acro.

Betland's Olympic Update:
* Well, not one comment on the piece of music I put up online yesterday. I hope everyone who came by to see me in the last 24 hours listened to it, because I'm going to tell you the other thing about this piece of music. So here it is: It was written for the quartet by MP, our bass clarinet player. She's a 17-year old high school junior. That blows my mind. When I was seventeen I barely knew how to write my name. A little applause.