Hi, James!  Recently you wrote in a message to Ardith Hinton:

JB>  I did read an article, where the drummer tried to

JB>  sympathize his breath to coincide with brass' or
     |synchronize ("with" + "time")?

JB>  woodwinds' in a big-band setting.


           Okay, you've got me hooked!  What did he learn from this experiment?



JB>  (Proper apostrophes?)


           Assuming you were trying to make the nouns in question
possessive, I think you're on the right track... you just forgot to
pluralize "brass".

           The drummer tried to match his own breathing to that of other
people in the band (often referred to collectively as "brasses"
and "woodwinds").  The possessive form of a noun which ends in
"s" does not require adding another "s" unless you can
actually *hear* another "s" when you say the word aloud.  What I
would say in this case is "brasses' or woodwinds'".  And there is
an example of why I prefer to use double quotation marks initially, as the
Americans do.  :-)



JB>  I never practiced it much - besides using it as an
JB>  excuse to oggle over the French horn cuties. 


           I know what most boys in grade ten have on their minds... and I
know it has little or nothing to do with academic pursuits!  But now I can
use other examples which you might find more relevant.  The French horn
cuties' breathing was interesting... from a purely scientific viewpoint, of
course... because you wanted to see whether they were breathing from the
diaphragm or the chest.  ;-)



JB>  (Remember: Proximity to the percussion section weighs
JB>  heavily on our sight line.)


           So the drummers' (plural) breathing depends on visual stimuli?  :-))



JB>  "At bar xxx, you can *not* hit that tympani hard enough
JB>  at the triple forte," was emphasized and repeated. Try
JB>  being in the tuba section for that piece!


           Thanks, but no thanks... [wry grin].



JB>  I put my mallet through a batter on one practice. I guess
JB>  I executed his orders to a tee that day.


           I soon found out when I began teaching clarinet that some kids
would take my words quite literally.  When I speak of "soaking"
reeds, for example, I don't mean ensuring they're dripping with saliva
before leaving them wrapped in plastic until the next lesson.  By then
they'll have grown a fine crop of bread mould, i.e. a sure sign the owner
hasn't done a lot of practising... [chuckle].




--- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+