To those of you who were up at midnight to watch the New Year in, did you have the telly on as we saw the old year out and the New Year in?
I was watching BBC as the clock chimes started. Before the 'bongs' of Big Ben 'on the hour' you get what are the 'Westminster Chimes'. You know, the little ditty you get on the quarter past, half past, quarter to, and on the hour. Well, I could not believe what I heard (or thought I had heard). One of the bells in the 'ditty' was the wrong chime! A low note where it should have been a high note This is the trouble with 'playing music by ear'. Something like this stands out and shouts at me! Well, this morning I tried to find a YouTube video confirming what I had heard, but the only one that had anything before the 'bongs' of Big Ben 'on the hour' had the Westminster Chimes playing perfectly. They sounded as they should. So was I imagining the whole thing? Were my hearing aids playing up?
I spoke on the phone to DonW (who I consider to be a real musician) and unfortunately he hadn't had the telly on. But he said that this was the wrong time of year to pick something like that up. He said that most people wouldn't spot a wrong note anyway; had probably had one too many at this point; and even if they noticed, would they care?
But this evening, more YouTube videos have gone up, and I have found the BBC one with the program I was watching. Have a close listen and tell me .. are the Westminster Chimes right, or not?
So what about that video that had the chimes playing perfectly? I reckon they must have pinched those from another recording from another year/time and stuck it on the front of their fireworks video. Which goes to show, you can't always believe what you see or hear.
Hugh
PS. I like the warning about 'flashing images'! Can you have fireworks without 'flashing images'?