pronunciation
Moderator: Shoshanah Marohn
-
Donny Hinson
- Posts: 21192
- Joined: 16 Feb 1999 1:01 am
- Location: Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.
)-
Tom Bradshaw
- Posts: 835
- Joined: 4 Aug 1998 11:00 pm
- Location: Walnut Creek, California, USA
- Contact:
This subject has become tiring here on the Forum, but following my last post I continued to reflect on the subject and felt the following information might be of interest to those reading this thread. I remembered that back in the '60s I became a big fan of Paul Graupp (a current Forum member). Paul was the first professional writer of steel-related topics (in Fretts magazine). We developed a friendship and corresponded frequently during and up to the time the magazine folded. In the late '70s, Paul assembled all those articles and I published and sold them through my mail-order business.
Yesterday I e-mailed Paul, picking his brain about the discussion here. Paul remembered that it wasn't until well into the '70s that "set-up" became a word to describe steel players' tuning and pedal arrangement. In his writings in the '60s he always used the words, "tuning chart" when talking about a player's basic tuning and the pedals that altered that tuning. And incidentally, knee levers were rarely a topic of discussion in the '60s. In my early writings I always used the phrase "tuning and pedal arrangement" to refer to a person's "set-up." It was in 1969 that I coined the copedent word, but initially spelled it "chopedent." The "h" was from the first three letters of the word, chord. Obviously, including "h" made the word's pronunciation even more difficult, so I quickly dropped that letter from its spelling after first printing it in a four-tune instructional course I published that year. Thereafter, I used the word in a 1971 reprint of my booklet, "Chord Construction For the Pedal Steel Guitarist" (originally published in 1964), in my "Anatomy of the Steel Guitar" (about 1972), in my columns for Guitar Player magazine, in articles I wrote for steel guitar club newsletters and, on the covers of albums in my old Steel Guitar Record Club and in the newsletters of my Cassette Club. Throughout that time I also saw the word pop up in various publications (including Winnie's book).
Paul remembers being intrigued by my coining of it, but viewed its importance as I did: a term dedicated exclusively to the pedal steel guitar; a word that could not be mistaken for anything other than describing something about this instrument. That was my sole purpose in making it up. …Tom
<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Tom Bradshaw on 13 May 2003 at 09:32 AM.]</p></FONT>
Yesterday I e-mailed Paul, picking his brain about the discussion here. Paul remembered that it wasn't until well into the '70s that "set-up" became a word to describe steel players' tuning and pedal arrangement. In his writings in the '60s he always used the words, "tuning chart" when talking about a player's basic tuning and the pedals that altered that tuning. And incidentally, knee levers were rarely a topic of discussion in the '60s. In my early writings I always used the phrase "tuning and pedal arrangement" to refer to a person's "set-up." It was in 1969 that I coined the copedent word, but initially spelled it "chopedent." The "h" was from the first three letters of the word, chord. Obviously, including "h" made the word's pronunciation even more difficult, so I quickly dropped that letter from its spelling after first printing it in a four-tune instructional course I published that year. Thereafter, I used the word in a 1971 reprint of my booklet, "Chord Construction For the Pedal Steel Guitarist" (originally published in 1964), in my "Anatomy of the Steel Guitar" (about 1972), in my columns for Guitar Player magazine, in articles I wrote for steel guitar club newsletters and, on the covers of albums in my old Steel Guitar Record Club and in the newsletters of my Cassette Club. Throughout that time I also saw the word pop up in various publications (including Winnie's book).
Paul remembers being intrigued by my coining of it, but viewed its importance as I did: a term dedicated exclusively to the pedal steel guitar; a word that could not be mistaken for anything other than describing something about this instrument. That was my sole purpose in making it up. …Tom
<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Tom Bradshaw on 13 May 2003 at 09:32 AM.]</p></FONT>
-
Jim Phelps
- Posts: 3421
- Joined: 6 Sep 2002 12:01 am
- Location: Mexico City, Mexico
- Contact:
OK, but what about knee-levers? Should "lever" be pronounced lever with a short "e" rhyming with "ever", or a long e rhyming with "beaver", or "cleaver", or "Beaver Cleaver", or "neither"? Wait, "neither" can be with an "e" sound or an "i" sound....I give up!
PS: Should it be "knee lever", or "knee-lever"?
OK, I'll shuttup now!<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Jim Phelps on 13 May 2003 at 10:01 AM.]</p></FONT>
Wait, "neither" can be with an "e" sound or an "i" sound....I give up!PS: Should it be "knee lever", or "knee-lever"?
OK, I'll shuttup now!<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Jim Phelps on 13 May 2003 at 10:01 AM.]</p></FONT>
-
Paul Graupp
- Posts: 4922
- Joined: 24 Jan 2001 1:01 am
- Location: Macon Ga USA
-
John Drury
- Posts: 2026
- Joined: 23 May 1999 12:01 am
- Location: Gallatin, Tn USA
I don't use the word but I think it is cool that somebody would take the time to come up with a word describing the way my instrument of choice does its thing. Not a whole lot of people more dedicated to steel guitar than Tom Bradshaw.
BTW here is one that really p!$$e$ me off and I hear a lot of guys use it - "knee pedal".
I am not a proponent of "mashing " pedals either.
Why do pedals go:A, B, C, Franklin, 5, 6, 7, 8, etc.?
I think the use of letters in reference to knee levers should be discontinued without ceremony.
JMOHO
Happy New Year all,
John Drury
NTSGA #3
BTW here is one that really p!$$e$ me off and I hear a lot of guys use it - "knee pedal".
I am not a proponent of "mashing " pedals either.
Why do pedals go:A, B, C, Franklin, 5, 6, 7, 8, etc.?
I think the use of letters in reference to knee levers should be discontinued without ceremony.
JMOHO
Happy New Year all,
John Drury
NTSGA #3
-
James Quackenbush
- Posts: 2966
- Joined: 27 Sep 2002 12:01 am
- Location: Pomona, New York, USA
Tom,
I happen to really like the word copedent..Like you said earlier, it's the only word that pretains to pedal steel only !!..Chord Charts, Setups, and the like can be used a few different ways meaning something completely different ..Copedent it is in my book of Pedalogy and Steelastics !!....Jim
I happen to really like the word copedent..Like you said earlier, it's the only word that pretains to pedal steel only !!..Chord Charts, Setups, and the like can be used a few different ways meaning something completely different ..Copedent it is in my book of Pedalogy and Steelastics !!....Jim
-
David Doggett
- Posts: 8088
- Joined: 20 Aug 2002 12:01 am
- Location: Bawl'mer, MD (formerly of MS, Nawluns, Gnashville, Knocksville, Lost Angeles, Bahsten. and Philly)
"Copedent" has precision and class. "Setup" can refer to string height and spacing, pedal feel adjustments, etc. But with all due respect to Tom, we don't call them "peedals," so the first e should be short. Pronounced that way, it is a nice, serious sounding word that would be good to use around other musicians, especially music school types. But with another steeler, "setup" works fine, and "copedent" sounds a little pretentious.