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Even in Folklore
Perhaps you know the viola joke?
What's the difference between a violin and a viola?
The viola burns longer.
But do you know the Czech version?
What's the difference?
The viola holds more beer.
Many musicians have senses of humor, but to be a viola player, one has to be, well, especially talented in this department. (Players of any under-unappreciated instrument, of course, are experts in self-effacement.) But I never realized that Moravian violists have viola jokes, too; and even less did I suspect that they might be the same as those in other viola-playing regions of the world! And like musicians the world over, Czechs like to go for a beer after concerts, which is the perfect opportunity to haul out the instrument jokes. It's just too bad I didn't catch any special Czech-only jokes.
I normally remember less than a few jokes at any time, but here are a few that stuck in my mind after the first beer:
How do you tell the difference between a viola and a coffin?
The coffin has the corpse inside.
You see an ad for a viola: Viola, good condition, recently tuned, never played except in first position.
And there was a banjo player there, too. (That wasn't the joke.)
What do you call one hundred banjos at the bottom of the ocean?
A good start.
And my favorite euphonium joke:
What's the difference between a baritone player and a euphonium player?
A euphonium player won't shut up about not playing the baritone.
Tags: humor, music
What's the difference between a violin and a viola?
The viola burns longer.
But do you know the Czech version?
What's the difference?
The viola holds more beer.
Many musicians have senses of humor, but to be a viola player, one has to be, well, especially talented in this department. (Players of any under-unappreciated instrument, of course, are experts in self-effacement.) But I never realized that Moravian violists have viola jokes, too; and even less did I suspect that they might be the same as those in other viola-playing regions of the world! And like musicians the world over, Czechs like to go for a beer after concerts, which is the perfect opportunity to haul out the instrument jokes. It's just too bad I didn't catch any special Czech-only jokes.
I normally remember less than a few jokes at any time, but here are a few that stuck in my mind after the first beer:
How do you tell the difference between a viola and a coffin?
The coffin has the corpse inside.
You see an ad for a viola: Viola, good condition, recently tuned, never played except in first position.
And there was a banjo player there, too. (That wasn't the joke.)
What do you call one hundred banjos at the bottom of the ocean?
A good start.
And my favorite euphonium joke:
What's the difference between a baritone player and a euphonium player?
A euphonium player won't shut up about not playing the baritone.
Tags: humor, music
Posted 11 December 2006 at 02:08.
A graduate student in music and anthropology writing a dissertation about music in Moravia, the eastern third of the Czech Republic. At some point, the Czech Republic's "second city" (that would be Brno) captured my attention, and I've since been blogging about events, arts, music, and other stuff—basically whatever interests me in and around the cityscape. I'm not living in Brno now, but I keep up with the cultural pulse from afar as best I can.
Comments:
Are you sure a banjo player being there isn't a joke? It is aweful funny!!
7:25 AM, December 11, 2006
The euphonium joke is also funny. As the father of a euphonium player, even I find myself talking more about how the euphonium isn't a baritone...even though I don't even know the difference!
5:10 PM, December 17, 2006
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