Sunday, November 16, 2014

Tamber in Music

Tamber is another word you may hear in passing during a conversation on music and you may not be sure what it means.  Maybe it's some kind of Eastern thing.

It isn't anything at all.

Bob Jones (not his real name as I'm not sure he knew his real name) used the word and he was the prototypical musical genius in that he was doing MIDI on a Commodore 64 while the rest of the world thought it was a miracle that a C64 could play "Frogger."

Jones was such a genius that I've gone off every so often so try to find some meaning behind this word.

Zip.

The only definition I've ever found is that it's a bastardization of timbre and means exactly the same thing.

I just did it again because OCD is a terrible thing to baste and the word is again guaranteed to be total crap.

Summary:  throw it into conversation sometimes with musical poofs and watch if they buy it.  Don't let it on.  Keep this alive.  For example, if you were to say something meaningless like 'the tamber of an instrument is such a subtle thing.'  If they nod and stroke their straggly beards, you own 'em.  Do not take the win.  Keep the word alive.

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