Template talk:Did you know nominations/Chinese Whispers (Waterhouse)

From WT:DYK:

Prep 4: Chinese whispers[edit]

... that composer Graham Waterhouse played Chinese whispers in Chinese Whispers? Simply untrue. One cannot play the game without several people each using their voice to pass on a verbal message. The game influenced/inspired the composition: the game is not played during performance of the composition. Needs to be sent back for a re-write. Kevin McE (talk) 11:18, 26 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Consider taking the original hook, pictured, --Gerda Arendt (talk) 12:23, 26 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Slightly better, but still not really true to say that he "played with" the game or the music. ... that the small incremental changes of a [[Chinese whispers|children's game]] inspired Graham Waterhouse's composition Chinese Whispers? Kevin McE (talk) 12:39, 26 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

We are talking about ... that composer Graham Waterhouse (pictured) played with a children's game and Chinese music in his award-winning string quartet Chinese Whispers?

More important than the slight changes are a certain playfulness (it's composed for children) and perhaps Chinese Pentatonic scales. What do you think of ... that composer Graham Waterhouse (pictured) plays on a children's game and Music of China in his award-winning string quartet Chinese Whispers? Please improve, --Gerda Arendt (talk) 13:54, 26 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

The age group that would typically play chinese whispers, and the age group that would typically be able to play at that level, or who might typically comprise the audience at a performance of Waterhouse's work are very different applications of the word "children". Using play in a piece about music implies a style or an instrument: he may have been influenced by the game, but he was not playing it. Kevin McE (talk) 16:11, 26 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

My language capabilities are limited, how can you say that the composer playfully used ideas/elements from the game and from Music of China, treated to western classical music style? --Gerda Arendt (talk) 16:16, 26 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I went and looked at the ref. I disagree that "played with" in a musical context always suggests "played an instrument," and also the source makes clear that there are different voices involved, but let's keep it simple and closer to the source, since the wordplay has aroused misgivings. How about:

... that in his string quartet Chinese Whispers, Graham Waterhouse has phrases gradually morph as they pass from player to player, as verbal phrases do in the whispering game?

or if Chinese music has to be got in there, how about:

... that composer Graham Waterhouse responded to a commission for a children's piece drawing on Chinese music with Chinese Whispers, which also alludes structurally to the game? Yngvadottir (talk) 18:15, 26 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Good suggestions. I would like to keep "award-winning", - he doesn't get prizes so often, and would like it pictured if not quirky. "Children's piece" is saying too little, it is composed for young players, but is still difficult.
... that in his award-winning string quartet Chinese Whispers, Graham Waterhouse (pictured) has phrases gradually morph as they pass from player to player, as verbal phrases do in the whispering game?
... that composer Graham Waterhouse (pictured) responded to a commission for a European family in Shanghai with Chinese Whispers, drawing on Music of China and alluding structurally to the game?
Whatever, get the quirky from prep before it goes to a queue please, --Gerda Arendt (talk) 18:31, 26 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

--Gerda Arendt (talk) 07:53, 27 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]