Music Before the Money

In February 1979 I was watching a movie over at my brother’s house because I didn’t own a TV at the time. We were watching Rocky. I had seen it a couple of years before at the theater but this was the first time on TV and it was being aired on a large American network.

As I drove along the darkened streets on my way home I saw some one jogging. It was almost midnight but I never thought too much about it until I saw the second, third and then fourth jogger. In total I must have passed two dozen people out running - and it was raining. My brother latercalled it “the Rocky effect.”

To recap the movie, in 1976, an unknown actor named Sylvester Stallone became a star. That same year, an inexperienced prize fighter, Rocky Balboa, became a champ in the hearts and minds of millions of moviegoers across the globe. Rocky, of course, was the fictitious alter-ego of the multi-talented Stallone. The hero of a screenplay penned by Stallone himself, Rocky Balboa became a contemporary symbol of all those who attempt to go the distance in life, those who attempt to make their dreams a reality, who rise to success through sheer determination.

I have watched all the movies many times, especially the first one which is still a gem even though it beat out, arguably, better pictures in Network, All the President’s Men, Bound for Glory and Taxi Driver. What I have heard since is that after Watergate, the fall of Vietnam and the oil crisis Rocky came around at a time when Americans needed an uplifting story. They wanted to cheer for an underdog and feel good about themselves and their way of life, one which allowed a nobody the chance to compete for one of the greatest titles in the world.

Rocky is still an inspiration to me. I am not a fanatic about the movie but I think about it when I want to try something that, at first, seems impossible.  I repeat to myself what Stallone says in the movie: “I just wanna go the distance.”

Here it is, my first keyboard.

I was working at Mountain Music - giving guitar lessons - in my hometown of Kimberley when I first saw my first synthesizer, the Farfisa Syntorchestra, and heard it in operation. I was back from school and my old band, Kootenai North, had a good guitar player so the guys suggested that I play the organ - you know, be a two-note player. There were none available at the time but I saw the new keyboard that came in the store and I made a deal to borrow it for giving lessons.

The Farfisa Syntorchestra is a combination of a full polyphonic section and a monophonic synth section. The poly section features four basic sounds:

• Trombone
• Trumpet
• Piano (great sound, better then all other pre sampling things I hear yet!)
• Viola

For this section you have the following sliders available:

• Volume
• Brilliance
• Vibrato rate (shared with the mono synth!)

And you have the switches to mute (”Cancel”) this section, turn the vibrato on/off and switch on/off the delay FX of the vibrato. That’s all for this section.

The monophonic synth features the following main sounds:

• Tuba (32″)
• Trombone (16″)
• Trumpet (8″)
• Baritone Sax (16″)
• Alto Sax (8″)
• Bass Flute (8″)
• Flute (4″)
• Piccolo (2″)
• Violin (4″)

The Portamento (sliding sound) was great and can be switched on permamently or switched on temporarily by the very huge Portamento tab in the middle below the keyboard action.

I used this as my sole keyboard for two weeks, putting it on a Black and Decker Workmate for a stand. Then I got a Brisco combo organ and put it on top of this.

I gave it back at the end of the summer but, like my other boards, I should have kept it.