# What instrument is cannon? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [September 28, 2004, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-instrument-is-cannon/266450 "2004-09-28T07:46:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2004, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-instrument-is-cannon/266450/41 "2004-10-24T17:18:32Z")
…excavating a landmine, lived a miner, eighteen-twelver, and his daughter, Clementine. The last live performance I saw of the _1812 Overture_ did the church bells with, well, church bells. It was in Cleveland’s Public Square downtown, and there’s an old church on the Square whose bells they wired in to the percussionists’ control. I don’t remember what the cannons were, but I think they might have been the WWII-era anti-air guns guarding the city. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-instrument-is-cannon/266450/42 "2004-10-25T08:00:24Z")
> [@Ms Boods](#): > > Aim for the violins. > > 😃 > Ms Boods, Guitarist Why are you intolerant of violins? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-instrument-is-cannon/266450/43 "2004-10-25T08:13:56Z")
> [@dougie\_monty](#): > > Why are you intolerant of violins? 😕 Because, as everyone knows, there’s just too much sax and violins on television these days. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-instrument-is-cannon/266450/44 "2004-10-25T08:23:56Z")
> [@flodnak](#): > > Because, as everyone knows, there’s just too much sax and violins on television these days. Cute. Actually, with the possible exception of as combo organized by Joe Venuti, I would be hard put to imagine one with violins and saxophones at the same time. 😛 Incidentally, at [www.classmates.com](http://www.classmates.com) _I_ am the Royal Punster on my high school’s Message Board. So there. ---
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-instrument-is-cannon/266450/45 "2004-10-25T12:01:30Z")
> [@dougie\_monty](#): > > Actually, with the possible exception of as combo organized by Joe Venuti, I would be hard put to imagine one with violins and saxophones at the same time. The saxophone made it as a standard member of the symphony orchestra in France, though not, as a rule, elsewhere, except in jazz-oriented works. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-instrument-is-cannon/266450/46 "2004-10-25T12:17:59Z")
> [@John W. Kennedy](#): > > The saxophone made it as a standard member of the symphony orchestra in France, though not, as a rule, elsewhere, except in jazz-oriented works. I don’t follow this. The presence of a saxophone is dictated by the repertoire, not the locality of the orchestra. Sure, _les six_ used saxophones a fair bit. But it’s hardly a main feature of other French composers such as Messiaen. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-instrument-is-cannon/266450/47 "2004-10-25T19:56:40Z")
> [@John W. Kennedy](#): > > The saxophone made it as a standard member of the symphony orchestra in France, though not, as a rule, elsewhere, except in jazz-oriented works. To do this, of course, one would need music written specifically for the sax. (I once had a music teacher who deplored the endeavor of Mozart’s pupil Sussmayr to complete Mozarts’ music–after his death; Stanze was broke–to rewrite the cello part so a trombone could play it! (Dr. Greer said “any musician knows Mozart wouldn’t have done that.”) ---
**Author:** ![Bookkeeper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bookkeeper/32/281_2.png) [@Bookkeeper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bookkeeper)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-instrument-is-cannon/266450/48 "2004-10-26T15:48:44Z")
> [@John W. Kennedy](#): > > Many cold cereals, both whole-grain and extruded, are made in the same way that popcorn is, except that instead of relying on internal moisture and a hard shell, they’re put into giant pressure cookers and then, when the steam has had a chance to permeate the stuff, the pressure cooker is suddenly opened. The technical term in the industry for these devices is “guns”, for obvious reasons. At the time, Quaker had been using “shot from guns” as their cold-cereal [slogan](http://theimaginaryworld.com/pre573.jpg) for years, and viewers were expected to recognize that. The old Canadian government Dictionary of Occupations had a listing for **Gunner** for the workers who operated these. 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-instrument-is-cannon/266450.md?page=2)