When I was in Seattle working on Memphis The Musical during our out-of-town tryout, David Bryan, the music composer for the show and legendary keyboardist for Bon Jovi, decided to singlehandedly update music notation.
Tacet is Latin for "it is silent." It is a musical term to indicate that an instrument or voice does not sound. In vocal polyphony and orchestral scores, it usually indicates a long time, typically an entire movement.
He saw the word tacet on the page of one of his songs and wondered what it meant. When he learned the meaning, he suggested we update it to reflect modern times. He suggested DFP.
We asked him what that meant. DFP? He told us, “It means DON’T FUCKING PLAY!”
I laugh every time I see the work “tacet” on a page now.
Why do we keep using words and phrases from hundreds of years ago anyway?
David, I totally agree.
This was funny! I need to use this in the future.