How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
"Well, that lets me out, anyway. No disgrace in not playing them. I'm only a lay brother, after all. Oh, but isn't it horrible, Margaret? Isn't it horrible? How many of the bloody [recorders] do you have going at once?" (4.53)
Kind of like your 4th-grade band concert.
Quote #8
In a moment he disclosed that the local composer and the amateur violinist were going to "tackle" a violin sonata by some Teutonic bore, that an unstated number of recorders would then perform some suitable item, and that at some later time Johns might be expected to produce music from his oboe. Dixon nodded as if pleased. (4.71)
OK, not only does Amis ridicule medieval music, he's now going after classical music. You know, those Teutonic bores—Beethoven, Bach, Brahms.
Quote #9
[…] three minor College employees were toiling at barrels of beer and cider under panels representing, similarly to the larger ones in the Ballroom, swarthy potentates about to be danced on by troupes of midget Circassians, or caravans of Chinese merchants being sucked up into the air by whirlwinds. (10.14)
Here's another poke at the pseudo-fine art on display in the grand rooms of the College. The perspective's all off, so you can't even make sense of what's going on in the paintings.