Music celebrities creating silly waves…

The events of popular musicians making outrageous publicity due to their ridiculous adventures, eg., Justin Beiber finding himself in more-than-once trouble… one has to wonder if these shenanigans are nothing more than a way to draw attention, albeit negative, to their cause of creating silly waves of publicity to sell more stuff… Is it really worth it?
This recent article from Chicago Tribune sums it up…
Jam On!
-Ron

music dials sorry icon

(via: Chicago Sun Times – by: Mikael Wood)

“Sorry seems to be the hardest word,” Elton John once sang, but for celebrities that no longer appears to be the case.

 

Apologies from high-profile musicians and actors have been piling up recently, reflecting regret (or at least its image) for a wide variety of perceived offenses, from the seriously damaging to the laughably slight.

There was Justin Bieber seeking atonement after videos surfaced…
-> read the complete article here… <-

Pi and memorizing the music scale…

the Music Scale (using Pi)

Wow, this enhanced my ability to recognize the power of math and the musical scale. Incredible to learn that thirty-nine decimal places of Pi are enough to compute the circumference of a circle the size of the known universe with an error no greater that the radius of an hydrogen atom… Now, that gives one another way to ponder the depth of music!

Jam On!
Ron

music dial Pi symble

(by JUR re: Sciencedump.com)
This guy wrote a song to help him memorize Pi, since he can memorize music easier than strings of numbers. In his mind, he can hear the melody, and figure out the numbers…
See this insightful video here:
https://www.sciencedump.com/content/guy-creates-song-using-numbers-pi

Saxophonists, Clarinetists and other Wind-Instrument players, Beware…

‘Saxophonist Lung’ can afflict wind-instrument players…

Wow, this is quite interesting (subj.)… Wind instrument players please keep your reeds and mouth-pieces very clean. You could be affected by this ailment. If you blow with a reed (or any wind band instrument) this short article may be very beneficial reading…
Jam On!
-Ron

Sax_Lung

(By Marc Lallanilla, Assistant Editor – via lifescience.com)
A man in Atlanta had been diagnosed with a severe case of saxophone lung. Though the name of the condition seems odd, it’s quite appropriate, since saxophonists, clarinetists and other wind-instrument players are among those who contract the illness most often…

More on this peculiar ailment here…
https://www.livescience.com/41057-what-is-saxophone-lung-hypersensitivity-pneumonitis.html

Possibly Glenn Campbell’s Final Recording…

Glenn Campbell is turning 75 and battling Alzheimer’s…

You may know this already but, Glenn played in a special group of studio and session musicians that jammed anonymously on many records in Los Angeles, California during the 1960s. Known as The Wrecking Crew – it backed dozens of popular singers, and were one of the most successful groups of studio musicians in music history…
Jam On!
-Ron

glenn-campbell

(by:
Campbell has released more than 70 albums. He has sold 45 million records. He was in great demand as a session musician in the 1960s and worked as part of the studio musicians’ clique known as “the Wrecking Crew.” He played guitar on the Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds album, as well as on recordings by artists from Elvis to Sinatra. On top of all this, Campbell hosted his own weekly variety show, The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour

Read the rest of this article here:
https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/neil-cossar/wichita-lineman-glen-campbell_b_4479036.html

The Bad Plus finding jazz in Stravinsky’s ‘The Rite of Spring’…

the Bad Plus

I just knew that someday a (capable) Jazz group would render a Classical movement justice. In this instance… the Bad Plus has taken it upon themselves to really encapsulate the works of Stravinsky. Now, there are a lot of considerations when taken-on a task of this magnitude.
For instance: the very thought that a modern-day acoustic Jazz trio could even approach the powerful scores of Stravinsky’s orchestral may seem a tad silly, until you consider how interestingly enough the composer’s other works sound in similarly to existing sounds of the Bad Plus’ 3-piece jams.
Ron-

Listen to the entire movement of Stravinsky’s ‘Rite of Spring’ by the Bad Plus here ->
https://youtu.be/DdE49jdfn6Y

AND… read an in depth review in Chicago Tribune
( by: Howard Reich October 22, 2013)
“Stravinsky’s orchestral score – with its convulsing rhythms and shattering dissonances – will be delivered by the bare-bones instrumentation of Ethan Iverson’s piano, Dave King’s drums and Reid Anderson’s bass. While they’re trying to capture the savage intensity of Stravinsky’s original, a series of abstract videos will play on two screens, just as an orchestra 100 years ago accompanied members of Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes during that notorious premiere of Vaslav Nijinsky’s provocative choreography…”
Read article in its entirety here ->
https://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/music/chi-jazz-stravinsky-reich-20131023,0,4995862.column

 

Spike Jones and his City Slickers, free App…

Spike Jones

Some of the old entertainers laid it down for many of us musicians to take note and to follow in their footsteps… Now, iOS Universal has created an app that gives you free access to over 50 plus episodes of Spike Jones performance. And they have a list of some earlier great works available… (see story lead, below)
Ron-
btw, here’s an earlier clip of Spike Jones doing his thing. If you get an opportunity, check out a couple more clips to witness his cleaver works of yester-year…

https://youtu.be/BHTryPVFMao

The very name of Spike Jones became synonymous with crazy music. While he enjoyed the fame and prosperity, he was annoyed that nobody seemed to see beyond the craziness. Lindley Armstrong “Spike” Jones (December 14, 1911 – May 1, 1965) was an American musician and bandleader specializing in performing satirical arrangements of popular songs. Ballads and classical works receiving the Jones treatment would be punctuated with gunshots, whistles, cowbells, and outlandish vocals…
Free App and more info here ->
https://appshopper.com/music/spike-jones-collection

Les Paul: The Lost Interviews…

Les Paul guitars are what legends are made of… From the earliest LP Junior to the classic Standard Les Paul’s, the original electric guitar and the maker thereof has deep roots in music history, to say the least. This article investigates a new book about Les Paul, written by Jim O’Donnell…
Ron-

Les Paul guitar

(By )

What comes to mind when you hear the name “Les Paul”? Maybe the iconic guitar, launched at the dawn of rock and roll and played by many of music’s most talented guitarists. Or perhaps you think of the musician, the performer, the songwriter – or the man who invented the aformentioned Gibson guitar, multi-track recording and a host of other musical innovations… More Here ->s
https://www.emptymirrorbooks.com/features/music/review-les-paul-the-lost-interviews-by-jim-odonnell.html

How to Transpose Music

Basic Music Transposition

OK… as we discussed in our recent posts (basic music theory, guitar power chords, et.al.) it was suggested that we visit the subject matter of… Music Transposition.

To transpose music simply means… to change the pitch of each note without changing the relationships between the notes. Now, relationship between notes is one thing, another topic we’ll touch on is, how it actually changes the ‘feel’ of the original composition. But, first let’s take a look at the basic fundamentals. Continue reading How to Transpose Music