Strange Music Definition - Castrato

Castrato - Male singer who was castrated during boyhood to preserve the soprano or alto vocal register, prominent in seventeenth and early eighteenth century opera.

World Record Todd Taylor Fastest Banjo

Guinness World Record Todd Taylor Fastest Banjo



Dueling Banjos

Improvisation

I liked this snippet from this helpful site.

Take a certain chord sequence, play it over and over again and try to give each time a different feeling to your improvisation. Can you play anger, tenderness, laughter, fear, gossip, cynicism, indifference, sharpness, childishness, dizziness, curiosity, neurosis, grossness, dreaminess, denial and anything you can think about?

Soundwaves of the Color Wheel

From Sound Waves vs. Light Waves

Q: i heard this from a friend, color has sound. from what i think i understand ,if matter is condensed vibration and pigments have different weights ,the intensity of vibration in each pigment would cause a certain tone . i need clarification thanks.

A: The key background to this question is the nature of sound waves and light waves. You’re right in that sound waves are a vibration traveling through an object, including "condensed" things like solids and liquids. In solids, those waves can consist of either alternating compressed and stretched regions, or regions wiggling sideways, compared to the direction the wave is travelling. Light is a wave of oscillating electric and magnetic fields perpendicular to the direction it’s going. Light can travel fine through a vacuum, which can have fields in it, but there can’t be sound in a vacuum because there’s no stuff there to oscillate.

Audible sound has frequencies that cover a very big range, from about 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz, meaning that the pressure at your ear oscillates back and forth 20 to 20,000 times per second. Each frequency gives a different audible pitch. Visible light has frequencies from around 4*10^14 Hz to around 8*10^14 Hz. Each frequency gives a slightly different visible color. Not only are the light frequencies much higher, but the highest one is only about twice the lowest one. The sound frequencies are much lower, and the highest one is a thousand times higher than the lowest one. So you can see that there’s no direct match between the sound and light oscillations.

If you are wondering what effect the pigments (light absorbers) in a material have on the type of sounds that come from it, the answer is usually: not much. There’s not much connection between the frequencies of light some pigment absorbs and the frequencies of audible sound it might absorb or emit. The color of a pigment also is really unconnected with the density or rigidity of the molecules, which affect how sound travels. Lots of different common pigments are organic compounds with densities not too far from 1 gram/cm^3, yet these provide a whole array of different colors.

This link leads to an interesting book that deals with metaphysics. It is helpful and friendly to musical people. Readable even for those like me who are not conditioned to reading this idiom. Itzhak Bentov is a genius.

Color Wheel Image came from this site.

Yo Yo Ma Quote

From this site I found the following quote.
YoYo Ma: “Never make a sound unless you hear it first.”
That is, have a mental concept of that tone quality, pitch, dynamic value, articulation, etc. you want to create – before you play/sing it.

Good advice. Though I like to pull things from nowhere from time to time. Helps to stoke the mystery and the mischif.

Derren Brown

Derren Brown - Subliminal Advertising



This has everything to do with music. This is a trip.

History of Keys.

Found a site that show has some history of Keys.

The site gives song samples and some background to the following instruments:
Piano, Fender Rhodes, Mellotron, Clavinet, Mini Moog, Synthesizers, Casio VL-tone, Wurlitzer, Hammond B3, Yamaha DX7, Theremin.

Animal of the Muppets

Animal

Banjo Vids

Been learning a little banjo. These are some exceptional videos I have been combing through. Including Dueling Banjos as posted earlier.









Steve Martin seems to busk at the crossroads where comedy and music intersect.

The Fluffy Bunnies like to put banjo on Fearless, and Wish You Here by Pink Floyd. These songs are nice to approach with a banjo. Good learning. The lyrics to these tunes are off the hook.






Ensemble La Volta (Switzerland)

Dill pickle Rag/Blackberry Rag/Blackberry blossom Instruments: Mandolin, Banjo, Guitar, Mexican Guitarron, Spoons

Pat Cloud

This book by Peter Wernick has been helpful as well.

Jacques Loussier : Bach, Pastorale in c minor

Jacques Loussier : Bach, Pastorale in c minor
Jazzy Classical.



Part 2



Jacques Loussier trio plays Bach: Pastorale c minor
Piano: Jacques LoussierBass: Vincent CharbonnierPercussion: André ArpinoRecorder live in Munich, 1989.

Maracas

Maracas

My friend Sid Brown is using Maracas in his performances. Sid likes to give the entire audience maracas and everyone shakes together. What fun!

Below is more about this ancient instrument. Some info states that Maracas originated in Morocco while others claimed South American and Caribbean origin. The excerpt below seems to make the most sense. I highlighted in bold a couple points below that were insightful.



Percussion instruments, especially drums, existed as long ago as the Stone Age. Maracas may have originated among several ancient civilizations at almost the same time. African tribes are known to have played drums and a wide variety of rattles and similar instruments from the traditions that have been carried down through the ages. South Pacific Islanders also developed a wide range of rattles by using plants that produced gourd-like seed pods; rattles without handles were even made from coconuts that had been dried out. In South America, maracas linked music and magic because witch doctors used maracas as symbols of supernatural beings; the gourds represented the heads of the spirits, and the witch doctor shook the gourds to summon them.

Just as maracas are essential to today's Latin and South American ensembles, the history of the maracas is best traced through the artwork of pre-Columbian Indians, especially the tribes in Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil, and Paraguay. The word maraca is believed to have been given to the instrument by the Araucanian people of central Chile. It is used for all gourd rattles although some also have more specific names. In the region of West Africa along the Atlantic Ocean called Guinea, native people tell the legend of a goddess making a maraca by sealing white pebbles in a calabash, a hard gourd that is also shaped into cooking utensils. Natives of the Congo in Africa and the Hopi Indians in America share the tradition of using turtle shells and baskets for rattles; when settlers brought European goods to America, native Americans collected empty shell cartridges, metal spice boxes, and cans to make rattles. More here.


Although a simple instrument, the method of playing the maracas is not obvious. The seeds must travel some distance before they hit the leather, wood, or plastic, so the player must anticipate the rhythm. More here.

How to Teach Kids to Play the Maracas.


Joropo style maraca solo by Jerry Leake.


Lalo Rodriguez playing Maracas in the great pianist Eddie Palmieri’s band.

Joe Pass Guitar Lessons

This Blues primer has some great advice to novice players. Taking intros. Knowing how to end a tune.



Joe says learn to play with your fingers. He also uses a pick. I like how at 6:12 Joe encourages to adopt a picking style that is personally comfortable. “You don’t need a system. Only what works for you.”



Joe and Ella Fitzgerald performing ONCE IN A WHILE.


Joe and Ella playing the Jobim classic MEDITATION.

Chopping Heads

Dueling Banjo's


Dueling guitars.
Chopping heads with Steve Vai and Ry Cooder. Steve beats himself. Ralph Macchio's blitz at the end is actually Vai.

The ending is based on Paganini 5th Caprice.

Flea Bass Lessons

River Phoenix interviews his friend Flea. The maestro explains in detail his punk slap technique. Flea mentions punk and it's role in influencing rock musicians.



Flea is an obvious and tangible example of how one can translate a beautiful intelligent soul into beautiful intelligent music.

Victor Wooten Bass Lessons

Victor Wooten equates talking with Jamming.


Check out the lessons on Victor's web site.

Here Wooten walks the walk on Bela's Big Country. As the song begins, Bela discusses about capturing inspiration on his voice mail. This arrangement and orchestration is especially pleasing.

Zappa interviews

Click for The Holy Grail.

In this vid Franks talks about making a stand then changing his mind. His ability to self check is apparent.


There are many great Frank interviews, footage and documentaries to be found. These videos document the tireless work of an obsessed and gifted composer. The footage also serves as a historical record of a great American patriot.

Frank did much activism, press and testimony regarding censorship laws and first amendment issues. Frank encouraged voter registration. Not to mention the mega activism that were the songs themselves.

Here Frank discusses drugs and hopelessness in 1988. "In '84 there were kids still throwing joints onto the stage"

Steve Vai on his audition with Frank.


Check out this Steve Vai tribute for Frank. At times Stevie sounds like a melting candle going over a waterfall!

I hope the ZFT will someday put out a video compiling Franks conducting techniques.

Bad Brains Banned in DC

Bad Brains Banned in DC @ CBGB's 1982. Take in the exuberance of this audience. You could power vegas on this energy.


In '89 I snuck into a Bad Brain sound check at the Country Club in Reseda, Ca. Dr. Know was astoundingly cool when he OK'd me to open up for their sold out show. I played 2 songs on my acoustic. One was a cover of the Bad Brain's Regulator. Total Irie of a night.

Never have I experienced, before or since, such extreme energy from both a band and an audience. Disbelief even while witnessing. Functioning as part of that energy. The energy contained in the small building on Sherman Way and Canby grew to be surreal. I am still feeling the shock waves nearly 20 years later.

Here they are in 2006 back at CBGB's. I and I survive.

Observing and being part of a Bad Brains audience is a worthy music lesson as any.

Oscar Peterson Goodbye y Art Tatum

R I P Oscar.



Positive yet haunting. A simple melody that Oscar beats the fleas out of.

Art Tatums influence upon Oscar has been often mentioned.

Billy Preston How Great Thou Art

How Great Thou Art 1988

This version of Billy playing Summertime is a crusher as well.