Pablo Picasso: “In painting you can try anything. As long as you never do anything over again.” Miles Davis: “Now, nothing in music and sounds is ‘wrong.’ You can hit anything, any kind of chord. … Music is wide open for anything.” Pablo Picasso: “You see me here, and yet I’ve already changed. I’m already [...]
The influence of animals on the development of music
Numerous scholars have emphasized the influence of the sounds of the natural environment on the development of musical expressions by humans. In his landmark study of the music of the Kaluli of New Guinea, Steven Feld found that before he could begin to understand the Kaluli’s music, he had to first turn his attention to [...]
Exploring the boundary between sound & music 2:1
Interesting article from Music Think Tank If a Tree Falls in the Woods Can You Call It Music? By Keith Andrew Recently I was reading some material on the controversial yet highly influential experimental composer John Cage –most widely known for his ‘piece’ 4’33” which if you are not familiar with, is 4’33” of silence. A [...]
Musical careers launched in Second Life
“If I could get some bubbles, I’d be forever indebted,” singer Craig Lyons tells the packed house at his Monday night gig. The crowd promptly complies, filling the room with bubbles while Lyons plays his tune “Under Water.” Two nights earlier, the audience made it snow as he strummed the chords to his song “Winter.” [...]
Exploring the Boundary between Sound & Music 1:3 [Soundwave ((4)) green sound debuts in San Francisco June 6, 2010]
When I teach classes that look at music in cross-cultural settings, I always begin by having the class come up with a working definition of music . The goal is to arrive at a definition that is broad enough to apply to all forms of experience thought of as music but precise enough to distinguish [...]
Has the Internet created a tyranny of musical choice?
In a thoughtful and thought-provoking follow-up to his article “The Barriers Of Music Consumption” Hypebot Associate Editor Kyle Bylin discusses whether the plethora of choices that have occurred with the shift in the music industry from the top-down major label model to the bottom-up “participatory culture of the Internet. Has an overload of choices caused an [...]
Long overdue attention to Appalachian blues
Classic Appalachian Blues from Smithsonian Folkways Various Artists SFW40198 The “mountain cousin” of the Delta blues, Appalachian blues bears the stamp of a distinctive regional blend of European and African styles and sounds born at the cultural crossroads of railroad camps, mines, and rural settlements. Drawn from deep within the Folkways collection and from historic live [...]
Exploring the boundary between sound & music – 1:2
http://silentlistening.wordpress.com/2008/05/09/dispersion-of-sound-waves-in-ice-sheets/
Spinning tunes for the sisterhood lands award for Australian women’s DJ collective
Guest Post by Dana Flannery When a Lady Fingers DJ spins a record, expect just about anything – from a mellow Reggae tune to South Asian beats, to swing and Soul. The Lady Fingers DJ Collective of Melbourne, Australia is all about music, diversity and sisterhood. Their message of equality through cross-cultural unity has just [...]
