Jazz - something to study

I've loaded the Jazz PPT I use in class to WebCT - download it for your notes.


If you don't have Microsoft Office on your machine, I strongly suggest you check out the FREE OpenOffice (available for Macs as well - or you can use Neo-office if you have an older version of the MacOS).

Download it, install it, and you'll be able to open/view/edit/create Office docs without paying any $.

VIdeos shown in class - Beethoven's 5th, double-stops, harmonics

These are the Beethoven's 5th videos I showed in class today. Enjoy!

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Toscanini

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Karajan

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New Horizons in Music Appreciation

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The Argument

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Redneck Tenors




Redneck Tenors @ America's Got Talent

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Double Stops

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Harmonics - listen to the violin soloist playing TWO harmonics at the same time. It's a combination of harmonics and double-stopping.

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Test Suggestions

1) Make sure you view the video thing, posted on the blog here.

2) There are some study sheet suggestions on the blog as well. These are less detailed lists and more suggestions for things to pay attention to: Baroque, Classical.

3) You might want to pay attention to the differences in the music between the two eras - what is different, musically speaking, between the two eras?

4) SOmething else to think about - what's the difference in the Baroque-era SOLO concerto and the Concerto Grosso ?

Have a great break - see you Monday at the LIBRARY!

No Class Monday - Instead, watch this video on Classical era

I'm sick - as you'll be able to hear in this video. Rather than infecting all of you, I decided it would be better to create this - hopefully my machine hasn't been infected with this virus!

It's probably NOT flu, thankfully... more likely an upper respiratory infection.

We'll double up on the presentations Wednesday. Meanwhile, watch this and take some notes.

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Click on the play button, there at the bottom. You'll need speakers or headphones.

Rule Classical era Last part

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Is it music if a computer composed it?

A professor has written a computer program that analyzes a composer's music, and then composes a new piece in the style of that composer. Interesting stuff - and it really raises a question about what music is, and what makes it "good".

The original article is at:

http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2009/09/virtual-composer-makes-beautiful-musicand-stirs-controversy.ars?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss

...and here are some mp3s of the machine's work:

http://arts.ucsc.edu/faculty/cope/mp3page.htm

Mozart Theme and Variations

Here's the youtube video I showed in class today.

Direct Link

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Lego Harpsichord

A Lego Harpsichord?Yup. A guy actually built a full working harpsichord out of legos. Really.

Details here.
You can hear it here.
A short Video is here.

The British Audio Archives

The sound archive of the British Library (trust me, it's HUGE) has gone
online - for free! There is a TON of stuff here you'll never hear anywhere
else - if you have a few minutes, take a listen!

The article is at
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/sep/03/british-library-traditional-music

There are several soundfiles in the article you can hear.

The archive is located at
http://sounds.bl.uk/

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This might be a good break from the Music Appreciation test!

Instruments of the Orchestra Links

Instruments of the Orchestra guide
http://www.bbc.co.uk/orchestras/guide/

ID the Instrument game
http://www.thirteen.org/publicarts/orchestra/

Flashier tour of the Orchestra
http://www.sfskids.org/flash/instruments/instruments.swf?dom=3

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Plus links to the "cheesy Music Tech videos" to be shown in class:
Synthesizer
Sample Playback kybd
MIDI as a word processor?
MIDI & Softsynths
MIDI recording

Is it music to play an entire building?

from http://www.wtop.com/?nid=114&sid=1735146
David Byrne makes music with London building

from http://www.roundhouse.org.uk/whats-on/productions/playing-the-building--3268
Playing the Building: An Installation by David Byrne

from http://www.davidbyrne.com/art/art_projects/playing_the_building/index.php
Playing the Building

Playing the Building is a sound installation in which the infrastructure, the physical plant of the building, is converted into a giant musical instrument. Devices are attached to the building structure — to the metal beams and pillars, the heating pipes, the water pipes — and are used to make these things produce sound. The activations are of three types: wind, vibration, striking. The devices do not produce sound themselves, but they cause the building elements to vibrate, resonate and oscillate so that the building itself becomes a very large musical instrument.

Click here for a video

Is this music?

Last day of class - videos

Charlie Parker Youtube search

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Kind of Blue 50th Anniversary

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More Music Technology - verrrry cool!

This was an encore of a piece performed by a couple of "Tesla Coils" - which are basically gizmoe capable of generating very high voltages. The sound you ehar is actually the sound of the electric arcs produced by the coils - I don't know how they tuned them.

This was the final night of the SEAMUS convention, an Electro-Acoustic music making association.

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An interesting Friday tidbit.....

Since I was talking about music technolgoy the other day...

here's an article about a HANDMADE turntable... partly made from a Harley Davidson!

Enjoy your weekend!

Links from today's class - painos, synths, and screencasts!

Modded Piano article

Analog Synth/Dancer/Video thing

Demo of the Minimoog

Buchla Modular synth demo

Moog Modular Synth demo

Nintendo DS synth - the Korg DS-10

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"TALK RADIO" Screencast

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Talk Radio Screencast

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New Musical Instruments @ Ga Tech

Original Article here

"It was like a low-stakes X Prize for music as musicians, inventors and hobbyists competed against each other in the first annual Guthman Musical Instrument Competition at Georgia Tech for cash prizes of $10,000."

There are some interesting things in this article. Take a look at the some of the creations that were shown! The article includes sound AND video.

The Worlds Most Unwanted Song

A tidbit for a Friday the 13th:

I ran across an article describing the World's Most Unwanted Song and what musical characteristics it would have (it would have a large orchestra that included the accordian and bagpipe, be over 25 minutes long, and also have an operatic soprano).

Click this link and read about it.

Click this link and take a listen!

For you guitarists out there

You may have heard about "virtual" stuff when recording - you have a piece of software that can make your guitar sound like it's plugged into any amp, using any mic, etc. Since it's software it's easy to make changes.

There are also "virtual instruments" - you run a midi cable from your keyboard to your computer, and your computer can make sounds like any of a gazillion synthesizers.

Now they've come up with a "chameleon" guitar at MIT - where you can make it sound like just about anything. Very interesting - read the article and watch the short video.

Castrati links

For your enjoyment, here are links to the
Article
and the
Recording

I for one am thankful those days are past!