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The Good Musician

Archive for the ‘Music history and theory’ Category

June 4th, 2008

Georgetown Festival of the Arts celebrates Mendelssohn June 5-8

Image details: Mendelssohn served by picapp.com
Neighboring Georgetown is building a nationally recognized mega-festival of the arts. The Georgetown Festival of the Arts is an exemplar of community involvement producing a highly educational, thoroughly interactive, fun place to be for all ages. Kids can explore an instrumental petting zoo, learn the history of the dulcimer, and […]

By csnowden -- 0 comments

May 27th, 2008

“The Kite Runner” soundtrack Spanish-Arabic crossover

My three favorite foreign movies this decade are Pontecorvo’s The Battle of Algiers, Deepa Mehta’s Water, and The Kite Runner from Swiss director Marc Forster.
I happen to adore Bollywood, it reminds me of the sumptuous saturated colors of 1950’s musicals of my childhood. Operetta under the stars on a Dallas summer evening was a […]

By csnowden -- 1 comment

May 22nd, 2008

Green–the music

Here is a video which is significant in that

the cellist was one of my longest-standing, dearest friends
it’s an excellent example of a jazz-classical-pop ’60’s mashup
that’s my black cat, Saturn, in the window
shows our corner of Topanga Canyon
great example of John Martin’s classical guitar
great example of Wilson Fisher’s writing/singing for 12-string guitar
that was my life

Listen to […]

By csnowden -- 0 comments

May 7th, 2008

Five ways to make your music teacher smile

If you take musical instruction, here are five tips to keep your teacher happy.
1. Show up. This should go without saying, but you’d be surprised at how ditching just one lesson can mean the difference between a so-so musician and a good musician. Even if you can’t play or sing, you can talk through […]

By csnowden -- 2 comments

May 1st, 2008

Miles and Ella–icons of music

Miles Davis and Ella Fitzgerald represent the ultimate in jazz. These two icons had a long career that impacted several generations of musicians. Every Good Musician library should have pretty much their entire discography.

Tags: Ella Fitzgerald, jazz, jazz classics, Miles DavisShare This

By csnowden -- 7 comments

April 29th, 2008

Cornell West and Talib Kweli

Here is a cool track by Cornell West and Talib Kweli–Bushonomics.
The sampling is compelling, and the music is gorgeous, no matter the politics. Nothing wrong with socially-conscious music. Hip-hop is the new folk-protest music. In the 50’s and 60’s we got the Weavers, Peter, Paul and Mary, and now we have Cornell and Talib.

Tags: Cornell […]

By csnowden -- 0 comments

April 25th, 2008

Aram Katchaturian and Boomer Musicians

Elsewhere I’ve mentioned that one of my earliest musical memories as a small child is dancing to the Sabre Dance, by noted Armenian composer Aram Katchaturian. It’s part of his ballet Gayane.
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By csnowden -- 2 comments

April 19th, 2008

A musical “Way-back Machine”

The Internet Archives music collection has mp3 recordings of everything from Enrico Caruso and Galli-Curci to Laurie Anderson and the Grateful Dead. The sub collections go all the way back to cylinder recordings.
You can also find old radio show archives, such as Fibber McGee and Molly, the Whistler, and the Bob and Ray show. […]

By csnowden -- 0 comments

April 16th, 2008

China prepares music for the olympics

Image details: China Prepares For Beijing 2008 Olympic Games served by picapp.com
Lovely photograph of large drums being prepared for the Olympics in Beijing. In Western music, there are five categories of instruments, based on how one produced sound: idiophones (shell, horn, wood), membranophones (drum world), aerophones (trumpet, clarinet, flute) chordophones (all y’all strings), and […]

By csnowden -- 2 comments

April 9th, 2008

Musical paradigm shifts

I was browsing through some old music textbooks and came across a couple of cardboard name tags that read
ETSU
Summer Camper
1982
Evidently I took Renaissance and Baroque music that spring or fall. I worked for the music department’s Summer Camps while in graduate school, with a six-year old. This is not extraordinary on the surface, except […]

By csnowden -- 0 comments

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