The Good Musician

It was dead still calm, wet-blanket so’s you couldn’t breathe. Linus, who I swear has the intelligence of an eight-year old, got in my face, yowling something about “Run! Take cover!” and when he’d done his best, he zipped down the stairs to snug up in his favorite dry hidey-hole.
Forty-five minutes later, a giant started blowing on 200-year old oak trees, stripping them of all their ball moss and dead ends, and then it turned into a whole army of giants whooshing through the sky.
OK. Maybe this is getting serious, like when you go to a concert and expect …read more

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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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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 electrophones (anything you plug in).
Chinese instruments are similar in some ways. Their instruments have strings, reeds, airholes. Here’s the big dif: the classification system is based on the ancient pa yin (eight sounds) system which identifies instruments according to the natural material it’s made from …read more

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Traveling from Tibet to the Middle-East, here’s a treasure trove of traditional and pop that in one song can morph to pop to rap and back again. I defy you to not want to get up and dance when you hear Shab Jilani in front of old and new music, velvety voice wrapped around sinuous melodies.
In the mood for a really cool duet? The fluid voices of Shab Jilani and Ameera twine like canteloupe vines in the July heat in North Texas.
Putting that rustic analogy away, the rich heritage of Arabic music is a wonderful resource for composers, and all …read more

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Tibet has been much in the news lately, which got me thinking about the remarkable music found there. Relatively unchanged for millenia, the raw, vibrant power of the alpen-horn like dung-chen echoes through the Himalayas. One can learn a lot about a culture by studying their music. If all invading armies stopped at the borders to hear a concert by the local musicians, I think we could well have world peace.
The 14th Dalai Lama at the University of Buffalo–Promoting Peace Across Borders through education site is an excellent resource for Tibetan music. The Tibetan Musical Instruments site has sound …read more

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a new world
Sydney, Australia was home from 1994-96. Sights, smells, sounds, Australia has the best of just about everything. I was wildly fortunate to sing for most of that time with the Sydney Philharmonia Choir, performing in the Sydney Opera House and the ABC Orchestra studio.
Classical music was abundant, but so was phenomenal music on the rock, film, and pop scene. Here’s another link to Diesel, a.k.a. Mark Lizotte, whose work is electrifying, plugged in or not. Then there’s the Cruel Sea, headed by another magnetic singer, Tex Perkins. Australia Music Online (AOM) is not currently supported, …read more

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You’ve got plenty of time to get downtown to Elysium, at 705 Red River to experience the fabulous alien Luci and her band Lucid Dementia in all their madness and glory. They’re celebrating the release of their latest CD Trickery, with G-Fire and the Drishti Dancers belly-dancing troup opening at 9:30, followed by subNatural at 10:30.
Be sure to check out my dear Adzuki Bean. She always travels with Bernardette, her theramin, and Steve, her electric violin. This woman also plays harp, flute, violin, and digital camera, and sings. She’s worth the price of admission alone.
Tonight should be transcendent–Austin will be …read more

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Looking for new sound experiences? Want to learn how to prepare for an audition? Which theory would you use to analyze a modern composition? Or do you just want to listen to some good, funky grooves? The Good Musician explores the world of music–old and new, classical to indie, with exotic influences and practical tips along the way.
Check out the bands from the recent 2008 SXSW in the Austin Chronicle online. Austin’s new Long Center for the Arts inaugural season includes Kathleen Battle, the Rude Mechs, and a Tribute to Texas Music with Willie Nelson and Lyle Lovett alongside Ray …read more

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