tingilinde

america first

Woodie Guthrie's song on the American Christofascist 'America First' movement.  Rachel Maddow used it to end Ultra - her eight part series on the subject.  The similarities between then and today are chilling.  One bottom line is you can't move on.

key changes in top 100 popular music

Something that has almost gone away.

 

 

 

the musical score of the rings of power

An interview with composer Bear McCreary.

a tip of the hat to John

 

 

getting the sound right

Getting the acoustics right in Geffen Hall.

snip

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Founded in 1842, the New York Philharmonic is the oldest symphony orchestra in the United States. Carnegie Hall—known for its creamy, embracing acoustics—served as its home starting in 1891. In 1962, a few years after Leonard Bernstein became the Philharmonic’s music director, it moved to Philharmonic Hall, at Lincoln Center. Lincoln Center became the new home of the New York City Ballet and of the Metropolitan Opera, too—it was a Cold War showcase for American high culture. Bernstein was the son of Ukrainian Jewish immigrants; his father ran a beauty-supply company. The Philharmonic was revered; Bernstein was perhaps even more revered. But the new Philharmonic Hall was not. Its acoustics were described by Harold C. Schonberg, the music critic for the Times, as “antiseptic” and “very weak in the bass, with little color and presence”—and Schonberg was one of the hall’s gentler critics. In addition, the members of the orchestra often couldn’t hear one another properly. “This building went up, and it was brand new and very glamorous and modern,” Jamie Bernstein recalled. “But also it had this marmoreal solidity. My father used to call Lincoln Center the Travertine Mausoleum.” Philharmonic Hall had been built to accommodate bigger audiences—in those days, the symphony’s concerts consistently sold out. But acousticians agreed that the hall was too big, and had too many seats, whose occupants absorbed sound waves.

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notes on spanish mary

Sukie found this piece on how Bob Dylan's lyrics made their way to a song with music by Rhiannon Giddens.

 

music preferences

What types of music do various peronality traits like and when do they acquire their tastes?

I'm skeptical of this kind of research, but it might be interesting..

 

 

 

rhiannon giddens singing spanish mary

bear's notes

Bear McCreary is the composer behind more than a few epic film and tv series.  He's writing a four part series on his background and what he does.  It turns out he caught the bug at a very early age.  Here's the first installment.

 

the brain and music

Locating music specific regions

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Scientists have long wondered if the human brain contains neural mechanisms specific to music perception. Now, for the first time, MIT neuroscientists have identified a neural population in the human auditory cortex that responds selectively to sounds that people typically categorize as music, but not to speech or other environmental sounds.

“It has been the subject of widespread speculation,” says Josh McDermott, the Frederick A. and Carole J. Middleton Assistant Professor of Neuroscience in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at MIT. “One of the core debates surrounding music is to what extent it has dedicated mechanisms in the brain and to what extent it piggybacks off of mechanisms that primarily serve other functions.”

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cross-picking she's a rainbow

 

Molly Tuttle is often considered the best Blue Grass guitarist