Category Archives: History

Concepts, Connectedness, Discussion, Harmonics, Harmony, History, In Service/CPD, Language, Memory, New Ideas, Thinking

The Unanswered Question

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Can you recall a sea-change in your thinking taking place after a book, documentary, film, argument talk, lecture? I’ve written here before on Leonard Bernstein’s Norton Lectures, on music and linguistics, The Unanswered Question, and the effect they had on my musical thinking. All six lectures are now on YouTube.

One thing I learned much later was that Bernstein had memorised the scripts! If you have several hours to spare, not necessarily all in the same day, then I can’t recommend them highly enough:

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Concepts, Culture(s), Expression, History, Language, Musical Grammar, Pitch, Reading, YouTube links

The Song Is You

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Long fascinated by the crossover between music and language, I was delighted to come across a dissertation by Jonathan Pearl entitled Music and Language: The Notebooks of Leoš Janáček. The Czech (or more accurately Moravian) composer was taken by the idea that character was manifest in prosody and strove to come up with melodies for his operatic characters which were true to the music of their speech.

Jonathan Pearl does a much better job of explaining it – either here in the full-length dissertation or here in a shorter version (look for Eavesdropping with a Master: Leos Janácek and the Music of Speech). Very interesting reading!

Illustrating this idea with a single YouTube clip is tricky so instead let me embed a clip of one of Janáček’s most famous non-operatic works – the final movement of his Sinfonietta, conducted here by Pierre Boulez. Listen out for great trumpet section work at 5:00:[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/d5QBSMjdIFI?rel=0" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

Culture(s), History, IT, Memory, Technology

A History of Modern Music: The Timeline

Thanks to Lesley Pearson for pointing me to Open Culture‘s  recent links, which included this great interactive History of Modern Music. Dating from 1899 – 2011, the genres covered are Pop, Rock, RnB/HipHop, Indie, Dance, World/Folk, Jazz. Emanating from The Guardian, each icon links to a short piece from that paper on the topic. The articles range from the serious, such as Pete Seeger’s refusal to testify at McCarthy‘s House Un-American Activities Committee, to the frivolous, such as the then breaking news that the Modern Jazz Quartet were buying tuxedos.

Concepts, Culture(s), Harmony, History, Language, Lesson Content, Life, Live Events, Numeracy, Pitch, Science, Video, YouTube links

Music: An Explanation by a Guitar Hero

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Better late than never? Having been on holiday I’m a little late with this short write-up of an Edinburgh International Science Festival event but, as it was so good, here goes.

Dr. Mark Lewney is a physicist and a guitarist. Last year I went to his excellent Rock Guitar in 11 Dimensions and reviewed it here. This year he presented Music: An Explanation by a Guitar Hero – a look at the physics underlying sound/music. Without wishing to spoil the show for those who may have the chance to see it later, let me say that he took us on an engaging journey from the sine wave – through the world of harmonics (overtones), the importance of the fundamental, 4th and 5th notes, the short step from there to the pentatonic scale, which is used in folk musics across the world – notably in the blues.

He finished the talk with some thoughts on music’s purpose in our evolution – the topic of much debate – such as from 2:24 – 7:03 in this video). One thing is clear, though: prosody (the music of speech) matters – it’s not just what you say it’s how you say it.

This was an excellent, funny and informative presentation. This cross-curricular take on life is, I feel, at the heart of CfE.

You can see Mark Lewney in action in YouTube videos here.

My further explorations on prosody took me here to a fascinating series of lectures by Peter Roach. 

p.s. 

I forgot to mention one of the most elucidating facts of the evening – and one of the simplest. 

When non-musicians ask musicians why orchestras need conductors, there are many common answers: 

  • apart from waving the baton, the conductor is the person who has led rehearsals and is in charge of the interpretation
  • orchestral players can end up sitting many metres away from their colleagues and it’s hard to hear – conductors can ensure the overall balance and timing of the group
  • the conductor is the fore-runner of drummer and mixing desk

 However, Mark Lewney’s audience participation illustration was much better and more direct and more memorable. He asked the audience to clap to a beat which, having started, he left in our hands – with out eyes shut. The timing soon began to drift. He asked us to open our eyes and sync with him. The timing improved. Closing our eyes again, the timing deteriorated. Opening them, and following his lead, we were back in sync. The reason? Light travels approximately 874,000 times faster than sound*. Relying on the sound, we had to wait for it to bounce off the back wall of the hall. Syncing to the beat, we were exactly in time.

 * Speed of sound

  •  343.2 metres per second
  • 1,236 kilometres per hour
  • 768 miles per hour

 Speed of light 

  • 299,792,458 metres per second
  • 1,079,000,000 kilometres per hour
  • 671,000,000 miles per hour
Culture(s), Expression, History, Listening, Radio Links

Ghost Voices

Ever heard Bertolt Brecht sing? Visit 6:00 into this programme (while it lasts on iPlayer) to hear an extract from Mack The Knife, recorded in 1929.

If you’re interested in voices and can’t exactly place the face of the narrator in the photo (on iPlayer) – it’s Andy Serkis, who has played not only Ian Dury but Gollum (in Lord of the Rings).

Connectedness, History

A long reach

Finnish composer, Jean Sibelius was born in 1865 – the same year as George V (father of the stammering heir, currently being played by Colin Firth in a cinema near you).  In that same year, the American Civil War raged and Abraham Lincoln was assassinated.  These two pieces of music were premièred in the year of his Sibelius’ death.  Quite a reach.[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/DuEw-yBX6Mk?rel=0" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /][kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/tpzV_0l5ILI?rel=0" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

Blogging, Connectedness, Expression, History, IT, Language, Life, Literacy, New Ideas, Radio Links, Technology

ngram

What better way to relax before a concert (Musselburgh Grammar New Year Concert – a neologism brought upon us by adverse weather at Christmas) than messing about with words. Driving home from school, I heard an article on Radio 4’s Open Book about Google’s Ngram software. Basically, this allows you to chart the popularity of a word between 1800 and now in books – approx 15 million of them.

It’s interesting to discover how words grow legs of their own, independent of their original coinage. For a bit of fun, try to predict (before clicking) which of the following words is the only one to enjoy a rise in popularity in last 200 years: heaven, hell, limbo, purgatory.

Can it be used to spot societal trends? Naomi Alderman pointed out, during the programme, the decline of “I must” compared to the rise of “I want.” Chart, though, the counter-intuitive progress of the word celebrity.

I wonder if one day an equivalent will appear for monitoring historical trends in music. What do you think the unit should be? Note? Chord? Voicing? And the method of input?

The use of the word music is interesting. It rose during WW2, peaking sharply around the late 1950s before falling sharply.

p.s. I suspect that neologism is not really a suitable term for a phrase, as opposed to a word. What should one use?

p.p.s I also realise that falling sharply is a musical contradiction – he said, voice rising flatly…

Culture(s), Expression, Harmonics, Harmony, History, Listening, Memory, Technique, Video, YouTube links

Hommage a Tansman

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My friend, Marek Pasieczny, sent a link to his latest, and thoroughly engaging, composition on video (see below). Tansman, a fellow Pole, emigrated to USA, where he was aided in his bid to settle there by Charlie Chaplin. I’ll also embed other videos by Marek. Some have already appeared in this blog but, in the hope that pupils will be more likely to explore them if they all appear together, I’ll repeat myself.

Best wishes, to all who drop in on this blog, for Christmas and New Year!

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