Unusual Instruments

I guess anyone who reads this knows about my website, The Virtual Museum of Music Inventions. At first, I wasn't terribly interested in having students do this project because I wanted them to have as many musical experiences as possible and making an instrument is pretty far down on that list. Eventually, I cottoned to the idea and I positively enjoyed teaching the students about the parameters of what goes into creating a sound: vibration, resonance, timbre, pitch, etc. After all, in college I took a semester class in "Acoustics". Before that, I tested laboratory rats for my psychology class to see what their pitch thresholds were.
Fundamentally, though, I've always been interested in new ways of making sound. Recently, I remembered some childhood experiences along that line:

• I used to have fun making a shrill whistle from two blades of grass, holding them in the middle of an opening of my cupped hands.
• We used to bang silverware and glasses to make rhythms at the table after dinner.
• At camp, there was a counselor who had made a beautiful set of chimes from brake drums. He played them in the outdoor chapel, in a grove of trees by the lake, as we watched the sun set.
• This same guy played the saw! He held one end of a large saw on his knee and used an actual violin bow to create the sound. He bent the saw very hard to get high notes and he bent it softly it get low notes.

All through my life, I've been interested in world instruments: taiko, gamelan, conga drums, flutes of different types, including an old double flute my parents brought back from Romania, koto, samisen, shakuhachi, harps, alp horns. . . you name it!

I even enjoyed John Cage's notion of "ambient" music, where you focus in on the sounds you hear right now . . . in the same way you listen to music. In this case, your own brain is the organizing factor, or not.

The Kindergarten Singers

One day, as I was musing about how life has changed and about how people probably don't sing as much as they used to (at home, with friends, etc.), I was riding my bike not far from my house. I saw a group of kindergarten children waiting at the corner of a busy street. As I passed by, I heard their sweet little voices raised in song! It was so delightful! It made me so happy to hear that!

Music Then and Now

Way back in history, before the invention of gramophones or any kind of recording devices, people made their own music. I have heard that, in order to hear new symphonies, people would buy reductions of orchestral scores and play them on the piano. People used to sing or play whatever instruments they had at hand or knew how to play. Many people never got to hear live musical concerts in large concert halls. Only people who lived in cities went to those.

Things are so different now. I can hear a huge variety of music on my iPod as I walk down the street! Such a thing would have been thought miraculous in the "old days"!

I wonder if people sing as much as they used to? I wonder if they make their own music as much as they used to? (playing instruments, etc.)

Things are different . . .

Happy and Sad - - (At the same time? Huh?)

My online friend in Brazil told me recently about a form of popular music called "Axé. From Wikipedia:
"Axé music is a popular music genre originating in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil approximately in 1986, fusing different Afro-Caribbean genres, such as Marcha, Reggae, and Calypso. . . . . The word "axé" comes from a Yoruba religious greeting used in the Candomblé and Umbanda religions that means "soul", "light", "spirit" or "good vibration"."

In this particular song, "E Saudade", the words are very depressing ("You went away and never called, how indifferent you are" "Come back and give me a kiss")

Anyway the mood of this music is very infectious, upbeat and energizing!
Can music be sad and happy at the same time?




Qual a melhor forma de sentir calor
What's the best way to feel the heat

Sem seu corpo quente
Without your hot body

Qual o melhor jeito de falar de amor
What's the best way to talk about love

Sem falar da gente
Without talking about us

Você foi embora e nem telefonou
You went away and never called back

Tão indiferente
So indifferent

Se foi pra terminar por quê que começou
If it had to finish, then what did it start?

Tinha que ser pra sempre
It had to be forever

Eu sei
I know

Tanta coisa mudou
So much has changed

Ê, saudade
The longing, the missing you

Que bate no meu coração
Beating my heart

Sei que é tarde
I know it's late

Mas não desligue não
But do not hang up

Ê, saudade
The longing, the missing you

Que bate no meu coração
Beating my heart

Preciso dizer que eu te amo pra você lembrar
I need to say that I love you, so that you remember

The Purpose of Composing

I think that many people assume that composers usually compose "from a full heart". In other words, they think that composers have some kind of experience or feeling which they wish to express in music.

This came to mind the other day during my quartet rehearsal (well, actually, it's a trio since our cellist, Valerie, broke her wrist!). We were playing some trios by Haydn and Beethoven. We said, "Oh, this music is so trivial. It's without meaning. What's the point of this music?" And then we said, "Well, yes, of course. The composer wrote this for a party, for background music. It's just a bunch of pleasant notes for the background. It's nothing to really listen to."

So, that's just one example of how a particular piece of music was written. There are many other examples: Bach had to write music for his choir at church every week and for his organ preludes, etc. Handel was commissioned by the king to write music for the fireworks party. Many composers have been commissioned to write specific kinds of music for events of various kinds.

Thinking about pop music, wondering . . .how and why did this songwriter come up with this song? Were these true feelings of the songwriter? Or is this a "formula song" for the masses to buy so he or she can get rich?

Sound and Silence

A young man has died: Felix Wurman, aged 51. He was a very fine musician, grew up in Oak Park and moved to New Mexico. Watching a YouTube video of him the other day, I was struck by his statement about "silence". He mentioned that silence is a very difficult thing to achieve in this day and age because there is always man-made sound around us. Even in an isolated country place, you will probably hear an airplane overhead at some point. Felix said that it's possible to focus on "inner silence" and that could be an important goal.

Last night at Tai Chi class, the instructor neglected to bring his CD player with the usual "Zen music" things on it. So we did the form in total silence. We loved it. It was like being immersed in a soft wool blanket. It was smooth and even. Nothing stopped the flow. The flow kept flowing on and on as we breathed and moved through space.

As much as I love music, I love silence, too. I need to remember this because sometimes I go on for too many hours without silence, listening to my iPod, for example.

Another thing: in traditional Japanese music, the silences are considered part of the music. It's part of the Japanese aesthetic and philosophy to consider "the void" as real as "the something".

It Was Heavenly

Last night's string quartet was heavenly. . . so enjoyable, as we tried to work our way through the complex, yet passionate and beautiful 1st movement of Brahms' String Quartet, Opus 51, in c minor.

At times, we sounded almost as good as this recording, as played by a professional quartet, but we still have a lot of work to do on this one!

Listen here:
http://www.musicinventions.org/tunes/brahms.mp3