Saturday, April 25, 2009
Jazz Nite 09
Come one, come all to this year's edition of Jazz Nite, on Wednesday, April 29, at 7:30 in the Deerfield High School auditorium! The Jazz Band will perform the world premiere of Geoff Shell's composition "Twilight," as well as three jazz classics: "Red Clay" by Freddie Hubbard, "God Bless the Child" by Billie Holiday, and "Moanin'" by Charles Mingus (not to be confused with the Bobby Timmons tune of the same name). In addition, the Monday and Tuesday Afternoon Jazz groups will each play a set. The ever-popular Choraliers and various vocal soloists will be singing some favorite numbers from the Great American Songbook of the 1930s and '40s, and the Jazz Band and Choraliers will open and close the show together in spectacular fashion. We hope to have a big crowd--it's a great concert paper opportunity for all you sophomores and juniors!
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Unexpected Music
We should all enjoy life this much!
I feel this way when the Jazz Band takes over the front lobby on the day before vacation. When was the last time you made music or danced where it was unexpected? We should all do this more often!
Sunday, April 12, 2009
The Joy of Vinyl
Many of you reading this post are considered part of Generation Y, or the Millenials. I myself am on the tail end of the Baby Boom. Therefore, while I have very fond memories of vinyl phonograph records, also known as LPs (for long-playing), you are better acquainted with the CD, that staple of Generation X. Many of you, however, probably own few CDs and store most of your music collection digitally on hard drives, mp3 players, and cell phones. It is to you that I address this post about the Joys of Vinyl.
When I was a kid in the early 70s, I listened to WLS, 890 on your AM dial. Yep, we kids listened to our top 40 music on an AM (meaning non-stereo) radio station. FM was for cool college kids and aging hippies. We used to collect 45s, which were 7" records with one song (the one you really liked) on side A and another (an obscure album cut you'd never heard of) on side B. They were usually 79, 89, or 99 cents at the local department store. We'd hear a song we liked (typically over and over), and then run down to the store and spend our allowance on such classics as "Black Water" by the Doobie Brothers or "Loves Me Like a Rock" by Paul Simon.
As I got into junior high school and had a larger allowance, I began to discover the LP record album. This was a two-sided collection of several songs by an artist. My tastes had moved into groups like Chicago and Foreigner, re-releases of classic rock like Jimi Hendrix, and jazz artists like Charlie Parker and Dave Brubeck. I would get my dad to take me to Rose Records on Milwaukee Road in Niles where they had a huge selection of titles, and I always looked for the $4.99 specials. This was the beginning of my record collection.
Now for those of you who don't know about LPs, here are several reasons why they are cooler than CDs:
1) They have two sides of 18-22 minutes each. Artists worked to craft a cohesive statement for Side A (begin with a attention grabber, end with a rocker) and one for Side B (start with something a little more daring or experimental, end with an anthemic rocker). CDs, on the other hand, are one, 70-minute long statement that often includes a lot of filler tunes that never would have made it onto the tighter, more focused LP format.
2) The album art is on a much larger canvas (roughly 150 square inches vs. 22.5). This becomes very noticeable when you look at a classic album cover like Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and compare it to the minuscule CD version. When you sit down and look at an LP cover, it fills your lap. Also, artists would occasionally put a full-sized wall poster in the record jacket like Prince did with Purple Rain.
3) Many audiophiles (people who really, really love their music and can discern minute differences in sound quality) will tell you that the analog sound on an LP is warmer and more accurate than the digital sound on a CD.
Granted, there are some reasons why CDs are better--portability, durability (records sound scratchy pretty quickly), "ripability" (you can put them on the computer fairly easily), and availability of players. However, most people my age and older have a special place in their hearts for vinyl records.
If you would like to explore vinyl records in all their glory, then you are in luck! This Saturday, April 18, is Record Store Day all across America. If you go to your local independent record store, you'll be able to buy all sorts of cool, limited edition vinyl, produced just for this event. Click on the logo below to find a participating store near you!
When I was a kid in the early 70s, I listened to WLS, 890 on your AM dial. Yep, we kids listened to our top 40 music on an AM (meaning non-stereo) radio station. FM was for cool college kids and aging hippies. We used to collect 45s, which were 7" records with one song (the one you really liked) on side A and another (an obscure album cut you'd never heard of) on side B. They were usually 79, 89, or 99 cents at the local department store. We'd hear a song we liked (typically over and over), and then run down to the store and spend our allowance on such classics as "Black Water" by the Doobie Brothers or "Loves Me Like a Rock" by Paul Simon.
As I got into junior high school and had a larger allowance, I began to discover the LP record album. This was a two-sided collection of several songs by an artist. My tastes had moved into groups like Chicago and Foreigner, re-releases of classic rock like Jimi Hendrix, and jazz artists like Charlie Parker and Dave Brubeck. I would get my dad to take me to Rose Records on Milwaukee Road in Niles where they had a huge selection of titles, and I always looked for the $4.99 specials. This was the beginning of my record collection.
Now for those of you who don't know about LPs, here are several reasons why they are cooler than CDs:
1) They have two sides of 18-22 minutes each. Artists worked to craft a cohesive statement for Side A (begin with a attention grabber, end with a rocker) and one for Side B (start with something a little more daring or experimental, end with an anthemic rocker). CDs, on the other hand, are one, 70-minute long statement that often includes a lot of filler tunes that never would have made it onto the tighter, more focused LP format.
2) The album art is on a much larger canvas (roughly 150 square inches vs. 22.5). This becomes very noticeable when you look at a classic album cover like Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and compare it to the minuscule CD version. When you sit down and look at an LP cover, it fills your lap. Also, artists would occasionally put a full-sized wall poster in the record jacket like Prince did with Purple Rain.3) Many audiophiles (people who really, really love their music and can discern minute differences in sound quality) will tell you that the analog sound on an LP is warmer and more accurate than the digital sound on a CD.
Granted, there are some reasons why CDs are better--portability, durability (records sound scratchy pretty quickly), "ripability" (you can put them on the computer fairly easily), and availability of players. However, most people my age and older have a special place in their hearts for vinyl records.If you would like to explore vinyl records in all their glory, then you are in luck! This Saturday, April 18, is Record Store Day all across America. If you go to your local independent record store, you'll be able to buy all sorts of cool, limited edition vinyl, produced just for this event. Click on the logo below to find a participating store near you!
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Spring Break!
Okay, so it's going to snow tonight, but it's still spring break, which led me to think about the concept of spring in music...
In 1725, Antonio Vivaldi published a series of violin concertos (violin solos with orchestral accompaniment) called The Four Seasons, of which "Spring" is very well known. We use a snippet of it in Music Theory class when we practice analyzing the elements of music:
Several jazz standards have the title spring: "Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most," "Up Jumped Spring," "It Might as Well Be Spring," and my personal favorite, "Joy Spring" by Clifford Brown:
A classic Pat Metheny tune from the 1970s is titled "April Joy."
One of the pieces we played in Disney was Chen Yi's Spring Festival, a combination of traditional Chinese folksong and modern western classical music.
Rite of Spring, Igor Stravinsky's famous "primitivist" ballet about virgin sacrifice in ancient pagan Russia, caused a riot at its premiere in Paris in 1913:
In pop music, you can listen to music by Buffalo Springfield and Rick Springfield. Or, you can go straight to The Boss, Bruce Springsteen:
Happy Spring Break!
In 1725, Antonio Vivaldi published a series of violin concertos (violin solos with orchestral accompaniment) called The Four Seasons, of which "Spring" is very well known. We use a snippet of it in Music Theory class when we practice analyzing the elements of music:
Several jazz standards have the title spring: "Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most," "Up Jumped Spring," "It Might as Well Be Spring," and my personal favorite, "Joy Spring" by Clifford Brown:
A classic Pat Metheny tune from the 1970s is titled "April Joy."
One of the pieces we played in Disney was Chen Yi's Spring Festival, a combination of traditional Chinese folksong and modern western classical music.
Rite of Spring, Igor Stravinsky's famous "primitivist" ballet about virgin sacrifice in ancient pagan Russia, caused a riot at its premiere in Paris in 1913:
In pop music, you can listen to music by Buffalo Springfield and Rick Springfield. Or, you can go straight to The Boss, Bruce Springsteen:
Happy Spring Break!
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