Category: Assignment No. 1

Posted on

Will Musicians ever learn to Breathe?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1dbb5x7PSQ

Breathe Dammit!

rants by Livio Fasullo 9/17/17

Every morning hundreds of tired Eastman Students get out of bed and walk across Main St. to begin their morning practice sessions in the Eastman School of Music Annex. Some of these students play string and percussion instruments while others sing and wind instruments. Most of these young and ambitious Eastmanites are completely unaware that they are constantly filtering oxygen through their lungs in a process known as breathing (too focused on the next seating audition, or concerto competition). Those who are aware and conscious of their breathing and how it can create greater ease in their playing will likely see much improvement in their studies, regardless of instrument (yes, even string players).

Ironically, many of us take deep and shallow breathes from our chest, keeping us nervous and un-focused (with the additional aid of Java`s Coffee) and then spend hours in the practice room trying to get better. In the weeks leading up to juries Eastman feels like an Urgent Care with countless students in casts due to practicing injuries. Many of us forget that we can incorporate much more ease into our practice and life by simply breathing, and it`s free! (Unlike PT).  Our breathing system is an essential technology for us humans that when used naturally allows for enhanced quality of life by relaxing our mind and focusing our muscles.

Breathing as a Technology

According the Merriam-Webster online dictionary a technology consists of “the practical application of knowledge especially in a particular area”. (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/technology) We are all unconsciously applying our breathing apparatus (diaphragm, lungs, brain, veins/arteries) every day (if you didn`t you would die), but many of us have allowed our minds to turn our breathing apparatus on auto pilot. To understand this better let`s take a look at how breathing works.

  The Science of Breathing

The actual scientific process of breathing is quite complicated, but luckily for us, we can breathe instinctively without thought. Breathing generally consists of  two large phases, inspiration and exhalation. As we inhale our diaphragms move downward increasing the volume of the upper body (thorax), which lowers the existing air pressure in the lungs allowing air to enter from the atmosphere. As we exhale the diaphragm relaxes and the volume of the upper thorax decreases forcing existing air to leave the lungs. (https://www.unm.edu/~lkravitz/Article%20folder/Breathing.html).

When we go into our Sympathetic Nervous System (Fight or Flight) which involves heightened senses and quick shallow breathing when our mind believes that we are in a dangerous situation.(https://www.sciencedaily.com/terms/sympathetic_nervous_system.htm) Eastman students regularly experience their Sympathetic Nervous System when trying to find a practice room one hour before their lesson or when being “vibed” by other students. Unfortunately, many students also experience their sympathetic nervous system when practicing and performing.

The Parasympathetic Nervous System takes hold when we our minds are at ease. (http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=4770)  The Parasympathetic Nervous System can always be reached through deep breathing.

History of Deep Breathing

Most Eastern cultures and nearly all martial arts consider deep breathing to be fundamental skill that all should have. Deep breathing helps relax muscle and focus the mind. It is a essential part of Tai Chi, Karate, Qi Qong, and Yoga. The Pranayama is a series of deep breathing techniques used throughout the practice of Yoga. Pranayama roughly translates to extend the life force/breath that is sustaining the body (https://www.yogajournal.com/practice/healing-breath). Yoga has been in existence for thousands of years, while common practice classical music was (arguably) first written in the 17th-18th century. But proper breathing can actually be traced back to the beginning of mankind. We all have the innate programming to breathe properly. If you watch a baby sleep, you will notice that it sleeps on its back and its stomach moves through the deep breathing process. We can lose that process as we get older due to an overabundance in stimulus in the digital age. As musicians we can find ourselves taking shallow breathes while worrying about our careers and upcoming performances. In the book Effortless Mastery, Kenny Werner refers to these dominating powers over  our lives as fear and ego (pg. 21). For a video on deep breathing check out his link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1dbb5x7PSQ

Musical Benefits

As previously stated, deep breathing helps relax muscle and focus the mind. So how does this help us as musicians? Kenny Werner talks about the “Space”, a meditative state of being achieved through deep breathing and the release of ego. In the “Space”, a musician performs music effortlessly and thoughtlessly. (pg. 77) From a less philosophical standpoint breathing helps you to clear your mind of distracting thoughts and release unnecessary tension during practice and performance. Here is a video describing deep breathing for wind players:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=34&v=sCEj3R_26wY

Some musicians who have mastered deep breathing do not need to move dramatically when they perform or play. In his book Effortless Mastery, Kenny Werner describes the excessive movement and shallow breathing of musicians as an attempt to coax out unmastered music (pg. 59). If you watch the first minute of this video of Ralph Bowen improvising on the saxophone, you will notice how he plays from the “Space” that Kenny Werner writes about. Take note of his deep breathing. You can see his chest and stomach move as he inhales. Also note that his mastery of  breath allows him to be still, almost at rest as he plays complicated music effortlessly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IoUnl_1fgc&t=58s

Ralph Bowen has said that all playing the saxophone really involves is “air and fingers” (http://jazzprofiles.blogspot.com/2017/05/ralph-bowen.html). By practicing his deep breathing in conjunction with his instrument he becomes more relaxed and focused every time that he plays his instrument- as can all of us if we make deep breathing a regular part of out practice routine.

What does this mean for me?

Regardless of your profession, by understanding the technology of deep breathing you can become more relaxed and focused, allowing you to complete tasks at a higher level of efficiency. As musicians, deep breathing helps us to play and learn more efficiently, gain confidence in practice and performance and save time and money avoiding physical therapy. I hope that all Eastman students will take time to develop their breathing and become the best stress-free musicians that they can possibly be.

  Sources:

https://www.unm.edu/~lkravitz/Article%20folder/Breathing.html

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/technology

https://www.drdavidwilliams.com/proper-breathing-improves-health

https://www.bluedragonkungfu.com/breathing-exercises-martial-arts/

http://jazzprofiles.blogspot.com/2017/05/ralph-bowen.html

Effortless Mastery by Kenny Werner

Posted on

Roland TB-303 and the rise of Acid House and Techno

Very few electronic musical instruments have left such a lasting impression and influence as the Roland TB-303. This “synth” machine was released in  1982 and marketed as an accompaniment machine for guitarists.  It was quickly written off as a failure due to its unrealistic distortions and confusing interface. The release of this bass machine synthesizer was so poorly received that production was halted in 1942 after the production of a mere 10,000 units. Despite its low price of $400, many groups complained of its unnatural sound which could never duplicate the human intricacies of a bass player.

“The switches and control knobs have several functions, so operating the TB-303 may seem a little complicated. You may find difficulty using the TB-303 at first, because it is so different from a bass guitar or keyboard instrument. There, this manual includes a basic, intermediate, and advanced course to help you understand these operations step by step. However, each individual operation is quite simple, so take your time and master each step.”

-This quote is taken directly from the Roland TB-303’s 1982 user’s manual.

Interestingly enough, the confusion and uselessness it afforded to the guitarists for whom this machine was created led to its ready availability in pawn shops and second hand stores across the country. The cheap and interestingly designed machine caught the eye of many garage-based producers and mixers in impoverished areas across the country. No where was this machine’s impact as immense as in Chicago’s  House and Electronic underground.  A few producers, most notably Chicago based Dj Pierre took this machine’s idiosyncrasies and fashioned  an entirely new bass beat, in effect creating a  new genre of electronic music.

“‘Acid Tracks wasn’t pre-programmed man… DJ Pierre, he was over and he was just messing with this thing and he came up with that pattern, man…So we were listening to it, getting drunk, man. “Hey, this is kinda hot, man. This is a great mood man. Let’s put it out””

-producer Marshall Jefferson

The Roland TB 303 features a keyboard spanning an 8va range, and a total of 6 knobs which control various effects. The machine also left producers to choose wether to work with a saw waveform, a complete revolution and distortion of the traditional square waveform.  When innovators such as DJ Pierre began using these controls to distort and augment simple baselines, they realized the “slippery” and completely new sound world the Roland made accessible.

These “slippery” sounds can be  heard in one of the most revolutionary works in contemporary music in history, the Dj Pierre produced ‘Acid Tracks” This new sound confused audiences at first, but after a few months, this track gained massive support in the underground rave scene and many more Chicago based Djs began to champion the Roland TB-303 and its new soundscape. This new sound in traditional Chicago House was dubbed Acid House, taking its name from the pioneering Dj Pierre track. This popularity spread as far as Britain by way of Ibiza where Acid-House beats reached main-stream popularity, in part aided by the Rave culture of the 1980s and 1990s.

Acid House’s focus on subtle evolution of a beat, and otherworldly sounds quickly became synonymous with the club drug culture already in its peak by the mid 1980s. Drugs like MDMA (known as molly, ecstasy, XTC etc.) LSD, Ketamine and others, quickly became synonymous with the scenes in which Acid House was dominant as the shifts and insistence of its sound provided an excellent compliment to many of these illegal drug’s effects. This led Acid House, by way of the Roland TB-303’s quirky unrealistic sounds, to become the soundtrack for the cultural revolution and  decadent freedom of the era.

“Back in the 80s those early acid records spoke about alienation , they said square peg round hole , the surrounding records were almost gospel like messages of hard times and hope , quite churchy. Or euphoric weekend escape Anthems like Someday ‘Aint no Stopping us now’,they had R n B roots. Something like Phuture or Adonis hit the spot for me with insistent abstraction, it was outsider music with pure energy, it had cut from the line of history, it was a page turned, a clean page. These machines meant we all had the same accent ,previously a UK record and a US record, or a Belgian record or a Dutch record all had an accent musically speaking, Roland was an esperanto.”

-Graham Massy, producer

Acid House’s dominance in the world of electronic and mainstream music came to an end almost as quickly as it rose. By July of 1989 Acid-House had faded into the mid ground of electronic sounds, but this was not before it had influenced the next generation of music. Mainstream dance pop was not immune to the Roland’s new sound, most notably the Madonna track “Ray of Light. New genres like trance, techno, big beat,  and trip hop can all be directly traced back to experimentation with Acid House tracks.  It’s influence is still incredibly apparent today, with many almost exact physical clones on the market, and numerous software dupes. Little did anyone know that this initial market failure, and quirky little piece of confusing plastic would change the face of pop culture in such an extraordinary way.

Posted on

Full of Hot Air: Balloons, Dadaism, and The Avant-Garde

“Is there any way you can make that more cantabile?” the conductor asked. His question was met with resounding laughter from the rest of the ensemble, myself included. Though this is certainly not an odd request for a conductor to make in a rehearsal, the fact that the target of this question (a percussionist by trade) held in his hand an only-just-recently-deflated balloon made the whole thing seem just a little absurd. Found more commonly at amusement parks or clown conventions, your everyday garden-variety Mylar balloon also happens to be an instrument called for in the score of Talhoffer’s Crawfish (below), a piece of contemporary classical music. The question now becomes, how did a balloon make its way into our rehearsal space as an instrument as opposed to an accessory to a 5-year-old’s birthday party?

https://soundcloud.com/user-893617903/talhoffers-crawfish

In order to uncover this, let’s delve a little bit into the use of regular objects in art. The use of found objects in 20th century visual art can be found most famously in the works of the Dadaist movement. One particularly well known example is Marcel Duchamp’s Fountain,

Marcel Duchamp’s Fountain, 1917

which is really just a urinal turned on its side with “R. Mutt 1917” scrawled along the base. As one of the first pieces of this iconoclastic genre of modern art, this article states Duchamp’s own summation of the work, a response in a 1917 issue of the avant-garde journal The Blind Man: “Some contended it was immoral, vulgar. Others, it was plagiarism, a plain piece of plumbing.” This touches on some key elements of the Dada movement, and modernism in general: the idea that the concept behind the piece becomes part of the piece itself, and that to be controversial is a positive thing. Dada originated as an avant-garde movement reacting to the terrible bloodshed and brutality seen during World War I. It was meant, in the words of Jean Arp (one of Duchamp’s Dadaist contemporaries), as a way “to destroy the hoaxes of reason and to discover an unreasoned order.” Dadaists placed emphasis on absurdity, repurposing of found objects, and the laws of chance. Though one of many different niches of modernist thought cropping up during the early 20th century, it would later be revived by the Neo-Dadaists in the 1950s and ‘60s.

 

The Neo-Dada movement revived Dadaist thoughts during the Cold War later in the century. Neo-Dadaism used things such as found objects and chance to shift the focus away from the artist him- or herself and instead on the audience’s reaction and interaction with the piece in question. This was not only a movement in visual art (Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg are two big players here — you can read more about them here and here, respectively, if interested) but also in music. John Cage, possibly most famous for claiming silence as music in his work 4’33” (performed below by NOLA the Cat), was an important composer of this school of thought.

Cage followed the Neo-Dadaist philosophy of using found objects and chance in his works, something derived from their earlier Dadaist forerunners. 4’33” is in a sense completely a work of chance music, as the resulting sonic landscape of four minutes and 33 seconds of silence is whatever anyone in the hall happens to hear — the focus shifts from the music itself instead to the audience’s perception of that music. This particular work and others by Cage have influenced many musicians after him (a collection of reactions to his works and his contributions to the music world can be found here). Without Dada, Neo-Dada, and Cage and his like-minded contemporaries, it is unlikely that we would have ever been able to have that lighthearted exchange in our rehearsal concerning the cantabile-ness or lack thereof of a balloon deflating.

This brings us back to our original question: how did I end up in a rehearsal last weekend with someone playing the balloon, and why can we call that a musical instrument? To me, the origin of a balloon as a musical technology isn’t in the actual physical structure of it, but rather can be found in the artistic movements that allow us the freedom and openmindedness to see it as such. Without our avant-garde, Dada, and Neo-Dada forefathers, the use of balloons as a found object musical instrument would not likely be something we could come across in our scores today. Even though it’s something that can be found at any grocery store, the balloon is an instrument that takes practice and patience to get that perfect cantabile sound — and a lifetime to master.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIskW0xEGvM

Posted on

Losing Touch: the age of headphones

Remove your headphones and an odd scene is revealed before you. All around people smile and laugh as they sway and shuffle about and yet there is something missing. This dance floor is eerily quite. There is no band. There’s not even any music playing out loud! Every person is in fact in their own world, isolated by a wall of sound in their brightly colored headphones. This is the silent disco!

It has been a long road to the world of “mobile clubbing”. Like many modern technologies, headphones have had a long and often static history, with more rapid evolution coming in recent years. The first headphones, designed by Ernest Mercadier, were used in the late nineteenth century for telephone operators. Shortly thereafter headphones were introduced to the music industry as the company Electrophone began a service in which Londoners could listen to live broadcasted performances of music and theatre. After a long stretch in which developments in headphone technology mainly came from the military, John Koss achieved the next defining moment. An avid music listener, Koss designed the first stereophonic headphones which resulted in higher audio quality and a more authentic listening experience. The most current advancement has not come in the form of headphones but in music players. Sony’s “Walkman” and more recently Apple’s “iPod” have worked hand in hand with headphones to enact fundamental changes in the way we consume and produce music

Electrophone headphones and stand.

The advent and widespread use of headphones has motivated adjustments in the way recorded music is produced. The primary reason behind these changes is physical; unlike stereo speakers, headphones contain a relatively small audio-producing mechanism and feed directly into each ear. These two differences create some issues and a quick Google search will uncover a raging debate on the proper methods of mixing music in today’s world. How can one make music sound good on monitors and in headphones? Is it ok to mix a recording using headphones? Is it absolutely necessary to mix with headphones?

In an article on forbes.com, Nick Messitte explains how producers boost the mid-range overtones of bass sounds to “fool” your ears into thinking there is more bass than earbuds can actually produce. What headphones lack in bass output, they more than make up for in mid-range frequencies and producers have learned to take full advantage.

The “in-ear” nature of headphones has also necessitated some changes in effective music recording methods. This article explains why panning instruments to different channels is no longer a good option. When instruments are panned to one side or the other on stereo speakers, it can make the recording sound more authentic; when we hear live music, the musicians are generally set up in some configuration in front of us so that we hear each instrument slightly more strongly in one ear than the other. There is a phenomenon by the name of “crossfeed” in play here. If a sound emanates from your right, your right ear will receive the signal more strongly and fraction of a second before your left. Your brain has learned to localize the source of sounds from this specific set of signals. The issue with headphones is that they eliminate natural crossfeed as each ear hears only what comes out of its respective side. If a recording includes panned tracks then it will sound somewhat unnatural as we hear the instrument more strongly in one ear, associate it with being positioned to the corresponding side, but then don’t receive the validation of the weak delayed signal in our other ear. A good example of this is The Beatles’ “Eleanor Rigby”. The Youtube version features all the tracks sounding straight down the middle (more or less) while the Spotify version has heavily panned lead vocals. Listen with headphones to each version, paying special attention to 0:13 where the first verse begins.

The panned version sounds as though Paul McCartney is singing directly into your right ear! The more recently adjusted version sounds more natural. As illustrated by this example, it makes sense for producers to move away from panning in favor of pleasing headphone listeners, even at the expense of losing the more “live” atmosphere of well mixed stereo recordings.

In a more abstract but just as important way, headphones have changed the way humans consume and interact with music. In an article in The Atlantic, Derek Thompson points out research that music evolved to “serve as a technology of social bonding”. Although Western cultures have been moving toward a more elite and specialized use of music for some time, the widespread use of headphones completes the about-face from “social bonding”. Headphones allow us to enjoy music completely alone, acting as a portable auditory social barrier even in the midst of a crowded social space.

While losing interpersonal connections is concerning, David Byrne worries at an even deeper level about the lose of connection with ourselves. In his book, How Music Works, Byrne argues that the constant presence of recorded music in our lives, enabled in large part by the technology of headphones, prevents us from hearing the “music ‘playing’ in our heads”. His point is that the humming, whistling, and audiating we constantly engage in while not listening to music is much more than a silly habit. It is in fact an essential creative process that connects us more deeply to music. In the age of headphones, music is more and more often a solitary one-way street in which we consume but fail to interact. Too often we defer to listening to what Byrne calls the “experts” (recorded artists) and forget that silence is absolutely necessary to allow for processing, synthesizing, and creating. Music is interactive in nature and we must avoid allowing headphones to lead us to becoming increasingly passive listeners.

From the tangible effects of adjusted production techniques to less obvious changes in the ways we consume music, headphones have had profound impacts on our lives. In conjunction with the advent of recorded music and portable music players, headphones have allowed music to be both more present in our lives and also more isolating than ever before. While headphones can be a wonderfully convenient and useful technology, it would be smart of us to be conscious of when and why we use them and how they effect our relationship to the music we can’t seem to get enough of.

Sources:

www.forbes.com/sites/nickmessitte/2014/04/19/how-earbuds-have-changed-the-sound-and-business-of-pop/2/#aab6b0a7c189

www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/05/how-headphones-changed-the-world/257830/

www.smithsonanmag.com/arts-culture/a-partial-history-of-headphones-4693742

www.stuff.tv/features/headphones-complete-history/rise-walkman-1979-1990

https://ehomerecordingstudio.com/best-mixing-headphones/

Byrne, David. “How Music Works.” Three Rivers Press, an Imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a Division of Penguin Random House LLC, 2017, pp. 139–141.

Posted on

The sound of the organ

On July 3, 2017, at 8:30pm, in Montreal, Canada. There was an interesting organ concert played by a well-known organist—Hans-Ola Ericsson—at Church of the Immaculate Conception. That is a huge fantastic church with many historical sculptures and paintings. The recital was an event of the Montreal Organ Festival, and more than 500 audiences (including many organists coming from other places to participate the festival) was waiting for the concert starting since it already had delayed for 30 minutes. The program of the concert is half classical music and half contemporary music. The organ is built by Rudolf von Beckerath which is a German organ company, and it has mechanical touching and action for the keys and the stops. It sounds like the Craighead-Saunders organ at Christ Church in Rochester, NY, and obviously it is one of the ideal organ for playing early music, such as the works of Dietrich Buxtehude and Heinrich Scheidemann.

Von Beckerath, 1961
• 3 manuals, 38 stops, 56 ranks
• Mechanical key and stop action

Four years ago, I met Hans-Ola Ericsson in Leipzig, German, and I went to his masterclasses and recitals. Ericsson is one of Olivier Messiaen’s friends, and he performs lots of Messiaen’s music and other modern music. Also, he is a composer as well. I highly admire his talents and musicianships, and I feel his music can inspire people. So, I was very excited to hear his concert again in Montreal.

The concert began with a contemporary piece called Interactions No. 2 for Organ and Tape (1979) by Tamas Ungvary (b. 1936), and the first-half recital ended by Hans-Ola Ericsson’s own music—Melody to the Memory of a Lost Friend XIII (1985, for Organ and Electronics).

Unfortunately, there were over half of the audiences decided to leave during the intermission, probably because that kind of music did not sound right for them or they thought the performer was just crazy. Well, I guess that makes sense… It is difficult for the audiences to accept that the organist was wearing a Sennheiser headset to hear the electronic part and using the Timer on his iPhone to calculate the timing when he was performing in the concert, and letting two speakers to play the electronic accompaniment to the audiences. To be honest, it is even harder to image the picture in your head.  It might look like a vanilla sundae with whipped cream and some small pieces of bacons on the top—the tasting is absolutely good with the creation, but people will still feel shocking and ridiculous each time when they see it.

However, did the way of the Ericsson’s playing make the audiences feel uncomfortable, so they left in the middle of the concert? The answer is no. Obviously, if that is the reason, the audiences could close their eyes to keep listening and enjoying the music. Thus, what is the main reason making people decide to leave a famous organist’s concert?

From my point, I do not think that using other technologies (such as electronics and tapes) into the organ music is the most important reason making the audiences leave. But, a special way of using organ as a musical technology to produce a unique sound made the audiences feel uncomfortable.

Listening to the Melody to the Memory of a Lost Friend XIII carefully again, you actually cannot hear the absolute pitches from the organ. Sometimes it sounds same as the electronic music with many overtones. This is because Hans-Ola Ericsson uses soundscape on the organ (pulling the stops not fully out, and the players can get different colors by using different stops) to approach the special sound from the organ. Also, this unusual but more colorful sound can give the listeners more imaginations about the music. For example, the Melody to the Memory of a Lost Friend XIII is composed for the three-hundredth anniversary Bach year in 1985, and Ericsson wrote in the album, “(The decision of) a close friend to end his own life was the starting point and the inspiration for this work. His absence of hope and his despair awoke in me a search for meaning.” Therefore, when you are listening, you can deeply understand what is the story behind this piece, even though you cannot hear the certain notes.

But, the soundscape is not the traditional organ’s voice for the audience, and also it is not one of the sound that the audiences usually expect to hear. Many times when the organists perform new music with the technique of the soundscape, many audiences want to leave during the concerts. This situation happened in four years ago in German as well. A very famous Hungarian organist and composer was playing the recital at Nikolaikirche, Leipzig (One of two churches that J.S. Bach worked and played in Leipzig). After his started to use soundscape, a lot of audiences began to leave the church and made the noises to show the dissatisfaction.

Let’s take a guess—what kind of the sound from the organ will not make the audience be too surprised or when the people walk into Nikolaikirche, what kind of the organ music they would like to hear? The imitated voice as a Whistle(soundscape)? The jazz music with a drum accompaniment from a speaker? Or “real music” composed by classical composers, such as J.S. Bach, Franz Liszt and so on. In general, I think the answer possibly would be the third one. Here is the recording of Jesus bleibet mine Freude (nach BWV 147) played by Jurgen Wolf at Nikolaikirche, Leipzig.

Going back to the period before J.S. Bach—during the Medieval Age and the Renaissance (cite from the page 3), the mainly used organs are the portative and the positive (see the pictures below). Normally, they only contained principals stops and the mixtures to accompany with the singers and other instrumentalists. But, it did not have the some special sounds like soundscape. Also, since organ is the core instrument to play in the churches, the major contributions for the organ music (including J.S. Bach) is various types of the chorale settings(reference from the page 96). Some treatises recorded that during the Baroque period, the correct sound from the organ should sounds like a human voice (singing). This tradition lasted for a long time, and it influenced German organ composers and organists, even during the time of Max Reger. For example (reference Preface by Christopher Anderson from An Introduction to the Organ Music of Max Reger), Reger really effected by J.S. Bach’s music, and the people use the term “historicist modernism” to describe him.

portative organ
positive organ

In French, the organists and the composers pursued the orchestral sound from the organ, rather than the human voice in German. For instance, the bright reeds’ stops is one of the main elements for the French style’s organ. Especially in 19th century, after Cavillé-Coll organ company founded in France, the French organists have had more characteristic and easier using organs to approach the loud sound as a big symphony. As Charles-Marie Widor mentioned in his Avant-propos (directly cite from Widor’s Avant-propos), “The modern organ is essentially symphonic.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oR3P3IfGqo (Widor 6th Organ Symphony, the first movement-Allegro, played by Daniel Roth)

Now being an instrument or a musical technology, the organ does not necessarily need to sound like either the human voice or the orchestra in modern music. However, after more than eight centuries’ traditions, how to make the listeners entirely accept a new sound from the organ will be an interesting topic in the future.

Posted on

Metronomes on My Mind

I super-duper love my metronome. My metronome is one of the oldest musical friends I have, at least in this leg of my musical journey. I have had it since 8th grade and I’m pretty sure I prepared for one of my first All-state auditions with it. Its been with me since day one. Its also been paramount to my musical success as a percussionist and often its easy to forget the role that metronomes in general have taken as a part of my musical growth.
My metronome and the most popular other metronomes on the market today are a part of a line of metronomes called Doctor Beat that are made by Boss. Now the smallest member of this lineup is the DB-30 which is the cutest little clip on thing you’ve ever seen and it was actually the metronome I had before I bought my current one. Then there’s also the celebrity DB-90 which looks like this:

DB-90 Metronome

The DB-90 is best known for single-handedly keeping every single drumcorp or marching band in the country in time. The mere sound of it has been known to trigger traumatic episodes among former band members, causing them to relive the sights and sounds of getting screamed at by their psychotic band director whilst simultaneously getting roasted by the sun. Its clunky silver plastic casing weighs at least a couple of pounds and it quite literally eats 9 volt batteries. It comes with enough weird, useless grungy beat presets to run an underground Polish nightclub along with probably the most disturbing synthetic counting voice samples in existence that have never once helped anyone play in time better ever. And the worst part, at over $150 on most sites, the DB-90 is probably the stupidest piece of technology available. Yet in spite of the the supreme extra-ness of the DB-90, metronomes have come a long way through history to earn the prominence they enjoy in today’s musical culture.
The history of metronomes is actually not all that fascinating. It pretty much starts out in the same place as clocks, where Galileo observed and the described the properties of a pendulum. As time and discoveries progressed pendulums were able to be made with adjustable weights which affected how fast the period of the swing was. In 1814, a man by the name of Dietrich Nikolaus Winkel invented the metronome while studying pendulums. His design was the first truly successful metronome because it made sound and had a spring acting as as escapement that kept it ticking. Winkel was not successful at patenting his “chronometer” although, and in 1816 another fellow named Johann Maelzel took Winkels design, slapped a scale on it designating certain bpm’s, and called it his own.

Maezel Metronome

This type of metronome is the one we have all come to know and love as the “classic” metronome. With the advent of mass-produced electrical appliances in the 20th century, metronomes like the Franz electric metronome began gaining ground. Nowadays most metronomes are digital, but Maelzel’s classic style metronomes still appear and are even written for in pieces like Casey Cangelosi’s “Slight of And Evil Hand.” Their effect on the way we write, perform and interpret our music today is immense.

My personal metronome in particular has a special place in my heart, unlike the teeny DB-30 and the utterly awful DB-90, I have a DB-60 which is juuuust right. It has all of the basic functions that you actually need in a metronome plus a few other actually useful extra ones. Best of all its extremely durable, I’ve dropped it on hard floors all the time, and I’ve changed the batteries less than ten times in the 6+ years I’ve owned it. I recently misplaced it for a few weeks over the summer and I was pretty surprised by how upset I was, I mean this little guy has been with me this whole time and even though its just a metronome, I really appreciate all it can do for me everyday. Its amazing how much I end up using it and its so easy to take something simple like that for granted every day, so even though my heart doesn’t skip a beat every time I see it, this metronome definitely clicks for me ;D

Posted on

Circus Music

A lot of people have heard of Cirque Du Soleil or has seen a movie or a play. These forms of entertainment are heavily influenced by the circus. Circuses have been around since the Roman times. Circuses were originally accompanied by a fiddler or a flautist. A Roman circus was often put on by the Roman government. Back in the day, “People anxiously desired bread and circuses.” so the government would put on these huge spectacles with free bread to keep their people happy

Later, the first circus showed up in Paris in 1782.  It was directed by Philip Astley and composing and financing was done by Charles Dibdin.  The written pieces were either intermezzos or comedies and were performed by singing and dancing children.  These pieces were officially called “marches” and sometimes called “screamers”.  I think the reason for this was because a march was used for grand entrances and usually people cheer and clap when a performer enters the stage.  The other style of music was a “Galop”.  This style was for accompanying dangerous acts and was sometimes performed on xylophone (Wikipedia).  I found this really interesting because in a lot of cartoons, a xylophone is used in suspenseful and exciting scenes.

Here is an example of a “tip toe” xylophone effect:

 

 

One composer, Karl King, lived in a time when circus music needed to be it’s own style since other music of his age didn’t quite fit the acts.  So, he composed the ever so famous “Barnum and Bailey’s Favorite”.  (wikipedia) I was hoping the name of the irish cream, “Bailey’s Favorite”  would have sprung out of a disagreement with Barnum about what good liquor is, but unfortunately these two things are unrelated

In the early 1900’s, brass bands started to gain popularity in circus music.  The idea was that, people would be more likely to come to the circus if they could hear the music from miles away.  In fact, many circuses had a steam powered piano that could be heard from far away called a “calliope”!  (Wikipedia)

 

 

Often times, circus music involved a wide range of styles.   “Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus was performed alongside “Life’s a Bumper” in the Bostock and Wombwell’s travelling Circus”.  This combined classical music alongside popular music.  This isn’t so uncommon today as it was back then.  Movies often use pop songs alongside classical music to create different effects and experience throughout a movie.   (Baston)

One example of Circus Music is in “The Little Rascals” at 2:17

 

Many modern concerts contain a large array of music.  It’s not uncommon to see Maurice Ravel, John Williams, and Robert Russell Bennett scheduled in the same concert.  In fact, the ever so popular Cirque Du Soleil uses a wide variety of music.  Mixing Rock, Jazz, French influences, and Opera into one show isn’t anything special for them.  Not only that, but according to Kim Baston of La Trobe University, Australia who wrote an extensive paper on Circus music and performance, “Circus is a global entertainment form, as it is not reliant on the spoken word, and has easily incorporated performers of different nationalities”.  Watching Cirque Du Soleil shows online demonstrates just that.  The performers represent a wide range of ethnicities and the language they sing in the show is one that is made up.  When the clowns get up on stage, a lot of their vocalization is gibberish with a few spoken words of an actual language here and there as shown in the video below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ys5o5mfXzh0

The use of popular music in circus bands also helped popularize brass bands in America.  Although music attracted larger audiences, the music was inferior to the physical performances.  Even in contemporary circuses, music is always seen as the accompaniment unless it is performed in a purely auditory setting like a concert.  Overall the combination of circus acts and music can be seen as similar to opera or musicals.  It sprouts from the same concept, but grew into something uniquely it’s own.

 

 

 

Posted on

Mighty Impactful Data Interface: The History and Effects of the MIDI File

While I am not technically savvy as a person, I am generally savvy, so when my hard drive crashed with all of my arrangements for my various ensembles and projects on it, I was able to scrounge up the only files I had saved to cloud storage. Those files were, you guessed it, Standard MIDI files. Slightly too big for email, slightly incompatible for Google Drive, just right for Dropbox. Once I found those files, I was able to run them through a music notation software and regenerate the arrangements, narrowly avoiding a fearsome confrontation with my film music ensemble colleagues. But what went into this software that I, a stressed out music student, was able to so easily rebuild something that was thought to be lost with only a poorly tempered synthesizer file and a dream?

This answer begins in the 1980’s with the collaboration between Ikutaro Kakehashi, Tom Oberheim, and Dave Smith. Kakehashi was the serving president of Roland, an instrument and software company which has begun the development of an interface for electronic instruments, early models including SYNC and Digital Control Bus. Kakehashi dreamt of a standardization among synthesizer interface, allowing for direct communication between equipment produced by different manufacturers. He took this idea to Oberheim and Smith, the leaders of Oberheim Electronics and Sequential Circuits, respectively. The plan was to use a combination of  Kakehashi’s original DCB and SYNC interfaces as a foundation to build upon; DCB managed the pitch and SYNC managed tempo. The three men then opened communication with other major electronic musical equipment manufacturers, including Yamaha and Kawai, and thus, the Musical Instrument Digital Interface was born.

Standard (slightly outdated) complete MIDI studio set up

MIDI revolutionized the musical industry of the late 20th century. Though it was originally produced to allow musicians and producers to directly communicate with each other electronically, it quickly sparked the development of new equipment for the age of electronic music and personal computers. People with little to no experience in notation software could now create sequences of synthesizer and beats, and immediate playback allowed untrained musicians the ability to immediately hear their compositions, giving more room for experimentation.  MIDI is not often a stand-alone performance tool, but it is the standard production tool. In contrast with digital audio, MIDI is a set of commands recording pitch and duration rather than a recording or representation of sound.  The setup as a series of commands makes it ideal for sequencing, sampling, and music notation software. This is why I was able to regenerate my lost scores through its use; MIDI is a set of instructions to be used with other equipment.

Although Standard MIDI files still sound like a 1980’s synth, the most exciting thing about MIDI is its ability to run sequences and cues. This is the clearest development of the software through the years. As seen in the linked video, a beat can be sequenced to also run a melody given a cue. Additionally, without MIDI, lights and sound could not easily be synchronized in theatrical productions. At stadium concerts, performers, production, and effects teams remain synchronized through the usage of MIDI files within tracks. These files are the reason that Disney’s lights and fireworks go off perfectly in sync; MIDI Show Control provides the interface for lighting, pyrotechnics, and other effects, allowing for cues in the track to cue other events. More information on this software can be found at this poorly designed but informative website: http://www.richmondsounddesign.com/.

In our current age of advancement of audio engineering, it is amazing that a 1980’s interface has lasted as the foundation for electronic musical files and so much more. This system has provided the foundation for Logic Pro X, a software used in the development of scores and click tracks for film. MIDI also is the file used for ringtones, and is now used for recording and automation of faders in audio engineering. Despite its musical background, MIDI is now in use for many ubiquitous domestic events that require cues, such as automatic home lighting, thermostat regulation, and traffic lights.  Originally developed as a standard communication interface for musical instruments, the Musical Instrument Digital Interface has expanded to be a foundation of not only music production, but computer technology itself.

History of MIDI: https://www.midi.org/articles/midi-history-chapter-6-midi-is-born-1980-1983

MIDI Show Control Specification: http://www.richmondsounddesign.com/docs/midi-show-control-specification.pdf

Introduction to MIDI: http://www.doc.ic.ac.uk/~nd/surprise_97/journal/vol1/aps2/

Why Is MIDI Still Used? https://music.tutsplus.com/articles/8-reasons-midi-is-still-alive-and-kicking–audio-1811

How MIDI works: http://www.indiana.edu/~emusic/etext/MIDI/chapter3_MIDI2.shtml

 

Posted on

Reed All About It

The bane of every saxophonist, such as myself, is a small, tan piece of wood—  the reed. According to esteemed saxophone pedagogue Larry Teal, “the principle task of the reed is its function as an air valve, which opens and closes on the mouthpiece at various speeds, [thus creating a tone].”1 Reeds are a technology I take for granted every day. My daily view of a reed begins with opening a blue, vacuum-sealed package, wetting the reed in my mouth, slapping it on my mouthpiece, and jumping right in to my practice session. Yet, reeds, in addition to being finicky at all the wrong times, possess a much more complex back story, and carry relatively unmentioned environmental implications.

The modern reed came about with the standardization of the clarinet in the late 17th century, 2 but the plant itself has been used for much longer. The reed species Arundo donax “has played an important role in the culture of the western world through its influence on the development of music, which can be traced back 5000 years.”3 The first musical use of Arundo donax was for making flutes, and only later was it used a reed. Nowadays, it is this species, grown in the Var region of France, that reed manufactures harvest, cut, and sell to customers.5

As simple as a reed may seem, the manufacturing process of cane is surprisingly complex, and the transformation to its use for musical instruments is a lengthy journey. As this video from the Rico reed company shows, the reed-making process takes many months to several years from planting the cane to harvesting and finishing the final product.

When I open a reed, I am actually opening up to two years worth of production time. The harvested plants must spend varying lengths of time drying naturally in the sun, depending on the manufacturer. The finished product is also a result of precise manufacturing tools and close inspection for reed imperfections. Yet, even the best reed will last no longer than a month of heavy use.

I have rarely heard anyone talk about the environmental impact of this technology, but, being a natural resource, reeds production does indeed carry environmental implications. Upon close inspection of the history and process of reed making, I found that there are significant environmental drawbacks, as there too often are with even the simplest of technologies. The first concern involves the plant itself; Arundo donax is considered in many regions, including the United States, an invasive species. Due to its musical and nonmusical uses alike, people have taken the plant out of its native region in the Mediterranean and cultivated it across the globe. Its ability to survive in many different conditions makes it a serious threat to indigenous plant species.4

Another negative environmental impact of this technology is its wasteful production. In a magazine published by one of the largest reed manufacturers, Vandoren, the company describes the complete process of making a reed. According to the company, up to 90% of cultivate plant material is discarded before it even enter the reed-making process, as high-quality reeds require very specific physical features of the original cane. Plants that are deemed usable also create significant waste products; out of the six-meter long stalk, only 20-30% is made into reeds.5

Due to more precise cutting and measuring equipment, reeds have become increasingly consistent over the last several decades. Some of the most dramatic developments have been in synthetic reeds, which have the same shape and function as traditional reeds, but are made from plastics.

Now, more than ever, synthetic reeds are reaching the ability to offer as great tone quality as cane reeds. Perhaps continuing to pursue the development of quality synthetic reeds will offer a better alternative to the wasteful use of cane.

The small piece of wood I use every single day is both a modern and ancient technology. Reeds have been used for thousands of years, but the last several decades have seen bounding progress in reed making and innovation. Yet, the complexity of the reed and its back story never fail to slip my mind, even though my ability to play the saxophone depends on a high quality piece of cane. This shows that the seemingly simple technology we use every day can have an immense, unseen history as well as a global impact.

  1. Teal, Larry. The Art of Saxophone Playing. U.S.: Summy-Birchard, 2000. p. 21
  2. Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica. “Reed instrument.” Encyclopædia Britannica. July 20, 1998. Accessed September 18, 2017. https://www.britannica.com/art/reed-instrument.
  3. Rojas-Sandoval, Julissa, and Pedro Acevedo-Rodríguez. “Arundo donax (giant reed).” Invasive Species Compendium. Accessed September 18, 2017. http://www.cabi.org/isc/datasheet/1940.
  4. Perdue, Robert E., Jr. “Arundo donax-Source of Musical Reeds and Industrial Cellulose .” Economic Botany 12, no. 4 (December 1958): 368-404. Accessed September 18, 2017. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4287997.
  5. Van Doren, Bernard. “SELECTION OF THE REED : FROM THE PLANT TO THE INSTRUMENT.” Edited by Jean-Marie Paul. Vandoren Magazine, 4-7.

Media:

https://www.reidys.com/images/products.large/vandoren_tenor_reed.jpg

 

https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&tbm=isch&q=parts+of+a+reed&oq=&gs_l=#imgrc=Tjj1rKWa0cnOxM:

http://www.bettermusic.com.au/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/l/e/legerereed_1_7_1.jpg

 

Posted on

Technology of Percussion: Gesture and the drum

Drums and percussion instruments were some of the earliest forms of music. They were used as a way to communicate many different things. They have been used throughout time in militaries as a way to pace troops and intimidate their enemies,  used as part of religious ceremonies, and even some animals use drumming for mating. There are two main ways that I believe that have led to the progression of to what percussion is today: the technology of the drum itself, and the reason behind the act of drumming (which I am referring to as the technology of the gesture).

There are many different forms of gestures, a gesture of love, war, musical gesture, and I think that gestures have largely shaped the aspects of  percussion today. This is due to the fact that percussion is such a physical instrument compared to others. In a lot of contemporary works, body percussion has been used quite often in making good effect of a gesture. In the piece “?Corporel” by Vinko Globokar , The drum is actually removed entirely, and the piece is based off of gestures that depict a very dark story, and I think that this is a great example of what a gesture can represent: a motion that can communicate a certain emotion/thought/or action without words. “Corporel seems, on one level, to dehumanize the performer by transforming him into an instrument and stripping away the veneer of civilization – or at least it seems to make him regress into a sort of primal unconscious. At the same time, his gestures, percussive and vocal, generate an oddly compelling sense of authentic expression, one not filtered through convention.” Taking this piece, along with the video of the birds drumming for a mate, it draws attention that, even without some form of societal conditioning,  gestures are one of the more effective forms of communication. Gestures, although seemingly complex, haven’t themselves changed at all, although ways for using them has. As society and music started to evolve, and music/instruments began to do so as well, leading to developments of an aesthetic alongside music, the idea of virtuosity.

Physical gestures that relate to a musical gesture, as a performer, also allow us to help further along the understanding of a piece as well (example). In an intense atonal piece like this, using physical gestures really make the audience able to connect to the piece on a first listening, and I believe that this idea comes from dance. In dance, using physical gestures are used alone to show a story. As music becomes more intellectual, and some pieces (like the Mantovani) that wouldn’t be immediately understood, combining the music to gestures that were inherited by dancers (although not exactly a dance) is allowing percussionists to further explore new ways of performing. A middle ground between dance and the marimba piece would be this; this clearly has aspects of dance and percussion that are both using gestures to portray a narrative of playing with a ball.

A much smaller scale of using gestures in percussion, (and skipping past the years and years of societal evolutions that led to this) is the development of the moeller stroke. This stroke allows the percussionist to add a gesture of fluidity and efficiency to their playing, which is slowly becoming integrated into the lives of most percussionists.

Without even getting into the technology of the drum itself and how that has changed since we developed from animals hitting drums from war or mates, the technology of the gesture, although it is still being used for a lot of the same reasons, has developed to a level of nuance through the progression of different art forms that has greatly impacted the percussion world and will continue to do so.