Author: themusicfansite Created: 2/9/2006 6:20 PM
This blog is for discussions about what good music is and who makes it. It is also about how goodmusic it is made, about instruments and their care and any other issues around making good music.
The Sitar
By themusicfansite on 2/19/2006 10:28 AM
The sitar is a Hindustani classical instrument. Acoustic sitars typically have a gourd acting as the resonating chamber. A distinctive feature are the curved frets, which are moveable (allowing fine variation in tuning) and raised (so that resonant, or sympathetic, strings can run underneath the frets, giving a very lush sound). A typical sitar has 18 or 19 strings (depending on the style) — there are 6 (in the Vilayat Khan style) or 7 (in the Ravi Shankar style) playable strings on top and 11 or 12 sympathetic strings or tarbs under the frets. It is rather difficult to tune the instrument. The strings can be tuned using both the pegs on the sides or the 'beads' at the bottom, which are mainly for fine tuning.
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Comparison of Arrangements of ‘Black Magic Woman’
By themusicfansite on 2/19/2006 10:26 AM
Original – Fleetwood Mac. This is in 4/4 time with a binary structure. The piece starts with a very short intro of two distorted, harmonising electric guitars. Vocals follow a single hit of the snare drum and we enter section A. This section consists of a six chord pattern. Dm, Am, Dm, Gm, Dm, CM, BbM, AM, Dm. While voice sings, melodic guitar lines fill in the gaps. It seems like the guitar and singer are having a conversation. Bass guitar plays the same pattern over and over while the drums play the toms and snare. After two verses comes a remarkable guitar solo. Its remarkable because of its rhythm and melodic structure. Section B follows right after another verse. This section sees a change of rhythm, but not tempo doesn’t change. The rhythm changes to swing as the drums fully play. Dm is the chord of the B section, with guitar playing melodic phrases with vocals. This continues and the track fades to an end.
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BOSSA NOVA Pt2
By themusicfansite on 2/19/2006 10:25 AM
In the late 1960s musical influences outside of Brazil like Rock were having their influence upon Brazilian music and musicians, who, while remaining faithful to Brazilian rhythms and styles, were happy to experiment with new styles and instrumentation. So Brazilian popular music began to evolve into a wonderful hybrid of Samba, Bossa Nova, Jazz, Rock and regional traditional musics.
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BOSSA NOVA Pt1
By themusicfansite on 2/19/2006 10:24 AM
Brazilian Bossa Nova is nearly three decades old. This musical style merits special attention because it is a prime example of modernization in Latin American popular music and because of its impact in other nations, most notably the United States.
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Instruments of the Renaissance Period
By themusicfansite on 2/19/2006 10:23 AM
The Renaissance, or Re-birth, was a period of less restrictive thinking, attempting to look beyond the medieval worldview. Generally referring to the 15th &16th centuries, this new philosophy allowed a freedom of expression throughout all the humanities, including music. Early Italian composers began to get excited about the Renaissance as they set out to recapture the 'golden age' of ancient Rome. Music became an important part of daily life. Both Sacred and Secular music developed during this period.
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Baroque period music
By themusicfansite on 2/19/2006 10:21 AM
‘Baroque’ probably comes from the Portuguese word ‘barocco’, meaning an irregularly shaped pearl or piece of jewelry. The term first came about in the highly ornamented style of architecture. Musicians later used the word ‘Baroque’ to describe the period of music history. It was during the 17th century that the system of modes disappeared. Composers had become accustom to sharpening or flattening the odd note here or there. The result was that modes lost their individual characters and came to sound like two modes only, Ionian and Aeolian (or Natural minor). From these two modes grew the major and minor scale system we use today.
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Legal Aspects to running musicals
By themusicfansite on 2/19/2006 10:20 AM
Theatre and venue licences. A license is required for any public performance space to be used and is to be easily accessible any time the premises is in use. It shall be specified on the license the accommodation limit. The premises must have public liability insurance.
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Four Music Reviews of good music
By themusicfansite on 2/17/2006 6:15 PM
There she goes – Bob Marley. This is a very happy sounding reggae song in C#Maj. It is moderate in speed, has only 4 chords and is in 4/4 time. The instruments are electric guitar, bass guitar, Drums, 3 male vocals. They all play slightly complex rhythms. A short guitar riff brings the song in. The guitar varies from simple strumming to picking and syncopated strumming. The bass line is the most complex playing in syncopation with the snare drum (the rim is played). The bass drum is accented on the first beat of the bar and in between beats 2 + 3. The vocals are most interesting. Bob Marley is singing the lead line whilst two backing singers sing harmony a 3rd apart to exactly the same rhythm. The overall texture created is homophonic, sounding very full.
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Motown – The Funk Brothers
By themusicfansite on 2/17/2006 4:05 PM
One of the major factors in the widespread appeal of Motown's music was Gordy's practice of using a highly select and tight-knit group of studio musicians, collectively known as "The Funk Brothers", to record the instrumental or "band" tracks of the Motown songs. Among the studio musicians responsible for the "Motown Sound" were Johnny Griffiths and Joe Hunter on piano, Joe Messina, Robert White, and Eddie Willis on guitar, Eddie "Bongo" Brown and Jack Ashford on percussion, Uriel Jones and Pete Allen on drums, and, the keys to the Motown sound, drummer Benny Benjamin, keyboardist Earl Van Dyke, and bassist James Jamerson. The band's career and work is chronicled in the 2002 documentary Standing in the Shadows of Motown.
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DVD-Audio – Part2
By themusicfansite on 2/17/2006 3:59 PM
The introduction of the DVD-Audio format angered many early adopters of the DVD format, because DVD-Audio discs were not playable on DVD players sold prior to the new format's introduction. While DVD-Audio discs are capable of higher fidelity sound than CDs, there is debate as to whether or not the fidelity above 48 kHz is distinguishable to typical human ears. However, 24 bit recordings at 44.1 kHz and 48 kHz are widely accepted to be of substantial improvement to the 16 bit recordings currently available on Compact Discs. DVD-Audio currently forms a niche market, probably due to its dependency upon new and relatively expensive equipment and a lack of education regarding higher fidelity and multichannel music. DVD-Audio is currently in a format war with SACD.
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