Sep 29 2023 - Ubiquitous Musical Things

 

Ubiquitous music.  That's a formal phrase for a field of research.  I had thought ubiquitous music was what we would have termed elevator music - we hear it in department and grocery stores - always present and widespread music from the past played in tedious arrangements.  Like most things now, it has its own novel version of the expression - Ubimus.  Sound and music computing, human computer interfaces, creativity studies, music education and social and community underpinning.  That's the summary.  Here is an explanation from WikiCFP (A Wiki for Calls for Papers): Ubiquitous music (ubimus) seeks to address the intersection between current mobile, networked technologies, including embedded systems, vintage, modular and analogue hardware, internet of things (IoT) and emerging social, interactive and enactive perspectives on music making. Thus, ubimus research has applied a variety of theories and methods, including ecological, embodied, embedded and distributed models of cognition and creativity. In addition, ubimus practices involve participatory, accessible, inclusive and community-oriented approaches to design.  There are big words in long sentences with acronyms.  The combination of  the Internet of Things (IoT) with ubimus has been labelled IoMusT.  One can carry out ubiquitous user modelling - that's UBIQUM.   I would have to look up all of these expressions to understand this paragraph: "The ubimus imperative towards a holistic view of musical experience and technological design finds roots in concepts such as Varèse’s organised sound, Schafer’s soundscape, Feld’s acoustemology, Small’s musicking and Landy’s sound-based music, all of which provide framing whereby a variety of sonic-oriented practices are seen to converge." Take Small's musicking:  Christopher Small coined the term musicking, with which he wanted to highlight that music is a process (verb) and not an object (noun). And Stephen Feld's Acoustemology: conjoins the words acoustic and epistemology to refer to a sonic way of knowing and being in the world.  All amazing.  I found this fellow in downtown St. Catharines a few years ago.

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June 29 2023 - If Music Be

 

I wonder if that is in the Guinness Book of Records - watch students from the 2012 Shakespeare School work their way through 37 famous Shakespeare quotes in two minutes.  Here it is - https://youtu.be/aVKwmCVhpqQ - lots of fun. And what are some unusual ice cream flavours?  We're almost at summer, so it is time to get acquainted with what's new.  Here's one: Vanilla:  In Bristol, England The flavor of this ice cream isn’t what makes it weird—an English ice cream maker added the proteins that make jellyfish glow to his vanilla recipe. When you lick the ice cream the proteins activate, causing your scoops to light up. Pizza: In Philadelphia You’ll definitely want to eat this pizza cold. A shop in Philly whips up pizza-flavored ice cream using tomato, basil, oregano, salt, and garlic. Tiger Tail:  Edmonton No big cats were harmed in the making of this confection! Orange flavored and swirled with black licorice sauce, the ice cream is named for its tigerlike coloring.  Pet Bird:  Tokyo A Tokyo ice cream shop has flavors such as sparrow and parakeet. But you won’t find feathers in the scoops—the flavors just contain the things these birds eat, like fruit, nuts, and seeds. That's a contrast to seemingly tame flavours like lavender peach, grand mariner, peanut butter and jelly, pink perppercorn and sake, rosemary citrus, rhubarb crumble and more HERE at Taste of Home. And returning to our Shakespearean quotes.  What would music be compared to in the picture below?  This is from the Watering Can. Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblogspot.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

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How Many Genres of Music are there?

 

How many genres of music are there?  One article says that over 1,200 subgenera of music have been defined in the 20th century.  The  main genres vary from article to article, so I guess this isn't a scientific sort of classification, but a presentation of preferences.  We can be confident that there would be  Rock, Jazz, Country, Pop and Rhythm and Blues in the 20th century..  But what about all those centuries before?  This list goes by date giving a name to a time period: 1597 Opera 1600 The Baroque Period (1600 – 1750) 1600s Gospel Music 1750 The Classical Period (1750 – 1830) 1830 The Romantic Period (1830 – 1900) 1899 Ragtime (1899 – 1917) 1900 Blues 1920 Jazz I think that this list might not make it to  a musical encyclopedia.  I expect it would take a fair amount of work to find a reference source, given the listings from google and bing are so varied. The list is notable to me for this entry:  1600s Gospel Music.  I never learned about that in music class in school.   Wikipedia says it is a traditional genre of Christian music, and traces to the 17th century.  The first published use of the term gospel song was in 1874. But the great gospel classic, Amazing Grace,  was published in 1779 by English Anglican clergyman and poet (formerly slave trader turned abolitionist)  John Newton.  "Amazing Grace" was written to illustrate a sermon on New Year's Day of 1773. It is unknown if there was any music accompanying the verses; it may have been chanted by the congregation. It debuted in print in 1779 in Newton's and Cowper's Olney Hymns, but settled into relative obscurity in England. In the United States, "Amazing Grace" became a popular song used by Baptist and Methodist preachers as part of their evangelizing, especially in the American South, during the Second Great Awakening of the early 19th century. It has been associated with more than 20 melodies. In 1835, American composer William Walker set it to the tune known as "New Britain" in a shape note format; this is the version most frequently sung today. This Florida sunrise seems to be appropriate for the song of the day.  Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblog.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

June 23 2022 - Brubeck vs Dog Licking Legs

 

There's a famous American Jazz name.  His 100th anniversary concert would have been 2020, but for us it was last night with his two sons The Brubeck Brothers.  We were treated to a mixed media presentation with videos of the family and Dave Brubeck and his Quartet.  It was a wonderful tribute to a great musician, cultural diplomat and human. I hadn't remembered that he was a Pacific cowboy and that many of the rhythms he brought to his music were learned   from the rhythms of horses' hoofs as they run.   "He recalled the rhythms he heard while working as a boy on cattle drives at the northern California ranch managed by his father. The first time he heard polyrhythms - the use of two rhythms at the same time - was on horseback. "The gait was usually a fast walk, maybe a trot," he said. "And I would sing against that constant gait of the horse. ... There was nothing to do but think, and I'd improvise melodies and rhythms." This was in one of the videos in which he demonstrated the horse rhythms on his chest.   Millie, our dog, seems to blocking everyone.  Is it salt on their skin?  She doesn't like my legs.  Supposedly is releases endorphins and leaves them with a comforted feeling. Supposedly they do it as a sign of love.   Another site has this to say:  Dogs may lick your legs to get your attention, communicate their feelings, gather information about you or where you’ve been, or simply because they taste something they like.  So we have a few curiosities today - the origins of Dave Brubeck's polyrhythms and dogs licking legs.  Here's Millie looking up at light on the wall, another curiosity of dogs.

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Sep 28 2021 - Toe Tapping to the Music

 

Somehow my parents determined that their children would get music lessons and play music.  Perhaps this was a popular notion in the 1950s.  Perhaps they wanted to continue an old tradition of music in the house.  They also sent my sister and I took dance classes.  That seemed unusual and I think was influenced by the musical movies at the time.  I think that as my parent gave every indication that they did not have any spare money, or even enough money.  I wore my sister's hand-me-down clothes, and got new shoes and a new winter coat each year.  Here we are again - that could easily have been a deep tradition in their generation which went through the great Depression.  They were entranced at Christmas time when we sang Christmas carols in three-part harmony and my sister entertained them with accordion songs.  The singing didn't last very long as my sister and brother were mostly not in key.  Linda, my older sister, had an early musical career as she had an abundance of musical talent.  The great German instrument is the accordion, and she played in accordion bands and at music festivals, winning prizes and scholarships.  She went on to playing the pipe organ in churches, but dropped music by university.   My brother, Brian, was interested in science activities. He got an ulcer from accordion lessons.   So they were concluded quickly - that was before universal health care.  My parents bought a piano and I took piano lessons.  It went with me from my parents' home, and I eventually got a grand piano and an electronic piano, playing all through my adult years.  I sang in a choir for a few years, but the pandemic has suspended all of that. Research has found that music lessons improve many key skills, and increase IQ scores.  Things like language skills, verbal memory, spatial improvements, focus/attention, creativity, cognitive performance, and so on.  There is research in abundance. Music School Central has gathered 71 studies showing music lessons are the best thing for your brain HERE. The studies indicate that skills are improved for all ages, so dementia and Alzheimers sufferers benefit from music lessons.  Should music be a mandatory subject in school if it ranks up there with physical activity/sports in terms of benefits?  It has long been a debated subject.  How we view subjects is most interest: Can you imagine if dancing became an accepted physical activity/skill in public and high schools?  Doesn't that put in perspective our focus on sports as the primary delivery vehicle of physical fitness and skill. Our picture today is music in the garden at the Watering Can, Vineland.  This was part of their mosaic sculpture display.  The most recent display has a VW camper and a canoe planting.

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Aug 17 2021 - Nostalgic Bobby Darrin

 

PBS is a master of music nostalgia for its fund-raising campaigns.  From 1999 to 2018 they have presented  music nostalgia fund-raisers that were produced by TJ Lubinsky.  There have been over 30 national television specials from PBS.  He must be a busy person.  He's produced lots of shows - The Very Best of the Ed Sullivan Show and even episodes of Dr. Who for the US market.   TJ Lubinsky's facebook page lists all his "former" jobs.  He has a sense of humour, as they include these: Former Waiting Staff and soda jerk at Irv's Flamingo Diner Former Soda jerk at Days Ice Cream & Bon Bons Former I worked counter #2 at The Jetty Joint aka "The Sand Bar" 2nd Ave Stand Last night's show was Folk Rewind.  What stood out? Bobby Darin was included and the clip - either late 1960s or early 1970s in a Las Vegas tuxedo singing his well-known hit "If I were a Carpenter".   He also wrote "Simple Song of Freedom."  Sadly, he died of heart failure at 37 years of age in 1973. What is Bobby Darin's strange fact? "His real mother was Nina Cassotto, the woman he grew up believing was his sister. Nina had gotten pregnant as an unwed teenager, and she and Polly(her mother)  decided that it would be better if Polly assumed the role of mother. While he later learned the truth about his mother, Darin never discovered who his father really was." We've given Olive Oyl the post-card treatment today.  Happy Birthday to Deb Osborne!

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Aug 8 2021 - Ukulele is your friend

 

What about our relationship to musical instruments?  I was listening to CBC radio yesterday and the interviewees kept calling the ukulele their friend and your friend.  Do a search on ukulele is your friend and it definitely is considered a friend by many and there's even a store named Ukulele Friend that welcomes you with Aloha!. Now do the same for guitar and the top post is "5 Reasons My guitar might be my best friend".  Not so confident here. Now search for "banjo is your friend" and the top retrieval?  "What a friend we have in Jesus" YouTube video.   Moving on to other strings:  "My violin was my best friend.  Then I realized I needed people..." When we hit the wind instrumentsL "You've got a friend in me - Trumpet" print and download the trumpet sheet music from Toy Story.  That one does occur for every instrument, but it hits the top for trumpets. Pianos come into the mix:  "My Friend the Piano" is a novel... "As the woman endeavors to rid the house of the piano, the girl helps her friend escape to the sea."  Alternately you can impress your friends with easy piano lessons for beginners. We must turn to the drums/percussion and what is the story here?   "When your friend is a Drummer... we all have that friend that plays drums everywhere!". And to conclude what are the thoughts on "musician is your friend"?  Of course:  "There are 5 ways to support your musician friends." I was in Toronto yesterday on Wynford Drive for Brian's medical procedure.  Almost across the street was the Aga Khan Museum and garden.  These are pictures of Russian Sage against the structure's white walls.

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Dec 4 2020 -Christmas Music

 

How many Christmas songs might there be about Jesus Christ's birth.  It is along ago did that they converted Christ's birth to December. That was December 25th in 336. According to Gerald Oehring and Associates (Church Organs), the first song comes because of that celebration: Jesus Refulsit Omnium. It is considered  the oldest known Christmas song in the world. Like many of the first Christmas songs, “Jesus Refulsit Omnium” is a Christian hymn. The hymn was composed in Latin by St. Hilary of Poitiers sometime in the fourth century. It is believed that he may have created the song after the first recorded Christmas celebration took place in 336 AD.  In English, the title is Jesus, Light of All the Nations. The oldest known Christmas song that is still performed by a few churches today is Corde angus ex Parentis - Of the Father's Love Begotten.  This was created between 348 and 413 and was written by Aurelius Prudentius Clemens in what is now modern day Northern Spain. Skipping past a few unknowns for us  - The Friendly Beasts and Between the Ox and the Grey Donkey - we get to one we all know:  Good Christian Men, Rejoice.  Heinrich Seuse is typically credited as the song’s author. According to German folklore, Seuse wrote the song sometime in 1328 after he heard the angels sing the words and joined them in a dance of worship. There's O Come, All Ye Faithful - music in mid-18th century and words likely 13th century, and the poignant Good King Wenceslas - about the humble king from Bohemia, based on a 13th century carol, created in 1853.  The New Classical FM at 96.3 FM is playing popular classical Christmas  music.  Vivaldi's Winter certainly makes driving through the snow go well.  And then threw"s Handel's Messiah, or Bach's Christmas Oratorio. There are so many centuries worth of wonderful music. In comparison, who would like a dose of retail store Christmas music this year?

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April 28 2020 - Sunset Ride

The earliest written words are 3400-3100 BC and the earliest coherent texts about 2600 BC. The earliest form of musical notation found is about 1400 BC. It contains fragmentary instructions for performing music.  It is music composed in harmonies of thirds.  The scholar and music theorist Isidore of Seville, while writing in the early 7th century, considered that "unless sounds are held by the memory of man, they perish, because they cannot be written down." But they were written by the 9th century to capture the Gregorian chant sung in monasteries. The earliest is about 850. Notation developed fine for melody, but took longer for rhythm - and in the 13th-century a treatise explains a set of six rhythmic modes in use at the time.  The pictures of early music notation show blocks rather than our current ovals.   I quite liked the blocks and yet am equally attracted to ovals.  I find musical notation visually pleasing without knowing what the song is.  That certainly isn't the case with mathematical notation which seems visually dense.  I guess it doesn't have rhythm portrayed. So our pictures today are an appreciation of the great rock face on the train layout in Sacramento.  The first image has the sky replacement so that sky and rock seem to meld together.  It is as thought the sky is flowing into the rock and down the cliff. In the second you can see how amazing the colours and details are.  Such an artist - it seems too bad he wasn't creating sculptures rather than sides of hills.

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