• Feet and inches
• Meters
• Paces
• Cubits
• Smoots (Anyone from MIT?)

Well, the same can go for the aural distance between two notes-

• A number of pitches
• Several notches
• Steps and skips

These musical units of measurement are called intervals. An interval as a unit of aural distance between two notes, basically. A crucial skill in ear training is to recognize interval distances, which is the aim of this section. Yes, you’ll have to practice. I’ve set up goals for you. Don’t worry, I care.

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The performance is monumental and triumphant!  It’s a cruel irony that Williams himself died at age 35 from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.  He had been experiencing marital problems at the time, and struggled his whole life with Sickle-Cell Disease.

The music in it, while not particularly epic or amazing, was perfect for the show and I wouldn’t have asked for anything else. Synth sounds, traditional Asian instruments, and artfully stylized character motifs all arise naturally, without being too stilted. Huge ups for a great TV show!

Here’s a mashup:

Update: It’s offline—another case of major industries sniping down creative remix projects with legal nastygrams.  But that’s another story entirely.

More up to speed, perhaps.

One of the biggest issues of this ossified study of hundred-some year old music is that our university students are being taught that Beethoven, for instance, is forever… or at least his music is.  We play them wonderful excerpts recorded on Steinway 9-footers of his Sonatae, and it never occurs to the young initiates that this music invites a more curatorial perspective.  Jan Swafford at Slate has a wonderful article with sound examples of the difference a period instrument can make.  After all, Beethoven had only 5 and a half octaves, and timbres that varied widely!  No wonder he treated each hand as a different instrument — the timbral differences in the high and low ranges made them sound quite constrasting indeed.

What I think is fascinating is how the lyrical vocal line is accentuated by the latin rhythms and the light backups. Oh yeah, the faux-trumpet break is pretty sweet and serves as the homerun gimmick, but the reason why Nota won was not because of nailing gimmick after gimmick (which they did, btw), but the musical choices that set up those homeruns. Each one of their performances features some ethnic flavor that makes each one stand out, but the underlying musicality is why they walked off as champs.

To use a cake metaphor…they had really good cake. Yeah, the frosting and decorations made Nota distinctive and gave them that necessary push to top the Bubs and Voices of Lee, but they developed something good and did it right, then added the buttercream to eke out the top slot.

Listen closely to the arrangement and see how the ensemble works: you can easily hear the soloist, the backup hits are light, there is smart use of silence and noise, and the percussion sets up a groove and establishes a mood without overshadowing the solo. The interplay between the singers links the musical phrases (watch how one hits the splash cymbals on the VP) and the choreography has direction: “We are here. We are now moving here. We are spreading out…to do something wicked cool. We come back together.” The choreography underlines the music, rather than the other way around.

A take-away from their arrangement is the use of sustained bass notes. When the bass activates and starts jumping around, there’s a rise in the energy level, but when it’s sustained it sets up a smooth groove. Also, the root of the chord provides a strong tension with the vocal line, which sits on the dissonant 4th and 2nd scale degree a lot. Milking that tension makes it delicious when it resolves…down (b’dum, crash).

And yeah, the trumpet break is pretty ballers too.

Stayed tuned in the coming months for a lot of activity on this site. We’re gearing up for a new school year and there will be plenty of thunking happening. In the meantime, enjoy this incredible stop motion video someone forwarded me. Notice especially the absolutely stellar image quality that is a result of using a still camera and not a video camera to take the photos, then editing it into a movie. I can’t imagine all the work involved!

Blowing out candles helps build strong lungs.

In this article, we’ll be going through the motions of arranging a song. Instead of looking at a completed arrangement, we’ll walk through every step of the process to show how an a cappella arrangement evolves and is finally completed. Today, the tune is Happy Birthday, that old standby of yore.

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Although the “Mother of all Funk Chords” video hits way closer to home in content, I’m going to feature this one because I CAN’T STOP LOVING the groove.

This is truly some virtuosic film and audio editing, but it starts from a fantastic idea. As far as I can tell, the constituent videos’ authors have made their initial recordings with no intention of having them used thusly; we can thank the producer for bringing them together. 

The two things that strike me most about this:

How effective the production is even though it is for the most part recorded through terrible on computer microphones. It’s safe to assume Kutiman has done some serious crunching and EQing, but even so… as much of an audiophile as I am I have to admit not being to bothered by the poor quality of some of the samples. It even gives it a somewhat rugged authenticity.

and:

What this type of thing means for collaborative production. Everybody remembers the Postal Service, but soon and very soon distance will simply NOT be a barrier anymore, in any way. I imagine this will result in a lot more and a lot better music and art in general, or at least I would hope this to be the case. It will be an enlightening time for those who choose to utilize it.

This is a definitely a CD recording: you’ll be hard pressed to find a hall with such wonderful echo-y acoustics, and tuning tight soprano parts is something that is pretty tricky to pull off live. Good voice leading and being very aware of the other parts can help pull off a delicate arrangement like this, as well as sharp singers. Something to notice, though, is the use of ostinato patterns- once someone is on a groove on one part, it stays locked in. It also is a cinch to learn and good way to thicken the texture.