Classic horror themes are ominous and generally dread-inspiring for a reason: They are written in minor keys. Find a nifty melody, go minor, and watch the goosebumps pile up. For composers, sometimes it’s almost too easy.
To prove that it’s the minor key and not the melody that is eerily accenting the work of cinema’s most murderous villains, musician/writer/filmmaker Ian Gordon re-recorded five iconic themes in major keys. What comes next will definitely not frighten you.
A quick rundown:
The X-Files theme sounds like the beginning of an inspirational journey across side-scrolling Nintendo worlds. (One where you’re searching for a magic flute.)
Halloween sounds like the side A, track one of an indie-pop outfit’s meadow-frolicking breakout record.
Saw recalls the music that scores when the football game is getting out of hand and only the underdog protagonist can bring you back.
People, especially students, are often surprised that I still take piano lessons. There seems to be a consensus that adults, especially piano teachers, know everything already. Well, no. There is always more to learn.
Each pianist and teacher has different ideas and techniques to share. Anyone who has seen my music library knows that I couldn’t possibly have played, let alone mastered, each piece of music I own. One year, I had claimed so much music on my income taxes, that an IRS agent was dispatched to my studio to disclaim my claims in an audit. I won!
I am reviving an older piece that I played sometime in the past. I know that because of all the color coding!
Here, Murray Perahia plays Mendelssohn’s Trois Fantaisies ou Caprices, Op. 16. Nr. 1: Andante con moto.
My son and I are working on Capriol by Peter Warlock, to be played June 7, 2015 at Steinway Hall.
I don’t know who is performing in this video but I hope to have a video of our performance to post later:
I’m also sightreading a variety of ragtime pieces and will choose one to work on in the next few days. In the running are Zez Confrey and William Bolcom. We’ll see!
A Steinway Model-B is the new addition to Black Hills State’s Meier Recital Hall.
The nearly $100,000 piano was fully funded by donations, including Rachel Headley, the Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics liaison to Academic Affairs at BHSU.
The university donors purchased the 7-foot handmade instrument from Black Hills Piano Gallery in Rapid City.
Gallery owner Tony Thomas believes the Meier Recital Hall is the perfect home for a Steinway.
“That hall cries for the best possible sound,” he said. “The Meier Hall is just a wonderful hall and they have a great faculty to provide good instruction to the students there.”
Thomas, a musician himself, understands the decision of purchasing a top-of-the-line instrument.
“Anytime you have a good hall that provides that kind of acoustics, Steinway is the choice of 98 percent of concert artists on stage. That’s the sound that they want to hear. You can head all of the textures of tunes, it’s beautiful.”
Black hills state received the handcrafted piano Monday afternoon, with an unveiling ceremony planned for that evening.
There is also another work based on π called What pi sounds like
Today is pi day, and to celebrate, we bring you a musical representation of π, to 31 decimal places, at 157 beats per minute (which, incidentally, is 314 divided by two).
Let’s start at the beginning. Broadly speaking, each recording of a song contains two copyrights: the copyright in the “musical work” or what is commonly called the “song” and the copyright in the recording of the song, commonly called the “track” or the “master”.
90% of all mistakes made by anyone in discussions of the online music business (and really the music business in general) starts right there. If you made this mistake, don’t feel self-conscious. You are not alone, believe me. Sometimes shockingly not alone.
Ownership and the Inception of Creation. A song is not a recording and a recording is not a song. Each can be, and usually is, created by different people. Songs are created by a “songwriter” (usually teams of songwriters coming together to write a single songs or many songs). Recordings are created by “artists,” usually teams of artists known as a group or…
I just became a backer of this project on Kickstarter. How about you?
The Sing for Hope Pianos is a beloved public art installation that brings brightly colored pianos to the parks and public spaces of NYC’s five boroughs for anyone and everyone to play. For two weeks in the summer, the pianos — each a unique art piece created by a different artist or designer — serve as gathering places in their communities, hosting impromptu concerts by professionals and amateurs alike in an open festival of music for all of New York City.
After the two-week public exhibition, Sing for Hope — a non-profit organization dedicated to bringing the arts to the people who need them most — donates the instruments to the NYC organizations we serve year round, allowing the pianos to enrich lives for years to come. While their time on the streets is a joyful event for our city, the Sing for Hope Pianos’ true impact lies in their service as ongoing cornerstones of arts access for communities and individuals in need. As NYC’s largest public art project, the Sing for Hope Pianos impacts an estimated 2 million New Yorkers and visitors each year.
Cassidy Turley and The Durst Organization announced that they secured a 15-year, 40,000 s/f lease for renowned piano manufacturer and retailer, Steinway & Son, at 1133 Avenue of the Americas.
…
Given Steinway’s time pressure to move out of its existing location by the end of 2014, the team secured a temporary location at 1155 Avenue of the Americas, also with The Durst Organization.
This short-term “pop-up store” will allow Steinway to remain open as the new headquarters is being constructed, allowing for continuous service to its customers.
Steinway, well-known for handcrafting the world’s finest pianos, will now have a gallery space that encompasses approximately 18,000 s/for both retail and showroom, and a small concert hall that caters to the world’s most prominent pianists.
The space will be designed by architect Annabelle Selldorf. There will also be a private space that can be used by concert pianists looking to sample Steinway’s collection of instruments.
. 1910 ~ Galina Ulanova, Russian-born ballerina with the Bolshoi Ballet from 1944 to 1962
. 1917 ~ Jerry Wexler, Record producer, Atlantic Records
. 1925 ~ Max Roach, Jazz musician/drummer, composer: Freedom Now Suite; educator: taught at Lennox, MA School of Jazz and Yale; Professor of Music at University of Massachusetts, Amherst Note: This is my Alma Mater, and Michael’s as well.
. 1945 ~ Ronny Light, Songwriter, Nashville studio musician
. 1945 ~ Rod Stewart, British rock singer
. 1945 ~ Erskine Hawkins waxed a classic for Victor Records. The tune, with the Erskine Hawkins Orchestra, was titled Tippin’ In.
. 1946 ~ Bob Lang, Bass with Wayne Fontana & The Mindbenders
. 1947 ~ “Finian’s Rainbow” opened on the Great White Way in New York City. The musical played for 725 performances. Years later, Petula Clark would star and sing in the movie version.
. 1948 ~ Donald Fagen, Keyboard with Steely Dan
. 1948 ~ Cyril Neville, Percussion, singer with The Neville Brothers
. 1949 ~ The Radio Corporation of America, sometimes known as RCA, announced a new 7-inch, 45 rpm phonograph record. Soon, the 45, the record with the big hole in the middle, would change the pop music business. RCA even manufactured a record player that played only 45s – with a fat spindle that made “stacking wax” real simple and automatic.
. 1956 ~ Elvis Presley recorded his first tunes as an RCA Victor artist. Recording in Nashville, Elvis sang Heartbreak Hotel, I Was the One, I’m Counting On You, I Got a Woman and Money Honey. Heartbreak Hotelwas #1 by April 11, 1956 and stayed there for eight weeks. It was #1 on the pop and rhythm and blues charts and number five on the country music list.
. 1960 ~ Marty Robbins’ hit tune, El Paso, held the record for the longest #1 song to that time. The song ran 5 minutes and 19 seconds, giving many radio station Program Directors fits; because the average record length at that time was around 2 minutes, and formats didn’t allow for records much longer than that, (e.g., 2-minute record, 3 minutes for commercials, 60 seconds for promo, 2-minute record, etc.). DJs got used to the longer length quickly, however, realizing it gave them time, before the record ended, to actually think of something to say next.
. 1969 ~ Elvis Presley’s single, Don’t Cry Daddy, entered the Top 10 on the pop charts this day. If you listened to this song carefully, you’d hear a vocal duet with country artist Ronnie Milsap.
. 1984 ~ Cyndi Lauper became the first female recording artist since Bobbie Gentry in 1967 to be nominated for five Grammy Awards: Album of the Year, Best New Artist, Best Pop Vocal Performance (Female), Record of the Year and Song of the Year.
. 1986 ~ The uncut version of Jerome Kern’s musical, “Showboat”, opened at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. It marked the first time in almost 60 years that the four-hour version of the classic production had played before a mostly awake audience.
. 2000 ~ Gospel singer Willie Neal “The Country Boy” Johnson died of a stroke at the age of 65. Johnson was a longtime member of the Gospel Keynotes, which produced more than 20 albums, including Ain’t No Stopping Us Now, and signature song That’sMy Son. Ain’t No Stopping Us Now received a Grammy nomination in 1981. The group signed with Malaco Records in 1985 and changed its name to Willie Neal Johnson and the New Keynotes. The group received a Stellar Award for Lord Take Us Through, The CountryBoy Goes Homeand a Stellar nomination for The Country Boy Goes Home II. Johnson’s group was inducted into The American Gospel Quartet Hall of Fame in Birmingham, Ala., and The Gospel Music Hall of Fame in Detroit in 1999.
. 2002 ~ Moe Foner, a labor official who brought art, theater and music to the largest health care workers union in New York City, died at the age of 86. As an executive secretary for New York’s Health and Human Service Union, Foner worked as a lobbyist, strategist and slogan writer for the city’s hospital workers for several decades. Foner was also the founder of Bread and Roses, a cultural program which organized art exhibitions and performances for union members, often during workers’ lunch hours. Under his direction, Bread and Roses recruited performers from folksingers PeteSeeger and Woody Guthrie to the ventriloquist Shari Lewis. He hired rising stars like Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee and Sidney Poitier to put on annual shows about civil rights for hospital workers. Foner also installed the only art gallery at a union headquarters. Born in Brooklyn, Foner graduated from Brooklyn College in 1936 and was employed by several other unions, including the now-defunct Department Store Local 1250, before going to work for the health care workers union.
MaryO'Studio 