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General Music articles

Topic started by cosmician (@ 194.170.127.161) on Wed Jul 31 01:36:33 EDT 2002.
All times in EST +10:30 for IST.

Hi All

Thought it would be a good idea to post articles
and links to general articles about music that we find on the web here. Not news articles but more in general about music.

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Responses:

• From: cosmician (@ 194.170.127.161) on: Wed Jul 31 01:38:35 EDT 2002
  
  MUSIC: DYING INSTRUMENTS
  Discordant Notes
  
  A symposium brings out a tragic development—many of India's classical instruments are headed for extinction
  
  http://www.indiatoday.com/itoday/20020805/index.shtml?
  
  You need to be a subscriber of India Today to read the article. Could some subscriber please post the article here ?
  
  
  
• From: cosmician (@ 194.170.127.161) on: Wed Jul 31 01:41:20 EDT 2002
  
  Toying With Musical Instruments
  By Lakshmi Sandhana
  2:00 a.m. July 30, 2002 PDT
  
  If traditional concert performances leave you sighing for more, you can look forward to an opera where musicians squeeze squishy embroidered b*lls, play soundless violins and bang on glowing bugs with antennae.
  
  These hyper-instruments were developed by Tod Machover of MIT's Media Lab in an attempt to break free of conventional musical instrument design. Building on technologies developed for Machover's groundbreaking Brain Opera, these music toys enable children to engage in sophisticated listening, performing and composing activities normally accessible only after years of study.
  
  The instruments have a very short learning curve, allowing children and adults alike to achieve a basic level of understanding in just three to five two-hour sessions. Included among the instruments are beatbugs, music shapers, hyper-violins and a software called hyperscore.
  
  These instruments allow users to concentrate on some of the essential, holistic aspects of music like phrasing, texture shaping, variation or collaborative performance -- activities that are quite difficult for children who are concentrating on mastering traditional instruments. The toys are designed to cover a gamut of experiences, from fun and play to serious concentration, analysis and synthesis of information.
  
  "Although music is the expressive form that affects people the most, society has made it the hardest to learn and practice," Machover said. "Instruments are hard; there is endless specialized knowledge to attain, and composing is only for the very few. Bold new ideas and techniques are needed for letting our children and many adults experience that profound love of music and to tap into the more creative, expressive aspects of it.
  
  "If not, more and more people will never get through the doorway, getting lost in the trees of musical minutiae without being able to appreciate the forest of musical meaning."
  
  Used by the likes of Prince, Peter Gabriel, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, violinist Joshua Bell and magicians Penn & Teller, the instruments are sponsored by a variety of corporations, such as Yamaha, Sega, Fisher-Price and Mattel. Toy Symphony, a concert highlighting exciting new music created by children, was conducted recently in Glasgow, where Scottish children using music toys performed with conductor Gerhard Markson and alongside the BBC Scottish Symphony. Bell played the spooky-sounding hyper-violin.
  
  While Machover is quite serious about using the music toys as fundamental tools for learning music, opinions still vary as to their role in music education.
  
  "I think they have reinvented the wheel, opening up a whole new world of possibilities for musical expression," said Frank Smith, a free-lance musician and educator. "The single most important concept involved here is what I will refer to as 'synesthesia' (a crossover of the senses). High or low notes are actually visual representations of what we are hearing, denoting faster or slower vibrations. When musicians create, we oftentimes describe what we are doing as creating shapes. With a beatbug or shaper, we can now generate a real-time visual image of what we are doing in three-dimensional space, allowing one to actually experience music multi-dimensionally."
  
  Tim Parker, assistant director of bands at Kettering Fairmont High School, Ohio, is a little more skeptical. "First, will it appeal to the general population or the average 'non-professional' musician? The answer is 'no,'" said Parker. "What sometimes separates great performers from average performers is the mature sound they are able to produce from the instrument they have studied.
  
  "An electronic instrument takes the personalization out of a performance. Perhaps, it will hold on to a small core group of followers, but it will most likely not be a mainstream, accepted musical genre," Parker added.
  
  "I think there will be many who will dismiss all this as gadgetry, but I would question whether people are more interested in technique rather than creativity," said Richard Kessler, executive director of the American Music Center. "Traditional instruments are often roadblocks for anyone, taking years of practice before you can participate or perform. This is the hallmark of Western music, where natural musical creativity is not embraced, it is often technique that is embraced first -- considered by many to be the golden gateway to musical creativity.
  
  "Children are not about technique, they are about spontaneity and creativity. With these instruments, you can engage in music making very early on, rather than spending years preparing for the possibility of creative expression."
  
  Presently the MIT team is working on creating curricula and techniques based on the Music Toys that can be adapted to schools and families, and concerts are being planned in the United States and Japan.
  
  http://www.wired.com/news/print/0,1294,53963,00.html
  
  
• From: cosmician (@ 194.170.127.161) on: Wed Jul 31 01:47:30 EDT 2002
  
  A Novel Way to Write Hit Songs
  By Steve Kettmann
  2:00 a.m. July 30, 2002 PDT
  http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,53668,00.html
  
  Madison Smartt Bell was just another guy around 40 who couldn't quite give up that old dream of playing guitar and singing rock songs.
  
  But Bell had some unusual options available to him. He also happens to be an accomplished novelist. As he was working on his latest novel, Anything Goes (Pantheon), he came up with the idea of writing actual songs, with the help of a songwriter friend, to include in the book.
  
  "I've been an amateur musician since I was in my teens," Bell said by phone from his father's place in Tennessee. "I've never really done a long road swing like what's talked about in the book, but it was always a fantasy, so writing the book was a way to work that out a little."
  
  The idea of writing real songs worked out well enough that Bell and writing partner Wyn Cooper tried to talk the publishers into including a CD along with the hardcover version of the novel. Instead, they settled for making the songs available at Bell's website.
  
  That might have sounded to some like a mere vanity project, or just an attempt to drum up interest in the book -- the way Bell has been doing by bringing his guitar to book readings, strumming and crooning. As it turns out, the songs have enough merit that Bell and Cooper recently landed a record deal and expect to have a CD out by next April.
  
  "I've been a fan of Madison's work for years," said Scott Beal, head of a new label called Gaff Music. "About two years ago he sent me a tape and said, 'Take a listen.' At the time I didn't have a record label. I liked it. But I kind of forgot about it, until I stumbled onto it again two months ago."
  
  Beal says that when Bell goes into the studio this winter, he'll be playing lead guitar and singing and getting some quality help. "Don Dixon, who produced the first three R.E.M. albums, will be playing bass on this," he said.
  
  Cooper, a decade-long friend of Bell's, nearly won a Grammy Award with his poem Fun.
  
  "I wrote Fun in 1984 and published it in my first book, The Country of Here Below, which came out in 1987," he said. "It only sold about 500 copies, but one of them happened to be in Cliff's Book Store in Pasadena, which was around the corner from the studio where Bill Bottrell was producing Sheryl Crow's first album.
  
  "None of the guys in the band liked her words, so they took a break and Bill went around the corner and started thumbing through poetry books and found mine and found Fun, and they liked it. They went back to the studio and asked Sheryl to try just singing this poem with the music they already had."
  
  That worked out pretty well for everyone involved. Still, Cooper was surprised when he got a call from Bell when he was still working on Anything Goes.
  
  The book features a young narrator, named Jesse, who is part of a touring bar band that does a lot of blues and rock covers in a lot of different dive bars, always called the "Black Cat."
  
  Gradually, Jesse starts writing his own songs, almost against his will, and the songs -- collaborations between Bell and Cooper -- figure prominently in the story. Cooper was stunned when his old friend suggested they work together on this.
  
  "Madison was maybe halfway through with the novel, and this was absolutely unheard of for Madison to show a manuscript to anyone," he said.
  
  "We've been friends for a long, long time, and he usually won't even tell me what he's writing about. He sent me the manuscript and asked me to take a look and see if I could write some lyrics to work into the novel. I was thrilled to do it."
  
  Cooper had no doubt that the music was more important to Bell than the novel.
  
  The two have collaborated on a dozen songs now, and expect to have more ready before they go into the studio in December. Unlike Jesse, Bell's young narrator, they at least ought to have plenty of material.
  
  "It wasn't the guitar's fault. I just couldn't think of anything I wanted to play," Jesse says in Anything Goes. "If it was going to be like that, why bother? I knew plenty of guys who played in bands that from the way they talked and acted had just as soon be swinging a nine-pound hammer. Easy enough for it to turn into any old kind of a job."
  
  
  
• From: cosmician (@ 195.229.241.244) on: Thu Aug 1 02:41:41 EDT 2002
  
  A letter to the Editor of Dubai based Khaleej Times newspaper :
  
  http://www.khaleejtimes.co.ae/ktarchive/300702/letters.htm
  
  
  Musical solution
  
  THERE are many events taking place in the world at the present moment that defy easy description or definition. Human intellect is under the severe challenge of 'formal' religions in 'political' hands. The highly predictable front-page news everyday makes me wonder what can be done to make planet Earth a planet of peace, harmony and brotherhood.
  I think that among all of humanity, music is the answer to this. It has no barriers attached to it. In fact, when words fail, music speaks. Beethoven, Bach, Mozart, Schubert and Strauss and other classical musicians of the West in the 20th century, were promoted in the last 50 years by sublime legends like Yehudi Menuhin and Isacc Stern on the violin and Arthur Rubinstein on the piano.
  
  Menuhin, in his turn, then appreciated and lauded L. Subramanian, as the top violinist in the world, at a concert in Germany, where Subramanian blended classical Western music with Eastern ragas.
  
  I am moved also when I listen to the music of the great Egyptian Arab singer, Umm Kulthoom, and the divinely gifted Fayrooz of Lebanon who has retained her audience despite the civil war (1975-'90). And what a great musician the ghazal singer Ghulam Ali of Pakistan is, who breaks down barriers between the two nations of the subcontinent. I wish that our children would learn music and their elders would stop mixing politics with religion. I am sure music could be made to work to mend fences all over the world. - V.G.S. Mani, Sharjah
  
  
• From: cosmician (@ ) on: Mon Aug 26 00:49:55 EDT 2002
  
  'We do versions, not remixes'
  Instant Karma comes up with a new sound
  
  http://www.rediff.com/entertai/2002/aug/14ehsaan.htm
  
  
  They call themselves Instant Karma.
  
  Ehsaan Noorani and Loy Mendonca are already part of the Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy team who scored for the successful Dil Chahta Hai, as also their just-released album Yeh Kya Ho Raha Hai, which is climbing up the charts.
  
  
  
  Apart from their filmi commitments Ehsaan and Loy along with Farhad are also part of a remix band that has been doing versions of R D Burman and other composers over two albums.
  
  Now, Instant Karma's third album Dance Masti... Again is out, and the trio is raring to go, says Subhash K Jha:
  
  First a word on your new film album Yeh Kya Ho Raha Hai. It suffers from heavy Dil Chahta Hai hangover.
  
  Ehsaan (E): I know. We create the sound according to the brief the director provides. So we had to go by what Hansal Mehta wanted. Now when you hear what Shankar, Ehsaan and I are doing for Honey Irani's film Armaan, you will realise it is a completely different sound. Recent Interviews
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  We're also scoring for Farhan Akhtar's war film Lakshya and David Dhawan's film for Subhash Ghai Ek Aur Ek Gyarah. We are very happy with the tunes we have created.
  
  Loy (L): We're just out here having fun with the works of some great composers. We haven't really restricted ourselves to R D Burman. But it just so happens that we keep going back to his songs. I guess we come from the same headspace.
  
  RD wasn't into ripping anyone else's music. He thought light years ahead of everyone else. He was very global in what he did. Even with limited technology and media coverage, RD did exemplary work.
  
  As a kid, I used to listen to a lot of classical music on the radio. I don't really come from a film music background, but I could make out a lot of RD's influences from the music my Dad played at home. We had all kinds of global music playing at home.
  
  Farhad: I'm a musician like Ehsaan and Loy. I also produce pop albums for other musicians. For Instant Karma, we do versions. Deejays do remixes.
  
  We re-record every bit of the original tune add new riffs. The only thing that remains of the old song is the old melody and lyrics.
  
  Ehsaan and Loy, you're almost like a resident composer for the Akhtars?
  
  E: *laughs* Javedsaab says we are their family composers. Lakshya will again be a different experience. We have to work on theme pieces, etc. But I must tell you I was really upset when everyone slashed our music for Kamal Haasan's Abhay.
  
  Loy, how did you get together with Shankar and Ehsaan to compose film music?
  
  L: See, Shankar was a computer programmer and an aspiring singer. He came to do some jingles for me and Ehsaan. He's such a brilliant musician. The three of us work really well together.
  
  I'm often asked how we function within a trio. I tell them you must try sitting on a two-legged chair *laughs*. In any energy-driven ambience there's always a force working behind the scenes.
  
  All famous composing duos have a lyricist, an arranger or both lending them a hefty helping hand. Maybe we're more comfortable sharing fame and glory. You know it's great to be called music directors but somewhere deep down we are just musicians. We love playing music. That's the most important thing.
  
  Whether we compose a five-minute song or a 50-second jingle, we enjoy doing both.
  
  Why Instant Karma?
  
  E: Why not? We came out with our first album six years ago. We never wanted to do remix really. We just did new versions of old songs starting with Rajesh Roshan's Dil kya kare from Julie. That became very popular.
  
  In fact, it was one of the first version songs that wasn't savaged by everyone for ruining the original. Then we did another album Bahon Mein Chale Aao. Now two years later, Instant Karma is back with a third album.
  
  L: Sometimes our schedules as film composers and as Instant Karma do overlap. But we're quite used to chaos *laughs*.
  
  F: Instant Karma is just something that happened. Bally Sagoo had just come out with his album of versions Bollywood Flashback. We thought we would do something comparable, if not better. We just did two songs and forgot about them.
  
  Then Sony Music marketed Dil Kya Kare and it was a huge hit. That's how we started with Instant Karma.
  
  Now, Ehsaan and Loy are doing their movie projects while I'm producing albums for Mahalaxmi Iyer and a new guy from Assam called Zubin Garg.
  
  Why this gap between Instant Karma's last and new album?
  
  E: We got busy with other things. My career as a film composer with Shankar and Loy is completely separate from what I do with Instant Karma. Farhad, Loy and I have been friends for years.
  
  Even Shankar who isn't part of Instant Karma, sings some of our songs. So he's very much part of what we're doing.
  
  L: We love doing film songs. Instant Karma is such a great learning experience for me. But there's a method to our madness, which is to bring evergreens down from a listening environment to a danceable dimension.
  
  Just like clothes undergo fashion changes, so do music grooves. Twenty years ago you couldn't dance and enjoy music at the same time.
  
  Are you comfortable doing new interpretations of time-tested songs?
  
  E: Yeah! It's great fun. They're such gorgeous songs.
  
  But they're other composers' property!
  
  You know, I really think if R D Burman were alive, he would come to us and tell us, "Why don't you do my songs?" *laughs*. It's really sad the way RD died. I've heard the music company wanted some other composer for 1942: A Love Story. But Vinod Chopra insisted on RD.
  
  L: I think RD would have approved of Instant Karma. Composers write music in different ways. When we wrote Jaane kyon log pyaar karte hai in Dil Chahta Hai, we did it one way. Others are most welcome to do it in another.
  
  There are always variations to a song. It's a living, constantly mutating entity. So for me to do an RD song is an honour. Today we're fighting for a lot of things that he did. We're successful because RD paved the way for us.
  
  F: We don't do just RD. We also do Kalyanji-Anandji, Laxmikant-Pyarelal, eh? Strangely we end up doing an RD song nine out of ten times. Would he approve of what we're doing? Any musician would take a version of his song as a compliment.
  
  Because a version gives a new lease of life to the original. When we did Bahon mein chale aao, many mediapersons didn't know it was a song from the film Anamika.
  
  Mozart would have died long ago if he weren't kept alive by musicians who followed. If RD Burman were alive, he would be collecting royalty.
  
  So Instant Karma will go on?
  
  E: Yeah, for now. Maybe two years from now we'll do something else. Everyone, from my mother to little kids, loves our versions. It's great fun.
  
  F: Instant Karma is on for now. I might produce [singer-dancer] Shiamak Davar's new album. I may even do music for movies. But Instant Karma should continue.
  
  

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