Given all its demonstrable benefits, it’s a real shame that music education at public schools is a low priority when budgets are tight. Enter MusicianCorps, a self-described “musical peace corps” that sends musicians into struggling school districts to teach music-making. The program is funded by a grant, so it’s free for the school districts, and the MusicianCorps Fellows are paid a stipend and given health insurance during their one-year commitment to the program. This excellent program is in its first year, with 20 fellows in four cities: Seattle, San Francisco, Chicago, and New Orleans). (If the concept sounds familiar, it’s because it’s basically a musical version of Teach for America.)
This is obviously a fantastic idea, where music education and community service meet at their finest points. Everybody wins: schools get dedicated teachers for free, students get the lifelong benefits of a musical education, and the fellows get a steady paycheck and health coverage (a very, very big deal for them). Here’s to hoping that this program has many great years ahead. Head to the Music National Service website to read more — the program is in a Pepsi-sponsored contest to win $250,000 in additional funding, so head there now and vote!
Ukulele player Jake Shimabukuro implores his fellow Hawaiians and music fans to sign this petition to save the Hawaii County Band from budget cuts effective June 30. Made up of local music teachers, students, and performers, the band has been a staple at community events for 127 years.
According to a Feb 27, 2010 article by the Hawaii Tribune Herald, the expected savings will amount to $347,027. Based on the County of Hawaii’s total budget of $387 million, this savings represents less than a tenth of one percent.
Shimabukuro’s goal is to reach 100,000 signatures by March 20.
One of my favorite pastimes when I was 14 was to scour Musician’s Friend and Sam Ash catalogs, piecing together my ultimate dream cymbal set-up. Something like three hi-hats, four rides, eight crashes, and way too many China and effects cymbals to count — just way too many cymbals, or that’s what I thought until I saw Terry Bozzio’s setup in an issue of Modern Drummer:
My dream setup still hasn’t come to fruition (I’d need to move into a bigger apartment for starters). But at least now I can get a virtual taste with Sabian Cymbals Set-Up Builder. Choose a stereotypical genre-based setup, or pick any Sabian artists’ set-up. With registration, you can even build your own set-up. I know what I’m doing at work tomorrow.
Checking in with with Making Music’s old friends, the Young@Heart Chorus, we were excited to hear they are heading overseas to for their “Alive&Well” tour in Japan hitting cities Tokyo, Nagoya, and Kobe.
These senior citizen songbirds, based in Northampton, Mass., travel all over the U.S. selling out rock concerts, proving we’re only as old as we act.
The chorus was featured in a documentary in 2008, where we learn about their lives as overnight rock sensations, their practice and performance schedules belting out the Ramones, the Clash, Jimi Hendrix, and dozens of other classic rock tunes. Here is a deleted scene from the film:
Ever wonder what old, poorly recorded jazz and classical records by the all-time greats might sound like with a modern production? Wired.com reports that an ambitious software company can help you find out. Zenph Sound Innovations uses some computer magic to reproduce a performer’s essence, so to speak.
Using old recordings, they’ve been able to create computer programs that replicate the inflections, nuances, and idiosyncrasies of long-dead legends like jazz pianist Art Tatum and classical pianist Sergei Rachmaninov by running MIDI files through a real piano. It works out pretty well! Compare for yourself on Zenph’s website.
It sounds like a very intensive, difficult process — that would explain why Zenph has released just a handful of re-recordings since 2008. They seem to be ramping up production and claim to have a much more ambitious schedule for 2010. The computer re-interpretations can’t hold a candle to the originals, but they’re a fine complement.
CBC News reports a school in Derby, England, is punishing its rascally ruffians with mandatory classical music listening in detention hall.
The punishment has struck a chord with classical music lovers who believe using Mozart as a punishment only further alienates children from appreciating music they may never be given the credit of enjoying.
However, the school reports that shenanigans are down 60% since detention hall was transformed into Music Appreciation 101. Is classical music the answer?
Microsoft is working on a project called “muscle-computer interface,” a system that uses electrodes to sense muscle movement and sends it to a computer to decode in any way it sees fit.
What does it have to do with music? Air guitar. For real. It’s already been used for a game of air Guitar Hero (click here to see a video), and the same concept could apply to a real guitar. Move your fingers, some sensors pick up the muscle activity, and a computer interprets it as a certain note.
This technology obviously has a long way to go, but it’s still pretty cool!
Married for 62 years and keeping the spark alive, Marlow and Fran Cowan of Ankeny, Iowa, pulled out all the stops during an impromptu piano recital in the lobby of the Mayo Clinic.
Captured on video by a patient, the Cowans’ performance has been viewed more than 6.6 million times on YouTube—they don’t even own a computer. Marlow, who will be 90 this year, was taken aback when a Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune reporter told him of their Internet fame. “Wow!” he says. “People must not have much to do.”
For the Cowans, music is clearly the fountain of youth.
To the untrained eye, some races are just too close to call. If you’ve ever wondered the difference in time it takes to get the gold medal in speed skating or alpine skiing instead of the silver, check out this New York Times article where you can hear the differences with musical notes denoting the times.
Who would have thought the secret to a dynamite orchestra lies in produce section of your local supermarket. Known as the only orchestra in the world that only uses vegetables to produce tasty tunes, the Vienna Vegetable Orchestra has been touring the world since 1998, showcasing their edible instruments.
Before every show, the musicians go to the grocery store to purchase the perfect carrots, red peppers, zucchini, cabbage, or whatever veggies they need to make that funky sound.
After the show, they use the leftover scraps to make a delicious soup. Vive la veggies!
To the untrained eye, some races are just too close to call. If you’ve ever wondered the difference in time it takes to get the gold medal in speed skating or alpine skiing instead of the silver, check out this 
