I Wondered About This

20. January 2009 · Comments Off on I Wondered About This · Categories: Links, Videos

I had read that Obama would become president at 12 noon. At that very moment a quartet was playing. And now I read this:

Barack Obama became the 44th president of the United States of America exactly at noon today Eastern time in a fashion unlike any of his predecessors. The ceremony ran a couple of minutes late, and as the clock struck, Obama had not yet been sworn in. Rather power changed hands as he sat quietly on the steps of the Capitol and -– along with much of the rest of the world — listened as violinist Itzhak Perlman, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, pianist Gabriela Montero and clarinetist Anthony McGill performed the world premiere of “Air and Simple Gifts” by John Williams. (You can watch and hear it below.)

(And, contrary to what was suggested, it doesn’t appear that the cello being used is a black carbon fiber cello.)

BQOD

20. January 2009 · 2 comments · Categories: BQOD

I love music. But, even more I am inspired by certain sounds like and English Horn or a wind chime.

Premios Dardo Award

20. January 2009 · Comments Off on Premios Dardo Award · Categories: Ramble


Gee … thanks, Robert!

Robert, over at Abu Bratsche, has awarded me a Premios Dardo Award, that comes with these instructions:

Acceptance is conditional on the following conditions, however, which I hereby declare I’ve met:

Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person that has granted the award and his or her blog link.
Pass the award to at least 5 blogs that are worthy of this acknowledgment. Remember to contact each of them to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

In an attempt to not overlap with Robert or others I’ve seen receive this, I’m attempting to choose what might be new blogs to some of you. Ones I enjoy and hope you do too. Here are my five:

Satruday Matinee Notes of an Anesthesioboist

Hoboj A Basa

Oboerista

Lone Oboe

Now to those bloggers above … please don’t bother to “play along” if you aren’t up to it. I promise not to take offense. I do wonder whether things like this turn into troublesome chain mail sorts of things.

Okay. Over and out.

No Thanks, CBS

20. January 2009 · 7 comments · Categories: Ramble

So as I watch the quartet play this little arrangement of Simple Gifts CBS decides that it’s just too boring to merely focus on the musicians and has to show a church of people watching and listening. And then they see they are on camera and start to laugh and applaud.

Heaven forbid we just watch and listen.

Never mind, CBS. I’m moving to another station. (Should have been on PBS, I’ll bet. I’m guessing they can be quiet …?) OR … thinking more … are all the stations using the same feed? Sigh.

-time lapse-

And now we have a new president. (Am I supposed to capitalize that, I wonder?)

Yep, I’m Watching …

20. January 2009 · Comments Off on Yep, I’m Watching … · Categories: Ramble

… and listening too.

Music is a part of the inauguration, of course, and I’m obviously tuned in to that. We’ve heard marches, fanfares, and some of the Vaughan Williams’ Folk Song Suite (making me feel like I’m back in high school when I played a lot of that stuff). What I’m really waiting for is the quartet by John Williams. (And I’m hoping it doesn’t sound like a movie soundtrack.) I’m also curious about the poet. I used to dabble in poetry (never managed to get good enough … sigh) so I do love to hear poetry and see real poets.

Okay. Back to the “show”.

Free but Flawed

20. January 2009 · Comments Off on Free but Flawed · Categories: Links

I guess you get what you pay for. There is a free download from Joyce DiDonato’s new recording. I do wonder if it’s legit, as it takes me to something other than an EMI site, but the email that provides the link says it’s from EMI. (Does that matter? Am I overly cautious?)

Unfortunately I can’t bear to listen to it; there are so many weird spots that click and stick, if you know what I mean.

Ah well. It was worth a try. Anyone else get this and find the same problem? Will that same problem exist if I actually download it rather than listen from that site? If this isn’t really a legit offer is it something that would mess up my computer? (Yes, I am this stupid.) Oh you smart people out there … do tell! 🙂

Music & Creativity

20. January 2009 · Comments Off on Music & Creativity · Categories: Read Online

I opened up my itunes and quickly browsed all the categories of music. I tend to keep music that I don’t listen to, but needless to say, I have almost everything you can imagine. I have classical music all the way to trash metal. I thought about the type of music this target market listens to. I tuned into classic rock, and all of a sudden in matter of seconds my mind started to visualize how the site should flow. My mind was in the perfect gear to produce the look and feel we were going for.

So if you listen to different styles of music does it cause you to think differently? The writer above is talking about a design for an advertiser. He was working on a fashion line geared toward outdoor sports enthusiasts (“surfers, mountain bikers, rock climbers”). I guess they all like classic rock?

And what would classical music be used for? According to things I’ve heard on the radio, it’s used for overpriced cars.

I’ve heard writers talk about what music they put on while they work to help inspire them. I guess this works for a lot of people.

Tan Dun’s Eroica

20. January 2009 · Comments Off on Tan Dun’s Eroica · Categories: MTT, Videos

I can’t say I’m blown away by either version. There’s something sort of “high school marching band playing movie music” about it to me. But what do I know?

LSO:

Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra:

Here’s MTT talking about the YTSO:

My guess is — call my cynical — that everyone in the orchestra will be young or at least youngish. It is, after all, about the youtube folks, and looks matter. But then perhaps I’ll be proven wrong and a bunch of over 50 folks will audition. Ya think?

And no, I’m not auditioning. I’d love it if they wanted to bring along a few guest bloggers … now THAT would be fun! 🙂

(I don’t see a single oboe or English horn when I click on “view” … so maybe no one is auditioning for those spots? Hmmm. Any readers/reeders out there going for this?