I’ve toyed around with several iPhone and iPad music apps. Many are intriguing and fun, but few have inspired me into making “real” music. In preparation for the next Disquiet Junto project, I downloaded Nodebeat and tried some improvisation. I like the result: The app combines randomness and control in an intriguing way. I [...]
Filed in Composition, Hardware, Improvisation, Interfaces, Music, Software, Video Games
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Also tagged animoog, Composition, electronica, figure, ios, ipad, Music, nodebeat, random, touch
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The seminar I’ve been taking with Morton Subotnick is sadly drawing to a close. As part of the end of the semester, we were invited to Professor Subotnick’s home studio, a few blocks from NYU, to get a demonstration of the setup he uses in performances.
Filed in Composition, Hardware, Improvisation, Interfaces, Key Musicians, Music, Sampling, Software
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Also tagged ableton, avant-garde, buchla, classical, Composition, electronica, experimental, midi, morton subotnick, nyu
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Joshua Pablo Rosenstock. Free Play Meets Gameplay: iGotBand, a Video Game for Improvisers. Leonardo Music Journal, Vol. 20, pp. 11–15, 2010. Guitar Hero, Rock Band and games like them have done a wonderful service to non-musicians. The games give a good sense of what playing an instrument in a band is like. The interface is [...]
Filed in Composition, Improvisation, Interfaces, Music, Software, Video Games
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Also tagged games, guitar hero, linkedin, nyu, play, rock band, Video Games
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Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Rather than attempting the impossible task of explaining how everything in jazz works, I’m going to pick a specific, fairly mainstream tune and talk you through it: “Someday My Prince Will Come” by Miles Davis, off the 1961 album by the same name. First of all, here’s the original version from Snow White. Once you’ve [...]
Filed in Improvisation, Key Musicians, Music
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Also tagged disney, hank mobley, jazz, jimmy cobb, john coltrane, linkedin, miles davis, movies, Music, paul chambers, quora, wynton kelly
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Saturday, December 3, 2011
Improvisation Charlie Christian – “Waiting For Benny”
Filed in Composition, Improvisation, Music
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Also tagged art blakey, blues, charlie christian, clifford brown, Composition, count basie, duke ellington, herbie hancock, jazz, john coltrane, max roach, miles davis, quora, soul
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Friday, November 18, 2011
Ella Fitzgerald lost some of her range as she got older, but her soul and phrasing got deeper and deeper. The series of duet albums she did with Joe Pass late in her life are exquisite.
Filed in Key Musicians, Music
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Also tagged age, drumming, ella fitzgerald, funk, jazz, joe pass, max roach, miles davis, quora, soul
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Thursday, November 17, 2011
There’s a certain jazz lick that’s so heavily used that it’s just known as The Lick. It’s the only jazz lick I know of that has its own Facebook page. Here’s a greatest hits compilation:
Filed in Copyright and Authorship, Music, Sampling
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Also tagged akon, bobby hutcherson, classical, cliches, digging the crates, Evolution, facebook, freddie hubbard, grant green, jazz, john coltrane, memes, miles davis, Music, player, pop, reggae, rock, santana, stravinsky
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Tuesday, November 1, 2011
For me it’s a tie between two John Coltrane recordings. First, the Complete 1961 Village Vanguard Recordings, featuring some of Eric Dolphy’s finest work.
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Improvising music is like giving a speech off the cuff. Before you can do it, you need to know some vocabulary and grammar. In music, the vocabulary is riffs, phrases, scales, sequences and other melodic building blocks. The grammar is music theory. It’s not necessary to learn either one formally, you can figure them out [...]
Thursday, August 18, 2011
I’ve tried a variety of different songwriting methods. I’ve written a set of lyrics and then tried setting them, or been handed a set of lyrics and told to make them work. I’ve come up with melodies and then set lyrics to them, found chords for them and so on. I’ve worked out basslines or [...]