The Landmark Peaks “Tony & Dominic”

All the non-experimental music you will ever deal with uses the same two landmarks: tonic and dominant, a.k.a. “Tony and Dominic”. Once you have the domino-tonic relation clear in the ear and named, you find yourself making better sense in both your improv on breaks, reading, chord recognition in unwritten ensemble work, and composition. You can get Tony and Dominic set firm and working for you.

Noshville

Nashville chording, used by studio musicians everywhere, is a chord notation based on the  keyboard notenames. Noshville chording is something like 1-2-3 solfeggio, in that the note names have pattern meanings only, regardless of key or key signature. Flatted and sharped notes have letter names, making b and # signs unneeded.

I need unromantic music

The activities that engage me deepest are music, invention development, patent application drafting, programming, circuit design, mechanical design, and music. Music first and last and underneath all. Silence, grandmother of music, works too.

It’s because of the flow.

Growing venue circuit: living room concerts

Since 1996, Undertow Music has been a way to find local live music on the “living room circuit”, the newest Chautauqua. Don’t know if they are the first, but they have plenty of traveling musicians who bring live music to you, at hosting households across the country.

More organizations serving the model have sprung up. A net search on living room concerts will turn up several. I invite your comments on experiences with them.

Ongoing discussion with a student: four levels

Jeremy Dibb tells of four levels of discussion with a (one-on-one) student, to be touched on at every lesson. He calls these points the making of outstanding teaching out of good teaching. http://wp.me/p2MB7j-1KK

Musical Notes from a small island blog 56 – A table, a chair, a bowl of fruit and a violin; what else does a man need to be happy? Albert Einstein

from neuroscience of music, re dopamine

jeremydibbmusic.com

Why music makes you happy.  Read this article by Emily Sohn from News.Discovery.  Great stuff.

THE GIST

– Listening to moving music causes the brain to release dopamine, a feel-good chemical.

– Dopamine-induced pleasure may help explain why music has been such a big part of human societies throughout history.

– Understanding why people like listening to music is helping scientists understand human pleasure.

People love music for much the same reason they’re drawn to sex, drugs, gambling and delicious food, according to new research. When you listen to tunes that move you, the study found, your brain releases dopamine, a chemical involved in both motivation and addiction.

Even just anticipating the sounds of a composition like Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons” or Phish’s “You Enjoy Myself” can get the feel-good chemical flowing, found the study, which was the first to make a concrete link between dopamine release and musical pleasure.

The…

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Bubbles and shakeouts in making music pay

Bubbles and shakeouts in making music pay

Secondary profiting from non-live music has gone through similar boom-bust cycles already. From the earliest, when music was disseminated only through personal learning by performers and travel, the first technological step in separating original creation and publishing was written notation on paper. Bach’s family was his duplicating machine.

~~ hearing deficit ?

Ears age differently. This is a plea: don’t assume – it can hurt.

Some aging ears need more loudness. For others, however, too-loud talking or music is painful. Not figuratively painful — pain painful, right in the ears, pretty damn close in.

~~ the musician: prophet or entertainer?

A musician who contemplates what it is to be human runs up against pesky questions.

For this essay, a prophet is one who warns of urgent truths no matter the cost, and an entertainer structures leisure time for hire. Because this is a mix, not a simple dichotomy, the questions around the distinction can be pesky.

~~ musicians and audiophiles listen differently

I disagree with any requirement to listen to music live as essential to full enjoyment or appreciation. Low-fidelity technology is sufficient to carry all that I listen for in music.