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August, '08
Just off a small power boat that completed a four hour circumnavigation of Chincoteague Island. Seems like a simple thing. But the currents here can be strong, the channels are not well marked and shoals of old oyster shells come up quickly. We did see two of the southern herds of Chincoteague Ponies grazing in the marsh. And the view of the 1967 Assateague Light is a heart stopper.
Yes, we did sing sea chanteys. But no lyrics will be printed here for reasons that have more to do decorum than with copyright:)
Here are the arrhythmic accounts of August....
New Items on the Website
By request I have put up three mp3 tunes for download. You’ll find these at:
http://www.billtroxler.com/beginners.html
ABC notation files for two of the tunes are also linked to this page. I did not put up standard notation files on the website for these tunes. PDFs are available on request.
Below you'll find some book recommendations and one short trip to the dictionary.
Have a wonderful time during the rest of the summer. I hope to see you next year at one of the festivals – maybe before!
Bill
A WORD FROM THE DICTIONARY
I subscribe to Merriam-Webster online www.merriam-webster.com . It’s a great service for folks like me who love words. Today’s word of the day was “metronome.” That most terrible task master of musicians was patented in 1816 by Johan Maelzel. Courts eventually decided that Maelzel had copied the device from the work of Dietrich Winkel. But Maelzel won the marketing race. When you look at a musical score to find the notation “M.M. = 120” it means that Maelzel's Metronome should be set to a tempo of 120 beats per minute.
Beethoven was initially enthralled by the metronome. He placed metronome markings on many of his scores. Some while later when he performed or conducted this pieces he found that his current aesthetic sensibility no longer agreed with his previous tempo markings. He soon abandoned the mechanical time keeper.
BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS
This Is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession
by Daniel J. Levitin
Quite possibly the best, easiest to ready book on how the human brain processes musical information. The author was a musician, recording engineer and producer before going back to college to earn a Ph.D. in psychology. He write for lay readers, not academic colleagues. This is a marvelous book!
The Perfect Wrong Note: Learning to Trust Your Musical Self
by William Westney
THANKS so much to Paul Kaplan for recommending and sending this book to me. It’s a splendid book for all of us who struggle with practice routines.
Music and Imagination
by Aaron Copland
Harvard University invited Aaron Copland to present six Charles Eliot Norton lectures. This book is the text of those lectures. If you think you might want to compose your own music, this book is a wonderful start. In the first half of the text Copland describes music as nonverbal symbols that operate within a system of inherited sounds. Copland the composer was decades ahead of Levitin the psychologist who has proved Copland’s theories. The second half of the text is dated because it deals with the concert hall music scene of the 1950’s. Still this is a must read for anyone thinking about writing music.
What to Listen for in Music
by Aaron Copland
The first edition of this book came out in 1939. Aaron Copland made his final revisions in 1957. The book was reissued in 2002 with a new forward. A book that remains in print through seven decades is probably a book worth reading! Copland’s very clear language and passion for music are marvelous.
Temperament: How Music Became a Battleground for the Great Minds of Western Civilization
by Stuart Isacoff
It's hard to believe that the solution to the Pythagorean comma engaged so many great minds and affected history so much. Well, that's the power of music. If you liked James Burke's TV series, Connections, you'll enjoy this book. Isacoff also keeps the text out of all those dreary arithmetical details that bore most of us. He does over look the well tempered scale. But, if you can forgive that, you'll find this a great romp through the history of music and Western Civilization.
The Inner Game of Music
by Barry Green and W. Timothy Gallwey
This nearly 20 year old text is still a great read. Barry Green was the author of the highly successful book "The Inner Game of Tennis". W. Timothy Gallwey is a conservatory trained bassist. The book is a great motivator, explainer and a readable affirmation of the musical skills that lurk inside everyone of us.
Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain
by Oliver Sacks
You may remember Dr. Sack’s extremely popular, 1998 book "The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat". In this current text, Dr. Sack’s examines the very odd things that can happen to a music mind. Not my favorite. A bit too many weird tales of bizarre brain behavior somehow connected with music for my liking. But I’m in the minority on this. This text is a highly a popular work and may be interesting for you.
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When you have only two pennies left in
the world, buy a loaf of bread with
one, and a lily with the other.
Chinese Proverb
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