Some new research may reveal a molecular basis for the "Mozart effect".
New research has revealed a molecular basis for the "Mozart effect" - the observation that a brief stint of Mozart, but not other music, may improve learning and memory.
Rats that heard a Mozart sonata expressed higher levels of several genes involved in stimulating and changing the connections between brain cells, the study showed. The team, including the researcher who first proposed the Mozart effect, hope the results will help them design music therapy treatments for people suffering from neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's.
The Mozart effect first came to light in a 1993 paper in Nature (vol 365, p 611), when Fran Rauscher, a neuroscientist at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, US, and colleagues showed that college students who listened to Mozart's Sonata for Two Pianos in D Major for 10 minutes performed better on a spatial reasoning test than students who listened to new age music or nothing at all.
The findings sparked excitement from the general public - specially designed Mozart CDs leapt up the music charts - and some scepticism from the scientific community.
Take it with a grain of salt though, since the effect itself is in no way well established. There have been recent studies disputing it.
Tower Records just filed for Chapter 11. Looks like people weren't willing to pay $18.99 for CD's containing one good song.
The BBC is going to air its Symphony Orchestra playing John Cage's 4'33" which consists of 4 minutes and 33 seconds of silence.
Funny, I always thought it was a piano piece...someone must've orchestrated it.
Seriously, while I quite like some of Cage's actual compositions, this 'piece' has always struck me as completely absurd. I can only see it as a joke that Cage played at the expense of the worldly 'cognoscenti' who take it seriously and no doubt see the deep and profound implications of the silence (as obviously do the programmers at BBC and the judge who ordered payment for copyright infringment for using a minute of silence on an album by the Planets). It falls into the category of what I have previously referred to on this blog as 'story art', that is art that requires some story behind it, the quality of the story usually of the same caliber as the philosophical musings of college students at 3am after a few too many joints.
BusinessPundit thinks that the reason that CD sales are down so much is because people are actually listening to less music. This is actually a very intriguing idea that I never conisidered since I have my winamp on all day, both at home and at work (and I even paid for most of it). But as the graph he posts shows, it looks like music listening is plummeting precipitously. I think it's time the music industry drops people like Britney Spears (we all know she is headed to porn eventually anyway) and the other talentless vacuous cute little fuzzy bunnies (to borrow a term from My Crazy Summer, yes I know I'm dating myself by referring to a film where Demi was flat) and starts promoting people who actually make interesting music.
Jan Swafford has an interesting article in Slate on the vast improvements in original instrument performances of Baroque and Classical repetoire over the last 40 years but with the unfortunate tendency to also increase the tempi, frequently without proper justification, as the playing becomes better.
There's a speed sweepstakes going on. Six years ago in Boston I heard a Bach "B Minor Mass" from which slow tempos had been essentially banished. No more grandeur, no more sublimity, no more sweetness, no more tragedy?all qualities in which the "B Minor" is incomparably rich. Or used to be. In this performance the speeds were brisk, brisker, breakneck. In the "Crucifixus" movement, Christ trotted all the way to Golgotha, pumping his cross.
I thought that was the last freaking straw, everything fast as possible, until two years ago I heard a conductor take movements of the "B Minor" faster than possible, chorus and orchestra scrambling desperately to catch up. In the crowd after the performance I heard one guy exclaim, "I didn't know Bach was so bouncy!"; another, an organist no less, wondered, "I don't get it. What's the big deal about that piece?" The most trenchant comment was from an older composer, who sighed as I passed, "Too bad. It really is the greatest music in the world."
There's incompetent bad, which as in my old Handel recording can be highly entertaining. And there's sophisticated bad, which is just depressing. There's no way to say to what degree those Bach tempos were "authentic." The main basis for those tempos is fashion, not hard evidence. What can be confidently said is that a two-hour religious work of often tragic import containing little or no slow music is inexpressive, unmusical, and silly.
The RIAA is suing a 12 year old girl who lives in a project for downloading music. Can you say public relations nightmare? They really should have investigated the identities of who they are suing a little better. Yes they do have the right to sue. But personally I never thought it was a feasible strategy with millions of people out there downloading stuff and I really don't think that suing a poor 12 year old girl is going to do them any good.
I wonder if the people at Universal Music have been reading this blog? Yesterday I was commenting on how expensive CD's are and today they drastically lower prices. They have decided to eliminate the $16.98, $17.98 and $18.98 suggested retail prices and have instituted a $12.98 price for virtually all top line CD's. Well done Universal.
We went to hear a concert last night given by our friend and co-blogger, Steve Waite and his singing partner Christine. It was a great concert, Steve is a fabulous guitarist and Christine has a beautiful, crystalline voice and great range. If you haven't gotten a copy of Steve's CD, you should click on the link on the right and give it a listen. Great guitar and vocals.
There is an interesting NYT article for pianists and piano enthusiasts on the differences between New York and Hamburg manufactured Steinways. I own a 1998 Hamburg Steinway which I bought at the New York Steinway showroom (I'll reserve the story of how it got there for a future post). My wife and I listened to and played lots of pianos both Steinways and others, new and refurbished, and we both immediately fell in love with the Hamburg that we now own. We still do.
According to this, if the recording industry decided to sue 75 people per day for trading music online it would take them 2,200 years to sue all the current violators. Personally I can't even imagine that they could keep up that rate for a week. Can you just imagine their legal bills?
Tuesday, July 29 2003
Glimmers of Hope
Editors Note: It?s the time of the year when we take a short holiday from publishing our Vitamin Bs. We will resume publication after Labor Day. Have a great rest of the summer.
For nearly a decade, I?ve been following with keen interest the music industry?s response to digital music, the Internet and the World Wide Web. Frustrated and fed up with the RIAA?s ?I-feel-threatened-by-this-new-technology-so-I?m-going-sue-em? mentality, I started my own independent record label, Broadband Records, and recently released my band's CD on that label (see: Sweetbird?s ?Free Spirit Reflection? at www.broadbandrecords.com).
I started my record company to make a simple statement to my wrong-headed colleagues in the music industry: Don?t fight technology. Embrace it. Well, it seems that after nearly a decade of stumbling around, the music industry is heeding the call, thanks in part to the efforts of Steve Jobs at Apple and other technology visionaries.
Sony Corp.?s U.S. CEO and Chairman, Howard Stringer, noted recently that Apple?s launch of iTunes, which lets music fans download songs from all five major record labels for 99 cents each, was a ?sea change? and a ?wake-up call.? According to Stringer, Steve Jobs has been a liberating force in the music business.
The fact that many prominent artists have aligned themselves with Jobs and Apple hasn?t been lost on the RIAA and the Big Five. After all, whether they like it or not, music industry execs have to listen to the artists. If they don?t, they risk losing them. Indeed, several well-known bands, including Pearl Jam, Natalie Merchant and the Eagles, have abandoned big labels and are doing what I?ve done: released their music on their own independent labels.
Fortunately, economics and technology are decidedly in favor of the artist today. Natalie Merchant points out that the initial pressing of her ?The House Carpenter?s Daughter? will be about 30,000 discs, and her break even point will be about 50,000, well below the half million threshold big labels generally require. Giving the declining cost of technology, we expect breakeven thresholds to continue to fall in coming months and years, which further favors artists over the Big Five.
While it appears that the music industry is at long last pulling it head out of its rear end, the same cannot be said of conventional FM radio. With Clear Channel in the drivers seat currently, there?s not much hope on the horizon. The best musicians can hope for in the near term is that services like iTunes and XM-Radio continue to prosper.
People in the music industry need to realize that their primary objective is not to meet some bogus quarterly earnings number or to sell as much advertising as they possibly can. Rather, their primary objective should be discovering, recording, distributing and supporting great music. I'm proud to say that's the mission of my music label, Broadband Records.
In the final analysis, it?s all about the music.
Steve Waite
Our co-conspirator, Steve Waite, has just released a CD. The description on the cdbaby.com site states that "if you like the music of Joni Mitchell, Tori Amos, Peter Gabriel, Vince Gill and Loreena McKennitt, you will enjoy listening to 'Free Spirit Reflection.'" Be sure to check it out here where you can hear samples of all the tracks and buy a copy.
Here are some more too obscure favorites:
The Roches Ing
Great wordplay, infectious melody.
Johnny Copeland Kasavubu
From one of the great Texas bluesmen, this was inspired by a mid-70s trip to Kenya. I heard him play this live many times at the Towne Crier in Pawling, NY. It is almost impossible to stay in your seat while listening to this.
Bobby McFerrin Circlesongs
One of his most innovative and beautiful albums.
Eva Cassidy Time after Time
Great covers of Time after Time and Ain't no Sunshine, but the whole album is great.
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan The Last Prophet
A great album by the greatest exponent of Sufi devotional music.
Peter Gabriel Passion: Music for the Last Temptation of Christ
This is middle eastern music collected and put together by Peter Gabriel for Scorcese's Last Temptation of Christ. It is a magnificent album.
The Peguin Cafe Orchestra Broadcasting from Home
A catchy mixture of odd songs like "Prelude and Yodel" and "Music for a Found Harmonium"
Dean Esmay asks
"can you name a song you have heard that no one else you know has ever heard, but which in your estimation is exquisitely beautiful?"
These are mostly not songs, per se, but what I think is very beautiful music that should have a wider audience.
Durufle Requiem
one of the most exquisite pieces of music of the 20th century. There are three different arrangements of this work. For organ/cello and boys choir, for chamber orchestra and boys or regular choir and for full orchestra and choir. All three arrangements are by the composer. My favorite is probably the first for it's simplicity, but the full orchestra version is the most thrilling. This is actually not so obscure anymore, but when I first heard it in the mid 70's there was only a single recording on French Erato with the composer conducting. It has since gained a following and is now practically standard repertoire but it is still a magnificent piece.
Ennio Morricone's score for the film the Mission
sends chills up my spine
Ernst Bloch Concerto Grosso #1 & 2
Exciting modern take on a baroque musical form.
Lauridsen Lux Aeterna
A beautiful piece better known by community choruses who love to sing Laridsen, less known by the listening public.
Arvo Part Tabula Rasa, Fratres
A soul stirring minimalism
Howard Hanson Symphony #2 'Romantic'
It shows the influence of Hanson's music for films but it is beautiful and lush music.
Steve Reich Different Trains
Heart breaking music
Martucci La Canzone dei Ricordi
A beautiful song cycle by a contemporary of Wagner's who at the time was equally famous but who's popularity has faded. Listen to this piece and wonder why.
Cesaria Evora Miss Perfumado (Album)
The queen of Cape Verdian music. The Cape Verde Islands have a very distinctive musical style which is influenced by African, Brazilian and European styles. It is beautiful and infectious. I picked the above album to be particular but you can just buy an album of hers at random.
Le Mystere Des Voix Bulgares
An exquisite album of old Bulgarian folk music arranged in updated arrangements. The songs range from heart breaking and sorrowful to upbeat and thrilling. They have other albums also quite good, but the first is my favorite.
Gavin Bryars Jesus Blood Never Failed Me
May not be everyone's cup of tea, but I find it extraordinarily moving.
Charlie Haden Night and the City (album)
The whole album is great but I especially like the magnificent version of Twilight Song.
S.E. Rogie Dead Men Don't Smoke Marijuana
A delightfully infectious album by the king of Sierra Leone Palm Wine music. It's comes off as a combo of South African jive, 50's rockabilly, Tex-Mex and country.
and finally to fulfill Dean's specific request, here is a song:
Maria Marquez Canto del Pilon
A hypnotically beautiful song.
Frank Black says that he hasn't ruled out a Pixies reunion! That would be so awesome. The Pixies were such a great band.
The NYT has a little tribute to the piano to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Steinway & Sons this year.
Barbara and I shopped on and off for almost 3 years before we finally found the piano of our dreams, a 1998 Hamburg Steinway "A". We love our piano and have not been disappointed with our decision for one day since we bought it.