Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh love it!
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Monday, October 03, 2011
Picture du jour: Music notation at its best
The Babe emailed this to me today. She got it from her friend Stacey, who got it from somewhere else.
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh love it!
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh love it!
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Cartoon music things you never knew
There's a fast little piece of music that's used as a vamp for all kinds of things. Most recently, it's showed up on "Family Guy" with the vaudevillians, but it's been around for decades. Here's a video clip that shows the vaudevillians dancing and playing the piece in question.
What you probably didn't know was that this is a piece by Sam Fonteyn called "Galloping Gertie" (yup, just like the bridge). Sheet music isn't hard to find and I'm told it's not that hard to play. It's just fast.
While we're on the subject of music in cartoons, the music you'd always hear in Warner Bros. cartoons whenever they were showing a factory at work or an assembly line is called "Powerhouse" and it's by Raymond Scott. There were two pieces of this theme; the thing you'll recognize instantly is this, which is actually the second half. But you'll also recognize the first part if you're a fan of Warner Bros. cartoons. Here's a clip of both parts.
Something that I, classical music buff that I am, have known for years, but you may not is that the music you'd hear when the Road Runner blazing down the roads to is by Smetana (a composer I've always loved for his piece, The Moldau). The piece you're hearing is "The Dance of the Comedians" from his opera "The Bartered Bride."
And, just because it needed to be said, Lucy and Linus's last name is "Van Pelt."
What you probably didn't know was that this is a piece by Sam Fonteyn called "Galloping Gertie" (yup, just like the bridge). Sheet music isn't hard to find and I'm told it's not that hard to play. It's just fast.
While we're on the subject of music in cartoons, the music you'd always hear in Warner Bros. cartoons whenever they were showing a factory at work or an assembly line is called "Powerhouse" and it's by Raymond Scott. There were two pieces of this theme; the thing you'll recognize instantly is this, which is actually the second half. But you'll also recognize the first part if you're a fan of Warner Bros. cartoons. Here's a clip of both parts.
Something that I, classical music buff that I am, have known for years, but you may not is that the music you'd hear when the Road Runner blazing down the roads to is by Smetana (a composer I've always loved for his piece, The Moldau). The piece you're hearing is "The Dance of the Comedians" from his opera "The Bartered Bride."
And, just because it needed to be said, Lucy and Linus's last name is "Van Pelt."
Wednesday, March 02, 2011
The Redhead song
I stumbled over this and I love it. I don't know Russian so I don't understand the lyrics, but it's a very pretty song. According to the comment, it's a Belorussian folk song. I'm going to try the melody on the banjo.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Monday, December 13, 2010
Ah, the blessings of the season!
Okay, okay, I'm a sleaze who enjoys totally pulchritudinous objectification. (Um, this is news to anyone?) But I really thought this was fun in a tasteless way. It's the La Senza Cup Size Choir. La Senza makes all kinds of lingerie and the Cup Size Choir is models from A to G that you can play on your keyboard. (Press Shift and hit the appropriate key to go up an octave, FYI.) You can view a prerecorded version of Deck the Halls at that site by clicking the link at the bottom of the screen. You can also meet the models in the clip below.
Friday, September 10, 2010
We No Speak Americano
It's Friday. You really need to watch this just for the fun of it. It's a bouncy little tune and you can't guess what's going to happen next. You can't really stop watching it, either: once it starts, you're hooked.
Monday, July 19, 2010
St. Luke's Bottle Band
Oh, those silly Midwest Lutherans! St. Luke's, in Prospect Park, IL, does a lot of things but the most famous may be the St. Luke's Bottle Band. They play bottles of all kinds by blowing on 'em, striking 'em with drumsticks, and so on. It's fun stuff.
There are several RealAudio clips on their website, such as the Second Brandenburg Concerto, the Dance of the Reed Flutes, and a version of one of my top 5 all-time favorite pieces of music, dubbed Rhapsody in Bottles. There are also a lot of concert clips on YouTube: an entire concert, in fact.
Something you'll notice in the concert clips is that the conductor will cue everyone by making a sudden gesture raising his arms. The band members will frequently respond. Keep an eye out for it.
There are several RealAudio clips on their website, such as the Second Brandenburg Concerto, the Dance of the Reed Flutes, and a version of one of my top 5 all-time favorite pieces of music, dubbed Rhapsody in Bottles. There are also a lot of concert clips on YouTube: an entire concert, in fact.
Something you'll notice in the concert clips is that the conductor will cue everyone by making a sudden gesture raising his arms. The band members will frequently respond. Keep an eye out for it.
Franz Biebl's "Ave Maria"
BTW, this has nothing to do with anything, but this is a clip of a good production of a piece I'm very fond of. I get goose pimples whenever I hear it and the finale makes me teary for its elegance. I sing bass and the bass line is really yummy on this, particularly in the finale.
I first met this when I had the honor to be singing with the Washingtonians, an 80-90 voice mixed choir run by the many-talented Scott Warrender. It's one of my regrets that I didn't discover them years before I did, because I would've loved performing with them for years and years. Funny, great music, wonderful shows, a joy to be with. ~sigh~
This YouTube clip is the best I've found so far. The video portion just shows a flickering fireplace, so you can crank up the sound and just listen. Headphones are desirable. You're going to want to crank this up.
I so love this piece.
I first met this when I had the honor to be singing with the Washingtonians, an 80-90 voice mixed choir run by the many-talented Scott Warrender. It's one of my regrets that I didn't discover them years before I did, because I would've loved performing with them for years and years. Funny, great music, wonderful shows, a joy to be with. ~sigh~
This YouTube clip is the best I've found so far. The video portion just shows a flickering fireplace, so you can crank up the sound and just listen. Headphones are desirable. You're going to want to crank this up.
I so love this piece.
Sunday, July 04, 2010
Music: Queen meets the Soggy Bottom Boys
Steve Lalor sent me this clip. It's a group called Hayseed Dixie, an odd bluegrass band from the UK. Their first album was entitled "A Hillbilly Tribute to AC/DC," a title that just seems to scream "No good can come of this!" The current album is "Killer Grass," with cuts such as "Alien Abduction Probe," "Eine Kleine Trinkmusik," and "Underneath the Bed." You can find a number of clips on YouTube. The video clip below is for their version of Bohemian Rhapsody.
Totally NSFW
Mitzi Macintosh, a well-known drag performer in Sydney, does "Everybody's Fucking But Me." (Do I really have to say that this is just completely NSFW?)
Friday, July 02, 2010
Vuvuzela concert
Ravel's "Bolero" on the vuvuzela is rather funny. I like the stuffy German presentation that accompanies it.
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Very good choral piece
"I Bless the Rains Down in Africa" done by Perpetuum Jazzile, a Slovenian jazz choir, who do a very nice simulation of a rainstorm using their hands before they start singing.
Friday, April 17, 2009
For Friday: totally NSFW video
The artist of this little music video is "TastiSkank." This is pretty rude and incredibly funny and it's for every woman who's had a really bad lover. The language is definitely NSFW, but the production values are exceptional. And it's a good enough piece of music, too!
Sunday, March 29, 2009
"Wipeout" on the banjo
I was in the middle of working on receipts for expenses and so on, when I got pinged by a cousin with this little nugget.
I think we've seen it demonstrated that you can play just about anything on a banjo. But it's not the banjo that's really unusual in this; it's the washboard.
Oy.
I think we've seen it demonstrated that you can play just about anything on a banjo. But it's not the banjo that's really unusual in this; it's the washboard.
Oy.
Sunday, March 08, 2009
Boy howdy, it's a busy day today!
So, let's see: we stayed up late last night practicing a duet and working out some harmonies for "I Remember You" for the Springfield Jazz Singers and a musical evening we're emceeing next week. We're singing at the Unitarian Church this morning, followed by a break, followed by an appearance at the Springfield Arts Center with the Springfield Jazz Singers. After this, we come home and the Babe has to go into the office to get some work done and do a final review of cases for tomorrow and I've got an Excel spreadsheet to work on for my day job. Busy weekend!
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Friday, January 09, 2009
The Freelance National Anthem
Here's a little Friday tidbit: it's the Freelance National Anthem.
(To impatient to listen? Work in an office where sound coming from the computer is uncool? Read the lyrics and think of Beethoven's "Ode to Joy.")
(To impatient to listen? Work in an office where sound coming from the computer is uncool? Read the lyrics and think of Beethoven's "Ode to Joy.")
The Freelance National Anthem
by Bill Dyszel
We are fulltime freelance writers
What we love is being free.
We don't need no stinkin' office!
We don't need security!
Every day of freelance writing
Brings a different kind of joy!
And it keeps our families doubting
That we're actually employed.
Every morning we give thanks
We're not commuting with the mob
We don't worry that we could get
Fired for napping on the job!
But if one day all those employees
Lost their jobs, one thing is true:
One day later, they'd be saying
They had all "gone freelance," too!
We are never sure if we will
Make a profit or a loss
But we can't be terminated
Just for flipping of fthe boss
Benefits are had to come by
And the money's not enough
But our treasure is the endless
Joy of working in the buff!
Tuesday, January 06, 2009
Good morning to all!
It's a lovely morning and I thought to look up this song, which always makes me happy.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Mason Williams concert
I saw Mason Williams in concert with the Eugene Concert Choir the other day. I'd never seen either of them in concert before, but I was very pleased with both. I've been an enormous fan of Mason Williams for 40 years ever since he debuted Classical Gas on the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. There was a film that went along with it: 3000 Years of Art. There were also several local high school and middle school choirs, all of whom were really good, too. Their directors were outstanding.
The concert was great. Mason performed several of my favorite pieces of his with the orchestra and the choirs, "What Tune Is This?," "A Gift of Song," and, of course, "Classical Gas."
There were a lot of CDs that I didn't have (I have them in LP form, but not CD) and Classical Gas, a relatively recent book of music that gives complete tablature for a number of pieces as well as a CD so you can hear how the pieces are supposed to sound. I brought copies of two of Mason's original books, "Mason Williams Reading Matter" and "Flavors."
Mason Williams is 70. His voice is still soft, rich, warm, and well-controlled. Amazing and wonderful. I'm pleased to have met him at last.
The concert was great. Mason performed several of my favorite pieces of his with the orchestra and the choirs, "What Tune Is This?," "A Gift of Song," and, of course, "Classical Gas."
There were a lot of CDs that I didn't have (I have them in LP form, but not CD) and Classical Gas, a relatively recent book of music that gives complete tablature for a number of pieces as well as a CD so you can hear how the pieces are supposed to sound. I brought copies of two of Mason's original books, "Mason Williams Reading Matter" and "Flavors."
Mason Williams is 70. His voice is still soft, rich, warm, and well-controlled. Amazing and wonderful. I'm pleased to have met him at last.
Sunday, November 09, 2008
Latest viral video: Star Wars vocal tribute
I am just dazzled by this.
Star Wars: an a capella tribute to John Williams
The video is actually lip-synching done by Corey Vidal to a tune by a strange Canadian group (I find myself saying those two words together an awful lot, you know) called Moosebutter. Corey's lyp-synching adds a great deal to this. Once you've listened, you may want to take a look at the lyrics.
Star Wars: an a capella tribute to John Williams
The video is actually lip-synching done by Corey Vidal to a tune by a strange Canadian group (I find myself saying those two words together an awful lot, you know) called Moosebutter. Corey's lyp-synching adds a great deal to this. Once you've listened, you may want to take a look at the lyrics.
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