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Music

Monday, June 30, 2008

MP3 for Sale

Musical records The shift to digital music is well underway, but -- believe it or not -- the total digital music business is still only about 15% of total music sales. Physical recordings accounted for 82% of the $20 billion in total recorded music sales last year. Needless to say, the mix is shifting. Apple announced that it has now sold 5 billion tracks of music.

The good news for consumers is that competition is increasing and we are getting more and more choices. Single track downloads grew 53% last year and Apple is not the only contender. I have been buying music lately from Amazon. Their music is pure MP3 and has no digital rights management. The first time you visit you download a free music player. From then on it is really easy. Yesterday I found some excellent Doo Wop albums. I bought the music with one-click and it was automatically downloaded to iTunes. I then updated the iTunes Doo Wop smartlist. The list automatically updates to a random selection one gigabyte in size which I then copied to an SD card which I then put in the MP3 player on the Trike. The price is 89 cents per track with competitive album pricing. They also have a Special Deals Program.

Other patrickWeb stories about music

Music, Travels August 21, 2007 06:12 PM

Monday, April 23, 2007

Three days of music in New York

Conductor It was a joy to attend the 14,438th concert of The New York Philharmonic this past weekend at Alice Tully Hall at the Lincoln Center. The all-Brahms program included the Academic Festival Overture and Symphony No. 1 in C minor. Twenty-four year old Julia Fischer performed the Concerto in D major. I now know why reviewers have described her as “not a talent, but a full-fledged phenomenal violinist”.

The other phenomenal part of the evening was watching Lorin Maazel -- Music Director since 2002. He has led more than 150 orchestras in more than 5,000 opera and concert performances around the world. This truly remarkable man uses no score yet seems to know every note and passage intimately. He not only conducts but he leads -- providing a queue just before notes and passages are played. (Having memorized six minutes or so of Beethoven and Mozart for my own conducting experiences, I have great respect for someone who knows countless hours of music). Maazel made his first conducting appearance at age six and I estimate he must be 77 years old. After seventy years of conducting, there are likely not many classical music pieces he doesn't know.

The following evening we attended the UBS Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra concert at Carnegie Hall. Maxim Vengerov, Conductor and Violinist, added yet another dimension to conducting. He is less than half the age of Lorin Maazel but has the same potential. He conducted with a bow in hand and also performed the Mozart Violin Concerto No. 4. He then conducted the Shostakovich Chamber Symphony, Mozart's Violin Concerto No. 2 and the great Sinfonia concertante -- all without a score.

An orchestra is only as good as the sum of it's great musicians and the conductor. The New York Philharmonic consists of many stars, each famous in their own right. Glenn Dicterow, the concertmaster, has been winning numerous awards and competitions around the world since he was a boy. Stanley Drucker is the most famous clarinetist in the world. (See Marvelous Mozart). The list goes on but I was most impressed with Liang Wang, the twenty-six year old principal oboist. The principal oboist sits in the center of the orchestra and in many ways *is* the center of the orchestra, second only to the conductor. Liang Wang spends hours every day shaping the reeds for his instrument. As he performs he rises six inches out of his chair and provides strong leadership appreciated by all. Wang was born in in Qing Dao, China, in 1980 and comes from a musical family. He studied at the Beijing Central Conservatory, which has a thirteen acre campus, over 500,000 volumes in the Music Library, and more than 500 pianos. Needless to say, there is great appreciation for classical music in China. There are currently ten million Chinese children taking violin lessons, and 30 million are learning to play the piano.

Epilogue: On Saturday a lighter program was equally enjoyable -- Mama Mia. Not as far in the past as Mozart et al but a lot of nostalgia.

Other patrickWeb music-related stories

Music, Travels April 23, 2007 05:34 PM

Thursday, March 29, 2007

Royalty Free Music

Musical records I have to admit to my confidence that it would happen -- more than $1 Billion in sales of digital music in 2005, which was triple the year before. Revenues in 2006 doubled to about $2 billion. People are willing to pay for music if it is offered to them in a contemporary way -- i.e. digital. Consumers like choice and when it comes to music, they have access to many music sites with unlimited shelf space. It should not be a surprise to the music industry that if people are offered the choice to buy tracks of music of their liking instead of being forced to buy an album containing mostly songs they don't want, they choose the former. Apple continues to be the thought leader on this. Today they announced that if you like some tracks you have purchased and want to buy the entire album later they will give you full credit for the tracks from the album that you have previously bought on iTunes. In other words you don't have to pay twice for the same song when you purchase an album containing tracks you already own from that album.

Not only is choice a big thing for consumers but also for businesses. Stores and restaurants and companies of all kinds have been using "elevator music" for years and have paid dearly for it. Now they have some new choices. It is called "royalty free music". Operating as one of Jupitermedia's new companies, Royalty Free Music.com offers thousands of tracks of high quality music for every occasion and from every genre. Once a company pays an annual licensing fee, they are free to use the music they download on a nearly unlimited basis. After downloading their choices, they can connect their PC to their audio system and use iTunes, Winamp, or any MP3 player to shuffle and play the music whenever and wherever they choose. For example, rather than using "piped in" music a store can pick the music they want and can feature sounds and songs that may remind customers of things the store has for sale or sets the atmosphere they want to create in the store.

In case you are reading the patrickWeb blog via email, take a look at the patrickWeb homepage and try the music. Let me know if there is something else you would like me to add to the collection.

As for the music industry, I continue to believe the core problem is attitude. The industry group that publishes data on music sales calls itself the "International Federation of the Phonographic Industry". Does that give us a clue that they are not keeping up with the times?

Music March 29, 2007 09:23 PM

Sunday, October 8, 2006

Musical Gala

Conductor It was a very special privilege to attend the 14,326th concert of The New York Philharmonic last night at the Zoellner Arts Center at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The gala was to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Zoellner Center. It was a special evening in many respects. The gala tent where 420 people had dinner was just one hundred yards from where I was standing on November 22, 1963 when I learned about the John F. Kennedy's assassination. (See "Where were you when...?"). The evening was also special because I got to meet Dr. Alice Gast, the new president of the university. When I attended Lehigh it was not yet a coeducational university.

The most special part of the evening was the music. The New York Philharmonic was founded in 1842. Lorin Maazel, became Music Director in 2002 after having led more than 150 orchestras in more than 5,000 opera and concert performances around the world. This truly remarkable man uses no score yet seems to know every note and passage intimately. Having memorized six minutes or so of Beethoven and Mozart for my own conducting experiences, I have great respect for someone who knows countless hours of music. Maazel made his first conducting appearance at age six and I estimate he must be 76 years old. After seventy years of conducting, there are likely not many classical music pieces he doesn't know. The opening piece last night was Weber’s Overture to Oberon, often regarded as his finest composition. It was followed by one of my favorites -- Mozart’s Symphony No. 40, the “Great” G minor symphony. After the intermission came the incredible “Eroica”, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3. I was brought to tears during the second movement. The strength of every section of the orchestra was overwhelming and the great acoustic characteristics in the Zoellner Center just amplified them to perfection.

An orchestra is only as good as the sum of it's great musicians and the conductor. The Philharmonic consists of many stars, each famous in their own right. Glenn Dicterow, the concertmaster, has been winning numerous awards and competitions around the world since he was a boy. Stanley Drucker is the most famous clarinetist in the world. (See Marvelous Mozart). The list goes on but I was most impressed with Liang Wang, the twenty-six year old principal oboist. The principal oboist sits in the center of the orchestra and in many ways *is* the center of the orchestra, second only to the conductor. Liang Wang spends hours every day shaping the reeds for his instrument. As he performs he rises six inches out of his chair and provides strong leadership appreciated by all. Wang was born in in Qing Dao, China, in 1980 and comes from a musical family. He studied at the Beijing Central Conservatory, which has a thirteen acre campus, over 500,000 volumes in the Music Library, and more than 500 pianos. Needless to say, there is great appreciation for classical music in China. Although I can not verify this, a friend last night told me that there are currently forty-seven million Chinese students studying the violin.

Other patrickWeb music-related stories

Music October 8, 2006 11:32 AM

Saturday, August 12, 2006

HippieFest 2006

Rock and Roll Most of the entries in the Favorite Concerts page are classical music concerts, but last night at The Mountain Laurel Center in the Pocono Mountains was another kind of"classical" music. After a hike through some of the 1,267 trail steps at Bushkill Falls and a short dinner, it was time to join in with a few thousand others at HippieFest 2006 at The Mountain Laurel Center in the Pocono Mountains. The four-hour non-stop concert master of ceremonies was none other than Wavy Gravy. The HippieFest was a real trip down memory lane starring Mitch Ryder, Rare Earth, Country Joe McDonald, Felix Cavaliere's Rascals, The Lovin' Spoonful, Mountain with Leslie West and Corky Laing, Badfinger with Joey Molland, Melanie, Canned Heat, and Denny Laine. I hope you enjoy the links! The music was great (although ear plugs required).

The origins and goals of hippie (and now neo-hippie) are debated but most would agree that it involved rebellious youths and rock and roll music. HippieFest was billed as "a return to the flowery, phantasmagorical days of the 1960s. The audience was of mixed age but definitely many that were north of 50. Some remembered their love beads and headgear. Many were reliving their past. Can't say that I ever qualified as a hippie but I fondly remembered most of the music.

Watching these performing groups on stage was inspiring. A little arithmetic can quickly show that most of the performers were 60+ and some may have been 70+. Some looked it, some did not. All of them had great energy, voices and rhythm. If you look at their concert schedules on the web sites you can see that they are performing almost constantly -- one group claimed 208 concerts last year. Why are they doing this? Why don't they stop and retire? It is possible some lived past their means or had not invested in their future during the hay days and now need the money. Others may do it out of loyalty to other members of their group. Some may not know what else to do. Most however, are probably doing it because they love it. You could see the sparkle in their eyes and the spring in their step. As the audience raved, the performers were inspired, and the cycle continued. It was a great night.

Other patrickWeb stories about music

Music August 12, 2006 09:44 AM

Sunday, April 16, 2006

Bargemusic

Cactus The taxi ride from the hotel in Manhattan to Brooklyn was a short thirty minutes, although passing by "Ground Zero" was a long and sobering reminder of the fateful day. After dinner at Five Front we headed to the Barge on the East River, an estuary of the Atlantic Ocean. The setting was modest with roughly ten rows of ten seats for a capacity of one hundred. Attendance was only about 70 and it was significantly disproportionate to the incredible performance by Dmitri Alexeev.

After six movements of Chant sans Paroles (P. I. Tchaikovsky), Mr. Alexeev played four movements of Scriabin's Sonata No. 3. The Steinway piano filled the room and from the fourth row, the resonance and brilliance were stunning. After the intermission came Twelve Preludes of Shostakovich and three preludes of Rachmaninov. The standing ovation led to two encores. Dmitri Alexeev was truly incredible. The Russian pianist lived up to a well-deserved reputation. Ray Kurzweil may be right that man-made computers will overtake our biological computing abilities in the next dozen or so years but listening to the thousands of expressive notes played by Mr. Alexeev showed how unique the human mind is. I can not imagine a computer providing any experience like this performance any time soon.

The unsung hero of the evening was Olga Bloom -- a very unpretentious 87 year-old former symphony violinist who greeted us as we boarded the barge and offered a glass of wine as. Ms. Bloom bought the barge thirty years ago and turned it into Bargemusic -- a concert hall of sorts. Olga manages four concerts per week. The supporters listed in the program numbered more than five-hundred. Olga told us at the break that she thought it was really important to provide a low cost way to enable artists to express themselves and share their musical talents in a public forum. Well said. There are many other unsung heroes in towns and cities around the world who keep the arts alive through the ups and downs of the economy.

Other patrickWeb music-related stories

Music April 16, 2006 11:28 AM

Monday, April 3, 2006

Conducting Beethoven

Conductor In December 2002 I was fortunate to have a once in a lifetime opportunity -- conducting a symphony orchestra. Mozart's twenty-fifth symphony (first movement) was a very challenging yet rewarding experience. Three and a half years later, I was again fortunate -- for a second time in a lifetime -- to conduct Beethoven's Prometheus Overture. Maestro Sidney Rothstein, my friend and instructor, suggested a more complex piece this time and Creatures of the Prometheus filled the bill.

It was indeed a challenge, but at the same time an exhilarating experience that is hard to describe in words. The Ridgefield Symphony Orchestra is always a privilege to hear but as three years ago, the difference between sitting in the audience and standing inches from the musicians -- was amazing. It was being right in their space, seeing them at work in great detail and hearing the unique character of each instrument like never before. I have always had great respect for orchestral musicians but once again even more so.

I didn't count how many times I listened to mp3 recordings of the Prometheus and how many times I read the thirty-page score, but it reached the point where the notes were playing in my head nearly every waking hour. After all the hours of rehearsing, there were no more excuses -- it was time to raise the baton and conduct. I made two introductory beats and then away we went! To watch these professionals at work, to hear the actual instruments instead of an mp3, to see the musicians in front of me and occasional encouraging smiles from them -- I was on cloud nine. If the orchestra senses that you know the music, they will actually follow you! I made a few mistakes, but I don't believe the audience noticed. At the end, I congratulated them on their performance and was humbled as *they* applauded. Here are the reivews from the The Ridgefield Press and The Danbury News-Times.

Beethoven
Conducting Mozart

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Music April 3, 2006 10:28 AM

Sunday, February 12, 2006

The MooBella Demo

People at a conference It was such an exciting week at Demo that it is hard to summarize. There are many reviews of the conference on the web and you can find some of them at Kaboodle (one of the companies that debuted at Demo). There were sixty-eight companies showing off their latest and greatest -- the Demo site has the full list with links to the companies, so if you want to know what is hot take a look here and click the + sign next to Demo 2006 at the top right of the page.

The product least expected but perhaps most enjoyed by the 700+ attendees was the MooBella virtual ice cream vending machine. After attendees made touch-panel choices from up to 96 combinations of flavors and mix-ins, the machine mixed and instantly froze fresh ingredients to produce a delicious scoop of ice cream within 45 seconds. The only drawback I could see was that there was no chocolate. Apparently, that flavor (favorite of 20% of the market) poses special challenges due to the viscosity of cocoa powder.

There were a number of themes that emerged at DEMO. Collaboration was one. Chris Shipley said that 2006 will be the year of collaboration. Demos included virtual meeting platforms, tools that in effect allow people to act as librarians and share their findings with others, and tools for collaborative software development. Another theme was vertical search. Google and Yahoo! are great but highly specialized searches offer much better results. Examples shown included shopping, entertainment, software code, healthcare, and politics.

Mobile applications are still somewhat limited by tiny screens but innovative new ideas were shown that make cell phones more useful than ever. One company showed a phone being used as a personal trainer during exercise. It kept track of your pace and location and plotted results on the screen. Another small device was shown that allows complete control over the phone, music, and every aspect of things going on in the house.

Security solutions were shown to protect our identity, protect our networks, stop spam and viruses at the door, and diagnose Internet traffic and catch malware before it gets to our systems. Biometric technologies were shown to allow secure payment and authentication. I look forward to some of these technologies being used in healthcare.

Through two FutureScan panels I attempted to help the audience see the future of security and computational biology. On the security panel we discussed the general state of Internet security (not healthy) but more importantly some of the research that may lead to a healthier net. To me the most promising thing is PKI. I have written much about this here. The computational biology panel was mind-blowing for most of us. Systems biology models, redesigning proteins, and learning about our genetic history will affect all of our lives. There was a great deal of interest in The Genographic Project. (A dozen DNA kits were given to the audience -- you can get your own here). If you are interested in learning more about the human genome, the panelists recommended Genome by Matt Ridley. I am reading it now. We were all extremely fortunate to have had some of the world's leading experts share their thoughts on the panels. You can find links to all the panelists here.

The most asked question between Demo attendees at breaks and meals is "See anything interesting?". Chris Shipley, Executive Producer of the DEMO Conferences, introduced sixty-eight companies -- there was definitely something for everybody. I was not able to visit all the companies or hear all of their pitches, but at the end of this story I will mention eleven companies that I found most interesting -- "My Top Ten Picks"

Conferences, Healthcare, Internet Technology, Media, Mobile, Music, People, Personal Computing, Public Policy February 12, 2006 01:38 PM

Monday, January 23, 2006

Music Blues

Musical records I have to admit confidence that it would happen -- more than $1 Billion in sales of digital music in 2005. This was triple the year before. People are willing to pay for music if it is offered to them in a contemporary way -- i.e. digital. What were the results of digital music alternatives for the year? According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the chairman and chief executive of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, John Kennedy, said that global music retail revenue fell about 2 per cent last year. It was also reported that music piracy was flat. That tells me that if music overall was flat, piracy was flat, and digital music tripled, then "traditional" music is in decline. That should not be a surprise to anyone. If piracy is not the culprit (clearly there is still much of it going on, but not growing), then why are music sales flat? My theory is that the reason there is not enough digital music available is that it is not yet well "packaged" and promoted. Apple is doing a great job of marketing music as evidenced in part by the many Christmas stockings containing iTunes Music Store Cards this year. (I just used mine to buy 25 tracks of Concerti Virtuosi and also the Bruckner 8th Symphony). I continue to believe the core problem is attitude. The industry group calls itself the "International Federation of the Phonographic Industry". Does that give us a clue that they are not keeping up with the times?

P. S. My only problem with iTunes is inter-operability. See iTrike.

Media, Motorcycles, Music January 23, 2006 11:18 AM

Saturday, July 16, 2005

The Long Tail

Graph Chris Anderson from Wired talked passionately at Supernova about how the Internet makes it possible to exploit the "niche" portion of the demand for products, services, and content. His theory is that there is more total demand -- revenue -- from a large number of little known products that there is from a small number of big "hits". He calls the curve that reflects this phenomenon "the long tail".

In particular, the future of entertainment -- books, songs, movies -- is at the "shallow end of the bitstream". All of us have unique likes and dislikes. One person's trash is another person's treasure. Prior to the Internet bringing us Amazon and Netflix, we had to be content with what was available in the "store" and the store would only carry something that had good odds of selling. The fact is that there is a lot out there that may not mean much to the masses but is exactly what someone somewhere is looking for.

My friend and colleague, Irving Wladawsky-Berger, recently found a personalized recommendation at Netflix for a movie called Blue, by a Polish director, Krzysztof Kieslowski. Irving said he had never heard of the movie or the director but the movie had a very high rating, member comments were positive, and professional reviewers that he trusts all highly recommended the movie. A mouse click later the DVD was on it's way to Irving and he soon enjoyed it greatly. It turns out the movie was part of a trilogy and he ended up ordering the other two movies also.

A slightly different phenomenon is happening with music. iTunes recommends music on a personalized basis but also provides "iMixes" of various artists and links to music collections that are favorites of music stars themselves. By following the trail from list to list you can get pretty far out on the long tail and find some highly unique music. None of them will sell millions but millions of people will find music that they really like. There will still be "mega-hits" but the world of creating and retailing is being turned upside down. The Long Tail is a really important story and I urge everyone to read it.

See Chris Anderson's "The Long Tail"
Film category of Irving's blog

Conferences, Internet Technology, Media, Music July 16, 2005 08:24 PM

Thursday, April 28, 2005

MoMa and Harlem

Choir The IBM IT Analyst Conference earlier this week was interesting and important as is the IBM/Forbes Executive Forum here in New York City today and tomorrow. There is a lot to be said and shared about virtualiization and On Demand. However, the highlight of the week was a reception and dinner at the The Museum of Modern Art. Modern art is a subject I know very little about but I certainly respect the collection of the incredible exhibitions of the best modern works of art in the world. The IT infrastructure behind the art is quite amazing -- primarily built on IBM hardware and software. To the visitor it means video panels on the wall that display not only what is happening in the Museum but also the great works themselves. You don't have to be there to believe it -- just visit MoMa.

The second major treat of the day was after dinner entertainment by the The Boys Choir of Harlem . The Academy where they study is not only a place for high quality artistic instruction and performing opportunities, it provides a program designed to help students acquire "fundamental perceptual and conceptual understanding" through traditional subject areas: English, math, science, social studies and foreign language. In addition to classical academic disciplines, students are exposed to music theory, piano, movement and dance. The Academy also offers computer classes, visual arts, health, physical education and lab electives. The unique thing I perceived about the concert was that each of the thirty or so singers was also an individual "performer" with personality and pride. The performance was great but the best part is that the students almost all graduate from high school and go on to college. It was easy to tell that the standing ovation came from the heart.

Music April 28, 2005 11:37 PM

Sunday, April 17, 2005

Rachmaninoff (and other "R"s)

Piano This week was the return from Kauai and there was really no spare time, but we could not resist attending a lecture on Monday night at the Ridgefield Library about Rachmaninoff, presented by Maestro Sidney Rothstein, music director of the Ridgefield Symphony Orchestra. Sergei Vassilievich Rachmaninoff was born in 1873, one hundred and seventeen years after Mozart was born. Like Mozart, Rachmaninoff was an extraordinary person. There were many great composers, great performers, and great conductors. Rachmaninoff was all of the above. "The Third" composition was completed by Rachmaninoff in September 1909 and was premiered that November in New York with Rachmaninoff himself at the keyboard. In his lecture, Maestro Rothstein described this and other trips that the great pianist had made from Russia to the United States and, using recorded excerpts of the third concerto helped the audience anticipate and better appreciate last night's concert.

I first saw Rui Shi in 2000 when she was a petite Chinese girl of sixteen years old. She gave a truly outstanding performance of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat Major. Since then we have seen her perform a number of times and gotten to know her. She is a charming, poised and extraordinarily talented young woman. Born in China in 1983, the brilliant young pianist has performed extensively across America and in China since her first recital at the age of five. Rui has taken first-prize in numerous national piano competitions and currently is participating in the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition which brings together approximately thirty young musicians from around the world every four years. The Competition is a "rigorous and comprehensive examination of every facet of each contestant's musicianship and technical proficiency".

It was with great anticipation that the audience heard the Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3 performed by Rui Shi last night. She delighted us all -- the standing ovation continued until people's hands and arms wore out. It is truly amazing to me that Rui's arms and hands did not wear out from playing the nearly one-hour long concerto with at least tens of thousands of notes in it. It was an evening of "R"s. We will all remember Rui Shi's rendition of Rachmaninoff in Ridgefield under the direction of Sidney Rothstein.

Other patrickWeb music-related stories

Music February 13, 2005 06:40 PM

Monday, January 24, 2005

The Future Of Music

Music The IFPI (International Federation of the Phonographic Industry) [get a hint about the contemporary nature of the organization?] sees the digital music market taking off in 2005. I don't think anyone would disagree after looking at a few key facts. The number of legitimate music download sites quadrupled to more than 225. The number of tracks of music available soared to more than one million. Purchased downloads increased by more than tenfold and exceeded 200 million.

The IFPI says that "Music on the internet and mobile phones is moving into the mainstream of consumer life, with legal download sites spreading internationally, more users buying songs in digital format and record companies achieving their first significant revenues from online sales". It should be no surprise that the supply of music available digitally is proliferating and the fact that that consumer attitudes about digital music are changing should have been anticipated not just reported. The remaining question is whether the music and video industries yet understand what is going on. (read more)

Music January 24, 2005 06:23 PM

Digital Music

Music Digital music consists of a large number of ones and zeroes. You can create digital music on a PC or with various digital musical instruments, but most digital music starts out as analog music. When you go to Alice Tully Hall in New York to hear a string quartet you are listening to analog music. If you want to listen to it later at home you need to have a way to capture it, store it, and replay it. In the "old" days this was done with vinyl records and later with acetate tape. Today it is mostly done with CDs (compact discs) but increasingly music will be stored in the form of digital files such as MP3 (MP3 is one of dozens of different formats for storing digital music). (read more)

Music January 24, 2005 06:22 PM

Wednesday, December 15, 2004

iTrike Riding

Trike It was not exactly a sunny and warm day but, as long as the roads are dry, I like to go out for a motorcycle ride on Sunday afternoons. Winter riding is actually very nice and refreshing -- as long as you have the electric vest and gloves plugged in. They really did the job today when the wind chill was in was single digit territory. Today's ride was on the trike through lower Westchester County, New York and was especially enjoyable because I listened to some great music from the Harley-Davidson MP3 player. The music came from iTunes, hence the term "iTrike Riding". First I will review the motorcycling and digital technology involved and then discuss some of the issues and implications. (read more)

Gadgets, Mobile, Motorcycles, Music, Personal Computing December 15, 2004 10:06 AM

Sunday, July 18, 2004

Doo Wop - Why Don't They Stop

Doo Wop singer Most of the entries in the Favorite Concerts page are classical music concerts, but last night at The Ridgefield Playhouse was another kind of "classical" music. The "Doo-Wop and Oldies Spectacular" featured classics of the 50s & 60s. It was a real trip down memory lane with Emil Stucchio and the Classics (& Till Then& ), The Shangri-Las (& Leader of the Pack& and & Remember Walking in the Sand& ), Kenny Vance and the Planotones (& Looking for an Echo& ), and the Emotions - ("The Nearest Thing To Heaven").

The Origins of Doo Wop are debated but most would agree that it evolved from a merging of pop, gospel, blues, jazz and swing elements in the late 1940's and early 50's. Doo Wop music is, innocent, joyous, romantic and, some would say, almost spiritual. Doo Wop was vocal group harmonizing at it's best.

Watching these performing groups on stage was inspiring. A little arithmetic can quickly show that most of the performers were 60+ and some may have been 70+. Some looked it, some did not. All of them had great voices and rhythm. If you look at their concert schedules on the web sites you can see that they are performing almost constantly -- one group claimed 208 concerts last year. Why are they doing this? Why don't they stop and retire? It is possible some lived past their means or not invested in their future during the hay days and now need the money. Others may do it out of loyalty to other members of their group. Some may not know what else to do. Most however, are probably doing it because they love it. You could see the sparkle in their eyes and the spring in their step. As the audience raved, the performers were inspired, and the cycle continued. It was a great night.

Music July 18, 2004 10:44 AM

Friday, April 9, 2004

Give The Conductor A Doggie Bone

Thanks to readers for reminding that I have not posted a story for almost a week. My only excuse for not being more prolific during the last few days is that I have been very busy -- board meetings, conference calls, some travel, a bit of motorcycle riding necessitated by occasional bursts of sunlight, and far too many re-boots of Windows. There are many Internet technology related things to write about, but this short story will be about conducting.

Music is an important part of life for most people. In addition to appreciating the great composers and musicians of the world, we should also be thankful for the great conductors. Without the maestros, orchestras would not be coordinated nor would they be as dynamic and expressive. Even in an acapella arrangement, one of the singers provides the lead for the other singers.

Hearing the perfectly balanced New York Philharmonic orchestra perform Franz Schubert's Symphony in C Major (the "Great") last weekend got me thinking about the art of conducting. Lorin Maazel is an amazing conductor -- he has had a bit of practice -- more than 150 orchestras in more than 5,000 opera and concert performances. He conducted the four part symphony with no score! The final movement alone is fifteen minutes of exuberance. He has obviously conducted this significant work many times before. He showed no signs of being tired of it. The Sony QRIO humanoid robot could conduct it a million times and not get tired of it. (read more)

Music April 9, 2004 11:27 PM

Tuesday, January 13, 2004

Glass Update

Newspaper Thanks to reader Vikk for pointing out a broken link to the story about The Glass Engine. The story was just re-published.

The other thing I wanted to share was an advertisement I saw on the Metro North train today while returning from a board meeting in New York City. The advert was prominently displayed on a mini billboard in each car of the train. It read "Do you really need the laptop tonight?" Near the bottom of the ad it said "citi -- Live richly". At the very bottom it was labeled "citi.com". The ad suggests that you can't "live richly" unless you are physically out of your house and using your credit card. Perhaps Citibank didn't notice that retail sales on the web were up roughly 30% year over year. I have a story in the works about "The Future Of Advertising". I don't claim to be the expert on this but I have some views that I suspect readers will agree will find interesting. Stay tuned.

One last thing. While on the train from New York to Goldens Bridge, the train stopped at Mt. Kisco, New York. After a brief pause, the engineer announced that he was ordered by police to not open the doors. Then the police came aboard and searched every car. I overheard the police officers talking on their walkie-talkie. They were looking for a 23 year old woman in black. After about ten minutes they found her and escorted her off the train. No idea what the issue was.

Music January 13, 2004 10:54 PM

The Glass Engine

Glass

The Glass Engine represents a very interesting new approach to searching and interacting with information. (Note: unfortunately it requires Microsoft Internet Explorer). I suspect you will be as impressed as I was when you see this remarkable technology prototype. It was developed by Mark Podlaseck at IBM's Hawthorne, New York Research Laboratory. The project started when Philip Glass, the composer, asked what his catalog of music might look like online. Mark thought the music should be an integral part of the navigation experience, like it is when "surfing" the radio or television. He wanted to be immersed in the sound of it, making micro-decisions about whether he liked something or not as opposed to making arbitrary, uninformed decisions about whether he wanted to hear chamber music or film soundtracks, or Symphony #1, #2, #3, #4, or #5. (read more)

Music January 13, 2004 10:16 PM

Sunday, January 11, 2004

Marvelous Mozart III

The experience of conducting the first movement of Mozart's twenty-fifth symphony was a humbling one. Even more humbling was to hear Stanley Drucker play Mozart's Clarinet Concerto in A Major last night. The Ridgefield Symphony Orchestra provided an outstanding accompaniment and a silk smooth blend of orchestra and soloist was provided by Maestro Sidney Rothstein. Prior to the solo the orchestra performed Mozart's Overture to Così fan tutte and afterwards his Symphony No. 36 (Linz) in C. It was an extraordinary evening. (read more)

Music January 11, 2004 10:34 AM

Sunday, October 19, 2003

Energetic Music to Love

Violin The Ridgefield Symphony Orchestra gave the first concert of it's 2003-2004 season. Entitled Energetic Music to Love, the opening concert started with a short, lively seductive theme from a "secret marriage" by Domenico Cimarosa.Then, Aaron Rosand, considered by many to be the supreme master of the violin, thrilled the audience with his stunning performance of the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto in D. Maestro Sidney Rothstein used the power and beauty of the Brahms Symphony No. 1 to end the opening concert with high momentum toward the concerts to come.

Classical Net
favorite Concerts page

Music October 19, 2003 10:29 AM

Wednesday, October 1, 2003

Ludvig Van Beethoven

Ingrid Schwaegermann has developed a great web site about Ludwig Van Beethoven. It is quite comprehensive with a biography section, a picture gallery, musician's comments and stories about Beethoven's works. The site is available in English and German.

Speaking of Beethoven, my friend and maestro Sidney Rothstein told me about an interesting technology deployment involving the great composer. It has to do with handheld devices. The Samsung i330 has a browser built in but I rarely use it. Most people don't want to "surf the web" on a handheld device. This will change as device displays continue to get better and content creators get more creative in how to display their information, but in the meantime there are many other useful things that handhelds can do -- including displaying program notes during a live concert. (read more)

Music October 1, 2003 09:35 PM

Music

I have been thinking for a long time about writing something about music. Other than my wife and family I can't think of anything I love more than music. I like all kinds but Classical music is my favorite. If I have my choice I listen to it from my first waking moment of the day to my last. Whenever I am at my computer at home there is classical music in the background. Most times this would be WQXR (New York) but on Sunday mornings I especially love to listen to Baroque music from WSHU (Fairfield, Connecticut). When travelling I listen to WCLV (Cleveland, Ohio) using the player from RealNetworks. I have to admit that I was so impressed with the ability of the Internet recently when I was able to listen to WCLV while I was more than 10,000 miles away in Australia! (read more)

Music October 1, 2003 08:01 PM

Tuesday, January 28, 2003

Marvelous Mozart Update

The story about the Marvelous Mozart Concert has been updated to include a review in the Danbury News-Times by Jim Pegolotti.

Music January 28, 2003 10:56 AM

Sunday, January 26, 2003

Conducting Update

A friend in Ridgefield took a few pictures during the rehearsal and at the Ridgefield Symphony Orchestra concert where I was privileged to be conducting the first movement of Mozart's 25th symphony. I am humbled by the experience -- especially having watched a DVD of the Great Conductors. I pale to nothing in significance compared to them. They are so magnificent. The Scout web site made me a aware of The Official Leonard Bernstein Site. Bernstein was undoubtedly one of America's foremost conductors and the web site, developed by the Leonard Bernstein Society, is definitely worth a visit. (read more)

Music January 26, 2003 09:46 PM

Tuesday, January 7, 2003

Marvelous Mozart Concert Review

As a follow-up I have added a review just published of the Marvelous Mozart concert.

Music January 7, 2003 10:39 PM

Sunday, January 5, 2003

Marvelous Mozart

There are so many wonderful composers in the world, but Mozart remains my favorite. The Ridgefield Symphony Orchestra planned a "Marvelous Mozart II" concert for Saturday night at the Ridgefield Playhouse. The "II" is because they did the same thing last year (see favorite concerts page). The "planned" is because Mother Nature intervened in a less than helpful way. (read more)

Music January 5, 2003 02:44 PM

Friday, December 13, 2002

Conducting Mozart - part 5 (reviews)

The conducting lessons and the concert are over but I will cherish the experience for the rest of my life. I walked off the stage in a euphoric and exhilarating state. Friends and family offered their praise but I knew of things I could have done better. I was thrilled with the praise but could not help but be anxious to hear what The Ridgefield Press and The Danbury News-Times would have to say. (read more)

Music December 13, 2002 11:15 AM

Sunday, December 8, 2002

The Perfect Game

Conducting Mozart with the Ridgefield Symphony Orchestra was a special opportunity in many ways. Not only did I meet great musicians, but I also met a number of people before and after the concert that I did not previously know . At a brunch today I met John Grissmer, writer and director. John has directed a number of films including Scalpel, and Blood Rage. In spite of these "grizzly' sounding titles, John is quite involved in producing children's musical programs with the Ridgefield Symphony Orchestra. He is also producing a new CD called The Perfect Game. Click to hear an mp3 of one of the tracks called "Demonize Your Old Archrival". (read more)

Music December 8, 2002 04:02 PM

Conducting Mozart - part 4 (finale)

The conducting lessons with Maestro Sidney Rothstein were over. He had taught me a lot in a short time and was about ready to push me out of the nest to raise the baton and conduct. The first rehearsal broke the ice and I realized it was actually possible for me to conduct not just an MP3 on the home audio system but real people -- professional musicians. It is the people who make all the difference. The key question for me was whether the musicians would accept me as their temporary maestro. No doubt, the question on their minds was whether I had learned enough about conducting to not embarrass myself and the orchestra or would they have to stare at the floor for fear that my conducting would distract them from playing the music. (read more)

Music December 8, 2002 10:28 AM

Friday, December 6, 2002

Conducting Mozart - part 3

Yesterday was my third conducting lesson, thanks to Maestro Sidney Rothstein. He pronounced me as "acceptable"; i.e. that I had learned enough about conducting to not embarrass myself and the orchestra. He magnanimously offered me many great suggestions for how to improve my technique and add more expression to the conducting. (read more)

Music December 6, 2002 11:44 PM