Super Mario on a Sheng
Strange instrument….
2CELLOS – Thunderstruck
Sheet Of The Week – Let It Go (Idina Menzel/Frozen)
From the hit Disney movie Frozen.
Let It Go for Eb Instruments (93.9 KiB, 194 hits)
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Let It Go for Bb Instruments (99.1 KiB, 148 hits)
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Sheet Of The Week – Thinking Of You (Katy Perry)
Another by Katy Perry.
Thinking Of You by Katy Perry for Eb Instruments (98.6 KiB, 33 hits)
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Thinking Of You by Katy Perry for Bb Instruments (102.5 KiB, 25 hits)
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What Musicians Can Tell Us About Dyslexia and the Brain
A team of researchers at Hebrew University in Israel tested the language abilities and basic auditory perception of 52 dyslexic musicians.
What did they find? On most tests of auditory perception, the dyslexic musicians scored as well as their non-dyslexic counterparts, and better than the general population. Where they performed much worse was on tests of auditory working memory, the ability to keep a sound in mind for a short time (typically seconds). In fact, the dyslexic musicians with the poorest working memory tended to have the lowest reading accuracy. Those with better working memory tended to be more accurate.
Dancing with the “Stars” To Fire Orchestra
I received this from The American Federation of Musicians:
“The Federation has now confirmed that after 17 hit seasons with Dancing With The Stars, one of the world’s most popular TV programs, the DWTS Big Band has been fired. ABC/Disney says the group, comprised of 28 talented musicians, singers, arrangers and copyists, will be replaced by pre-existing sound recordings and a “small electronic band” to “attract a younger viewer demographic.
We are in contact with ABC/Disney executives in an attempt to stop these unjustifiable and unwarranted actions. You can join with us to push back against this latest attack upon the livelihood and integrity of professional musicians. Please email Candice.A.Ashton@abc.com. Please let her know that you will encourage viewers everywhere to boycott the show, ABC-TV, and The Walt Disney Company if she follows through on her plan to fire the band.
We will provide further information as the situation develops. If you are reading this bulletin on Facebook or social media, please share it with your friends immediately.”
The ONLY reason to watch Dancing with the Stars was to see Sal Lorenzo of the Big Phat Band. Now poor poor Sal might be unemployed now. I kid, sorta. Actually, the real problem is that Dancing with the “Stars” isn’t that. Let’s look at what “Stars” were on last season:
- Keyshawn Johnson
- Bill Nye
- Valerie Harper
- Christian Milian
- Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi
- Brant Daugherty
- Leah Remini
- Bill Engvall
- Corbin Bleu
- Amber Riley
Out of this list of “Stars” I know of Bill Nye (the science guy) and Snooki. And Snooki I only know of because she is worthless human garbage from New Jersey. So, ABC, I don’t think the problem is that these “Stars” you are getting aren’t “Stars”. Bring some fucking REAL “Stars” and maybe that would bring back your audience. Maybe pit Hue Jackman against Neil Patrick Harris? Cage match style? Last Man Dancing?
The New Yakety Sax
Ever once in a while, you come across a video that is so ground breaking. So….earth shattering. So…..amazing.
I give you, Giant Steps, in C.
EWI 5000
For the Winter 2014 NAMM show, Akai has announced a new EWI.
EWI 5000 comes loaded with more than 3GB of top-quality sounds, including traditional horn, brass, woodwind, and string sounds, plus progressive synths, leads, and other non-traditional sounds. EWI 5000 includes 12 touch-sensitive metal keys on its top and an eight-wheel thumb- controlled octave roller on the bottom. An EVI (Electronic Valve Instrument) Mode is included for brass players, and EWI 5000 also includes eight control knobs for tweaking Filter, Reverb, Chorus, LFO, Breath Amount, Bite Amount, Semitone Tuning, and Fine Tuning. Both USB MIDI and 5-pin MIDI are onboard for controlling software synths or traditional MIDI modules. A 1/4- inch output to connect to an amplifier or PA and an 1/8-inch headphone output for silent practice are included. EWI 5000 charges via USB or wall power and also includes a USB cable, wall adapter, wireless receiver, and a neck strap.
So, basically, an Akai 4000s with USB, a built in rechargeable battery, and some sounds.
Carmen Played On Homemade Instruments
Sheet Of The Week – Happy (Pharrell Williams)
Kinda cool song, I think it is really repetitive and probably should end sooner than it does.
Happy by Pharrell Willaims for Eb Instruments (78.9 KiB, 263 hits)
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Happy by Pharrell Willaims for Bb Instruments (79.1 KiB, 184 hits)
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Rare Michael Brecker 1977 At The Village Vanguard
3-D Printed Instruments at CES
Sheet Of The Week – Royals (Lorde)
Catchy little tune. Video is strange though….
Royals by Lorde for Eb Instruments (119.9 KiB, 149 hits)
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Royals by Lorde for Bb Instruments (122.5 KiB, 91 hits)
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Tuner vs Tuner
I’ve had an iPhone since week 1. In fact, I actually went to the FedEX center to get it since I missed the FedEX guy when they were trying to deliver it. Anyhow, it’s a life changing device as I know most of you know. It also has REPLACED several musical things for me, the foremost being Tuners.
I have had, over the years, owned many…..many tuners. One of the last “box” tuners I bought was a Peterson VS1 (I think that is what it is called). A Virtual Strobe Tuner. Used it for several years until the iOS version came out, which I still love. Haven’t used the VS1 in a long time, even though I have it stand mounted on my teaching stand and even have the power cable (somewhere).
Well, a couple of weeks ago, IK Multimedia came out with what they call the “UltraTuner: The most precise iOS tuner ever!”. They claim it can provide “precision down to .01 (yes, that’s 1/100th) of a cent”. I think the Peterson one is to 1/10th of a cent.
So, which is better? Well, in general use, I still like the Peterson Strobe Tuner. I don’t see it being replaced by the UltraTuner anytime soon for checking pitch for a gig or whatever. It just seems faster and just “works” for me. Now, the UltraTuner DOES have a couple of neat things that I have been using, the coolest thing being the “Studio Mode” where it sorta does an EKG reading of how your Pitch has been over time. Very cool. In fact, it would be really awesome if there was some way to email yourself a graph or plots of how the pitch was, I think that could be very helpful and interesting.
So, generally, I think the Peterson Strobe is still my favorite and Go to tuner, though the UltraTuner does have some things going for it. And yes, I have used ClearTune and some of the other tuners. Still think the Strobe is better.