Tuesday, June 30, 2009
just in time for the 4th of July
comes this patriotic piano from Baldwin. read more about it here. note all that patriotic piano beauty will set you back about 15 grand...On closer inspection is looks a lot like a piano you might find on a london street corner. Just sayin....
Bringing out the Susan Boyle in All of Us
The London street pianos. Interesting articles with more detail about the workings of the project and the reaction of folks to the pianos plunked down about the city. Link and link
Here's the website for the project. You can "book" a piano for event, have a look at photos of the pianos, and more. Link.
Here's the website for the project. You can "book" a piano for event, have a look at photos of the pianos, and more. Link.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
New Opera in the Works!
Now that sounds just about right:
Sir Peter Maxwell-Davies, the Queen's Master of Music, has announced that he is writing a comic opera about the MPs' expenses scandal. "Who knows, the set may have a few duck houses and moats in it," he said. "I may even invite a few MPs to the opening night. They will of course want free tickets, but be able to claim them on expenses for some fictitious fee."
link.
Sir Peter Maxwell-Davies, the Queen's Master of Music, has announced that he is writing a comic opera about the MPs' expenses scandal. "Who knows, the set may have a few duck houses and moats in it," he said. "I may even invite a few MPs to the opening night. They will of course want free tickets, but be able to claim them on expenses for some fictitious fee."
link.
Mover Over "Guitar Hero"
Not sure what to make of this news:
Game Life announced today that this November they will be releasing Easy Piano for the DS. The game comes with a mini-piano accessory (exactly how mini isn’t mentioned) that will plug into the DS, giving the player their very own tiny keyboard to learn with.
Deets.
Game Life announced today that this November they will be releasing Easy Piano for the DS. The game comes with a mini-piano accessory (exactly how mini isn’t mentioned) that will plug into the DS, giving the player their very own tiny keyboard to learn with.
Deets.
world's oldest musical instrument
35,000 year old instrument found. A flute. What's most surprising isn't the flute. It's the beer drinking.
The wing bone of a griffon vulture with five precisely drilled holes in it is the oldest known musical instrument, a 35,000-year-old relic of an early human society that drank beer, played flute and drums and danced around the campfire on cold winter evenings, researchers said Wednesday
Sounds like early man would fit right in at a frat party.
details.
But this is what most struck me:
The presence of music did not directly produce a more effective subsistence economy and greater reproductive success, he concluded, but it seems to have contributed to improved social cohesion and new forms of communication, which indirectly contributed to demographic expansion of modern humans to the detriment of the culturally more conservative Neanderthals.
What leads one to suspect that music "seems to have contributed to improved social cohesion..." This the part where I shake my head and harbor dark suspicions that a good chunk of archeology consists of digging around in the dirt and making up good stories...
The wing bone of a griffon vulture with five precisely drilled holes in it is the oldest known musical instrument, a 35,000-year-old relic of an early human society that drank beer, played flute and drums and danced around the campfire on cold winter evenings, researchers said Wednesday
Sounds like early man would fit right in at a frat party.
details.
But this is what most struck me:
The presence of music did not directly produce a more effective subsistence economy and greater reproductive success, he concluded, but it seems to have contributed to improved social cohesion and new forms of communication, which indirectly contributed to demographic expansion of modern humans to the detriment of the culturally more conservative Neanderthals.
What leads one to suspect that music "seems to have contributed to improved social cohesion..." This the part where I shake my head and harbor dark suspicions that a good chunk of archeology consists of digging around in the dirt and making up good stories...
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Iturbi Prize Winners
The winners of the week-long piano competition
$50,000 First Prize - Dmitri Levkovich,(Facebook link) 29, Ukraine $25,000 Second Prize - Goran Filipec, 27, Croatia $15,000 Third Prize - Alexey Kudryashov, 20, Russia $3,000 Spanish Prize - Dmitri Levkovich, 29, Ukraine $3,000 American Prize - Alexey Kudryashov, 20, Russia $3,000 President's Prize - Vladimir Khomayakov, 24, Russia $3,000 People's Choice - Vladimir Khomayakov, 24, Russia
Congratulations to one and all!
Hopefully next time around we can hear it online!
Levkovich has a string of prizes and concerts.
A performer to keep your eyes and ears on for sure!
Details.
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
happy birthday stravinsky
Today is Igor Stravinsky birthday.. Celebrate by listening to some of his music. To kick things off here's vid of Fazil Say playing piano four hand arrangement of "The Rite of Spring" with a specially adapted Bose concert grand.
And here's Igor in his birthday suit.
And here's Igor in his birthday suit.
