[Chris Weber]

So after watching that woman play the Theremin (and making it look easy, which I don’t really believe is the case), I thought it would be neat to have one, or at least try one.

Didn’t take long to find this — Bob Moog started making them 60 years ago.

https://www.moogmusic.com/products/etherwave-theremin

There’s a good vid on Amazon for a demo too.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 11 months ago by  Chris Weber.

[Chris Weber]

Recently, I looked for Joni Mitchell, and specifically, Both Sides Now, on YouTube and found this interview of Joni by Elton John. Elton has a series of over 300 interviews in his Rocket Hour. He said this was the longest episode of all. They talked about a number of things; the Both Sides Now discussion begins about 13:25. Of course I was looking for that song since Mona and Lisa have the most amazing cover of it, which makes me tear up every time I hear it. Here’s the interview:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzzI7LjcBLM

Joni is not obscure, of course, but she said that her favorite cover of the song was by Mabel Mercer. Apologies to Mabel, but I had never heard of her before. There are a number of versions by Mabel on YT, here’s one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xv6G9Z5-SD8

Joni said that when she released her original version back in the ’60s, she got criticism, since she was so young, too young for sentiments like that. Mabel’s not young, but the Twins are.

The interview with Joni was fairly recent, in the last year certainly. I was wondering if she had ever heard Mona and Lisa’s version, since it’s my favorite cover of theirs. I always loved this song, and their version is incredible.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 11 months ago by  Chris Weber.

[Chris Weber]

Not too far afield from mainstream instruments, but a couple decades back, a music store near me had a Bösendorfer – their top of the line piano, with a list price of $200,000, with the extra keys in the bass. They told me that when Chick Corea came to town he always had them move it to the site so he could play it. The lowest note was pretty close to the lowest frequency humans could expect to hear, although I forget the exact Hertz.

It was definitely my favorite axe in the store. A seriously large piano. And, of course, made in Vienna(!).

• This reply was modified 2 years, 11 months ago by  Chris Weber.
• This reply was modified 2 years, 11 months ago by  Chris Weber.

[Chris Weber]

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• This reply was modified 2 years, 11 months ago by  Chris Weber.
• This reply was modified 2 years, 11 months ago by  Chris Weber.

[Chris Weber]

Ok, I was lazy the first time, so now I checked it out. The bottom key on that piano is a C, 4 octaves below middle C, which is called C0. Depending on how the piano is tuned, it’s about 16Hz.

https://pages.mtu.edu/~suits/notefreqs.html

As you mentioned, the normal range of human hearing is around 20-20,000 Hz. That’s a range you see cited when discussing loudspeakers, for example.

So at any rate, that key is right around the limit of hearing, which depends on the individual.

When I was playing that piano, I could hear that bottom note, and I was probably almost 30 years old around then. And my ears had a lot of hard rock mileage on them by then.

I remember thinking it wasn’t too useful, it didn’t sound great. Not sure if that was the piano or my ears.

[Chris Weber]

I guess my joke about “If You Could Read My Mind” didn’t land.

I’m not Canadian, but I live about 50 miles west of Windsor. People here in Michigan remember the Edmund Fitzgerald and that song helps. They really do still ring the bells in Detroit every year for the 30,000 sailors lost in the Great Lakes.

[Chris Weber]

I remember John Cage. He did what was called “prepared piano”.

By which he meant, putting things like rocks on the strings inside a piano, for example.

It does change the sound. He did a variety of things like that.

Can’t say I remember any of his greatest hits though.

[Chris Weber]

I always thought the mellotron was closest related to a modern sampler, since they both have one recording per key. Same idea, very different technology.

I remember in the ’80s, I think it was, I saw Patrick Moraz demonstrate a Kurzweil, which was pretty expensive, $10,000, at the time. First real sampling keyboard like today’s examples, iirc.

[Chris Weber]

When I read your description “tuning forks” I was expecting like a Rhodes. But this sounds more like playing chimes.

[Chris Weber]

Ok, I thought that was just a banjo when I first saw it, and the banjo timbre worked really well with the song.

But it does have 6 strings, so that makes it a banjitar? Like a combination of the two?

Normally, iirc, a tenor banjo is 4 strings, and a regular(?) banjo has 5.

[Chris Weber]

Glenn Gould is great, I have vinyl of him too. A friend of mine turned me onto him long ago. 🙂

And I’ll add one more. When I was in high school, and I was surrounded by friends who also played guitar, we used to listen to and play Gordon Lightfoot.

But if you could read my mind, you would already know that.

[Chris Weber]

Thanks for the reply. Those statues are great. I have never seen them before.

I was fortunate to see Oscar live once in the ’70s on a bill with Dizzy Gillespie. Amazing night. He was special.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 11 months ago by  Chris Weber.

[Chris Weber]

The Beatles didn’t need to read music. Most people in history have heard
and felt and sang or played, and didn’t know how to read music. Most
people these days start learning to play and at the same time
learning to read music. When I’ve taught music, I teach them to
play by ear. I tell them it’s easier.

They usually are taken aback by the idea, but then I ask them, can you
sing Happy Birthday? Did you have to read music to learn it?

I’ve always thought music was innate, it’s wired into all of us. I’ve
always said music is language. We are built for both, or maybe they
just are two sides of the same thing. All music has rhythm, first
and foremost, and has pitch too.

The oldest
recorded French piece of literature is the Song of Roland, from the
time of Charlemagne. We see it as a poem, but was it really a song?
Why do they call it a song? Either a poem or a song is a way to help
illiterate people remember it and pass it on, because they both have
rhythm, and a song at least would also have pitch. Rhythm and pitch
aid memory,

I think there definitely is a universal
musical code. Bach, the Kinks, and the Beach Boys are all western
music, so the music theory for all of them is the same; they’re
closer to each other than to the folks in the Amazon, or to Indian
Rajas or Japanese hogaku.

One more thought on the cultural
ubiquity of music. Growing up in Europe, even if you didn’t seek out
classical music, it was around you, it was in the culture. The
Beatles were all raised as Christians. Church music is classical
music. Can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard Bach at Mass.
Christmas music is related to classical music. I think the Beatles
were exposed to classical music, even if they didn’t pursue it.

Very interesting thread guys. Sorry
it’s taken me a couple of years to reply…

• This reply was modified 2 years, 11 months ago by  Chris Weber.
• This reply was modified 2 years, 11 months ago by  Chris Weber.

[Chris Weber]

Interesting, thanks for posting about the Theremin, guys. I had heard of the Theremin, long, long ago, but I’m not remembering ever seeing one played before.

Having said that, I remember long ago thinking about other ways to design musical instruments. One big issue with most instruments is the UI, the user interface. It takes a lot of practice to get the digital dexterity to control the sound with your fingers. That’s still true with the Theremin, but I remember thinking about the possibility of an instrument where the hands never touch anything a number of times.

So thanks, now I know it already exists, and I’m caught up to the year 1920.

Still waiting for the connection that just plugs directly into the musicians head though…

[Chris Weber]

To add to Canadian artists, my favorite is Oscar Peterson. Different music entirely, but his style and mastery always made him instantly recognizable.