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Air Guitar One of the myths of rock music is that -- in order to be as cool as possible -- musicians need to make their work look as difficult as possible. For example, think of a typical rock guitarist, caught up in a frenzy of sound, rhythm and audience reaction. He jumps, he runs, he gyrates, twitching to the sound of the music like an inebriated cat on a hot tin roof. All in good fun of course. In fact, the deadpan silliness of the lead guitarist is often the best part of the show. So why not remove the actual musicianship and just watch pure action? Why not indeed? That's air guitar. Watch as performers (and competitors) stand in front of a real band, pretending to play the guitar, while offering the same type of entertaining playfulness as an actual musician. Since they don't have to bother playing real music, they can concentrate on what's really important: looking as cool and as alien as possible. (Any resemblance to professional wrestling is purely coincidental.) Web:
Bands If you've been looking for your favorite rock band on the Net and can't find it, check with these Web sites. You'll find huge lists of links to band-related resources as well as information about concerts, recordings, radio stations, music news, online events, magazines, ezines, record stores, essays, articles, musical terminology and slang, articles, music styles, lyrics, sounds, pictures and more. (See if you can say that ten times real fast.) Web:
Beethoven, Ludwig van Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827), was born in Bonn, Germany, the son and grandson of musicians. As a child, Beethoven was himself a natural musician and was taught by his father and by the Bonn court organist. At the age of 8, Beethoven gave his first public piano performance; at 11, he was skilled enough to become the deputy organist; and at 12, he had his first music published. As a young adult, Beethoven moved to Vienna, where he was able to study with well-known musicians such as Joseph Haydn and Antonio Salieri (who also taught Franz Schubert and Franz Liszt). In time, Beethoven came to enjoy great success, both as a pianist and as a composer. As a pianist, he was a virtuoso, playing with an inspired, fiery depth of feeling. As a composer, his late 20s and early 30s were especially productive. During this time he wrote some of his most beloved pieces: the Pathetique Sonata, the Moonlight Sonata, his first three piano concertos, his first two symphonies, and a set of six string quartets. Beethoven's life was changed for the worse, however, when he noticed that he was losing his hearing. At the age of 32, he realized that the loss was incurable and was sure to worsen (as indeed it did). For a time, Beethoven thought he would soon be dead, and the combination of deafness and despair led to a period of bitter unhappiness. His indomitable spirit, however, did not fail him, and he soon embarked on a long period of creativity. It was during this period that he wrote his most popular symphonies, the 3rd (Erotica), the 5th (the most well-known of his oeuvre), the 6th (Pastoral), and the 9th (Chorale). By the age of 40, Beethoven was universally accepted as the greatest composer of his time. However, his deafness and depression were more than he could handle, and his life began to unravel. Because of his hearing problem, his career as a pianist had ended when he was 38. The deafness had caused him to became isolated (a common occurrence with such conditions), which only served to feed his despair. Although Beethoven did compose during his later years, his most productive time was behind him. He died in 1827 at the age of 57, frustrated, ill, and lonely. He was, however, universally appreciated as a master of every musical genre, a giant of his time whose influence would be the dominant force in 19th century music. His musical legacy included 9 symphonies, an opera (Fidelio), a mass, and a large number of other compositions, including concertos, piano sonatas, violin sonatas and string quartets. Web:
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Buying and Selling Music Don't waste your time wandering the neighborhood looking for good garage sales at which to buy music and musical instruments. People all over the Net come to Usenet to buy and sell musical goods such as instruments and equipment, records, tapes, and CDs. Buying over the Net sure beats trying to get a piano home in the back seat of your car. Usenet:
Concert Information Going to concerts is an important part of growing up. When I was a kid I went to a lot of fabulous rock concerts. I saw the Doors, John Lennon, Alice Cooper, and even the Monkees. Later, when I was older and nostalgia was popular, I remember seeing many other groups such as the Beach Boys and the Four Seasons, as well as singers like Ella Fitzgerald and Joe Williams. When we are young, the music that is popular is ours, and everything else seems hopelessly outdated. Well, if you are young right now, you're in luck, because you have the Net, and the Net lists of concert schedules, ticket information, as well as other related resources: everything you need to plan your musical memories to comfort you in your old age. (Interesting thought: one day, there are going to be people who are nostalgic about Eminem.) Web:
Discographies When you have a blind date with a girl and you know she likes a certain band, go to one of these discographies sites, find the band and memorize every song and album they have ever released (along with the dates they were released). On the date, talk is bound to turn to music and you can wow her with your knowledge of her favorite musical groups. I always say, plan for success. Web:
DJing If you are old enough to remember when music came from turntables playing vinyl records, you also remember how delicate the whole system was. You had to take care not to jar the turntable while it was playing, and you had to be especially careful with your records to prevent scratches. Today, people use these old, obsolete turntables as musical instruments. It's called DJing. For example, a young music lover will take two turntables, play two records at the same time, and use a mixer to create a musically disjunctive mélange à deux. Some people do it as a hobby at home, which is fun because DJing makes exactly the type of noise that most annoys their parents. Other people take the activity much more seriously, calling it "turntablism", studying it scientifically and developing new techniques. There are two basic skills. First, creating a "scratch", a short sound that you play over and over by moving a record back and forth. Second, "beat-matching", in which you take two tunes, and play them at exactly the same tempo, so you can change from one to the other without missing a beat. Web:
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Electronic Music Talk and General Discussion Composing and playing electronic music is mostly a solitary occupation: you spend a lot of time by yourself, with only a synthesizer, a computer, and some strange-looking audio equipment for company. However, when you want company there's no need to actually go and fetch a real live person. There are people enough on the Net ready to discuss whatever you want regarding electronic music, and they know what they are talking about. Usenet:
Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest is one of the most popular annual events in Europe. Every year since 1956, musicians from different countries have competed for a prize for the best song. In 1956, there were entries from 6 countries. Today, there virtually all European countries send entries, and the event is broadcast to tens of millions of people. My favorite song was the 1999 winner, "Take Me to Your Heaven", from Sweden. Web:
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Filk Filking is the clever, but nearly irreverent art of taking an existing song, gutting it, and making it into something new using the same music, but different words. Join the rowdy crowd around the campfire as they belt out the ballads. Web:
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Guitar Chords and Tablature When I play guitar, I think in terms of chords and, when I hear music, I often figure out songs on the piano by thinking like a guitar player. True story: For weeks, I had been trying to figure out the chords to the Neil Sedaka song "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do". I had most of it, but a portion of the bridge (the middle part) was driving me crazy: no matter what I did, it just didn't sound right. Then, one day, I found the proper chords in an archive on the Net. All I had to do was transpose and it was perfect. (Here are the chords for the bridge. The ones I was missing are in italics. Cm7 F7 Cm7 F7 Bb Bbmaj7 Bb Bbmaj7 Bbm7 Eb7 Bbm7 Eb7 Ab G.) Web:
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Home Recording In general terms, there are two ways to do home recording. You can use a PC-based system, or you can use a digital recorder. Before you start, you should decide which way you want to go. A digital recorder is easy to master, and you can start recording immediately. A PC-based system is not so simple: it pretty much requires you to be a computer nerd. However, it will give you extreme amount of control over the editing process. I have a friend named Hal who plays in a band called "K" with his two sons, Mason and Zak. (Their last name is Kopeikin.) Hal, Mason and Zak are all skillful musicians, and sometimes I perform or jam with them myself. In the tradition of great musicians, they hold their practice sessions in their garage, where they have a lot of equipment. What is so cool is that, somewhere among all the equipment, Hal has a digital recorder that makes it easy to record anything that they are playing. Using this device, Hal and the boys have recorded songs that they have put on their Web site and on CDs. (I have included their Web site below, just for fun.) My chief of staff, Lydia, and I were talking about all of this, and she said that thinking about home recording makes her want to create her own personal recording studio. Not a bad idea. Maybe you should do it too. Web:
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Indie Bands The goal of most bands is to get a contract with a recording company. However, most bands never get such a contract. These are the unsigned bands, often referred to as indie (independent) bands. So how does an indie band get their music distributed? In two ways: they tour (and possibly sell their own CDs), and they put their music on the Net for other people to discover it. Web:
Karaoke Karaoke: you drink, you get up in front of the crowd, you hear the music, and you sing. Karaoke started in Japan (the name means "empty orchestra" in Japanese), and has since become popular among amateur singers around the world. In a bar, or at a party with a DJ, you will see a karaoke machine that plays backup music while it displays the lyrics. On the Net you can download oodles and oodles of karaoke sound+lyrics files, and use your own computer as a karaoke machine. Want something even easier? You can play songs right from a Web site and sing along to your musical heart's content. Web:
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Lyrics The next time you want to serenade your favorite guy or gal, check with the Net to find the perfect song to create the perfect moment for the perfect person. You'll find collections of song lyrics from many different artists and groups. When Aerosmith sang "Don't wanna close my eyes/ Don't wanna fall asleep, yeah/ I don't wanna miss a thing," they were expressing the idea that, once you find the right song to sing, life gets as good as it's ever going to get. Or as Neil Sedaka put it, "Yeah, yeah, my heart's in a whirl." Web:
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Marching Bands These Web sites contain information about marching bands and drum corps around the United States. The Usenet groups are for marching band and drum corps enthusiasts to discuss the types of things that are important to people who march in formation, making loud musical noises. In my opinion you haven't lived until you have seen the University of Arkansas Razorback Marching Band spell out "GO HOGS", while playing the Razorback Fight Song. Web:
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Music Chat Night and day, day and night, someone special waits for you on IRC, ready to talk happy talk about music. IRC:
Music Composition Do you feel like there is a song inside you, just waiting to get out? Get it out now instead of letting it build up. No sense taking the risk of bursting into song while standing in line at the movie house waiting to get your popcorn (because that is uncool). In the privacy of your own home, you can join Usenet and talk to other people who are interested in writing original music or lyrics. Web:
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Music Dictionaries Suppose you are writing a concerto for a Led Zeppelin tribute band. You will need to know the word "fortissississimo" (which means as loudly as possible). And suppose that, in the middle of the piece, you want to indicate a very, very short rest. You will need to know that a "hemidemisemiquaver" indicates a 64th of a beat. And, finally, suppose that you decide to innovate by throwing in a surprise cadenza for a double-reed wind instrument from Renaissance times. You would certainly look foolish if you couldn't spell "rackettenfagott". Need I go any further? A musician's best friend is his music dictionary. Web:
Music FAQs Without music the world would be a quieter and duller place. There would be no reason to call the police because of overcranked speakers. There would be no earplugs needed when people sing off-key. And there would be no reason for all the cool FAQs on industrial, reggae, classical, Christian, metal and ska music, to name a few. This site contains most of the frequently asked question lists for the Usenet groups relating to music. Web:
Music News Music is more than spiritual creativity based on the innermost harmonies of human cognition and feeling. It is also big business, with huge amounts of money, intrigue, rumors, partnerships, hype and promotion. If you like music and you care about the music business, you'll want to visit these Web sites regularly (if only to check out the new releases and reviews). Web:
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Music Performance If you are a performer, here is where you can hang out on Usenet. Talk to people who understand your language and your concerns. After all, you do have your very own Usenet groups, so why should you spend your time with regular people? Hope you get a good gig. (See, I know the lingo 'cause I'm hep.) Usenet:
Music Resources Music is one of the most popular topics on the Net, and there is a huge amount of music-related information. Here are some resources that will act as your entrée into the world of music-on-the-Net. I have chosen Web sites that are well-maintained and offer variety. In particular, you'll find lots of information about musical groups, performers and particular genres. Web:
Music Reviews The nice thing about music is that, although you need to have talent and skill to be a performer or composer, anyone can be a critic. Moreover, it takes no special training to critique other people's reviews. So here they are. Go wild. Web:
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Music Talk and General Discussion When it's late at night and you can't turn the stereo up full volume, get your music fix by talking on the Net. This mailing list and the Usenet groups will put you together with other music lovers around the world. Usenet:
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Music Videos In a world in which personal discord and marital uncertainty is all too common, it's wonderful to see that one partnership has not only survived, but is thriving like a cat in a tuna factory. I refer, of course, to the marriage of convenience between record companies and the video industry -- a union that has been responsible for one of the most important cultural achievements of the century: the music video. Of course, you can see all the music videos you want on television, but why should you put up with all the commercials? Harness the power of the Net to indulge your predilections on your very own computer, where you can choose what you want when you want it. Web:
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Piano Chords and Sheet Music I have been playing the piano since I was 6 years old and, although I took the regular classical lessons, I don't play that way at all. I think in terms of chords and improvisation. My favorite way to play a song is to find the chords, look at the melody line, and make up everything else as I go along. Now, compare this to the way Lydia and Debbie play the piano. (Lydia Hearn and Debbie Gin-Hearn are two sisters who work with me.) Neither of them improvises, but they can sight-read sheet music with no problem at all. I watch them play from sheet music, and I say, boy, I wish I could do that. But then they watch me improvise from a set of chords, and they say they wish they could do what I do. I guess there are two types of musical brains: the Hearns and the Hahns. Web:
Rave Immerse yourself in the ultimate techno-culture of music, dancing, drugs, and more illegal and excessive fun than most people can imagine. Learn to be the type of person your parents warned you about. Web:
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Record Production To you, it's just a little sheet of vinyl or a small tape or CD that will fit in your backpack, but producing a record is a really big deal for everyone involved. Check out the details of deadlines, costs of production, contracts, technical miracles and equipment, and develop a great appreciation for all the work that goes into creating your listening pleasure. Usenet:
Strange Sounds Here are bizarre, esoteric, unusual music and sounds that are an acquired taste. Exotic music, skank, thrash, hardcore, industrial, electronic body music: not for those without an industrial-strength auditory cortex. Usenet:
Women in Music There is women's music, music for women, and women in music, and they're all on the Net. (What could be finer?) Web:
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