24.5.14

23.5.14

Old and older

Recorded at the cathedral where it was first performed, this performance highlights the spatial dimension of the music (a topical subject but we sometimes forget the long history of sound disposition in spaces):
The string writing is, of course, very effective (score from imslp).

20.5.14

Bartok - Bagatelles Op. 6

These short piano pieces are wonderful sources for examining innovative harmony (and rhythm, and composition technique, and ...)

15.5.14

Granados - Goyescas

A recording of Granados performing his own music (in 1916 remastered from piano rolls):

Simple Metric Modulation

A drum tutorial explaining metric modulation (with notated illustrations as a bonus):

14.5.14

Correlation =/= causation

A useful illustration that if you search wide enough you can easily find 2 highly correlated variables:


 But that does not mean there is causal relations between them

5.3.14

Graphic Score

This set displays a variety of approaches to graphic representation of sound. This group effort results in a full 'score' for a fairly extensive composition:


15.2.14

Leoš Janáček

An innovative composer of music that often sounds deceptively simple:
He found inspiration in the intonations of this native Czech language by notating speech fragments he heard as melodies.

6.2.14

Scriabin

Russian composer Scriabin in a jazzy(!?) mood  - the 2nd of his op. 57 pieces (composed in 1908).
The Preludes op. 74 are more typical of his style and sound world:

And a score + annotation (scroll down) of the harmony underlying these piece.

13.1.14

Noise in the workplace

It seems noisy environments have quite a few negative implications:
"But the most problematic aspect of the open office may be physical rather than psychological: simple noise. In laboratory settings, noise has been repeatedly tied to reduced cognitive performance. The psychologist Nick Perham, who studies the effect of sound on how we think, has found that office commotion impairs workers’ ability to recall information, and even to do basic arithmetic. Listening to music to block out the office intrusion doesn’t help: even that, Perham found, impairs our mental acuity. Exposure to noise in an office may also take a toll on the health of employees. In a study by the Cornell University psychologists Gary Evans and Dana Johnson, clerical workers who were exposed to open-office noise for three hours had increased levels of epinephrine—a hormone that we often call adrenaline, associated with the so-called fight-or-flight response. What’s more, Evans and Johnson discovered that people in noisy environments made fewer ergonomic adjustments than they would in private, causing increased physical strain. The subjects subsequently attempted to solve fewer puzzles than they had after working in a quiet environment; in other words, they became less motivated and less creative." (Maria Konnikova The New Yorker 2014)