by Katie Geleff CBC Radio A PhD student in Ottawa has developed a device that allows blind and low-vision students to feel music cues, replacing the need to see them. Instead of having to follow a conductor’s baton, or a teacher’s hand gestures during a lesson, music learners can receive instruction through a …
Category Archives: music
Get Off My Lawn And Give Me The Old Songs!
by Kevin Burton Look out kids, there may be science behind my old-man curmudgeonality. It seems newer songs are really not like the songs of old. Furthermore, technology is partially to blame. I’m having a good day! “If you feel curmudgeonly for thinking ‘They don’t make hits like they used …
Continue reading “Get Off My Lawn And Give Me The Old Songs!”
Lennon’s 1972 Peace Overture To McCartney
by Kevin Burton How would music history be different, had an invitation sent in 1972 been received favorably? The acrimony surrounding the Beatles’ breakup was not as fevered as Beatlemania itself – nothing else in music has ever been – but it was white hot. But some two years after the split, John …
Continue reading “Lennon’s 1972 Peace Overture To McCartney”
Joni Mitchell’s Masterpiece, “Both Sides Now”
by Kevin Burton Turning on the radio is like opening a musical fire hydrant. The product comes at you fast and furious. When I was young I lacked the discernment to understand that some of the musical water being spewed out by that hydrant was more nourishing than some of the other. …
Continue reading “Joni Mitchell’s Masterpiece, “Both Sides Now””
Bonnie Raitt Supports A Free Press, Journalism
by Kevin Burton I love Bonnie Raitt more this week than I did before, and that’s saying something. Raitt announced Monday that proceeds from her Sept. 23 concert in Carmel By The Sea, California, will go to support investigative journalism and protect a free press. “Special guest Roy Rogers will support the …
Continue reading “Bonnie Raitt Supports A Free Press, Journalism”
I Love A Rainy Night And I Like Eddie Rabbitt
by Kevin Burton If you’re like most people, when you think of a nice day, you’re thinking about picnic weather, right? Well I’m not like most people. My nice days have a soundtrack to them. I am a son of the Midwest. What you call spring and summer, I call tornado season. …
Continue reading “I Love A Rainy Night And I Like Eddie Rabbitt”
What Do Cats And Jazz Have In Common?
by Dictionary Scoop Are you a cool cat? Or a groovy alligator? The Age of Jazz had a vast cultural influence on both American music and culture, but one of its most curious aspects was “jive talk”” the quirky jargon it birthed. Largely influenced by jazz singer Cab Calloway – who authored at least two dictionaries …
Amazing Facts About Musical Instruments
by interestingfacts.com Each musical instrument has its own amazing facts and stories. Here are astounding facts from the world of musical devices, both familiar and unusual. 1-The Piano Defies Classification What type of musical instrument is a piano? When a piano is played, each key controls a hammer that strikes a tuned string …
Mary Wells Disappeared After “My Guy”
by Kevin Burton In my alternate Motown universe there is a lot more Martha Reeves and a lot less Diana Ross. There is also at least a little more Mary Wells. It’s Wells we focus on today. Sixty years ago, Wells’ “My Guy” became the first Motown record to hit number one on …
A Female Version Of The Beatles? Who Knew?
by Kevin Burton I have read maybe two dozen books about the Beatles on talking book. But I didn’t know this. In books by and about other contemporary artists, the Beatles emerge, as a yardstick, a cultural happening, a turning point. But not so much as a syllable about this. Until very …
Continue reading “A Female Version Of The Beatles? Who Knew?”
