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Musical Curiosities |
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Musical oddities, curious phenomena, medical conditions,
scientific discoveries, etc., all within the realm of music.
You are invited to comment on the stories or to suggest other
relevant stories in our Music Forum.
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 Space
Station
Commander
Chris
Hadfield
singing
in zero
gravity
North
America's
newest
pop star
is
International
Space
Station
Commander
Chris
Hadfield.
In this
unique
"out of
this
world"
music
video
clip,
his zero
gravity
rendition
of David
Bowie's
"Space
Oddity"
has
racked
up more
than 11
million
YouTube
hits
since
being
posted
Sunday
12th
May 2013.
Apart
from
this
astounding
setting
and
Chris'
gorgeous
Canadian
tenor
voice,
the
accompaniment
arranged
and
performed
by
Canadian
singer/songwriter
Emm
Gryner
is
stunning.
Read
more...here |
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A strange musical
instrument! |
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Hans
Reichel's
invention,
the
Daxophone
The
Daxophone
is a
somewhat
comical
sounding
instrument
of the
friction
idiophone
category
invented
by Hans
Reichel.
It
consists
of a
thin
wooden
blade
fixed in
a wooden
block,
which is
played
by
bowing
or by
being
struck
or
plucked.
The
vibrations
are
amplified
by
contact
mics. A
wide
range of
voice-like
timbres
can be
produced,
either
as fixed
pitches
on the
fretted
side of
the
block,
or in a
more
fluid
glissando
style on
the
smooth
side.
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The power of Mozart's
music! |
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Mozart's Music
Makes Premature
Babies Fatten
Up?
The results of a
recent study
conducted by
Israeli doctors
released last
month, showed
that healthy
premature babies
subjected to 10
to 30 minutes of
music from a
"Baby Mozart" CD
caused the
babies
metabolism to
slow down on
average of up to
13%. With a
slower
metabolism, the
premature babies
would gain much
needed weight
faster.
Scientists are
still unsure if
the study proves
to be another
"Mozart Effect."
What do you
think? |
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Playing the piano
upside down! |
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Upside
Down And
Backwards
Pianist
A tricky way to
demonstrate
musical talent.
She is obviously
a fairly
accomplished
pianist, but
what an unusual
way to show
this. Lying
beneath the
keyboard her
hands are
crossed as she
performs upside
down and
backwards - a
difficult feat!
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One cello, four
players!. |
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Four
musicians
playing Maurice
Ravel's Boléro
on one cello!
The world class
Brittish string
quartet,
Stringfever is
made up of three
brothers and a
cousin; Giles,
Ralph, Graham &
Neal Broadbent.
Playing skeletal
electric strings
they perform the
industry's
favourite
classics and
some
contemporary
works in a
thoroughly
entertaining and
unique way.
Billed as the
worlds first
genetically
modified string
quartet they
combine
exceptional
musical skill
with humour and
a real talent
for involving
and engaging
their audience.
In this video
clip you'll see
all four
musicians
playing Maurice
Ravel's Boléro
on the same
cello!!..One
cello, four
players!.......See
video
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A Speaking Piano
A "speaking
piano" reciting
the Proclamation
of the European
Environmental
Criminal Court
at World Venice
Forum 2009.
The Austrian
composer Peter
Ablinger
transferred the
frequency
spectrum of a
child's voice to
his computer
controlled
mechanical
piano. He broke
down the
recording into
individual
pixels at fairly
high resolution
and, rendering
the result via
the mechanical
piano, one can
actually hear a
human voice in
the piano
sound.......more
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A new musical
craze - The
Silent Disco
A surprising new
musical craze is
taking Britain's
dance floors by
storm - the
sound of
silence.
Silent discos,
in which people
dance to music
played through
personal
headphones
rather than
speakers, was
once the
preserve of
music festivals
and special club
nights.
But now it is
becoming
increasingly
popular at
weddings and
private parties,
enabling
teenagers to
dance to their
hearts' content
without keeping
their parents or
the neighbours
awake all night.
And the fact
that dancers can
choose between
two or more
different
channels, means
classical music
fans waltzing to
Schubert can in
theory share the
same floor as
ravers partying
to hard-core
techno music.
Its origins are
said to date
back to an
obscure 1969
Finnish sci-fi
film called
Ruusujen aika,
but its
popularity has
soared in
Britain since it
appeared at the
2005 Glastonbury
music
festival....
More.
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The first human
synthesizer |
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Calvin Harris
hooks up first
human synth
Bikini-clad
women smeared
with body paint
have become a
human
synthesiser for
Calvin Harris's
latest single!
Watch the video
of Calvin Harris
testing out the
"Humanthesiser,"
a synthesiser
that uses people
to play sounds.....more
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Piano-Playing
Cat Makes
Orchestra Debut
A video of a
kitten on the
keys of a piano
inspired this
amazing
orchestral
composition.
Conducted by its
Lithuanian
composer
Mindaugas
Piecaitis, Nora
the cat is
accompanied by
the Klaipėda
Chamber
Orchestra. This
sensitively
written piece
turns a random
cat piano solo
into something
incredible!....more
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Music that makes you
dumb |
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Music that makes
you dumb
CalTech grad
student named
Virgil Griffith
has conducted an
interesting
(albeit somewhat
unscientific)
study relating
music
preferences with
SAT scores. The
SAT Reasoning
Test (formerly
Scholastic
Assessment Test)
is a
standardized
test for college
admissions in
the United
States. While
SAT scores are
criticized for
not accurately
determining
intelligence,
the results of
Virgil's study
show that the
"smartest"
students'
favourite
musician is
Beethoven, with
an average SAT
score of 1371,
and at the other
end of the
spectrum is Lil’
Wayne, with an
average score of
889....more
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Auto-Tune dates back
to 1930s! |
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The ubiquitous
Auto-Tune
software dates
back to 1930s!
Auto-tune
software was
developed by
Andy Hildebrand
in the 1990s to
correct pitch
imperfections
automatically in
real time, but
was first made
famous by Cher
on "Believe" in
1998 not as its
inventor
intended, but
adjusted to
produce a
robot-like voice
effect.
It is now
widely used in
this way by
T-Pain, Kanye
West, Lil Wayne,
Chris Brown,
Akon, Birdman,
Ron Browz, and
others. This
vocoder or voice
synthesizing technology
in fact dates
back to the
1930s... more
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Music of the
Neanderthals |
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Music of the
Ages by
Glenn R. Morton
The earliest
music was made
by Neanderthals
around
80-100,000 years
ago. This is
twice as old as
the Eastern
European
Neanderthal
Flute reported
recently.
Evidence for
pre-60,000 year
old musical
instruments
comes from three
continents, many
examples of two
types of
instruments, and
thus is not an
isolated
occurrence.
Ancient musical
instruments were
made by
anatomically
modern men
30,000 years
ago...(more)
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World's most
expensive speaker cable |
from www.noiseaddicts.com
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What could you buy with $21,000? - a car?, a couple of
over-seas trips?, a down payment on a house? Do you think even
the most dedicated audiophile would spend it on 3 meters of
speaker cable?...
World's most expensive speaker cable
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The Ondes
Martenot |
Electronic music from 1920s
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The ondes Martenot (French for "Martenot
waves" also known as the ondium Martenot, Martenot and ondes
musicales) is an early electronic musical instrument, invented
in 1928 by Maurice Martenot and originally very similar in sound
to the Theremin. The sonic capabilities of the
instrument were subsequently expanded by the addition of timbral
controls and switchable loudspeakers. The instrument's eerie
wavering notes are oscillating frequencies produced by
thermionic valves
Martenot was originally a cellist and this instrument mimics
the cello very well....
Video on YouTube:
Jean Laurendeau and the Ondes Martenot
- A light overview of the rarely heard Ondes Martenot, with
one of the world's foremost masters of the instrument, Jean
Laurendeau. |
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Music's Healing
Power |
Music therapy: the Tomatis Method
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Did you know that ailments such as lack of balance, poor
concentration, stuttering and even depression could actually be
attributed to problems with your ears? A simple therapy, known
as the Tomatis Method, has proven to be an effective way to
treat many ailments associated with the inner ear.
A device called the electronic ear — a black box that plays
cassettes, rather like an amplifier and linked to headphones —
devised by Dr Tomatis, relays music in such a way that it
exercises the muscles in the ears. It retrains the ear by
playing filtered music through the headphones, gradually
reintroducing sound through its natural journey of development.
Mozart's music is used because it falls mostly in the
high-frequency sound range and has a greater number of
vibrations than other types of music. It also uses both medium-
and low-range pitches at random, to give the ear a solid
workout...
http://health.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=50148
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Weather Harp
sound sculpture |
Melbourne's Weather Harp
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An intriguing harp mounted on an exterior wall in Sugden
Place, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia from 2003-2006. It is
played by the weather.
Environmentally Sensitive Installation, Kinetic Installation and
Outdoor Installation
Video by Briele Hansen. Sound by Michael Havir and David Murphy....
http://www.oddmusic.com/gallery/om33100.html
Video on YouTube:
Melbourne's
Weather Harp
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The Sounds of
Silence |
John Cage's 4′33″
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Avant-Garde composer John
Cage's most famous musical composition called 4'33" consists of
the pianist going to the piano, and not playing for four minutes
and thirty-three seconds. (He uses a stopwatch to time this.) In
other words, the entire piece consists of silences - silences of
different lengths.
What you hear when you listen to 4'33" is more a matter of
chance than with any other piece of music - nothing of what you
hear is anything the composer wrote...
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/database/cage_j.html
John Cage's 4′33″
Videos on YouTube:
Piano version of 4′33″
Full Orchestral version of 4′33″ |
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Lullabies and
Language Development |
ABC Radio story
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A research study has found that
lullabies not only relax babies but help them
learn the language. A mother singing lullabies whilst pregnant
and continuing after the birth of her baby can help decrease the
chance of post natal depression, encourage bonding between
mother and baby, and help the child's language development...
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/12/07/2112889.htm
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Musical Savant 1 |
Rex Lewis-Clack
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His piano teacher is teaching him a piece,
a Schubert Impromptu, and he’s hearing it now for the first
time. Right after hearing it, he’s able to play the piece, but
he isn’t reading music. He can’t even see the keys.
Rex is a musical savant, one of a handful of people in the world
who share a mysterious combination of blindness, mental
disability, and exceptional musical talent...."
Rex Lewis-Clack is a musical savant whose incredible piano
talent coexists with blindness and severe mental impairment.
...
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/09/25/60minutes/
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Musical Savant 2 |
Derek Paravicini
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Blind and brain-damaged, Derek Paravicini is a musical marvel,
able to play back any tune after one listen.
Derek was called a "human iPod" on a recent visit to the US, but
Dr Ockelford resists that limiting description. "When he works
with an orchestra, he tunes in to the musicians around him. If
they are playing simply and quietly, he'll pick up on that. He
shows real sensitivity."...
http://music.guardian.co.uk/jazz/story/0,,2068612,00.html
http://www.mymultiplesclerosis.co.uk/misc/derekparaviccini.html
Videos on YouTube:
Musical Savants - autism, blindness
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Cats listening
to music |
from http://www.tlu.ee/
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