Cool Schtuff

 

Gen and [not so] Tonic

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A unique (and memorable) Japanese pianist named Gen Hirano is seen here playing "Piano Media" by composer Toshi Ichiyanagi. He is distinct, to be sure. After all, how many times do you see body building pianist wearing a headband and a pair of leather chaps playing insanely difficult contemporary music to near perfection? I mean, really ...

 

 

 

Figure Head

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By Cameron Abadi, Associated Press Writer

 

BERLIN — A modern reconstruction of Johann Sebastian Bach's head using state-of-the-art computer modeling techniques shows the composer as a strong-jawed man with a slight underbite, his large head topped with short, silver hair.

 

The bust, unveiled in Berlin [in March of 2008], was created by anthropologist Caroline Wilkinson in her lab at the University of Dundee in Scotland.

 

Rather than use Bach's actual bones, which are buried at the St. John's Church in Leipzig, Wilkinson worked from a copper replica of Bach's skull made for a previous reconstruction in 1894 by physician Wilhelm His and sculptor Carl Ludwig Seffner.

 

Nonetheless, Wilkinson sees her work as the most realistic rendering of Bach's appearance to date. 

 

To finish reading the entire article, click here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

All Shapes and Sizes 

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A handful of piano builders are moving their instruments into the 21st century. Some of these pianos are cutting edge ... others, not so much. But the one question on every pianists mind: "yeah, but does it sound good?" 

 

 

 

... to Celebrate the Memory of a Great Man

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While not music-related, this three and a half minute video entitled "Pale Blue Dot" by the late scientist [and genius] Carl Sagan is worth viewing. This should help us all put things in perspective. 'Nuf said.

 

 

 

Of Passion and Music

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Benjamin Zander has two infectious passions: classical music, and helping us all realize our untapped love for it -- and by extension, our untapped love for all new possibilities, new experiences, new connections.

 

 

 

The Threshold of Brilliance

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Tod Machover from MIT's Media Lab is extraordinary. Machover is the brains behind the music composition software Hyperscore and the creator of Toy Symphony and hyperinstruments; he also developed the insanely popular video game "Guitar Hero." (Yup, that came from MIT.) In this TED talk – "riveting talks by remarkable people" on the topics of Technology Entertainment and Design – Machor discusses his brilliant creations. During the talk, he is joined by Dan Ellsey, a resident at Tewksberry Hospital who was born with cerebral palsy. Dan's also a composer. With the help of Machover, Hyperscore, and the MIT Media Lab, Dan performs his moving composition "My Eagle Song," reminding us that the human spirit cannot be contained.

 

 

  

J.S. Bach: Engineer. Memetic Engineer.           

Memetics is a new field of study that approaches the evolution of information from the Darwinian perspective of natural selection; that is, that cultural information adapts, drifts, mutates and passes from one generation to another. Memes [rhymes with 'beams'] are cultural bits of information analogous to genes (DNA) that change over time. We see memetics at play in languages, in religious beliefs, and in musical traditions. 

Dr. Daniel Dennett, prominent American philosopher from Tufts University, speaks here at the 1998 Der Digitale Planet conference, where he describes Johann Sebastian Bach as a "methodical breeder of musical memes." He goes on: "We honor him as an intuitive genius, but the fact remains that part of his genius lay in the extremely resourceful use he made of the domesticated materials he was given." Dennett argues that Bach, as a musical proto-engineer, used all the technology at his disposal: counterpoint, musical notation, and the latest musical instruments. Undeniably, Bach was an important step in the evolution of music. Fast forward two hundred and fifty years and the next important step of memetic engineering in the modern musical world may be Experiments in Musical Imagination (EMI), a software program that has convincingly written over a thousand symphonies.

We are undoubtedly in the midst of tremendous memetic engineering, as is evidenced by the last the hundred years of music playback devices. This cell phone advertisement cleverly details the stages of the evolution of how we listen to music.

More information on memetics can be found here.

With the enormous popularity of Guitar Hero, you could be certain that pianists wouldn't be too far behind with their own spin on the video game. Well, my friends: that day is upon us! Mario Ajero - the host of the Piano Podcast - gives us a tour of a free-to-download software program called Synthesia. Once aptly named Piano Hero, this application operates on the same principles as Guitar Hero, but offers much more flexibility as students can jam with any MIDI file. Are these cool times, or what?! Booya!