The Dr. Rhythm Top 10 is music that represents talent, artistry, innovation and unique style. We encourage you to research and discover this music on your own.
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Maryanne Amacher
"Chorale 1"
Amacher is a brilliant woman. She uncovered a phenomena known as oto-acoustic emissions which are sounds generated from within the inner ear. The music she generates on her album Sound Characters (Making the Third Ear) evoke such sounds. The experience feels like your ears are being messaged, and you want to cover your ears. But the sounds will not harm your hearing, and extremely interesting to listen to. The music is ultimately made in your ear, which is what is intrinsically fascinating. Though, played enough times, any prisoner would crack in about three to four hours, guaranteed.
Karlheinz Stockhausen
"Mikrophonie I"
The first piece ever written (to my knowledge) solely for a tam-tam (a type of Chinese gong.) However, this piece is played by the microphonists, as they move their mics around a tam-tam being activated by two musicians using numerous objects to excite a variety of timbres from the instrument. Two additional musicians filter the sound of the microphones creating a dense and intricate work of art. The piece is fascinating to listen to and was the first piece to explore microphone proximity in musical terms.
Steve Reich, "Pendulum Music"
This work is created by a series of microphones swinging over amplifiers to produced tuned feedback. As the pendulums lose energy the piece slows down and reaches a constant state. An interesting use of both feedback and potential energy to create a musical structure.
Olivier Messiaen, "Oiseaux Exotiques"
French composer, Olivier Messiaen, spent a large amount of his career listening to and cataloging birds from all over the world. In 1950s he created a work for piano and small ensemble known as "Exotic Birds." This piece is an orchestration of various bird species through-composed to highlight various orchestral instruments. It is one of the great works of the 20th century (in my opinion.) Away from Guantamano, this piece is worth listening to.
Iannis Xenakis, "Metaux, from Pleiades"
One of the seminal works for percussion of the 20th century, this movement from Pleiades (a constellation of stars also known as the Seven Sisters) is mammoth work for metal instruments known as Sixxen (Six for the number of players, and xen for Xenakis.) The piece incorporates various solid musical structures that weave in and out of time, in unison and in complete harmony. Enough to make a music lover shiver with delight and a terrorist shiver with tinnitus.
John Cage, "Rozart Mix"
Cage is one of the great composers/philosophers of the 20th century. He did more for music in a decade than many did their whole lives. Rozart Mix is a collage of sounds, some from Mozart hence the play on words, that were generated using the chance properties from the I-Ching (Book of Changes from the Chinese tradition.) Cage wanted the universe, or God, depending on your interpretation, to ultimately decide how music was to be created, thus the I-Ching allows for divinity to be transceded. The piece is constructed of a variety of sound sources with the lengths and placement in time being dictated through these chance properties. The Beatles latched onto this idea with Revolution no. 9, another great piece for torture, though not nearly as poetic as Cage.
Erik Satie, "Vexations"
Satie is most well-known for his beautiful piano music. Vexations is no different, however, the piece is only a single line, a short chordal passage. The catch is that is to be repeated 840 times without stopping. There is only one person on record to have ever listened to an entire performance, though the US military could change that figure quickly. The piece is an enigma as to why Satie wrote it and why the number 840. Though, I am quite enthralled by the concept, as these types of notions I find quite fascinating.
Sun Ra, "Space is the Place"
Sun Ra is a brilliant avant-garde jazz musician who was one of the first musicians to be part of the afro-futurist movement in the 1960s. His music is very intense and demands a large amount of concentration and understand to get the full experience. Sun Ra noted an extraordinary experience in his youth after seeing a bright light during deep religious concentration. He claims he visited Saturn during this experience and spoke with other-worldly beings who prompted him to quit college and begin speaking through music. Sun Ra's music is also used for the film "Space is the Place" an afro-futurist sci-fi venture. Sun Ra is well-known in many music communities. His group appeared on SNL in 1978.
George Crumb,
"Black Angels: Night of the Electric Insects"
Taken from his string quartet, Black Angels, Crumb is one of the great composers of the 20th and 21st centuries. The quartet in its entirety is an amazing work spanning a wide range of styles and emotions. However, with enough coercion this movement, or perhaps even the entire piece, can give nightmares to even the most educated of music enthusists.
Alvin Lucier "Still and Moving Lines..."
Lucier is more of a revealer than a post-romantic composer. His works often display a phenomenon that is both intriguing and beautiful. The full title of this work is Still and Moving Lines of Silence in Families of Hyperbolas, where the tones between sine waves and a human voice create acoustic troughs and peaks ultimately forming valleys of sound and silence. The interference of this effect can at times cause various side-effects such as disorientation and rarely naseua, though the music is not designed to generate these responses. Lucier is a fascinating figure in contemporary music and has contributed numerous works to the experimental music catalog and is revered in many art social circles. And he is one of my most favorite composers. But would a terrorist agree? -- let's hope not.
Today we elected the 44th president of the United States, Barack Obama. Every inaugural ceremony inevitably involves music in some fashion. This time we heard our American treasure Aretha Franklin and an original arrangement by composer John Williams (film composer for Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Harry Potter, etc.) performed by the likes of Iztahk Perlman and Yo-Yo Ma, among others. It was overall a classy and well planned event. The music being a central figure towards its success.
No matter what we do in our lives, music is there. When we inaugurate a president, get married, celebrate birthdays and holidays, even when we die, music is there. This same statement cannot be made about other performing arts. Think of dance and theater in comparison. Sure people dance as a part of celebration, sometimes for marriages, but place this same type of practice to the numerous other venues that we find music, mostly recorded music, every other art form fails in comparison.
I knew a student who could perhaps listen to more music in any given day than anyone else in the entire world. This person would fall asleep listening to their iPod, then when they woke up they would plug in their iHome and continue the listening orgy. After breakfast they would jump into their car and turn on the radio and listen to the local hard rock station while driving to work. While at work they were free to listen to a radio or iPod as long they continued to be productive. You can see where this story is going. Of course, when they get home, after listening to the radio on the drive back, they plug in their iPod into their conveniently placed iHome and begin to funnel through an endless barrage of playlists. Finally, with a few potential breaks in the music for television or a phone call or two, they would retire for the evening while listening to a variety of "sleepier" tunes only to repeat the cycle the next day.
Does this sound like you? If not you may be surprised at how much you actually listen to music. Many of our listening experiences happen without us even knowing it in the form of marketing. Film, television and internet media use music, some original and some popular songs, to inspire us to buy, notice, acknowledge, and think about their carefully designed products. The next time you watch television try to count how many commercials you notice that do not use music during an average break. You may find that it is only a small few that are music-less.
Shopping is another venue for our ears to be ambushed by musical marketing. There are well-trained staff that specialize in creating a music playlist, usually through a corporate run satellite radio, that is catered precisely towards their customer demographics and shopping behaviors. The next time you go to a mall walk through a variety of shops and characterize the music you hear. Then cross-reference that with the age group the store is marketing towards. Do the two fit well? Most likely. In fact, corporations put a lot of money towards shopping music design. This is in part due to research that clearly shows a relationship between music and buying behavior, but it also has to do with customer expectations. In this same mall you hypothetically peruse, how many stores did not have any music at all? And if so what type of store?
There are countless other venues where music evades our consciousness. Sometimes there may be no music at all but for some reason you still have a tune stuck in your head. This is a phenomena sometimes referred as an earworm. It is a neurological enigma but could be associated with the brain's rehearsal mechanism for verbal communication. It is most likely this brain niche that marketers have capitalized upon in order to invade your mind with their products. Simple, short melodies that repeat over and over. Think about the McDonald's jingle, "Ba, Da, Da, Da, DA....I'm lovin' it!" OR those incessant free credit report songs. I still remember jingles from when I was six or seven years old.
Music is ubiquitous, and things that exist everywhere sell very well. Sex, money and music are probably three things that everyone thinks or deals with in some capacity everyday. It is important for us as citizens of the world, and human beings to realize our tendencies towards music in everyday life. Moreover, we should also understand the power of music and suggestion.
This week pick a day, or two, and try to analyze both your active and passive music experiences. How many hours of active music do you listen to? (e.g iPod, radio, concerts, CDs...) And how many venues of passive music do you encounter? (e.g shopping, awards ceremonies, church, school...) As well, if you like compare that to the number of times you actively dance, or see dance in everyday life.
Music has a unifying effect on humanity more than any other art form. It can be used for an enormous variety of situations from passive listening to learning, healing, therapy, exercise, marketing and entertainment. We are all musical beings.
In good musical health,
Dr. Rhythm
Ask the Doctor - 9.27.08 (want to ask the doctor? click here)
"To Drop a Class, or Not Drop a Class "
Dear Dr. Rhythm,
I am taking a music history class about jazz. I find that I really don't like or understand jazz and am seriously thinking about dropping the class. Do you any words to convince me not to?
AJ
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Dear AJ,
First, I'll assume that your either are seeking or engaging in a university education. At most universities, undergraduates have to take what is commonly known as general interest/education/studies courses. These courses usually encompass a wide variety of liberal arts, science and humanities topics.
Second, I'll assume that you are taking this class as a general course for your degree. Many students ask, "Why do I need to take these boring general classes?" It is a legitimate question which many professors and administrators do not answer.
The most common answer is that in a university education it is important to cultivate a diverse and interdisciplinary education. This means even students planning to go into engineering should take courses in the arts and languages. However, despite this being a very good asset to a broad and complete education, there is another good reason to both take and be successful in these general study courses.
When you leave college you are entering a job market where you have little to no experience in the field you are pursuing. This can be your greatest asset and liability. However, these general studies courses display an important part of your ability to learn and be successful. You could be a brilliant engineer, but if you show a consistent pattern of low grades in what are suppose to be simple classes, then it is possible that an employer may find you more of a risk than an asset. Why?
The reason for this is these classes show you can learn new subjects successfully and quickly. Even once you find employment there will always be new things to learn and if you can show that you have a track record of this behavior it could give you an extra advantage over another employee. Plus, you will have the experience of learning new things fast in which you may not have been entirely interested. A valuable skill for saving time.
So do not give up and make the time invested thus far a complete waste. Plus, you may learn you actually like jazz in the end...
In good musical health,
Dr. Rhythm
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"My Kids' raunchy musical taste "
Dear Dr. Rhythm,
My children, ages 13 and 17, listen to a lot of raunchy hip-hop and hard rock and I am worried this music will change their behavior. How can I get them interested in other, less harmful, styles of music?
PG
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Dear PG,
As their parent, you have every right to take away their music privileges if it does not resonate with your beliefs. There is some evidence pointing towards violent and/or sexual lyrics imposing these same types of behavior on children, however, in the end proper parenting will almost always override any negative effects of pejorative media.
Though, to directly answer your question, try teaching your children about the music you enjoy and/or give them listening exercises that involve music you find acceptable. You could try a variety of music trivia games, or show them films and documentaries about various musicians, though often these films show the negative aspects of these people's lives. You could also take them to concerts and other public performances that are inline with your values. Community Ed classes may also provide the kids some insight about the creation and fun aspects of music. Education is key and children may initially rebel, they will in the long run be thankful you spent the time and effort.
Whatever you chose, be active and very much a part of your children's listening behavior. This is probably good advice for other media your children imbue daily such as video games, television, movies and the internet. And do not be afraid to take your children's iPods away if your rules are not met. I guess this answer has become more of a parental empowerment message than a musical one, but I hope it steers your kids clear of any wrongdoing.
