brettworks

thinking through music

November 2010

  • The Disguised Musical Voice

    Recently I blogged about Auto Tune and its magical pitch-correcting abilities.  While the post was ostensibly about a musical technology, its subtext was of course all about the human voice, specifically the delight we take in altering how our voices can sound.  Auto Tune is one way to do it, but that’s really just the… Continue reading

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  • How Music Means So Much

    Understanding how music means so much is difficult business, largely because music is a slippery phenomenon.  One of its longstanding mysteries is how it can have such deeply felt meanings for us: when we listen to music (or even listen while we make it), it just seems to be a sensuous stream of sound full of emotional resonance.  Music… Continue reading

  • The Organ Music of Olivier Messiaen

    If you’re into long tones, drones and shimmering chords, you might like the organ music of French composer Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992).  While I was a music student in college I discovered the organ music of Messiaen through a CD of some of his best known works. Messiaen was the organist at La Trinite Church in… Continue reading

  • Digital Diets, Attention Spans and The Rhythms Of Learning

    Is the Internet and all manner of digital media really doing something substantial to our consciousness, to how we think?  Is my attention span not getting worse exactly but maybe becoming fractured?  This is the subject of at least a few articles I’ve read lately, including this one in the Times which is part of… Continue reading

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  • The Sound Of Auto Tune

    You know the Auto Tune sound when you hear it: it sounds artificial, electronic, not quite human enough, too perfect.  Auto Tune is everywhere today, from TV commercials to hip hop to country music.  It’s the Photoshop of the musical world. The technology was conceived by Andy Hildebrand, an engineer for Exxon who developed methods… Continue reading

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  • Music Travels Cont’d

    Nine-year old Willow Smith has an infectious pop hit circulating the Internet (a full album seems to be forthcoming).  “Whip My Hair” is an intense affirmation song and is good repetitious fun: Here’s a cover of the song rendered on piano in a ragtime-jazz-ish style.  I don’t know who the pianist is, but you can… Continue reading

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  • You Are The Controller

    Last week Microsoft released the Kinect controller for their XBox video game console.  The Kinect is being hailed/hyped as the next step in gaming technology as it does away with the most annoying part of the gaming experience: those little handheld controllers that serve as an interface between the player and the game.  Nintendo’s Wii… Continue reading

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  • Musical Memes: A Bassline Travels

    In a recent (and fascinating) New York Times article on the resurgence of soul music among young and mostly white singers (“Can a Nerd Have Soul?“), we’re reintroduced to The Supremes’ 1960s Motown classic, “You Can’t Hurry Love.” Propelling that uptempo hit is James Jamerson’s 8-note bass line (with a rhythm kinda like: 1-2, 1-2, 1-2-3,… Continue reading

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  • Apple Commercials and Musical Minimalism

    Apple computer makes magnificent TV ads for its products: the commercials are visual case studies in sleek minimalism, computer or iPhone set again a pure black or white background, a disembodied hand showing the viewer just how simple it is to work with this technology.  Carefully chosen music is part of what makes Apple’s commercials… Continue reading

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  • Sound Exploring

    If you make electronic music of any type you can’t get around the inescapable fact of needing and wanting to explore new sounds.  Back in the early days of electronic music–think Stockhausen, Otto Luening and Vladimir Ussachevsky–making electronic sounds was a laborious process.  One had to layer sine tones, or manipulate magnetic tape, or deal… Continue reading

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