• A piece about the reason why a group of metronomes will eventually synchronize with one another. “This process, known as phase synchronization, was first observed in pendulum clocks in 1657 by Christian Huygens. It has since been found in systems ranging from thermoacoustic engines in the lab to the rhythmic blinking of fireflies in nature.” • An article about a… Continue reading

• An article that proposes “Composed Music” to describe classical music. “Composed Music’s primary virtue is its blunt veracity. It is what it says it is: works by a singular mind, fixed and promulgated in written form. When you think about it, that is probably the one and only thing that unites all eras and… Continue reading

1. An article that considers the significance of the recent critical attention paid by (serious) music journalism towards (serious?) pop music. Case in point: the New York Times’ article and video documentary on the making of Justin Bieber’s “Where R  Ü Now.” “The New York Times’ pieces challenge us as to how seriously we are prepared to… Continue reading

1. An interview with Ryuichi Sakamoto. “It was one of my uncles who is a big music lover and record collector. Since the age of three or four I often visited his room to play his piano and pick some vinyl records to play. The first music I got really into was Bach. I was… Continue reading

1. An article about the use of noise music in yoga classes. “The focus of yoga creates a really good environment to appreciate sound, in a deep listening kind of way…Intense music creates a kind of mindfulness as well, in that it can be very aggressive in displacing thoughts.” 2. An essay about the banality/power… Continue reading

1. An article on the hold of the analog in the digital world. “It turns out that while the digital often comes close to crushing its analog precedents, that process can do something curious to its putative victims: underscore their virtues, elevate their status and transform the formerly workaday into something rarefied, special, even luxurious…What… Continue reading

1. An article about Cove, an app that helps users make sense of their emotions using music. “The app helps you make music that shows how you feel, whether it’s happy, sad or anywhere in between. After making these mood pieces, you can share them with important friends or family, which can help them understand your confusing… Continue reading

  1. An interview with the musical force known as Prince. “I don’t think people learn technique any more. There are no great jazz-fusion bands. I grew up seeing Weather Report, and I don’t see anything remotely like that now. There’s nothing to copy from, because you can’t go and see a band like Weather Report.… Continue reading

1. An article about lullabies. “What, really, is a lullaby? We can define it functionally — a song used to lull a child to sleep. In this sense, the distinctive burden of a lullaby is to be interesting enough to capture a child’s attention, but not interesting enough to keep the child awake, which is… Continue reading

1. A fascinating series of BBC radio documentaries about all aspects of musical experience. Here is quote from the program “Playing With Patterns”: “Our brain is responding to that tension between recognizing a pattern at work, but not a pattern that is so simple that we can predict what will happen next…In each piece [Bach]… Continue reading