Musical Interlude: It’s Got That Swing | Live Long and Prosper

Musical Interlude: It’s Got That Swing | Live Long and Prosper

Musical Interlude: It’s Got That Swing

Edited from original post of April 29, 2016.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DUKE!

Duke Ellington and his orchestra, with Louis Armstrong on the Ed Sullivan Show, 1961…

Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington was born to two musicians on April 29, 1899.

He began his musical career — starting piano lessons — at the age of 7. At 15 he wrote his first song (1914)…and spent the next 60 years writing and playing music.

During my “big band phase” Ellington was one of my favorites.

Check out the bios below…

• The Official Site of Jazz Legend Duke Ellington

• The New York Times Review of: Duke Ellington and His World: A Biography, By A. H. Lawrence

• Wikipedia entry for Duke Ellington

• Wikipedia entry for Members of the Duke Ellington Orchestra

NOW, THE GOOD PART

Here are some good ones…Duke Ellington and his Orchestra. CONTINUE READING: Musical Interlude: It’s Got That Swing | Live Long and Prosper

CURMUDGUCATION: Donors Choose Monday: Making Music

CURMUDGUCATION: Donors Choose Monday: Making Music

Donors Choose Monday: Making Music

Continuing my plan to try to help a bit in the real classrooms of the nation. Not excusing the local districts that ought to be funding these projects, but I prefer to light and candle and curse the darkness at the same time. Multitasking, you know. 

This week I'm looking at some music asks, because music generally gets the short end of the too-small stick to begin with, and it's near and dear to my heart. As always, I invite you to donate to one of these , or to comb through the site for something near and dear to your heart, or to just reach out to a local teacher who can use something for her classroom.

Mr. Lewis is at the Ramon C Cortines School of Visual and Performing Arts in Los Angeles (known unofficially as Grand Arts High School) and he would like to "take" his students to a virtual choir festival. The pandemic has been hard on performing groups everywhere, so this seems like a nice chance for his group.

Mr. Rodrigues at Homestead Senior High School in Homestead, Florida, would like a flugelhorn. If you're unfamiliar, a flugel is a mellower sibling of the trumpet (Chuck Mangione is the only guy I know of to ever popularize it), and very few high school musicians have one of their own--heck, not that many school programs have one. But it provides a little more richness and variety to the sound, and while I'd be just as happy if everyone had a trombone choir program, this is a worthy addition to any band program. 

Ms. Blizzard is at Dearing Elementary School in Dearing, Georgia, (a rural town with no traffic light) and she would like a bass xylophone for their Orff ensemble (she is Orff trained), which is a great percussiony way to get students involved in music. So basically, this would take something cool and make it cooler.

CURMUDGUCATION: Donors Choose Monday: Making Music

CURMUDGUCATION: Here's Some Merry Christmas Listening For You

CURMUDGUCATION: Here's Some Merry Christmas Listening For You

Here's Some Merry Christmas Listening For You

 I hope that those of you who celebrate the holiday are enjoying it, even in these weird and distant times. May we never have a Christmas celebration like this one ever again.

As is tradition here at the institute, I have a collection of seasonal tunes for yoe- actually, a couple, this year.

For you youtubers, here's a collection specifically put together without the performances you've been listening to constantly for the last month.

Also, this year, my family did a sort of group Christmas list with contributions from members near and far. So here's that playlist.

 

 And if you haven't taken the Jingle Bell Challenge yet, here's 76 minutes of everyone's favorite

non-Christmas Christmas song

  

I hope the day is a great one for you, and that you are able to find a way to connect with those you love and whatever is most meaningful for you. Eat an extra cookie. It's been a hell of a year, and you've earned it.

CURMUDGUCATION: Here's Some Merry Christmas Listening For You

CURMUDGUCATION: Music and the Death of Shared Spaces

CURMUDGUCATION: Music and the Death of Shared Spaces

Music and the Death of Shared Spaces

I play in a town band (or at least, I do in years without pandemics) that has been around since 1856. I've dug into the history (actually wrote a book about it) which has just extended my lifelong interest in popular music and culture, and if you trace all of that history, I think you can see how we ended up where we are, both politically and in the education world.

As the 19th century turned into the 20th, music was almost exclusively a rare, shared experience. You could only listen to music that was live. If you had a piano and someone who could play it, maybe you could listen at home (a hit song was one that sold lots of sheet music), but for anything more complex, you had to wait for a band or orchestra performance. As an audience member you had zero control of what you listened to, nor could you pick the where or when. 

Pre-1920, the majority of Americans lived in small towns, so entertainment resources were limited. The period of 1880-1920 was the peak for town bands--if you wanted live music, you got some folks together and sis it yourself. There were parallels. In our area, for instance, there was a single amusement park, a destination park owned and run by the trolley company. On major holidays, everyone was there--all the towns, all the members of the family. Opportunities were few, and technology didn't favor personally choosing, so everyone shared the few chances over which they had little control or choice.

In the 1920s, things change. Our local amusement park died, killed by the automobile, a piece of technology that let people decide when and where they wanted to go. Meanwhile, recorded music finally become commercially viable. Suddenly, you can buy a pressed recording of a song that you like and listen to it any time you want in the comfort of your own home. 

The next few decades gave us improved record technology and better automobiles, which expanded personal control and choice. They also saw the rise of radio, CONTINUE READING: CURMUDGUCATION: Music and the Death of Shared Spaces