Showing posts with label Music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Music. Show all posts
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Source of inspiration 244 (click on this title!): Theremin, etc.
The Theremin is one of the earliest electric instruments. It was created by Lev Sergeïevitch Termen (who looks and speaks like a cousin of Count Dracula, cf. the link!).
It is made up of two antennas anchored into a box. Two tubes inside the box combine to create a beat which forms an audible signal between 20 and 20000 Hz. One hand controls the volume, the other the pitch. The musician waves his hands in the air as if he were conducting. It is funny and strange to watch, especially as Theremin players seem to take their instrument very seriously… The sound really is from another dimension.
The Theremin was created during the Russian Revolution. Lenin really liked it and he even found time to take Theremin classes! He ordered six hundred to be distributed throughout the USSR. It was a symbol of the intellectual and artistic revolution of the 20s. It was also a success in Europe and the United-States.
The Theremin has mostly been used in contemporary music. It has also been used by, among others: the Bee Gees, Muse, Radiohead, and the Rolling Stones.
It was used for the soundtrack of many spooky 50s movies. See the links below for two films which pay tribute to that period of cinema history, Ed Wood and Mars Attacks (in which the Theremin is the unexpected weapon that makes the ghastly little green men’s heads explode!):
http://www.indavideo.hu/video/THE_END_-_1996_-_MARS_ATTACKS
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4c6gw_ed-wood-generique-keoxprod_shortfilms
The Theremin is a futuristic box from the past… There are other bizarre instruments of the same kind, notably the Ondes Martenot:
Here's an obvious creative idea: make your own Theremin!
Click on this:
Article by Florent Bourgain
Friday, November 12, 2010
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Friday, October 29, 2010
Source of inspiration 230 (click on this title!): Tin can
British merchant Peter Durand made an impact on food preservation with his 1810 patenting of the tin can. In 1813, John Hall and Bryan Dorkin opened the first commercial canning factory in England. In 1846, Henry Evans invented a machine that could manufacture tin cans at a rate of sixty per hour, a significant increase over the previous rate of only six per hour.
The first tin cans were so thick they had to be hammered open. As cans became thinner, it became possible to invent dedicated can openers. In 1858, Ezra Warner of Waterbury, Connecticut, patented the first can opener. The U.S. military used it during the Civil War. In 1866, J. Osterhoudt patented the tin can with a key opener that you can find on sardine cans.
On January 24th 1935, the first canned beer, "Krueger Cream Ale," was sold by the Kruger Brewing Company of Richmond, VA.
Article by Elliot Jackson
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Source of inspiration 227 (click on this title!): Mixing console
The mixing console or mixer is an electronic tool to mix different sounds together. It can be analog, digital or played with several computers.
A mixer is used in a recording studio, for movie music, for radio, during a concert, or by a DJ. Its size depends on its use. There are two kinds of mixer: the Splits, used for the sound system, and the In-Line used in the studio. All the buttons and knobs have a specific use (to make the sound fuller or lower for example).
Article by Florent Bourgain.
Saturday, October 9, 2010
Source of inspiration 226 (click on this title!): Amplifier
The amplifier or amp is an electric unit for electric guitar or bass. There are two parts to an electric guitar: an electronic part for the amplification, and an electro-mechanical one when a speaker changes an electrical signal into an acoustic signal. We can do a lot of things with an amplifier, for example: the echo effect.
There are two types of amplifier: the tube amp which was the first unit with signal amplification, and the transistor amp; the transistor uses less electricity so it is more practical.The amp is a unit which has enough power to make you deaf, so be careful... Now that you know what an amp is, go get your guitar and hit those chords!
Article by Florent Bourgain
Monday, August 16, 2010
Source of inspiration 199 (click on this title!): "Man in the Box" by V2
In French, “punk” is “voyou”. This British music style was created in 1970, replacing the sounds associated with the Hippy movement. It was all about rebelling against the system. It was violent, nihilistic, loud, anarchic.
Initial bands were: The Sonic, The Seeds and 13th Floor Elevators. They inspired The Who and The Kinks.
The peak period of punk was between 1976 and 1980 with The Sex Pistols, The Clash and The Ramones.
Punk became internationally popular.
Mixed with Reggae or Ska, it has had a lasting influence in France, the USA, and indeed the United Kingdom (click on the link above to listen to brilliant bands influenced by Punk!).
Green Day, Blink 182 and Sum 41 are bands of today that are heavily influenced by Punk.
So, tint your hair red or blue and start pogo dancing !
Article by Florent Bourgain
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Source of inspiration 177 (click on this title!): Barrel organ
A barrel organ is a mechanical musical instrument consisting of bellows and pipes, and it's usually highly decorated.
On the link (see above) we can hear a barel organ played very quickly. The composer is Conlon Nancarrow. It's contemporary music. Conlon Nancarrow was an American composer who became a Mexican citizen. He is best remembered for the pieces he wrote for the player piano. I think he made crazy music but it's always interesting to discover new music...
I like the photo above. We can imagine what music the man played and the atmosphere in the street and, if there were people around him, what their reactions were. We can also imagine the many colours on his barrel organ. The barrel organ is a popular instrument, mostly heard in the streets. But, as Nancarrow proved, it can also be considered as a serious instrument.
Article by Anne-Sophie Belbezet.
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Source of inspiration 172 (click on this title!): Double bass
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vg5SJyllxr4&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYKahj7RGys
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYKahj7RGys
Can a wash basin be turned into an instrument?
First, when I saw this source of inspiration, I thought "Oh, this is really cool" and I opened all the links… But they opened all at the same time and I got the impression that all the different songs and sounds together made one big show...
I really like the photo above and the ambiance of the Jug Bands. Jug bands are a mix of traditional and home-made instruments. When I listen to jug band songs I really get the feeling of being in the USA.
The instrument on this photo is a washtub bass, the home-made version of the double bass. The double bass is really a strange box-like instrument because it is not very beautiful, and it is so very BIG! When I was a bit younger, I saw a very little skinny man playing double bass and it struck me as very peculiar, really.
I think a washtub bass is more fun than a double bass and just as important, because it gives the bass line and the rhythm.
“The Double Bass” by Patrick Süskind is the story of a double bass player who describes the history of his instrument, his role in the orchestra, and the relationship between a player and his instrument. Later on, we understand that he is going a bit crazy because he doesn't understand why the other players don't look at him, and why the girl who he has fallen in love with doesn't look at him. He has a cynical look on everything and everybody around him…
Julien Le Provost did a good interpretation in the play version (see the link above).
I think it is a good book/play, because it gives us an insight into what ordinary members of an orchestra might think and feel. In fact, if you think about it, most people in life feel like the double bass player sometime in their lives: a bit excluded or unimportant…
Article by Anne-Sophie Belbezet
Friday, July 23, 2010
Source of inspiration 150 (click on this title!): Cajon
The cajon is an instrument which was first built by african slaves. Today, it is more sophisticated, with the capacity to change tones. It is a resonance/percussion box. The musician strikes one side of the box.
The cajon is played sitting on the instrument or standing up, the cajon held between the legs, depending on the style of music.
The original cajon players, though they were slaves, were free musically; playing this instrument was a way for them to maintain their culture.
IDEA: Why not make your own cajon?! It's cheap and easy to fabricate, and you can then have hours of fun with your friends!
Article by Florent Bourgain
Monday, July 19, 2010
Source of inspiration 143 (click on this title!): Monolith
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSE2K71R2Ps&feature=relatedhttp://
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who%27s_Next
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who%27s_Next
This box-like thing is actually more of a monolith. The boys we see are members of the Rock group The Who. This photo (it's an album cover) mocks the film 2001, A Space Odyssey by Stanley Kubrick (at the start of the film a big black monolith lands on earth and becomes the cause of Man's evolution...).
The group had asked Kubrick to make the cover of their album, but he was not interested; as The Who were a little peeved about it, they made their own cover, which shows them urinating on a monolith. I find this picture humorous, especially when you know the story of its making!
Article by Marie Serre
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Source of inspiration 59 (click on this title!): Gramophone
Thomas Edison built the first phonograph in 1877. The gramophone was created by a German, Emile Berliner, between 1886 and 1889.
Berliner began his experiments using glass plates for records. The first Berliner records that were sold in fact used zinc plates.
The gramophone is the ancestor of the juke box, the Walkman, and the iPod.
The gramophone is a beautiful object, espcially the “Victor V” model. There was also a “bag gramophone” which was very useful when travelling...
Article by Florent Bourgain
Source of inspiration 58 (click on this title!): Radios
http://www.vodkaster.com/Films/Sailor-et-Lula/10807
The ancestor of the Radio is the telegraph. It’s an invention of several engineers. It works using electromagnetic waves and it became the first wireless means of communication. The invention of the transistor much improved radio reception.
The first radio programmes were broadcast in England in the 1920s. In December 1921 the radio came to France.
During the Second World War the Radio was essential in the fight against the Nazis; De Gaulle used BBC Radio for his famous call to resistance.
Radio is important in our lives; we listen to it all the time. From the 40s on, it enabled young people to listen to new music: Jazz, then Rock & Roll, etc. It was for them a means of asserting their independance. There is an hommage to the liberating force of radio in David Lynch's film "Wild at heart" (cf. link).
Big old radio receivers (which our grandparents called the "wireless") have become collectors' items.
Radios old and new are indeed magic boxes which spread ideas and feelings, create communities even...
Article by Florent Bourgain
Radio was first used in navigation in 1904. The Titanic disaster could have been even worse had it not been for radio. The first daily radio station broadcasts began in 1920, in England, the United States, and in the USSR. Today, radio is still important in our lives. We can listen to it anywhere, to keep ourselves informed or to listen to music.
The following link shows what radio was like in the 20s, and it explains how radio became important very quickly.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkNLZWYBsnA
Article by Melissa Ben Allal.
Source of inspiration 56 (click on this title!): Music box
When I see a music box, I cannot help but turn the crank and I'm always delighted by the little music that comes out of the box. It brings back the souvenir of when I first heard the tune, when I was much smaller. What's magical, is that you never know what is going to come out of the box...
The song "Spieluhr" (which means "music box" in German) by Rammstein (cf. the link) is about a little boy whose body is buried along with a music box which he holds in his hand. The boy comes back to life and the mechanism of the music box is set off... The music of the child emerges from his "box" as from a music box...
By Anne-Sophie Belbezet
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)