X Is The Shape I Drew Through Your Face / In Permanent Marker

This is certainly one way to remember your chords...



(The arm belongs to Cedric Paul Mamuri; the original post belongs to Neatorama.)

So Ein Schöner Tag

I was introduced to Kölsch music while at the Kielerwoche this past weekend. I think you will enjoy this:



CATCHY, RIGHT? German folk music: yes please. Lyrics for the curious.

(Fun fact: Jacques Offenbach spoke Kölsch.)

These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things

Obviously I used up my vuvuzela post too soon.

No matter: I refer you to Alex Ross' The Rest is Noise for a little Brahms vuvuzela-style.

(As Maureen points out: Alex Ross AND classical music (okay, no surprise there) AND Germany AND men in tuxes AND soccer - what's not to like?)
(Vielen Dank, Maureen!)

Get Low / Get Low / Get Low

There's a new record for the lowest sung note, set by Roger Meenes out of Anna, Illinois. 0.393 Hz? We're talking a low F-sharp.



He gets a certificate and everything.

(via arbroath)

Play That Funky Music

You didn't go to the Sxip Shirey metafilter post I suggested yesterday, did you?

IT'S OKAY.
Follow-up: an interview posted by NewMusicBox.org asks the question "Is Sxip Shirey an overly serious novelty composer or an underly serious experimental musician?"



And check out that hair, right?

Make It Up

I like this video because:
1. It's a new instrument! The Sxipenspiel.
2. Said instrument was created by Neil Gaiman and Amanda Palmer.
3. It just so happens that I was the Flohmarkt am Mauerpark yesterday.



(Metafilter contributor jennyjenny has a great post on musician Sxip Shirey. What a fantastic guy!: check it out.)

Pictures In An Exhibition

Picasso: Still Life On A Piano

Your Flight Was Smooth, I Hope?

A complete video recording of Adams' "Nixon in China"! In seventeen parts.

(I'll get you started:)



(what a treasure! via metafilter)

Listen To The Sound From Deep Within

YOU WORK-IN-THE-OFFICE-ALL-DAY-TYPES SHOULD KNOW:

The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra has a free and on-demand listening page supplemented with videos, listening guides, composer interviews, feature articles, and web links. Still a work in progress, but a couple interesting pieces (see: Stravinsky and Schneider).

You Got Your Pope Binoculars

Here's another entry to add to the list of "unexpected ideas for musicals and/or operas":

Non Abbiate Paura (Don't Be Scared), otherwise known as "Pope John Paul II: The Musical."

And yes indeed, after its opening night in Rome this past weekend - it is about to begin a tour Italy.

(via metafilter)

It Gets Complicated

"I Am Sitting in a Video Room" by Canzona. (This is what happens when you upload and re-upload a video to youtube a thousand times.) But the best part? It was (explicitly) inspired by Alvin Lucier's 1969 "I Am Sitting In A Room."



Here's the updated text:

I am sitting in a room different from the one you are in now. I am recording the sound of my speaking voice as well as the image of myself, and I am going to upload it to YouTube, rip it from YouTube, and upload it again and again, until the original characteristics of both my voice and my image are destroyed. What you will see and hear, then, are the artifacts inherent in the video codec of both YouTube and the mp4 format I convert it to on my computer. I regard this activity not so much as a demonstration of a digital fact, but more as a way to eliminate all human qualities my speech and image might have.

(via sequenza21)

The Secret Life Of Plants

As you are probably aware by now, I've got a big ol' crush on a group called Matmos. A real big crush. A gigantic crush. So of course they showed up to play a gig in Chicago approximately t-minus two seconds after I got on a plane for The Continent. (I can only complain so much here, you know what I'm saying?) Luckily, I was able to send a trusty second in my stead and the report came back positive.
How positive, you ask? Well, Matmos opened their set with a piece for acoustic cactus. THINK ON THAT, LIEBLINGS.



(oh so special thanks to haven, who attended a concert and found a video.)

When The Power Chords Come Crashing Down

Little did Professor Leon Theremin know to what use his invention would one day be put...



Theremin Hero: The Website (brainchild of Greig Stewart)

(via metafilter)

Do A Little Dance / Make A Little Love

Although most of my Berlin music wanderings up to this point have been classical or experimental-art based, I would be remiss if I didn't post this contribution from none other than my younger sibling. Plus, it makes for a nice Sunday video, jawohl?



(special thanks to J, who deemed it necessary to get this video to me PRONTO)

And That's The Way It Is

Celine Dion is a crazy? Pop-history.



(via Jezebel)

The Key To Songs

Feeling cultureless? I got you Morton Subotnick's ballet for chamber music. Problem: fixed.

Shape Of Things To Come

WAIT WAIT WAIT WAIT WAIT Check it out: The Potsdam Fluxus Museum. Never fear, kittens: I am already working on train ticket logistics. Report to follow.

(Bonus while you wait: Ubuweb's The Sounds of Fluxus.)

Let's Give 'Em Somethin' To Talk About

Instruments outta anything.



(via neatorama)

People Who Need People

Berliner StaatsOper für alle!
You can't see me, because I was in the front row. YEAH.
An estimated 50,000 people showed up for free opera (Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin) Saturday night, and an early Sunday concert featuring Tchaikovsky's Fourth.
(This is my way of encouraging you to go to outside classical music in YOUR city.)
(Bonus anecdote: because I was right there in the front, I was exactly one person removed from catching the flowers Daniel Barenboim threw into the crowd after the performance! Oh, to be a little bit taller...)

Tied You To A Kitchen Chair / She Broke Your Throne She Cut Your Hair

Cookin' with Coolio. These things happen.



(via flavorwire)

You Ain't Nothin' But A Hound Dog

Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson are putting together "an inter-species social gathering on a scale never seen before in Australia" - by which I mean: a concert that centers around frequencies audible to dogs, but not to humans. The BBC asked for a comment from Ms. Anderson, who informed them that "The show... will last for 20 minutes as...'dogs don't have a giant concentration span'."

(BBC article)
(via metafilter)
(adorable photo! (entitled "happy dogs"))

Do You Wanna Go Big?

Markneukirchen, Germany is about to claim distinction as the home of the world's largest violin. Measurements? 4.28 meters tall, 1.45 meters wide, and over 100 kilograms.

That violin is (not surprisingly) too big for me; (more surprisingly), it is too big for you too!

(Article: here)
(thanks to tschmid!)

I Feel It In My Fingers / I Feel It In My Toes

Baby Jonathan (age 8 months) has his cochlear implant activated. And that's the power of sound!



(via metafilter)

When I Am Laid In Earth

Alex Ross posts a clip of Gyorgy Ligeti singing a snippet of Dido's Lament. Quote AR: "Singing was not among Ligeti's myriad gifts."