Understanding the mechanisms of violated expectations in music elucidates some of the basic functions of learning, memory, and our perception of time. Along with enhancing our understanding of music, the study of how we process expectations, and learn to revel in ambiguity and uncertainty, is important in understanding how we appreciate many aspects of art and life that involve solving puzzles and deciphering codes, from poetry to painting, science to math.
Category: music
Singing Classical Music While Black
Kira Thurman: “Over the course of my life I have learned that to be black and a classical musician is to be considered a contradiction. After hearing that I was a music major, a TSA agent asked me if I was studying jazz. One summer in Bayreuth, a white German businessman asked me what I was doing in his town. Upon hearing that I was researching the history of Wagner’s opera house, he remarked, “But you look like you’re from Africa.” After I gushed about Mahler’s Fifth Symphony, someone once told me that I wasn’t “really black.” All too often, black artistic activities can only be recognized in ‘black’ arts.”
Here’s Some Real Dish About Simon Rattle’s Relationship With The Berlin Philharmonic
“At the end of Rattle’s 16-year tenure as music director of the orchestra, their relationship is not unlike a couple that’s been married for too long. … ‘The orchestra doesn’t look at him anymore,” one string player familiar with the situation in the orchestra said. … Rattle is ‘the nicest and most diplomatic guy on the planet,’ [a] former member of the Karajan Academy said. ‘But particularly with this orchestra, if the conductor isn’t demanding something bigger than themselves, it’s a free-for-all.'”
It’s Time For Miami To Get A Real, Full-Time Professional Orchestra
“Local cynics will contend that Miami can never support a professional symphony orchestra, either financially or in terms of a regular audience. Yet … Miami today is a very different place than the city was when the Florida Philharmonic ceased operations nearly fifteen years ago. … There is clearly a new audience in place for concerts in downtown Miami as the Cleveland performances have proved. Unlike in past decades, Miami now has a first-class performing arts facility.”
Live Nation Wired Up Fans At A Concert With Biometrics. Here’s What They Discovered
At a Cannes Lions presentation this week, Live Nation unveiled the results of the experiment and, unfortunately for music-loving homebodies, they show that dragging yourself to a concert on a Friday will result in three times more emotional intensity than listening to a recorded album alone in your bedroom, wearing sweatpants and eating Wheaties.
Record Film/Video Residual Payments For Musicians Even As Music Business Declines
Employer contributions to a residuals fund for musicians whose work is heard on the big and small screens hit a record $100 million last year, according to the latest report from the Film Musicians Secondary Markets Fund. Last year, the fund distributed more than $81 million to 17,000-plus musicians but is holding more than $5 million in unclaimed checks for more than 6,000 musicians for whom the fund has no current address or contract information.
The Fix Is In: Corruption At The Big International Music Competitions
Imagine the following scenario. A teacher in a German Musikhochschule is offered a paid week in a sunny resort. All she has to do is listen to hopefuls for a few hours a day and pick a winner from a list of students of the professor who invited her. If she plays ball, the chairman might let one of her pupils take the fourth prize. The rewards would swiftly follow. As a teacher of an international prize-winner, our anonymous friend might then be able to double her private fees and promise all future students that they will have prizes.
Are Big Band Jazz Ensembles Going Away?
The future for jazz looks challenging, particularly as it is overtaken by (or absorbed) into hip hop, R&B or pop. Playing-gigs as well as teaching-gigs may become harder to come by. On the other hand, Berklee College of Music seems to be an agile institution, constantly making adjustments in its outreach, going outside the US to draw students, and updating its curriculum to include teaching digital technology and recording in order to reach young people who may have little knowledge of or interest in jazz.
How ‘Cielito Lindo’ Became Mexico’s World Cup Anthem
“The song has been passed down through the generations within families both in Mexico and in the United States — at birthday parties, weddings, Mexican Independence Day parties and soccer matches. … It is also a song that lifts the spirits in times of immense tragedy. In September of last year, for example, when a catastrophic earthquake in Mexico left hundreds dead, volunteers collected food and medical equipment while singing a moving rendition of ‘Cielito Lindo.'”
Philly Pops Replaces Its Music Director
Michael Krajewski, who replaced founding music director Peter Nero in 2013, will depart at the end of next season, a decision described by a Pops spokesperson as “totally mutual.” (Krajewski declined to comment.) Taking over the podium will be Broadway and Radio City Music Hall conductor Todd Ellison.