In an analysis of the most popular country songs over six decades, Jason Eastman and Terry Pettijohn II of Coastal Carolina University finds top hits are “lyrically more positive, musically upbeat, and use more happy-sounding major chords during difficult socioeconomic times.”
Category: music
Close San Diego Opera? It Might Not Be As Simple As That
“They may need the buy-in of more than 800 members of the opera association, people who donate at least $100 to be part of the company.”
Music As Collectible (One In Ten Young People Are Buying Cassette Tapes)
“There’s definitely a novelty value with cassettes at the moment, particularly as we suspect a high proportion of them are collectibles sitting on a shelf and never played.”
There IS A Plan To Save San Diego Opera
“A sharply reduced budget, innovative programming and a list of donors who will step up if San Diego Opera’s current leaders are replaced might be enough to rescue the company from shutdown in two weeks, … [said] Carol Lazier, the San Diego Opera board member who pledged $1 million to save the company.”
Repetition In Music: We’re Hard-Wired To Respond To It
Music psychologist Elizabeth Margulis found that she could make ordinary listeners respond positively even to Berio by simply adding repeats to it. Why did that work? (includes audio)
It’s Record Store Day (And After A Rough Few Years They’re Doing Pretty Well)
“We live in a time when running a record store or shopping at a record store is cool in popular culture. People are looking for that experience, which they can’t get from the latest downloading or streaming service.”
Guest Artist With L.A. Phil Collapses And Dies Before Rehearsal
Jeff Dinsmore, of the Philadelphia choir The Crossing, was warming up before a Disney Hall rehearsal for the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s upcoming performances of Louis Andriessen’s De Materie when he collapsed and died. Dinsmore was 42.
San Diego Opera Isn’t 100% Doomed (Yet)
“The company’s board of directors met Friday afternoon and voted to keep an April 29 deadline for the opera’s closure. But the board also formed a special committee of six members to explore alternatives to shutting down. … The special committee will focus on the retention of consultants, [the board chair] said, but she didn’t explain the purpose of those consultants.”
John Luther Adams Wins Pulitzer For “Become Ocean”
The work, premiered on June 20, 2013, by the Seattle Symphony and published by Taiga Press/Theodore Front Musical Literature (BMI), was described in the citation as “a haunting orchestral work that suggests a relentless tidal surge, evoking thoughts of melting polar ice and rising sea levels.”
The San Diego Opera Just Gave Its Last Performance (We’re Pretty Sure)
“After a three-week battle that convulsed the community here and subjected its once revered opera company to widespread derision and accusations of mismanagement — Ian D. Campbell, its general and artistic director, was nearly booed off the stage when he stepped out to introduce ‘Don Quixote’ this month on opening night — the board of directors on Friday reaffirmed its intention to close down”