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https://www.nathaliemiebach.com/work/changing-weather

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Recent Concerts of the Weather Score Project:
2019
Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, Houston, TX. / Performance by the Kineti Ensemble / Composers Shane Monds, Kyle Rivera, Matthew Jackfert and Harrison Ponce
Tutti Festival, Denison University, Granville, OH / Performance by ETHEL Ensemble / Composers Harrison Ponce, Matthew Jackfert, and Jesse Lanier.

2018 Circa Arts Actuel, Montreal, Canada. / Performances: Chloe Chabanole, Pemi Paull, Charlotte Lavec/ Composers: Matthew Jackfert, Mischa Salkind-Pearl,Preston Beebe.

2017
Schingoethe Center, Aurora University, Aurora, IL / Performance by the Picosa Ensemble / Composers: Christian Gentry, Matthew Jackfert, Mischa Salkind-Pearl, Elliot Cless.
Clay Center of Arts and Sciences, Charleston, WV / Performance by Jennifer Wood, Laura Sabo and Bernard DiGregorio / Composers Matthew Jackfert and Mischa Salkind-Pearl.

2016
Akron Art Museum, Akron, OH / Performance by Tuesday Musical / Composers Christian Gentry and Mischa Salkind-Pearl

2015
MIT Museum, Cambridge, MA / Performance by the Dinosaur Annex / Composers Christian Gentry and Mischa Salkind-Pearl.

2014
Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH / Performance by the Combustible Arts Ensemble / Composer Cory Kasprzyk

2013
Common Street Art Gallery, Waterville, ME / Performance Joshua DeSchere and friends / Composer Joshua DeSchere.

2011
Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, IL / Performance with Nineteen Thirteen Trio

2010
Nave Gallery, Somerville, MA / Performance with Elaine Rombola
Lilypad, Cambridge, MA / Performance with the Axis Ensemble.

2009
Massachusetts College of Art, Boston, MA / Performance with Elaine Rombola
Amherst College, MA / Performance with Elaine Rombola

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The Weather Score Project - Nathalie Miebach

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Recent Concerts of the Weather Score Project:2019 Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, Houston, TX. / Performance by the Kineti Ensemble / Composers Shane Monds, Kyle Rivera, Matthew Jackfert and Harrison PonceTutti Festival, Denison University, Granville, OH / Performance by ETHEL Ensemble / Composers Harrison Ponce, Matthew Jackfert, and Jesse Lanier.

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John Denver - Take Me Home, Country Roads (Official Audio)

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Junior Senior - Move Your Feet (HQ Audio)

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Foster The People - Color On The Walls (Don't Stop)

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Robert Glasper - Reckoner (Audio / Live At Capitol Studios / 2014)

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Should You Study with Music? | The Science-Backed Verdict

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What is a metronome?

A metronome is a device that produces a steady pulse to help musicians play in time. The pulse is measured in BPM (beats-per-minute). A tempo marking of 60 BPM equals one beat per second, while 120 BPM equals two beats per second.

A metronome is commonly used as a practice tool to help maintain a steady tempo while learning difficult passages. It is also used in live performances and recording studios to ensure an accurate tempo throughout the performance or session.

Using the metronome

Start by selecting a tempo using the slider or, the left and right arrow keys on your keyboard. Alternately, you can tap the tempo by clicking the "Tap tempo" button at the desired tempo or by using the "t" key on your keyboard.

Select the number of beats per measure at the bottom. Most music has 4, 3 or 2 beats per measure, in music notation denoted by time signatures such as 4/4, 3/4, 2/4 and 2/2. You can always select 1 if you don't know the number of beats per measure.

You can use the metronome to:

Find the tempo indicated in the score. Set the metronome to the indicated tempo, establish the tempo, and stop the metronome before you start playing.

Learn to play in time. Activate the mute function at the bottom, and set the metronome to play 3 bars and mute 1 bar. Play a piece you know well and keep the tempo in the muted bar. Increase the difficulty by setting the numbers to 1/1 (played/muted), 2/2, and 4/4 respectively.

Improve your playing technique. Start at a slow practice tempo and gradually increase the tempo when you can play the piece without any mistakes.

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Free online metronome with audio and visual beats. Select the number of beats per minute (BPM) or tap the tempo. A great way to practice.

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How to Select Music for Studying : 10 Tips

It is said that to study it's necessary to have a quiet environment without distractions. However, for some, studying in a quiet environment can backfire. This 'quiet environment' can make you end up fighting boredom and succumbing to the allure of sleeping at your desk! This is why the importance of choosing the right music for studying can't be underestimated.

Although some studies say that listening to music while you study isn't good, for many people it's vital. It's calms them down, which can lead to productive studying. Music can also help elevate your mood and motivate you to study longer.

The real challenge is to select the right music for studying. The wrong type of study music may end up distracting you from your study. So today we are going to offer some tips and ideas on how to pick the best study music for you!

Connect with over 2 million students all over the world, talk about music and all other things that interested you and receive personalized study suggestions. Sign up now for free!

10 Tips: How to Choose Your Music for Studying
Tip # 1
Classical music is peaceful and harmonious making it one of the best options to listen to when studying.
Tip # 2
It seems that there is evidence that Mozart improves mental performance. They call it the "Mozart Effect."
Tip # 3
Listen to ambient instrumental music. This type of music is more modern than classical and has a similar effect. I always find that movie soundtracks are quite good.
Tip # 4
Listen to sounds of nature such as rain, waves, jungles or animals while studying. While this is not exactly music it is relaxing and you will feel like you're in another world.
Tip # 5
You're studying, not crashing a rave! Listen to your study music at a moderate volume. The lower the better. The louder it is, the more it will distract you. Your main purpose is to study so keep your music in the background. When you're finished studying then you can crank it up to 11!
Tip # 6
Create a playlist with all your favourite songs in advance to avoid having to search for new songs every 5 minutes. This will save you time, allow you to plan how long your study session will be and help your level of concentration while you study.
Tip # 7
Do not listen to music on the radio when studying. The dialogue of the presenters and ads will distract you. You should have complete control of your best study music.
Tip # 8
Make playlists that last for 40 to 50 minutes. When the playlist ends, this will act as a reminder to take a short break from studying.
Tip # 9
Listen to music before you go to bed or before an exam. This will make you feel relaxed and put you in the right state of mind.
Tip # 10
While choosing the best music to study while studying is important, you should avoid spending hours selecting the songs. At the end of the day, what matters is not choosing the best music in the world but that your study is productive

I hope these study tips are useful. You will know if you've made the right music choices if the music fades into the background and your study takes center stage. As soon as the music starts to cloud your study you need to change you study music choices... or just do a quick dance to get it out of your system!

Follow these tips and your choice of study music will improve.

And remember, use these tips while you study with GoConqr will bring you one step closer to achieving exam success. So or sign up for free now.

About the GoConqr Blog

Our blog is part of GoConqr, a Free Learning Platform for Creating, Sharing & Discovering Learning Resources that help students and teachers achieve their learning objectives. Click here to start creating Mind Maps, Flashcards, Notes, Quizzes, Slides Flowcharts & Courses now!

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Music for Studying: 10 Tips to Pick the Best Study Music

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It is said that to study it's necessary to have a quiet environment without distractions. However, for some, studying in a quiet environment can backfire. This 'quiet environment' can make you end up fighting boredom and succumbing to the allure of sleeping at your desk!

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Do you listen to music while you study? Some people swear by it, others can't stand it. What does science say?

Over the years, several research groups have studied how music affects learning or whether music can help you concentrate. These studies are all different: they look at different types of music, different types of studying, different test subjects, and they take different measurements.

In this post, I'll round up some of the ones that show a positive or neutral effect of music on studying. In the next post, they'll be more negative or neutral. So keep in mind that, like most articles about scientific studies, one post does not cover all aspects of the topic.

Make music part of the studying process

One type of studying involves memorizing things and later recalling them. That's how you would study lists of vocabulary words, or biology or history facts, for example. In one study from earlier this year, researchers from the University of Ulm in Germany tested whether it matters in which way you are presented with the information that you need to remember. Is there a difference between reading text, hearing spoken word, or hearing a song? The researchers, Janina Lehmann and Tina Seufert, discovered that it was easiest to memorize text if you read it, but that people who heard it as a song were better able to comprehend the text.

This is the idea behind educational songs. By having students sing about the material they're studying, they're connecting with it in a more engaged way. This method is used in language education, but also for subjects that rely less on memorization and more on understanding, such as science.

But what if the music is not related to the material that's being studied? Can music help you concentrate?

Background music while studying

When the music you're listening to isn't relevant to the material you're studying, your brain is essentially doing two separate tasks: studying and listening to music. The music you're listening to can change your mood, which can make studying easier if you enjoy the music, but it also has the ability to distract you from your work. Lehmann and Seufert, the same researchers who studied the difference between reading a text or hearing it as music (mentioned above) also investigated the role of background music.

They recruited 81 volunteers (all university students) and made half of them listen to music while studying, while the other half studied in silence. The researchers wanted to study how music affects memory, but they didn't really find a difference in how well either group was able to memorize what they studied. That suggests background music didn't have much of an effect on this group. But they did see a correlation between how well the subjects understood what they learned: Those students who had a good working memory were better able to learn while music was on in the background. The researchers think this is because music formed more of a distraction for the other participants.

The arousal-mood hypothesis

One of the theories why some people prefer having music on in the background is the "arousal-mood hypothesis". This is the idea that listening to fast-paced, upbeat music improves someone's ability of solving a task. The researchers who first tested this hypothesis used the same Mozart sonata in either a faster or slower tempo, and in a major or minor key, so that all study participants heard the same piece of music, but with different characteristics. They found that the faster, major-key version of the piece had a positive effect on solving a spatial task. Another study also found an effect of happy music on creative problem solving. This is another aspect of how music affects learning: by changing the way we feel while we study.

Is there a Mozart effect?

In the experiment above, the researchers chose a Mozart piano piece, specifically to control for the so-called "Mozart effect". This is the idea that listening to Mozart makes solving spatial tasks easier. The origin of this theory is a very short research paper from 1993, which studied only 36 subjects (all university students) and didn't compare Mozart to any other composer. The subjects either listened to the Mozart piece, to a relaxation tape, or to nothing at all. The fact that the students who listened to music did a bit better than the others in this very small study does not say anything about the power of Mozart's music in particular - it just happened to be the music the researchers chose for their music sample.

But the study took on a life of its own. Without actually reading the original paper, people picked up on it, changed the story, and completely overhyped it, to the point where some people believed that "listening to Mozart makes babies smarter". Those broad interpretations all came from wildly exaggerated interpretations of one very small study. So, no, listening to Mozart will NOT make you smarter. It's just that listening to happy, upbeat music may make certain tasks a bit easier.

Confused by all the conflicting messages? Still not sure whether listening to music makes studying easier? Stay tuned for tomorrow's post, which will make things even more complicated...

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Can music help you study? - Eva Amsen 🔬🎶 - Medium

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Do you listen to music while you study? Some people swear by it, others can't stand it. What does science say? Over the years, several research groups have studied how music affects learning or whether music can help you concentrate.

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Why we love repetition in music - Elizabeth Hellmuth Margulis

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Is it possible to play music together over the Internet?

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Tribute | Planters | 2020 Big Game Commercial

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10 ways music is intrinsically linked to our cultural identity

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Music inspires and entertains us, forming the soundtrack of our lives. Here are 10 essential ways that music shapes our cultural identity.

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Newsela | Jamaica's renowned music school aims to beat a financial squeeze

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Its graduates have brought the island's ska, rocksteady and reggae to the world. The school is building up its own money-making businesses so that the bands play on.

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Newsela is an Instructional Content Platform that supercharges reading engagement and learning in every subject.

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Protest music makes more attentive listeners, raises spirits, and gives an identity and visibility to activism.

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Newsela | The Lakota Music Project hopes to connect people through music

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Daft Punk - One More Time (Official Video)

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Stream Marble Zone MIX 2 by Joel Baer from desktop or your mobile device

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The Muppet Show - Buddy Rich vs Animal Drum Battle

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Flo Rida ft. Fitz - That's What I Like [Official Audio]

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Night in Tunisia - Count Basie Orchestra

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Night in Tunisia - Count Basie Orchestra

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A Night In Tunisia / Count Basie Orchestra Live in Tokyo 1985

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Stream DK Island Swing MIX 2 by Joel Baer from desktop or your mobile device

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Newsela | Break dancing among new events proposed for 2024 Olympics

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by Jill M. Davis

Music and movement have been shown, in several studies, to be important in children's lives. Music experiences can "shape later musical attitudes and abilities" (Isenberg and Jalongo, 1997, p. 128). The experiences have been shown to contribute to a child's "total development: psychomotor, cognitive, cultural, and aesthetic" (Isenberg and Jalongo, 1997, p. 131). It has long been a part of early childhood education. Renowned educators such as Jean Jacques Rousseau, Maria Montessori, Patty Smith Hill, John Dewey, Carl Orff, Zolton Kodaly, and Shinichi Suzuki have used music in their early childhood classes (Isenberg and Jalongo, 1997; Fowlkes, 1984; Hewes, 1976).

It is not only music experiences, it is also movement experiences that these educators brought into the classroom. In fact, music and movement have been shown to be naturally connected. Jerome Bruner hypothesized three cognitive stages of musical development, the first of which "physical activity and music are intertwined" (Isenberg and Jalongo, 1997, p. 129). In early childhood education, there are examples of the development of the music-movement connection in children from birth to age eight.

Infants are sensitive to the dynamics (loudness or softness) of sounds. They respond to music through movement by their entire body. Infants sway, rock, bounce, and move to loud, active music. Infants are soothed by soft, rhythm sounds. Infants are also soothed by the human voice, especially the mother's voice (or primary caregiver's) (Isenberg and Jalongo, 1997). An infant who hears, early on, the same song over and over will later recognize and be soothed by that song. For example, Joe sang the alphabet song over and over while Alden was still in the womb. After Alden was born, the song soothed him when he was fussy or tired. When Alden started to sit and stand up, he naturally swayed and bounced to any music that he heard, from music on the radio to music on t.v. commercials.

Toddlers can listen to different music and respond more zealously to songs that are familiar to them. They try to match melodies and sing the familiar songs. The children move in response to the tempo (fastness or slowness of a song) and will dance on request. As they begin to show greater control over physical responses, they also begin to show greater control over their singing voices. Toddlers respond well to music activities that emphasize movement, both fine and gross motor (Isenberg and Jalongo, 1997). David is a two year old whose parents listened to a variety of music. David was able to dance on request. He rocked, swayed, and used his arms and legs. He had a great degree of control over his gross motor movements. After listening to a song several times over, David was able to jump in and sing certain phrases while he danced.

Three year olds have better voice control and are more coordinated. Three year olds recognize familiar songs and experiment with different types of movement, such as walking backwards, skipping, and hopping. They are intrigued with action songs, such as finger plays. Their movements, both fine and gross motor, are becoming more and more graceful (Isenberg and Jalongo, 1997). Allison, for example, is a three year old that loves finger plays and body plays. When her mother sang The Itsy Bitsy Spider, Allison tried to do the movements. After she mastered this fine motor skill, she was able to sing the words. It took several repetitions of the song, but eventually she was able to master both the music and movement.

Four year olds can understand "pitch (high/ low), duration (long/ short), tempo (fast/ slow)", and dynamic (loud/ soft) (Isenberg and Jalongo, 1997, p. 136). Children can sing recognized songs, as well as make up original songs spontaneously. This spontaneity does not only apply to music. It applies to movement as well. Four year olds spontaneously begin to dance with music. They can spontaneously switch from one type of movement to another such as hopping to skipping or walking to running (Isenberg and Jalongo, 1997). James is a normal four year old boy. He enjoys running, skipping, hopping, and every other type of movement. As he walks around the room cleaning up, he begins to hum a little song to himself. Soon, James begins to make up words to his song. As he makes up words, he begins to move in rhythm to his song. He quickly switches from walking to running to hopping to skipping.

Five year olds begin to understand rhythm. They can not only understand but also demonstrate pitch, melody, tempo, duration, and dynamic. They can move in rhythm in games and dances. Five year olds enjoy songs that are predictable (Isenberg and Jalongo, 1997). Jacob is an active five year old boy. He enjoys participating in musical movement games, such as Dilly Dilly. In this game, he is able to act out different types of movements and copy other's actions. Jacob can sing along with music. His favorite song is The Old Lady that Swallowed the Fly because it repeats the same verses over and over.

Six, seven, and eight year olds are able to "match" in both music and movements. Musically, children these ages can match pitches while singing in vocal ranges of eight to ten notes. Their singing voices are almost mature. Children can also match movements in beat of the music. They can begin to learn dances with the help of adults (Isenberg and Jalongo, 1997). Kristen is a seven year old that can keep beat by clapping or hitting a drum. When listening to music, Kristen can sing along, matching pitches. She is learning to do the Virginia Reel. She can also keep the beat while free dancing to music with strong rhythmic movement.

Music and movement are both important in the lives of children. Experiences have been shown to affect the development of the whole child. Early experiences have even been shown to affect abilities in the later years. Several prominent educators have used music and movement in the early childhood class. Music and movement naturally go together. From birth, children respond to music through music. The music-movement connection is a strong bond throughout early childhood.

References:

Fowlkes, M.A. (1984). Gifts from Childhood's Godmother- Patty Smith Hill. Childhood Education 61 (1), 44-49.
Hewes, D.W. (1976). Patty Smith Hill: Pioneer for Young Children. Young Children, 31 (4), 297-306.
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Music Together in the City - The Music-Movement Connection in Early Childhood

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by Jill M. Davis Music and movement have been shown, in several studies, to be important in children's lives. Music experiences can "shape later musical attitudes and abilities" (Isenberg and Jalongo, 1997, p. 128). The experiences have been shown to contribute to a child's "total development: psychomotor, cognitive, cultural, and aesthetic" (Isenberg and Jalongo, 1997, p.

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"Music and sports are natural complements to one another the way suits and ties are to Justin Timberlake", says Nielsen.com. The aim of bossaball has always been to mix music and sports to get the best out of those two disciplines. Have a look at the following examples of sportsmen and musicians that were inspired by the other side: sportsmen playing music and musicians doing sport. For them, both music and sports were essential in their lives.

Bob Marley, Soccer Player: Football is Freedom

Many people are surprised to hear Bob Marley was a fanatic soccer player and fan. That doesn't seem to fit their image of world's most legendary reggae star: the marihuana smoking, the lazy reggae beats, the dreadlock rastafari easy going attitude, the political activism, ...

"Football is a whole skill to itself. A whole world. A whole universe to itself. Me love it because you have to be skilful to play it! Freedom! Football is freedom." (Bob Marley - 1979)"

Bob Marley simply loved kicking a ball. About every single day when on tour or in the recording studio. He also loved watching soccer on tv. His favourite team was Santos Futebol Clube ( Brazil ). His favourite player was Edson Arantes do Nascimento, world famous as Pele, who began playing for Santos at age 15.

On a trip to Brazil ( Rio de Janeiro, 1970 ) Bob Marley joined in on a heated street soccer game with some fellow musicians, people from record label Ariola, Brazilian street kids and Paulo Cesar, member of the 1970 Brazilian World Cup team. Before the game the Brazilians had given him a number 10 Santos shirt (Pele's number). Bob Marley had smiled, and, while putting it on, was heard saying that, just like Pele, he too could play in all positions.

Samba and Soccer: Ronaldinho and Robinho

During the past few years various international superstar Brazilian soccer players have repeatedly mentioned their love for samba and bossa nova music.

They have rhythm, percussion and dancing skills, and they're showing off whenever they can. Football audiences worldwide love to see their heroes swinging to the music, enjoying life the Brazilian way, playing soccer with a smile on their face. Having a ball.

John McEnroe sings and plays Jimi Hendrix

Most people probably remember 48-year-old former number 1 ranked professional tennis player and multiple Grand Slam winner John McEnroe for his tirades of terror / anger explosions. He is less known for his other passion, playing rock guitar.

McEnroe, a left-handed tennis AND guitar player, surprised the crowd at the BlackRock Tour of Champions event in Belfast (24/02/2007) performing on stage with Pat Cash, Wayne Ferreira, Henri Leconte and Anders Jarryd with local rock band 'Ed Zealous'.

NBA All-Star Dance-off: Shaq, LeBron and Dwight Howard

NBA heroes Shaquille O'Neal, LeBron and Dwight Howard: electric boogie dance contest battle at East Practice at All-Star 17/02/2007. Click the picture to see the video!

Julio Iglesias - Real Madrid goalkeeper

Long before his successful career in the music industry, the legendary mellow, smooth, romantic Spanish crooner Julio Iglesias was, while attending law school in Madrid in the early sixties, for a short period goalkeeper for the Real Madrid soccer team.

In 1963, his career as a football athlete was cut short after a car accident. Iglesias started playing the guitar soon after he had been hospitalised. Still recovering from his injuries a nurse gave him a guitar, and Julio Iglesias began writing songs.

"I had a car accident, very, very strong car accident," remembers Iglesias. "I had what they call paraparexia, which is not a paraplegic. It's a compression in the cord, in the sense of the neck ... my spinal cord, and I was very, very ill for three years."

"Doctors thought that I would never walk again. But slowly, I started to recover. And to increase dexterity in my hands, I began to play the guitar."

Jack McDowell: Baseball Guitar Rocker

Major league pitcher (Chicago White Sox All Star) and 1993 Cy Young Award winner Jack Burns McDowell aka "Black Jack", played (guitar / bass guitar / singer) in various bands in the alternative rock scene since the early 90's.

During his 11 year professional baseball career he recorded 5 albums, and managed to plan shows in baseball off-season. McDowell toured with The Smithereens (with support act V.I.E.W) and he's a ( party ) buddy of Pearl Jam's singer Eddie Vedder.

Since 1992 "Black Jack" has been the frontman of Stickfigure, a power pop rock 'n' roll band, named after his wiry, long and lanky perfect pitcher's stickman bodyframe ( 6-foot-5-inch, 180-pound ).

Jack's main influences and favorites are REM, The Smiths, Julian Cope, The Beatles, Pixie Frank Black, Radiohead, Catherine Wheel and The Catholics.

Bernie Williams: Baseball, Jazz, Blues and Salsa

Puerto Rican Major League Baseball outfielder Bernabé "Bernie" Williams Figueroa ( New York Yankees) is also an accomplished jazz guitarist.

Growing up in Vega Alta ( Puerto Rico ) Bernie, a very devoted classical guitar student, wanted to become a professional musician. As a young man, growing into a naturally athletic body, Williams shared his free time between playing baseball and studying music. As his baseball playing skills developed Bernie was forced to choose between music and sports.

Soon he became a pro baseball player (switch hitter for the New York Yankees (1991-2006)), but he never stopped playing and studying music. Nowadays Williams is a critically-acclaimed jazz recording artist.

Jacques Villeneuve: racer and songwriter

Canadian race car driver (CART, NASCAR, F1) and multiple world championship winner Jacques Joseph Charles Villeneuve, recently debuted as a singer-songwriter. He released an acoustic-pop-rock album called "Private Paradise", featuring himself singing and playing the guitar.

The single "Accepterais-tu ?", in which he asks his loved one to marry him, written in Canadian French, is one of 4 songs in French, the other 9 tracks are in English. Villeneuve co-wrote one song with his sister Melanie. A song about their dad, Formula One driver Gilles Villeneuve. He died in a 140 mph crash in the final lap of the 1982 Belgian Grand Prix, when Jacques was eleven years old.

Jacques Villeneuve bought his first guitar and started writing songs in 1996, at the beginning of his Formula One career. During the late 1990s Villeneuve was engaged to Australian singer Dannii Minogue. She stimulated his desire to express himself through music.

I am stupidly passionate about music, it has become a bit of a drug. I buy tons of CD's. It makes my wife crazy, but you know it's cheaper than buying watches or stuff like that!

Gilberto Silva: mandolin and football player

Brazilian defensive midfielder Gilberto Aparecido da Silva, nicknamed "Parede Invisível" (The Invisible Wall), a member of the Brazilian National Team ( the Seleção ), has played most of his career for Northern London club Arsenal FC. Gilberto is also a passionate cavaquinho / mandolin player.

Silva spends a lot of his spare time studying the cavaquinho, which is a 4-string small mandoline / guitar (that looks pretty much like a ukelele).

When he moved to the United Kingdom, at the beginning of his career for Arsenal FC (2002), he started attending mandoline classes.

"I can just about manage one or two things on the mandolin. I'm advancing very slowly, but just about ok."

Haka - football is war: Polynesian tribal chants

A haka is a tribal dance in Maori culture ( New Zealand natives ). Hakas traditionally have various uses in everyday Maori life. They are used to tell a story, to express emotions and opinions, but are best known in their most aggressive form: The Ka Mate War Dance.

Warriors used the Ka Mate to prepare for a battle. To focus their strength. To proclaim their powers, To celebrate the triumph of life over death, but mostly to challenge and intimidate the opponent.

Robbie Williams - soccer fan, player and investor

Brit Award winning pop singer-songwriter Robert Peter Williams ( Take That, Robbie Williams ) is a soccer freak. He is a supporter of League One Port Vale Football Club in Stoke-on-Trent, his hometown in the United Kingdom.

Williams is a football investor / shareholder (£240,000 in Port Vale FC ). "I've been a Port Vale fan all my life. When I was younger I was in the Railway Paddock and I used to dream about sitting in the chairman's box."

"Although I can't be at the Vale often, my investment is just to say that my heart is still there and I'm a huge supporter. I'm really excited about what we may be able to do with the club in the future."

Les Claypool: bass player and fisherman

Funky bass savant Les Claypool, probably best known as the funny front man / bass player / singer of 90's funkmetal madman rock trio Primus, is a passionate fisherman. He started fishing with his father as a young kid in El Sobrante, California.

When I was growing up we didn't have any money. I come from a long line of auto mechanics and what we did on weekends was that if I wasn't digging or something with my dad or fixing some deck or remodeling a bathroom or whatever, we were out floating around in San Pablo Bay trying to catch sturgeon or we were out in the ocean, salmon fishing. Every year we would take camping vacations in the same spot. What do you do when you camp? A lot of fishing.

ESPN.com gives us more examples of music and sports.

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"Music and sports are natural complements to one another the way suits and ties are to Justin Timberlake", says Nielsen.com. The aim of bossaball has always been to mix music and sports to get the best out of those two disciplines.

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Most people have little trouble identifying the basic emotional character of music that they hear. We can easily distinguish music that sounds happy and cheerful from music that sounds sad or brooding. One of the perennial questions in the philosophy of music is what, exactly, is the relationship between music and the emotions it expresses? Is it a matter of personal association? This seems unlikely, given the wide agreement about which musical works sound happy or sad, etc. Is music happy or sad in virtue of arousing those emotions in listeners? The evidence so far suggests that this answer is too simplistic. Another theory suggests a connection between music and the movements of the human body, such that sad music (for example) mimics the posture and actions of a sad person. While this seems like a promising idea, the relationship between music and movement is not well understood.

A group of researchers at Dartmouth College recently set about to explore the connections between music, movement and emotion. They started with the idea that music and movement share a dynamic structure. To test this idea, they came up with a computer program that could both generate music (simple piano melodies) and represent movement (an animated bouncing ball). The program was designed so that certain musical features corresponded with specific movements of the ball. Beats per minute of music corresponded to bounces per minute of the ball. The direction and step-size of the musical pitches corresponded to the angle and bounce-size of the ball. Musical consonance or "smoothness" (as opposed to dissonance) was represented by the evenness or spikiness of the ball's surface. Users could move a slider to compose music or to animate the bouncing ball., and the output was updated in real time so that they could see and hear the results of the changes as they made them.

Next the researchers recruited 50 college students to play with the program. Half of the students were given the "music" version, and half were given the "movement" version. Each student was asked to use the program to express five different emotions: angry, happy, sad, scared and peaceful. Would the participants place the sliders in similar places for the same emotions, regardless of whether they were doing the music or the movement version?

The answer was yes. The results "strongly suggest" the presence of a common structure in emotionally expressive music and movements. Rate, jitter, step-size and direction of movement functioned the same way in emotional music and in movement, and auditory dissonance was functionally analogous to visual spikiness.

The researchers didn't stop after getting these positive results. Instead, they packed their bags and set out for northeast Cambodia, where they repeated the experiment in a small Kreung village. The Kreung are highly culturally isolated. Their music is very different from Western music, as they use different instruments, scales and tunings. Would the Kreung create auditory and visual patterns similar to those produced by American college students?

Although the experiment had to be modified to work in the Krueng village, the results were very suggestive. For the movement patterns, researchers found that, for every emotion except "angry," the music and movement patterns created by the Kreung villagers were closer to the matching American patterns than to any other emotional patterns. Looking at the music patterns, they found that three of the Kreung patterns - for happy, sad, and scared - were closer to U.S. patterns than to any other emotional patterns. When the movement and music patterns did not match up, they were similar on many parameters.

These experiments bring us closer to understanding the relationship between music and emotion. They provide evidence both that the dynamic features of emotional expression may be culturally universal, and that emotional expressions have similar dynamic contours in music and movement. The authors of this study leave us with a penetrating question: Given the shared structure between music and movement, how might that structure have affected human evolution? I can only hope that these experiments are repeated with different populations in different parts of the world so that we can have a better grasp of the relationship between music and movement and come closer to answering this question.

Reference:

Beau Sievers, Larry Polansky, Michael Casey, and Thalia Wheatley. Music and movement share a dynamic structure that supports universal expressions of emotion. PNAS 110: 1 (January 2, 2013), pp. 70-75.

URL: www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1209023110

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Most people have little trouble identifying the basic emotional character of music that they hear. We can easily distinguish music that sounds happy and cheerful from music that sounds sad or brooding. One of the perennial questions in the philosophy of music is what, exactly, is the relationship between music and the emotions it expresses?

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The two things in life that we have an instant connection with are food and music. In both cases we learn, through our associations and connection to knowledge, that we are more inclined toward certain foods and certain styles of music, but that initial desire to enjoy eating and listening is apparent from the moment we take our first breath of fresh air.
"Music does a lot of things for a lot of people. It's transporting, for sure. It can take you right back, years back; to the very moment certain things happened in your life. It's uplifting, it's encouraging, and it's strengthening."
-Aretha Franklin

We learn over time that certain type of music support specific styles of cooking and even certain dishes and feel a real attachment to that music while enjoying complementary foods even if we don't feel that connection at other times. The music and the food are one, they influence and complement each other, they inspire the cook and the musician, and embrace the consumer.

Music and food are nourishment for the body, mind and soul and as such are extremely important parts of a fulfilled life. We may sense this at birth, but we grow to know this over a period of years and decades. Our connection with food matures and broadens in scope, as does our appreciation for musical genres.
"As you begin to realize that every different type of music, everybody's individual music, has its own rhythm, life, language and heritage, you realize how life changes, and you learn how to be more open and adaptive to what is around us."
-Yo-Yo Ma

Chefs are compelled to cook and musicians are compelled to write and play. This need to perform is part of their physiological, mental, emotional, and spiritual self. This commonality that they share with other artists is very evident as a catalyst for connecting with one another. Great food without music is somehow incomplete and great music without the opportunity to break bread lacks the vitality of a perfect marriage.
"A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write, if he is to be ultimately at peace with himself. "
-Abraham Maslow

To me, the type and style of cooking and the restaurants that you engage in dictate the type of music that you connect with and vice versa. Here are some examples:

CLASSIC FINE DINING/CLASSICAL MUSIC:

In the execution of a fine dining experience there is no room for error, no excuse for deviation from established standards - the food is prepared the way it was meant to be prepared. This is true whether the food is inspired by Escoffier, Careme, Point, or Scappi. The same is true with classical music - the conductor spends hours, even days working with an orchestra, struggling over a single notes execution from a score. It must be perfect - no deviation from the way it is meant to be played. Both in classic food and classic music there is always conflict over interpretation, but in the end both share this commonality of the search for perfection and as such are natural together.

TASTING MENUS/AMERICAN JAZZ:

Jazz is an interpretive style of music with improvisation as an important element. A jazz composition begins and ends with structure, but everything in-between allows the musician to express him or herself based on emotions, memories, and a desire to put them out there. The American Tasting Menu is a platform for chefs and cooks to do the same. There is most always a central theme that is woven throughout a meal, but each course can take this theme and move in a variety of directions giving the chef the opportunity to put a signature on a dish based on the environment that surrounds the occasion. The jazz musician plays off the energy of the audience, as does the chef executing a tasting menu.
"Jazz is smooth and cool. Jazz is rage. Jazz flows like water. Jazz never seems to begin or end. Jazz isn't methodical, but jazz isn't messy either. Jazz is a conversation, a give and take. Jazz is the connection and communication between musicians. Jazz is abandon. "
-Nat Wolff

I remember a tasting menu experience at Charlie Trotter's restaurant where each of the 16 courses was built off the chef's observation of how the guests were responding, the tempo of the moment, and the atmosphere that food and wine had created.
"A jazz musician can improvise based on his knowledge of music. He understands how things go together. For a chef, once you have that basis, that's when cuisine is truly exciting."
-Charlie Trotter

MOLECULAR GASTRONOMY/ELECTRONIC and AVANT GARDE MUSIC:

Those who prepare and those who consume creations involving molecular manipulation of food are oftentimes looking for unique experiences as much as good tasting food. To this end they are willing to experiment, to push aside norms and established processes - looking for something that surprises and even shocks the consumer. You may not fully understand what it is being done, but you find it intriguing and memorable. The same is true with electronic and avant garde types of music from Harry Partch to Bjork - these musicians push the envelope and even make us a bit uncomfortable just as chefs like Ferran Adria and Grant Achatz.
"I don't expect people to get me. That would be quite arrogant. I think there are a lot of people out there in the world that nobody gets."
-Bjork

AMERICAN BURGERS AND FRIES/ROCK and ROLL:

Rock music makes you want to move, it brings a smile to your face and easily connects to memories. The American diner fare that built a nation that grew up on burgers, fries, chicken wings, and pizza finds it hard to sit still when the music and the food combine to create that always - present "American Graffiti" moment.
"Rock and Roll: Music for the neck downwards."
-Keith Richards

America grew-up, it came of age, with a burger in hand. When people think of America they automatically associate hamburgers, rock and roll, and Levi jeans.
"You can find your way across this country using burger joints the way a navigator uses stars."
-Charles Kuralt

BBQ/COUNTRY and the BLUES:

Both country and blues music are American inventions. Their common thread is that they are the vehicle for storytellers - storytellers that reflect the everyday challenges of life - the ups and downs, the joy and the sadness of the human condition.
"Country music has the great stories."
-Etta James
"The blues is a mighty long road. Or it could be a river, one that twists and turns and flows into a sea of limitless musical potential."
-Billy Gibbons

Barbeque is the answer. Barbeque makes the pain go away, at least for a time. Barbeque is sunshine on a cloudy day and a reason for people to celebrate. Barbeque unifies and as such has become an essential part of life in many parts of the country.
"Barbecue may not be the road to world peace, but it's a start."
-Anthony Bourdain
VEGETARIAN and FARM to TABLE/FOLK and BLUEGRASS:

Those who have a philosophical connection to food and the way that they eat have a tendency to make connections and statements regarding their beliefs. They also (sorry for the generalizations) search for a connection to the source, the history of a thing, a place, or a society. Folk and Bluegrass music provide that vehicle for expression and connection and are natural complements to a "back to nature" approach towards food.
"I've spent hours and hours doing research into Appalachian folk music. My grandfather was a fiddler. There is something very immediate, very simple and emotional, about that music."
-Renee Fleming

CAJUN/CREOLE/ZYDECO MUSIC:

Let the good times roll - whether in celebration or in mourning - the true Louisiana Cajun is all about finding a reason to feel good. Music and food are the common antidotes for the curve balls that life sends their way and the country comforts of Cajun/Creole cooking with the influence of Acadian French, Haitian, Southern Black, and Spanish foods are brought to life with the addition of a fiddle, washboard, and upright bass. Zydeco and Cajun food is the consummate combo.
"In Louisiana, one of the first stages of grief is eating your weight in Popeye's fried chicken. The second stage is doing the same with boudin. People have been known to swap the order. Or to do both at the same time."
-Ken Wheaton

Food and music give us all a reason to jump out of bed, put our feet on the floor, grab a fork and relish the opportunity for another day on earth.

PLAN BETTER - TRAIN HARDER

Harvest America Ventures, LLC

Restaurant Consulting and Training
www.harvestamericaventures.com

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The two things in life that we have an instant connection with are food and music. In both cases we learn, through our associations and connection to knowledge, that we are more inclined toward certain foods and certain styles of music, but that initial desire to enjoy eating and listening is apparent from the moment...

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The Relationship Between Sound and Taste

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As you should know, the experience in a restaurant is not only food. Actually, food is 50% of the experience in a restaurant and the atmosphere is the other big part of it. But what is experience in a restaurant? It's the place, the décor, the waiting staff and ... the music. The last element, music, is the main part of the atmosphere of a restaurant.
Thanks to science, we have discovered that in fact, music changes completely our experience in a restaurant and that is the subject of this article.

A lot of factors influence the way we eat. There are the internal factors such as the mood, the hormones and the external factors like TV which is the most famous example of the extern influences on the way we eat.
It turns out that music is also one of the main external factors which change the way we eat. Several studies have shown that listening music while eating is likely to increase our food and drink intake.

Moreover, music also makes our lunch longer. It means that music can keep us more time in a restaurant.

More surprising, the rhythm influences also the rhythm of the chewing. Another experience led by McElera and Standing found that people eat faster when they are exposed with speed tempo and conversely, slower music make us eat slower and drink more.

Generally, people think they judge the taste of the food with four senses: The taste, the view, the smell and the touch but the heard is also very important! In fact, chips taste much better when they are crispy! It means that sound changes our perception of the taste of food and logically, it is easy to understand that music has a huge impact on our perception of a dish.

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Discover the hidden links between music and Food

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As you should know, the experience in a restaurant is not only food. Actually, food is 50% of the experience in a restaurant and the atmosphere is the other big part of it. But what is experience in a restaurant? It's the place, the décor, the waiting staff and ...

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The SBSO presents a variety of remarkable programs for every taste, from Bach to Broadway. See what's coming up next! Help the SBSO present expansive education and community engagement programs and phenomenal performances, and ensure the future of our region's only professional orchestra. Donate today!

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The time signature of a piece of music is one of the key clues that can help you understand the rhythm and structure of the piece.

It tells you how the music is to be counted, what beats are emphasized, and most importantly, what the "feel" of the music is likely to sound like.

In fact, with enough practice, it's possible to tell the time signature of a piece simply by listening to it - no sheet music necessary!

In this introduction to time signatures, we'll teach you exactly what those fraction-like numbers mean, what kinds of music use what time signatures, and the simple time signature that almost all of your favourite rock and pop jams use.

By the end of this tutorial, you'll understand how time signatures work, get acquainted with simple and compound time signatures, hear some famous tunes that illustrate each one, and learn to distinguish the time signatures of 2/2, 3/4, 4/4, 6/8, 9/8, and 12/8 by ear!

Table of Contents

What is a Time Signature?

The time signature of a piece of music is that fraction-like pair of numbers found at the beginning of a piece of sheet music:

Numbers are usually there to measure things, so just what are these numbers measuring?

About Those Numbers

Most music throughout the world is organized in regular rhythmic patterns of strong and weak beats. Beats are grouped into bars, also called measures. Though there are exceptions, namely free rhythm, we will be discussing more structured music in this article.

The time signature is there to ensure that bar-to-bar, the overall beat of the music stays constant. It contains two numbers, which tell you how to count the music, and indicate how the bars will be organized:

The top number in a time signature indicates how many beats will be present in a bar

The bottom number in a time signature indicates what kind of note is considered one beat

While time signatures come in all sorts of different flavours, some weirder than others (13/16 time, anyone?) the vast majority of music will have a time signature with a top number between 2 and 12, and a bottom number that corresponds to a note value - that is, 2, 4, 8, or 16 (32 and 64 also exist but they're extremely rare!)

In 4/4 time, therefore, that top number is telling us that each bar will have four beats, while the bottom number indicates that the quarter note gets one beat. Similarly, 2/4 time tells you that the quarter note again receives one beat, but each bar will only have two beats. If you need an introduction or a refresher on note types and the concept of beats, head over to School of Composition's excellent primer.

Time Signature and Meter

By setting the number of beats in a bar and the note value assigned to one beat, the time signature ensures that there is bar-to-bar consistency in the music where rhythm is concerned - it helps ensure that there is an underlying structure, called meter.

Meter is defined as the structure of beats - more specifically, the fact that some beats are naturally more strong, or "stressed", than others. The meter engages the ear through consistency, and is what gives music its "feel". In an overwhelming majority of simple time signatures, beat 1 is the strongest beat in the bar, meaning you can often hear when a new bar starts by listening for an emphasized note.

The easiest example of this is a clock - we hear it as tick-tock, not tick-tick. This is, in fact, an example of duple meter, which means there is a primary division of two beats to a bar. The first beat of every bar is stressed, resulting in the " tick " being stressed as well.

Depending on the time signature, different beats will be stronger and weaker than others. We will look at concrete examples in just a minute, but keep this concept in mind as we introduce you to new time signatures.

Simple Time Signatures

Some good news: the majority of pop, rock, country, and folk music uses simple time signatures. These are the most straightforward time signatures to figure out and to play.

In simple time, the top number will always be 2, 3, or 4 - this ensures that there is only one "group" of beats per bar, distinguishing it from compound time signatures (more on these later). Study Bass has an excellent quick-and-dirty summary of the simple time signatures.

4/4 Time

We'll start with the popular kid in school - 4/4 time, being so ubiquitous that it's commonly referred to by its alternate name - common time. It can appear on sheet music in one of two ways:

With four beats to a bar and a quarter note taking on the value of one beat, 4/4 is a time signature that is agreeable to the ear and fits perfectly with the structure of most rock and pop songs.

So what makes a song "sound" like it's in 4/4? It's the pattern of emphasized beats, which is as follows:

As we said before, beat 1 is the strongest beat in the majority of simple time signatures, and 4/4 is no exception. Beats 2 and 4 are the weak beats in the bar, with beat 3 being a little bit more emphasized.

This lends itself well to the classic rock drum beat, or the kick-hihat-snare-hihat pattern. The kick falls on the strongest beat, the hihats occupy weak beats 2 and 4, and the snare takes beat 3. You can hear this here:

Try counting or clapping along with the song; chances are, it will sound like-clap-clap-clap clap-clap-clap-clap, or one-two-three-four one-two-three-four.

3/4 Time

The quarter note still gets one beat, but we now have three beats to a bar.

What does this mean, considering the first beat of every bar gets the strongest emphasis?

As you can hear, the resulting accent pattern in each bar is one-two-three. This lends a lulling, waltz-like quality to the beat. It then makes sense that waltzes themselves use this time signature, with the beat pattern corresponding to the dancers' foot movements.

Try clapping along with the following:

2/2 Time

In 2/2 time, the half note gets one beat, and there are two beats to a bar. The first beat gets the emphasis, and the second beat is the weaker one:

The resulting accent pattern of one-two is reminiscent of a ticking clock, or a march. This time signature is also referred to as cut time.

Sure enough, the accent pattern means that marches are often written in this time signature. Try clapping along to the following:

Compound Time Signatures

Though they may appear complicated to the ear and on paper, compound time signatures are just multiple simple time signatures squished into one. Examples are 6/8, 12/8, and 9/8.

The rules remain the same - the top number tells you how many beats exist in a bar, and the bottom number indicates the note value that represents one beat.

If you're paying attention, you'll notice that a complication arises.

We know that in 3/4, for example, the beat pattern is strong-weak-weak. However, if we have a compound time signature of 6/8, how do we assign emphasis to the beats in a way that each bar still has structure and discernible rhythm?

6/8 Time

The answer is to think of 6/8 time as two groups of 3/8:

You may notice that your clapping or counting pattern follows a pattern of one-two-three-four-five-six, with beat 1 being the strongest, and beat 4 also getting some emphasis to signal the beginning of the second half of the bar.

When it starts moving along, it's easier - and more common - to count 6/8 in two - - two-three-two-two-three.

Try clapping along with Neutral Milk Hotel's "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea":

You can really hear the two-beat split within each bar - it's emphasized by the guitar strum pattern, with a chord change signaling the end of each 6/8 bar.

To better understand this time signature and how it relates to it's cousin, 3/8 time, check out Hoffman Academy's engaging video on the topic.

9/8 Time

With 9 beats and the eighth note receiving "one beat", we could count this time signature as -two-three-four-five-six-seven-eight-nine, but that would quickly get unwieldy and confusing.

Similarly to 6/8 time, the solution is to break down this compound time signature into three groups of three eighth notes. This allows you to employ the easy one-two-three-one-two-three-one-two-three counting method, with the option to count one-two-three-two-two-three-three-two-three in order to keep track of the bars:

Try counting or clapping along with this track:

12/8 Time

This consists of twelve beats, separated into four groups of three eighth notes each. You can therefore count it as one-two-three-four-five-six-seven-eight-nine-ten-eleven-twelve.

Although we doubt you'd want to, considering the count of one-two-three-two-two-three-three-two-three-four-two-three works just as well, and is a bit easier to wrangle!

You can think of this as 4/4 time with a triplet feel, owing to the four "strong" beats, each of which are followed by two weak beats, with a subdivision of one-two-three, just like in 3/4 time.

This time signature is common in Southern gospel-influenced music, such as Aretha Franklin's "Surely God Is Able":

Complex Time Signatures

So what do all of the above time signatures, whether simple or compound, have in common?

They are comprised of one or more identical groups of a certain note value. 4/4 has one group of four quarter notes. 9/8 has three groups of three eighth notes. 12/8 has four groups of three quarter notes.

So, what happens when you have a time signature with uneven beat groupings, such as 5/4, 7/4, or 5/8? These are called complex time signatures, and require a little bit more thought when being counted.

You may, when songwriting, even accidentally write a riff that is in a complex time signature and not realize it's odd meter until you count it through! Eve Alpert of Philadelphia indie rock band Palm shares a fresh take on songwriting and conveying emotions in odd meter.

We won't go very deep into these complex time signatures as we will be focussing on simple and compound time in the time signature exercises below, but just to give you an idea...

7/4 Time

Try clapping along with Pink Floyd's "Money", using the melody of the bassline to count beats:

You'll notice that you clap seven times over the course of one iteration of the bassline - the song is in 7/4 time!

This makes counting this time signature in groups quite tricky, as the stress pattern isn't so simple. Depending on the song, it may make sense to count 7/4 as 4/4 + 3/4, or as 2/4 + 2/4 + 3/4.

5/4 Time

Now, try counting along with Radiohead's "15 Step", beginning on the kick-drum like beat:

This time, you're counting to five between the heavily-accented beat. In this instance, there's only one beat every bar that's heavily accented, and it's that first one.

Therefore, this song can be counted as one-two-three-four-five.

For a more in-depth look at this unique time signature and its alternate beat patterns, check out Let'sTalkAboutMathRock's illustrative guide.

Hearing Time Signatures

Now that you're familiar with the most common instances of simple and compound time signatures, let's try determining the time signatures of some popular songs. If you want more description of the character of each time signature, check out Music Radar's guide.

Here's are some tips to help you along:

1. The first beat in every bar is usually accented

2. The first beat in every bar division is usually accented

Remember: clapping along and counting are your best friends! Live Ukulele's guide includes great tips on knowing where to start and how to count. Pay attention to where the emphasis falls, count the beats, and you'll be fine.

The answers are below each song, but listen carefully to the song and make your best guess before checking them!

Show answer

Show answer

Show answer

Beat one of every bar is heavily stressed in this song, with beat four also getting some emphasis, though not nearly as much. Count one-two-three-four-five-six, with one falling on the heavily emphasized first note of every bar, and note how this gives the song a different feel than the waltz-like 3/4 time signature.

Show answer

Getting in Time

Sometimes, you may come across a piece of music in a truly indiscernible time signature, though it does happen:

If you're curious, the Terminator theme is in 13/16 time. The beat comes in stronger around [2:13], for those of you who care to count along (good luck!).

This kind of intensely complex time signature, however, is far from a common occurrence. To reiterate the good news: most popular songs you come across and want to play on your instrument will be in simple time signatures.

That doesn't mean, however, that 4/4 time will necessarily have a strict four-note pattern that is easily recognizable as 4/4! Plenty of music adds fascinating note patterns and flourishes to add interest to a simple time signature - Bagpipe Lesson shows you the kind of embellishments that exist in 4/4 time!

More good news: learning to discern time signatures is fun! You get to listen to and engage with your favourite music, finding patterns and improving your sense of rhythm all at once.

What are you waiting for?

Understanding time signatures has benefits that stretch beyond theory and into your performance - training your ear to recognize time signatures will help you to play by ear, achieve a certain "feel" with your songwriting, perform expressively, and more.

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Introduction to Time Signatures | Musical U

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The time signature of a piece of music is one of the key clues that can help you understand the rhythm and structure of the piece. It tells you how the music is to be counted, what beats are emphasized, and most importantly, what the "feel" of the music is likely to sound like.

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Music, Math, and Patterns - Math Central

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The Fibonacci sequence is a famous and well-known sequence that follows as: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, ... and so on, adding each term to the one before it to create the next term. That is, 5 + 8 = 13, 8 + 13 = 21, 13 + 21 = 34, and continuing infinitely.

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Get access to files anywhere through secure cloud storage and file backup for your photos, videos, files and more with Google Drive.

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Newsela | Drumming beats speech for distant communication

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These indigenous people in the Amazon Rainforest have been using drumming as a long-distance language tool, but the sounds have started to fade over time.

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Fact #1: Music instruction improves phonological awareness.

Fact #2: Music instruction refines auditory discrimination.

Fact #3: Music instruction increases auditory sequencing ability.

Fact #4: Music instruction strengthens listening and attention skills.

Fact #5: Music instruction enhances speaking skills.

Fact #6: Music instruction heightens oral language development.

Fact #7: Music instruction enriches vocabulary.

Where else will a child be able to play with words, sing silly phrases, learn whole songs and rhymes, or be exposed to words like tempo or timbre than in a music class? Singing songs and repeating rhymes are great ways to enhance and expand a child's vocabulary at a time when they are most receptive to such enrichment.
This is why Kindermusik classes are full of singing, incorporating a rich repertoire of folk songs, multi-cultural songs, beloved children's songs, adapted or "piggy-back" songs, and even new songs.

Find out more about Kindermusik at www.Kindermusik.com.

Contributed by Theresa Case who has an award-winning Kindermusik program at Piano Central Studios in beautiful upstate South Carolina.

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7 Surprising Facts about Music and Early Literacy Development

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Fact #1: Music instruction improves phonological awareness. Fact #2: Music instruction refines auditory discrimination. Fact #3: Music instruction increases auditory sequencing ability. Fact #4: Music instruction strengthens listening and attention skills. Fact #5: Music instruction enhances speaking skills. Fact #6: Music instruction heightens oral language development. Fact #7: Music instruction enriches vocabulary.

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Bestselling artist continues exploring the music universe

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Many kids love to sing, write songs, play music, and even create their own homemade instruments. And some children are curious about the lives of famous singers, songwriters, and musicians. We’ve gathered up a great collection of books, activities, apps, and websites for learning all about music and…

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Roy Hargrove - Strasbourg St. Denis (2007 New Morning Club)

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Tyler the Creator - Enjoy Right Now, Today

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Tyler the Creator - Enjoy Right Now, Today

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Echosmith - Cool Kids [Official Web Video]

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Brittany Campbell  - Mean | Sofar Chicago

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Austin Deadman - Man in the Mirror (Cover)

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Dean Town - Vulfpeck & Chris Thile | Live from Here

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Music as a Language: Victor Wooten at TEDxGabriolaIsland

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Hans Zimmer - Man of Steel [Live in Prague DVD]

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We all know that listening to music makes life better.

And, we teachers all know teachers that listening to music while you study makes studying harder and less effective.

For instance, in this study, adults who read in silence scored more than 20% higher on a quiz about that reading passage than others who listened to music with lyrics.

Indeed. 20% higher. (You can read more about that study here.)

Even though we've seen this research finding many times, we might want a deeper understanding of this question.

For instance: are there particular points during reading that are particularly vulnerable to interference from music?

Answer #1: New Songs

To answer this question, researchers used eye-tracking technology to see how readers behaved with background music playing.

One answer that jumped out: the change from one song to the next interrupted fluent eye movements.

This finding, of course, makes intuitive sense.

When a new song comes on, we automatically perk up our ears. Even subliminally, we notice a change in our background circumstances. The attention we devote to that change makes it harder to attend to our reading.

The result: less fluent eye movements.

Professor Todd Rose (at Harvard's Graduate School of Education) used to suggest that-if students insisted on listening to music-they should make a playlist of songs. Those songs should have no lyrics.

And, crucially, students should not press shuffle. They should, in other words, listen to those songs in the same order each time. Over time, students will habituate to those songs in that order, and be less distracted by the switch.

This research supports Rose's suggestion.

Answer #2: Vocabulary

The second time that music particularly distracts readers: when they face an unusual word. As the authors poetically put it:

"An irrelevant auditory signal may impair sublexical processing of low-frequency words during first-pass reading."

"An irrelevant auditory signal" means "music," and "low-frequency words" means "difficult vocabulary."

So, if you were listening to music while you read that paragraph you'd face particular difficulties. After all, in included several low-frequency words.

Based on this observation, I think we should worry more about homework that includes complex vocabulary-and, I'm guessing, even more so about homework that includes foreign-language vocabulary.

In other words: while listening to music is bad for reading comprehension, it's especially bad for comprehension of passages with tricky vocab.

To Sum Up

We've always known that students make their cognitive lives harder when they listen to music during homework.

Now we have even more evidence showing when, and why.

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Why, and When, Does Music Interfere with Reading?

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We all know that listening to music makes life better. And, we teachers all know teachers that listening to music while you study makes studying harder and less effective. For instance, in this study, adults who read in silence scored more than 20% higher on a quiz about that reading passage than others who listened to music with lyrics.

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Newsela is an Instructional Content Platform that supercharges reading engagement and learning in every subject.

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When I walk in my house I see pictures,
bought long ago, framed and hanging
-de Kooning, Arp, Laurencin, Henry Moore-
that I've cherished and stared at for years,
yet my eyes keep returning to the masters
of the trivial-a white stone perfectly round,
tiny lead models of baseball players, a cowbell,
a broken great-grandmother's rocker,
a dead dog's toy-valueless, unforgettable
detritus that my children will throw away
as I did my mother's souvenirs of trips
with my dead father, Kodaks of kittens,
and bundles of cards from her mother Kate.

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Casey at the Bat - The outlook wasn't brilliant for the Mudville nine that day;

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Composed, produced, and remixed: the greatest hits of poems about music.

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The following selections of poems are curated around specific themes and are appropriate for young readers.

Find poetry lesson plans, essays about teaching, a glossary of poetry terms, and other educator resources on our Materials for Teachers page. Visit our Poetry for Teens page to find more selections of poems tailored to a high school audience. Encourage students to participate in the Dear Poet project. And, celebrate Poem In Your Pocket Day virtually on April 30.

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Poems for Kids - The following selections of poems are curated around specific themes and are appropriate fo

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Newsela | New anthology collects dozens of poems about pandemic

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A new anthology features more than 80 poems about life during the coronavirus pandemic.

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Get access to files anywhere through secure cloud storage and file backup for your photos, videos, files and more with Google Drive.

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Carolyn Jones/EdSource

‏Jami Jorgensen is the human jukebox of quadratic equations.

"Anything that's an algorithm, I have a song for it," said the energetic middle-school math teacher in Hayward Unified, in the east Bay Area. "I must have 100 songs. At least."

Jorgensen, who teaches 7th- and 8th-grade math, leads her students in ditties, chants and dance moves to help them remember basic formulas in algebra and geometry. A lesson on monomial exponent rules becomes:
"You thought we were done But if your exponent is zero, Your base simplifies to one."
Jorgensen said that weaving music into math lessons has boosted her students' test scores, enhanced their understanding of the larger concepts, improved the classroom climate and accomplished something few would think possible of middle-school math: Made it fun.

Many studies, including one in the journal Memory and Cognition, have shown that information set to music is easier to remember. It's how epics like "The Iliad" and "The Odyssey" were passed down through the centuries, and how toddlers learn their ABCs and 123s. People with Alzheimer's disease might not be able to remember their spouse, but can often recite songs from their youth.

A 2009 study by a UC Davis psychology researcher, published in the journal Cerebral Cortex, found that the region of the brain that stores memories is the same region that processes music and emotion. In short, music, memory and emotion are closely linked.

"Song and dance serve well to help us remember lyrics, or in this case math formulas," said Patricia Swanson, a math education professor at San Jose State University. "And, indeed, there are strong conceptual connections between math and music. Perhaps the most obvious one at the elementary level is rhythm and the value of the musical note - 4/4 time, quarter notes, eighth notes, sixteenth notes ... "

Jorgensen observes this daily in her classes at Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School, where 75 percent of the students come from low-income families and 72 percent speak English as a second language.

On and off throughout their lessons, students sing math formulas and do math-related dance moves. Some of the songs are pop tunes in which Jorgensen swapped out "lyrics about Bacardi and ice" and replaced them with lines about "n" factors and variables.

Others are songs that she and students make up. With an associate's degree in musical theater, Jorgensen has a natural affinity for singing and dancing and knows firsthand how they can aid in memorization and elevate one's spirits.

Such musical activities lead students to enjoy math, which in turn leads them to learn more, Jorgensen said. And during tests, remembering math songs helps them relax and feel good, so they're less likely to panic, she said.

Seventh-grader Mia Espiritu, one of Jorgensen's students, said she never enjoyed math until this year. She and most of her classmates in fourth period had scored below grade level on previous standardized tests, but Mia said she's finally understanding the concepts.

"Ms. J.J. teaches us new things every day, so it's not boring," she said. "And if I get stuck, I always have a song in my mind that helps me remember. I used to not get math. Now I do get it."

Her classmate Guadalupe Gonzalez agreed. Math was always a struggle, but now she enjoys it.

"The songs help explain it better," she said.

Memorizing basic formulas can make it easier for students to grasp larger, more abstract mathematical concepts because students' minds aren't mired in the minutiae, Jorgensen said. For example, it's easier to understand the square root of 36 if you already know the answer to 6 multiplied by 6.

Jorgensen's method has yielded results. In her 8th-grade geometry class from last year, 23 of her 40 students had perfect scores on the Smarter Balanced exam, and in the 7th-grade algebra class, every student exceeded the standards, she said. Seven of those students had perfect scores.

"It makes me excited about the students' futures," she said. "It opens doors for them and shows what they can achieve if they put in the effort."

Mark Ellis, a math education professor at California State University, Fullerton, said he observed elementary teachers in Japan using songs and chants to successfully teach math to their students and he has used music to help low-performing middle-school students learn their multiplication tables.

Music in a classroom can relax students, take some pressure off and help teachers forge a cultural connection to their students, he said. He cited a 2014 article in the journal Educational Studies in Mathematics about teachers who were highly successful using songs, chants and music to motivate students in underserved communities.

But it's not the end of the story, he said.

"Music itself cannot teach kids to understand mathematics," he said. "Music can help students improve dramatically, but ultimately math is not about memorization. It's about reasoning, seeing patterns, making conjectures. It's about meaning."

Memorizing formulas will only be effective in the long run if students understand the concepts underlying the formulas, he said. Ideally, students should be able to come up with formulas on their own, with guidance from the teacher. In some cases, it's not even necessary to memorize formulas because so many students have calculators on their phones, he said.

But either way, students with self-confidence and a solid math education in middle school are well positioned to thrive in the more challenging and abstract math classes they'll encounter in high school and college, he said. Middle school math is the critical juncture where students transition from arithmetic to more complex concepts about proportions, ratios and multiplication, which are the basis of advanced level math courses.

Eighth-grader Jennifer Silva, a student of Jorgensen's who also helps her teach younger students, said she's enjoyed math so much she wants to pursue it in college.

"Doing the chants helps me remember what we learned," she said. "When you're in a test and you feel stressed, you just think of a chant and it's like, 'Oh yeah, I remember that.' And then it's kind of fun."

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Lullaby of algebra: How mixing music and math helps engage students

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Carolyn Jones/EdSource ‏Jami Jorgensen is the human jukebox of quadratic equations. "Anything that's an algorithm, I have a song for it," said the energetic middle-school math teacher in Hayward Unified, in the east Bay Area. "I must have 100 songs. At least."

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K12 Math Hip-Hop Videos & Lessons | Flocabulary

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Comprehensive math lesson plans with teacher guides, printable hand-outs, quizzes. Drive better standardized scores with Flocabulary!

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Music and colour are similar in the uncanniest of ways. At a fundamental level, both hit us in a powerful, memorable and emotional sense. This connection is overlooked by most, but a shift in perspective will make marrying music to your brand easier, relatable and very creative!

Can you see colour when you hear certain sounds? No? Then you probably aren't a synesthete. Don't feel bad, you would fall into the 92.8% of individuals who are just regular old humans. What I am referring to is synesthesia. Simply put, it's a neurological phenomenon. It's a phenomenon in which stimulation of one sensory pathway leads to an involuntary experience of another sensory pathway.

There are many forms of synesthesia, but one of the most common forms is 'Chromesthesia', the ability to see sound as colour. The visualizations are called photisms and are often described as oscillating fireworks that change in hue and direction with sound. Everyday sounds can be a trigger, but synesthetes with an aptitude for musi typically have perfect pitch and the photisms aid in identifying keys or notes.

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Bedtracks - The Relationship Between Music & Colour | 5 Reasons Why It's Important

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Music and colour are similar in the uncanniest of ways. At a fundamental level, both hit us in a powerful, memorable and emotional sense. This connection is overlooked by most, but a shift in perspective will make marrying music to your brand easier, relatable and very creative!

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Addison Trail Music

Welcome to the Addison Trail High School Music Department. Performance-based courses include: Symphonic Band, Wind Ensemble, Jazz Ensemble, Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Strings, Treble Choir, Beginning Mixed Chorus, Concert Choir and Guitar Ensemble. Entry-level courses include: Beginning Guitar, Piano and Music Production. Advanced Placement (AP) Music Theory also is offered for students who wish to receive college credit for coursewoork completed at Addison Trail.

Extracurricular performance ensembles include: Shades of Blue (Vocal Jazz Ensemble), Jazz Combo, Color Guard, Strolling Strings, Jazz Combos and Percussion Ensemble.

The Music Department is supported by the Music Boosters, a group of parents interested in promoting music education at Addison Trail both philosophically and financially. Meetings take place monthly, and all are welcome to attend.

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Addison Trail High School - Addison Trail Music

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Welcome to the Addison Trail High School Music Department. Performance-based courses include: Symphonic Band, Wind Ensemble, Jazz Ensemble, Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Strings, Treble Choir, Beginning Mixed Chorus, Concert Choir and Guitar Ensemble. Entry-level courses include: Beginning Guitar, Piano and Music Production.

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In the spring of 1977 Professor Judith E. Grimes, then from Indiana State University, visited the Island of Jamaica with her band. During the musical tour, her ensemble performed at Cornwall College where she met James Lloyd Whinstanley and Headmaster Crick. Later that fall Mr. Whinstanley contacted Professor Grimes and asked her to be a part of a project in his school. His new assignment had taken him across town from Cornwall College to Herbert Morrison Comprehensive High School, now Herbert Morrison Technical School. Professor Grimes agreed to help and plans were underway.

In the beginning stages of the program Professor Grimes provided assistance both with musical equipment and teachers for the program. Professor Grimes lived in Jamaica the Fall of 1979 and the very first "live" performance of the Herbert Morrison Band was in November of 1979. Professor Grimes was conducting, Mr. Whinstanley, the mayor, Billy Cooke and even Dr. Herbert Morrison himself were in the audience.

Professor Grimes later moved to a position at Elmhurst College in the Chicago area, but she continues to be a major part of the band program by conducting clinics twice a year, donating supplies and bringing teachers in training to the school to participate.

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In the spring of 1977 Professor Judith E. Grimes, then from Indiana State University, visited the Island of Jamaica with her band. During the musical tour, her ensemble performed at Cornwall College where she met James Lloyd Whinstanley and Headmaster Crick.

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It's been a busy holiday break for Chicago-based musician Carey Deadman. While most of us were stuffing ourselves silly with cookies and reruns of "A Christmas Story," he spent the break fixing musical arrangements for Drury Lane Oakbrook's latest show, , which recently began performances. And while doing that, he's been trekking to the Cadillac Palace Theatre each night to play lead trumpet in the pit at the Chicago stop of the first national tour of Wicked.

But this is how he likes it. A self-admitted workaholic, Deadman has been the premiere music arranger for many big shows in Chicago - particularly at Drury Lane Oakbrook, where he's served as their resident music arranger since 1996.

How much of a workaholic is Deadman? Well, chances are if you've seen a Broadway in Chicago musical, you've heard him in the pit. As recent examples, he played trumpet in Jersey Boys during its multi-year run in Chicago (and even appeared onstage at the show's finale to wail on "Who Loves You"), he played lead trumpet in the pre-Broadway tryout of The Producers at Chicago's Palace Theatre (now the Bank of America Theatre), working with Mel Brooks and orchestrators Doug Besterman and Larry Blank. And, more recently, he played in Shrek, the Musical - as well as a number of others.

But beyond playing in the pit, Deadman is a master music arranger. If you caught Drury Lane's magnificent production of Ragtime earlier this summer, he was the one who managed to take the show's 20-plus orchestra arrangement and make it sound like a million bucks with just 10 players (the maximum size the Drury Lane's pit can hold).

And, interestingly, Deadman and I both graduated from Alpena High School and participated in the AHS band (I played second and first horn while he first chaired trumpet - we just missed each other by 20 years). He then went on to study jazz performance at North Texas State University, and then acquired his masters in brass performance and pedagogy at Northern Illinois University, which brought him to Chicago in the mid '80s. From there, he quickly found steady work playing a number of gigs at various clubs and gained a reputation as the go-to trumpet player.

I had the opportunity to meet Deadman and talk about his exciting career over a glass of wine and dinner at Petterino's last week prior to an evening performance of Wicked, where he shared stories of working with Sinatra and a few Chicago jazz legends. He then graciously invited me to tag along with him backstage at the Caddy Palace to see the Wicked pit, meet a few of the musicians and watch him warm up for that evening's show - his last before devoting his time to Spamalot. Unfortunately, due to issues out of our control, I couldn't stay to watch the performance from the pit, but he invited me to sit in a music rehearsal of a Drury Lane show, and I very much look forward to that experience and sharing it here.

In the meantime, here are highlights of my conversation with Deadman:

Musician, arranger, producer - out of all the things on your resume, what's your favorite thing to do?
I love it all, but I really get the most satisfaction playing the trumpet. It's the most natural thing I do.

When you play in a pit orchestra, don't you get bored playing the same music night after night?
Not at all. The goal is to play the score better than you played it the night before. And when you're a perfectionist like me, it's a challenge. And that's not just my view - all the players in the pit in Broadway in Chicago shows take this job very seriously. We have some of the best musicians in the country in Chicago, and playing in the pit is one of the best gigs to have as a professional musician in this city. It's steady work, and the job is a creative challenge.

Out of all the shows you've played, what's your favorite as a trumpet player?
Oh, that's a good question. Wicked is a challenging show to play. Fosse was also fun, thanks to that big solo in "Sing, Sing, Sing." I also enjoyed playing in Movin' Out, Jersey Boys and Ragtime.

What inspired you to become a musician and music arranger?
I came from a musical family - my father owned a music store in Alpena, and my grandfather hosted a Saturday night radio show in Alpena called "Melody Lane" and tuned and rebuilt pianos for a living. I also played trumpet in high school, and when I saw legendary trumpet player Bill Chase in a concert at my school, that was a huge inspiration for me. In Dallas, I studied trumpet with Don "Jake" Jacoby who gave me the skills necessary to be an excellent trumpet player. This really propelled my career. I think about Jake every day.

Can you tell me a bit about how you arrange music for a Drury Lane show?
Sure - Drury Lane wants all their shows to look and sound like a million bucks, while also keeping ticket prices affordable. So, we have to be judicious about how many players we want in each show. For shows with big, sweeping scores, like Sweeney Todd, which we're doing next season, we'll have a larger number of players. For shows like Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, we used a smaller ensemble. I then rework the score to accomodate the number of musicians, using the instrumentation we have on hand to the fullest effect. The music director will then work with me to fine-tune the sound of the show. For example, in Spamalot, I got an email from the music director today saying that a passage in the show sounded a little thin, so I'm going to fix that. I also have a full-time assistant and copyist who help compile and print out my arrangements for the players.

I see on your resume you worked with Frank Sinatra. Any good Sinatra stories?
Yes, I played in nine tours with Sinatra in the early '90s. He was very professional. We didn't see much of him, to be honest. He would travel by private plane, and then arrive at the venue with his cavalcade and police escort just before showtime. After his final bows, he would leave the same way he arrived as we were playing his exit music. He would literally be on the road before we got done playing our last note in the show. I also recall rearranging a section of "Fly Me To the Moon" to rework a cut to the song - which we called "the shout section" - that I felt needed reinstated and presenting it to Sinatra. I guess he liked it, because he used it in his act from that point on.

What information would you give to an up-and-coming musician who wants to break into the professional scene?
It's pretty simple: show up on time, be accountable for yourself and play well. There's no need to try to sell yourself; let your playing do the talking. If you're good at what you do, and take it seriously, word of mouth will spread, and you'll get noticed. And perhaps you'll be asked to sub in a show.
Added bonus: photos from the Wicked pit:

Deadman arrives at the theatre an hour before showtime to set up his stand, review the music, and warm up.

A shot of the trumpet score for the opening number in Wicked. Note that Deadman has added the notes "Not too slow" above the first measure, and "not too fast" above the sixth measure. These reminders, Deadman explains, were necessary after having performed the score a different way when he played trumpet in the sit-down Chicago production of Wicked (which closed two years ago). But in this tour, the new conductor's tempi are different. Also, you'll see it says "[London]" at top of the score. This is because if a change in orchestrations is made when opening a new production of Wicked, those changes are universally adopted across all other productions. So, the national tour is using the London orchestrations for the opening number.

From the Cadillac Palace orchestra pit - 30 mins to showtime.

With about 20 mins to showtime, Deadman goes into the bowels of the Cadillac Palace for a final warm up.

Showtime!

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Tooting his own horn: an interview with Chicago musician and music arranger Carey Deadman

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It's been a busy holiday break for Chicago-based musician Carey Deadman. While most of us were stuffing ourselves silly with cookies and reruns of "A Christmas Story," he spent the break fixing musical arrangements for Drury Lane Oakbrook's latest show, Spamalot, which recently began performances. And while doing that, he's been trekking to the Cadillac...

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Doug Beach is a performer, composer, publisher, educator, arranger, and Grammy Award winner.

At Elmhurst College, where he has taught since 1978, he serves as director of the acclaimed Elmhurst College Jazz Band and as director of jazz studies. Under his direction, the Jazz Band has performed in festivals across the world and regularly appears with jazz greats such as Clark Terry, Diane Schuur, Nicholas Payton, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Pete Christlieb, Lee Konitz, Louie Bellson, and Bobby Shew. In 2003, Beach received the College's highest teaching honor, the President's Award for Excellence in Teaching.

Beach is equally well known for his work as a publisher and composer. His company, Doug Beach Music, is one of the world's leading publishers of educational jazz music, and he has won 17 consecutive awards for composition from the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP). In 1996, the Count Basie Orchestra and New York Voices recorded his arrangement of "Cottontail" on a CD that went on to win the Grammy Award for best large jazz ensemble.

Beach is also a highly sought-after clinician and adjudicator. He has served as a conductor, guest artist, or judge throughout the United States and in Canada, Australia, and Europe, and he frequently conducts All-State ensembles. Twice, he has served as artist-in-residence for the Illinois Arts Council.

A Yamaha performing artist and clinician, Beach plays Yamaha trumpets and flugelhorns.

Specialties

Performing Ensembles

Jazz Combos

Jazz Improvisation

Arranging and Scoring Composition

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Doug Beach is a performer, composer, publisher, educator, arranger, and Grammy Award winner. At Elmhurst College, where he has taught since 1978, he serves as director of the acclaimed Elmhurst College Jazz Band and as director of jazz studies.

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Joel Baer Chris Parsons Blueshift Big Band https://www.facebook.com/blueshiftbigband/Event: Buddy Rich's "Big Swing Face' performed live @JRAC. Wednesday, July 24th at 9:00 p.m. Fulton Street Collective - 1821 W. Hubbard Street. Chicago, IL 60622 https://www.facebook.com/events/912735012414732/http://www.fultonstreetcollective.com/events.html

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Midday Fix: Live performance from Blueshift Big Band

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Joel Baer Chris Parsons Blueshift Big Band https://www.facebook.com/blueshiftbigband/ Event: Buddy Rich's "Big Swing Face' performed live @JRAC. Wednesday, July 24th at 9:00 p.m. Fulton Street Collective - 1821 W. Hubbard Street. Chicago, IL 60622 https://www.facebook.com/events/912735012414732/ http://www.fultonstreetcollective.com/events.html