This month’s exploration of electronic music wraps up the ’80s and dives into the music of the past few decades to today. While last article addressed the more mainstream applications of electronic music, there were some other types of genres brewing that weren’t discussed, primarily house music. House music started in the ’80s in Chicago…
Last blog left us entering the electronic world in the 1980s. Up to this point, the majority of electronic applications in music were either used in avant garde classical techniques or used as an instrument among others in rock and pop. The 80s ushered in a period of full reign of the synthesizer, with some…
The history of electronic music goes back further than you may think. Here is a brief introduction into the genre and it’s progression as a mainstream genre in our culture. Electronic music started with the advent of recording technology, especially the tape. Thanks to tape, composers could immediately record something, and still layer other sounds…
Despite the not-so-seasonal Christmastime weather, here is a list of holiday tunes to get you into the spirit! Some are popular pieces very much engrained in our culture, while others may be pieces you’ve never heard before. 1. The Nutcracker, by Pyotr Tchaikovsky: Perhaps one of the most famous Christmastime works, The Nutcracker, a ballet,…
This month we celebrate the birthdays of the late great composer, Ludwig van Beethoven (12.17.1770). Beethoven is often ranked as one of the most influential and greatest composers ever to have lived. Beethoven was born in Bonn, Germany. His father, Johann was a local musician, who forced Ludwig to practice at odd hours of the…
In this continuation, we will discuss the rock music of the ’80s and ’90s. At this point in time there were many new amazing bands and new genres, but rock had somewhat reached a pinnacle. With an increasingly bloated sound in the 80s, the 90s ushered in a new renaissance for rock music. While the…
n this installation of the history of rock and roll, we explore the decades of the ’60s and ’70s. This is arguably rock’s pinnacle of achievement, ushering in the superstars we have all come to know and revere. While American rock and roll was still going strong with artists such as Elvis, something was brewing…
This month we explore the roots and evolution of rock music, beginning with its inception in America. Rock music has a deep history, which is full of facts that you perhaps have never known before. We begin with the pre-history of rock and roll and how it came about. Rock and roll was a musical…
This month we celebrate two highly influential composers of the first half of the 20th century: Aaron Copland (b. 11.14.1900) and Benjamin Britten (b. 11.22.1913). Both paved the way for creating sonorities that were later considered characteristic of their cultures (American and British, respectively). In addition, both of these composers wrote music that was accessible…
From as early as the Medieval Era, there have been compositions of music that sound spooky or creepy to our ears. Here are a few examples you can listen to in order to create that eerie ambience for Halloween! 1. Dies Irae: The Dies Irae is originally a Gregorian Chant from the early Medieval Era….