Music: Stumbling onto Music

Stumbling onto Music

Having much more time to spend on the computer lately, I have visited about as many websites as I could remember, and have Google'd about as many subjects as I could think up. At some point, you're just out of ideas -- and start feeling like you've reach the proverbial end of the Internet. As I was spiffing up the site the other week for the social media folks, I re-stumbled upon StumbleUpon.

For those unfamiliar with StumbleUpon -- you sign up for free, specify which topics interest you, add a toolbar, and by clicking a button -- StumbleUpon shoots you to a website that you might find interesting -- presumably because other people with similar interests have identified the site as "interesting". It's great for casual browsing. I setup my account and selected "Music" as one of my interests.

AAannywho... this has dropped me into some great music sites, and pointed me to some interesting music-related content. It pointed to me to this video of Bobby McFerrin ("Don't Worry - Be Happy" - remember?) doing a demonstration using the pentatonic scale. What's the pentatonic scale? Umm..It really doesn't matter. Let's just say that in a lot of ways -- you already know what it is. Bobby proves it in this video. -- Enjoy.

World Science Festival 2009: Bobby McFerrin Demonstrates the Power of the Pentatonic Scale from World Science Festival on Vimeo.

Music: Pandora - Personalized Internet Radio

Internet Radio

I got a Blackberry a while back, and on my way back from Florida I was messing around with a new application that I downloaded. The goal was to use my Blackberry as a music player so I could ditch my iPod. So, scanning the new Blackberry apps one day, I came across the Pandora application for Blackberry. On the way back from Florida, I tuned into the new App to see if I'd like it.

Pandora starts you off by having you name an artist you like, and then it plays that artist and other similar artists thus presenting a "personalized" radio station for you. I was skeptical. I figured sure, you put in "The Beatles" and it also plays the "Rolling Stones" -- even though everyone who knows anything about music knows that there are "Beatles people" and "Stones people" -- and they're very different groups.

I put in Ani DiFranco because while she's one of a dozen female singer/songwriter that came out of the late 90's -- she's has a unique style in what she does. Simply put, she's got a bit of an angry streak, and she flat tears up the guitar. I especially like that about her.

In short, almost 3 hours of listening later, I was sold. Pandora uses a database from their Music Genome Project to categorize the songs it plays for you. It then asks you to rate each song and analyzes your picks to fine tune the songs it selects for you. This, then, creates a personalized radio station that plays songs that you've already said you liked and adds similar songs to see if you like those. Very cool. It'll even explain to you why it picked the songs it picked. It says stuff like this:

Based on what you've told us this far, we're playing this song because it features folk roots, a subtle use of vocal harmony, mild rhythmic syncopation, acoustic sonority, and extensive vamping.

Funny.. I thought I liked Ani because she can flat tear up a guitar.. but yeah, all that stuff is good, too.

Pandora is one of several similar internet-based radio sources that you can try. Here's a big run-down of the service on Tradevibes. It has a list of competitors on the site, too, so if Pandora doesn't do it for you -- look around.

TV-Free Alternative: Music

The Dublin Irish Festival always brings with it some of the best musical entertainment to be found in the summer. It always re-energizes my appreciation for music of all types.

As I sat listening to some of my favorite Irish jigs and reels yesterday, I realized how large of a part music has been playing in our lives lately. The reason is that because we have much more time to listen to music -- we listen to more and varied music. Because we listen to more music -- we have found more music sources. All of this grows into a greater music appreciation and a richer experience when listening. That's been a nice TV-Free win!

This week I'll be posting a couple more posts dealing specifically with music. Here's a quick run-down on some of the local live music we've enjoyed lately.

Support your Local Musicians

During the Dublin Irish Festival, the wife and I enjoyed many of the bands, but especially enjoyed Slide and Scythian. Slide plays those great irish reels that get you banging on the table, and Scythian plays the more raucous flavor with an eastern European spice.

In prior posts, we've called out local live music at The Columbus Arts Festival and the Park Street Festival. We also went up to the Dam Jam in Shawnee Hills, Ohio and saw Conspiracy play. Covering some great old R&B songs, you can't beat this band for its vocalists and that horn section just gets you up on your feet.

Benny's Pizza in Marysville has been supporting the local live music scene this summer -- and a few weeks back we saw the Menus. What a great fun band those guys are even after 26 years!

This is just the stuff that the family and I have covered. This is probably less than 1% of 1% of the live music opportunities that abound in Columbus. Pick something you'd like, shut off the TV, and go see them. Support your local musicians.