Tennessee Musician Creates 27-String Guitar
August 4, 2011 By
Keith Medley has been a master guitar builder for most of his adult life, and while he has created custom instruments for many famous musicians, his most impressive guitar is the one he made for himself.
If you’re missing a guitarist or two for your band, stop worrying, because the 27-string guitar Keith Medley invented has the power to make them obsolete. The only trick is learning how to play it. That’s in fact the biggest problem, White House-based Medley had to overcome, as well. “Building this guitar turned out to be the easy part,” Keith explains on his site. “The hard part has been learning to play it. Through two years of bittersweet struggle between myself and these 27 strings, I determined it would not defeat me but would play the music I heard in my heart.”
But why would anyone need a 27-string guitar, when most guitarist seem to do very well with just 12, or even 6? Keith says the music he hears in his head is more than can be played on six strings, so after many sketches and nights of contemplation, he came up with this unique 27-string instrument. He claims it’s like playing three instruments at the same time, but that apparently isn’t good enough since he’s now working on a guitar with 34 strings.
27 strings sounds impressive, 34, even more so, but believe it or not, Keith Medley hasn’t created the guitar with the most number of strings. In 1984, Linda Manzer and Pat Metheny designed and created a 42-string guitar called the Pikasso. You can see it in action in the last video, at the bottom.
Pat Metheny Pikasso 42-string guitar
Piano House
July 25, 2011 By
The Piano House located in Huainan City, An Hui Province, China. It contains a transparent violin and a piano building. Inside the violin, there is staircase toward the piano house upstairs.
This building built for music lovers acts as a performance and practicing place to music students from the local college in Huainan City, east China. It also displays various city plans and development prospects in an effort to draw interest into the recently developed area.
Via: letmebeinspired.com
Jazz album covers come to life in “Hi-Fi”
July 17, 2011 By
One of the saddest parts of albums disappearing was the loss of incredible cover art that could tell a story before the cellophane ever came off and the album hit the turntable.
Bante brings to life the jazz album covers of Blue Note Records in this 2009 promo video, “Hi-Fi.”
Long live album art!
Music Review: Adele 21
July 13, 2011 By
Once again, I must credit my daughter Kayla for pushing me to purchase Adele’s “21”. I’m not a big “jump-on-the-bandwagon” kind of guy, however, from the moment I put the disc in my player, I was hooked. I absolutely love this girl. Everything about her, expresses artist. There is no lying in her singing. She has such a talent for characterization in song, and a pure bluesy strength, the kind that could rips your heart out. Adele divided the new material between aggressive pieces, splashed by smart percussive flourishes and stripped-down ballads, rippling with soul.
“I’ll Be Waiting,” highlights Adele’s heartbroken resiliency. Produced by Paul Epworth and co-written with Adele, has a neo-soul sashay, swishing with confidence and brio, and it inspires the singer to push her vocal expressions into sweet howls reminiscent of Dusty Springfield, another Brit deeply influenced by American country and soul. “I’ll be somebody different,” Adele sings, not as concession but as exuberant promise, “I’ll be better to you.”
It figures then that the other track that gives Adele ample ground for theatrics, albeit of a more moody ilk, is another contribution from Epworth. “Rolling in the Deep,” the album’s first single, provides Adele with the perfect stormy vessel; her voice tossing and turning, shipwrecked and mad but never losing control.
There are other worthy tracks on “21,” like the Rick Rubin-produced “He Won’t Go,” with its elegant piano and ticking beat, and the softly sentimental “Turning Tables,” but they don’t scrape at an exciting greatness the way the other two do. Occasionally, Adele finds herself in lesser territory, like “Don’t You Remember,” which sounds overwrought in both construction and performance.
“Someone Like You” offers a 10-hankie wretch-fest, boasting lyrics that speak of surviving a rejection that clearly cut her to the core. Like everything here, it sounds like a classic but also a dare. “21″ draws an unequivocal line in the sand that announces to every other diva around: Beat this.
Thanks Kayla, even though it seems like most have already heard this album, I’m glad I finally jumped on…
Acoustic Decor: Modular Interactive Music-Making Furniture
July 13, 2011 By
From chairs and benches to chests and tables, these modestly elegant objects are crafted with a subtle secondary purpose – each one can be tapped, slapped, pounded or hit to create a series of carefully-planned sounds.
Tor Clausen makes his interactive musical furniture out of his warehouse studio in nearby Olympia, Washington. You have got to see his work at MusicalFurnishings.com
He shapes everything from simple instruments to complex objects that have appeared in childhood learning centers, science museums, parks and homes around the country since he started adding acoustics to his craft two decades ago.
In his Rumba series of low-height tables, modulated music issues forth from different panels that can be rearranged as desired.
Each is distinguishable via different woods used and sounds made, including low, medium and high bong, shaker, chimes, bells, drums and cymbals created using combinations of carved wood and shaped metal.
An Orchestra Instruments [Interactive]
July 5, 2011 By
Very cool interactive orchestra map. Click to let your kids discover…