music | Chris Aldrich

👓 The Day the Music Burned | New York Times Magazine

Read The Day the Music Burned (New York Times Magazine)

It was the biggest disaster in the history of the music business — and almost nobody knew. This is the story of the 2008 Universal fire.

This brings back some memories of when I worked for several months for Iron Mountain at their Hollywood facility right next to Anawalt lumber. They had quite a large repository of music masters stored there as well as a custom nitrate film vault. At the time I remember thinking many of the same things mentioned here. I suspect that there’s an even bigger issue in film preservation, though this particular article makes it seem otherwise.

I’m surprised that the author doesn’t whip out any references to the burning of the Library at Alexandria, which may have been roughly on par in terms of cultural loss to society. It’s painfully sad that UMG covered up the devastating loss.

The artwork for the piece is really brilliant. Some great art direction here.

Read Metadata is the biggest little problem plaguing the music industry by Dani Deahl (The Verge)

It’s a crisis that has left, by some estimations, billions on the table unpaid to musicians

👓 Elon Musk drops surprise rap single about Harambe | The Hill

Read Elon Musk drops surprise rap single about Harambe (TheHill)

Tesla CEO Elon Musk, weeks after the Securities and Exchange Commission asked a judge to hold him in contempt, has dropped a surprise rap sing

Because I’m reading it on April Fool’s Day, it could be insane, but then again so is Elon Musk, so we’ll have to do some research to see if this is actually true. Though it is also most likely an Elon Musk joke that’s getting widespread attention.

The tune is kinda catchy though…

🎧 Episode 097 Applied Mathematics & the Evolution of Music: An Interview With Natalia Komarova | HumanCurrent

Listened to Episode 097 Applied Mathematics & the Evolution of Music: An Interview With Natalia Komarova by

Haley Campbell-Gross from HumanCurrent

In this episode, Haley interviews Natalia Komarova, Chancellor's Professor of the School of Physical Sciences at the University of California, Irvine. Komarova talks with Haley at the Ninth International Conference on Complex Systems about her presentation, which explored using applied mathematics to study the spread of mutants, as well as the evolution of popular music.

There’s some interesting sounding research being described here. Be sure to circle back around to some of her papers.

👓 The Sound of Silence | Numbers Were Burning

Read The Sound of Silence by

Ron Chester (numbers-were-burning.blogspot.com)

I just got back from the SF Symphony performance of Mahler's Ninth Symphony. It was a most amazing experience, in a most unexpected way. I'm writing this partly as my way of reliving and duplicating what occurred, and partly to keep myself from being stuck in the win of it for the rest of time.

A stunning story here. I love the concept of not only silence being a part of the performance, but the way in which the music and the conductor come together to create the space to make it happen. Storytellers should be aware of this type of direction.

Highlights, Quotes, Annotations, & Marginalia

The speaker made the point that Mahler gives the second violins their own voice, rather than merely having them give depth or support to the first violins. Because of this, he said the conductor (Herbert Blomstedt) had decided to use a placement of the performers that was becoming common in Europe for the Ninth.
Instead of having all the violins on the left of the conductor, with the 1st violins on the outside and the 2nd violins on the inside, he was placing the 1st violins in their usual position, but the second violins would be on the right side of the conductor. This would have the effect of separating the voices so they could be more easily heard. ❧

November 29, 2018 at 11:11AM

The conductor became frozen, with his arms in the air, just as when he was conducting.
And he was still conducting! Only now he was conducting the silence! No one moved, the concert hall was completely enveloped in peace. With the conductor’s arms still up, and the violin bows still poised above the strings, no one dared to applaud. If they were wrong and it was not the end, their clapping would be a rude interruption of the music. And I’m sure that was exactly what the conductor intended! ❧

November 29, 2018 at 11:15AM

Hat tip: Turning Points by Ron Chester