I have no idea about these tunes, but I suspect they are Armenian or Georgian choral pieces. At any rate, have a listen to this one, and if you speak Russian (Raffi?) let me know what it is I have stumbled upon. mp3: Armenian or Georgian choral piece UPDATE: In the comments, my Friend Raffi Aftandelian writes from Moscow: I think this is Georgian. The music is from an Abkhaz site. The Abkhazians are another Caucasian ethnic group. Abkhazia used to be part of Georgia, now it’s in the neverneverland of not being part of Georgia and yet not quite …
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As a musician one of my favourite things about the web is the way we can trade music on it. I am a music junky and with the rise of file sharing technology, my ears have opened wide at what is out there. I’ve been toying around with Webjay for a while, which is a way of compiling playlists of music all of which, in my case, is offered free and legally by artists, record labels and others. I have two playlists in the “Little Projects” section to the left, one which is a small collection of Canadian songs and …
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The last of three parts on music. We are talking about improvisation as a method for working with or being in groups – developing a set of practices that refine one’s ability to think on one’s feet and to see full opportunities in small hints (Blake’s “world in a grain of sand“). Improvisation, especially in a collaborative environment, produces material that would never otherwise arise. And yet, it is worth pointing out that great improvisation is not simply making stuff up on the spot. Consider this from Becker’s essay: When I used to play piano in Chicago taverns for a …
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Another post on music, this one inspired by a great essay on the etiquette of improvisation, by Howard Becker: Collective improvisation–not like Keith Jarrett, where one man plays alone, but like the more typical small jazz group–requires that everyone pay close attention to the other players and be prepared to alter what they are doing in response to tiny cues that suggest a new direction that might be interesting to take. The etiquette here is more subtle than I have so far suggested, because everyone understands that at every moment everyone (or almost everyone) involved in the improvisation is offering …
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Every couple of weeks I sing with an evensong chorale, singing Gregorian chant and other liturgical music for a meditation service at one of our local churches. The whole experience is deeply spiritual for everyone who comes, including (and especially) the singers. Over the past few years we have focused on how to collaborate on a level that befits the experience we are trying to generate for the congregation. And it really comes down to sustaining flow. Our director Alison Nixon, who thinks a lot about these things, usually has some wisdom to impart to us each week. On Sunday …