A Soundtrack to Life

I think the title sums up my thoughts on music. It is the soundtrack to life. Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to have music playing all the time as if we were in a dramatic movie and the music would always change depending on the scene and situation in life. I feel like I might be alot more emotional and really get pumped up about things as well. It would be sweet, in my opinion, but it would also get annoying. As much as I love music and most humans do, we also need silence. But here's the question: What kind of music is your life going to write?

I will leave you and this blog with this quote by Victor Hugo which articulates it in a nutshell:

Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent.

a Rad Music Video

Interesting Instruments

Beer Bottle Organ - A musical instrument made by Peterson Tuners, yes, the organ sound is actually produced by blowing air over the tops of real beer bottles. The bottles are filled or "tuned" using mineral oil, so it will not evaporate or change tunings during weather changes.

Glass Harmonica - Invented in 1761 by Benjamin Franklin, the Glass Armonica was one of his favorite inventions. The word "Armonica" is the Italian word for "Harmony". It is played on the same principle of rubbing a wet finger around the rim of a wineglass.


Singing Stones - The instrument is created with 100 river rocks suspended by music wire from a wing-shaped sound box and hanging in a steep arch. The strings (vibrating longitudinally) release their music as the performers dance and, with rosin-covered gloves, stroke, caress, and tug the strings.


Nano Guitar - The world's smallest guitar is 10 micrometers long -- about the size of a single cell -- with six strings each about 50 nanometers, or 100 atoms, wide. Made by Cornell University researchers from crystalline silicon, it demonstrates a new technology for a new generation of electromechanical devices.

My Only

It's the only song I've been pleased with that I've written. Actually my roommate, Kyle (who had comments on an earlier posting), helped write the song with me. This song is about what I feel, gathering from Scripture as well, it would be like to come before a real king in the biblical time period and comparing that to coming before my Lord, Jesus Christ. It is hard to do in this day and age, but to put my God first is something I desire to make a priority. So this is a song about my God being my only King.

My Only
Verse 1:
Trembling I walk in before You
Seeking the hand of a King
Forsaking my fears and all I lack
I am undone by Your glory

Pre-Chorus:
High above mountains and high above the sea
High above everything between You and me

Chorus:
Endlessly You reign
Great and mighty My king
You are forevermore
You are forevermore

Verse 2:
Almighty God, Your holiness
It drops me to my knees
The scales have fallen, Now I see
The beauty, the wonder, Your Majesty

Chorus 2:
You are my king
You are my king
You are my one and only
One and only King

Bridge: You’re wholly, My only, Endlessly, You will hear me sing

Can Music Really Kill?

Research claims that the speed of the music drivers listen to influences how fast people drive and how safe they are.

Check it out at http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn2032

For another related article about how cows produce more milk when they hear slow tunes but hate upbeat hits, go to Moosic To Their Ears

Mood Swings

We are all aware that music and "atmosphere" go together. We might put on relaxing music for a quiet romantic dinner, but listen to something livelier while working out or when socializing in larger groups. You might have heard of farmers who increase production by playing music to their animals. Recent studies showing that listening to fast music while driving increases the rate of car accidents and the Mozart Effect claims to increase intelligence. The media industry uses music to create an emotion in commercials, movies, etc.

It's funny what music can do to a person. Here is how I think people feel, in general, when they listen to certain styles of music. This is from my own scientific observations.

Rap - People feel cool. It pumps them up. It also makes your body start to move with the music.
Rock - People feel motivated inside. They feel heavy, like something is on their mind.
Jazz - People tend to feel relaxed or sleepy. They also might feel sad or emotionally calm.
Classical - People feel happy, airy, or sleepy due to the fact it's mainly all instrumental.
Country - Makes a person depressed or happy. It can only be one of the two.
Pop - People want to try and sing a long but never can cause it's too high. Makes a person happy.

Species Part II

Some more musical genres continued, and my opinions.

Rock - emphasis on rhythm, and the use of amplified instruments like the guitar. It was first popularized by performers like Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, and Elvis Presley. Rock continues to evolve, with metal becoming popular and punk mutating into other forms.

• I thoroughly enjoy rock music. It drives and moves me. It gets me pumped.
  

Pop - a flexible category of music. Generally more upbeat and could be considered soft rock.

• One can only take so much of pop music. They're catchy and fun, but sometimes overdone.

Country - is a blend of popular musical forms originally found in the Southern United States. It has roots in traditional folk music.

• Country music is terrible. The music all sounds the same and is annoyingly twangy. It's always about how sad the guy is that his girlfriend left him. I can write country music. "oh yeah my life stinks cuz i have bad luck and God doesnt like me and my dog bites me and my momma fights me"

Electronic/Dance Music - music created with electronics, simply. Electronic music started long before the invention of the synthesizer, with the use of tape loops and analogue electronics in the 1950s and 1960s.

• It's hard to dance to much else. Sometimes this music can be too much, especially with the boom-chh-boom-chh-boom-chh rhythm. Sythesizers are sweet though.

Hip-Hop/Rap - music consists of rhythmic lyrics making use of techniques like assonance, alliteration, and rhyme. A style of music which came into existence in the United States during the mid-1970s, and became a large part of modern pop culture during the 1980s.

• Rap can be sweet depending on the artist. It also depends on the mood I am in. Rap can be overbearing . Some of my favorite rappers are Nelly, Kanye West, and Ludacris.
  

Species Part I

If you don't know much about music, that's okay. I am continually learning. Music has so many different styles or genres and everyone has an opinion about them. So I'm going to give mine.

Classical - a written tradition of music. It is composed using music notation and often refers to orchestral music in general.

• I find classical very entertaining to watch because the people playing are extremely skilled and totally in tune with the song. Another reason this music is good is it's dang difficult. One of my favorite classical pieces is Beethoven's Piano No. 14 Sonata (commonly referred to as Moonlight Sonata).

Gospel - a musical genre characterized by dominant vocals (often with strong use of harmony) referencing lyrics of a religious nature.

• I have had a chance to play with gospel musicians and the music is amazing. The music is driving and deep and exciting. If you ever get a chance, listen to anything by Israel Houghton

Jazz - primarily an instrumental form of music. The instrument most closely associated with jazz may be the saxophone, followed closely by the trumpet. The rombone, piano, double bass, guitar and drums are also primary jazz instruments.

• I love jazz music simply because of how the musicians flow and are one with their instrument. The improvisation in jazz music is something that can't be taught. It's incredible. To hear live jazz in the Twin Cities, check out: http://www.jazz-clubs-worldwide.com/docs/minn.htm

Latin American - music of Mexico, Central America, South America and the Caribbean. Has a rich variety in their culture.

• I haven't and don't listen to much of this. I'm sure it's sweet simply because it's tied directly to their culture and heritage.

Blues/Rhythm & Blues - a vocal and instrumental music form which emerged in the African -American community of the United States.

• I am a fan of some of the blues music. It has a lot of soul to it, but I couldn't listen to too much of it.
  

Top Stories in Music in 2006

From other bloggers as well. Check 'em out.

Will Ringtones Save the Ailing Music Industry?

Total Music Sales See Slight Lift in 2006 Thanks to Downloads

Measuring the Growth and Direction of Music

MP3's: Tagged Like a Dolphin

Artists Oppose Loosening Media Ownership Regulations

An artform or career?

In my opinion, there are almost too many artists and bands out in the industry. Due to the highly competitive music industry, I feel that many musicians just wants to get product out the door rather than focus on quality. It makes it harder for the quality stuff to get to the top.

I have a few friends who make and play music for a living. And they live and die by what they do. It is a tough industry, they tell me, and I see how they view music as a career.

I also have many friends who love to play music for the sake of playing music. It is like painting a picture to them. They love to write, create, and play music even if no one else hears it or nobody likes it or the song won't go anywhere.

To me, I feel that many professional musicians have lost the art in music. They view it as a money making career. Music is something so beautiful that once again has been distorted by the world.

A Digital Controversy

Over the course of the past few years, there has been a great change in the way people in America and throughout the world listen to music. The single tool which has alone shaped this "revolution" has been the computer file format known as MP3. MP3's have begun to alter not only the way people listen to and obtain copies of music, but the way people think about the exchange of music altogether. Along with MP3's have come WMA and AAC music file formats. WMA is owned by Microsoft and Windows Media Player. AAC is solely owned by Apple and iTunes. While technology in music has exponentially exploded, in the meantime, MP3's have made some profound enemies among record industries and some artists, who claim that most of the files infringe on copyrights and are susceptible to piracy and theft of material. Recording artists, the general public, and lawmakers are pretty well split over the issue of the legality of MP3's and their usage.

There are many programs out there, namely LimeWire, to download music free from other people "sharing." There are also many programs on the market such as Rhapsody, Napster, and iTunes where you pay a certain amount to download music. Music artists make roughly five to eight cents per CD purchased from a store. The convenience of purchasing digital music is growing. What is also growing is the use of programs to obtain music for free, which hurts the artists profits. But most of them are extremely loaded anyways. Although some of them are just trying to make it.

Where do you stand on music piracy? Is it a matter of ethics or of morals or of integrity or of legality?

For more on this controversy and for the music industry's perspective, check out:

What's the Controversy - The Low Down

RIAA Music Downloading Controversy - Both Sides

Music on Trial

During the 1920s live musical performances at first-run theaters became an exceedingly important aspect of the American cinema.

Eventually though, new technologies allowed artists to record and "can" their music so that people could listen to music at their home instead of seeing music live. This became an issue when it came to performances and theaters in cities across America.

Canned Music on Trial
This is the case of Art vs. Mechanical Music in theatres. The defendant stands accused in front of the American people of attempted corruption of musical appreciation and discouragement of musical education. Theatres in many cities are offering synchronised mechanical music as a substitute for Real Music. If the theatre-going public accepts this vitiation of its entertainment program a deplorable decline in the Art of Music is inevitable. Musical authorities know that the soul of the Art is lost in mechanisation. It cannot be otherwise because the quality of music is dependent on the mood of the artist, upon the human contact, without which the essence of intellectual stimulation and emotional rapture is lost.

For more on this, controversy in the 1920s, check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio

A Roommate's Perspective

The following excerpt is from my own roommate Kyle Marxhausen, an lyrical wizard and musician extraordinare.

"Poetry is amazing, but it's just poetry. As beautiful as it is, you can't expand on its breadth of being than words on a page. But with music you can get something that changes your life. It blows me away that music has that power. Music is so much bigger than words. It can provide an outlet for feelings and emotions. It stirs your heart. I love watching music videos because you get an artists interpretation of the song. I will recommend a particular music video to everyone. "How to Save a Life" by the Fray. This song is a phenomenal song just looking at the lyrics. But you add a video element, it has such a greater impact."

"You look at a painting and a painting can take your breath away, but its purpose is to hang on the wall. But music has a way of reaching into your soul. Music is the summation of art."

Thanks to Kyle.

The Words that Leap Off the Pages

Lyrics. The words that add together to tell a story in a song.

I think songs and their lyrics can sometimes capture a feeling or emotion better than anything you or I can come up with. Sometimes lyrics may not be enough. The music just might be enough.

I believe that good songwriters are just amazing poets in disguise. That is all a song is really. A poem put to music.

These are a few songs that have some of the best lyrics

Fix You by Coldplay
Better Days by Goo Goo Dolls
What a Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong
Changes by Tupac

All Excellence Cannot Be Lost Part II.

Excellence and skills matter to God. They should matter to us to. Especially since He created us in His image. I believe God honors our efforts and honors excellence. In particular, I am talking about music and making music.

John Maxwell says in his book, Life @ Work, that "skill will function to a degree even when disconnected from their maker."

The truth of the matter is that anyone can make music. Some people even do well making music. But I believe Christians should be the best at it because we have God backing us.

My understanding about being a Christian is that we do whatever we do with great passion and great devotion. I can't say that I always do so. But we are called to. The apostle Paul says in Colossians, "Whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus."

I find so many musical artists in this world who give my God a bad name because frankly, their music sucks.

If you really want to make a difference in this world. If you really want to be an example for God. Be passionate. Be inspired by Him. And do it well.

All Excellence Cannot Be Lost Part I.

This is a quote from a man I greatly respect.

"It is possible for music to be labeled Christian and be terrible music. It could lack creativity and inspiration. The lyrics could be recycled cliches. That "Christian" band could acutally be giving Jesus a bad name because they aren't a great band....................................Christian is a great noun and a poor adjective."

-Rob Bell in Velvet Elvis

This book makes me think. It should make Christians think as he repaints the Christian faith. Rob Bell is the founding pastor of Mars Hill Bible Church located in Grandville, Michigan. He is a featured speaker in the first series of spiritual short films called NOOMA. For more perspectives on life and the Christian faith, check out http://www.nooma.com

Perceptions of Christian Music

Perhaps it's just me, but I feel alot of Christian music is out of date. I also feel that it is always attempting to convert people by the lyrics they use, which aren't subtle at all, but sometimes so outwardly over spiritual that it gets sickening to listen to. I can't stand listening to KTIS anymore. I think that Christian music's lack of subtlety most definitely is a result of the artist's musical motivations being outweighed by their religious impetus. Consider Linkin Park. They were a rock group comprised of Christians who managed to make music that meshed with their lifestyle without sounding preachy or evangelizing. They didn't feel a need to convert souls. A few years ago, Mase, a rapper, released a mostly good album by not letting his conversion get the best of his music, though his Christian perspective did permeate most of the album. We could be leaders in the whole music industry. But people need to get away from the fears and the traditionalism.

Christian vs. Double Dippers vs. Secular

Christian artists that I feel hold to originality are:

David Crowder Band: a 6-piece electronic rock / worship band from Waco, Texas.

Hillsong United Live: an Australian Christian rock and worship band.

Switchfoot: an alternative rock band from San Diego, California known for its spiritually evocative and socially aware lyricism.

Double Dippers (noun) - Definition: artists who traverse along the lines of Christian music and secular music:

Mae: an alternative piano-driven rock band.

Mutemath: an American rock band formed in 2003. They combine diverse elements like rock, industrial, reggae, jazz, new wave, electro, rave and pyschedelia, with catchy, ambient vocals to create a signature sound that's innovative, soaring and atmospheric.

Mat Kearney: his music has an acoustic base with hints of hip hop.

Lifehouse: a melodic rock band who debuted with the hit "Hanging by a Moment."

Secular artists that I feel are deep and real:

Coldplay: an English alternative rock band from London who have three successful albums.

Goo Goo Dolls: an alternative rock band with a metallic edge, the pleasant melodies, harmonies and simple song structures of pop and, sometimes, furious blasts of punk energy.

John Mayer: American award-winning singer-songwriter and guitarist who plays acoustic rock with hints of the blues.

Secular vs. Christian

I am a Christian and music is a way for me to connect to my God. There are times when I am unmotivated and have a lack of desire to draw near to the Lord. Music somehow reaches into my soul and brings me to a place where I have some sort of desire to draw near to Him.

I have a passion for worship and one would therefore think I love worship music. However, I am increasingly becoming "turned off" to this sort of music and Christian music in general. There are many Christian songs I still love to listen to and some artists I thoroughly enjoy. But I am increasingly becoming more attuned to secular artists.

The messages of Christian music are very encouraging, touching many times on topics of hope, grace, joy, love, forgiveness, and freedom. Though many times I feel that if I were not a Christian and were listening to this music, I would think it was terribly cheesy and that it all sounded similiar. That I honestly how I feel sometimes.

The messages of secular music are sometimes very crude and pointless. Although, many messages are deep and real about life, love, death, and hope that I feel many Christian artists fail to capture and put into something musically original.

Stay tuned for my favorite Christian and secular artists and why I deem them as original.

The Beginning

I created this blog about music because I believe music is the soundtrack to life. I think there is something about music that resonates within every human being. Everyone has a favorite artist or band spanning from Elvis to Enya. I do not think I could get by without music in my life. I will be discussing topics from Christian music to lyrics to what music evokes. I will be posting plenty of helpful sites of my own and ones I have found doing some research. I think there is a lot to be said about music and I am going to say it.