…during this Fourth of July week. While we’re gone, we recommend entering our free book giveaway, OR rambling through the Archives, where you’ll find all sorts of treasures, OR browsing our posts through images at Pinterest. Or type a word into SEARCH and see what you get. We’ll be back Monday, June 9th. (from a reader: “Not sure it matters, but you said you’d be back June 9 instead of July 9. Perhaps it just underscores the need for time off ;” ) Yeah, speaks volumes…
Meanwhile, here are a few other cool archives to explore:
(Video link here.) Thomas Roebers film ‘Foli’ shows the rhythmic daily life of Baro, a Malinke village in Guinea; it is entralling. Almost eleven minutes long, it can be a lot to watch in a busy day. Break it up, watch bits over the course of a day. It will bring into focus the rhythm’s of your life.
A man who we assume to be one of the tribe’s leaders speaks occasionally throughout. His words form a kind of mantra, poem, prayer, with a rhythm of their own: read more…
(Click here to listen while you read.) We are always looking for music we can work – and write – to. So we were thrilled to learn of a free, open-source Goldberg Variations by J.S. Bach, from the newly-released recording by Kimiko Ishizaka, performed on a Bösendorfer 290 Imperial piano in Berlin.
The Variations are the quintessence of improvisation. A conversation with pianist Jeremy Denk on NPR describes the piece as beginning “with an initial melody, the Aria, followed by 30 short but brilliant variations built on eight notes that Bach appears to have borrowed from Handel.” Says Denk: ”One of the most beautiful thing about the Goldbergs is that Bach uses it as a canvas in which to draw this seemingly infinite world of possibility.”
Click here, to download or stream the entire work.
(Video link here.) Dig this video made by composer Diego Stocco in conjunction with Burt’s Bees. Stocco creates a great beat, simply by shaking tree branches, flicking orange peels, banging on coconuts, mashing his hands through cooked rice, and sifting his hands through almonds – all amplified. Even the buzz of bees make an appearance. Just a reminder that you can find (and make) music anywhere.
(Video link here.) Frank ‘Sugar Chile’ Robinson was eight years old when he performed Caldonia in the 1946 MGM Film No Leave No Love. His pure boogie-woogie is notable not only because he is so young, but because of his unique playing style, where he uses fists and slams to create his fabulous sound. Neither of his parents were musicians and by age two he was playing the piano by ear, formulating his own style based on “what worked”.
Soon after we found it, we happened to be watching a video of the great jazz pianist Thelonius Monk playing the piano in the 50′s. (Video link here). He, too, plays in a unique, very personal style, bundled fingers seeming to slam the keys to make stunningly clear sounds, and often playing with one hand crossed over the other instead of following the usual divided down the middle piano style: left plays left of middle, right plays right of middle. He started playing the piano when he was six years old and was said to be self-taught. read more…
Over the years, we’ve published a number of posts about various forms of free music available online. Our favorite are two make-your-own-digital-music synthesizers: Andre Michelle’s ToneMatrix and Pulsate. When you click a spot with within the grid with your mouse, it creates both a sound and a visual pattern. Gradually, you’ll find yourself improvising repetitive riffs that are great to work to. They are addicting.
Perhaps the most popular of the free music compendiums we’ve found is Pates Tapes, hours of cool mixed tapes to stream. They are the masterwork of Charles Pates, who since 1977, has been creating mixes from his remarkable collection of vinyl records. You can choose a tape to suit your mood or what ever’s going on, from Global Mixes, to Blues.
We also love Brooklyn-based designer Adam Parks‘ The Illuminated Mixtapes, a wonderfully designed site of musical grooves to chose according to your mood or activity.
(Video link here.) The great Waylon Jennings singing “I’ve Always Been Crazy.”
I’ve always been different with one foot over the line Winding up somewhere one step ahead or behind It ain’t been so easy but I guess I shouldn’t complain I’ve always been crazy but it’s kept me from going insane
His words describe just about every great, creative person we know…“different, with one foot over the line”.
(Video link here.) When we’re introduced to a venture, our first impulse is always to ask: what’s the story behind it? What were the seeds of the idea that grew into a fully realized project? It’s the stories that win us over, which is why we’re are so taken with Jam in the Van.
Based in Venice, CA, Jam in the Van is the project of music fans looking for an uncommercialized, authentic music experience. Armed with an old Winnebago that they’ve turned into a state-of-the-art recording studio, these guys invite musicians to perform, film the unique performances, and put much of it online for free (scroll down for the current list of musicians). Music fans get to discover new artists or check out fantastic live-versions of their favorite tracks, and small independent artists get amazing free publicity. It’s such a rare and beautiful thing to see a project come together sheerly out of passion and drive. read more…
(Video link here.) We were just getting disgruntled at Pandora’s “Bjork” stream when “All Is Full Of Love” came on. We WOKE UP, amazed at what we were hearing and went looking for the lyrics. They are beautiful, somehow making us think of the creative process as much as love. “You have to trust it, despite wrong turns. It’s there.”
This video of a young Bjork performing the song is a bit unfocused until 1:20 when it really picks up steam. At 2:30 she holds a note – the word “love” – for a stunning 17 seconds. It has an utterly forthright, courageous quality that reminded us read more…
(Video link.) A longtime reader of ‘the improvised life’ sent us this swell video as a New Year’s greeting:
“3 girls singing at a kitchen table, with empty cottage cheese containers providing the rhythm section”
It seems to us like a perfect, charming New Year’s reminder of just what we can do with the most ordinary of things, of the possibilities that lie in every moment.
(The three girls are members of Erato, a Swedish student vocal group.)
Ever since we discovered radio station WKCR’s annual Bach Festival years ago, we’ve can’t get through the holiday season without a big dose of the great composer. The festival features music of Johann Sebastian Bach exclusively from 3pm on Thursday 12/22 till midnight on Saturday 12/31, streamable live at the top right of their site…full of fat joy for a week, whenever you want it…
We were charmed by this wondrous rendition of Tchaikovsky’s Sugar Plum Fairy on a glass harp – wine glasses filled with water. We were also amazed when went to GlassDuo’s website and learned:
“Many of those who see a set of wine glasses for the first time consider it most avant-garde to use it as a musical instrument. And it amazes them to learn that in the Far East glass instruments were already known in the Middle Ages…”
(Video link here.) When our mind starts running hot like a machine overworking – fast and full of ideas and writing and deadlines – we welcome ways to slow down. This little film does the work of meditating, chilling us out while connecting us to a broader view of the life we are living. (The lovely music is “Aerial” by Moby, who allows free use of his music for independent film makers at MobyGratis.com - yay Moby!).
“This is a year-long time-lapse study of the sky. A camera installed on the roof of the Exploratorium museum in San Francisco captured an image of the sky every 10 seconds. From these images, I created a mosaic of time-lapse movies, each showing a single day. The days are arranged in chronological order. My intent was to reveal the patterns of light and weather over the course of a year.”
. It’s read by 
