This post offers a broad view of humanity’s musical customs. It explores the evidence for prehistoric music making, and it explains how music got passed down through the ages. Musical instruments, traditions, and notation systems are also examined.
Tag: Music
Reign of the Soloists
This blog post explores three swing-era musicians who were known for their brilliant soloing styles: Coleman Hawkins, Roy Eldridge, and Ella Fitzgerald.
Swing, Bands, and Leaders
This post explores the swing style of jazz. It summarizes swing’s defining characteristics, and it covers two influential swing musicians: Fletcher Henderson and Duke Ellington.
Mixing and Mastering
This blog post examines mixing and mastering. Methods for both processes are explained, and the goals for each are inspected. Topics covered include decibels, loudness, panning, balance, multi-tracking, effects, and editing.
Illiterate by Choice
In this blog post Brian Jump explores the hostility many musicians feel towards reading music. He describes the many ways students shirk the responsibility of reading, and he attempts to dispel the myth that learning how to read is antithetical to the spirit of music. Jump’s main point in this post is that becoming literate drastically improves one’s musicianship.
The Eight Commandments of Performance Ethics
In this blog post, Brian Jump explores the common failures of audience/performer interactions. He covers courtesies musicians owe audiences and ones that audiences owe musicians. To assuage this occasionally dysfunctional relationship, Jump offers a list of eight commandments to be observed while giving, watching, or paying for musical performances.
