A few weeks ago, though, I had to realize that while
I know my books and I know my movies, when it comes to music, I’ve been a
dummy. In my spare time, I’ve been
immersing myself in music not only from genres I’m not familiar with, but also
from different time periods. Here have
been some my discoveries:
***
I grew up around classical music. Fantasia
was my favorite movie (mostly because of the dinosaurs, but hey, I sat through
all the music many times.) And when I
used to play piano and later clarinet, I was surrounded by some beautiful
pieces I can’t remember the names to.
That ended when I put away my instruments for good,
with the exception of a couple concerts I attended in college.
YouTube is awesome, though, and I was able to check
out the works of some of our famous composers.
I found out that I don’t have a lot of patience for Bach. I’ve always like Beethoven, but his works can
be a little hit-and-miss.
Tchaikovsky, though… that man was gifted. I found myself replaying his music over and
over for several hours. Sleeping Beauty is by far my favorite
and one I would pay money to see. But
there is nothing by him that is not brilliant.
Who else would have thought to make cannons part of the concert, as seen
in the 1812 Overture?
***
When I went through the Forties, I was largely
unimpressed with the Billboard #1 hits.
I spent an afternoon going through them and halfway through, I was
tempted to fall asleep, with one constant exception: Glenn Miller.
Part of it may be nostalgia. I listened to a good portion of his music
back in the 6th grade and even a movie on his life, but I know that
wasn’t it. He was genuinely good and
creative. I think it’s a shame that he and his band have been largely forgotten.
***
When I took a trip home for my sister’s wedding, I
was introduced an indie group, Walk Off The Earth. My family actually showed me a parody of them
(and it was hilarious) but I started checking their music videos and everything
I saw from them kept getting better and better.
They do a lot of cover songs with different
instruments or no instruments at all, and they don’t just playing the
originals, they reinvent them and in a surprising number of cases, improve on
them.
For example, I hate Gotye’s “Somebody I Used to
Know.” Soon as it’s on the radio, I
switch stations. And if it’s on the next two stations I flip, I turn it off.
Here’s what WOTE did: they took one, the five
members of the band all take positions around the guitar and all of them play
on the guitar, one using it as a percussion piece and the other four playing
different strings throughout. It’s fun
to watch and it’s fun to listen to.
But they keep doing more crazy things throughout
their discography. Taylor Swift’s “I
Knew You Were Trouble” I thought was pretty vapid considering the early part of
her career. WOTE does an a capella that
was so upbeat and crazy, I wanted to join with them.
And Adele’s “Someone Like You” was played with a
piano and ukulele, and it sounded as good as Adele (not better, because nobody
is better than Adele. But just as much a
pleasure to listen, oh yes.) They’re a
Canadian group, so I’m not sure how likely it will be that I’ll have to see one
of their concerts live in California, but I would be more than happy to do so
given the chance.
They do originals of their own originals. "Gang of Rhythm" and "Red Hands" are not just great songs to listen to, those are two of the best music videos I've watched in a long while.
Anyways, they’re on YouTube. Check them out.
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