What is harmony? In music school we get taught something to do with beats and ratios and the harmonics of vibrating strings, but when we stop to actually ask people, that elegant old model very quickly falls apart. In the two and a half millennia since Pythagoras we've tended to all agree on the unison, octave and the perfect fifth as somehow consonant, but what of the tritone? Or the minor second and major seventh?  read more »

Berklee College is poised to launch a new service at the end of April, the Berklee Internet Radio Network (www.thebirn.com), a four-channel 24-hour broadcast for musicians, by musicians and about ...

a highly original and improvisational approach to programming, capturing a phase in a young musician's life when they are hungry to discover new artists and styles, and dying to share the music they love with others. Since all participants are musicians, expect to hear orginal songs by Berklee students and bands, as well as music created by the DJs themselves.  read more »

Submitted by garym on Wed, 2007/04/25 - 8:26pm.

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Well planned, thoughtfully rendered as free PDF practice sheets with MP3 audio podcast instructions full of tips, guest-artists and examples, every Monday a new tune is illustrated by Australian Trad and Bluegrass guitarist Tony O'Rourke and Gerry Gaffney, first class lessons in how to play your reels and jigs up to speed and in the tradition. This is the future of cultural transmission, one tune at a time.  read more »

Can you tell me what loneliness is
I bet you don't really know
It's when you're feeling...um
Feeling down and out
And there seems nothing you can do

You turn to your boyfriend hoping he could ease your sorrow
But all he talks about is that tropical weather is cool
You cry on the shoulder of a friend you have known for years
He may try to comfort you but
He could never share your tears

Can somebody tell me please
How to become a happy loner
Having no one to be with
While in the world you wander

You feel like just working up to a stranger
And expose youself without any fear
Somehow if you every tried to do something like this
People would think that you were
They'd think that you were weired

Can somebody tell me please
Could I ever be a happy loner  read more »

Remember when I was young
All my dreams were built on solid ground
For every seed I sow a tree would grow
And my dreams would all come true

My mama said, "while you were young
Go dream your dreams and spread all seeds on the ground
Then your day will come if only you can wait
And believe that you can make it one day."

Life goes on many years gone
My dreams they still remain
I take the pain as I move along
The happiness it brings keeps me moving on

Life goes on many years gone
Some dreams they have come true
Happily I'm moving on
Despite what I've been through

Look back the days when I was young
Sorrowful time of life in it I found
Those prescious words my mama said to me
They turned out to be as true as they'd be  read more »

Ooh...
It's a beautiful day
Just have faith good things will come your way
Ooh...
It's a beautiful day
Despite the weather the world is never grey

The day before yesterday
Was a rainy day
The sky he cried an endless stream
Some said that his tears
Were shed for you and me
And our unfulfilled dreams

Ooh...
It's a beautiful day...

Um yesterday
Was a cloudy day
The sky he's just too sad to weep
Some said he's showing empathy
For our misery
And the wounds within us deep

Ooh...
It's a beautiful day...

Oh today
Was a sunny day
The sky's as joyful as he can be
Oh every day
Is a beautiful day
Just sometimes the bright side we don't see

Ooh...
It's a beautiful day...  read more »

How about a catchy little ditty about bacteria? Or an Ode to Lewis and Clark? Ok, now imagine both songs penned by 4th grade students as part of their curriculum studies, a product of an accidental grant win funding a classroom program dubbed 'Musically Increasing Content Knowledge" ... or 'MusICK' for short:

Through “Musically Increasing Content Knowledge (MusICK),” Ms. Ford and her partners use technology and music to increase social studies and science content knowledge. Students research topics for each unit of study and work with a visiting artist to write lyrics to reinforce the curriculum concepts. Collaborating with classmates, students record original songs related to social studies and science content and create a resource library of content-based music for future classes.

[ via Innovation Grants: Summer 2006 Recipients ]

Also quite by accident, the program invited the touring Rob Ritchie (ex of Tanglefoot) to stop by for a masterclass in songwriting about pertinent things, backed by Pennsylvania's Dallas Elementary Fourth Grade All-Star Band. Grant money well spent -- Elmo will be so happy.