Zark's

The Structure of Mozart

Albert Einstein toiled learning the violin until he discovered Mozart's sonatas.  After that, music became the love of his life.  Einstein and his love of music reveals the great scientist would have selected music if required to change professions.  As I have written previously, Einstein sought structure or architecture in everything, including music.  Convinced of determinism in the universe, it permitted him to write "General Relativity," and not just "Special Relativity."

Wiki tells that Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart began composing at the age of five.  He wrote over 600 various works, including of course, The Marriage of Figaro, and unfinished Requiem.  The Wiki biography tells that Mozart "learned voraciously" from others.  Then he would expand it and build upon it.

Mozart Therapy: A Sonata a Day explains researchers have documented playing 30 minutes of Mozart a day to unborn babies results in weight gain.  The Science Daily article tells that the babies are calmed by the music of Mozart and expend less energy in agitation.  Perhaps not surprisingly, other music did not have such an effect.  Even music by Beethoven failed to achieve the same results.  The reason - the structure and repetition of Mozart in contrast to other composers who have variation, but no resolution.

Isn't it interesting how we are wired?

Teaching an Old Dog New Tricks

I'm still not sure how or why I made the decision.  I think it was the Apostle Paul who wrote, "I do not understand what I do ..."  That certainly applies to me, because two months ago, I decided to learn the piano.  In the song, Bosom Buddies, one singer asks the other, "How old do you think I am?"  She answers, "Somewhere between forty and death!"  Mmm.

Back to the piano.  After some research, I purchased a Yamaha YPG-635, which has a weighted keyboard.  A musician friend advised me that a weighted keyboard allows you to easily transition between digital and acoustic pianos.  It also can replace an entire jazz ensemble, but first you have to learn how to play the piano.

A major advantage of a Midi-type keyboard is that it can connect to a computer.  There are some very clever software programs that facilitate learning the piano.  I am using a program named Piano Suite by Adventus which is pretty phenomenal.  The music appears on the computer display and colors the 'sheet' music green as you play, continuously monitoring your notes and rhythm.  It will not advance unless you play the correct notes.  So if you hit the wrong piano key(s), it simply waits for you find the correct note before advancing forward.  It also flips music pages automatically, which is pretty convenient for a beginner.

Do you remember the movie, Dr. Strangelove?  In the movie, the President's military adviser, Dr. Strangelove, is frequently troubled by his own gloved hand, which appears to have independent intelligence.  A the end of the movie, his own hand attempts to choke him.  While practicing on the keyboard, I have discovered that sometimes my left hand will threaten me, much like Dr. Strangelove.  But I digress...

Watching the Brain Learn tells that neuroscientists have discovered an MRI will show changes in the brain after someone has learned a new skill.  The Scientific American article explains they were surprised the largest physical changes involved the white matter of the brain.  The white matter serves as the network connections for the processing elements (neurons - the gray matter) of the brain.

The researchers studied jugglers, because it is a complex task that requires repetition and practice, certainly weeks and months.  Once learned though, that task, becomes automatic.  In the brain scans, there were changes in the gray matter as well, but it may be that complex cognitive control of motor movements requires faster and fine-grained communication within the brain.  While practice makes perfect, it is apparently rewiring the brain, not just committing new information into memory.

Why Did Broadcasting Work, but Streaming Does Not?

I remember radio in its truly golden years - when AM and FM DJs were half the reason to listen to the radio.  I have especially fond memories of clear channel stations WLS - Chicago, KAAY - Little Rock, and WWL in New Orleans.  Due to the 'skip', at night time, these and other giants entertained a generation of pre-teens and teens in small Midwestern communities. 

We would tape the Top-40 songs on cassettes, from the radio, and the record companies did not send around lawyers suing us for stealing songs.  The business model was that in return for music, we listened to commercials.  It seemed to work - earlier there were scandals with payola, but in my teens, everyone seemed happy.

Today, the world's population is much greater, and obviously a much larger market than that time.  We have different technology, such as MP3s and internet streaming, in addition to receiving radio stations on a cell phones.  Can someone explain that latter business model to me?  Wouldn't it be cheaper to just use a radio?  But I digress.

Economics dooming free streaming sites? tells that internet radio stations that distribute music supported by advertising are disappearing.  The remaining stations have a mixed business model - after 50 plays a month, you must purchase a subscription service.  It puzzles me that advertising-supported internet radio cannot survive.  Why?

Music on a Stick

This from down under - Music companies now want you to buy music on USB sticks tells that the music companies would like to ditch CDs as a medium.  Instead, they want consumers to switch to the DDA (D:Net Digital Albums) format.  The trick is that the USB stick includes a proprietary DDA player, although we are assured that the music can be transferred into iTunes easily. 

Modern sounds on track to relive the glory days says that music artists believe a USB stick with an attached plastic swing card will compel music fans to buy the new format.  The idea being that the listener can read something similar to the album covers of yesteryear while they are listening to the music.

Bonus for fans on USB-stick albums adds that an online registration service will lock a copy on a webserver that the purchaser can always download.  In addition, the music file will be free of Digital Rights Managment (DRM) (is that an oxymoron?).  While the product is now available in Australia, it will be available in the U.S. and U.K. in the 2nd quarter of '09.

A Desperate Music Industry

The business models for intellectual property have not evolved as quickly as either technology or culture.  Although all forms of intellectual property such as patents and books are causing problems in the 21st century, none is more sensitive than music.  At the heart of the problem is how to fairly compensate writers and musicians for their work.  It takes Blood, Sweat, and Tears (no, that was a group) to create a song or music track that the world wants to hear.  That work and talent should be fairly compensated.

The problem is how to define "fair".  A top-40 group might think they deserve $1.00 an MP3 file and they should receive it for every device an individual uses.  Yet a garage group might have just as good as sound, and be willing to distribute for a penny an MP3.  Because of the music industry's barrier to entry, see Jerry Corbetta's Don't Call Us, We'll Call You (yes, I know I used that reference lately) we don't have economic competition in the music industry.  With today's technology, garage bands are able to post their music on the web for distribution, but believe me, most websites are dark.  Despite Google's great search engine, it is hard to attract web clicks without outside promotion.  I fully appreciate the problem as a first-time novelist.

Something that people might have missed is Warner Music's attempt to tax your internet provider for music.  Essentially, they have declared they cannot make their music business work anymore, so they want to impose a flat $5 a year music tax on everyone.  See Fee for All or Jim Griffin says ISP music tax only one possibility.  The internet service providers (ISP)s might go along with it to avoid lawsuits and simply pass the costs onto consumers without any choice.  See - Music Tax Details From Source: "Pay Us Not to Sue You". 

Thank You For the Music

As if there was not enough bad news yesterday, the world was informed that Ola Brunkert had been discovered dead from an accident at his home in Spain.  Apparently he had fallen through a glass pane and suffered a tragic cut to the throat.  Ola was the drummer for the truly international sensation, Abba.  They sold over 350 million records in the late 70s and early 80s.

There has been a revival for the music of Abba.  The juke box musical, Mama Mia, is written around the timeless music of the Swedish music makers. 

Their first hit in the United States was "Waterloo" in 1974.  It wasn't until "Fernando" that they captured the U.S. audience in 1976.  But it was the stirring "Dancing Queen" in 1977 that bridged Europe and the States.  When I read about their drummer's accident, I was immediately reminded of one of their songs, on their Abba Gold, "Thank You for the Music."  Although Abba sang it, it would be more appropriate for the world-wide Abba fans to sing to their music makers.  Ola - Thank You for the Music.