Popcast: Ylvis and the New Clout of Novelty Pop
This article is about the new hit song, “The Fox”, by Ylvis. The song was made for a comedy show in Norway, but thanks to the internet it went viral and became famous worldwide. This song shows how the popular style of music is rapidly moving towards more electronic sounds. The song was meant to be a joke just for their tv show, but it actually made them world famous. For those of you who haven’t heard it, we strongly recommend you listen to it.
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/10/11/popcast-ylvis-and-the-new-clout-of-novelty-pop/?ref=music
New York Guitar Festival to Return in January
This article is about the New York Guitar Festival. Since 1999, David Spelman has been hosting a biennial guitar festival that takes place throughout Manhattan. Many great guitarists will be present to show off their skills and artistic talent. The festival will last three weeks, starting January 10th of 2014. It will begin with pieces by Bach, then later move on to guitars being played behind silent movies, and then it will finally end with music of the Americas (starting with North America and ending with Latin America.)
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/10/16/new-york-guitar-festival-to-return-in-january/
Why We Like Sad Music
The article in question speaks of emotion and how it is related to the music that we listen to. In this article, they are specifically speaking about our sad emotions, and why we listen to sad music. Researchers studied the emotions that people exhibit in relation to certain types of music. They found out that people didn’t feel particularly sad when listening to the music, they simply perceived it as that. In contrast, happy music was also perceived in the same way, listeners didn’t particularly feel happy, but they knew that the music was conveying that kind of vibe. Researchers concluded that the only way for us to truly feel the emotion is through directly linking the emotion to an everyday event. They say that the reason why we listen to the music and feel so emotional is due to it giving us thoughts on other subjects and having insights on life.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/22/opinion/sunday/why-we-like-sad-music.html?_r=0
Is Music The Key to Success?
Is music the key to success? The author of the article would like to think so. She finds that many of the world’s successful people from Condoleezza Rice to Woody Allen, have a relationship to music. Many of these famous and successful people had played an instrument sometime in their past, and most continue to this day. Some of these celebrities have stated that music is a way for creativity to grow and have a pursuit for perfection that pushes a person to do better. Many saw that music was the point in their lives that pushed them to what they are today. Several even say that they still dabble in playing music once in a while. The article closes, highlighting the issue of reducing musical participation in today’s day and age. As well as the need for more people to see the advantages of music related education.
Maxine Powell, Motown’s Maven of Style, Dies at 98
Maxine Powell was considered to be partly responsible for Motown’s success in the 1960’s when it was first started. She was pronounced dead on Monday October 14th of 2013 at age Ninety-Eight. Founder of Motown records Berry Gordy Jr. told of how important she was, saying that she taught the artists there in a way no other record company had. The artists she taught later became some of the largest titans in America’s popular music. Some of these were Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, and Smokey Robinson.
