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Rhythmic simples
In the service of teaching theory using real music, I’ve been gathering musical simples: little phrases and loops that are small enough to be easily learned, and substantial enough to have expressive...
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Musical Necker cubes
The simplest and most effective optical illusion ever is the Necker cube. Which side is in front? The answer is both and neither. Very Zen. In the process of gathering musical simples, I found a P-Funk...
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The Great Cut-Time Shift
I’ve been transcribing a lot of beats for the MusEDLab‘s forthcoming music theory learning tool. Many of those beats require swing, and that has been giving me a headache. In trying to figure out why,...
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Musical simples: Chameleon
Herbie’s 1973 funk epic opens with an extended exploration of a characteristic chord progression from Dorian mode, one that’s a defining sound of groove-based music in general. Start on the first note...
View ArticleRIP David Bowie
Hearing the news of Bowie’s death made me go listen to Blackstar, which is excellent, his best work in I don’t know how long. His voice aged exquisitely well. So did his restless sonic adventurism: the...
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Seeing classic beats with the Groove Pizza
We created the Groove Pizza to make it easier to both see and hear rhythms. The next step is to create learning experiences around it. In this post, I’ll use the Pizza to explain the structure of some...
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Visualizing trap beats with the Groove Pizza
In a previous post, I used the Groove Pizza to visualize some classic hip-hop beats. But the kids are all about trap beats right now, which work differently from the funk-based boom-bap of my era. From...
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Musical simple: Groove Is In The Heart
One of the high points of my musical career was playing in a cover band in college called Harsh Mouse, and one of the high points of our repertoire was this song. This irresistible groove was sampled...
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Freedom ’90
Since George Michael died, I’ve been enjoying all of his hits, but none of them more than this one. Listening to it now, it’s painfully obvious how much it’s about George Michael’s struggles with his...
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Deconstructing the bassline in Herbie Hancock’s “Chameleon”
If you have even a passing interest in funk, you will want to familiarize yourself with Herbie Hancock’s “Chameleon.” And if you are preoccupied and dedicated to the preservation of the movement of the...
View ArticleIt’s Alright Ma (I’m Only Blogging)
My favorite Bob Dylan song is “It’s Alright Ma (I’m Only Bleeding.)” It’s not the one I listen to the most, and it’s not the one I’ve given the most effort to singing or playing. But it’s the one that...
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Teaching myself the Bach chaconne with Ableton Live
Recently someone posted this performance of the chaconne from Bach’s violin partita in D minor on an eleven-string guitar. My favorite interpretation by an actual violinist is Viktoria Mullova’s. I...
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Groove challenges with the Groove Pizza
One of our key design principles at the NYU MusEDLab is not to confront beginners with a blank canvas. We want to introduce people to our tools by giving them specific, real-world music to play around...
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In praise of the Reflex Re-Edit
The Reflex is a London-based French DJ and producer named Nicolas Laugier. He specializes in a particular kind of remix, the re-edit, in which you rework a song using only sounds found within the song...
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The happiest chord progression ever
If you’re interested in learning more about chords and emotions, take my online course. See also the saddest chord progression ever. We think of descending melodies and chord progressions as being sad....
View ArticleMusic for practicing scales
Are you trying to learn scales and patterns, but finding it hard to make yourself practice? Do yourself a favor, and practice over actual music. A student asked me to make him a playlist of...
View ArticleRIP Aretha Franklin
I don’t have much to add to what everyone else is saying, except that I really love her music, more than just about anything. Something I read about her singing, though I can’t remember where: she’s so...
View ArticleFunky Minuet in G major
In my continuing quest to learn the classical canon through remixing with Ableton Live, I’ve taken on Bach’s Minuet in G major. Which is apparently not by Bach at all, but rather by some guy named...
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Happy Earth, Wind and Fire Day
Today is September 21st, the subject of one of the most joyful recordings ever made, which comes with an all-time-great music video. The song in turn inspired my favorite work of fan art....
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Ableton Loop 2018
I’m recently home from Ableton’s stupendous “summit for music makers,” and I’m still mentally unpacking it all. Loop was quite a different experience from last year, when Ableton held it in their home...
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