Friday Fun Link #14

Break In The Road is a site that proves that you can make music out of everyday sounds. Collect various sounds from around the website’s city to create your own music, do a little sound mixing and put your song together. Have fun.  

Friday Fun Link #12

One of the most enjoyable concerts I ever attended was by Victor Borge, a Danish musical comedian. His rendition of a vocal recital is notably memorable. You can hear some sound clips of his performances at A Tribute to Victor Borge. Enjoy!

Movie Music Musings

Christmas Break gives me a chance to catch up on all the movies and shows I want to see. I finally got around to watching The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe. Excellent story but excessive use of the blue screen. The actors were a delight to watch. Casting was excellent. As a writer and musician, I couldn’t help but analyze the movie from these two angles. I’ve never read the books (but I will next year). The writer within reveled at picking out symbolism and foreshadowing, while the musician was moved to tears when Aslan went to meet his fate. The drum’s tattoo filled the theatre with dread as Aslan padded up to face the witch. The strings sang out their doleful melodies, swelling into a heartbreaking crescendo as the terms of Aslan's bargain with the witch were fulfilled.

Music makes a huge difference in movies, I think. If the music doesn’t match what is happening on the screen, it does make it more difficult to connect with the characters emotionally.

Both The Lord of the Rings Trilogy and the Star Wars Trilogies are superb examples of when the music, action and dialogue are seamlessly joined and balanced. It’s Wagnerian, really.

Wag-huh? Richard Wagner (pronounced VAHG-ner) was a German composer, conductor and writer who lived in the 1800s. He revolutionized opera by his use of leitmotifs – a recurring theme that is associated with a certain character or event. Look no further than Luke Skywalker’s theme played when he contemplated his destiny standing before Tatooine’s twin suns or the theme for the Fellowship of the Ring.

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On a final note, this will be my last post for 2005. Happy New Year everyone! May 2006 be a healthy, prosperous and happy one for you.

© 2005, Musespeak™, Calgary, AB, Canada. All rights reserved.

Making Wedding Music Selections Easy

It may seem strange that today’s blog is about wedding music. However, people are known to get engaged over the holidays, when family and friends are together. Next month, bridal fairs will begin another wedding season. Usually, when I meet with a couple, they have no idea what music they would like performed at their ceremony. I normally run through a selection of songs and wait as the couple discusses whether they want happy or sad, fast or slow, bouncy or majestic music. The sole exception was the wedding of a classically trained pianist. She asked for Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata as well as other classics. She walked down the aisle to O mio babbino caro by Puccini.

Here are some useful links to help engaged couples choose ceremony and reception music:

• Our Wedding Songs

• Complete Guide to Wedding Music

• The Top 250 Wedding Songs for Each Moment of Your Big Day

September 4, 2020 update: updated a few links.

Friday Fun Link #7

Q: What do you get when you put a diminished chord together with an augmented chord? A: A demented chord.

It’s been a long week (and I’m not quite done yet). I went in search of some comic relief and came upon this site riddled with music jokes. Enjoy!