Piano
The piano is an acoustic, stringed musical instrument invented in Italy by Bartolomeo Cristofori around the year 1700, in which the strings are struck by hammers. It is played using a keyboard, a row of keys that the performer presses down or strikes with the fingers and thumbs of both hands to cause the hammers to strike the strings; the word piano is a shortened form of pianoforte, the Italian term for the early 1700s versions of the instrument, which in turn derives from gravicembalo col piano e forte and fortepiano. The Italian musical terms piano and forte indicate "soft" and "loud" in this context referring to the variations in volume produced in response to a pianist's touch or pressure on the keys: the greater the velocity of a key press, the greater the force of the hammer hitting the strings, the louder the sound of the note produced and the stronger the attack; the name was created as a contrast to harpsichord, a musical instrument that doesn't allow variation in volume. The first fortepianos in the 1700s had smaller dynamic range.
An acoustic piano has a protective wooden case surrounding the soundboard and metal strings, which are strung under great tension on a heavy metal frame. Pressing one or more keys on the piano's keyboard causes a padded hammer to strike the strings; the hammer rebounds from the strings, the strings continue to vibrate at their resonant frequency. These vibrations are transmitted through a bridge to a soundboard that amplifies by more efficiently coupling the acoustic energy to the air; when the key is released, a damper stops the strings' vibration, ending the sound. Notes can be sustained when the keys are released by the fingers and thumbs, by the use of pedals at the base of the instrument; the sustain pedal enables pianists to play musical passages that would otherwise be impossible, such as sounding a 10-note chord in the lower register and while this chord is being continued with the sustain pedal, shifting both hands to the treble range to play a melody and arpeggios over the top of this sustained chord.
Unlike the pipe organ and harpsichord, two major keyboard instruments used before the piano, the piano allows gradations of volume and tone according to how forcefully a performer presses or strikes the keys. Most modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, 52 white keys for the notes of the C major scale and 36 shorter black keys, which are raised above the white keys, set further back on the keyboard; this means that the piano can play 88 different pitches, going from the deepest bass range to the highest treble. The black keys are for the "accidentals". More some pianos have additional keys. Most notes have three strings, except for the bass; the strings are sounded when keys are pressed or struck, silenced by dampers when the hands are lifted from the keyboard. Although an acoustic piano has strings, it is classified as a percussion instrument rather than as a stringed instrument, because the strings are struck rather than plucked. There are two main types of piano: the upright piano.
The grand piano is used for Classical solos, chamber music, art song, it is used in jazz and pop concerts. The upright piano, more compact, is the most popular type, as it is a better size for use in private homes for domestic music-making and practice. During the 1800s, influenced by the musical trends of the Romantic music era, innovations such as the cast iron frame and aliquot stringing gave grand pianos a more powerful sound, with a longer sustain and richer tone. In the nineteenth century, a family's piano played the same role that a radio or phonograph played in the twentieth century. During the nineteenth century, music publishers produced many musical works in arrangements for piano, so that music lovers could play and hear the popular pieces of the day in their home; the piano is employed in classical, jazz and popular music for solo and ensemble performances and for composing and rehearsals. Although the piano is heavy and thus not portable and is expensive, its musical versatility, the large number of musicians and amateurs trained in playing it, its wide availability in performance venues and rehearsal spaces have made it one of the Western world's most familiar musical instruments.
With technological advances, amplified electric pianos, electronic pianos, digital pianos have been developed. The electric piano became a popular instrument in the 1960s and 1970s genres of jazz fusion, funk music and rock music; the piano was founded on earlier technological innovations in keyboard instruments. Pipe organs have been used since Antiquity, as such, the development of pipe organs enabled instrument builders to learn about creating keyboard mechanisms for sounding pitches; the first string instruments with struck strings were the hammered dul
Fred Armisen
Fereydun Robert "Fred" Armisen is an American actor, writer and musician best known as a cast member on Saturday Night Live from 2002 until 2013. Armisen has portrayed characters in comedy films, including EuroTrip and Cop Out. With his comedy partner Carrie Brownstein, Armisen is the co-creator and co-star of the IFC sketch comedy series Portlandia. Armisen founded ThunderAnt.com, a website that features the comedy sketches created with Brownstein, is the bandleader and frequent drummer for the Late Night with Seth Meyers house band, The 8G Band. For his work on Portlandia, Armisen was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series in 2012, 2013 and 2014 and for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series in 2014, he has won two Peabody Awards, one in 2008 as part of the Saturday Night Live political satire cast and one in 2011 for Portlandia. Armisen was born on December 1966, in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, he moved with his family to New York as a baby and lived in Brazil in his youth.
He was raised in Valley Stream, New York, where he was a high school classmate of fellow SNL alumnus Jim Breuer. His mother, schoolteacher Hildegardt, is a Venezuelan immigrant, born in San Fernando de Apure and has family from San Rafael de Atamaica, Apure, his father, Fereydun Herbert "Fred" Armisen, who worked for IBM, was born in Soltau, Lower Saxony, Germany, to a German mother and Korean-born father, Pak Yeong-In. For much of his life, Fred had incorrectly thought his paternal grandfather to have been Japanese. Pak was a prominent dancer and choreographer known as Masami Ehara, pen name Masami Kuni or birth name Bak Yeong-in. Masami studied aesthetics in Tokyo Imperial University and became a professional dancer before moving to Germany, he worked for Joseph Goebbels' Propaganda Ministry in Nazi Germany as a spy for Japan. Pak Yeong-In's family were members of the Korean aristocracy, who could verifiably trace their lineage back to the 1600s. Armisen attended the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan before dropping out to begin a career as a rock drummer.
He has mentioned watching the bands The Clash and Devo perform on television and wanting to be a performer since he was a child. In 1984, Armisen played drums in a local band along with his high school friends in Valley Stream, New York, but the group soon ended. In 1988, he moved to Chicago to play drums for the punk rock band Trenchmouth, in the 1990s, he played background drums with Blue Man Group. Armisen played drums on three tracks for Les Savy Fav's 2007 album Let's Stay Friends, as well as tracks for Matthew Sweet's 2011 album Modern Art and Wandering Lucy's 2015 album Leap Year. Armisen is the bandleader and frequent drummer of the 8G Band, the house band for Late Night with Seth Meyers, as of February 24, 2014. While not playing with the band Trenchmouth, Armisen's interests switched to acting. In a January 2006 interview, he said, "I wanted to be on TV somehow. For some reason, I always thought. I just wanted to do something with performing that would lead me there."Armisen's subsequent television work, such as some "memorable Andy Kaufman–esque appearances" on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, as well as work for Crank Yankers and Adult Swim, led to a role in 2002 as a featured player in the cast of Saturday Night Live.
In the 2004 season, he was promoted to repertory cast member status. Armisen has landed several minor yet memorable roles that were defined by an interviewer as "feral foreigners" in comedy films such as Eurotrip, Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo, Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Deck the Halls, The Ex, The Promotion, The Rocker, Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny and Confessions of a Shopaholic. Armisen stars in the IFC sketch series Portlandia alongside Carrie Brownstein, he and fellow Saturday Night Live alums Bill Hader and Seth Meyers write and star in the IFC mockumentary series Documentary Now! Fred participates in Sister City, the fifth episode of the second season of "Parks and Recreation", aired by NBC in the United States in 2009. Fred is Raúl Alejandro Bastilla Pedro de Veloso of Morana, heads with other officials of the Parks Department of Boraqua, to sister city of Pawnee in Venezuela, visit Leslie and Tom of the Parks Department of Pawnee; the Venezuelan intern Jhonny falls in love with April, who convinces him that she is feared and powerful.
Leslie takes them to a public meeting to show them democracy in action, but all the angry citizens ask Leslie a lot of questions. Raúl asks; when Raúl tells Leslie that they live in Venezuela as kings and they do not respond to anyone, she bursts with rage, insulting their uniforms and Hugo Chávez. The episode ends with an online video from April, who tells them that she and Donna are on vacation with Jhonny in his Venezuelan palace, protected by armed guards. In the Cartoon Network series The Looney Tunes Show, Armisen voices Speedy Gonzales. Armisen, along with Carrie Brownstein, appeared on the Simpsons episode "The Day the Earth Stood Cool", in which they play The Simpsons' new neighbors, who encourage everyone to be cool like them. Armisen's
Nate Query
Nate Query is an American musician best known as the bassist of the Portland, Oregon indie rock band The Decemberists. He is a member of Black Prairie, he makes appearances on many albums by Portland artists, including Laura Gibson, Rebecca Gates, the Minus 5, Laura Veirs. He is credited on Michael Zapruder's record. Former bands include Everyday Dirt, his most recent project is the acoustic band Black Prairie with a number of other Portland artists. He attended Portland's West Sylvan Middle School. H Album credit listing on Allmusichttp://www.oregonlive.com/mix/index.ssf/beer/decemberists-nate-querys-tips-for-making-really-gr.html Earshot feature Pitchfork review of Michael Zapruder
Castaways and Cutouts
Castaways and Cutouts is the first full-length album by The Decemberists released on May 21, 2002, on Hush Records and reissued on May 6, 2003, on Kill Rock Stars. The album's title is taken from a lyric of the song "California One/Youth and Beauty Brigade"; the album cover was designed by the Portland artist Carson Ellis, the long-time girlfriend of frontman Colin Meloy. She has created artwork for each of the band's albums. Castaways and Cutouts received positive reviews; the album ranked number 89 on Under the Radar's Top 200 Albums of the 2000s and number 96 on Pitchfork's The 100 Best Albums of 2000–2004. All songs written by Colin Meloy. According to the liner notes of Castaways and Cutouts. Colin Meloy – vocals, percussion Chris Funk – guitar, pedal steel, theremin Jenny Conlee – hammond organ, rhodes piano, accordion Nate Query – upright bass Ezra Holbrook – drums, vocals Produced by The Decemberists Recorded by Simon Widdowson Mastered by Ryan Foster Design by Third Eyebrow Art direction by Colin Meloy and Carson Ellis Cover painting and illustrations by Carson Ellis Inner-tray photo by Jonathan Gitelson Sound clip in "California One/Youth and Beauty Brigade" from Archangel, directed by Guy Maddin
Musician
A musician is a person who plays a musical instrument or is musically talented. Anyone who composes, conducts, or performs music is referred to as a musician. A musician who plays a musical instrument is known as an instrumentalist. Musicians can specialize in any musical style, some musicians play in a variety of different styles depending on cultures and background. Examples of a musician's possible skills include performing, singing, producing, composing and the orchestration of music. In the Middle Ages, instrumental musicians performed with soft ensembles inside and loud instruments outdoors. Many European musicians of this time catered to the Roman Catholic Church, they provided arrangements structured around Gregorian chant structure and Masses from church texts. Notable musicians Phillipe de Vitry Guillaume Dufay Guillaume de Machaut Hildegard of Bingen John Jenkins Beatritz de Dia Tyagaraja Purandara Dasa Bhimsen Joshi Bismillah Khan A. R. RAHMAN Renaissance musicians produced music that could be played during masses in churches and important chapels.
Vocal pieces were in Latin—the language of church texts of the time—and were Church-polyphonic or "made up of several simultaneous melodies." By the end of the 16th century, patronage split among many areas: the Catholic Church, Protestant churches, royal courts, wealthy amateurs, music printing—all provided income sources for composers. Notable musicians Giovanni Palestrina Giovanni Gabrieli Thomas Tallis Claudio Monteverdi Leonardo da Vinci The Baroque period introduced heavy use of counterpoint and basso continuo characteristics. Vocal and instrumental "color" became more important compared with the Renaissance style of music, emphasized much of the volume and pace of each piece. Notable musicians George Frideric Handel Johann Sebastian Bach Antonio Vivaldi Classical music was created by musicians who lived during a time of a rising middle class. Many middle-class inhabitants of France at the time lived under long-time absolute monarchies; because of this, much of the music was performed in environments that were more constrained compared with the flourishing times of the Renaissance and Baroque eras.
Notable musicians Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Joseph Haydn Ludwig Van Beethoven The foundation of Romantic period music coincides with what is called the age of revolutions, an age of upheavals in political, economic and military traditions. This age included the initial transformations of the Industrial Revolution. A revolutionary energy was at the core of Romanticism, which quite consciously set out to transform not only the theory and practice of poetry and art, but the common perception of the world; some major Romantic Period precepts survive, still affect modern culture. Notable musicians Ludwig van Beethoven Frédéric Chopin Franz Schubert Niccolò Paganini Franz Liszt Charles-Valentin Alkan Richard Wagner Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Johannes Brahms Johann Strauss II The world transitioned from 19th-century Romanticism to 20th century Modernism, bringing major musical changes. In 20th-century music and musicians rejected the emotion-dominated Romantic period, strove to represent the world the way they perceived it.
Musicians wrote to be"... objective. While past eras concentrated on spirituality, this new period placed emphasis on physicality and things that were concrete."The advent of audio recording and mass media in the 20th century caused a boom of all kinds of music—pop, dance, folk and all forms of classical music. Musicians can experience a number of health problems related to the practice and performance of music; these can include tinnitus and noise-induced hearing loss, which occurs and over a long period of time, most musicians do not seek help until they start to experience secondary symptoms such as tinnitus, distortion of sounds and hyperacusis. In addition, musicians are at increased risk for both musculoskeletal and vocal health problems when producing high sound levels on musical instruments. Increased biomechanical demands, whether at the hands, embouchure, or vocal cords, elevates the risks for occupational health problems like tendonitis, carpal tunnel, rupture of facial muscles, vocal cord malfunction.
Singer Composer Tour manager Musicians' or'Hi-Fi' earplugs Media related to Musicians at Wikimedia Commons
Indie rock
Indie rock is a genre of rock music that originated in the United States and United Kingdom in the 1970s. Used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the music they produced and was used interchangeably with alternative rock; as grunge and punk revival bands in the US and Britpop bands in the UK broke into the mainstream in the 1990s, it came to be used to identify those acts that retained an outsider and underground perspective. In the 2000s, as a result of changes in the music industry and the growing importance of the Internet, some indie rock acts began to enjoy commercial success, leading to questions about its meaningfulness as a term. Sometimes used interchangeably with "guitar pop rock", in the mid-1980s, the term "indie" began to be used to describe the music produced on punk and post-punk labels; some prominent indie rock record labels were founded during the 1980s. During the 1990s, grunge bands broke into the mainstream, the term "alternative" lost its original counter-cultural meaning.
The term "indie rock" became associated with the bands and genres that remained dedicated to their independent status. By the end of the 1990s, indie rock developed several subgenres and related styles, including lo-fi, noise pop, slowcore, post-rock, math rock. In the 2000s, changes in the music industry and in music technology enabled a new wave of indie rock bands to achieve mainstream success. In the early 2000s, a new group of bands that played a stripped-down, back-to-basics version of guitar rock emerged into the mainstream; the commercial breakthrough from these scenes was led by four bands: The Strokes, The White Stripes, The Hives and The Vines. Emo broke into mainstream culture in the early 2000s. By the end of the decade, the proliferation of indie bands was being referred to as "indie landfill"; the term indie rock, which comes from "independent," describes the small and low-budget labels on which it is released and the do-it-yourself attitude of the bands and artists involved. Although distribution deals are struck with major corporate companies, these labels and the bands they host have attempted to retain their autonomy, leaving them free to explore sounds and subjects of limited appeal to large, mainstream audiences.
The influences and styles of the artists have been diverse, including punk, post-punk and country. The terms "alternative rock" and "indie rock" were used interchangeably in the 1980s, but after many alternative bands followed Nirvana into the mainstream in the early 1990s, "indie rock" began to be used to describe those bands, working in a variety of styles, that did not pursue or achieve commercial success. Aesthetically speaking, indie rock is characterized as having a careful balance of pop accessibility with noise, experimentation with pop music formulae, sensitive lyrics masked by ironic posturing, a concern with "authenticity," and the depiction of a simple guy or girl. Allmusic identifies indie rock as including a number of "varying musical approaches compatible with mainstream tastes". Linked by an ethos more than a musical approach, the indie rock movement encompassed a wide range of styles, from hard-edged, grunge-influenced bands, through do-it-yourself experimental bands like Pavement, to punk-folk singers such as Ani DiFranco.
In fact, there is an everlasting list of subgenres of indie rock. Many countries have developed an extensive local indie scene, flourishing with bands with enough popularity to survive inside the respective country, but unknown elsewhere. However, there are still indie bands that start off locally, but attract an international audience. Indie rock is noted for having a high proportion of female artists compared with preceding rock genres, a tendency exemplified by the development of the feminist-informed Riot Grrrl music of acts like Bikini Kill, Bratmobile, 7 Year Bitch, Team Dresch and Huggy Bear. However, Cortney Harding pointed out that this sense of equality is not reflected in the number of women running indie labels; the BBC documentary Music for Misfits: The Story of Indie pinpoints the birth of indie as the 1977 self-publication of the Spiral Scratch EP by Manchester band Buzzcocks. Although Buzzcocks are classified as a punk band, it has been argued by the BBC and others that the publication of Spiral Scratch independently of a major label led to the coining of the name "indie".
"Indie pop" and "indie" were synonymous. In the mid-1980s, "indie" began to be used to describe the music produced on post-punk labels rather than the labels themselves; the indie rock scene in the US was prefigured by the college rock that dominated college radio playlists, which included key bands like R. E. M. from the US and The Smiths from the UK. These two bands rejected the dominant synthpop of the early 1980s, helped inspire guitar-based jangle pop. In the United States, the term was associated with the abrasive, distortion-heavy sounds of the Pixies, Hüsker Dü, Meat Puppets, Dinosaur Jr. and The Replacements. In the United Kingdom the C86 cassette, a 1986 NME compilation featuring Primal Scream, The Pastels, The Wedding Present and other bands, was a document of the UK indie scene at the start of 1986, it gave its name to the indie pop scene that followed, a major influence on the development of the British indie scene as a whole. Major precursors of indie pop included Postcard bands Josef K and Orange Juice, significant labels included Creation and Glass.
The Jesus and Mary Chain's sound combined the Velvet
Accordion
Accordions are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type, colloquially referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist; the concertina and bandoneón are related. The instrument is played by compressing or expanding the bellows while pressing buttons or keys, causing pallets to open, which allow air to flow across strips of brass or steel, called reeds; these vibrate to produce sound inside the body. Valves on opposing reeds of each note are used to make the instrument's reeds sound louder without air leaking from each reed block; the performer plays the melody on buttons or keys on the right-hand manual, the accompaniment, consisting of bass and pre-set chord buttons, on the left-hand manual. The accordion is spread across the world. In some countries it is used in popular music, whereas in other regions it tends to be more used for dance-pop and folk music and is used in folk music in Europe, North America and South America.
In Europe and North America, some popular music acts make use of the instrument. Additionally, the accordion is used in cajun, jazz music and in both solo and orchestral performances of classical music; the piano accordion is the official city instrument of California. Many conservatories in Europe have classical accordion departments; the oldest name for this group of instruments is harmonika, from the Greek harmonikos, meaning "harmonic, musical". Today, native versions of the name accordion are more common; these names refer to the type of accordion patented by Cyrill Demian, which concerned "automatically coupled chords on the bass side". Accordions have many types. What may be technically possible to do with one accordion could be impossible with another: Some accordions are bisonoric, producing different pitches depending on the direction of bellows movement Others are unisonoric and produce the same pitch in both directions; the pitch depends on its size. Some use a chromatic buttonboard for the right-hand manual Others use a diatonic buttonboard for the right-hand manual Yet others use a piano-style musical keyboard for the right-hand manual Some can play in different registers Craftsmen and technicians may tune the same registers differently, "personalizing" the end result, such as an organ technician might voice a particular instrument The bellows is the most recognizable part of the instrument, the primary means of articulation.
Similar to a violin's bow, the production of sound in an accordion is in direct proportion to the motion of the player. The bellows is located between the right- and left-hand manuals, is made from pleated layers of cloth and cardboard, with added leather and metal, it is used to create pressure and vacuum, driving air across the internal reeds and producing sound by their vibrations, applied pressure increases the volume. The keyboard touch is not expressive and does not affect dynamics: all expression is effected through the bellows. Bellows effects include: Volume control and fade Repeated change of direction, popularized by musicians such as Renato Borghete and Luiz Gonzaga, extensively used in Forró, called resfulengo in Brazil Constant bellows motion while applying pressure at intervals Constant bellows motion to produce clear tones with no resonance Using the bellows with the silent air button gives the sound of air moving, sometimes used in contemporary compositions for this instrument The accordion's body consists of two wooden boxes joined together by the bellows.
These boxes house reed chambers for the right- and left-hand manuals. Each side has grilles in order to facilitate the transmission of air in and out of the instrument, to allow the sound to project better; the grille for the right-hand manual is larger and is shaped for decorative purposes. The right-hand manual is used for playing the melody and the left-hand manual for playing the accompaniment; the size and weight of an accordion varies depending on its type and playing range, which can be as small as to have only one or two rows of basses and a single octave on the right-hand manual, to the standard 120-bass accordion and through to large and heavy 160-bass free-bass converter models. The accordion is an aerophone; the manual mechanism of the instrument either enables the air flow, or disables it: The term accordion covers a wide range of instruments, with varying components. All instruments have reed ranks of some format. Not all have switches; the most typical accordion is the piano accordion, used for many musical genres.
Another type of accordion is the button accordion, used in several musical traditions, including Cajun and Tejano music and Austro-German Alpine music, Argentinian tango music. Different systems exist for the right-hand manual of an accordion, used for playing the melody; some use a button layout arranged in another, while others use a piano-style keyboard. Each system has different claimed benefits by those, they are used to define one accordion or another as a different "type": Chromatic button accordions and the bayan, a Russian variant, use a buttonboard where notes are arranged chromatically. Two major systems exist, referred to as the B-
