A call for an injection of creativity in the arts

The most basic interval in music is a perfect third.

If you listen to much popular music, and I admit I don’t, you’ll be clubbed over the head with the sound, as the video above demonstrates.

A good friend of mine taught music theory at a local university. He is an outstanding musician in his own right, with a Phd in music. He explained what the public appreciates the most in song writing: predictability.

Their minds expect a certain, predictable ‘next note’ to occur following a series of (usually predictable) notes that precede it. It is almost as if God had hard-wired man to appreciate certain tones, and the progression of these tones, more than others…

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Rhapsody in Blue

Rhapsody in Blue was raw, American music. American music came of age in an instant with that composition that premiered in 1924. Here is how George Gershwin, who was only 25 when he composed the piece, described its creation:

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The controversial final concert

Johannes Brahms had a prickly personality. Glenn Gould was an eccentric. Leonard Bernstein was dashing sophisticate. Each was a musical genius. These three strong personalities clashed on April 6th, 1962 in a final concert at Carnegie Hall.

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