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Music
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Songs from the Vietnam era, the '60s and '70s.
This page will hi-lite music trivia and various
icons in the music industry. Hope ya enjoy it.
Page Contents: Music Tidbits Random Stuff About Opera
Random
Stuff About Country Music The Day the Music
Died The Birth of Jazz Funny Answers from Students on Music Exams
Music Tidbits
AOL Time Warner
owns the copyright of “Happy birthday to you” and will do so until 2030 when the copyright expires. For this reason
movies often use different songs (which are not in copyright or are owned by the studio) for birthday scenes. AOL Time Warner
earns over $2 million per year from royalties for the song.
Copyright ©2010, Listverse.
All rights reserved.
American composer Stephen
Foster had two of his songs adopted as official state anthems:"My Old Kentucky Home" is the state
song of Kentucky and "Old Folks at Home"
is the state song of Florida. UK group The Tornadoes' hit single "Telstar" was the
first UK single to reach Number 1 in the USA on December 22, 1962. This was more than a year before the Fab Four made it to
Number 1 in the USA with "I Want to Hold Your Hand" on February 1, 1964.
Following his breakup
with the Beatles in 1971, Paul McCartney formed his group Wings. The group was nameless until McCartney, awaiting the birth
of his daughter Stella about a month later, prayed for her health. He came up with the group's name on the "wings
of an angel."
The world's first singing commercial aired on the radio on ChristmasEve,
1926 for Wheaties cereal. The four male singers, eventually knownas the Wheaties Quartet, sang the jingle. The Wheaties Quartet,comprised
of an undertaker, a bailiff, a printer, and a businessman,performed the song for the next six years, at $6 per singer per
week.The commercials were a resounding success. © 2008 IAC Search & Media. All rights reserved. The
Scottish tune Auld Lang Syne is a common song sang right after the stroke of midnight. The literal translation of the song's
title is "Old Long Ago." It was written primarily by Robert Burns, but the song was not published until 1796, well
after Burns' death. Copyright 2007 by NextEra Media. All rights reserved. Feel free to forward this, in
its entirety, to others.
Silent Night was written in 1818, by an Austrian priest Joseph Mohr.
He was told the day before Christmas that the church organ was broken and would not be prepared in time for Christmas Eve.
He was saddened by this and could not think of Christmas without music, so he wanted to write a carol that could be sung by
choir to guitar music. He sat down and wrote three stanzas. Later that night the people in the little Austrian Church sang
"Stille Nacht" for the first time. Copyright © 2007 ArcaMax Publishing, Inc. and its licensors.
Nanotechnology has produced a guitar no bigger than a blood cell. The
guitar, 10 micrometers long, has six strummable strings. The song "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling" was written by George Graff, who was German, and was never in Ireland
in his life. One of the most unusual hit records was the tune "Unforgettable,"recorded by Nat
King Cole and his daughter, Natalie Cole. Nat Cole died in 1965, and his daughter, who was born in 1950, had her voice
dubbed in decades after her father had passed away when she was in her 15th year.
Grease is the word! The Bee Gees wrote
the theme song for the film "Grease", but it was performed by Frankie Valli for the film.
Before he catapulted to fame, Bob Dylan was
paid $50 in 1960 for playing the harmonica on a Harry Belafonte album.
Two life-threatening brain aneurysms in 1974
terminated Quincy Jones'horn-playing days, but not his musical talents. Jones went on toproduce Michael Jackson's "Off the
Wall," "Thriller," and "Bad," aswell as the ambitious, all-star hit "We Are the World" in 1985. Jones has composed more than
34 film scores and won more than 26 Grammys.
Marilyn Monroe said her favorite female singer
was Ella Fitzgerald; her favorite male singer was Frank Sinatra.
Gordon Sumner, the rock star and actor known as Sting, got his nickname
from the yellow-and-black jerseys he used to wear, which fellow musicians thought made him look like a bumble bee.
It was at a concert
in Minneapolis in 1954 that Al Dvorin first closed Elvis's concerts with: "Ladies and Gentleman, Elvis has left the building.
Thank you and good night."
In 1892, Emile Berlinger
developed the master disc, from which several copies of a record could be made on vulcanized rubber. Before then, singers
had to repeat a song for each copy of a recording.
Western singer and cowboy star Tex Ritter was born Woodward Maurice Ritter. He was nicknamed "America's Most Beloved
Cowboy" and is likely best remembered for singing the award-winning title song in the Gary Cooper/Grace Kelly classic, High
Noon (1952).
In the orchestras of Western art music, there are four main groups of
instruments: strings, percussion, brass and woodwinds.
The saxophone, invented by the Belgian musical instrument maker Adolf Sax five years earlier, was officially introduced
into the military bands of the French Army on July 30, 1845.
To win a gold Album, an album needs to sell 100,000 copies in Britain,
and 500,000 in the United States.
A piano covers the full spectrum of all orchestra instruments, from below the lowest
note of the double bassoon to above the top note of the piccolo.
The Star-Spangled Banner became the US national anthem in 1931. Prior
to that, it was My Country ‘Tis of Thee," which had the same melody as Britian's national anthem God Save the Queen,
which is based on music written by John Bull in 1619. Bull's melody has been used more than any song in national anthems.
It was at a concert in Minneapolis in 1954 that Al Dvorin first closed Elvis's concerts with: "Ladies and Gentleman,
Elvis has left the building. Thank you and good night."
Paul McCartney was the last bachelor Beatle when he married
Linda Eastman in a civil ceremony in London, 1969. Paul's brother Mike was his best man. No other Beatle attended the wedding.
The Beatles song "Martha My Dear" was written by Paul McCartney about his sheepdog Martha.
The fife is a shorter, narrower version of the flute that is played in
a symphony orchestra. It is a cylinder that is about 15-1/2 inches long, and it has six finger holes. Because the fife
is shorter than the flute, its pitch is higher, and because the tubing is narrower, the fife sounds very shrill.
Most
guitars have six strings. Some have twelve. Twelve-string guitars are tuned in the same way as a six-string guitar—each
string just has a "twin," to reinforce the sound.
Two life-threatening brain aneurysms in 1974 terminated Quincy Jones'
horn-playing days, but not his musical talents. Jones went on to produce Michael Jackson's "Off the Wall," "Thriller," and
"Bad," as well as the ambitious, all-star hit "We Are the World" in 1985. Jones has composed more than 34 film scores and
won more than 26 Grammys.
Jim Morrison found the name "The Doors" for his rock band in the title of Aldous Huxley's book "The Doors
of Perception," which extolls the use of hallucinogenic drugs.
The first American piano was built in Philadelphia in 1775 by Johann
Behrendt.
The musician Ernest Tubb coined the term "country and western" music
in the 1940s? Up to that time, what we now know as country and western music was called 'Hillbilly music."
"The Motown female group The Supremes, which dominated the pop charts
in the 1960s, was originally called The Primettes.
Sunday school teachers Patty and Mildred Hill wrote a song in the 1890s
that we still sing today. Happy Birthday to You was a rewrite of their earlier song, Good Morning to All.
The saxophone, invented by the Belgian musical instrument maker Adolf
Sax five years earlier, was officially introduced into the military bands of the French Army on July 30, 1845.
What is the oldest known musical score?
In
Ugarit (modern Ras Shamra) in Syria, an ancient tablet was discovered in the 1950s dating back to 1400 BC. The oldest
known musical score, it takes the form of interval names and number signs, and even has lyrics. The text is identified
as a hymn to the moon goddess Nikkal. There is some controversy among ancient musicologists over the proper interpretation
of the notes, but all agree that it is a genuine musical score. The markings were made in cuneiform (wedge-shaped symbols)
in the Hurrian language, and there is an exact correspondence between the syllables of the text and the musical notes.
The find was especially interesting because it overturned conventional views of ancient music, showing that the diatonic (7-note)
scale and musical harmony were in use more than a thousand years earlier than was thought.
Who was the first freelance musician?
Beethoven
was the first composer who never had an official court position, thus the first known freelance musician. Born in 1770, he
grew up poor, but published his first work at age 12. By age 20 he was famous. He often sold the same score to six or seven
different publishers simultaneously, and demanded unreasonably large fees for the simplest work. He was short, stocky, dressed
badly, didn't like to bath, lived in squalor, used crude language, openly conducted affairs with married women, and had syphilis.
Beethoven was deaf when he composed his Ninth Symphony.
Beethoven poured ice water over his head when he sat down to create music,
believing it stimulated his brain.
As a child, Beethoven made such a poor impression on his music
teachers that he was pronounced hopeless as a composer. Even Haydn, who taught him harmony, did not recognize Beethoven's
potential genius.
WHAT COMPOSER, ONE OF AMERICA'S MOST PROLIFIC SONGWRITERS,
COULD NEITHER READ MUSIC NOR WRITE MUSICAL NOTATION?
Irving Berlin, born in 1888.
Random Stuff About Opera
The term “opera” comes from the Latin opus, or “work.” The term “soap
opera” was first recorded in 1939 as a derogatory term for daytime radio shows that were sponsored by soap
manufacturers.
During the seventeenth century, women were not allowed to sing onstage, not even in a chorus. Castrated
males, or castrati, would sing the soprano/mezzo/alto parts. The first of the great castrati was Baldassare Ferri (1610-1680).
He was so famous that the town’s people met him three miles outside the city and filled his carriage with flowers.
Opera composers would sometimes hire a group of people to cheer their works or boo the works of their rivals. This
group was called a claque (clapping) and was common at European opera performances.
When Charles
Gounod’s (1818-1893) opera Faust wasn’t selling tickets, the producer gave away tickets for the first
three performances to people out of town and declared the performances were sold out. Wondering what all the fuss was about,
the public began buying tickets, and Faust became a hit.
The earliest surviving opera (written by Jacopo Peri
and Ottavio Rinuccini) is Euridice which was performed in Florence in 1600. Opera quickly spread from Florence to
Rome, Venice, and all other major cities in Italy.
Medieval Easter and Christmas plays, which were performed to
music, are considered precursors to opera. The most famous of these pre-operatic church dramas is the Quem Queritis (“Whom
do you seek?”) play about a group of women who go to Christ’s tomb to anoint his body. As these plays evolved,
they became more theatrical and less religious. Copyright 2009 by NextEra Media. All rights reserved.
Feel free to forward this, in its entirety, to others.
Random Stuff About Country Music
The Grand Ole Opry is a weekly Saturday night country music radio program
broadcast live on WSM radio in Nashville. It is the oldest continuous radio program in the United
States, since November
28, 1925. The featured performer on the first show was Uncle Jimmy Thompson, a fiddler who was then 77 years old.
DeFord Bailey was the first star of the Opry. He contacted polio
at the age of 3, and while bedridden for many months, learned how to play the harmonica. His bout with polio left him handicapped,
and he never grew taller than 4'10".
Johnny Cash - Since his debut on Sun Records in 1955, he has recorded
over 500 albums. From them came over 140 country hit singles and nearly 50 singles that made the Billboard
Hot 100 Pop
chart.
Willie Nelson - Willie Nelson and his sister Bobbie were raised by their
grandparents in Abbott, Texas. Willie picked up the guitar and was writing songs by age seven. Nelson's principal guitar is
a Martin N-20 nylon-string acoustic, which he has named "Trigger", after Roy Rogers' horse. Constant strumming over the decades
has worn a large sweeping hole into the guitar's body near the sound hole.
The Day the Music Died
On February 3, 1959, Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and
J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson were killed in a plane crash near Mason City, Iowa. Holly was 22, Valens, 17; and Richardson
28. The fateful crash was the theme of Don McClean's hit song, "The Day The Music Died".
Waylon Jennings gave his seat on the four-passenger plane
to the Big Bopper, who was ill. Jennings went on to become a legendary singer/songwriter.
One of Ritche Valens' major hits, that has become a classic, was
"Donna". Donna's bigoted father did not want her dating Valens, a Mexican-American. Another Valens hit, that
also became a classic, was "La Bamba". The song was in Spanish and had to be taught to him phonetically because
he did not speak Spanish.
"That'll Be the Day", a phrase used by the character
portrayed by John Wayne in the movie"The Searchers" inspired Buddy Holly to use it in what became a hit song, and classic
in rock-and-roll music. His group was known as Buddy Holly and the Crickets.
The Birth of Jazz
In the 19th century, New Orleans was a thriving seaport
and one of America's most cosmopolitan cities. It contained a spicy stew of races and ethnicities, including Europeans, Africans,
Creoles, and others. This great variety gave New Orleans a unique culture, and all the ingredients necessary to cook up a
hot new form of music.
Starting in 1817, New Orleans's black slaves were allowed
to dance and sing in Congo Square, near the French Quarter, on Sunday afternoons. Hundreds would gather for the celebrations.
Some sang work songs or spirituals. Others danced to Caribbean beats. Still others performed African dances passed down through
generations.
As the century wore on, New Orleans's music was also influenced
by minstrelsy, a musical form featuring purported "plantation songs" written by both black and white musicians. Usually performed
by white musicians in blackface, minstrelsy dominated the pop charts for decades. Despite racist overtones, minstrelsy also
produced some of the first successful African-American composers.
By the 1890s, New Orleans was already a musical melting
pot. Then ragtime and the blues arrived. Ragtime (short for "ragged time") was highly syncopated, danceable music that combined
elements of military marches, European music, and minstrelsy. Young people loved it. Their parents hated it.
The blues arrived around the same time--brought mostly
by black refugees from other southern states, traveling to New Orleans to escape racial hatred and the cotton fields. It was
secular music strongly influenced by church singing.
Basically, New Orleans jazz was born when black and Creole
musicians added ragtime and blues styles to the already potent mix of music they played--and improvised on it all. While the
rhythm section carried a song forward, a cornet player would cut loose, displaying his ingenuity and skill. Other players
would then cut loose, too. Soon, such improvisation became the essence of jazz.
A Creole pianist named Jelly Roll Morton was the first
man to write down original jazz tunes, and he claimed to have "invented" jazz. But tradition says that the cornet player and
sometime barber Buddy Bolden was the first man to lead a real jazz band.
Buddy Bolden was committed to an insane asylum in 1907
and stayed there until he died in 1931. By then, successors like King Oliver and Louis Armstrong had taken jazz to new heights
of popularity--and to new cities like Chicago and New York. Many now consider the music born in New Orleans America's most
important art form.
Jeffery Vail
KnowledgeNews is
brought to you by Every Learner, Inc., an independent small business dedicated to supporting lifelong learners. Copyright
© 2007, Every Learner, Inc. All rights reserved.
Funny Answers from Students on Music
Exams
The principal singer of nineteenth-century opera was called
pre-Madonna.
It is easy to teach anyone to play the maracas. Just grip the neck and shake him in rhythm.
Gregorian
chant has no music, just singers singing the same lines.
Sherbet composed the Unfinished Symphony.
All female
parts were sung by castrati. We don't know exactly what they sounded like because there are no known descendants.
Music
sung by two people at the same time is called a duel; if they sing without music it is called Acapulco.
A virtuoso
is a musician with real high morals.
Contralto is a low sort of music that only ladies sing.
A harp is a nude
piano.
The main trouble with a French Horn is that it is too tangled up.
An interval in music is the distance
from one piano to the next.
The correct way to find the key to a piece of music is to use a pitchfork.
Agitato
is a state of mind when one's finger slips in the middle of playing a piece.
Refrain means don't do it. A refrain
in music is the part you'd better not try to sing.
I know what a sextet is but I'd rather not say.
Most authorities
agree that music of antiquity was written long ago.
My favorite composer was Opus. Agnus Dei was a woman composer
famous for her church music.
Henry Purcell was a well-known composer few people have ever heard of.
Johann
Sebastian Bach wrote a great many musical compositions and had a large number of children. In between he practiced on an old
spinster which he kept up in his attic.
Copyright 2006 by NextEra Media. All rights reserved.
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