From the category archives:

Musical Oddities

World Cup Music: Shostakovich’s Soccer Match

July 11, 2010

Don’t underestimate the power of either sports or music when it comes to exciting a crowd. Even as a tormented composer writing under the harsh restrictions and demands of Communism, in his 1929 ballet  The Golden Age big-time soccer fan and sometime soccer referee Shostakovich recreated a soccer match. In this ballet, a communist soccer team [...]

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Vienna Vegetable Orchestra: Veggies Never Sounded So Good

June 28, 2010

Since 1998, the Vienna Vegetable Orchestra has performed on musical instruments they make from fresh vegetables. (I couldn’t make this up.) They shop for veggies at the local produce market, spend a few hours making their vegetable instruments, then after their concert, they throw them into the pot and serve up vegetable soup. Contrary to [...]

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Boomwhackers on Steroids: Plastik Musik

June 1, 2010

If you thought boomwhackers were just for kids, think again. Better still, listen to the percussion group Plastik Musik in their astounding Boomwhacker performance:

The first time I met Craig Ramsell, creator of the Boomwhackers, was  in Phoenix, Arizona, about 15 years ago at a music education conference.  At the time, I knew his [...]

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Music from a Bonsai

April 21, 2010

How musical is a bonsai? Let me count the ways. . .
In the words of the composer/performer Diego Stocco:
“I always liked bonsai trees, and I was curious to try the approach I used for "Music from a Tree" on a smaller scale, so I bought a bonsai and recorded this little experimental piece. [...]

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Spike Jones – Dec. 14

December 14, 2009
Spike Jones

This bandleader and musical parodist used “found sounds” from hiccups to gunshots in his musical spoofs, paving the way for STOMP, Blast, P.D.Q. Bach, Frank Zappa, Monty Python, & others. He (and Donald Duck) even spoofed Hitler, who probably wasn’t amused.

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Piano Stairway in the Subway: Tuneful Commuters Prefer Stairs to Escalator

October 22, 2009
Piano stairs

A keyboard stairway in the Stockholm subway offers commuters a tuneful and healthier alternative to the escalator.

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Mosquito Love Duet: Music Conquers All

October 9, 2009
Mosquito love

Mosquito duet leads to love. . .and the perfect fifth. Get the buzz about the musical talents of the pesky mosquito during courtship.

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Monkeying Around with Music: Simian Strains Strike a Chord with Monkeys

September 13, 2009
Cottontop Monkey

Do monkeys respond emotionally to music? Well, maybe not to human music, but they respond with excitement or relaxation to species specific music composed just for them.

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Music Hath Charms to Soothe the Savage “Beast”

August 31, 2009
Thumbnail image for Music Hath Charms to Soothe the Savage “Beast”

A cat who plays piano, a dancing cockatoo, a blues-singing dog… who says music is loved just by humans?

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