Posts in Category: off topic but memorable
Orange Barrel Industries
for all the artist, art students or just art admirers out there– this is one of my favorite sketch book sites
Sarah Kay: If I should have a daughter …
“If I should have a daughter, instead of Mom, she’s gonna call me Point B … ” began spoken word poet Sarah Kay, in a talk that inspired two standing ovations at TED2011. She tells the story of her metamorphosis — from a wide-eyed teenager soaking in verse at New York’s Bowery Poetry Club to a teacher connecting kids with the power of self-expression through Project V.O.I.C.E. — and gives two breathtaking performances of “B” and “Hiroshima.”
A performing poet since she was 14 years old, Sarah Kay is the founder of Project V.O.I.C.E., teaching poetry and self-expression at schools across the United States. Full bio »
via Sarah Kay: If I should have a daughter … | Video on TED.com.
Neil Gaiman Addresses the University of the Arts Class of 2012 on Vimeo
I don’t often use superlatives but this is a MUST WATCH for all students of the arts.
Neil Gaiman Addresses the University of the Arts Class of 2012 on Vimeo on Vimeo
via Neil Gaiman Addresses the University of the Arts Class of 2012 on Vimeo.
While in the lavatory on a domestic flight … Nina Katchadourian
While in the lavatory on a domestic flight in March 2010, I spontaneously put a tissue paper toilet cover seat cover over my head and took a picture in the mirror.
via Nina Katchadourian.
Seat Assignment: Lavatory Self-Portraits in the Flemish Style
Photographs, digital images, video and sound (2010 and ongoing)
Ospedale della Pieta
Another documentary from the Beeb this one deals with Vivaldi’s creative relationship with the girls of the Ospedale della Pietà for whom he composed so much music.
Musicologists often blithely ignore the fact that Vivaldi wrote a lot of his music specifically for all woman and girl orchestras and choirs. I’ve never understood why this should be so difficult to grasp but apparently it is.
Vivaldi: Gloria (RV 589) – Domine fili unigenite – YouTube
Oh to be back in Venice. This is the church associated with the organization that runs the hostel where we have stayed many times. Last year we got a private tour of the church and were up in the spaces behind the screens where the girls sang from.Fantastic acoustics, I can only dream about how amazing it must sound with the girls.
Schola Pietatis Antonio Vivaldi (“Vivaldi’s Women”) is an all-female ensemble of singers and players which aims to recreate the sound of Vivaldi’s Figlie di Choro, those foundlings at Venice’s Ospedale della Pietà who performed at Mass and Vespers from behind grilles in the high choir galleries or “cantorie”. It reflects the age range and vocal range of Vivaldi’s musicians, with women aged 14 to 60+, some singing tenor and bass. The group uses period instruments played at 18th-century Venetian pitch (A˜440Hz).
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Glenn Gould: Bach Goldberg Variations 1981 Studio Video complete
One of most sublime piano perfomances ever. period.
Nazi rules for jazz performers
Famed Czech radical Josef Skvorecky recently died at 87 in his adopted land of Canada. In the Atlantic, JJ Gould remembers Skvorecky through his memoirs, including a detailed list of the rules for jazz performers during the Nazi occupation. The Reich’s Gauleiter for the Nazi Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia issued a 10-point regulation that Gould calls “the single most remarkable example of 20th-century totalitarian invective against jazz.”
1 Pieces in foxtrot rhythm (so-called swing) are not to exceed 20% of the repertoires of light orchestras and dance bands;
2 in this so-called jazz type repertoire, preference is to be given to compositions in a major key and to lyrics expressing joy in life rather than Jewishly gloomy lyrics;
3 As to tempo, preference is also to be given to brisk compositions over slow ones so-called blues); however, the pace must not exceed a certain degree of allegro, commensurate with the Aryan sense of discipline and moderation. On no account will Negroid excesses in tempo (so-called hot jazz) or in solo performances (so-called breaks) be tolerated;
4 so-called jazz compositions may contain at most 10% syncopation; the remainder must consist of a natural legato movement devoid of the hysterical rhythmic reverses characteristic of the barbarian races and conductive to dark instincts alien to the German people (so-called riffs);
5 strictly prohibited is the use of instruments alien to the German spirit (so-called cowbells, flexatone, brushes, etc.) as well as all mutes which turn the noble sound of wind and brass instruments into a Jewish-Freemasonic yowl (so-called wa-wa, hat, etc.);
6 also prohibited are so-called drum breaks longer than half a bar in four-quarter beat (except in stylized military marches);
7 the double bass must be played solely with the bow in so-called jazz compositions;
8 plucking of the strings is prohibited, since it is damaging to the instrument and detrimental to Aryan musicality; if a so-called pizzicato effect is absolutely desirable for the character of the composition, strict care must be taken lest the string be allowed to patter on the sordine, which is henceforth forbidden;
9 musicians are likewise forbidden to make vocal improvisations (so-called scat);
10 all light orchestras and dance bands are advised to restrict the use of saxophones of all keys and to substitute for them the violin-cello, the viola or possibly a suitable folk instrument.