Music and Medicine
May 21, 2005
A new operating room dedicated solely to surgically correcting blocked tear ducts was recently dedicated at St. Francis Medical Center.
It combines the latest in medical technology and a secret weapon — music!
Dr. Jorge Camara, Chief of Ophthalmology plucks away at the piano. He’s preparing himself for surgery. He says playing the piano relaxes him.
The new operating room at St. Francis Medical Center is equipped with the newest surgical equipment, and a sterile, electronic piano.
Link (KGMB9.com)
Review: XPress Keyboards soft synths bundles
May 20, 2005
Native Instruments has bundled “lite” versions of three of its popular soft synths in a new product called Xpress Keyboards , aimed at home users or anyone wanting to add selections from these outstanding keys to their virtual rack. It includes B4 Xpress , FM7 Xpress and Pro-53 Xpress , which are respectively, a Hammond-style B4 organ, an FM synthesizer and a Prophet 5-style synth.
The previously released full versions of PRO-53, B4 and FM7 soft synths are highly regarded for their vintage sounds and analog-style user controls that allow extensive modifications to the patches. Xpress Keyboards gives you some of the same patches from the full versions, with much more limited user controls. But at a street price of less than $100 (MSRP $119), this bundle is a great value, considering that the full versions cost hundreds of dollars each.
Link (digitalwebcast.com)
Jim Brickman: Grace
May 20, 2005
Jim Brickman is a mainstay in contemporary music after 10 albums and more than 10 years.
His classically-imbued compositions garner consistent praise from his most ardent fans, who always use the same word — “inspirational” — in describing him and his gift. It gave Brickman the idea to compile some of the spiritual hymns that have inspired him throughout his life.
The resulting collection, the aptly titled “Grace,” is done with poignant expression and heartfelt delivery. Featuring traditional hymns and new compositions, Brickman washes them in stately piano displays, sometimes flecked with elequent instrumental and vocal accompaniment, capable of shining pure, brilliant light on any setting.
Link (Journal Review)
Tom McDermott jazzes up timeless Brazilian choros
May 20, 2005
As a disciple of traditional jazz and ragtime, local pianist Tom McDermott is accustomed to advocating music at pop culture’s margins.
So he was pleasantly surprised on a trip to Brazil to learn that that country’s indigenous choro music — like American jazz and ragtime, its roots reach back more than a century — is still considered a vital genre.
“If you go outside New Orleans, trad jazz is pretty much old people’s music,” McDermott said. “It’s not been hip to like that music for a long time. But it’s OK to be into choro in Brazil. This is a music form that goes back to the 1870s, but choro is still being written and performed by young people, and young people enjoy it.
Link (nola.com)
Instructor offers crash courses in piano playing
May 19, 2005
Two piano workshops will soon be available for those who have a budding pianist inside just itching to tickle the ivories, but little time to study the craft. Trinity Valley Community College in Athens will offer two three-hour courses June 6th and 7th that will teach piano in a flash.
A hectic workday, a busy family life, and other obligations can deter the aspiring musician from taking the time to explore a desired hobby. The two sessions will help those who really want to turn heads at the next office party or ring in the New Year by showing off their skills.
The workshops will teach students how to play songs using a chord method, simplifying songs and allowing students to play their favorite Christmas, pop, gospel or folk songs.
Link (Athens Review Online)
Mom’s memory spurs creation of Miracle of Music Fund
May 19, 2005
If you’ve ever held someone through the death experience, startling things can linger. The heart can suddenly beat a couple of times and then go quiet again, the body remains warm much longer than you’d think, even a breath can be exhaled minutes after vital life signs have vanished.
It’s a startling experience and can make you think that maybe life is starting back up. When you love someone and they’re gone, you tend to hold onto these things, their smell, favorite clothing, things that seem to hold their essence for you. They are treasures.
So here’s the deal - there is money on the table, just waiting for the right kids to start tickling the ivories. This is the first time around for the fund, with the deadline “basically the end of the month but, really the end of the school year,” Swalwell said. So time is of the essence.
Link (DesMoinesRegister.com)
Bobby McFerrin: Fun with Mozart
May 19, 2005
The 10-time Grammy winner returns to the Heinz Hall podium Wednesday for a program of classical music he loves, leavened by a segment in which he’ll employ his incredible four-octave voice and improvisatory skills with members of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.
McFerrin’s love of classical music runs deep, back to his parents who were opera singers. His father Robert McFerrin Sr. was the first black to solo at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. Bobby studied clarinet and piano as a child, but became a star as a singer with incredible range — four-octaves in notes and able to encompass a world of styles from jazz to world music. His “Simple Pleasures” album, a tribute to music of the 1960s, won a Grammy, while the song “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” won for Grammys for record of the year and song of the year in addition to being a worldwide best-seller.
Link (PittsburgLive.com)
Christopher O’Riley: the ultimate anti-snob
May 19, 2005
Christopher O’Riley isn’t nearly as famous as the things he does. In fact, he’s probably most often described in casual coffeehouse conversation as that Radiohead piano guy. I mean, that’s who he is. He’s the guy who plays earnest, classically inspired renditions of Radiohead songs on the piano, which you may have heard on NPR. (See his 2003 release, True Love Waits, and the new Hold Me To This.) He’s also the guy who does the public radio show From the Top, which spotlights young classical musicians from around the country. He’s also an L.A. resident, an accomplished soloist on the classical circuit, a voracious rock & roll fan and a Comedy Central devotee. He’s darn near a postmodern Renaissance man, gently but relentlessly promoting a worldview and approach to culture that rejects received boundaries of definition: O’Riley judges Tears for Fears and Shostakovich by the same basic yardstick, and has no shame in his pop-cultural obsessions. (He loves South Park, detests I Love Huckabees) He’s the best kind of historian and musician: a lover, a student, a geek. (He’s even published transcriptions of his Radiohead arrangements in book form, okay?) In short, Christopher O’Riley is the ultimate anti-snob.
Cubase SX 3 reviewed
May 19, 2005
Cubase SX 3 is a native music production system that runs on both Macs and PCs and has a powerful toolset for any audio occasion, from recording and editing to looping and virtual instrument hosting. It also has some unique functions, including some of the 70 new features introduced in version 3.
Link (digitalmedianet.com)
Mei-Ting Sun: Honesty is prodigy’s policy
May 19, 2005
If creating good art is about suffering, then pianist Mei-Ting Sun can expect to have a storied career.
The 24-year-old classical sensation, who in March was the first prize winner of the Seventh National Chopin Piano Competition, seems to revel in telling the immense sacrifices he and his parents made in their native China so he could become a classical pianist.
“I started playing at 3 and, even at that age, practiced three hours a day,” said Sun, who will perform an all-Chopin program at the Honolulu Academy of Arts’ theater Friday night. “My parents spent their life savings twice, first to purchase a piano, then to send me to the United States to study.”
Link (StarBulletin)
