“The original organ mechanisms from the 1920s were made of hair sheep leather imported from England. They have been replaced with new hair sheep leather.” - San Diego Union-Tribune (MSN)
Just … wow: “The neo-payola promotional schemes; the minuscule royalties paid to artists, not to mention the royalty-free 'ghost artists'; the designation of huge swaths of artists as royalty-ineligible ‘hobbyists'; the investments in podcasts, military technology and aural wallpaper repackaged for wellness culture.” - Washington Post (MSN)
The founder of the Seattle Bach Festival: “In our postpandemic reality, there is so much to do in the rebuilding of community bonds, and music is a very powerful and healing way to do that.” - Seattle Times
There’s a groundswell of artists — notably Billie Eilish and Coldplay — changing how concerts are staged from the bottom up. These eco-minded musicians are following in the lighter-carbon footsteps of the Dave Matthews Band and Jack Johnson, who led the charge in the 2010s with their green riders and sustainability initiatives. - Variety
The Hall of Fame is about old and dead people; rock’n’roll is about the young and living. The Hall of Fame tries to reform rock’n’roll, tame it, reduce it to bland, middle-American family entertainment; it drains all the sexiness and danger and rebelliousness out of it. - The Atlantic
Women led the way in recorded music this year, according to the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), topping the singles chart for 34 out of the 52 weeks and accounting for half of the top 20 albums for the first time. - The Guardian
No, the company wasn't started by the Pilgrims, even though it is near Plymouth. The Avedis Zildjian Co. was founded in Istanbul in 1623 to make cymbals for the Ottoman sultan's Janissary bands. The company was moved to the US in 1929 and is now the world's oldest musical instrument manufacturer. - WBUR (Boston)
Despite these odds and obstacles, classical music — an art form best known for constantly dying and losing its grip on popular culture — has become part of the cultural fabric of TikTok, even as it’s shredded to bits. - Washington Post (MSN)
According to a 2022 study from the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, people under 35 are actually more likely to listen to classical music than their parents. In early 2024, they reported interest in attending orchestral concerts peaked the previous year. They also found that orchestral music itself had a bigger increase in popularity than any other. - CBC
"Wood shavings littered the floor of Sakhi's cramped workshop in the Afghan city of Herat as another rubab, the national musical instrument of his homeland, took shape under his deft hands. Sakhi has crafted two rubabs a month for decades, and he refuses to set down his tools." - AFP (Yahoo!)
Wagner described his ideal opera as a “total work of art”, meaning an artwork that brings together all the arts into a single masterwork": music, dance, drama, literature, and visual art. An artwork that uses all the arts, especially in lush Romantic operas like Puccini’s, can be like a circus of sensation. - Current Affairs
"Ghetto Classics provides lessons to about 1,000 students, who feed three orchestras, a choir and a dance group. … (The organization) works in schools and community centers in Nairobi and Mombasa, but its headquarters is in the St. John compound in Korogocho." - The Washington Post (MSN)
Step into a music class today and you might find laptops, turntables and MIDI controllers joining the expected clarinets, recorders and violins. From elementary through post-secondary schooling, some teachers are expanding music education and encouraging more students to try more contemporary forms of music-making. - CBC
