Lester Young (Aug. 27, 1909–March 15, 1959) is given not just a memorial, but extensive musicological criticism and contextual information in this ten-chapter series by jazz pianist and blogger Ethan Iverson of The Bad Plus. Solo transcriptions and analyses, interviews with Lee Konitz, Tootie and Jimmy Heath, Benny Golson, an essay on Young's influence on Miles Davis, a discographic primer and more. (Previously.) [more inside]
posted by ism on Aug 27, 2009 - 14 comments

Sounds of America is a new monthly streaming audio program, a collaboration between the National Museum of American History and Smithsonian Global Sound. Up now are 3 episodes: African-American music in New Orleans, Women in American Music, and Freedom Songs of the U.S. Civil Rights Movement.
posted by Miko on Apr 2, 2008 - 12 comments

"Dr. Nalini Ghuman {is} . . . a citizen of the United Kingdom and a professor of music at Mills College in Oakland, California. In August 2006 Dr. Ghuman was detained upon her return to the United States." And nobody knows why. [more inside]
posted by fourcheesemac on Sep 18, 2007 - 123 comments

New voice for the oldest song ever. "The Prayer of an Infertile Woman," (video embedded within article text) is a 3200 year old song that was recently reconstructed and performed by Leiden University Assyriology professor Dr. Theo J. H. Krispijn at the Chicago Oriental Institute.
posted by The Straightener on Apr 4, 2007 - 19 comments

MusicTheory.net - Posted in a comment here, I thought I'd give it an FPP considering it may have just saved my butt on an exam. MusicTheory.net is an excellent, step-by-step resource for students, amateurs, and aesthetes of all levels. The site is flash, but provides not only lessons but training sessions and other resources as well (including a staff paper generator).

For those who would like some other resources, ilearnmusic.com has lessons, including a section on Music Theory 101 (with a few nice links, as well). Dolmetsch online offers extensive information, including a section demystifying guitar tabs for those of us who don't play. And, of course, the wikipedia has a fairly extensive list of external links in their article, including several journals for those more advanced theorists out there. [*]
posted by Eideteker on Apr 10, 2006 - 13 comments

The Doctor of Music. "A General History of Music From the Earliest Ages to the Present Period, Volume IV", written by the English musician and historian Dr. Charles Burney (1726-1814) was published in 1789. Its first volume, completed in 1776, was the first History of music ever published. The fourth volume is of particular interest as it discusses the state of music in Burney's own lifetime. He observed the music, and musicians that he wrote about first hand. In fact, Burney was close friends with composers such as Haydn and Handel, he even played violin in Handel's orchestra, and lived with Dr. Thomas Arne for two years in London, as his apprentice. The fourth volume, to Dr. Charles Burney, was the most interesting as he preferred the music of the current time, finding no interest in "antiquarianism." In the main link, the entire volume -- in facsimile -- is available to readers. Burney also translated Pietro Metastasio's Memoirs. Also: The Burney Collection of Newspapers at the British Library. More inside.
posted by matteo on Jun 19, 2005 - 6 comments

The story of "St. James Infirmary." You thought it was a piece of old New Orleans? Turns out St. James Hospital was in London (and treated lepers), and the song goes back at least to the 18th century (though it used to be sung to the tune of "Streets of Laredo"). Rob Walker's Letter From New Orleans #13 describes the results of his obsessive researches. If you have more info, he wants to hear from you! (Via Wordorigins, a site any word lover should know.)
posted by languagehat on Jun 11, 2004 - 9 comments