Friday, March 13, 2009

Musically

1. According to their email newsletter, Switchfoot is working on a new album:
We are home recording again! It feels like we are rounding 3rd base and can see homeplate coming into view. When the dust settles I hope you guys enjoy these songs as much as we are enjoying the process.
2. In Switchfoot related news, the Pittsburgh Camerata is performing an arrangement of lead singer Jon Foreman's song, "The Moon is a Magnet." The article as some interesting bits:
"I want to see us be relevant," she says of the 24-member choir. "It seems like classical music is irrelevant to most of the population, and I think that is wrong. I don't think that is the fault of the audience or classical composers, but what we are giving them.
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"A good song is a good song," Rollett says emphatically. "It doesn't matter if it was written in 1600, 1800 or 2009. The problem is making people realize that what they are going to hear are good songs."
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Rollett hopes that, eventually, the time she has spent watching pop and rock shows will help her to transform Camerata concerts beyond its usual repertory.
"I feel there is such a separation between the audience and the performers," she says. "They are up there in fancy clothes, and you are required to sit there and admire them and be quiet. But that is not the experience that young people have. They are up in the mosh pit or singing along. I am trying to make this a more visceral experience. I haven't yet figured out how to make it more participatory like a rock concert, but I am trying to think of something small to capture that."
I love the idea that a "good song is a good song" no matter when it's written. I do see the beauty of simply sitting quietly and listening to music. It's not that I don't find musical beauty at a rock concert, but another way of enjoying music is quieting yourself and taking it in. It's a different kind of participation that we (as in people, especially right now) have a hard time understanding and an even harder time actually doing.

3. Coldplay has a cool new discography section of their page with lyrics and clips of all their songs as well as all of their videos.

4. People dancing in a Liverpool train station (at least I think that's what it is). [Thanks Rob]

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