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Young musician dies weeks after writing final song

Cat Janice has died aged 31 with her family by her side. The young musician, who had a large following on TikTok, had been battling cancer since January 2022 when doctors diagnosed her with sarcoma, a rare malignant tumour. She was declared cancer-free on July 22 that same year, following extensive surgery, chemo and radiation therapy. The mum-of-one was sadly re-diagnosed with cancer in June last year and despite fighting hard in the second round of her treatments, Janice told fans in January that her cancer "won" and that she "fought hard but sarcomas are too tough". Janice's family have announced her passing in a statement shared to her Instagram. "From her childhood home and surrounded by her loving family, Catherine peacefully entered the light and love of her heavenly creator," they said. "We are eternally thankful for the outpouring of love that Catherine and our family have received over the past few months." Before she died, Janice publicly announced that all her music would be signed over to her 7-year-old son, Loren, to support him in the future. Just weeks before her death, she released her final song Dance You Outta My Head in the hope it would spread "joy and fun". "My last joy would be if you pre saved my song 'Dance You Outta My Head' and streamed it because all proceeds go straight to my 7-year-old boy I'm leaving behind," she said, before the song was released. The song went viral, and took he number one spot in several countries and the number five spot on the Apple Itunes globally. Her family have said that the love she received for her final song, was unbelievable parting gift she could have ever received. "Cat saw her music go places she never expected and rests in the peace of knowing that she will continue to provide for her son through her music. This would not have been possible without all of you." Images: Instagram

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Bizarre reasons these musicians were sued by their own fans

Musicians aren’t exactly strangers to the law. From copyright lawsuits and contract breaches to brawls and bad behaviour, it’s not all that uncommon for a rock or pop star to spend a few nights behind bars. What is rare, however, is fans being responsible for landing their idol on the stand. Here are four examples of fans suing their favourite musicians for some simply bizarre reasons. 1. Rod Stewart The 72-year-old crooner has been a lifelong super fan of Celtic F.C., and has been known to kick a ball into the crowd at his concerts from time to time. However, this seemingly harmless act has left more than one fan worse for wear. In 1990, <a href="http://ultimateclassicrock.com/rod-stewart-soccer-ball-lawsuit/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a Michigan resident was awarded US$17,000</a> after suing Stewart for kicking a ball the ruptured a tendon in her finger, which she said affected her sex life and led to the ruin of her marriage. Then, in 2012, a Californian man copped a football in the face, fracturing his naval cavity and <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/celebritynews/11119759/Rod-Stewart-sued-by-fan-who-claims-he-broke-his-nose-on-a-flying-football.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">claiming US$10,000</a> to fix it. 2. Prince Back in 2004, the late Prince rented out a mansion belonging to NBA star basketballer Carlos Boozer, and made <a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/basketball/bulls/ct-carlos-boozer-prince-house-20160421-story.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">some serious changes</a> to the place in order to make himself feel at home. These changes included repainting the exterior of the house in purple stripes, installing black carpet in a guest room and purple monogrammed carpet in the master suite. Naturally, Boozer wasn’t thrilled. He sued Prince for over US$25,000, but later dropped the charges after the singer amended the changes. Nevertheless, Boozer remains a fan to this day. 3. Michael Jackson Three songs from the King of Pop’s posthumous album (Michael)became the focus of <a href="http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2016/07/01/sony-music-tricked-michael-jackson-fans-buy-fake-cds/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a bizarre lawsuit</a> between fan Vera Serova and Sony Music Entertainment. In 2014, Serova became convinced that “Breaking News”, “Monster” and “Keep Your Head Up” were not in fact sung by Jackson, regardless of the credits in the track listings. Serova’s case – a class action which continues to be fought today – cited consumer rights violation – namely that she was misled into purchasing the CD based on the belief all songs would feature the vocals of Jackson. 4. Sia The Aussie pop star has fans all over the world, but her follower count took a dive after a 2016 performance in Tel Aviv, Israel for a very odd reason – a lack of banter. Angry fans have <a href="http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Culture/Sia-target-of-class-action-suit-by-disappointed-Tel-Aviv-concert-goers-464152" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reportedly</a> filed a class action suit against the “Chandelier” singer, complaining that the set lasted just 65 minutes and there was no stage banter between songs. Concertgoers who were unable to see Sia on stage were also disappointed that the screens on the side of the stage were not showing the performance as it happened, but rather a pre-recorded video of the singer and Kristen Wiig. Tickets for the show cost approximately US$91, so we can see why they’re less than thrilled. Image credit: Getty

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Trailblazing musician and composer Ryuichi Sakamoto dies at 71

Composer and activist Ryuichi Sakamoto, the creative force behind The Last Emperor’s award-winning score and trailblazing member of Yellow Magic Orchestra, has passed away at the age of 71 following a second cancer diagnosis. Sakamoto died on March 28, as a statement released by his management team to his official website confirmed. “We are deeply saddened to announce the passing of artist and musician, Ryuichi Sakamoto,” it read. "While undergoing treatment for cancer discovered in June 2020, Sakamoto continued to create works in his home studio whenever his health would allow. "He lived with music until the very end.” “We would like to extend our deepest gratitude to his fans and all those who have supported his activities, as well as the medical professionals in Japan and the US who did everything in their power to cure him,” it continued, before going on to explain that his funeral service was “held among close family members” as per his wishes, and that they would be unable to accept “calls of condolences, offerings of incense or flowers, and the like.” To conclude the statement, the team shared one of Sakamoto’s favourite quotes, “‘Ars longa, vita brevis’. “Art is long, life is short.” Sakamoto’s art is perhaps what he will be remembered best for - by many, for his widely-renowned soundtracks, including those for Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence, the same film in which he starred alongside his friend, David Bowie. The team managing the late Bowie’s official Twitter account posted a tribute to Sakamoto in the wake of the news, writing, “REST IN PEACE RYUICHI SAKAMOTO … ‘Here am I, a lifetime away from you’” alongside a picture of the two, taken in Japan in 1983. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> REST IN PEACE RYUICHI SAKAMOTO “Here am I, a lifetime away from you...” Sad to learn of the passing of actor, composer, and producer <a href="https://twitter.com/ryuichisakamoto?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ryuichisakamoto</a>. The renowned Japanese artist passed on Tuesday 28th March aged 71. He won awards - including an Oscar, a Grammy and Bafta -… <a href="https://t.co/OZdRVnQyYW">pic.twitter.com/OZdRVnQyYW</a> — David Bowie Official (@DavidBowieReal) <a href="https://twitter.com/DavidBowieReal/status/1642598977785741318?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 2, 2023</a></blockquote> Sakamoto’s contribution to numerous music genres - including the likes of synth-pop, house music, and hip-hop - won’t be forgotten either. In the 1970s, he rose to fame as a member of the Japanese group Yellow Magic Orchestra, helping to lay the foundations for generations to come with their innovative electronic approach. In the 1980s, Sakamoto even joined forces with Iggy Pop for the 1987 hit ‘Risky’. “One of the greatest, most influential composers of our times,” tweeted one fan of his music mastery. “And I mean like really truly foundational levels of influence. Do you like electro? Hip hop? Video game music? Modern film scores? Jpop? Jrock? "Experimental music"? He was a pioneer of it all!" <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> RIP to Ryuichi Sakamoto, one of the greatest, most influential composers of our times. And I mean like really truly foundational levels of influence. Do you like electro? Hip hop? Videogame music? Modern film scores? Jpop? Jrock? "Experimental music"? He was a pioneer of it all! <a href="https://t.co/IoFlJwL9OL">https://t.co/IoFlJwL9OL</a> <a href="https://t.co/HP1Jdfltkg">pic.twitter.com/HP1Jdfltkg</a> — Art-Eater ➡️⬇️↘️🐲👊 (@Richmond_Lee) <a href="https://twitter.com/Richmond_Lee/status/1642537126834339840?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 2, 2023</a></blockquote> And his success from 1987 wasn’t to stop there, with Sakamoto taking home the Academy Award for his score on the period epic The Last Emperor. While the award was presented at the 1988 ceremony, the film - directed by Bernardo Bertolucci, and telling the story of China’s last emperor, Puyi - was released the previous year. The score also saw him take home a Grammy and a Golden Globe for his work. As the Japan Film Society wrote on Twitter, Sakamoto was “a singular artist whose contributions to music and film remain unparalleled.” <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> R.I.P. Ryuichi Sakamoto (1952-2023), a singular artist whose contributions to music and film remain unparalleled. <a href="https://t.co/FUKyvHWRf9">pic.twitter.com/FUKyvHWRf9</a> — Japan Society Film (@js_film_nyc) <a href="https://twitter.com/js_film_nyc/status/1642515647388176385?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 2, 2023</a></blockquote> In 2007, Sakamoto branched out again, founding a conservation organisation known as More Trees, with the goal of promoting sustainable forestry in Japan, Indonesia, and the Philippines. Reportedly, Sakamoto even contacted the Tokyo governor shortly before his passing, continuing his mission to protect Japan’s tree cover. And in 2011, Sakamoto turned his influence into activism yet again in the wake of the Fukushima meltdown when he organised a concert against nuclear power. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> <a href="https://t.co/mYLMEN6HrZ">pic.twitter.com/mYLMEN6HrZ</a> — ryuichi sakamoto (@ryuichisakamoto) <a href="https://twitter.com/ryuichisakamoto/status/1642507238467309568?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 2, 2023</a></blockquote> Images: Getty

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Why do musicians like Elton John find retirement so tough? A music psychology expert explains

With his <a href="https://www.eltonjohn.com/stories/farewell-yellow-brick-road">Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour</a>, Elton John confirmed his latest plans for retirement. The final show of the tour in July 2023 will be his last. However, deja vu suggests this might not be the last we see of Elton. The singer has announced plans to retire <a href="https://www.musictimes.com/articles/8902/20140817/elton-john-career-false-retirements-brief-chronological-look.htm">at least five times</a> since 1984 but is still going strong. By the end of his current tour, Elton John will have performed in over 300 concerts in the UK, the US and Europe and he shows no sign of slowing down. He’ll perform a <a href="https://www.billboard.com/music/pop/elton-john-final-uk-show-glastonbury-festival-1235180982/">headline slot at Glastonbury</a> in 2023. Elton is not the only performer with a history of retiring and unretiring. He is in good company with <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/story?id=113477&page=1">Barbra Streisand</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/justinbieber/status/415683404462436352?lang=en">Justin Bieber</a>, <a href="https://www.revolt.tv/article/2022-07-14/180311/jay-z-explains-2003-retirement-i-thought-i-was-burned-out/">Jay-Z</a>, <a href="https://www.nme.com/news/music/lily-allen-hints-she-may-not-retire-just-yet-after-olivia-rodrigo-glastonbury-performance-3258600">Lily Allen</a> and <a href="https://ultimateclassicrock.com/phil-collins-retired/">Phil Collins</a>. Hip-hop star <a href="https://www.upi.com/Entertainment_News/2022/02/04/Nicki-Minaj-returns-music-new-single-Do-We-Have-Problem/9811643982091/">Nicki Minaj’s</a> retirement lasted for only 22 days, while heavy metal singer <a href="https://ultimateclassicrock.com/ozzy-osbourne-retirement-1992/">Ozzy Osbourne’s</a> valedictory No More Tours tour in 1992 preceded a further 30 years of performance. In contrast with handsomely rewarded performances on the global stage, retirement can be an intermittent pipe dream for many musicians. Long, unsociable hours in the music industry often offer modest remuneration and few of the perks available in other sectors. There is <a href="https://www.gov.uk/working-retirement-pension-age">no compulsory retirement age</a> in the UK, which can be a godsend for lower paid professional performers who find that saving for an adequate pension is beyond their means. In these cases, working <a href="https://theconversation.com/ageing-activism-why-we-need-to-give-voice-to-the-new-third-age-50305">beyond the third age</a> is a necessity. For Elton and his internationally acclaimed peers, however, the incentive to return to performing is less likely to be financial. So why do some successful musicians find it so hard to stick to retirement? <h2>The motivation of the stage</h2> The key to understanding this lies in motivation. For many musicians, the motivation to perform is intrinsic rather than extrinsic. Extrinsically motivated performers are interested in tangible rewards such as money. <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0305735617721637">Intrinsic motivation</a> meanwhile, is present when a musician performs mainly because of a strong inner desire to make music. For intrinsically motivated performers, making music is inherently pleasurable and a means unto itself. This partly explains why the music profession remains attractive even if it does not always bring the financial security of other careers. It also explains why some celebrated performers find it difficult to stay out of the public arena. Among those with a passion for music, the rewards of performance often exceed the financial benefits. The status and accolades derived from a celebrated performance career provide a source of affirmation which can become difficult to obtain elsewhere. Once human beings have fulfilled their basic needs of food, water, shelter and relationships, <a href="http://eznow7jgmenpjz.pic3.eznetonline.com/upload/MASLOW_YQfG.pdf">self-actualisation</a> becomes a significant driving force. For dedicated performers, achievement in the musical sphere can become an irreplaceable vehicle for attaining self esteem, personal growth and the satisfaction of fulfilling their potential. <h2>You’re only as good as your last performance</h2> Identity is also a central component in the motivation to perform. Continuing to perform professionally <a href="https://westminsterresearch.westminster.ac.uk/download/fbc3b0a7fd80bcb648344f9d298414ece784f56ff9018d267fd77a7fce70a980/519636/Gross%20%26%20Musgrave%20%282017%29%20Can%20Muic%20Make%20You%20Sick%20Pt2.pdf">can provide validation</a> for musicians, regardless of the level of income and recognition. For many, being a musician is inextricably linked with their sense of self. Their self worth is then strongly affected by their capacity to perform. This is especially true for singers, as voice is an integral part of <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jane-Oakland/publication/258173213_Re-defining_'Me'_Exploring_career_transition_and_the_experience_of_loss_in_the_context_of_redundancy_for_professional_opera_choristers/links/00b7d52d6675946763000000/Re-defining-Me-Exploring-career-transition-and-the-experience-of-loss-in-the-context-of-redundancy-for-professional-opera-choristers.pdf">identity formation and expression</a>. There is some truth in the old saying; “You’re only as good as your last performance.” If you’re not performing at all, how good can you be? For retired musicians, <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jane-Oakland/publication/280067238_AGEING_AND_RETIREMENT_TOWARDS_AN_UNDERSTANDING_OF_THE_EXPERIENCES_OF_SYMPHONY_MUSICIANS_AS_THEY_APPROACH_RETIREMENT/links/55a640e008aee8aaa765644b/AGEING-AND-RETIREMENT-TOWARDS-AN-UNDERSTANDING-OF-THE-EXPERIENCES-OF-SYMPHONY-MUSICIANS-AS-THEY-APPROACH-RETIREMENT.pdf">it can be challenging</a> to find a comparable way to channel the energy they once dedicated to performance. Musicians, like other professional groups, are diverse in many ways, but there are some personality traits different types of musicians tend to share. For example, classical musicians typically score highly on introversion, which partly accounts for <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/03057356810090010201">their ability to focus</a> on the solitary practice necessary for developing technique before engaging in ensemble playing. In contrast, rock and pop musicians tend to <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/epdf/10.1177/0305735694222006">score highly</a> on extroversion, often learning and rehearsing more informally in collaboration with their peers. Extroverted performers often derive their energy from audience interaction so it can be difficult to achieve that “buzz” once the music stops. <h2>Don’t stop me now</h2> Performing music is <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00906/full">widely recognised</a> as a way of achieving the highly desired state of “flow”, otherwise known as “peak performance” or being “in the zone”. Providing that the challenge of performing closely matches the skill level of the performer, <a href="https://nuovoeutile.it/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/2002-Flow.pdf">music can become an all-absorbing activity</a>, which is so immersive that it distorts our sense of time and distracts us from our everyday concerns. During live concerts, the audience and performers can experience a sense of <a href="https://sociologicalscience.com/download/vol-6/january/SocSci_v6_27to42.pdf">“collective effervescence”</a> rarely achieved elsewhere. Add in the emotional high derived from the adrenaline released in public performance and we can begin to understand why the rewards of performance can be difficult to replace in retirement. Rihanna’s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yd8jh9QYfEs">Don’t Stop the Music</a>, Queen’s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgzGwKwLmgM">Don’t Stop Me Now</a> and Elton’s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHwVBirqD2s">I’m Still Standing</a> are these musicians ways of telling us that they want to be in the limelight, just as much as their audiences want them to stay there. Image credits: Getty Images This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-do-musicians-like-elton-john-find-retirement-so-tough-a-music-psychology-expert-explains-197362" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>.

Music

"I’m the problem, it’s me": Why do musicians revisit their pain and doubt in their art?

Taylor Swift’s latest album Midnights launched with the single <a href="https://youtu.be/b1kbLwvqugk">Anti-Hero</a>. Anti-heroes in fiction are dark, complex characters who may question their moral compass but are ultimately trying to be led by their good intentions. Perhaps most humans feel like we are all anti-heroes lacking the right amount of courage, idealism, and morality – wanting to be heroic but struggling through familiar dark places. In Anti-Hero, Taylor shares emotional rawness and sings “It’s me, hi, I’m the problem, it’s me … everybody agrees.” “I don’t think I’ve delved this far into my insecurities in this detail before,” Swift said about the song in a video <a href="https://ew.com/music/taylor-swift-midnights-anti-hero-meaning/">on Instagram</a>. “I struggle a lot with the idea that my life has become unmanageably sized and, not to sound too dark, I struggle with the idea of not feeling like a person.” Taylor’s album reveals her struggle with her own insecurities and maybe common universal human emotions that everyone struggles to face. In Labyrinth, for example, she sings about heartbreak, and more specifically, the fear of falling in love again: "It only feels this raw right now Lost in the labyrinth of my mind Break up, break free, break through, break down." Much of the new album, and Swift’s discography in general, often revisits past heartbreaks, disappointments, and insecurities. Swift has talked about how Midnights is an album devoted to the kinds of soul-searching thoughts we have in the middle of the night. “This is a collection of music written in the middle of the night, a journey through terrors and sweet dreams,” Swift wrote. “The floors we pace and the demons we face. For all of us who have tossed and turned and decided to keep the lanterns lit and go searching — hoping that just maybe, when the clock strikes twelve… we’ll meet ourselves.” <h2>Music and pain</h2> Music has the potential to change our experience of intrusive thoughts and how we deal with pain. At an extreme level, when we revisit past traumatic experiences, we are often in danger of triggering a <a href="https://www.verywellmind.com/the-four-fear-responses-fight-flight-freeze-and-fawn-5205083">feared response</a>, that manifests as either fight/flight/freeeze or fawn, that can often re-traumatise individuals. When we identify with a song that expresses similar struggles to what we are experiencing we feel understood and not judged. Clinical psychologist <a href="https://janinafisher.com/pdfs/trauma.pdf">Dr Janina Fisher</a> has proposed that distancing ourselves from pain helps humans survive, yet an ongoing “self-alientation” of parts of ourselves that carries fear or shame lead to a disowning of self – the bad parts that Taylor relates to as being the things she hates about herself which causes a further suppression of feelings that can create further psychological distress. Expression is central to releasing emotion and connecting to music may be the key that allows the disowned parts of self to be re-integrated by expressing them in a new way. Music provides a creative outlet to re-script a new story of survival of the fear of the past with a renewed ability to see to the good things again in life. Musicians often imbue grief and trauma in their lyrics and melodies as autobiographical reflections into their art as a way of working through complex emotions and feelings - and by doing so, enlighten the listener to work through their own pain. <h2>Music and connection</h2> Music seems to be a way for music lovers to connect with artists stories of tragedy, which allows their own traumatic or painful memories to become more comfortably <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-4899-1280-0_2">integrated</a> and accepted. Durham University studied 2,436 people within the United Kingdom and Finland to explore the reasons why we listen to sad music. Research suggested that music is a way that people regulate their mood, pleasure and pain. Professor Tuomas Eerola, Professor of Music Cognition in the Department of Music said “<a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/06/160614155914.htm">previous research</a> in music psychology and film studies has emphasised the puzzling pleasure that people experience when engaging with tragic art.” The depth of loathing that Taylor taps into in Anti-Hero also affirms our own experience. It’s self confirming. Engaging with trauma in art allows us to rewrite the outcome from being victims of our circumstances to victors. We are either consumers or creators. <h2>Mental health and music</h2> As the <a href="https://www.who.int/data/gho/data/major-themes/health-and-well-being">World Health Organisation</a> states “there is no health without mental health”. A musician’s writing about trauma is a way of increasing mental health - of searching for understanding of themselves through self-reflection, it changes old thinking patterns and provides a new perspective and ways of thinking about themselves and others that can often <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2804629/">heal emotional wounds</a>. Like telling your story through a <a href="https://www.apa.org/ptsd-guideline/treatments/narrative-exposure-therapy">trauma narrative</a>, music can help reduce its emotional impact. Music is a universal language that gives you the chance to be a protagonist in your life story, to see yourself as living through it heroically. Psychologists understand that the quickest way to understanding someone is through their wounds, and musicians too understand this power of music to comfort, console, encourage and exhort themselves and other broken hearts. Humans need to feel safe and in connection with others for survival, and music is the language that activates <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.191355898">pleasure centres in the brain</a> and communicates <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2003-99991-007">powerful emotions</a>. If trauma causes distress to the brain and body and <a href="https://www.apa.org/ptsd-guideline/treatments/narrative-exposure-therapy">music enhances</a> psychological wellbeing, improves mood, emotions, reduces pain, anxiety, depression, and chronic stress, music has the potential to alleviate chronic disease and pain. Music is a vehicle that gathers strength from distress, and helps you grow brave by reflections and maybe the anti-hero’s and insecurities recreated through music may be the treasures found in darkness that we may not have seen in the light. Image credits: Getty Images This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/im-the-problem-its-me-why-do-musicians-revisit-their-pain-and-doubt-in-their-art-193528" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>.

Music

Excelling as a musician takes practice and requires opportunities – not just lucky genes

What makes talented musicians so good at what they do? There’s plenty of evidence that people can be born that way. Research findings suggest that about <a href="https://doi.org/10.1136/jmg.2007.056366">half of musical ability is inherited</a>. Even if that’s true, it doesn’t mean you must have musical talent in your genes to excel on the bass, oboe or drums. And even if you’re fortunate enough to belong to a family that includes musicians, you would still need to study, practice and get expert guidance to play well. As a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=34DZlUIAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">music professor and conductor</a>, I’ve seen the role that practice and experience play in propelling musicians toward mastery and success. There are some factors that help a musician get started – and heredity could be one of them. But musical skill is ultimately a complex interplay between <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0022429416680096">lots of practice and high-quality instruction</a>. <h2>The role genes can play</h2> Of course many great musicians, including some who are world famous, are related to other musical stars. Liza Minnelli, the famed actress, singer and dancer, is one of the late entertainer <a href="https://hollywoodlife.com/feature/judy-garland-kids-4728886/">Judy Garland’s three children</a>. <a href="https://people.com/music/jon-batiste-everything-to-know">Jon Batiste</a> – “The Late Show” bandleader, pianist and composer who has won Emmy, Oscar and Golden Globe awards – has at least 25 musicians in his family. Saxophonist Branford, trumpeter Wynton, trombonist Delfeayo and drummer Jason Marsalis are the <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/04/02/825717204/ellis-marsalis-patriarch-of-new-orleans-most-famous-musical-family-has-died">sons of pianist Ellis Marsalis</a>. Singer and pianist <a href="https://www.notablebiographies.com/news/Ge-La/Jones-Norah.html">Norah Jones</a> is the daughter of Indian sitar player <a href="https://www.vogue.in/culture-and-living/content/norah-jones-on-her-relationship-with-pandit-ravi-shankar-september-2020-cover-interview-hope">Ravi Shankar</a>, though Jones had little contact with her renowned father while growing up. Absolute pitch, also known as perfect pitch, is the ability to recognize and name any note you hear anywhere. Researchers have found that it <a href="https://doi.org/10.1086/301704">may be hereditary</a>. But do you need it to be a great musician? Not really. <h2>Most people are born with some musical ability</h2> I define musical ability as the possession of talent or potential – the means to achieve something musical. Then there’s skill, which I define as what you attain by working at it. You need at least some basic musical ability to acquire musical skills. Unless you can hear and discern pitches and rhythms, you can’t reproduce them. But people may overestimate the role of genetics because, with very rare exceptions, <a href="https://www.apa.org/monitor/feb05/absolute">almost everyone can perceive pitches</a> and rhythms. My research regarding children’s musicality suggests measures of singing skills are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0022429416666054">normally distributed</a> in the population. That is, pitch ability follows a <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/bell-curve.asp">bell curve</a>: Most people are average singers. Not many are way below average or excellent. My team’s most recent research suggests that this distribution is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/00224294211032160">true for rhythm</a> in addition to pitch. Not surprisingly, some musical skills are correlated. The more training you have on specific musical skills, the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/00224294211011962">better you’ll test on certain others</a>. This is probably because musical experience enhances other musical abilities. To sum it up, an emerging body of research indicates that practice doesn’t make perfect. But for most people, it helps a lot. <h2>Lessons and practice are essential</h2> What about people who say they they can’t keep a beat? It turns out that they almost always can track a steady beat to music. They just haven’t done it enough. Indeed, the last time I gave a nonbeliever our lab’s test for rhythm perception, she performed excellently. For that and for singing, some people just need <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/21/magazine/how-to-sing-in-tune.html">a little help</a> to move past assumptions they lack talent: You can’t say you’re incapable of something if you haven’t spent time trying. Some researchers and <a href="https://strategiesforinfluence.com/malcolm-gladwell-10000-hour-rule/">journalists have promoted</a> the idea it takes <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.100.3.363">10,000 hours of practice or training to master</a> a new skill. Innate ability puts people at different starting lines toward musical mastery. But once you’ve started to study an instrument or singing style, skill development depends on many other factors. Getting lessons, practicing often and being in a musical family may make those more likely. For example, Lizzo, a hip-hop superstar and classically trained flute player, had the luck to <a href="https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/lizzo-44986.php">grow up in family of music lovers</a>. They all had their own taste in music. Her success is a microcosm of why a well-rounded musical education for young people matters. The singers in the choir I lead at Penn State have a range of experience, from a little to a lot. Yet soon after they join it, they develop the ability to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/87551233211040726">pick a good key and starting pitch</a> as they get to know their own voices. Practicing more doesn’t change your baseline potential, it just changes what you can presently do. That is, if you practice a specific song over and over again, eventually you’re going to get better at it. Jonathon Heyward, the Baltimore Symphony’s new conductor, who has <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/21/arts/music/jonathon-heyward-baltimore-symphony-orchestra.html">no musicians in his family</a>, has worked really hard to excel. He started taking cello lessons at age 10 and hasn’t stopped since, playing and practicing and studying. <h2>Privilege can play a role</h2> Socioeconomic factors can also enter the equation. While conducting research, I’ve seen high-income college students from high-income families, with more years of musical experience, perform better than their classmates who have lower-income backgrounds and had fewer opportunities. Genes can give someone a head start. At the same time, having a quiet space where you can practice on an acoustic instrument or a digital workstation might make a more decisive difference for the musical prospects of most children. The same goes for having money for private lessons or access to free classes. Even so, many of the best musicians, including jazz greats <a href="https://www.louisarmstronghouse.org/biography/">Louis Armstrong</a> and <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/billie-holiday-about-the-singer/68/">Billie Holiday</a>, grew up facing many hardships. With the right conditions for practice and gaining experience, who knows where the next Liza or Lizzo will come from. Image credits: Getty Images This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/excelling-as-a-musician-takes-practice-and-requires-opportunities-not-just-lucky-genes-186693" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>.

Music

Beloved US musician and his wife found dead on desert road

A beloved US musician and his wife have been found dead near California under mysterious circumstances. Larry Petree and his wife Betty, who had been married for more than 60 years, were found dead on a desert road in a bizarre tragedy, leaving family members wondering what happened. “When deputies arrived, they found the bodies of an adult male sitting in the driver’s seat and adult female leaning against the rear tire,” the Kern County Sheriff’s Office said. Criminal activity is not suspected in the case, so homicide detectives didn‘t respond to the scene, while investigators added that it appeared the couple had run out of petrol. It is unclear where the couple were heading, and an official cause of death has yet to be revealed. Larry was known for his musical talents and played the pedal steel guitar, contributing to the iconic Bakersfield Sound era. He was playing shows in the area up until his passing, with Larry‘s final show being with a band called The Soda Crackers. “We had the honour of having Larry as our steel guitarist at our first ever show in Bakersfield and had the even greater honour of playing with him for his last show a few weeks ago,” the band wrote in a Facebook post on Monday. “We send our condolences to the Petree family and the greater Bakersfield Sound community.” Larry’s cousin, Laurie Sanders, told The Californian that Larry had been disoriented recently and got lost when attending his own gig. He failed to show up for the performance, and a family friend had to pick him up and take him to the concert. Image credits: Facebook

News

Musician sells artworks she created live on stage

Grammy-nominated pop star Halsey is doing her bit to support reproductive rights in the US, as she enters the world of fine arts. Currently on tour around America, Halsey has created five artworks while performing live on stage, with the pieces now for sale at Sotheby’s. All proceeds from the sales will benefit the National Network of Abortion Funds. The drawings are included in the <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2022/contemporary-discoveries-4?locale=en">Contemporary Discoveries</a> exhibition, which features artists such as David Hockney, Andy Warhol, and Os Gêmeos. Halsey’s works are expected to fetch around $7,000 each, with bids currently ranging between $5,500 and $6,500. She created each piece on different nights of her Love and Power Tour, while singing an untitled three-minute song. Hand moving in tandem with the melody, Halsey swiftly brought to life on white canvas androgynous faces punctuated by primary colours. According to the artist, the paintings are meant to symbolise the individual energies of each audience. Halsey has long been an outspoken advocate for women's rights and reproductive healthcare access. After the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe V. Wade in July, she <a href="https://www.vogue.com/article/my-abortion-saved-my-life-roe-v-wade-halsey">shared her personal experience</a> with a life-saving abortion procedure in an essay for Vogue. “I miscarried three times before my 24th birthday,” She wrote. “One of my miscarriages required ‘aftercare,’ a gentle way of saying that I would need an abortion, because my body could not terminate the pregnancy completely on its own and I would risk going into sepsis without medical intervention.” “Many people have asked me if, since carrying a child to term after years of struggling to do so, I have reconsidered my stance on abortion,” Halsey continued. “The answer is firmly no. In fact, I have never felt more strongly about it.” Image credits: Getty Images / Sotheby’s

Art

Avril Lavigne shows off massive engagement ring in Paris

He was a sk8er boi she said YES Canadian rocker Avril Lavigne has shown off her huge and absolutely stunning engagement ring. After just one year of dating, Derek Ryan Smith who goes by the name Mod Sun, got down on one knee in Paris in front of the Eiffel Tower and proposed. “Oui! Je t’aime pour toujours. Dimanche. 27. Mars. 2022,” Avril wrote in a series of heartwarming photos of the proposal. A simple translation from French, Avril’s message reads “Yes! I love you forever” along with the date. Mod Sun went a step further and wrote a loving message to his now fiancée also sharing sweet snaps of the treasured moment. “The day we met I knew you were the one. Together forever til our days are done,” his message began. “I had a dream where I proposed in paris. I pulled out a ring + asked you to wear it. I was on one knee as I looked in your eyes. “You’re too beautiful for my words to describe. I grabbed your hand + took one last breath…I said “will you marry me?” + she said “yes”. “I love you Avril.” The endearing photos show the loved-up couple kissing, smiling at one another, as well as Avril showing off the heart-shaped engagement ring which glows on her left finger. Images: Instagram

Relationships

David Byrne believes Spotify is making musicians “uncomfortable”

David Byrne has spoken out against Spotify, saying the platform is making artists feel “uncomfortable”. The former Talking Heads performer, who removed most of his music catalogue from the streaming service in 2013, claims the publishing of “questionable or controversial content” and “misinformation” is making musicians look for other ways to showcase their music. He said, "There’s been all these things about platforms having … let’s say questionable or controversial content [and] putting out misinformation or outright lies or … not exactly hate speech, but things that are making a lot of artists uncomfortable.” “And it’s pretty tough to do anything to help ameliorate that unless you’re a Drake or Taylor Swift, or those kinds of artists. It’s pretty hard for the rest of us to have influence." He told The Guardian newspaper, "A handful of mega, mega artists are doing really well, and many of the others – especially emerging artists – are having a tough time with it. There was definitely a period where I thought, ‘Oh, this is going to be tough for a lot of artists’, especially with Spotify’s ‘freemium’ layer.” Byrne went on to cite when Taylor Swift withheld one of her albums from Apple Music over their decision to not pay artists, and noted that only a "handful" of stars are "doing really well" out of putting the music on Spotify, which is thought to pay artists an average of $0.004 per stream. He said, “I watched as Taylor Swift went to Apple and said, ‘You can’t do this; you can’t have a freemium layer that will last forever.’ And she – I mean, bless her heart – she managed to get them to [change their policy]. Which I think was brave for her and good for a lot of the rest of us." Byrne’s comments come after several artists, including Neil Young and Joni Mitchell, decided to pull their music from Spotify due to the platform continuing to post controversial material from podcaster Joe Rogan. Image credits: Getty Images

Music

"Never again": Why Michael Bublé has sworn off social media

<div class="post_body_wrapper"> <div class="post_body"> <div class="body_text "> Canadian singer Michael Bublé has revealed why he no longer uses social media in an interview with The Daily Telegraph. Bublé is now touring a sold out tour in Australia as he cancelled a tour in 2016 after his son Noah was diagnosed with liver cancer hepatoblastoma. Buble made the decision to be with his family and stay by his son’s side as Noah underwent chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Bublé made the decision to no longer post photos of his personal life and live in the moment for his three children, Noah, seven, Elias, four and Vida, one, who he shares with wife Luisana Lopilato after Noah’s diagnosis. “There is a reason why I am a different human being,” he said to <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/entertainment/sydney-confidential/canadian-singer-michael-buble-explains-why-he-has-dumped-social-media/news-story/2487ea5da433806bc6732cd85ba0a910" target="_blank">The Daily Telegraph</a>. “I am grateful. I genuinely appreciate people so much. I am completely liberated as a human, as an artist, as an entertainer. “I have been through the worst thing that could happen to you and now I sing karaoke for money and I am out there laughing and crying and dancing and I love every second.” After being by his son’s side after cancer treatment, Bublé has since sworn off social media for life as he vows to be more present. <blockquote style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/BJnSoWmjUrz/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="12"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"></div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"></div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BJnSoWmjUrz/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank">A post shared by Michael Bublé (@michaelbuble)</a> on Aug 27, 2016 at 6:31am PDT </div> </blockquote> “A lot of it was a philosophical change of really trying to choose to just be in the moment and to like wake up in the morning and to check myself and go, ‘hey dude, you are a lucky man, go out there and show your kids with your actions’ because most of my life was spent being a narcissistic d**k.” <blockquote style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/BLoIek9jPFg/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="12"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"></div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"></div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BLoIek9jPFg/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank">A post shared by Michael Bublé (@michaelbuble)</a> on Oct 16, 2016 at 7:25am PDT </div> </blockquote> He still has active Twitter and Instagram accounts, but doesn’t check them personally as his team takes care of them for him. “Never again,” he said of social media. “I just think for me I let my insecurity get the best of me because I wasn’t the guy that could read a review and be okay with it. I would end up calling the person. It is just better for me, more healthy.” </div> </div> </div>

Music

An ode to surf music

The first tune I ever wrote – a proper tune, with an intro, verses, choruses and a middle bit – was a surfing instrumental. I have always been a pretty crappy singer, and I figured that the guitar could sing for me (I know, I know). But like anyone who grew up in the 60s this genre made sense to me. It was both fun and familiar, and there was room for storytelling in the sound of the guitar. Surf music was born with the release of Dick Dale’s first single Let’s Go Trippin’. Dale was born in Boston, but arrived in California as a teenager and started surfing. He played a left-handed guitar, but with the strings upside down, that is with the low strings at the bottom and the high strings at the top. This quite odd arrangement made for an idiosyncratic sound, all the physical movements up-ended; the dynamics reversed, the emphasis offset. Dale first played <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOlmBC1DlsY">Let’s Go Trippin’</a> in 1960, and it was a wild and crazy sound, the birth of a genre. <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"><iframe class="embed-responsive-item" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/WOlmBC1DlsY"></iframe></div> The fact that he has a Lebanese background informed his style. The frenetic oud and tarabaki playing that drives Lebanese pop music of the 50s seeped in, along with his love of drummer <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gene_Krupa">Gene Krupa</a>’s snappy snare. It didn’t take long for Dale’s influence to spread. Not really very surfy, but in 1962 Monty Norman’s James Bond theme for Dr. No was <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqcevBO9fi8">played by the tremendous John Barry Seven</a> and is a great example of the foregrounding of the edgy guitar sound that Dale perfected. <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"><iframe class="embed-responsive-item" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/GqcevBO9fi8"></iframe></div> The first of the teen surf movies, <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056860/">Beach Party</a>, was released a year later: tales of teen idiocy, with Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon at the helm, centred around summer, surf, music and endless partying. At least a dozen of these films were made, formulaic and sanitised, with established comedians like <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Lynde">Paul Lynde</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Rickles">Don Rickles</a>, promoting a romanticised image of surf culture. Although the movies were built on beach party guitar bands, the music charts and radio waves of the time were also home to beautiful, evocative guitar instrumentals. The Ventures from Washington state had their first hit with <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owq7hgzna3E">Walk, Don’t Run</a> in 1960. They played mostly covers, but developed a new sound - pounding toms and unison picking guitars - releasing many twangy gems including covers of Joe Meek’s Telstar, The Champs’ Tequila, as well as two of the touchstone tracks of the surf music genre in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqC3BjIyq_0">Pipeline</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjiOtouyBOg">Wipeout</a>. <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"><iframe class="embed-responsive-item" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/tqC3BjIyq_0"></iframe></div> In the UK, The Shadows were exploring similar terrain, with hits like <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoN6AKPGkBo">Apache</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rR0trsOUaY">Wonderful Land</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VycZVyApqew">Atlantis</a>. They took a more lyrical approach, stepping away from the blues-based patterns of the US guitar artists, and sliding in minor chords and more complex structures. <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"><iframe class="embed-responsive-item" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/VycZVyApqew"></iframe></div> But the thing that really sets The Shadows apart is the sound: the guitar amp producing washes of spacious reverb, as well as the watery bubbling of the vibrato; the guitar tremolo stretching the strings into tonal waves, and the orchestral layering on some of the grander tracks. Santo and Johnny’s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rwfqsjimRM">Sleepwalk</a> is a lesson in subtle mood-making with its lap steel guitar evoking the distant Hawaiian islands. <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"><iframe class="embed-responsive-item" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2rwfqsjimRM"></iframe></div> It appears in the repertoire of both The Ventures and The Shadows, inspires another deeply influential beauty, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QooCN5JbOkU">Albatross</a>, by Fleetwood Mac, with Peter Green on guitar, and echoes through the decades to the wonderful <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueMaYzvXX8w">work</a> of Richard Hawley. <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"><iframe class="embed-responsive-item" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/QooCN5JbOkU"></iframe></div> Australia in the 70s and beyond - great beaches, great surfers, great music The beaches south of Sydney produced Australia’s most notable surf band in 1961. The Atlantics had their genetic roots in Greece and Eastern Europe, an immigration success story years before Vanda and Young. Their biggest hit, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3agVtY4Z6M">Bombora</a>, is a surf rock classic and was an international sensation in the earliest days of the genre. <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"><iframe class="embed-responsive-item" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3agVtY4Z6M"></iframe></div> They had another big hit, The Crusher, and then in 1964 released War of The Worlds, awash with echoes and distortion and moodiness. It was innovative and brave, but ultimately spelled their demise as a surf band. As the 60s hit their twilight, and the wave of political enlightenment from Prague and Paris reached our shores, the blonde, post-war beach party was dragged out by the undertow. The Summer of Love, then Woodstock came and went, leaving the surfing subculture chilling with a joint in the back of the panel van rather than wildly dancing around the bonfire with a bottle of Mateus Rosé. The twangy instrumentals, with their snappy drums and lightning guitar lines stretched and grew, as synthesizers and production techniques replaced the earlier simple arrangements. The sound changed and became spacious, echoing the endless drift of the waves, and the slow drama of the incoming storm. In 1970, <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0248194/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Morning of the Earth</a> was released, becoming the first film soundtrack to earn a gold record in Australia. It not only has tracks by singer-songwriters and pop stars but also by the acid-surf instrumentalists <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamam_Shud">Tamam Shud</a>. It became an enormously influential film, capturing the idyllic nature of the surfing culture. <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"><iframe class="embed-responsive-item" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/K3uLj-YYaBs"></iframe></div> But the twang hadn’t gone. The sound of the surf guitar is core to the music of The Cramps and The Pixies. It surfaced in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ricky_Wilson_(American_musician)">Ricky Wilson</a>’s great guitar lines for <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szhJzX0UgDM">The B52s</a>. It rang clear as a bell in 80s Australian bands like The Sunnyboys, Surfside Six, Radio Birdman, The Riptides, and Mental As Anything. <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"><iframe class="embed-responsive-item" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/b2D84Ma-CxI"></iframe></div> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CINvgez73g">The Cruel Sea</a> rose in Sydney in 1987 from the ashes of Sekret Sekret, settling around the ebb and flow of guitarist Danny Rumour and guitarist/organist James Cruickshank and the rhythmic undertow of Ken Gormley and Jim Elliot. Instrumental rock became groovy again. Eventually, Tex Perkins joined and they became award-winning mainstays in the rise of 90s festival culture. <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"><iframe class="embed-responsive-item" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/H_wam2QImAY"></iframe></div> More recently <a href="https://headland.bandcamp.com/music">Headland</a>, who began in 2014 playing live original instrumentals to gloriously evocative Super 8 footage of big surf at Lennox Head in the 70s, have restored faith in the power of the instrumental for the post millennium. Surf music lives! I only ever played my little surf instrumental a few times and then that version of our band exploded – Lindy Morrison left to join the Go-Betweens and we entered a more angular and fierce phase. But last year, in a performance at the State Library about Brisbane posters and how they help to tell stories about our past, our culture and our place in the world, I played it again. It felt odd to be doing it on my own, but it also felt both funny and appropriate. The tune had the twang of a simpler time. As does <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJWuQV2u9ns">this little gem</a> from Brian Wilson, who believes that smiles can fix the problems of the world. <img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/128914/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"><iframe class="embed-responsive-item" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/sJWuQV2u9ns"></iframe></div> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/john-willsteed-107411">John Willsteed</a>, Senior lecturer, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/queensland-university-of-technology-847">Queensland University of Technology</a> This article is republished from <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/surf-music-in-praise-of-strings-sand-and-the-endless-swell-128914">original article</a>.

Music

How music can unite as well as divide us

September 21 is <a href="http://www.un.org/en/events/peaceday/background.shtml">International Day of Peace</a>, the UN’s annual call for a global ceasefire. This year, in the lead-up, celebrities have curated a <a href="http://www.peaceoneday.org/playlist">Peace Day Playlist</a> available through streaming services. James Morrison, Yoko Ono, Michael Caine, UB40 and others have nominated songs such as Michael Jackson’s Heal the World, Joan Baez’s We Shall Overcome and John Lennon’s Imagine, alongside One, a Peace Day anthem featuring artists from across the African continent. The premise for the playlist is that music “is a unique vehicle to amplify the message of the day, bringing people together in the name of peace.” For many people, such songs have become associated with anti-war protests and notions of freedom, equality and social justice. But just as music can unite us behind a cause, it can also drive us apart. Music must be deployed carefully if we are to really <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlKX-m17C7U">give peace a chance</a>. Music is often called humankind’s “universal language”: an all-embracing and inherently benevolent form of communication. Music can indeed deepen feelings of affinity and social cohesion. But these same qualities can also <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?hl=en&lr=&id=6HwAAwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA26&dq=cynthia+cohen+music+peacebuilding&ots=drSKRRgpRk&sig=9TR_4s0MC0IwAF0G5YbWpnRcyc4#v=onepage&q=cynthia%20cohen%20music%20peacebuilding&f=false">strengthen divisions</a>. During the 1990s Yugoslav civil wars, for example, Slobodan Milošević’s far-right Serbian regime <a href="http://www.suedosteuropa.uni-graz.at/sites/default/files/publications/SEEU_036_02_Archer-1_published%5b1%5d.pdf">appropriated</a> <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?hl=en&lr=&id=_iqrCwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=turbo-folk+music&ots=fhtd90pnHE&sig=x2JPN7sdBHE7pvy7B1T5P3PJKNE#v=onepage&q=turbo-folk%20music&f=false">turbofolk</a>, a mix of <a href="https://josotl.indiana.edu/index.php/aeer/article/download/330/405">regional folk and electronic European pop music</a>, to promote cultural nationalism for political purposes. Music played in the flute bands of Northern Ireland has similarly strong and contentious associations. Some tunes were so potent that in some parts of the country, whistling a short phrase has <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?id=99I7xvnA6KIC&pg=PA89&dq=music+and+conflict+northern+ireland&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=music%20and%20conflict%20northern%20ireland&f=false">resulted in violence</a>. <a href="http://www.iupress.indiana.edu/product_info.php?products_id=93161">Other research</a> shows some American soldiers used metal and rap music in Iraq to heighten aggressiveness and inspire warlike behaviour. Despite the stereotype of violence and rap and metal music, this is <a href="http://oxfordindex.oup.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198567424.003.0004">not a result of these music genres</a> per se, but the bonding qualities of music. As we’ve seen, conflict can be just as easily fanned by dance and folk music. What makes music work? We can explain how music brings people together through the lens of <a href="https://scholar.google.com.au/scholar?cluster=3837670639352116525&hl=en&as_sdt=2005&sciodt=0,5">empathy</a>. Empathy involves being able to identify other people’s emotional states and respond appropriately. It can also involve the capacity to reflect other people’s emotions back at them. Empathy, therefore, is both knowing and feeling. We can see these same qualities when groups come together around music. <a href="http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/music-of-kindness-playing-together-strengthens-empathy-in-children">Research</a> has shown how making music together can enhance children’s emotional skills such as empathy. <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0305735612440609">The study</a> looked at musical components that promote empathy such as emotionality (music’s ability to both induce and express emotions); imitation (the repeated patterns of the music itself as well as in the act mimicking other performer’s movements); and synchronisation (exemplified through the sense of a mutually felt pulse). Some researchers have even suggested making music goes beyond empathy, as performers share emotions, intentions and experiences to such a degree that the <a href="https://scholar.google.com.au/scholar?hl=en&q=Musical+group+interaction%2C+intersubjectivity+and+merged+subjectivity.+In+D.+Reynolds+%26+M.+Reason+%28Eds.%29%2C+Kinesthetic+empathy+in+creative+and+cultural+practices+&btnG=&as_sdt=1%2C5&as_sdtp=">boundary between them becomes blurred</a>. When singing or humming in unison with a large group of people, for example, it can be difficult to distinguish one’s own voice in the total sound being produced. Healing old wounds Importantly, though, feeling belonging with other people does not automatically mean peace. The key to this is whether music is being used to bond people who <a href="https://theconversation.com/does-empathy-have-limits-72637">already consider themselves to be alike</a>, or whether it connects those who for whatever reason consider each other “different”. <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0305735616680289">Recent findings</a> demonstrate that even brief exposure to music from a particular culture can increase listeners’ positive attitudes towards people from that culture. However, this approach <a href="http://www.musicandartsinaction.net/index.php/maia/article/view/conflicttransformation">has been criticised</a> for emphasising the differences between groups, reinforcing the boundaries the projects aim to dismantle. To avoid hardening the borderlines, some projects have harnessed musical styles that are perceived to be politically or culturally neutral. For example, in modern-day Kosovo <a href="https://www.musicianswithoutborders.org/">Musicians without Borders</a> steer away from popular but divisive turbofolk, connecting youth in the ethnically divided city of Mitrovica through <a href="https://www.musicianswithoutborders.org/programs/places/mitrovica-rock-school/overview/">rock music</a>. Rock music provided a <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/19401159.2014.988521">similar respite</a> during The Troubles in 1980s Northern Ireland, offering Protestant and Catholic youths somewhere to socialise and enjoy each other’s company, despite political disparities. <a href="https://www.routledgehandbooks.com/doi/10.4324/9781315693699.ch32">Research</a> also shows how sharing lullabies across language groups helps people recognise the universal aspects of human nature. In other places, music can help people confront difference. <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?hl=en&lr=&id=oMLkUmraBCAC&oi=fnd&pg=PA63&dq=music+and+reconciliation+anne+marie-gray&ots=gMqHkLW5sV&sig=kwUbdk7Y9-QN7pHhb7YG6u6o6JY#v=onepage&q=music%20and%20reconciliation%20anne%20marie-gray&f=false">Scholars have suggested</a> that music from South Africa’s history could provide insight into the experiences of both black and white South Africans before 1994, when the country became an inclusive democracy, ending the final vestiges of apartheid. In South Sudan <a href="http://revistas.ucm.es/index.php/UNIS/article/viewFile/44815/42225">Muonjieng (Dinka) songs</a> have long served as avenues for public truth-telling and disclosure of past violent abuses. With civil war ongoing, these mechanisms for peacebuilding could be significant in the establishment of formalised justice systems. Through his music, John Lennon asks us to “imagine all the people living life in peace.” It is not always as simple as that, but when carefully deployed, music can give us spaces to work towards enacting this peace. <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/samantha-dieckmann-336452">Samantha Dieckmann</a>, Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Music, ARC Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-melbourne-722">University of Melbourne</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/jane-davidson-100007">Jane Davidson</a>, Deputy Director ARC Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-melbourne-722">University of Melbourne</a> This article is republished from <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/giving-peace-a-chance-music-can-drive-us-apart-as-much-as-it-unites-82745">original article</a>.

Music

Why some people love music and others don't

Think of your favourite piece of music. Do you get shivers when the music swells or the chorus kicks in? Or are the opening few bars enough to make you feel tingly? Despite having no obvious survival value, listening to music can be a highly rewarding activity. It’s one of the most pleasurable activities with which people engage. But in a <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2014.01.068">study published today</a> in Current Biology, Spanish and Canadian researchers report on a group of “music anhedonics” – literally, those who do not enjoy music. This is an intriguing phenomenon, and we presume very rare. Importantly, these people are not “<a href="http://www.karger.com/Article/FullText/206851">amusic</a>” – an affliction that often results from acquired or congenital damage to parts of the brain required to perceive or interpret music. In this study, the “music anhedonics” perceive music in the same way as the rest of the population. Nor are they people who generally don’t enjoy pleasure – they are not depressed, nor highly inhibited, and they are just as sensitive as other people to other types of non-musical rewards (such as food, money, sex, exercise and drugs). They simply don’t experience chills or similar responses to pleasurable music in the way that other people do. They’re just not that into music. I’ve got chills – they’re multiplying When we listen to pleasurable music, the “<a href="http://www.psychologytoday.com/basics/dopamine">pleasure chemical</a>” dopamine is <a href="http://www.sciencemag.org/content/340/6129/216.short">released in the striatum</a>, a key part of the <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1196/annals.1390.002/abstract?deniedAccessCustomisedMessage=&userIsAuthenticated=false">brain’s reward system</a>. Importantly, music activates the striatum just like other rewarding stimuli, such as food and sex. During anticipation of the peak – or “<a href="http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v506/n7489/full/506433a.html">hotspot</a>” as music psychologist <a href="http://slobodajohn.wix.com/johns">John Sloboda</a> calls it – in the music, dopamine is released in the dorsal (or upper) striatum.<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/" class="license"></a> During the peak, when we experience chills and other signs that our body’s <a href="http://psychology.about.com/od/aindex/g/autonomic-nervous-system.htm">autonomic nervous system</a> – responsible for regulating involuntary body functions – is being aroused, dopamine is released in the nearby ventral striatum. So what’s going on in the brains of music anhedonics? The authors offer a neurobiological explanation. While many types of pleasurable stimuli activate the same broad reward circuit in the brain, there are some differences depending on the type of stimulus. It is possible that the pattern of brain regions specifically activated by music pleasure, including the connection from auditory regions which perceive music to the reward centres, are slightly different in these individuals than in other people. This isn’t unusual as we know that there can be enormous differences in how rewarding (and potentially addictive) other rewards such as food, sex, money and drugs can be to different individuals, but it is rare to get no pleasurable response to these rewards. Is the story more complex then? Bittersweet symphony Music is a complex phenomenon – it affects us in multiple ways, and is used for many purposes. While pleasure is a popular reason for music listening, we are also drawn to music for other reasons. Sometimes the music isn’t pleasant at all. Our attraction, our need, and sometimes perhaps dependence on sad, angry or even frightening music flies in the face of evolutionary theory – why seek out something emotionally negative? Insight into our uses of music is however being achieved via music psychology – a rapidly expanding field which draws on research across numerous domains including cognitive neuroscience, social psychology and <a href="http://link.springer.com/book/10.1007%2F11573548">affective computing</a> (the science of human-computer interaction where the device can detect and respond to its user’s emotions). In a <a href="http://ukcatalogue.oup.com/product/9780199695225.do">study</a> involving more than 1,000 people, Swedish music psychologist <a href="http://www.oru.se/Intern/Organisation/Institutioner/Musik/Konferenser/CV/Alf%20Gabrielsson.pdf">Alf Gabrielsson</a> showed that only a little over half of strong experiences with music involve positive emotions. Many involved “mixed emotions” (think nostalgic or bittersweet love songs), and about one in ten involve negative emotions. ‘Non-positive’ can be good We listen to music that makes us feel like this for many reasons. We can use it to help express how we’re feeling – sometimes this might make the problem worse (such as when we use music to ruminate), but other times it helps to give voice to an emotion we otherwise could not communicate. As a result, we may feel more emotionally aware or stable afterwards. We also use music to solve problems, to look at our situation in a different light, to energise us or to relax us, and often to avoid or distract us – all well-known strategies for managing or regulating emotions. Music can also help us connect to others. Even if we don’t get a buzz from the music normally, when we listen with others, the enhanced social connectivity can be highly satisfying. A <a href="http://pom.sagepub.com/content/early/2012/05/01/0305735612440615">2012 study</a> showed that individuals who listened to music with close friends or their partners showed significantly stronger autonomic responses than those who listened alone. We might better empathise with the emotional or mental states of others, and at times, music feels like a “virtual friend”, providing solace and comfort when needed, and perhaps even stimulating release of the stress reducing and affiliation hormone <a href="http://www.psychologytoday.com/basics/oxytocin">oxytocin</a>. All these uses of music can be beneficial for our “<a href="http://www.academia.edu/3179324/Eudaimonic_Well-Being_as_a_Core_Concept_of_Positive_Functioning">eudaimonic well-being</a>”; in other words, for enhancing our engagement and purpose in life, rather than just our pleasure. They also involve a distributed set of connected brain regions other than just the reward circuit. This means that these positive effects of music may be preserved even when the typical pleasure response is not experienced. Another feature of music that distinguishes it from many other rewarding stimuli is that it is an artform. And as an artform, it can be appreciated aesthetically, in an intellectual or analytical – rather than emotional – manner. We can listen to a piece oozing with tragedy such as Albinoni’s Adagio in G minor or Trent Reznor’s Hurt – listen below – but feel awe and beauty in the sophisticated score of the composer and perfect execution of the performers. This might explain why some of the music anhedonics in this study still reported feeling some pleasure to music, even when their bodies weren’t along for the ride. Reward circuitry is also activated by aesthetically beautiful stimuli, but other frontal brain regions involved in aesthetic judgment are also activated. It may be possible then for music anhedonics to still appreciate and enjoy music, even if their reward brain circuitry differs a little from those of us who can experience intense physical responses to music. And of course, music anhedonics might still find music a useful way to express or regulate their own emotions, and to connect to others. Or are music anhedonics also music “aneudaimonics”? In fact, we know so little about this fascinating, previously “hidden” phenomenon that this study opens the door for so many more studies – which is rewarding all of itself.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/24007/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/nikki-rickard-110017">Nikki Rickard</a>, Associate Professor of Psychology, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/monash-university-1065">Monash University</a> This article is republished from <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/chills-and-thrills-why-some-people-love-music-and-others-dont-24007">original article</a>.

Music

Music therapist creates playlist to calm the mind

It may seem like we are living in an age of anxiety, where feeling worried, upset and stressed has become the norm. But we should remember that anxiety is a <a href="https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/types-of-mental-health-problems/anxiety-and-panic-attacks/about-anxiety/#.Xc6FEi10fq1">natural human response</a> to situations. It comes when we are not sure what is going to happen, or when we feel under threat. And even mild anxiety can have a negative effect on our ability to lead a productive life. It can interfere with being able to enjoy the simple things in life. When we experience anxiety, our heart and breathing rates increase and many other systems in our bodies <a href="https://www.healthline.com/health/anxiety/effects-on-body#1">experience overload</a>. Anxiety affects our general physical health as well as our emotions. In my work as a music therapist, I’ve noticed the impact music can have on anxiety. For example, in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIdtMOd8k8A">guided imagery sessions</a>, the therapist uses specially selected music and the client is invited to describe what they are feeling and what images the music conjures up. It’s amazing what insights can be gained from simply allowing yourself time to listen and talk about what you see in your mind’s eye. These may be as simple as becoming more aware of how music can affect emotions, or be used to explore past experiences or future dilemmas. It can also be used to find a place of comfort and a secure base where <a href="https://academic.oup.com/jmt/article-abstract/36/1/39/914646?redirectedFrom=fulltext">physical and emotional balance</a> can be found. A <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/relaxing-song-best-weightless-marconi-union-youtube-surgery-anxiety-a9011971.html">recent experiment</a> explored whether certain kinds of music can reduce anxiety during a complex task and concluded that some music is better at doing this than others. <a href="http://theconversation.com/surprising-ways-to-beat-anxiety-and-become-mentally-strong-according-to-science-77978"></a>Also, <a href="https://academic.oup.com/jmt/article-abstract/48/3/264/1002764?redirectedFrom=PDF">a study</a> based on measuring physiological and emotional responses suggests there are certain qualities in music that are better at helping people relax. The speed of the music should be relatively slow, the melody should be simple, and the beat and harmony should not hold too many surprises. Other factors, such as the complexity of the music and – surprisingly – familiarity with the piece, were not so important. In fact, knowing a piece too well was found in some cases to be counterproductive. The genres most likely to support relaxation are classical, soft pop and certain types of world music. These are found to largely contain the musical elements necessary to help a person relax. Press play With these musical elements in mind, here are eight suggested pieces of music that meet these criteria: 1 <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-album-reviews/ambient-1-music-for-airports-184712/">Ambient 1: Music For Airports</a> by Brian Eno. This soundscape provides a wash of musical effects that echo the rhythm of our physiological functions, leaving space for us to attune to the slow tempo of the music. The album is described in <a href="https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/brian-eno/ambient-1-music-for-airports">one review</a> as “the kind of music one might hear in heaven”. <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"><iframe class="embed-responsive-item" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/vNwYtllyt3Q"></iframe></div> 2 Pieds-en-L'Air, from <a href="https://arielmusic.co.uk/product/capriol-suite/">Capriol Suite</a>, by Peter Warlock, a composer and former music critic. Known for his unconventional lifestyle, he died in 1930, aged 36. His musical legacy includes this soft and slow classical piece with a melody reminiscent of songs we may have heard as children. <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"><iframe class="embed-responsive-item" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZMyS1G8NWnY"></iframe></div> 3 <a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/56FjSa3QWnDE6CxjFTp9rH">Om Namah Shivaya</a> by Deva Premal. The vocals of Premal and supporting music made by her partner Mital hark back to evocative chants from times past. The slow pace and almost hypnotic music combined with her clear vocals feel very supportive. <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"><iframe class="embed-responsive-item" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/eUqe31ojZBU"></iframe> 4 <a href="https://www.smoothradio.com/features/adele-someone-like-you-lyrics-meaning-facts/">Someone Like You</a> by Adele. While this hugely successful song explores the issue of loss, the slow tempo and cool accompaniment is found by many to offer a sense of calm and reflection. It has <a href="https://slate.com/culture/2012/02/someone-like-you-makes-us-cry-scientists-explain-why.html">been claimed</a> that the piece’s emotional strength is due to small, unexpected changes in the melody or “ornamental notes”, which create a melancholic tension. <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"><iframe class="embed-responsive-item" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hLQl3WQQoQ0"></iframe></div> 5 <a href="https://www.classicfm.com/composers/einaudi/music/i-giorni/">I Giorni</a>, by Ludovico Einaudi, an Italian pianist and composer who has written numerous film soundtracks. This piano piece, with its repetitive motifs and steady tempo, evokes a dreamlike state with moments of light and brightness. <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"><iframe class="embed-responsive-item" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Uffjii1hXzU"></iframe></div> 6 <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/in-paradisum-9780193418042?cc=gb&lang=en&">In Paradisum</a>, by Gabriel Fauré, a French composer who gained great popularity in his lifetime, but suffered from deafness in his later years. In this piece, from his Requiem, the choir and organ accompaniment provide a feeling of serenity. <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"><iframe class="embed-responsive-item" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/6-i1ESIRKdA"></iframe></div> 7 <a href="https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=Stopover+at+Djibouti&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8">Stopover at Djibouti</a> by Anouar Ibrahem, a Tunisian oud player and composer. He is widely acclaimed as an innovator in his field, fusing Arab classical music, folk music and jazz. This world jazz piece has hypnotic motifs that can seem almost meditative. <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"><iframe class="embed-responsive-item" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/c2S8LpvZrnQ"></iframe></div> 8 <a href="https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&ei=hq7OXekQpYbV8A_vxaUw&q=stefan+nilsson+composer+wilmas+tema&oq=stefan+nilsson+composer+wilm&gs_l=psy-ab.3.0.33i22i29i30.2182.3289..4456...0.0..0.99.402.5......0....1..gws-wiz.......0i22i30.I3sNgC11uJY">Wilma’s Theme</a> by Stefan Nilsson, a Swedish composer and pianist who is well known in is home country. This piece, which seems somehow familiar, has a simple melody and harmonies that provide a safe landing place. <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"><iframe class="embed-responsive-item" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ytBW9x6Zvcc"></iframe></div> This list offers some suggestions of music that could be used to help people relax. A favourite of mine, which I haven’t included, is the slow movement from JS Bach’s Double Violin Concerto. It never fails to give me a sense of feeling safe and grounded, something that can be so important when we may be feeling anxious. It should be said, though, that many <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0218017">studies</a> emphasise the importance of finding your own selection of music that works for you. Whatever your musical taste is, you have the edge on any prescribed playlist in finding what is best for you.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/121655/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/elizabeth-coombes-754445">Elizabeth Coombes</a>, Senior Lecturer in Music Therapy, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-south-wales-1586">University of South Wales</a> This article is republished from <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/anxiety-a-playlist-to-calm-the-mind-from-a-music-therapist-121655">original article</a>. </div>

Music

Why are we seeing so many music documentaries lately?

Music documentaries about famous singers and musicians are quickly becoming the norm. This is due to movie directors and actors bringing life and providing nostalgia to those who watched the musicians grow up. It also brings music to a new audience who is interested but might not have been born when the musicians were in their prime. It appears that fans can no longer resist a peek into the backroom world that their favourite musicians inhabited. However, Gennaro Castaldo, of the record label trade association the British Phonographic Industry, isn’t surprised. “A compelling synergy exists between movies and music,” he told <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/jul/21/why-music-documentaries-are-all-over-our-screens-beyonce-bob-dylan">The Guardian</a>. “With a slew of highly anticipated music documentaries either out, or due for release soon, fans can get close to the icons they love, from Led Zeppelin and Leonard Cohen to Beyoncé and PJ Harvey, so we can expect another surge in sales and streams.” He credits the success of Bohemian Rhapsody and Rocketman to the surge in sales and streams, despite claims that these films are fictionalised and not a realistic account of what the rock stars went through. “The phenomenal success of recent biopics celebrating the work of Queen, Elton John and Abba underline just how fantastic a medium film is for music – culturally but also commercially in terms of the huge global reach it can provide at the cinema and then in the home,” said the BPI’s Castaldo. “Movies provide the perfect emotional context for a piece of music that help to enhance its power and to profoundly resonate with the audience. “In the process, this can reawaken the public’s love of classic repertoire, or of a particular artist, and encourage the next generation of fans to discover music that is new to them.” However, film critic Nick James says that a documentary that is strong on sentiment doesn’t always work. “I prefer a documentary to a rock biopic anyday, but I’m wary of nostalgia,” James said. “Marianne & Leonard is heartfelt and honest, but it’s still to a degree in thrall to the ‘sexual revolution’ whose utter destructiveness it chronicles. [Leonard] Cohen comes out of it badly, but we probably need to see those feet of clay.” Fans are responding with their wallets, and it’s looking like that’s the way that companies are going to go: fictionalised accounts of their favourite musicians instead of authentic and gritty stories about their imperfect heroes.

Music

“It will continue”: Janet Jackson speaks about Michael Jackson’s musical legacy

Despite sexual abuse allegations in a documentary surfacing earlier this year, Janet Jackson still believes her brother Michael Jackson’s legacy “will continue”. The documentary drew mixed reactions from friends, family and fans of the King of Pop, who passed away 10 years ago this month. However, Janet has said that his legacy is still going strong. Janet explained to <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/interview-janet-jackson-on-michael-s-legacy-motherhood-and-life-in-pop-s-first-family-mnkg92pxj">The Sunday Times Magazine</a>: “I love it when I see kids emulating him, when adults still listen to his music. “It just lets you know the impact that my family has had on the world. “I hope I’m not sounding arrogant in any way — I’m just stating what is. It’s really all God’s doing and I’m just thankful for that.” Janet, 53, has supported her late brother through previous allegations. <blockquote style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/BBSxwtsq-hM/" data-instgrm-version="12"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"></div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"></div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <a style="color: #000; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BBSxwtsq-hM/" target="_blank">From Usher to "Scream": We Spoke to Jimmy Jam About the Greatest Shit He's Ever Made http://bit.ly/1PQt4Xx via @noisey -Janet's Team</a> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;">A post shared by <a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/janetjackson/" target="_blank"> Janet Jackson</a> (@janetjackson) on Feb 2, 2016 at 10:08am PST </div> </blockquote> She also explained that her father Joseph was forceful on his children having music careers, but he felt it was for a good reason. “When parents see something in their children, I guess they guide them in that direction. “Especially when you’re talking about children who grew up in that urban area. Music was a way to keep us off the streets. “My father saw a way out for his children. A better life. And thank God for that.” Janet said that her father was known for his cruel methods in making his children into music stars, but she felt like she needed everything to say before he passed. “I felt that I did say everything I needed to say to my father, I was thankful for the time that I did have him, with (my son) Eissa, the three of us together. Being together with my father in the end.”

Music

“We’re not mates”: Rod Stewart speaks out about 50-year feud with Elton John

The long-running feud between Sir Elton John and Rod Stewart has followed the duo as they’ve grown their careers for the last half of a century. Although it was initially tongue-in-cheek, this no longer appears to be the case according to a recent interview in <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.thesun.co.uk/tvandshowbiz/9180298/rod-stewart-penny-lancaster-sex-kids-great/" target="_blank">The Sun</a>. When Rod Stewart was asked about his thoughts on Elton John’s 300-date farewell tour, he didn’t hold back. “I certainly won’t do 300 dates and then retire. I’ll just fade away like the old soldier I am,” he admitted. When the interviewer inquired as to whether or not Elton and Rod have been in touch, Rod replied bluntly: “No, we’re not mates any more. We don’t talk to each other.” However, it wasn’t always this way. The pair have bantered on and off for the last 50 years. In many ways, the duo are chalk and cheese. With Elton being extravagant and prone to tantrums, Rod is a bit more laidback and a bit cheap. The pair did share a love of football as well as a competitive streak, which is what kept the feud going for so long. The pair have snipped at each other over a variety of things, including Elton’s weight. "I really seriously think he (Elton) has got to lose a little bit of weight. He's looking really large," quipped Rod "He always has a go about my nose and hair, so we just bitch every now and then," Rod admitted to <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.themorningbulletin.com.au/news/inside-rod-stewart-and-elton-johns-hilarious-50yea/3369998/" target="_blank">The Morning Bulletin</a>. The pair used to insist that this was their way of showing affection, especially with Elton explaining that he and Rod were “cut from the same cloth”. "We try and publicise the fact that we always have a go at each other in the papers, but in fact we do that for reasons only known to us, really. We're actually very good friends," said Elton. However, that no longer appears to be the case. It seems though that Rod wouldn’t mind following in the footsteps of Elton and his late close friend Freddie Mercury in the form of a biopic being made about his music and life. <blockquote style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/BsYaJudhZ2R/" data-instgrm-version="12"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"></div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"></div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <a style="color: #000; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BsYaJudhZ2R/" target="_blank">Congratulations to Rami Malek & all those behind Bohemian Rhapsody on their #GoldenGlobe win. You brought the energy, love, and light of the magnetic Freddie Mercury to the big screen in a glorious film worthy of Queen.</a> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;">A post shared by <a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/sirrodstewart/" target="_blank"> Sir Rod Stewart</a> (@sirrodstewart) on Jan 8, 2019 at 9:07am PST </div> </blockquote> When Rod was asked whether or not he could bear to watch himself on screen, he quickly replied: “Oh, are you kidding? My ego? I’d love it. Me and my two youngest sons went to see Bohemian Rhapsody. "My boys were saying, ‘Dad, I can play you when you were eight’ and ‘I’ll play you when you were 13’.”

Music

5 things you didn’t know about the Red Hot Chili Peppers

The Red Hot Chili Peppers (RHCP) have been around for 36 years and have created some amazing music in their time, including songs like Otherside and Under The Bridge. However, with a band that’s been around for so long, there’s bound to be some interesting facts. Here are the top five. 1. Their first album, Blood Sugar Sex Magik was recorded in Harry Houdini’s old haunted mansion This was detailed in the documentary Funky Monks, where producer Rick Rubin explained that members of the band had found it to be creepy. Rubin has since made the mansion into his home studio, but this is where the RHCP made their first album. Anthony Kiedis, Flea and John Frusciante stayed in the house while recording, whereas drummer Chad Smith found it too creepy. <blockquote style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/BuPfvTFHq0L/" data-instgrm-version="12"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"></div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"></div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <a style="color: #000; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BuPfvTFHq0L/" target="_blank">let me stand next to your 🔥</a> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;">A post shared by <a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/chilipeppers/" target="_blank"> Red Hot Chili Peppers</a> (@chilipeppers) on Feb 23, 2019 at 3:06pm PST </div> </blockquote> 2. They’ve had seven guitarists during the band’s existence The guitarists in the RHCP changed like the weather. The list of guitarists is as follows: <ul> <ul> <li style="font-weight: 400;">Hillel Slovak: 1983, 1984 – 1988</li> <li style="font-weight: 400;">Jack Sherman: 1983 – 1984</li> <li style="font-weight: 400;">Arik Marshall: 1992 – 1993</li> <li style="font-weight: 400;">Dave Navarro: 1993 – 1998</li> <li style="font-weight: 400;">Jesse Tobias: 1993</li> <li style="font-weight: 400;">John Frusciante: 1988 – 1992, 1998 – 2009</li> <li style="font-weight: 400;">Josh Klinghoffer: 2009 – present</li> <li style="font-weight: 400;">Jesse Tobias: 1993 </li> </ul> </ul> 3. Seven out of the RHCP’s eleven albums are certified platinum. For an album to go platinum, this means that they have to have sold at least one million copies. Out of the seven that are platinum, six are certified multi-platinum. The awards don’t stop there. The RHCP have also won six Grammy awards with a further sixteen nominations. 4. Flea, the band’s bassist, has a surprisingly normal name Flea’s real name is Michael Balzary, and he was born in Australia. He met Hillel Slovak and Jack Irons in Fairfax High School in Los Angeles, which is where the band was born. 5. There are only two original members left in the RHCP Hillel Slovak died of a heroin overdose in 1988 and was found in his Hollywood home. Their drummer, Jack Irons, left soon after because he “didn’t want to be a part of something where my friends are dying.” The only two members of the RHCP that have been with the band since the beginning are Anthony Kiedis, on vocals, and Michael “Flea” Balzary, who’s the bassist.

Music

5 incredibly bizarre stories about the resting place of famous musicians

The life of a musician is often dramatic and strange, but one would expect things to settle down once they pass. Not for these musicians, who even after their death, unusual events have haunted them. Here are five of the strangest occurrences to happen to a musician after their death: Ian Curtis’s memorial stone was stolen in 2008 When Joy Division singer Ian Curtis passed away in 1980 at the mere age of 23, his body was cremated, and his ashes were buried at Macclesfield Cemetery. Where his ashes laid, a stone engraved with Curtis’s death date and also the title of Joy Division song “Love Will Tear Us Apart” was placed at the memorial. But 28 years later, in July 2008, it was stolen. Speaking to the BBC, a police spokesman said: “There is no CCTV in the area and there are no apparent leads as to who is responsible for the theft. This is a very unusual theft and I am confident that someone locally will have knowledge about who is responsible or where the memorial stone is at present.” While a new stone was later made and placed at the site, the old one has not returned, with Joy Division and New Order drummer, Stephen Morris saying “people go around nicking road signs, but a person’s gravestone is very personal and the person who took it needs help.” Frank Sinatra is buried with a roll of dimes While it is a common occurrence for musicians to be buried with objects after their death, Frank Sinatra has been given several things in his grave. A pack of cigarettes, a lighter, a bottle of bourbon whiskey and the most unusual, a roll of 10 dimes. The roll of dimes was included by his daughter Tina, and the running joke behind it was that if he ever managed to escape his resting place, he would be able to call his friends from a payphone. But the real story is a lot more sentimental. Speaking with Larry King Live after the passing of her father, Tina said “it came from Frankie’s kidnapping [the 1963 abduction of Frank Sinatra Jr] … He never wanted to get caught not able to make a phone call, so he always carried 10 dimes.” Frank Zappa and Roy Orbison are buried in unmarked graves in the same cemetery Pierce Bros Westwood Village Memorial Park in Los Angeles is the final resting place of many famous people. Some of the stars buried there are Marilyn Monroe, Dean Martin, Truman Capote, Burt Lancaster, Hugh Hefner, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Gene Kelly, Jack Lemmon and Carl Wilson. But also buried at the famous grave site is Frank Zappa (1940 – 1993) and Roy Orbison (1936 – 1988), who happen to both be resting very close to each other, and both in unmarked graves. And while people constantly raise the question as to why that is, Orbison’s son Alex told Reuters in 2010, “It’s definitely not intentional. It’s not like we don’t want people going by there or whatever. It’s been put to the backburner for so long.” He then said that the original plan was to relocate the grave which they still may end up moving forward with. “In the very beginning, it was just too painful to deal with anything. As my Mom would say, it’s always just something that’s in the works.” Barbara Orbison – Roy’s second wife – passed away and was buried next to her husband in a marked grave. When it comes to Zappa, no one knows why his grave is unmarked with people speculating that being remembered was never in Zappa’s list of priorities, or that his family didn’t want the tombstone to be the victim of vandalism. Fans leave cabbages at Serge Gainsbourg’s grave It was the year 1991 when French singer and songwriter Serge Gainsbourg died. Then-president Francois Mitterrand said, “He was our Baudelaire, our Apollinaire … He elevated the song to the level of art.” Gainsbourg’s resting place is the Montparnasse Cemetery in Paris, the same as Baudelaire. Fans who regularly visited his grave would bring gifts as a token of appreciation, such as cigarettes, metro tickets – a tribute to his song Les Poinconneur des Lilas (The Ticket Puncher of Lilas) and strangely, cabbages. It is said that cabbages are frequently left at Gainsbourg’s grave to honour his 1976 album L’Homme a tete de chou (The Man with a Cabbage Head). There are two heads in Joseph Haydn’s tomb Finally, the strangest story of all is what happened to classical composer Joseph Haydn’s head after he passed away in 1809. Haydn’s head also has its own dedicated <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Haydn">Wikipedia page</a>. Haydn’s body was located in the Hundsturm cemetery in Vienna until his employer Nikolaus I, Prince Esterhazy asked for him to be moved to the city of Eisenstadt in 1820. When they opened Haydn’s grave, they discovered that someone had removed his head and stolen it. It wasn’t until 1954 when they finally found Haydn’s head, but while they added the skull to his grave, no one removed the substitute skull that was added in 1820, meaning Haydn is currently resting with two heads.

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Young musician dies weeks after writing final song

Bizarre reasons these musicians were sued by their own fans

Trailblazing musician and composer Ryuichi Sakamoto dies at 71

Why do musicians like Elton John find retirement so tough? A music psychology expert explains

"I’m the problem, it’s me": Why do musicians revisit their pain and doubt in their art?

Excelling as a musician takes practice and requires opportunities – not just lucky genes

Beloved US musician and his wife found dead on desert road

Musician sells artworks she created live on stage

Avril Lavigne shows off massive engagement ring in Paris

David Byrne believes Spotify is making musicians “uncomfortable”

"Never again": Why Michael Bublé has sworn off social media

An ode to surf music

How music can unite as well as divide us

Why some people love music and others don't

Music therapist creates playlist to calm the mind

Why are we seeing so many music documentaries lately?

“It will continue”: Janet Jackson speaks about Michael Jackson’s musical legacy

“We’re not mates”: Rod Stewart speaks out about 50-year feud with Elton John

5 things you didn’t know about the Red Hot Chili Peppers

5 incredibly bizarre stories about the resting place of famous musicians

News

Shop

Catalogues

Travel

Health

Lifestyle

Finance

Entertainment

Property

Information

Keep up to date

Search

Young musician dies weeks after writing final song

Bizarre reasons these musicians were sued by their own fans

Trailblazing musician and composer Ryuichi Sakamoto dies at 71

Why do musicians like Elton John find retirement so tough? A music psychology expert explains

"I’m the problem, it’s me": Why do musicians revisit their pain and doubt in their art?

Excelling as a musician takes practice and requires opportunities – not just lucky genes

Beloved US musician and his wife found dead on desert road

Musician sells artworks she created live on stage

Avril Lavigne shows off massive engagement ring in Paris

David Byrne believes Spotify is making musicians “uncomfortable”

"Never again": Why Michael Bublé has sworn off social media

An ode to surf music

How music can unite as well as divide us

Why some people love music and others don't

Music therapist creates playlist to calm the mind

Why are we seeing so many music documentaries lately?

“It will continue”: Janet Jackson speaks about Michael Jackson’s musical legacy

“We’re not mates”: Rod Stewart speaks out about 50-year feud with Elton John

5 things you didn’t know about the Red Hot Chili Peppers

5 incredibly bizarre stories about the resting place of famous musicians

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