There were only musicians in the audience so Chicago talked a bit about music and with this man, it's music whether he plays or doesn't. He gives the kind of concert in which me may be talking about some Chicago blues history and then pause for a moment. Then he may say something like, oh yeah, he's the cat who introduced me to Tony Bennett.
Chicagosax has an incredible history in music but he's very calm about it and hearing him talk of his involvement with Chicago Blues and how he got into that is always a fascination. This was very much a performance for musicians as he would play and then talk for a while and repeat, all at a pace one only learns with a lot of experience.
Some of the insights are so simple and yet so brilliant that you wonder why no-one else did it. Chicago mentioned how Carl Orff taught music to kids and he had an ingenious way of getting them engaged. He took small xylophones and removed any half steps so they would only play the notes C, D, E, G, A and these make up a pentatonic scale. In doing this, every kid in the room can be hitting on one of these xylophones and be 'in tune' with every other kid. So incredibly simple but what a beautiful idea.
Lotho, I feel a little merkwürdig calling the little 'un, "The Baby," as she's over three now but you mentioned school and the above might not be a bad tip. It's such a brilliantly clever idea as the kids don't have to know anything at all to sound good together and have all kinds of fun with it. What's more they can do it for peanuts!
Some of my own history is that I'm pretty sure this is the same Carl Orff who wrote "Carmina Burana" and I had thought that had been a part of "The Exorcist" or "The Omen" and I checked but it wasn't in "The Exorcist" but it's been used for a billion other movies. I had the full score and was going to program it for synth but then a bad thing happened ... I asked myself why.
There was another idea that's very simple and yet inspired. This came from a music teacher to whom Chicago paid $40 per hour in 1967. This was back when money could still buy things and that was a lot of it, maybe enough for eight to ten prime concert tickets.
The lesson was to take any song you like. It doesn't matter if it's "Chopsticks" or a full-out symphony but play it in all twelve keys. Think that through at the genius of this as one of the first lessons one ever gets.
Here's another insight that may surprise you: Chicagosax is quite a cook and he has a degree in it. From the sound of things, he was collecting degrees as Lotho once did and I think both are tied with three of them. So, if you want to learn those blues or learn about cooking, Chicagosax is your man. Come to his show to hear him talk, it's fascinating. Come to hear him play and be amazed.
Cat is still ill so she couldn't attend the show but she is improving. Voltaire said something to the effect that sleep cures the disease and the doctor just stands back for it to work.
Chicagosax has an incredible history in music but he's very calm about it and hearing him talk of his involvement with Chicago Blues and how he got into that is always a fascination. This was very much a performance for musicians as he would play and then talk for a while and repeat, all at a pace one only learns with a lot of experience.
Some of the insights are so simple and yet so brilliant that you wonder why no-one else did it. Chicago mentioned how Carl Orff taught music to kids and he had an ingenious way of getting them engaged. He took small xylophones and removed any half steps so they would only play the notes C, D, E, G, A and these make up a pentatonic scale. In doing this, every kid in the room can be hitting on one of these xylophones and be 'in tune' with every other kid. So incredibly simple but what a beautiful idea.
Lotho, I feel a little merkwürdig calling the little 'un, "The Baby," as she's over three now but you mentioned school and the above might not be a bad tip. It's such a brilliantly clever idea as the kids don't have to know anything at all to sound good together and have all kinds of fun with it. What's more they can do it for peanuts!
Some of my own history is that I'm pretty sure this is the same Carl Orff who wrote "Carmina Burana" and I had thought that had been a part of "The Exorcist" or "The Omen" and I checked but it wasn't in "The Exorcist" but it's been used for a billion other movies. I had the full score and was going to program it for synth but then a bad thing happened ... I asked myself why.
There was another idea that's very simple and yet inspired. This came from a music teacher to whom Chicago paid $40 per hour in 1967. This was back when money could still buy things and that was a lot of it, maybe enough for eight to ten prime concert tickets.
The lesson was to take any song you like. It doesn't matter if it's "Chopsticks" or a full-out symphony but play it in all twelve keys. Think that through at the genius of this as one of the first lessons one ever gets.
Here's another insight that may surprise you: Chicagosax is quite a cook and he has a degree in it. From the sound of things, he was collecting degrees as Lotho once did and I think both are tied with three of them. So, if you want to learn those blues or learn about cooking, Chicagosax is your man. Come to his show to hear him talk, it's fascinating. Come to hear him play and be amazed.
Cat is still ill so she couldn't attend the show but she is improving. Voltaire said something to the effect that sleep cures the disease and the doctor just stands back for it to work.
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