I just refinished reading Range by David Epstein and one section of the book talks about the value of self-learning on a wide range of musical instruments, particularly in the fields of jazz and folk music. Epstein offered several examples of successful jazz musicians who followed unconventional paths on the road to success: Jack Cecchini, … Continue reading Music Monday: The Quintessential Jazz Tune of All Time
For whatever reason, I have always been fascinated by the "first" of things. So I thought I'd spend some time searching the web and looking for some historic firsts in the world of music. I'm sure there are many other categories I could come up with, but the ones shown below will do for now. … Continue reading Music Monday: An Eclectic List of Musical Firsts
For the past several years, I have had my freshmen business students create vision boards, and then in three to four minutes, present his or her vision board to the class. The whole process takes three days of class time, but it is well worth it. All I can say after having watched the presentations … Continue reading Wowed Again. Student Vision Board Project, 2019
Like many people, I think my introduction to Joni Mitchell's classic song River from 1971 happened just this past week thanks to the new show on Netflix, The Politician. The song is covered by Ben Platt, the 26-year old Emmy Award winner for his role as Evan in Dear Evan Hansen. Here's the performance by … Continue reading Music Monday: the Beautiful Sadness of Joni Mitchell’s ‘River’
This was almost more than I could handle. Tonight, Villanova put on an event that combines two of the things I have come to love at Villanova - a cappella performances and the Special Olympics. The event, known as A Cappella SpOlooza (SpO is the nickname used on campus for the Special Olympics), serves as … Continue reading Welcome to Villanova’s A Cappella SpOlooza
I'm going to keep the words to a minimum with this post, and let the music of MAMADEAR do most of the talking. I'll start with the song "Steal Away" that I discovered thanks once again to the wonderful Coti Howell at Nashville Noise: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9jFHbM9hHA All I could say when I first saw it was … Continue reading Music Monday: Country Music Trio MAMADEAR (you gottahear)
It would be hard to find a better song to play on the first day of Fall than Fall in Philadelphia by Philly's own superstars, Hall & Oates. The song was on the album Whole Oats, the debut studio album by the American pop music duo. The album was released on November 12, 1972, by Atlantic Records. … Continue reading Music Monday: Fall in Philadelphia (Hall & Oates)
Last week I featured the wonderful Canadian band, Walk Off the Earth, who gained fame with their amazing cover of Gotye's song, Somebody That I Used to Know: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=6&v=d9NF2edxy-M I also shared a parody of the song done by The Key of Awesome, which I found quite funny: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwPHy17Iu6E The Key of Awesome specializes in … Continue reading Music Monday: The Creative World of Music Parodies
I love music, I love creativity, and I love quirky. And I think I may have discovered the perfect blend of all three in the music of Walk Off the Earth. (WOTE) WOTE has been around since 2006, and I'd actually watched one of their videos from a few years ago, and I remember coming … Continue reading Music Monday – The Quirky, Creative, and Wonderful Music of Walk Off The Earth
If you're looking for some great music, you've come to the right spot. I'm following up on last week's Music Monday where I noted I needed to get more in touch with my Irish roots and start learning more about Irish music. Last week's post featured the great Irish folk music group, The High Kings. … Continue reading Music Monday: the Irish Traditional Music Session
Borden's Blather 