Monday, January 20, 2014

Random Thoughts for 2014


Happy belated new year!

Some people who want to get into orchestral or choral music will ask on various websites what famous works they should start off with. They get answers like Bach, Beethoven etc... sure, all those famous works are good, but enough already! Go for the deep cuts. Try Unsung Masterworks.

Beautiful. Why follow the crowd? Listen to stuff no one knows, especially when it is this enjoyable.

I have also been checking out the classicalmusic group on reddit - that particular subreddit is an extremely friendly place to discuss works of music. That's where I found the site above.

In other news, I recently got a baritone ukulele and recorded a Scottish ballad called "Willie O'Winsbury" - check it out HERE on my YouTube channel.

The photo up top is of me and the Kala KA-B baritone - cool mellow sound. I was singing that very ballad at a performance in Amityville, then went home and recorded the studio version that I put on YouTube.

I am surprised how decent the instrument is. It is right up there in quality with my Kiwaya KS-1 soprano and Mainland mango concert. And I got it on Amazon! Generally I'd be more apt to suggest Mainland Ukes, Uke Republic, Elderly or Mim's Ukes to prospective buyers, but in this case I lucked out. The thing is well set up. I don't know how many of you who are reading are into ukulele, but if you are interested in learning, I'll share my thoughts on whatever questions you have in comments. If not, I'll go listen to Unsung Masterworks.

One more thing. I have been watching bird documentaries, including The Life of Birds with David Attenborough (excellent) and one about the New Zealand kakapo, which I'll write more about soon.

What else? Go visit my Tumblr page for cool Spotify links and YouTube videos. Today's fascination: Douglas Lilburn, another New Zealander. I'll probably write about him soon as well.

Cheers,
Angus