Deltachord

Dear Reader,

Have you ever heard of an instrument called the Theremin? The singer for Analog Missionary, plays the Theremin. Hear their music at http://myspace.com/analogmissionary

Leon Theremin, invented the theremin in 1920. The therminist waves his/her hands near the two antennae that control pitch and volume. Alfred Hitchcock’s film Spellbound (1945) featured the theremin in its musical score and its composer, Miklós Rósza, won an Oscar. The theme was psychosis. Many other movies included it in their score in various film genres like noir, science fiction, comedy, and epics.

Robert Moog, the invented of the moog synthesizer, first made theremins. The moog changed the course of popular music. Clara Rockmore is credited as being the greatest theremin player by Charlie Lester of scfidimensions.com. Musicologist Olivia Mattis quotes Leon Theremin from their 1989 interview:

“the conductor just moves his hands, and his moverments have an effect on the music.”

Leon Theremin succeeded in his concept of making an instrument that was played like a conductor instructs his music. A vast renewed interest in the theremin amongst musicians has exploded since the release of the 1994 film Theremin: an Electronic Odyssey.

Our Merseybeat saga hasn’t been forgotten. Its coming back soon. Stay tuned for update.

For More Information:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0038109/
http://www.scifidimensions.com/Sep00/theremin.htm
http://www.thereminworld.com/
http://spellbound.purplenote.com/
http://theremin.ca/

Directory of Music Blogs

The Fourmost, formed in 1959, were part of the Merseybeat. Two
songs basically define the group: “Hello Little Girl” (written by John Lennon) and “A Little Loving” (written by Russell Alquist). They got a break in 1963, when Brian Epstein took them under his wing.

According to merseybeatnostalgia.co.uk they were a rock/jazz/comedy act. They were successful as a cabaret act into the ’70’s. The Fourmost were in the flick Ferry Cross the Mersey, which highlighted Gerry and the Pacemakers.

Concerning The Fourmost’s part in the movie Nostalgiacentral.com says “this consolidated their position as one of the leading Liverpool groups.”

What about Gerry and the Pacemakers?

To be continued…

For more Information:

http://www.merseybeatnostalgia.co.uk/html/the_fourmost.html
http://www.answers.com/topic/the-fourmost
http://www.nostalgiacentral.com/music/fourmost.htm

Hear The Fourmost

http://www.rhapsody.com/thefourmost

Cool Site

http://www.emeraldcoastarts.com/
Music Link Exchange

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In our continuing story, we go to the Merseyside. Here we find Billy Fury, born Ronald Wycherley, in Liverpool. He had his own skiffle group by 1955. Skiffle, which had started in Louisville, Kentucky around 1905 became mania in England by 1955.

While his style isn’t as furious as the name might imply, “the beat” can be heard in songs like Since You’ve Been Gone, Colette, Letter Full of Tears, and in the ballad Because of Love an Elvis like style is evoked. These songs are on the album The Best of Billy Fury.

In 1958, Wycherley saw a performance by Marty Wilde and offered his own compositions to him. Instead, Wycherley was booked by Larry Parnes. As his agent, Parnes dubbed him Billy Fury. Fury was such a good rocker that Eddie Cochran thought he should tour the U.S. But Cochran died in a car wreck before he planned Fury’s tour.

For More Information:

http://www.answers.com/topic/list-of-famous-bands-from-merseyside
http://www.answers.com/topic/billy-fury
http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9105715/skiffle

Hear Billy Fury:

http://music.yahoo.com/ar-303062-downloads–Billy-Fury

Last night, while chatting with a friend about music, he expounded on the bottom (bass) and the beat (drums). He said that another friend of his, an African American, had once asked him if the members of Queen were black.

The reason for the question, of course, the heavy bottom and beat of many of the group’s songs. This is a distinctive sound that originated in rhythm and blues.

My friend Mike happily continued by saying that “the beat” drove the unique music of The Beatles and we discussed the Merseyside bands and Little Richard.

So what’s happening in the Merseyside today? Where is the bottom and the beat now?

Stay tuned…

music

Hey, for you guitar buffs out there in cyberspace… a kid named Mojo Myles may tickle your musical fancy. You can see two videos of him playing at Yahoo. He also plays bass, sax, and keyboards.

Yes, we’ll be hearing more of his music in the future. What genres will he explore? It ‘ll be fun to see where his creativity takes him.

Note: The “blue” note in jazz and blues is played at a lower pitch than the major scale.

Let the beat roll on. First, a brief evolution of the drums in popular music to set the scene.

Marshal Maley at 411drums.com notes that the drumset started to evolve in the 1890’s. The effect of New Orlean’s music in particular, pushed this development. Drummers changed John Philip Sousa’s drum format, thus, double drumming was invented. Next, they experimented with ways to play the bass drum without hands. Maley says that Dee Dee Chandler is the first one to play with a bass pedal in the latter 1880’s or early 1890’s.

Kevin Brown at x8drums.com states that the basic drum kit started in the 1930’s were designed simply with bass and foot pedal, a snare drum, tom-toms, a hi-hat cymbal, and one or two sets of hanging cymbals.

The New Orleans drummers in particular “put that swing” in their drumming. In the 40’s dance music punctuated the “backbeat” on the snare drum. In the 50’s rock drumming began and in the 60’s rock drumming emerged fully.

William Ludwig invented the first medal pedal, which began the Ludwig Drum Company. His brother, a drummer, had such a hard pounding style that he invented a good wooden pedal, but William said, “we can make a better one with metal.”

Back to our question, without the beat there is no rock or its cousin called alternative. As a singing duo once said, “And the beat goes on…”

Digg this, check out my articles at http://www.guitarnoise.com

• A Giant Guitarist To Note
• Legendary House
• Judy Collins- Biography of a Child Prodigy

For More Information:

http://www.411drums.com/drums-history.htm
http://www.pas.org/Resources/FUN/MaleyDrumset.cfm
http://www.x8drums.com/history-drums.asp

Welcome to Deltachord’s Blog. Together we’ll look into the fascinating world of music. So catch the beat and tune your ears to our sound. Relax. Enjoy the magical musical ride.

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