Discussion Topic |
|
This thread has been locked |
D.Eubanks
climber
|
|
|
Dec 13, 2011 - 05:42am PT
|
Crosby, Stills, Nash
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
|
|
Tony Bird
climber
Northridge, CA
|
|
|
Dec 13, 2011 - 09:35am PT
|
the problem with this thread, and america in general, is that most people think music is something that comes into our ears via electronic miracles, to be produced by the planet's top talents and consumed by the bumbling masses who can't carry tunes in baskets.
nothing could be further from the truth, but you had to grow up in the 60s to know that in america. instead of carrying a boom box or a walkman, you carried a guitar. i know people who have joined churches only because they like to sing and harmonize and no one will critique them for their shortcomings. in the 60s, you didn't even have to join a church.
of course, i love the beach boys and CS&N, but i think if i hear suite judy blue eyes one more time i'm gonna scream. there are a couple important mentions on this thread: barbershop quartet singing and ladysmith black mombazo. both represent "folk" genres which are easy to get into and in which the harmonizing can get very tight. a couple others in that vein: dew-wop, which, like barbershop, has experienced a cult revival, and what i call hillbilly harmony, which you hardly hear any more, even in country music.
this brings me to a turn i hope some of you will look into, and if you really want to get into it, feel free to contact me personally. i was fortunate to grow up with this from the italian side of my family, but even that side wouldn't have had it if it weren't for world war 1 and the time my italian grandfather spent in the alps. there is a wonderful, public harmonic singing unique to the european alps, and done best by the swiss and the italians. and the glory of it is, it's terribly accessible, it's instinctive, and if you can't carry a tune in a basket, no one cares. if you do enough of it, you will find the tunes jumping into your basket. what you learn from it transfers to all other music you know. and it so belongs in the mountains.
got lucky here and googled exactly what i was looking for. they even look like me and my brother and our italian cousin, a good 40 years ago:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKCXPvL0P_c
and another--how it's done. oi la la!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSzHXX2kPpw&feature=related
same tune, a little tighter:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=0liY7OaIyp8&NR=1
and if you like it professional (and pretty):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKfP9N7EvYc&feature=related
my surviving cousin doesn't like these--too sad, he says, mostly war songs. but if you get far enough into it, there are plenty that are funny ones too, more folkloric, less bellicose:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5G6kV1lCa1g
(the tragic story of a stud rooster who winds up in the soup.)
and for you hillbillies, one of the tightest groups EVER:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2CpywAO-Ro
|
|
survival
Big Wall climber
A Token of My Extreme
|
|
|
Dec 16, 2011 - 02:26pm PT
|
Not a thing wrong with going American Hankster. There is tons of world class singing here. Love Heart too.
It's just that many Americans are soooo provincial at times with no world view outside their box.
|
|
ionlyski
Trad climber
Kalispell, Montana
|
|
|
Dec 16, 2011 - 03:42pm PT
|
Duh.....John & Paul
|
|
Tony Bird
climber
Northridge, CA
|
|
|
Dec 16, 2011 - 09:51pm PT
|
survival: thanks for that look at the masai. i know a bit about african native music, but never came across them.
btw, there's another tony bird out there--if you google my name, you'll get his. he's from south africa and, besides his own singing & songwriting, promotes quite a bit of native music. i heard him on NPR many years ago and nearly flipped--another folksinging tony bird into ethnic music. the world is way too small.
hankster, et al.: that GREAT american, pete seeger, has spent much of his career trying to keep america singing, trying to get america singing again, trying to get people interested in harmonizing. i think we stopped singing at one point and i wish we'd start again. singing is different than listening.
|
|
axlgrease
Mountain climber
Santa Cruz, CA
|
|
|
Dec 16, 2011 - 10:18pm PT
|
Tony-
Interesting point about church musicians... I suppose I'm one of those. I've been an instrumentalist since I was small, but my wife started attending a church more than 10 years ago principally to sing. Eventually, I was recruited, and I've been having a blast. We do primarily Anglican choral music, but wow, does it have some great harmonies! Some samples of us a cappella:
Hylton Stewart:
http://www.calvarysantacruz.org/media/audio/23rdPsalmCBR.mp3
Kinley Lange:
http://www.calvarysantacruz.org/media/audio/Lange-%20Grace%20to%20you%20and%20peace.mp3
(That last one is unpublished. We did one of the composers published works, and liked it. We got this one because our choirmaster e-mailed the composer to see if he had anything else that was similar. Lange e-mailed back and said "give this a try".)
I'm as much a fan of CSN&Y and The Beach Boys as anyone, but there's just something transcendent in doing it yourself. And it's not hard - it just takes a bit of work, the willingness to make a few bad sounds while your learning, and the opportunity. I think today's musical environment, with it's emphasis on passive listening, misses a lot of the essence of music.
-Alex
|
|
tradmanclimbs
Ice climber
Pomfert VT
|
|
|
Dec 18, 2011 - 10:07am PT
|
My focus is a lot more on playing music than listening to music these days. most of what i listen to is stuff that i am working on or wish i was good enough to play. Every fri evening there are about a dozen of us who play unplugged in a bakery/caffe and though sometimes it can be a train wreck we have our moments. there are a few pretty decent voices in the group. One husband wife team that is stunning.
Tuesdays I play a plugged in open mike @ a pizza and beer joint that has some pretty good stuff happening. I usualy get to do a 6 to 8 song set and often jam with other muscians. prety fun stuff
|
|
Tony Bird
climber
Northridge, CA
|
|
|
Dec 18, 2011 - 11:06am PT
|
he'd forgotten how important music had once been in his life, a powerful magnet that had drawn him into an improbable circle of friends, inside the small world of the college and outside as well: a circle that included a dentist, a farm manager, a retired mechanic who'd lost his sight to glaucoma--all bound together by the premise that music was too important to be left to professionals.
--robert hellenga, the fall of a sparrow
homemade music, easy to hear
couple of chords, sweet and clear,
couple of friends, a couple of beers
i love to fill my ears with homemade music.
homemade music, just for fun
bring it with you, honey, when you come
we've got room for everyone
that's the one for me, that homemade music.
the mandolin is ching-ching-chingin' chimes
the mouthharp player's playin' so sublime
the big old bass is boom-boom-boomin' out the bottom line
the guitar picker's pickin' that old martin mighty fine ...
--bob gibson
|
|
tradmanclimbs
Ice climber
Pomfert VT
|
|
|
Dec 18, 2011 - 12:41pm PT
|
Home made music is the key word there. Turn off the stereo, yank out the ear buds and pick up a guitar,madolin, fiddle or whatever wooden or brass instrument of your choice and make some music..........
|
|
tornado
climber
lawrence kansas
|
|
|
May 30, 2012 - 07:30pm PT
|
Jackson Browne is/was pretty good at that harmonizing thing.
|
|
|
SuperTopo on the Web
|
Let us know!