Category: Music

Digital Rights Management

Also known as DRM, Digital Rights Management, is a form of technology that aims to control people’s access to music. This is a type of software installed in a device that prevents or limits the number of times a music file can be reproduced or shared to other portable music devices. Several content provider companies such as Apple, Sony, Nokia, Geetune and Microsoft have utilized Digital Rights Management as a means to limit the production of their creative materials.

Companies have recognized this as the only possible means to control the use and spread of their materials since they no longer have any other means of controlling them once they reach the hands of the users.

Hence, this was also the subject of a heated debate between music producers or record companies against music buyers. This then causes the question regarding rights to these music files that you have paid for arise.

Coverage of DRM

When browsing through songs on a given online music store library and you find a song you want, you are often asked to click on a “Buy Song” button. But with the introduction of the DRM technology, it would seem more like leasing a song and having partial access rights to it. Thus, if you subscribe to a leasing service, at least the rights are clearer.

Those music files purchased online using the “Buy Song” that are protected by DRM typically contain the following conditions:

*you are only allowed to access the songs in no more than 3 to 5 computers
*you are only allowed to make 2 to 7 copies of the playlist on a CD

Controversy Over DRM

Issues of music piracy, illegal download and transfer of songs has been the major problem facing record companies when it comes to the online music setup. Therefore, DRM seemed the best possible solution to ensure that people who were responsible for the production and creation of the music are well compensated for every use done on the track.

In modern times wherein a huge percentage of music purchases are done online, it could mean a tremendous loss for the music industry if all other unauthorized file transfers are not accounted for. Hence, users are placed in an odd position of whether all songs purchased were really their own, or is it as good as renting rights for using that music. Even with lack of ability to transfer those files for other users, it also omits the capacity to create back up copies for all your music files.

DRM can also be used to limit access to a song or an entire library by time. That is to say that the tracks will expire after some time, when your subscription is over. This will make more sense to people who wish to listen to a variety of songs without having to buy every single one that they like. Akin to renting, this model is beginning to take off in a big way in the USA and even in Asia.

Music is a form of art which plays an important part of our everyday life. Throughout human history, even in the old ages, people used some forms of instrument to create music, as a means of entertainment. Though, is entertainment the only purpose for music in our lives? Maybe most of us never noticed, but music can affect our mood, our productivity and also the way how we feel.

Music as a political tool

One of music’s best qualities is that it can unite a number of people closer together, to support a single aim. In 1985, music was the means that united the whole world against world poverty. Thanks to the success of Live Aid concerts, in 2005, Bob Geldof did it again, and organized another worldwide concert, Live Aid. This time he wanted the whole world to send a message to all the G8 world leaders to “Make Poverty History”. The event consisted in 10 concerts all around the world, 150 bands and 1250 musicians. Apart from concerts, there were a couple of other concerts and songs released from groups of international artists to deliver messages and raise awareness.

Music helps you concentrate and relax

Although classical music is not in everyone’s good books, it can help a person relax and concentrate. There’ve been studies that proved that if pregnant women listen to classical music; it simulates the babies’ minds. Apart from that, the woman herself will relax; therefore the baby will relax as well. Low volume classical music can help everyone concentrate, be more productive in an office, and at the same time keep a relaxed mood. A person is more productive when he listens to some relaxing music in the office, such as classical music. It is also proven that when a person listens to loud and fast music, such as house and techno music, it is much harder to concentrate on what is being done.

Music to motivate you

Ever noticed that at the gym they always play music? Fast, loud music helps you get the energy you need when tired, to give that little extra and make proper training. Usually house music is the music of choice during training sessions, because the type of beats used in such music encourages one to move around, and helps you give that little bit extra to make some proper much needed training after a day at the office.

Music as an artist’s medium

And what about music in films and animations or cartoons? To really appreciate this, try to watch an old movie without background music, and notice that you won’t get into the film itself as much as you do in today’s film. A simple test to see the effect of music on humans while watching a film is a scary movie. If there is a part of the movie where people shout and scream, most of the time is the music used in the film that prepares the human brains that something scary is going to happen. Try to watch a scary movie but without sound, will you get scared as much as you did when you watched it with sound?

As seen above, music plays a very important role in our every day life. Some people might not notice it and they simply live on with this fact, but for people who love music, should start appreciate more every kind of music genre, as they all have their purpose and time in life. There are much more purposes for music in our lives, not only the above, but it would be impossible to list them all. After all, what’s better than some old school soft rock music, while having a beer in a bar next to the sea with some friends?

Cat Steven’s “Wild World” was his first American Hit, reaching #11 on the Billboard Top 40 charts in March of 1971. But it turns out that the real meaning behind this song is not what most people assume it to be. Stevens (born Steven Georgiou and known as Yusef Islam since 1979 after becoming a Muslim) finally revealed what the song was all about only a couple of years ago.

Originally, some people understandably assumed that the song refers to Stevens’ two year relationship with American actress and model Patti D’Arbanville. This is understandable given that Stevens’ previous album Mona Bone Jakon leads off with a song titled “Lady D’Arbanville” which is full of imagery about a lady that the singer loves and who is now “dead.” The real truth about the song was told by Stevens/Islam himself while a guest on The Chris Isaak Hour in 2009. In Islam’s own words:

“I was trying to relate to my life. I was at the point where it was beginning to happen and I was myself going into the world. I’d done my career before, and I was sort of warning myself to be careful this time around, because it was happening. It was not me writing about somebody specific, although other people may have informed the song, but it was more about me. It’s talking about losing touch with home and reality – home especially.”

Here’s a few other facts about the song you might find interesting:

1. In talking about the lyrics Islam commented: “It was one of those chord sequences that’s very common in Spanish music. I turned it around and came up with that theme – which is a recurring theme in my work – which is to do with leaving, the sadness of leaving, and the anticipation of what lies beyond. There is a criticism sometimes of my music, that it’s kind of naive, but then again that’s exactly why people like it. It goes back to the pure childish approach of seeing things almost for the first time. A kid can say things like, ‘Why is a cow?’ You shouldn’t put those words together! But if you do, then it makes you stop and think.”

2. Wild World was one of the songs that convinced Islam to release a Greatest Hits album of his earlier work as Cat Stevens.

3. Stevens was not the first to release his own song. Jimmy Cliff had a version of the song that was released months before Stevens released his own original version on the album “Tea For the Tillerman”. Cliff’s version was a top ten hit in England. Steven’s own version wasn’t released as a single there.

It would be the most optimum by far for any musician to have music lessons from an early age, routinely and progressively. It goes without saying that quality of instruction is of utmost importance, as per an earlier article. A good instructor instills the musician with a solid foundation of fundamental truth, and cultivates the blossoming of virtuosity, all in a systematic manner that is not strained or rushed, but follows a line of organic development. To give the analogy of cheesemaking, if the talented student is the rennet, the instructor is the milk.

Having good instruction is so integral that it is customary for even word-class classical performers to publicly acknowledge the primary teachers who brought them up, such as in biographries, concert programs, liner notes, etc. It is usually a hallmark of prestige for the performer to validate their instructors in such a way. It is a feather in their own cap. A good instructor who is the primary one to bring up the musician is worth his/her weight in gold.

But what about those talents who are entirely self taught? Look, we understand that life produces various circumstances and that people come from all walks of life, some privileged, some underprivileged. For example, a child may possess an innate talent and passion for music, yet they may be from an environment so underprivileged that their parents or guardians may not even be able to afford lessons, let alone an instrument. Many try their best to realize their dream somehow and do the best they can within their ability. This is usually the factor behind self-education.

While there are some definite huge talents who have manifested themselves this way, the truth of the matter is that their spectrum of ability and potential could have blossomed tenfold, had they had the advantage of nurturing instruction. Think of the ingenious old man who lived in the Mississippi Delta during the early turn of the twentieth century, who had nothing but a guitar, a pick and his own voice. And look at what soulful art he created on his own. Now, think if that same individual had the advantage of a quality instructor who taught them about music and cultivated their talent for maximum potential. Their soulful expression of their art is inherent. That would not change. But their breadth and power to express that would put them on an even higher plateau, perhaps another Mozart.

There is another factor where some musicians feel they do not need instruction, that it will only impede their creativity and undermine their artistic integrity. This stems almost exclusively from bad instruction. As covered in one of my earlier articles, bad instruction does more harm than good. No instruction is almost better than bad instruction as poor teaching can ruin one’s musical appreciation. Good instruction does the exact opposite of what some fear, in that it empowers and brings out maximum creativity and ability to express one’s artistic integrity.

Interestingly enough, the ones who most commonly shun instruction are those musicians whose proclivity or gift is in composing or songwriting, more so than those who are virtuosic with an instrument or voice. There is a human tendency to be impatient when it comes to creativity. Obviously, this is more evident in creative minds. This is because the life force can “create” something instantaneously. Close your eyes and envision something, no matter how fantastic, elaborate or surreal. You envisioned it within seconds, didn’t you? That’s how the basic essence of you works. Those whose passion is to create something aesthetically, such as a composer or songwriter, for example, operate their minds with such lightning speed. To then learn such basic things as notes, etc., seems tedious to them.

The truth of the matter, however, is that music, while spiritual in nature, requires material world components to manifest, such as soundwaves, timing, etc. So as fast as it is to envision a creative concept, it is quite something else to transfer it into actual music that is heard by others and not just inside the composer’s head. The good instructor will know exactly how to cultivate this in the talented mind and bring it out with its maximum energy and force.

The accomplished musician who has been fortunate to have a main instructor who has almost mentor status will hold that person up as a trophy, because they are not only crediting them, but are showing their own prideful identity as a musician. If one fails to do this, it is an indicator that they are not actually as accomplished as they purport themselves to be.

Music is passion

Music is energy

Music is joy

Music is creativity

Music is eternal

Music is love

Music is soul

Music is life

Music is one of the greatest creations of human kind in the course of history. It is creativity in a pure and undiluted form and format. Music plays a vital role in our daily life. It is a way of expressing our feelings and emotions. Music is a way to escape life, which gives us relief in pain and helps us to reduce the stress of the daily routine. It helps us to calm down, an even excites us in the moment of joy. Moreover, it enriches the mind and gives us self confidence.

Music surrounds our lives at different moments of lives, whether we hear it on the radio, on television, from our car and home stereos. Different kinds of music are appropriate for different occasions. We come across it in the mellifluous tunes of a classical concert or in the devotional strains of a bhajan, the wedding band, or the reaper in the fields breaking into song to express the joys of life. Even warbling in the bathroom gives us a happy start to the day. Music has a very powerful therapeutic effect on the human psyche. It has always been part of our association with specific emotions, and those emotions themselves have given rise to great music.

The origins of Indian music can be traced back to the chanting of the Sama Veda nearly 4,000 years ago. The primacy of the voice, and the association of musical sound with prayer, were thus established early in the history of Indian music. Today, music is available for us in different forms and the choice for music varies from person to person just as the reading choices vary from one another. There is folk music, classical music, devotional music, instrumental, jazz, rock music, pop music, hindi movie songs and many more.

In the modern world, Music has gained an honourable designation of ‘HEALING WITHOUT MEDICINE’. Doctors feel that music therapy has been helping them in treating many people with problems like dementia, dyslexia depression and trauma.” Many children with learning disability and poor co-ordination have been able to learn, and respond to set pieces of music. Many people with genetic disability have found a new light in the form of music.

Dance critic Ashish Khokar cites an experiment as proof: “Music is produced from sound, and sound affects our sense perception in many ways. Even fish in an aquarium were once made to listen to different kinds of music and it was found that their movements corresponded with the beat of the music. Mind you, fish do not hear, they only felt the vibrations of the sound through water. So you can imagine what a profound effect sound and music might have on the human mind.”

Anand Avinash, founder of the Neuro Linguistic Consciousness workshop who has researched music therapy says,”the mystics and saints from ancient to modern times have shown how music can kindle the higher centers of the mind and enhance quality of life.” Mantras, or chants used in the West, repeated monotonously, help the mind to achieve a sense of balance. A combination of the sounds in Sanskrit mantras produce certain positive vibrations and elevate the mind to a higher lever of consciousness.

We all know that meditation cleanses the system of its negative energies and vibrations. And music is a powerful aid to meditation. In many meditation workshops, music is used to make people more aware of their moods and feelings. People are made to lie down and empty their minds and then listen to the music which is systematically changed so that they can fit through different emotions and state of consciousness.

Many people also believe that any music you respond to positively will work for you, regardless of its content. Thus, even pop music might work wonders for you.

Music affects all of us in some way or the other. It also is the most common interest of many people. People who love music, listen to it while traveling, reading, meditation, walking, some even have soft music while working in their busy routine. It helps them to relax and escape from the stress of our day-to-day lives. It can transport us to another time or place and it is a great feeling of seeing or doing or experiencing something different. People have special music corner for themselves and some people give importance to listening in silence and some people love to read with light music and even some people love listening to music before sleeping. Many people love listening to music in bathroom because they feel it is one of the few rooms in the home where privacy is routinely respected. Some people also love to sing in the bathroom and are called ‘bathroom singers’. Music has now become a part of our life as it serves different purposes for each one of us.

• It serves as an entertainment tool. For instance, in an occasion or event, music plays a vital role that makes the event to be lively for the people. Similarly, it creates cordial relationship among the people.
• Moreover, it serves as a tool for corrective measure. Music tell the people on the habit that is uncultured so that such behavior can be for better. Furthermore, it is an agent that is used to educate people. Music can easily convey message to the friends and enemies.
• It serves as tool for settling dispute between two or more people. It often helps to put an end to disagreements after listening to related meaningful songs. Music is played for the group to show harmony among them.
• Music also serves as a source of income to human life. It is a profession of particular classes of people like lyricist, playback singers, music directors, musicians, musical instrument players, djs etc.
• Lastly, music serves as a message or symbol that indicates the occurrence that is going on in a particular place or event. For instance, If bad occurrence happen in a particular place the type of music played their will show the audience or listens what happened in that event. The type of music played will justify to the listeners what actually going on there.

On November 16, 1964 in Nanaimo, Canada, a baby girl was born who had no idea how lucky she was. Indeed, jazz artist Diana Krall was blessed with the good fortune of being born into a family that was perfect to nurture her musical talent.

Diana began playing piano at age four. Diana’s father had a passion for record collecting; he was also a stride piano player, and in the evenings the family would often gather around the piano and sing together. Of her family, Diana said, “They were really poor – they’re coal miners – but they had a piano, so everybody played and I think my dad started taking some of the collection money on the way to church and buying 78s. That music was what they listened to, and people came over because they couldn’t afford to go out. Everyone came to their house and brought bottles – whatever they had.”

Diana’s grandparents also loved jazz, and she spent many weekends with them singing the classics. Diana’s interest in jazz further bloomed in high school when she began playing with her school’s jazz band. At the age of fifteen, Diana landed her first gig playing piano in a hometown restaurant.

In 1981, Diana won a Vancouver Jazz Festival scholarship that enabled her to study at the Berkeley College of Music. Diana studied for three semesters, but then returned to British Columbia. One night while she was playing in Nanaimo, renowned bassist Ray Brown was impressed by her playing and became her mentor. Ray convinced Diana to move to Los Angeles to pursue her career.

In 1984 Diana won a Canadian Arts Council grant, and Jimmy Rowles, who had played with jazz legends Billy Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, and Sarah Vaughan, became her new teacher. Jimmy encouraged Diana to sing as she played piano, thereby shaping Diana to become the great performer we know today.

After three years in California and a short stay in Toronto, Diana moved to New York in 1990. She landed a regular weekend gig with her own trio in Boston, and recorded her first album, Stepping Out, in 1992.

Diana’s third album, All for You (1996), was dedicated to her love for Nat King Cole, and it was this album that became Diana’s stepping stone to stardom. The album spent well over a year on the Billboard Top 10 Traditional Jazz chart. Diana was voted third in Downbeat Magazine’s annual top ten favorites poll, and was nominated for a Grammy in the best jazz vocalist category.

In 1997 Diana recorded Love Scenes. This immensely popular album, containing her hit song, “Peel me a Grape,” sold over 500,000 copies, and Diana earned another Grammy nomination for best vocal jazz performance.

1999 was a huge year for Krall. Love Scenes went gold, and Diana released When I Look in Your Eyes, which became a smashing international success. Krall finally won the Grammy award she had been nominated for twice previously, and When I Look in Your Eyes became the first jazz album to be nominated for the best album Grammy in over 20 years. The album topped the charts for over a year, and songs from the album were used in both television shows and movies.

In 2001, Diana released The Look of Love. The album topped the billboard charts. In Canada the album went quintuple platinum; Diana was the first Canadian jazz artist to earn this accomplishment. Her subsequent album, Live in Paris (2002), won the Grammy for best jazz vocal album. It was during this year that Krall was also named as one of the 25 most intriguing people of 2001 by People Magazine.

In 2003 Krall married British rock musician Elvis Costello, and in the year that followed she released Girl in the Other Room, which contained many songs written by Diana and her husband.

Despite the crossover success of When I Look in Your Eyes, this album was criticized for leaning too far away from jazz toward contemporary pop. Since that time, Krall has released From This Moment On (2006), Quiet Nights (2009), and Glad Rag Doll (2012), each with its own distinct flavor. From This Moment on favors large ensemble standards, Quiet Nights is Brazilian bossa-nova themed and employs a full orchestra, and Glad Rag Doll reproduces the jazz music from the 1920’s and 1930’s prohibition era.

Krall’s fame and popularity has led to many impressive performance opportunities. Krall has performed at Carnegie Hall and at the White House for President Obama. She also performed “Fly Me to the Moon” at Neil Armstrong’s memorial service.

Krall’s musical talents have influenced the works of many other famous musicians. Most notably, Krall has worked with Barbra Streisand, producing her music and playing piano on an album of Streisand’s in 2009. In 2012, Krall worked with Paul McCartney on his album, “Kisses on the Bottom.” Other artists who have been influenced by Diana include Lindsey Muir, Jamie Cullum, Norah Jones, Elisabeth Kontomanou, Katie Melua, and Renee Olstead.

Despite the critical reviews of “Girl in the Other Room,” Krall is planning the release of a pop album in the fall of 2014. The album tentatively includes tracks by Neil Young, Gordon Lightfoot, and a new composition by Paul McCartney.

Given Diana’s penchant to produce music across a range of styles, you never know what she’ll come up with next. According to Diana, “An album is just a snapshot of where you are at that time. Not all pictures of everybody are just in jeans and a t-shirt, or a ball gown. You have many different sides and this is a snapshot of where you are at that time.”

As Diana approaches her fiftieth birthday this November, she has the potential to take us to new places for years to come. If her future journey proves to be as bright as her past, she will surely earn her place in history as one of the vocal legends of our time.

Gospel music is a genre of music that is written particularly to express sentiments and ideas of Christian life. Gospel songs have been successful in gaining mainstream popularity although it has not lost its core, despite the fact that the creation, performance and significance of this kind of music differs from one society to the other. It is played for various purposes, for religious or ceremonial purposes, for aesthetic purposes as well as for mainstream entertainment. Despite the differences, a common theme, which is the worship and praise of God, Christ or the Holy Spirit, remains in all forms of gospel songs and is one of the reasons why gospel music inspires body & soul.

Gospel music inspires body & soul and is known as on the one of the most diverse forms of music present today. Various subgenres of this kind of music include urban contemporary music, Southern gospel, traditional gospel music and contemporary music. It is also distinct in that it utilizes with more frequency the chorus or the refrain technique.

How Gospel Music Inspires Body & Soul

Many people believe that one of the many benefits of gospel songs is that they provide inspiration to the body and soul. This kind of music stimulates the brain and helps the body relax so that one can enjoy the moment and forget about the day’s anxieties, even for just a moment. It can also stimulate the mind and emotions and help you unleash your creativity when you listen to certain kinds of gospel songs.

Gospel songs have two factors that make music beneficial to the psychology of humans. Like other types of music that have soothing melodies, helps the body muscles relax, and helps in sleeping. According to expert, listening to gospel songs gives you an inspiration sound bath that helps you focus on being calm and rested. This is perfect for those who live with high levels of stress every day.

However, this depends on the kind of music one is listening to. Stimulating Christian music, one with a strong tempo and a fast beat, can increase muscle tension and makes a person more awake, while music with a slow tempo tends to have a sedative effect and can make a person more sleepy. It has been shown that people who listened to music improved the length and quality of their sleep and this contributed to less dysfunction in the day. Slow and calming gospel songs help one regulate one’s breathing as well, which is an added health benefit because regular deep breathing promotes circulation all over the body.

Aside from inspiring the body and soul, gospel music has also been found to have therapeutic benefits for those with psychiatric disorders, physical handicaps, and people suffering from sensory impairments, developmental disabilities and substances abuse. Gospel music inspires body & soul because it carries within its lyrics messages of inspiration that one cannot find in other contemporary music. Because this kind of music comes with references to a Higher Power who can help in overcoming obstacles and conquering fears, this makes it a powerful inspirational tool for the mind and the body. Music in itself has a powerful influence over moods.

Years before they gorgeously greeted Mr. Blue Sky and bade a kiss off to the Evil Woman, the Electric Light Orchestra hinted at those future hits upon releasing their third album. Appropriately titled On The Third Day, that record remains one of the best keep secrets in the band’s impressive discography.

Although it was not until its follow up El Dorado that ELO would crack the Top Ten in the United States with “Can’t Get It Out Of My Head,” Third Day comprises seven excellent tracks as well as two classical-based instrumentals. Here are seven details that make On The Third Day worthy of being considered among the best works of Jeff Lynne and his rock band.

1. Marc Bolan of the glam rock band T. Rex played guitar on much of the album, most noticeably on the rock classic “Ma Ma Ma Belle.”

2. On The Third Day is the band’s first record without co-founder Roy Wood, who had worked with both Jeff Lynne and drummer Bev Bevan in a British rock ensemble called the Move. Wood had written all of that group’s twenty hits, including “Night of Fear” and “I Can Hear the Grass Grow,” and after leaving ELO he went on to form Wizzard.

3. The fourth track on the disc “Oh No Not Susan”, which is about a rich girl who has tired of the high society around her, aired frequently on British radio in spite of containing a four letter expletive in the chorus.

4. The record’s coda, “In the Hall of the Mountain King”, is Lynne’s interpretation of a work by Norwegian composer Edvard Greig. The instrumental was written for the sixth scene of Act II of the play Peer Gynt, written by Henrik Ibsen.

5. John Lennon in a 1973 interview cited the single “Showdown” as his favorite song of the year, and he even referred to the Electric Light Orchestra as the “Sons of The Beatles.”

6. Lennon’s favorite track was also decades later used by the Fox News Channel, which played the song with a split screen of President Obama and Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney during the 2012 campaign trail.

7. Legendary photographer Richard Avedon shot the cover of the album, which featured all seven members of the band displaying their navels. Avedon had years earlier served as the basis for the Oscar winning film Funny Face, starring Fred Astaire as the young photographer.

The buzz of the most anticipated film of the year is in the air, Yes, I am talking about Amir Khan Starrer “DhobiGhat”, bollywood pundits already have rated it a blockbuster, as year 2011 started with couple of flops in the likes of Tees Mar Khan and Yamla Pagla Dewana, Dhobighat might break this chain and do wonders for film distributors around the globe.

As expectations are high since Amir`s last flick 3 Idiot which did a record business in 2009 turned to be gold mine for the producer. The storyline and script of bollywood flicks are reshaping since Slumdog Millionaire so is the case with dhobighat, film is not a typical bollywood script, its a story about four people, their life and their interaction and a common platform which they share and adore throughout their life, Yes the fifth silent character in the film is Mumbai. Arun is played by Amir a lonely painter living in the outskirt of Mumbai, Yasmin the newly married muslim women is played by Kirti, the character Shahi is acted by monica whose role in the film is modern mortgage baker.

The fourth character in this multi starrer flick is played by Pratiek acted as dhobi in the suburb of Mumbai named as Munna, Pratiek Babbar son of late Indian film actress Smita Patel was last time scene in the romantic flick of 2008 Janna Tu Ya Jaana Naa, The film Dhobighat is about the city of Mumbai, how people of different genre share same platform to communicate, the film elaborates class issues still present in Indian society through relationship of these four main character.

The Director Kiran Rao did a extensive research for the script and it took a while for her husband Amir Khan to give a green signal for the main lead but it according to critics it was Prateik who turned the table unexpectedly, the new lad performed flawless in the role of dhobi who wants to be a film actor but struggling to get his first step in the pursuit of success.

The film music is already on the top of the charts. The film background score produced by Oscar awarded Gustavo Santaolalla is a food for all those music digger who looks for perfection depicted Hollywood flicks. The film is about to release on 21st Jan but it has been premiered already in Cannes and Toronto Film Festival and received enormous applause for the script and eye catching cinematography. Film pundits had already declared it a hit, So go for it, as presence of Amir Khan will definitely pay back each penny of yours.

Stories of Music gives the reader (listener? viewer?) an emotionally satisfying journey through the world of music, as Holly E. Tripp weaves together the stories of more than 40 authors and artists, from 11 countries, telling in their own words and mediums how music has impacted their lives. I found it to be a very emotionally moving book.

Having grown up within a musical family, Tripp was fascinated by stories of her great-grandmother, especially the one where she held “jam sessions” through a telephone party line. Her own parents gave Tripp a guitar when she was 16 and she has been writing and playing music ever since. But it was after the sudden death of her brother that she fully realized the impact music has on emotions – and healing – as the songs that kept coming to her somehow brought him closer to her, and helped her deal with his death.

When she began this book Tripp says she put out a call for submissions from authors and artists, thinking she’d be lucky if she got 100. Instead, more than 1,000 poured into her inbox, and she carefully chose those which she felt represented people universally, and best told the impact that music has on individuals to offer fun, hope, healing, and impact on their lives. The result is an interactive, multi-media book that contains stories, poems, photographs, and music and videos that the readers can listen to and watch on their mobile devices.

I love how the anthology is laid out. The first poem (which I listened to the poet read aloud) talks about music weaving through generations in an old home. Then the stories advance through time, with artists’ stories from their childhood, through adulthood, of how music has impacted their lives. My favorite photograph lies at the end of the book, of an aged pair of hands clutching sheet music. “Music,” Tripp says, “… transcends religion, race, language, and even time.”

There are fun stories of music and children; a powerful poem about Civil Rights marches; and a story on how music is helping an artist’s home country of Bosnia heal after war. There are the impactful stories of bringing Mozart’s music into a prison and using rock music to help heal depression. And there’s the history of traveling musicians, from the beginnings of time to a group who currently participates in the Massachusetts Walking Tour every year. Another story (with included music) of a cellist – which bridges generations through Saint-Saëns’ “Le Cygne” – is beautiful to read and listen to. It’s nearly impossible to pick a favorite, but I was really touched by the story of an interview with Glen Campbell shortly after he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2011.

Stories of Music is a wonderful book, which I found hard to put down. There were times when it had me in tears at the moving examples of how music touched – and many times saved – lives. It also made me smile, as one artist describes how kids in Haiti enthusiastically play music after their meal, even more excited about the music than the food.

Tripp has done a marvelous job of bringing music to life, and showing that music indeed, does speak a universal language. No matter what country or background, what religion or political persuasion, the artists in this book all have one thing in common: music impacts their lives, and they use it to communicate their hearts.

I would recommend this book to anyone, musician or non-musician. Tripp plans to publish a second volume, and I can’t wait to read it.