Greetings from The Music Bowl! I'm the Wonderfish. Did you know that no matter what culture you are born into, you will learn to use octaves? Every culture uses octaves! Worldwide! The pitches that we use to speak in have musical characteristics. What I'm trying to say is that you learn how to use octaves without even knowing it, because we learn them as we learn to speak. Typically, men speak in voices that are one octave below women's. Children's voices are usually one octave above women's. Here is a small sampling of what cultures have in common, musically speaking: pitch as communication typically, you get a sense of a situation based on the pitch a person uses to communicate with; a higher pitched voice can signal trouble or distress while a lower pitched voice with a monotonous tone can signal calm and relaxation singing to infants we see adults singing and/or cooing to infants in nearly every culture; this helps babies learn how to communicate; d...

Ahoy! For the past two weeks we’ve looked at the positive aspects of streaming. To sum up, from the musician's point of view, streaming services allow easy access to distribute your music without needing a record label. You can create whatever content you want and promote it as you see fit. It also allows for quick and free access to thousands of albums from all genres at the touch of a button. A wide variety of active listening is essential for musicians and streaming services now make it affordable to do so. But what are the down sides to having so much music available for free? Is too much of a good thing a bad thing? In an effort to see this story from both sides, it can be a negative thing that we have access to so much music. With technology advancing constantly, our attention spans are shrinking and streaming services are not helping. We’ve created a culture of music based on singles, not albums. Since radio began, there have been hit songs for sure, but these ...

Greetings from The Music Bowl! I'm the Wonderfish. On this #throwbackthursday, the time has come to address a very serious question: who is your favorite Beatle? As a child I would leaf through my parents' vinyl records, reading through their Beatles albums from cover to cover. I distinctly remember staring at the iconic black and white cover shot of With The Beatles . Paul was my favorite when I was little because I thought he was the cutest. John became my favorite while I was in college (shocker, I know) and a poster of him hangs in my music room to this day. I grew to appreciate George and his many contributions. But, I blame Ringo. I really do. For everything. Okay, not for everything , but hear me out. As some of you may remember, on a certain Sunday night in late winter of 1964 the world as we know it changed. Popular culture was altered, never to return to its former self. Roughly 73 million people tuned their television sets to CBS at 8:00 PM on February 9, 1964...

Ahoy! Last week we began a discussion about the different aspects of streaming music. Once we take money out of the equation we are left with a few positive reasons for artists to use streaming services, namely that artists no longer need a label to produce and release their content. Today, we’re going to look at a few more positives. All artists now have a level playing field. For just $10 a month, I can listen to as much music as possible.  This means that I, the consumer, can listen to WAY more albums than people could twenty years ago. As a musician it is imperative to be listening to as much music as possible from many different genres (more on the necessity for a musically diverse record collection later). Before streaming services your average listener only bought records from artists they heard on the radio. This was for two reasons: 1) aside from your own local music scene there was no way of knowing about artists other than on the radio/TV and 2) your average...

Greetings from The Music Bowl! I'm the Wonderfish! Humans love music, don't they? There is just so much to examine within this field based on that fact alone. Music is something we are universally connected to, no matter where we are from or when we are from. One of the joys in my life is seeing people of all ages as they are moved by music, be it at a sold out arena rock and roll show surrounded by 40,000 other people or in a park filled with families watching a local folk band. One thing I know for sure, music is magic. Last week, I introduced a little information about the people involved in this project.  Today, I'd like to explain a bit more about what we hope to accomplish. On most Thursdays, I'll try to discuss music topics and questions ranging from historical perspectives to the modern industry, from the first song to today's pop, from Bach to the Grateful Dead. We want to examine all of these topics and more! I will also post about music in the movies,...

Ahoy! With the popularity of free and cheap streaming services like YouTube, Spotify, iTunes/Apple Music and Pandora, few people are actually paying for music these days. As a result I’ve noticed two main camps of people: those who no longer pay for music at all (except their subscription fee to one of these services) and music elitists who begrudgingly use these services and blame them for the decline of the music industry. The Music Bowl asks: is there a middle ground? Can you be a musician and morally feel comfortable using these services? It’s easy to see how these two opposing views arise. People tend to want money for services provided, and musicians are no exception. Highly skilled musicians train for years honing their craft to bring you the best possible product. Remember that it takes thousands of hours of practice leading up to the writing and arranging process of any given album. Then, add all the time in the studio it takes recording the album. It’s natural ...