Greetings from The Music Bowl! I'm The Wonderfish. Lalah Hathaway is up for quite a number of Grammy awards this year with her new album, Honestly . The R&B vocalist is popping up more and more in our mainstream media. I do not profess to be a Hathaway expert by any means, but ever since I saw her sing with Snarky Puppy for their 2013 album, Family Dinner: Volume One , I've been following her career.  When we started this blog last year, I knew right away that I would want to post about Lalah Hathaway. I finally got around to watching Girls Trip and I caught a glimpse of her singing toward the end of the movie, so the time is now. Do you know what? Lalah Hathaway can sing two notes at once. That's right, you read that correctly. When I saw her video with Snarky Puppy, I kept rewinding it because I thought my ears were deceiving me. How was this vocalist singing two notes at the same time? I must have listened to that part of the song 10 times in a row. I finally ga...

Ahoy! Most musicians have probably heard the phrase “Music is a universal language.” You may have said the phrase yourself at some point. Especially if you’re a music educator (in the USA) the line has probably come up while trying to justify your music program to administration or local parents. But if it’s so universal then why do I get so many classical friends asking me how to play jazz? Or why can’t I immediately sound like a true bluegrass player? Why are the concepts of groove and pocket different in rock and r&b? Music is not as universal as people often assume it will be. I’m not the first person to say that music is a language or that there isn’t a large degree of common ground between genres. If you haven’t ever heard Victor Wooten speak on the subject, the link is posted below. Music can, and should, be taught like any other language. Through complete immersion, slowly over time. For most of us, especially if you’re currently a professional musician, this was th...

Greetings from The Music Bowl! I'm The Wonderfish.  It's time for Fin Favorites, where we present great films about music and three reasons why we think they are worth your time. This week, we're examining Morgan Neville's 2013 release,  20 Feet From Stardom .  If you want official film reviews, you'll find the links at the end of the post along with the trailer and an 11-minute TimesTalks interview with the director and three of the film's stars, Darlene Love, Lisa Fischer, and Merry Clayton. Why should you watch 20 Feet From Stardom ? 1) You will be shocked to discover how many hit songs the same group of backup singers are a part of.  I won't spoil the revelation for you, but I guarantee that song count is much higher than you think.  Through this brief history of hit songs, you'll notice how critical backup vocals can be. 2) You get to hear and see the voices.  You see the work that goes into recording a song.  It is rare to witness musicia...

Ahoy! It’s been a long time since I’ve been able to get at a computer and even think about blogging. Between finishing grad school, traveling for gigs all summer and relocating for a new job this September, I was busy! During all that time I’ve been constantly surrounded by all types of musicians; college freshman, full time professionals, weekend warriors, high school students, and casual listeners alike. When it comes to music I always ask the same two questions: what are you listening to these days and who have you gone to see live recently? The first question gets a wide range of answers, from “Oh I’m mostly checking out podcasts” to “I don’t even know where to start because I listen to so much.” Personally I’m usually on the latter end of that spectrum as I’ve been listening to an album a day this year. More on that later. The second question however, usually gets the same answer, “I haven’t been to a show in a long time.” I simply do not understand this. Now I full...