1782–1837 Irish composer and pianist Born in Dublin to a Protestant Irish family, Field moved to London in 1793, where he studied with Clementi. His reputation as a pianist spread and he was soon in great demand. In 1802 he went on a prolonged European tour with Clementi, ending up in St Petersburg. When Clementi left the following ...
The original rock’n’roll lead guitarist, Scotty Moore (b. 1931) was born near Gadsden, Tennessee. Moore began playing guitar at the age of eight, largely self-taught. Although he aspired to playing jazz like Barney Kessel and Tal Farlow, he was also influenced by country guitarists like Merle Travis and, in particular, Chet Atkins. After Navy service ...
The history of the bugle is usually traced to the Seven Years’ War (1756–63), when the semicircular metal hunting horn came into use on the battlefield. It settled down as a single loop, pitched in C or B flat around 1800, while a two-loop version developed later in the nineteenth century following the Crimean War (1853–56). This instrument was ...
A notable entry into the field of electronic music was made by Luigi Russolo and Ugo Piatti. Members of the Futurist movement, they developed a family of machines called ‘noise-intoners’. One of these contained a wheel with a rosined or toothed circumference, which could be brought into contact with a string, whose tension could be varied and which ...
drum has accompanied war, work and play since antiquity. The Romans marched to its beat, Elizabethan revellers danced to the pipe and tabor and in the days before field telephones, military messages were transmitted via drum calls. In the twentieth century the snare (or side) drum became an essential part of the standard drum kit, and provided ...
mixing console, through which all signals are routed. At the mixer, the engineer can control the relative levels of different sounds; position sounds within the stereo (or surround) field and apply effects. Racks of additional equipment house various sound processing devices, such as delays and reverb units, the creative application of which play such an important part ...
a coil of wire around a magnet. As anyone who has ridden a bicycle with lamps powered by a dynamo knows, a coil of wire moved in a magnetic field produces an electrical current in the wire. Thus, acoustic energy arriving at the diaphragm of the microphone, causes the coil of wire to vibrate around the magnet. This ...
invented soul music – rock’s spiritual, sensual Afro-American twin. Soul is an innovative blend of musical styles: the Baptist hymn and the juke joint dance exhortation, the plantation field holler and the sophisticated jazz standard, the romantic vocal flights of doo-wop and the driving rhythms of small-band R&B, the gospel plea for deliverance and the altogether earthier ...
distance, where it is transformed into a building. Trial 1: incorporates the song ‘Mr Bojangles’ and the spoken text ‘All Men are Equal’ (Johnson). Act II Dance 1 – Field with Spaceship. Night Train. Act III Trial 2/Prison: incorporates the spoken texts ‘Prematurely Air–Conditioned Supermarket’ (Childs) and ‘I Feel the Earth Move’ (Knowles). Dance 2 – Field with Spaceship. Act ...
about to invade. Part Two August, Borodino: Soldiers are digging defences. Denisov explains his partisan tactics to Andrey. Peasants report French atrocities. Pierre visits Andrey. The troops parade before Field Marshal Kutuzov. Andrey declines a post on Kutuzov’s staff. Napoleon, watching the battle, senses that destiny is turning against him. The Russian generals are gathered at a council ...
in Vivaldi’s time included the mandolin, chalumeau, the newly developing clarinet and the viola d’amore. During the first half of the eighteenth century the Pietà was able to field one of the best-disciplined orchestras in Europe and its virtues were recognized by connoisseurs and travellers throughout the continent. New Opportunity in the Pietà Vivaldi’s responsibilities lay foremost in teaching ...
Bessie Smith was one of the greatest vocalists of the twentieth century; her emotional delivery and exquisite phrasing has been an influence on instrumentalists as well as innumerable singers, both male and female. Many of her records, including ‘Gimmie a Pigfoot’, ‘Woman’s Trouble Blues’, ‘St. Louis Blues’ and the song that became an anthem of the Great Depression, ...
Blind Lemon Jefferson (c. 1893–1929) opened up the market for blues records in 1926 when ‘Got The Blues’, backed with ‘Long Lonesome Blues’, became the biggest-selling record by a black male artist. It brought him the trappings of success, including a car and chauffeur, and he released nearly 100 songs over the next four years, before his death. ...
and Billy Jack all began their careers as Texas Playboys. In addition to the fiddle music of his father, Wills was from childhood affected by the music of black field workers. His deliberate mixing of white and black musical styles would give his music much of its vibrancy, and lend his fiddle playing a haunting, vocal quality. Fiddling ...
to listen to. Born near Edwards, Mississippi, in 1887 or 1891 (accounts vary), Patton moved north with his family to Dockery Farms plantation and grew up listening to field hollers and levee-camp moans as well as gospel, ragtime, country folk and novelty songs. He learned guitar in his late teens from itinerant musicians such as Willie Brown ...
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Classical, Rock, Blues, Jazz, Country and more. Flame Tree has been making encyclopaedias and guides about music for over 20 years. Now Flame Tree Pro brings together a huge canon of carefully curated information on genres, styles, artists and instruments. It's a perfect tool for study, and entertaining too, a great companion to our music books.
David Bowie
Fantastic new, unofficial biography covers
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