cultures. They are used in many forms of music-making, religious ceremonies, dance and other activities. They are often simple in construction and can be made from natural materials. A rattle comprises a body housing a number of small pellets or beans, which bounce against the internal walls of the instrument when it is shaken or struck, like a ...
b. 1955 English conductor Rattle won the John Player International Conductors’ Competition in 1974. After posts with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, he was principal conductor and music director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, 1980–97. In 1999 he was appointed Abbado’s successor, from 2002, at the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. ...
The history of musical instruments has always been very closely linked to the history of music itself. New musical styles often come about because new instruments become available, or improvements to existing ones are made. Improvements to the design of the piano in the 1770s, for instance, led to its adoption by composers such as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart ...
to achieve different sounds. Drum ensembles usually also include an agogo bell, which leads the ensemble, providing a pulse and starting and stopping signals, and a calabash rattle covered with shells or seeds. They are used to accompany singing and dancing at secular and sacred entertainments and ceremonies. Djun Djun The djun djun, ashiko and djembe form ...
A musical ensemble is a group of two or more musicians who have come together to play music. In theory, an ensemble could contain any number of instruments in any combination, but in practice, certain combinations just don’t work very well, either for musical reasons or because of the sheer practicality of getting particular instruments and players ...
, with a closed fist, or the knuckles. It can be rested on the knee or a soft-topped table and played with fingertips. It can also be shaken to rattle the jingles and create a tremolo effect. A thumb roll can be produced by rubbing the head with a moistened thumb tip to make the head shudder and the jingles ...
Like the jew’s harp and mechanical music box, the African mbira or thumb piano is a lamellaphone, in which the sound is produced by plucking metal tongues or plates. A mbira has between 22 and 52 thin metal tongues, arranged in two or three layers on a hardwood soundboard. The longest tongues are placed in the middle of ...
a strip of metal wires, nylon or gut stretched across the bottom of the drum. When the drummer strikes the top skin, the snare vibrates and the high-pitched rattle is able to slice through the loudest of bands and the fiercest of battles. The military snare drum is hung over the drummer’s shoulder, with the drum head at ...
1946, the steel-band repertoire has always included a combination of popular songs, jazz, hymns, calypsos and extracts from classical pieces. Introduction | Percussion Instruments Instruments | Rattle & Shaker | Percussion ...
his unfashionably Romantic opera Troilus and Cressida (1954). Recommended Recording: Symphony No. 1, Belshazzar’s Feast, Thomas Hampson, Cleveland Orchestra Chorus, CBSO & Chorus (cond) Sir Simon Rattle (EMI/Warner) Introduction | Modern Era | Classical Personalities | Anton Webern | Modern Era | Classical ...
has recently devoted more attention to composition, producing two operas, A Streetcar Named Desire (1998) and Brief Encounter (2009). Introduction | Contemporary | Classical Personalities | (Sir) Simon Rattle | Contemporary | Classical ...
that Turner could thrive in the R&B style that was so popular with black audiences. Turner responded with big hits such as ‘Chains Of Love’, ‘Honey Hush’ and ‘Shake, Rattle & Roll’, forming an important link between the blues and the forthcoming rock’n’roll style. He recorded in Chicago (with electric guitarist Elmore James) and New Orleans, but more often ...
(Vocals, 1911–85) Big Joe Turner’s tenure as ‘Boss of the Blues’ is dominated by one song, ‘Shake, Rattle And Roll’, which became an early rock’n’roll anthem as recorded by white artists Bill Haley and Elvis Presley. But Turner’s long career and legacy of R&B hits includes boogies like ‘Roll ‘Em Pete’, the seminal blues of ‘Cherry Red’, and ...
world alight. Instead the genial, and let us not forget, talented Haley went to No. 12 in summer 1954 with a raucous version of Big Joe Turner’s ‘Shake Rattle And Roll’ (this became his first UK hit in late 1954). But the wheels of fate were turning. The actor Glen Ford’s son had bought ‘Thirteen Women’. His father’s producer ...
conversations with Robert Craft and may have involved a degree of ghost-writing by him on Stravinsky’s behalf. Recommended Recording: The Rite of Spring, City of Birmingham SO (cond) Simon Rattle (EMI/Warner) Igor Stravinsky: Works Operas: The Nightingale (1909); Mavra (1922); Oedipus Rex (1927); The Rake’s Progress (1951) Ballets: The Firebird (1910); Petrushka (1911); The Rite of Spring (1913); Pulcinella (1920); ...
AUTHORITATIVE
An extensive music information resource, bringing together the talents and expertise of a wide range of editors and musicologists, including Stanley Sadie, Charles Wilson, Paul Du Noyer, Tony Byworth, Bob Allen, Howard Mandel, Cliff Douse, William Schafer, John Wilson...
CURATED
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
his life, music, art and movies, with a
sweep of incredible photographs.