Latest news with #instrument
Yahoo
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Humor: How to Choose Your Middle Schooler's Instrument
Considering your ears, wallet, and sanity How will you ever know if your son or daughter is a musical prodigy if you don't put an instrument in their hands?! But what instrument should it be? Here are a few to consider. Flute You wish you'd been allowed to play the flute as a kid, or you did play it, quit as soon as your parents made the final payment on it, and have wondered ever since if that was where your high school career went wrong. You still have the flute. And you know that 99% of kids quit their instruments before high school graduation. Why are you even reading this? Clarinet Perfect if you *really* miss the days of the 3rd-grade recorder. You just must be willing to endure extremely high-pitched and ear-rattling squeaks during the approximately 500 hours of practice it'll take to hit those high notes. And not have an aversion to saliva puddles on your floor. Oboe Is your middle schooler looking for something 'clarinet adjacent,' but that costs 3x more? Is your nickname MoneyToBurn? Might we suggest the oboe? Just don't expect this 'investment' to result in hearing anything, because if your middle schooler doesn't commit to an immediate and rigorous lip strength training routine, you won't. Which may not entirely be a bad thing. Saxophone You desperately miss the musical stylings of Kenny G, but will happily settle for something akin to the sound of cow burps. It's important to you for your kid to play an instrument that they can wear hanging from their neck like a gigantic necklace. It's simple: You need your kid to play the saxophone. Violin Are you CRAZY about 'Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star'? Do you want to hear it every single freaking day for 6 months?? Sounds like the violin might be perfect for your kid. Just be honest with yourself about how likely they might be to try and smoke the rosin meant to smooth the hairs on the bow. Because, yes, this is a thing. Viola Do you not want your kid to be basic and just play the violin like everyone else? Did you think you bought a large violin at an estate sale, but were wrong? The viola might be right for your family. As long as hearing only the harmony of every song won't give you a massive case of FOMO. And you aren't afraid to have rosin in the house. Cello If your kid gets tired when you ask them to hold something, but loves sitting down, the cello might be a good option. Especially if you think smoking rosin is a myth and you have no aversion to the car drop-off and pick-up lines. Because cellos aren't allowed to ride the bus. Double Bass Your motto is 'GO BIG OR GO HOME!' and you love driving your kid to school in your large vehicle? You're dying to give your kid the responsibility of an unwieldy and expensive instrument that is taller than they are? As long as you don't think low notes sound like Eeyore, and therefore make you sad, bring on the double bass! Trumpet You love being jolted awake at any time of the day by deafening sounds not remotely resembling 'Reveille'? Or, alternatively, you already wear a fantastic set of earplugs all day long and your favorite lullaby is 'Taps'? Get that kid a trumpet! Percussion It may sound crazy, but if you're sure they'll be content to practice using drumsticks on a pillow in their bedroom with the door closed, this could work. Just be sure to check that there's not even the remotest possibility a xylophone might be sent home on loan from the school. And be honest with your tolerance for repetitive beats. Even if they are 'sick.' Remember, the goal is to avoid insanity, or at least kick it down the curb a few more years. Or this... Don't have the patience of a saint, the deep pockets of a multimillionaire, an old instrument hidden in the closet, or at least some high-quality earplugs? There's another possible choice. And no, it's not letting them decide. You're funny. It's called 'joining Chorus.' No instrument to accidentally leave at home, school, or on the bus — and the price ($0!!) is RIGHT. Just don't think this will get you out of sitting through the concerts. It won't. Good luck! And choose wisely! Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Humor: How to Choose Your Middle Schooler's Instrument
Considering your ears, wallet, and sanity How will you ever know if your son or daughter is a musical prodigy if you don't put an instrument in their hands?! But what instrument should it be? Here are a few to consider. Flute You wish you'd been allowed to play the flute as a kid, or you did play it, quit as soon as your parents made the final payment on it, and have wondered ever since if that was where your high school career went wrong. You still have the flute. And you know that 99% of kids quit their instruments before high school graduation. Why are you even reading this? Clarinet Perfect if you *really* miss the days of the 3rd-grade recorder. You just must be willing to endure extremely high-pitched and ear-rattling squeaks during the approximately 500 hours of practice it'll take to hit those high notes. And not have an aversion to saliva puddles on your floor. Oboe Is your middle schooler looking for something 'clarinet adjacent,' but that costs 3x more? Is your nickname MoneyToBurn? Might we suggest the oboe? Just don't expect this 'investment' to result in hearing anything, because if your middle schooler doesn't commit to an immediate and rigorous lip strength training routine, you won't. Which may not entirely be a bad thing. Saxophone You desperately miss the musical stylings of Kenny G, but will happily settle for something akin to the sound of cow burps. It's important to you for your kid to play an instrument that they can wear hanging from their neck like a gigantic necklace. It's simple: You need your kid to play the saxophone. Violin Are you CRAZY about 'Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star'? Do you want to hear it every single freaking day for 6 months?? Sounds like the violin might be perfect for your kid. Just be honest with yourself about how likely they might be to try and smoke the rosin meant to smooth the hairs on the bow. Because, yes, this is a thing. Viola Do you not want your kid to be basic and just play the violin like everyone else? Did you think you bought a large violin at an estate sale, but were wrong? The viola might be right for your family. As long as hearing only the harmony of every song won't give you a massive case of FOMO. And you aren't afraid to have rosin in the house. Cello If your kid gets tired when you ask them to hold something, but loves sitting down, the cello might be a good option. Especially if you think smoking rosin is a myth and you have no aversion to the car drop-off and pick-up lines. Because cellos aren't allowed to ride the bus. Double Bass Your motto is 'GO BIG OR GO HOME!' and you love driving your kid to school in your large vehicle? You're dying to give your kid the responsibility of an unwieldy and expensive instrument that is taller than they are? As long as you don't think low notes sound like Eeyore, and therefore make you sad, bring on the double bass! Trumpet You love being jolted awake at any time of the day by deafening sounds not remotely resembling 'Reveille'? Or, alternatively, you already wear a fantastic set of earplugs all day long and your favorite lullaby is 'Taps'? Get that kid a trumpet! Percussion It may sound crazy, but if you're sure they'll be content to practice using drumsticks on a pillow in their bedroom with the door closed, this could work. Just be sure to check that there's not even the remotest possibility a xylophone might be sent home on loan from the school. And be honest with your tolerance for repetitive beats. Even if they are 'sick.' Remember, the goal is to avoid insanity, or at least kick it down the curb a few more years. Or this... Don't have the patience of a saint, the deep pockets of a multimillionaire, an old instrument hidden in the closet, or at least some high-quality earplugs? There's another possible choice. And no, it's not letting them decide. You're funny. It's called 'joining Chorus.' No instrument to accidentally leave at home, school, or on the bus — and the price ($0!!) is RIGHT. Just don't think this will get you out of sitting through the concerts. It won't. Good luck! And choose wisely! Solve the daily Crossword
ABC News
22-07-2025
- Entertainment
- ABC News
Violist Nobuko Imai
"On the viola you have to find your own way, and because every viola is different in size and heaviness you have to make individual adjustments. Whatever you do, it's a question of making the viola sound like a human voice." Born in Japan in 1943, Nobuko is widely revered as the Grande dame of the viola. She began playing the instrument when she was fifteen at the Toho Gakuen School in Tokyo, co-founded by the Japanese cellist and visionary pedagogue Hideo Saito, who's widely regarded as the father of Western music teaching in Japan. Nobuko had played the violin since she was six, but the viola was compulsory as a second instrument at the college, so she studied both. She still believes it's essential to have a solid technical foundation on the violin before a student even starts to think about playing the viola. "In fact, I found that when I made the switch, my fingers automatically accommodated to the different spacing. Of course you need to do some scales, but it quickly feels natural." But it was only when she was twenty-one that her future path revealed itself. After a major tour to the USA in 1964 as one of the violinists with the school's string orchestra under Seiji Ozawa, she and some friends stayed on and took themselves to the Tanglewood summer festival where they heard the Boston Symphony perform Berlioz' Harold in Italy. It was the first time she'd experienced the sound of a really good viola player. "In Japan at that time, its sound used to be shaped like a violin, just lower." "The sound of that viola shocked me. It was expressive and sweet as if it was singing. It eloquently expressed the personality of the performer." "All of a sudden, a beautiful melody ascended from the orchestra but at a higher pitch that the solo cello. I realised it was the viola playing — really speaking to the audience, mellow and warm like a human voice. This is the sound I want. The sound of that viola shocked me. It was expressive and sweet as if it was singing. It eloquently expressed the personality of the performer." Still, she wondered, being a tiny Japanese girl, would she be able to play the bigger instrument professionally, so she went back-stage and spoke to the soloist Joseph de Pasquale, and he asked her to play a bit. "Yes," he said, "your hand is quite big, you will manage!" And so, on that exact day, Nobuko Imai decided she'd be a violist — Friday 31st July 1964! Though it wasn't until 1988 that she came to perform on the instrument that became her constant companion: the 1690 Andrea Guarneri viola. "He is such an open personality, he's curious about new repertoire and always finding music in it, an inspiring model for young people." Against many odds, Nobuko went on to study at both Yale and Juilliard in New York. She became a member of the famed Vermeer Quartet and won the Young Concert Artists (New York) in 1967. More accolades followed: First prizes in both the Geneva International Music Competition and the ARD International Music Competition in Munich, the first violist to win both prestigious awards. In 2023 Nobuko Imai's 80th birthday was celebrated with a major concert in Amsterdam's famed Concertgebouw. She married a Dutchman and has been based in the Netherlands most of her life, but has been teaching all over the world for more than fifty years, forty of them at the Conservatory in Amsterdam. Many of her students who are now internationally successful gathered to honour her in a large viola ensemble, which included Diyang Mei, the current principal violist of the Berlin Philharmonic, and the prize-winning British violist Timothy Ridout. "He is such an open personality, he's curious about new repertoire and always finding music in it, an inspiring model for young people." Nobuko Imai could be speaking about herself. She's been a tireless advocate for the viola all her life, actively crusading for its full potential in the arenas of chamber music, new music, through Baroque initiatives and through her passionate pedagogy in the UK, USA and Europe and the viola festivals and competitions she's founded. Violist Nobuko Imai. ( Supplied: Marco Borggreve. ) "I was a very depressed child and music was hard work." Growing up in war-time Japan, Nobuko says she has few early memories. "I was a very depressed child and music was hard work. This wasn't long after World War II, when the economic situation in Japan was very bad. I think my mother thought it would be a good idea if I had a skill that could earn us some money, and so she practised with me for two or three hours a day, which is a lot for such a young child." Meanwhile in Tokyo, which was recovering from terrible war time privations, Professor Saito, who'd studied in Germany during the 1920s and 30s with Julius Klengel and Emanuel Feuermann, returned home, resolving to prove to Japanese and Westerners alike that Japanese musicians could bring sensitivity and insight to the interpretation of Western Classical music. He rebuilt some rooms in a girls' school which had been burnt out in an air raid, and in 1948 formed an orchestra of about twenty-five children from ages five to 11. At that time in Japan, no-one believed small children could read music and play in an orchestra. Later, when the school expanded to include secondary students, Nobuko Imai enrolled aged 15, studying violin with Toshiya Eto. "Another of my early inspirations grew from chamber music lessons with cellist Hideo Saito. I remember spending hours with him on just one or two lines of a Haydn piano trio, analysing the function of each note. "In a way, I felt as if I was part of the progeny of Emanuel Feurmann, because Mr Saito explained how the bow works expressively. He was a great mentor, and I had a marvellous time studying Bartók and Debussy quartets with him." "The Juilliard School and my exposure to the immense variation in the New York concert scene opened up incredible doors of discovery." During her years of study in America Nobuko says her "exposure to the immense variation in the New York concert scene opened up incredible doors of discovery." Looking back, she singles out Walter Trampler and Felix Galimir at Juilliard as important pedagogues. "Trampler allowed me to discover what musical individuality really means. In my younger years as a student in Japan the expectation was to do what your teacher told you to do. I discuss this with students all the time: what does it mean to free your inner self as a musician. "Violinist Felix Galimir was the chamber music instructor and a great pedagogue at the Marlboro music festival. He always led the student ensembles himself, so all the students learnt from him in a very direct way. "Chamber music has always been closest to my heart, be it in the Vermeer Quartet, more recently in the Michelangelo Quartet, or in many other combinations." Nobuko recalls her five or so years in the Vermeer Quartet as "one of my greatest triumphs. I was in my early 30s and every single day taught me so much. Its founder, Shmuel Ashkenasi, was a sensational musician and a wonderful person. Like so many quartets we were hot blooded and there were often disagreements until the last precious offstage minute and then, onstage, but once the music started, we played with a consistent musical voice. "Chamber music has always been closest to my heart, be it in the Vermeer Quartet, more recently in the Michelangelo Quartet, or in many other combinations." She's recorded and performed with many chamber luminaries alongside her world-wide career as a soloist with a repertoire that includes a string of world premieres. "I never grew bored with teaching. The thing is, I always want to create something. I don't want to repeat, there has to be something new." Nobuko began teaching when she was based in Chicago as a member of the Vermeer Quartet. "I didn't know much about teaching. It was 'learning by doing' for me and I liked it very much." Later she took up teaching posts in Manchester at the Royal Northern College of Music, as well as in Utrecht and The Hague, Detmold and Amsterdam, at the Kronberg Academy near Frankfurt, in Madrid and Geneva. "Unfortunately, I never had a teaching position in Japan, although of course I was there frequently, performing and giving masterclasses. "I never grew bored with teaching. The thing is, I always want to create something. I don't want to repeat, there has to be something new. Even practising scales can be done creatively. If you have a weakness you need to work on it — but you should use your imagination to improve to create our scales. That's the way I think to avoid routine." In semi-retirement now at 82, Imai will continue to teach and give masterclasses, imparting her wisdom to the next generations. "Nowadays too many people think that bigger is better, faster is better. I once went to see an opera in a big stadium somewhere in Europe, where 40,000 of us listened to the singers through a system of microphones and speakers. "That kind of performance really is meaningless, in my opinion. The Japanese word for music, ongaku, is made up of the Chinese characters for 'sound' and 'joy': 音楽. For me, the word communicates something very private, not a gigantic venue or a big, spectacular sound."
Yahoo
26-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Roland just released a weird little riff on an acoustic handpan
Synthesizer giant Roland just announced a fairly bizarre contraption. The Mood Pan is the company's digital take on an acoustic handpan. For the uninitiated, a handpan is a version of the steelpan instrument that's been popular in Trinidad and Tobago since the 1930s. It's widely considered to be the only truly new acoustic instrument invented in the 20th century. However, handpans and steelpans take serious skill to play. Roland's Mood Pan is much easier to play, thanks to clearly visible pads that represent notes. These nine pads can be set to different musical scales, making it impossible to hit a wrong note. The company says that this simpler design requires "no previous musical skills." There's a built-in 2.1 speaker system and a Bluetooth receiver, which lets users stream audio from external sources. The sound engine offers "tranquil tones," with multiple sound variations and effects. The Mood Pan allows access to a number of different percussive instruments like the tongue drum, gamelan, crystal bowl and singing bowl, along with unique tunings. It can also emulate stuff like sitars, orchestral strings and synth pads. There's an affiliated app for changing up sounds and for fine-tuning pad sensitivity. It's played with finger taps, just like many of its acoustic cousins. The instrument is small enough to be placed directly on a lap, though also works on a table. Roland claims this is the perfect gadget for "musical exploration, relaxation and meditation." As for those last two, the Mood Pan can play built-in environmental music and nature sounds. The company says these modes are for "mornings, evenings, relaxing and yoga sessions." This being a modern digital instrument, there's a USB-C MIDI port for triggering sounds on computers or via other gadgets. It's powered by six AA batteries or via USB-C connection. The instrument is available to order right now, but shipments won't be going out for a few weeks. The Mood Pan costs $660.
