Philip Glass is one of the few “serious” composers that you may have heard of. You haven’t? Well, consider this your introduction. Mr. Glass is the founding father of a musical movement called “minimalism”. His music is some of the most listenable of modern compostions, which generally sound like they were designed to offend the ear rather than please it. Some of his most famous works include the score to the film Koyaaniskatsi, the performance piece 1000 Airplanes on the Roof, and the opera Einstein on the Beach.
IBM has developed an experimental search engine which “enables deep navigation of the music of Philip Glass”. One can listen to generous excerpts from over sixty compositions, which are ranked according to such categories as “joy”, “sorrow”, and “density”. Although it seems a little balky at actually playing the music, the user interface is creative, slick, and just plain all-around cool. Unfortunately, it only works with Internet Explorer (4.5+) running on Windows 98, ME, 2000, or Apple OS 9, or OS X. Be sure to have the latest Java Runtime Environment installed.
The Glass Engine
Philip Glass Website
What? No CD?
Interactive? I’m tone deaf and can’t read music.
No wonder no one knows who this guy is let alone post here. Get this guy an AGENT!! IBM should be the last promoter of this music…. next to Tom Cruise’s sister.
Did you try the site? Music reading is not necessary.
If you are tone deaf, consider listening to other modern movements, such as 12-tone, ‘coz you won’t miss much.
As for the rest, well, Phil is pretty famous, but only in certain circles. It is unfortunate if you didn’t find the post interesting, but well, you can’t win ‘em all. I just thought the interface was nifty because of the weird way the sliders move around.
Salud, BJL
You have given me the confidence to go to the site and try it out. I am pretty sure I meet all the hardware/software qualifications to try it out; :::exceptcoughi’mdialcoughup.:::
I thought others did not find the post interesting as no one was posting. So I did. You have given me a bit more of an explanation of it so I am headed there right now to freak out my pets and disturb my family with my musically challenged talents.
Yeah…if you want to hear the dribble that most “Artists” (and I stress the quotations) are putting out today, try something like 12 tone or electronic music. One composer that you will never hear about (Cage) created a piece for “piano” that constituted nothing more than sitting at the piano and doing nothing. If you really want to find a reason to kill yourself, take a 20th century music class. “Philomel” by Babbitt is one of the most difficult things I have EVER listened to. That includes having to be present when the doctor had to reset the bone in my 2 year olds leg. Minimalism is by far the most “listenable” (is that a word?). It basis itself in being simple. The pieces tend to be long and drawn out, but when you finally get to the end, with its tonal resolutions and the like, it’s like scratching an itch that’s been bugging you for a year. Try iy, you’ll see!
I know it’s a little late for this, but… actually, my 20th century music class was my favorite class ever. And I always thought Steve Reich was the founding father of minimalism. I’d say he’s my biggest inspiration, musically speaking.
Cage’s silent piece (4’33″), by the way, can be performed on any instrument (not just piano). I checked the score out of the library once, just for the heck of it. Also, it’s in three movements of any length the performer desires, as long as the total comes out to 4’33″. But for those calling it “trash”- I don’t know. Music is so subjective that it’s hard to define what’s “good” and what’s “bad.”
I don’t know what to make of this type of Damn music – I know it is not pleasing to my ear. Just like “rap” sounds like “crap” to me.
Two famous “minimalist” musicians were Count Basie and Stan Kenton, both of whom are famous for playing only 1 or 2 notes on the piano at just the right instant. These 1 or 2 notes “made” their jazz famous. Oorah!
Enter your reply text here. OK
Hell I can still dance to this. But then I can dance to anything.
Dance / Sex it’s all similar. I doubt there is a choreography dance for this – the shit that forces dance.
It requires the Quicktime Virus. I mean Plugin.