June 19- Music

This question comes from true procrastinetic dismay. Originally, I was going to post something about musical theory- what the treble clef means, what 4/4 means at the beginning of a song, or in between certain measures. It's to late in the day for that. Next I wandered into the realm of bands, something I am more comfortable with. But all those questions are lame. What am I supposed to ask? Who is the drummer for The Police? That's a ridiculous question to ask such fine intellectuals like yourselves. We're about trivia here, not trivial! Anyway... I ended up going with something that isn't so much musical trivia, but something that might possibly make you hum a tune while surfing the web. So for my question today, I ask: How many times does a bell ring before the guitar starts on the song "Hell's Bells by AC/DC?


I'm truly sorry...



The bell rings 4 times, and continues ringing once the guitar starts.

June 16- Science

I hope you are as excited as I am to be returning to the regular daily loop. Today's question is a bit of a cross-over question between science and music, so I did have a bit of turmoil coming down to the decision. As you can most certainly tell, I chose to put it under science. Since it was beautiful today, I decided to sit out on my sun porch and listen to music. And not just normally listening to music on a sissy iPod, I mean listening to music on the phonograph. If you've never listened to music on a record player before, you definitely should some time. Anyway, all this was brought on today when I was looking downstairs in my basement and found a container of jazz records. Well, you can bet I popped those guys in there as soon as I could get up the stairs. And as I watched the record spin tunes from the likes of Prima and Brubeck, I began to wonder how it was actually being brought to me. So for my daily question, I ask: How does a phonograph work?







There is an infinity of informational depth that you could get into on the subject of sound, and no one, me especially, likes hearing complexities that I couldn't care less about. So basically, a record is started with a sound. The sound travels down a tube, and makes a part called the diaphragm vibrate. The diaphragm is connected to a stylus, that then pushes down on the new record, at this point made out of wax. The record is on a platform being spun as the imprints are being made on it. Think of it as the childrens' song about bones: The sound is connected to the, diaphragm. The diaphragm's connected to the, stylus. The stylus is connected to the, record. This process makes a piece of wax with tiny little groves all over it. Now, do it in reverse. When you put the wax on a spinning platform, and let the stylus spin slowly down it, the sound is sent down a diaphragm, and out the horn. Then, a contented jazz enthusiast can obsorb the music.
For more info visit: http://www.pbs.org/weta/roughscience/series2/challenges/sound/page3.html

June 5- Music

Can you believe those writers at The Daily Question? 2 entire days without posts! Well, hopefully I can succeed in quelling your zero-Daily Question sadness. A few hours ago, I got back from a dance.. on a boat. All in all, it was pretty good, however, there were a few songs that no one really likes, and kind of stands in the side of the room for. Anyhow, when I was fashionably standing on the side, I thought of what question I should ask today. Then it hit me! I'm listening to MUSIC, on a BOAT! How about a question inquiring into the realm of nautical music! Back in the good ole' days, large sailing ships were controlled by sails. This method was used late into the 19th century. To control the sails, many sailors would have to pull at different ropes at the right times to get the desired speed. As you could imagine, getting dozens of people to do something perfectly in unison could be a difficult task. To help combat this problem, songs came into being that had a certain rhythm for pulling. Each job had its own beat, making the pulling completely efficient. So for my daily question I ask: What is the name of this kind of song?







The name of this genre of music is a "Sea Shanty".

May 29- Music

Isn't the radio fun? You can listen to it in the car, outside, or anywhere with plugs or batteries. You can hear the Sox game, or any random assortment of musical goodness. And supposedly, AM and FM attempt to de-randomify the assortment, but in recent years, as you probably have noticed, the line has become blurred. Back in the good ole days, shows were allotted AM or FM according to what they were, like music on FM and talk on AM, but as you have undoubtedly noticed, there is plenty of talk on FM, and all sorts of music on AM. And why does this matter, you may be asking yourself (for good reason!) What could possibly be the difference a weary reader might ask. Well, there is a difference! So, I ask: What is the difference between AM and FM? (Besides the channel numbers, that would be cheap!)







The difference is how their frequencies are altered. With AM, the strength of the signal is changed with the sound information. FM's frequency is varied, and is less susceptible to static. Since I did a terrible job at explainging that, for more info visit: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/tryit/radio/radiorelayer.html

May 22- Music

Since this is in fact the Daily Question, I promise: no more poetics this week. So for now I'll stick with the basics, and today those basics happen to be about music. You hear about it all the time. An album went platinum. Who cares?! Not that that's not a big accomplishment, but you hear about it often, as I stated before. Now double platinum, that's cool. Triple platinum, you're getting up there. In case you don't know how many records it takes to make platinum, it's 1,000,000 (or about how many people took my presidents quiz on Facebook) . But this question has to do with insane sales. Only a few musical geniuses (or pop icons, if you are so inclined to be argumentative) can claim the title of a "Diamond Record". So, for my daily question, I ask: How many albums do you have to sell to get a Diamond Record?







The magic number is 10,000,000. (Oh, and by the way, Gold is 500,000. That's pretty cool too :)

May 15- Music

Recently, I rediscovered a great album from the dark depths of my iTunes account. A hit in the U.K. (reaching #1) and #3 in America, Paul Simon's 5xPlatinum CD Graceland is one of my favorites of all time. To date it has sold over 14 million copies. Recorded mostly in South Africa by a large group of musicians, with all very diverse backgrounds, most from around Africa, Graceland experiments with many different kinds of music and rhythms. People liked it so much, it won The Record of the Year Grammy award for 1986 and 1987. Also in 1987, Paul Simon went on a tour of African, performing the songs from Graceland. Which brings me to the daily question: Which African country did Paul Simon perform the songs from Graceland to make the movie The African Concert in 1987?








It was filmed over the course 2 concerts in Harare, Zimbabwe.
To see clips from the movie, see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4w3CBdLfGqw
For more info:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graceland_(album)

May 8- Music

ONNNN BROOOAAADWAAAY, ONNN BROOAAAD WAAAY. Sorry about that, but it was the only worthy way to open a daily question about Broadway. George Benson famously sang those words in his hit song "On Broadway" in 1978 (Though he wasn't the first.) to try to describe the sights, sounds and smells of the beloved Broadway Theater, (or Theatre if your fancy/British). Since the 1800's, companies that have morphed into the Broadway Theater in N.Y. City have been putting on plays, but it wasn't until The Gilded Age (Post-Civil War) that Broadway as we know it became popular. And some parts of Broadway are more popular than others. Which brings me to my daily question: Which MUSICAL has been preformed the most times on Broadway?





The most run musical is Phantom of the Opera with a whopping 8,771 showings since its debut in 1988. It also won that same year's Tony Award.

May 1- Music

The music of bluegrass. Coming from the state of Kentucky, The Blue Grass State, bluegrass music is a mixture of country, jazz, and blues. It also claims the deep roots of Irish, English, Scottish and Welsh traditional music (People from those countries were the first Europeans to pioneer the "backwoods", or west of the Appalachian). Incorporating many stringed instruments, bluegrass is quite a thing to listen to if you haven't before. Anyway, this all brings me to my question of the day: Who is often considered the "Father of Bluegrass"?




The artist Bill Monroe (1911-1996) is often referred to as the "Father of Bluegrass". He is most known for his band The Blue Grass Boys.

April 24- Music

The glass armonica. A series of glass bowls placed in order from biggest to smallest, it is played by someone wetting their fingers, and rubbing the top of the bowl that has the desired sound. A foot pedal at the bottom keeps the bowls spinning. Famous composers such as Mozart have written pieces for it. Unfortunately, the glass armonica has sort of died out over the years, but enthusiastic fans predict its imminent return to fame. So, without further ado, I bring my question of the day: Which famous American invented the glass armonica?





In 1761, Benjamin Franklin invented it after watching a performance of a man playing tunes on the top of wine glasses.

For more info visit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XPfoFZYso8 (The title is "Glass Harmonica", which is another widely used name, but not the official one.)

April 23- Music

Every year, American singers gather from near and far to possibly receive a Grammy award. Presented annually, the Grammy awards go to musicians for all sorts of accomplishments. Originally started in 1958 by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, Grammys have been presented every year since. But technically, the name of the award isn't "Grammy". So my question to you is: What does Grammy stand for?






The word Grammy is short for the music player Gramophone.
For more info visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammy_awards