Right now, I’m reading an excellent book called “Leonardo: The First Scientist” by Michael White. I already knew it, but da Vinci was basically awesome. And this book has a lot of information that’s new to me. Like, did you know that Leonardo wrote over 13,000 pages of notes over his lifetime … but only half of

Pythagoras had a good brain. A very good brain. As the “father” of western music theory, he rates pretty high on the coolness scale. You may not recognize his face, but he looms large in the history of music. He was born in Greece around 580 B.C.E. and was famous in his day as a

Like Bob Dylan once said, “The times they are a-changin’.” In music, this is totally true. Today more than ever, it’s easier to find and listen to great music. Digital technology makes it possible to record and share tons of songs. And it seems like everybody has an iPod or some kind of MP3 player.

I think we need a breather. I mean, the chromatic scale is cool and all. But all this talk about notes, and sharps, and flats makes me want to relax … at least for a minute or three. It turns out, musical patterns are easy. (How hard can it get with only 12 notes?) But sometimes