I mean, really. Singers who smoke are like models who like boxing as a hobby. Why would you put yourself at risk like that?!

Anyway, we’re all friends here. So if you smoke, I ain’t hatin’ on you. But be careful, yeah? It’s a dangerous world out there—especially for these singers:

Basically, it’s kind of a science fiction theme. The show follows a group of people who “slide” between alternate worlds or realities. One of the people is a scientist who invented this machine that malfunctions every few hours. So each episode is about how the group survives travelling through these different worlds.

In one episode, they find themselves in a world where America had lost the Revolutionary War. And they experience what life would have been like 250 later (in the 1990s). In another episode, they land in a world where history had taken a totally different turn. Each season of the show is a series of “what if’s.” And you get to see how things might be if history had been changed.

So my question is, “What if Isaac Newton really had cracked the code to Color Music?” How good would music be these days? Or what if Aristotle starting working with Color Music way back in the day? We’d probably have super-human musicians walking the streets.

What do you think things will be like in 100 years? Now that we have Color Music, things are going to speed up. Students will learn faster. And people are going to gain amazing insight into how music works. It’s very exciting!

Anyway, what are your predictions for the future? How do you envision the changes you’ll make using Color Music?

If we added up all the time people save learning with Color Music — every streamlined minute, hour, day, and week — we’re talking about entire lifetimes saved. So I guess you could say that Color Music saves lives! And it frees curious minds from the tyranny of outdated, old-school thinking … which assumes that slogging through ages of traditional music lessons is the only way.

Ahhh … but I wax philosophical at the new year. Long story short, 2012 is going to be awesome. So let’s leap into the future … and make some music!

But there are other good combos, too. Like peanut butter and jelly … sopapilla and cheesecake … and “The Wizard of Oz” with “Dark Side of the Moon.” Of course, that last one is a little strange. But it works!

There are even stranger combinations out there, which don’t seem to go together. Like pickles and ice cream … cinnamon and avacados … and The Backstreet Boys. But one of the weirdest pairings would be Lenny Kravitz and Benjamin Franklin. I actually like both of these guys a lot. But what would they think of each other?

I mean, can you picture Benjamin Franklin taking off his bifocal glasses to sit back and relax – while listening to Lenny’s song, “Believe”? It’s an odd image. And seriously, what would be going through his head?

The song starts out with a beautiful organ playing. In Ben Franklin’s world of the 1700s, he’d probably associate that sound with a church organ. Then the drums would probably make him think of revolutionary war drums rattling. And who knows what he’d think of the electric guitar? While this song sounds normal to us, it would be a totally foreign thing to his ears.

Anyway, take off your bifocals for a minute, sit back, and listen to this song with a fresh perspective. And imagine you’re Benjamin Franklin. It’s interesting to hear music from a new angle.

This is a cool picture. And it’s of musician Josh Pyke as he filmed the video for his song, “Make You Happy.” The special boat was created to the exact specifications of the Maton acoustic guitar that he plays.

For the record, Pyke does not regularly ride through the Sydney Harbor in t his boat. (But he’s apparently a huge fan of the slide guitar.)

Call them whatever you want — they’re totally fun and addicting!

Have you ever done a Rebus puzzle? They’ve been around for a long time — Rebus puzzles were popular during the 18th and 19th centuries. They were sometimes used as a code (some were written in such a way that they had to be held in front of a mirror to be read) and a pastime.

So what is a Rebus puzzle? It’s a playful way of writing or drawing a word, expression, or sentence. And while it’s fun to try to figure each one out, solving Rebus puzzles is a great way to get the juices flowing in your brain. In order to become great musicians, we need to get good at quickly recognizing patterns. Music is more than just hearing patterns — it’s seeing patterns, too.

The best way to really get it is to try a few. So here’s an example. Can you guess the expression? (The answer is just below the box, so don’t scroll down too far until you have your guess!)

Time’s up! It’s “extended family.” Get it? I bet you want another chance to guess, so here’s another Rebus:

Think you know it? It’s “You are a cutie pie.” That was easy, but just in case you missed it, here’s one more example:

This last Rebus is “mind over matter.”

How did you do? Now that you’re warmed up, print this sheet for 10 more. Scroll down past the picture below to find the answers.

]]> http://mycolormusic.com/2011/09/rebus-puzzles-1/feed/ 0 http://mycolormusic.com/2011/08/north-carolina/ http://mycolormusic.com/2011/08/north-carolina/#comments Thu, 01 Sep 2011 02:22:54 +0000 admin http://mycolormusic.com/?p=4638 So … we just got back from North Carolina, and it’s a really cool place. Just decided to go on vacation to check it out. And I have to say, it’s super green — seriously. Trees, trees, and more trees everywhere. It felt a lot like being in the movie, “Honey I Shrunk The Kids.” You know what I mean? When they’re walking through the giant forest of their back yard. You can see nothing but tall, green foliage for miles. And then, suddenly, you turn a corner and a bunch of buildings pop out of nowhere. It’s crazy.

We happened to roll into town a couple of days before Hurricane Irene … which was excellent timing. Even in Raleigh, which is many miles from the coast, the storm was noticeable. Big, dark clouds flew through the sky and it rained really hard. Oh yeah, and the wind was amazing. The next day, we drove to the coast and saw that it got hit pretty hard. Huge trees had been blown over, taking down power lines. Stop lights weren’t working, so police officers stood in the middle of intersections directing traffic. Shops were closed, with their windows boarded up. The streets were covered with tree branches that fell during the storm. In short, the whole thing was an experience.

Anyway, we dig North Carolina. It’s a beautiful place and the people there are super cool. So to honor this great state, here’s a pop quiz … which of the following musicians are from that area?

1. Tori Amos
2. George Clinton
3. John Coltrane
4. Ben Folds
5. Thelonious Monk
6. James Taylor

Answer:  All of the above. Pretty cool, huh? This state produces good vibes and good music — nice.

There was just one thing that always confused me. In each chorus, the band sings, “Our house, in the middle of the street.” When I was about four years old—when I first heard this song—I was totally confused. I thought this meant their house was built in the middle of the road. So I wondered, “how is the traffic supposed to go around them?”

It’s funny how the brain works … or doesn’t work. Of course, now I get it. The band just meant their house was not a corner lot. So they had neighbors on either side. But, to this day, the same old image pops into my mind. And I picture a traffic jam caused by that darn building awkwardly planted in the pavement.

Anyway, here is the song in its full glory. Enjoy!

Sure, it doesn’t look great. And duct tape fixes can be downright lazy. But who want to get out a hammer or screw driver? After all, a little tape goes a long way. Just slap some on and go!

Musicians aren’t new to duct tape, either. We have our fair share of quick fixes. Some of them are subtle. Like a small guitar strap repair here … or a little piano bench tune up there. But sometimes, you see some really wild jobs. Like these:

Now, those take some really ingenuity. Whoa! So thank you, duct tape. You make the musical world go round.

Traditional music methods aren’t all bad. Mainly, because they give us a common vocabulary—a shared language that musicians can use to communicate. Over the centuries, music nerds have created all sorts of handy words to describe sound. So that when we talk about “tonics,” or “sharp-fives,” or “E-flat,” you know what I mean.

The trouble is, traditional methods start with these terms. And that creates problems. If we just throw a bunch of strange phrases at a beginner, they’re only going to get confused.

No, a better way to understand music is to learn note patterns first—then the vocabulary of a musician. I mean, you wouldn’t try to teach a child the alphabet before they learned to speak, right? That would just overwhelm them because their brains don’t work that way.

In reality, any kid masters a language by sounding out words first—like “dog,” “car,” “ball,” etc.—BEFORE they try to spell these words. And long before they even think about tackling heavier concepts like nouns, punctuation, prepositional phrases, and so on.

See what I’m saying? Music works the same way. We need to hear and see notes before we try to label them with letters, numbers, or any of those crazy traditional symbols. It just makes sense. Standard music has so many terms it can make your head spin. But deep down the patterns of music are simple.

With Color Music, we can easily learn these patterns. And I think this is the best way to master music. As with any language, we’re better off learning the patterns first … then the vocabulary. That way, the vocabulary will be obvious, because we’ll already know exactly what we’re describing.