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.)

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.

I missed her recent concert in my neck of the woods. But I heard it was great. It’s always cool—and rare—when a musician’s live performances are better than their studio recordings. But, according to YouTube, Sara Bareilles is even better in front of an audience. Perfect pitch and interesting melodies … very cool.

A great example is her performance of the song, “Bottle It Up.” Sitting with her band on a pier overlooking a lake, Sara B. totally shines. It’s really good stuff. Check it out:

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!

The thing I like about Color Music is that it’s so simple. Using only a few pictures, it gives us a clear view of music. Just a couple of basic patterns … nothing complex like traditional notation. We can learn any song in a flash through a direct connection between our instruments and the notes on a page. Nice!

For musicians, who have already learned the hard way, Color Music is a welcome sight. A straight shot to all the note patterns we’ve spent years studying. The only downside is we spend a little time “unlearning” old concepts. Dropping the mental baggage of old traditional music lessons and hitting the “reset” buttons in our brains.

The upside, of course, is that Color Music gets us back on track super fast. So our knowledge of music is clear and confusion-free.

But for new music students—and especially kids—there is no downside to Color Music. No “unlearning” or rebooting needed. New students experience only the upside of mastering music at the speed of light. With their minds primed for musical patterns, the sky really is the limit.

In fact, the possibilities are thrilling. And we’ve gotten a lot of great feedback—especially from people who see Color Music as the perfect way to teach kids. After all, children are the future … the next wave of stellar musicians. So it totally makes sense to help them begin on the right track. Because Color Music is totally the head start they’re looking for.

So … we are excited to announce our grand, new adventure, The Color Music Company. And our new website is even better. Go ahead, check it out! Everything has been designed with musicians in mind … especially kids.

Our new website has more information about Color Music … including free stuff to download, a bigger and better blog, and a products page where you can buy your own piano coding kit. Sweet! So, jump right in, my friends. You won’t find any headaches—just good fun.

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.

So, recently, I’ve been dreaming about being a kid again. Starting from scratch and learning music the right way—with Color Music. And based on the number of readers we have out there (!), it looks like a lot of you feel the same way. It’s like our own music revolution. Out with the old and in with the new.

So just think how good people will get without the baggage of traditional notation. Their minds will be primed for mastering music. Nothing to forget or relearn. Just see … hear … play. It gives me goose bumps, actually. We have a whole new wave of great musicians coming. And it’s right around the corner … I can feel it.

I have to admit, I’m jazzed about Color Music. And why not? It shows us exactly how to play any instrument. When we combine color and music, they paint a very clear picture. (In fact, it’s almost spooky.)

With Color Music, we cut to the chase. No headaches—just fun. Finally, learning to make music is pure and simple.

Of course, life hasn’t always been so easy … if you learned things the hard way. Back in the bad, old days of black-and-white notation, we had our struggles. Bogged down with strange symbols and outdated tools, it was a challenge to understand music. In fact, it was a downright mess.

Which means we’ve had to “unlearn” a lot of crap. I mean, so far, Color Music posts have carefully maneuvered through the minefield of traditional music theory. I’ve kept saying things like, “Don’t worry about sharps and flats” … “Letter names and note numbers aren’t so bad” … “Building scales and chords is actually easy” … and so on. We’ve started back at square one and cleared things up as we go. Seeing how we should have learned music in the first place.

But, hey … what if we had never needed to struggle with traditional methods? That is, what if we didn’t have to waste time “unlearning” the sloppy, old system? And we just started with Color Music. Whoa. Can you imagine? You’d get really good really fast, right?

Well, that’s gotten me thinking. If I could be a kid again, I’d give my left arm to have Color Music from the start. That way, I would begin on the right track. And the sky would be the limit. Seriously … how cool would that be? Mmm….

Good news … the world is still full of really good (new) music. Yep, I found out this week as I was driving in my car. Flipping through the radio stations, I didn’t have high hopes. After all, the airwaves are often a musical wasteland. But, just for kicks, I turned to a new station and sat through the commercials—waiting.

So, imagine my delight when I heard the pop masterpiece “King of Anything” by Sara Bareilles. That’s right—masterpiece. It was so good, I had to Google the song right away. It turns out Sara Bareilles has a bunch of excellent songs. And, according to YouTube, her live performances are even better. Holy cow … how did I not know about her music?

Too bad I can’t go to her live concert in two days. It’s sure to be a cool event. Anyway, check out this video. It is really good stuff: