Topics

Nov

Culture Smart: The Musical Scale Across Cultures

by Your friends at OIC on November 24, 2013

Children learning to play the violin, symbolizing the different musical scales across cultures

Learning to play different styles of music

Tonal Patterns and Changing Intervals

When you first learn to play an instrument, the first series of notes taught is called a scale. A scale is a series of ascending pitches, usually ending on the octave, the same note, at a higher pitch. Music from different cultures uses different intervals between the notes of an octave.

If you’ve seen The Sound of Music, you know the Western music major scale: do, re, mi, fa, so la, ti, do. It consists of 7 unique notes, with the 8^th note being the octave. Listen to a C Major Scale: Read more...

Your friends at OIC Comments

China/Cultural Diversity/Middle East/The World's Music

Nov

The Harmony of Hope: Tsunami Violins

by Janine Boylan on November 18, 2013

Tsunami violins illustrate cross-cultural contributions on the path to healing (Design by Muneyuki Nakazawa)

Muneyuki Nakazawa’s tsunami violins,
each with a solitary pine tree painted on its back.
Image courtesy of Classic for Japan Foundation

Healing with Cross-Cultural Contributions

If music is healing, then it follows that violins can also bring healing.

Master luthier Muneyuki Nakazawa has constructed two violins with the goal of bringing harmony and healing to a devastated Japanese community.

Moving from Disaster

After the 8.9 magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami in March of 2011, Nakazawa felt that he needed to do something for his community.

He visited the ruined shores of the city of Rikuzentakata, Japan, strewn with broken trees that had been ripped from the ground. Read more...

Janine Boylan 2 Comments

Clever Ideas/Japan/On the World Stage/The World's Music

Sep

Josh Humphrey: Making Music with Reclaimed Wood

by Janine Boylan on September 2, 2013

Luthier Josh Humphrey in his workshop where his creative process turns into handmade guitars. (Image © Josh Humphrey)

A Luthier’s Creative Process

Creative handmade guitar, crafted from reclaimed redwood, is the result of Josh Humphrey's creative process. (Image © Josh Humphrey)

In Josh Humphrey‘s hands, a weathered piece of redwood from a dilapidated shack is transformed into the caramel-colored face of a one-of-a-kind guitar.

Humphrey is a luthier, a craftsman who makes stringed instruments.

The 20-string Raja guitar, pictured on the right, is one of the many unique pieces he has crafted from reclaimed and other local woods.

How did he become a luthier? It took his dad’s business, heavy rock music, and an apple tree, with several Oh, I see moments along the way. Read more...

Janine Boylan 3 Comments

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