Rhythmic ambiguity in the Bach E major partita prelude

I have been creating a series of beat-driven remixes of canonical classical works. I have mostly done this for my own enjoyment, because I like hearing the pieces with some groove to them. But I also sense that there might be pedagogical applications for this method as well. I finally found a good example: the …

Repetition defines music

Musical repetition has become a repeating theme of this blog. Seems appropriate, right? This post looks at a book by Elizabeth Hellmuth Margulis, called On Repeat: How Music Plays The Mind. It investigates the reasons why we love repetition in music. You can also read long excerpts at Aeon Magazine. Here’s the nub of Margulis’ …

The Red Hot Chili Peppers unplugged

In case you don’t pay attention to such things, there’s a miniature scandal swirling around the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ performance at the Super Bowl halftime show. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8OAq3eQU9w Close examination of the footage reveals that the bass and guitar weren’t plugged in. Flea, the Peppers’ bassist, came forward and admitted that they used a pre-recorded …