Ray Charles on the podcast

I did a podcast episode about Ray Charles’ recording of “You Are My Sunshine”, a crucial example for my pop theory and aural skills classes. You Are My Sunshine by Ethan Hein Ray Charles and the racial politics of country music Read on Substack This is the first episode where I layered multiple versions of …

The circle of fifths is a lie

In this episode, I use “Don’t You Worry ‘Bout A Thing” by Stevie Wonder (1973) as a jumping off point to contemplate the headache of naming notes and chords in keys with a lot of flats and sharps in them. The circle of fifths is a lie by Ethan Hein My struggles to learn “Don’t …

I started a podcast

The debut episode is about “Peter Piper” by Run-DMC. This episode and the next couple will be free; then I’ll contemplate instituting a paywall. Run-DMC, Paul Simon and Bob James by Ethan Hein The debut episode of my new podcast Read on Substack

ComposerQuest podcast with Marc Weidenbaum

Quick note to say that one of my tracks appears in a podcast by Charlie McCarron, “Social Sound Experiments with Marc Weidenbaum.” Marc is the visionary mind behind the Disquiet Junto and is a thoughtful speaker on the nature of sound art, its relationship to music, and how to be a good critic, composer and …