Studies of Snowball the dancing cockatoo (who had a round of television fame in the late ’00s) “turned out to be just the prelude to a new concerto of research on musicality in the animal kingdom. In recent years, scientists have tested various species and found evidence that nonvocal learners such as sea lions and bonobos have rhythm too. In parallel, pioneering studies have begun to elucidate how the brain tracks a beat.”
Tag: 03.22.16
San Antonio Symphony Musicians Accept Three-Week Furlough
“Facing a funding shortfall and mounting debt, the San Antonio Symphony reached an agreement with its 72-member orchestra for a temporary layoff during the 2016-17 season to help the organization shore up its finances.”
Congresswoman To U.S. Air Force: Disband The Bands!
Martha McSally (R-Ariz.): “We have hundreds of people playing the tuba and clarinet. … If we really had a manning crisis, from my perspective, we would really tell people to put down the tuba and pick up a wrench or a gun.”
We’re Losing Our Radio History. Can Anything Be Done?
“There’s no way to quantify how much of broadcasting history has been lost, except to say that most of American radio will never be heard again. That is, many scholars argue, in large part the fault of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which eliminated mandates for local ownership and led to major consolidations across the radio market. New ownership often meant the obliteration of recorded history.”
What Policymakers Could Learn About Artificial Intelligence From The Guy Who Played Go With Google’s Computer
“In the first three games, AlphaGo bludgeoned Lee with a calculating efficiency that mystified the 33-year–old Korean. Then in Game 4, Lee responded to the challenge of artificial intelligence with new tactics. He attacked AlphaGo, aggressively sought to hem it in, and in a transcendent moment of genius laid down a lone white pebble that one Go champion dramatically called the ‘hand of god.’ He won.”
Charles Kaufman, 87, Saved, Led Mannes School Of Music
A gifted teacher and charismatic presence, Kaufman led a faculty and student revolt at the music conservatory in 1979 that saved it from a merger with the much larger Manhattan School of Music.
How To Read Dante (Since So Few Of Us Really Have) In The 21st Century
“Start by treating The Divine Comedy not as a book, with a coherent, beginning, middle, and end, but rather … treat the poem as Dante the character treated his journey, something to be undertaken step by step.”
Heart Of Stone: Tracey Emin Has Married A Rock
“[The artist] says the story may sound pretentious and stupid, but she recalls finding a small box and in it was a ring with an ant on it. ‘I put it on my finger and suddenly realised it’s superstitious to put a wedding ring on your finger unless you are getting married, otherwise you have to throw the ring away,’ she said. But because she liked the ring so much, she decided instead she needed to marry someone – and why not the rock?”
The Sea Creatures That Inspired Art Nouveau
The drawings that biologist Ernst Haeckel made while aboard the HMS Challenger‘s round-the-world voyage in the 1870s had a surprisingly wide influence. (They’re also very cool.)
‘You Don’t Know Who I Am, But You’ve Been Affected By Things I Did’ – Meet The Great Adventurer Of New York’s Avant-Garde
Tony Conrad: “It appeared as if Schoenberg had destroyed music. Then it appeared as if Cage had destroyed Schoenberg. Our project was to destroy Cage. … Yeah! Of course we were high on drugs! But honestly, drug experiences are very private, and cultural experiences are very social. I think the social is better.”