Music

Stuff about music, either mine or stuff I am listening to.

Jan 212007
 

This is probably my kids’ favorite song. I didn’t write it, of course; credit there goes to a guy named Harry S. Miller, in 1893. But it’s one of those songs that won’t die. A lot of kids come to it via the singalong version in Rise Up Singing: The Group Singing Songbook, which is kind of the default carry-around folk fakebook used around campfires. Some kids of a different vintage might remember the Muppets version.

As with many of the tunes that have gone through the folk process, the melody exists in many different versions as well. I am positive that the version I do bears little resemblance to the original. And of course, once I learned that there were a lot of different versions out there, I had to go out and scour the Internet for all the verses I could find. What I found far exceeded the cat’s official quota of nine lives. And then, of course, I had to add my own.

Continue reading »

iPod-based recording studio

 Posted by (Visited 5381 times)  Music
Jan 102007
 

I really shouldn’t lust after this given that I have no iPod. But I do anyway. It’s basically a digital mixer for iPods, with four inputs (two phantom powered XLR, looks like), EQ and pan controls, a preamp, records direct to iPod, and it also works as an offboard soundcard/mixer for your computer.

We now return to your regularly scheduled gaming stuff.

Dec 112006
 

Yesterday I watched two things that tied together in my mind. One was Altman’s A Prairie Home Companion. The other was an episode of Handmade Music that was half about making a Cajun accordion, and half about the decades-running jam sessions held at Savoy Music, where the accordions are made.

And now I’m stuck thinking about online community as a result.

Continue reading »