Jazz Improvisation Changes Brain Functions

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Here’s something I never thought of: Put a jazz piano player in a brain scan tube with a plastic keyboard and compare his bran scans when he plays pre-determined music and when he improvises freely to a track.

That’s exactly what Dr. Charles Limb and Dr. Allen Braun at the National Institutes of Health did. And their findings are…..brain tickling.

Continue reading “Jazz Improvisation Changes Brain Functions” →

How to Calculate Delay Time to Tempo Beat

Here’s how to calculate millisecond delay time to your tempo so you can make adjustments on the fly (or just set it correctly for a hardline beat delineation.) Needless to say, if you’re not going for strict tempo beat pulses then you can skip equations and do this “by feel”.It’s very simple if you remember this equation:

* Delay time in ms (Milli-seconds) = 60000/BPM (Beat Per Minute)

Will give you a quarter note delay time.

OR

* Crotchet (Quarter note) timing in ms (Milli-seconds) = 60000/120 (BPM) = 500 ms

A millisecond is 1/1000th of a second, and tempo beats per minute (BPM) gives you an exact beat count per minute. (120BPM is 120 beats per minute.)

The above equation gives you the timing for every beat (i.e. the delay repeats will be synchronized with your beats).

The same thing in a musicians term will be as under :

* Delay time for crotchet in ms = 60000/BPM (Beat Per Minute)
* Delay time for Quaver in ms = 60000/BPM/2 (Beat Per Minute)
* Delay time for Semi-Quaver in ms = 60000/BPM/4 (Beat Per Minute)

Example :

Suppose your song tempo is 120 BPM, then the delay calculation is as follows:

* Crotchet (Quarter note) timing in ms (Milli-seconds) = 60000/120 (BPM) = 500 ms
* Quaver (Eighth note) timing is = 500 ms / 2 = 250 ms
* Semi-Quaver (Sixteenth note) timing is = 500 ms / 4 = 125 ms

Explanation :

BPM means beats per minute. So a tempo of 120 BPM means that the song is playing 120 beats per minute. Therefore 120 beats / 60 seconds = 2 beats per second. Since 1 second = 1000 Milli-seconds, hence if we divide 1 second (1000 Milli-seconds) by 2 Beats, we get 1/2 seconds ( 500 Milli-seconds) for every beat.

Vince Seneri

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I got introduced to Vince Seneri’s music through a friend who is an executive producer on his project. Vince has a new Hammond B3 CD hitting the streets on March 1, 2008 and there’s already some buzz about it. He’s a seasoned player – check out his clips for yourself on his website at www.vinceseneri.com . The picture above is from one of his previous albums – his new CD release is called “The Prince’s Groove”.

I’ve never met anyone that didn’t like a well played Hammond B3.

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The Prince’s Groove – Advance Review

Vince Seneri – THE PRINCE’S GROOVE: Our first exposure to Seneri’s fantastic organ work was in issue #74 <http://zzaj.freehostia.com/Z74Reviews.htm> , & he’s outdone himself on this new CD (due for a March 1st release). As always, he’s got some stellar players with him, like Randy Brecker on trumpet & flugelhorn, Paul Bollenback’s guitar, Dave Valentin on flute, tenor sax from Houston Person, percussion by Richie Flores and Gary Fritz & (last but not least) Buddy Williams on drums. A track title like “Dearly Beloved” would make most listeners think “ballad” (as did I), but this is one of the most scorching Hammond B3 pieces I’ve ever heard… & the title track, a Vince original, is some of the mellowest jazz you’ll ever listen to. My favorite tune was “The Stinger”, composed by Seneri… it flows with sophisticated rhythm, & highlights each player without taking away from any of them… an absolute stunner! Mr. Seneri is (as of this moment) my favorite jazz organ player, & if you love jazz organ, you’ll share my sentiments there. This album gets our MOST HIGHLY RECOMMENDED rating, as well as the “PICK” of this issue for “best organ jazz”!

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Another Vince Seneri Review

How about three cheers for jazz journeymen? Cats who’ve been around for a good long while and can play the dickens out of their instruments yet do not qualify as stars — except to fellow musicians who know a genuine talent when they hear one. That’s what you get with Vince Seneri, a masterful keyboardist who cuts it up big-time on the Hammond B3 organ. The guy is a supreme groove-master on the level of such giants as Larry Young, Jimmy Smith and Jack McDuff. Less barbecue-style than those gents, Seneri has his own smooth, soulful sound that rides in the pocket. He also indulges in spirited improvisation that gamely pulls apart melody for sheer entertainment value. This weekend at Zanzibar Blue, Seneri is joined by Dave Valentin (flute), David “Fathead” Newman (sax) and Doc Gibbs (percussion) — all in all, a cool cast of jazz vets.

Pro Tools Midi Chunk Errors

“Could not complete the Open Session… command because bad data encountered while translating MIDI Chunk List”

Digidesign ProTools error when opening a new session or importing a track from a previous session.

Fixes:

  1. Your work is lost. Try any backups that do not have errors.
  2. Reinstall ProTools and start new sessions.

Your work is gone. It is not retrievable. You cannot fix it. That’s word on the street and I don’t have any different news for you.

Yes, that’s VERY bad news. Just happened to me as I’m finishing up an album. Google it yourself on the ProTools forums but everyone I’ve seen have this problem just lost everything. I’ve spent about an hour on the phone with Digidesign support over this problem and was told to reinstall ProTools.

I am currently running ProTools TDM 5.1.1 – this error is also found on LE and yes, even on HD systems according to forum posts I’ve read on this.

Yes, you’ve lost everything and it is not retrievable. Sorry.

My fix? I’m going to finish my project in one monster session and keep everything running. Think I’ll keep the coffee pot loaded…

Victoria’s View on the Christmas Gloria

Article by Vicki McCarty about my Christmas Gloria which debuted Christmas Eve 2007.

Victoria’s View

“Drop off the music you got Wednesday and pick up the new packet.  Conrad has revised it”!  Huh?  Our jaws dropped in disbelief…how can that be?  We just got it and have only had one rehearsal…and we’re singing it tonight!!!    We took note of the sign on the front door and shook our heads.  This was turning into a memorable Christmas – in more than one way.  I could not have imagined this kind of Christmas Eve even a few years ago.  We entered and emptied the notebook with the music we had just picked up 5 days ago.  We were still reeling from the announcement our young music director had made just 2 weeks earlier.  “I’m thinking of writing a new piece of music for Christmas in a week – just like Bach and Mozart used to do!”   He went on to explain that it was common for them to write something new every week for church the next week.  So, he sat down and did it himself, just to see if it was possible.  I could not help but think what confidence he had in our choir – to think we could perform it after just one long practice – and do it in Latin – that took some confidence.

Two hours later, the service began.  Could we do it – the small group of musicians gathered together – we rehearsed it through twice with the orchestra – then our moment came.  A quiet fell over the congregation – and the first performance of Conrad Askland’s Christmas Gloria in D was born.  And it was beautiful.   A true Christmas miracle happened that night.  A wondrous story was told again, and became new and real to all there.  It was heralded with a beautiful new composition written to announce the glory of God.  A new Bach had done the impossible – composed, rehearsed, and presented his new work.  And we got to be there for the event.

We returned home to a house with no decorations, no tree, no dinner, and only the two of us.  But our heads were still ringing with the sound of Gloria in Excelsis Deo.   A memorable Christmas – in so many ways.  Move over Bach and Beethoven – there’s a new kid in town.

With caring,

Victoria