Playing ahead of the beat

A technique used by many singers is singing, or for the cellist playing, ahead of the beat. Just enough ahead of the 1 on your entrance into the new phrase, or finishing just a little early than [...]

I first learned of Matt Pond PA from a little article in the NYT from 2005, about an indie band and their drinking. ‘”We’re trying to drink better and better liquor,” Mr. [...]

Saint John and I snuck into the Oval Office back in March to record our duo version of Mad Man.

I was looking at business card designs and templates, and saw this! I’m like, that’s me! And then, who is this? But google that exact phrase (surrounded by quotes) and nothing shows [...]

Here is a section from the New Yorker, May 13 1950, a re-issue of Lillian Ross’ portrait of Ernest Hemingway when he was 50 or so, visiting New York City at a time that he was living mostly [...]

Many rock melodies – defining “melody” as the notes sung by the singer – are really simple. Unless you’ve picked them apart, you might not be aware how simple many [...]

As cello students, we have to learn how to hit our notes in the middle, wham, right in tune first time. Add the carefully planned shifts with their pre-shift preparations and post-shift accents [...]

Just caught one tune on KBCS.fm from this album (dropped June 2016 by the eminent KD Lang and two talented colleagues), and instantly heard more cello-esque strings than normal so of course had [...]

Radiohead’s 2016 tune Burn the Witch is based on a driving, propulsive, edgy riff played by what sounds like a string section, i.e., not produced electronically, something Radiohead [...]

This is a paraphrase of something great Tom Waits says in the middle of the Netflix original rockumentary “Keith Richards: Under the Influence”, which I recommend to anyone who cares [...]