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TraxWeekly Issue 048
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founded march 12, 1995 _| : _____ t r a x w e e k l y # 48
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/ / / / /\ _ The Music Scene Newsletter __ __\__\/
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- | TraxWeekly Issue #48 | Release date: 02-22-96 | Subscribers: 488 | -
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/-[Introduction]------------------------------------------------------------
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This has been a rather slow week, so we apologize for the absence of any
really reedeming content. =)
Shawnm continues in his tireless tirade on musical conventions; his
subject this week is the metronome and the importance of defined tempos
in music.
From ior and Snowman we also have a story entitled "The Man from
Microsoft." Go and read it if you're really bored.
Yes, this week is terrible. =)
-psib [traxweekly]
gwie@owl.csusm.edu
/-[Contents]----------------------------------------------------------------
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/ ____/_/ __/ \ __/ / _____/ \ __/ __/ ___/_
< \____\ \ \\ \ \\____ __/ __/_\ \ \\____ \_____ \__
\ \ \ \\ \ \ww\ \\ \\ \ \ \ \ \_
_\________\________\\___\____\ \_____\\_______\\___\____\ \_____\_______\
Letters and Feedback
1. Musical Styles?...........................Perisoft
General Articles
2. Maelzel's Metronome.......................Shawnm
3. The Man from Microsoft....................Author Unknown
Group Columns
4. Epinicion Productions
5. Explizit
6. NOISE
Closing
Distribution
Subscription/Contribution Information
TraxWeekly Staff Sheet
/-[Letters and Feedback]----------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------------/
--[1. Letter from Perisoft]-------------------------------------------------
From ew23@cornell.eduMon Feb 19 10:08:19 1996
Date: Thu, 15 Feb 1996 08:51:42 -0500 (EST)
From: Ellen Wiernicki <ew23@cornell.edu>
To: Gene Wie <gwie@mailhost2.csusm.edu>
Subject: Re: A song, yay :)
Good lord!
I was just reading traxweekly, and saw the part on ratings-- wherein many
styles of possible music were outlined. MY question,
WHAT THE ***k is GRINDCORE?! There cannot be 27 different kinds of music..
this kinda thing is rather getting out of hand. Take MY music for
instance-- the only way anybody has been able to describe it is
"PeriSoft"-- be that good or bad.. :) At any rate, it might make more
sense to say 0-9 mellowness rating, 0-9 melodicness rating-- , so techno
would be 0 mellow, 0 mellodic, 9 rhythmic, or something like that. It
might give people a better idea what they want to download rather than
saying something is industrial ambient hiphop grindcore jungle ambient
techno jazz... *)
thx guys
--perisoft/capacala
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/-[General Articles]--------------------------------------------------------
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--[2. Maelzel's Metronome]----------------------------------------[Shawnm]--
Its uses by composers of the time.
This was originally written as an essay for my Music History class,
in 1994.
Maelzel was originally thought to have invented the metronome, but
it was later found out that he ripped off the design from another
inventor of his time.
So, how does the metronome relate to tracking? Well, all tracked
music is played by a computer to a precise time clock. Basically,
all tracked music is played to a strict metronome. Is that good?
Music off the computer isn't played to a metronome - but sometimes
we practice to a metronome. What does that say about tracked
music? How can we make tracked music sound less like it's being
played to a metronome? Or maybe we want it to sound 'robotic'?
These aren't questions for me to answer, but for you to think about
as you compose your next tune and read the following essay on
the development of the metronome....
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Since Maelzel refined the metronome in 1815, it has become a
very important part of musical training, performance, and
interpretation. The metronome has evolved into a tool whose use is
ever present in modern music interpretation. At the time of its
creation, the metronome was endorsed enthusiastically by Beethoven,
who proved to be very important because he helped to popularize the
metronome in the music world.
As soon as Maelzel's metronome was available, Beethoven began
using metronome markings in his music, instead of the old tempo
markings, like allegro or largo. He felt that by writing an exact
number for the speed of a movement, the performer would know
exactly how fast it was to be played, and therefore the piece would
be performed exactly how the composer intended it to be performed,
as far as tempo is concerned. Beethoven felt that using metronome
markings for the tempo indications was a necessary part of his
compositions. To him, using the proper tempo helped to demonstrate
the emotions being expressed in the music, and that only a specific
tempo would convey the intentions of the music. Beethoven was so
convinced that the metronome was the only way to properly notate
tempo, that he said that the old tempo markings were inherited from
"times of musical barbarism". He felt that everyone should have a
metronome, and that once enough people had metronomes, Maelzel
would be able to lower the price so that they could be available to
all musicians, teachers, and composers. But, even after
Beethoven's great claims about how necessary it is to accurately
follow the metronome markings for a piece, his pieces are rarely
performed at the indicated tempos; they are either ignored, or
assumed wrong. Ironically, towards the end of Beethoven's life, he
had a change of heart concerning the metronome. His original copy
of his 9th Symphony was misplaced, and he set out to rewrite the
score. Afterwards, his first copy was found, and when the tempo
markings were compared, the metronome values were not the same.
This led Beethoven to conclude that whoever is musically educated,
and has the right feel for the music, will perform at the correct
tempo, without the aid of a metronome. So, after all of his hype
about how any serious musician should be using a metronome, he now
condemned its use.
Another composer from the 19th century who had a negative
experience with metronomes was Wagner. There was a piece of his
that was to be performed, and he was in attendance at the
rehearsal. The conductor was careful to use a metronome to check
Wagner's notated tempo, and followed it exactly. But, after the
rehearsal, Wagner told the conductor how awful the tempos sounded.
The conductor replied that he had been using the exact speed that
was notated on the score. This made Wagner change his mind on the
value of the metronome as well.
Because of the invention of the metronome, there would always
be a reliable reference point for tempos. Instead of Allegro,
meaning 'fast', conductors would have a reference to an exact
numeric setting that was intended for them to follow. In present
times, when a conductor sets out to perform a piece, s/he will
probably sit down with the piece, and have an idea of the tempo
that s/he wants, from the tempo marking, and some sort of
historical research on the piece itself, and the particular
composer. After some thought, s/he will arrive at a tempo that s/he
will use for the performance. Before the actual concert, the
conductor will refer to the metronome to get her/his tempo for the
piece. But,s/he will not necessarily follow it exactly. In the
performance of a piece, the tempo marking is taken into
consideration, but elements of the conductor's personality and
research will always have an effect on the tempo of the actual
performance, so in this instance, the metronome is seen as an aid,
but not as an absolute to follow. And, the metronome is definitely
not used as a time keeper during the performance. Doing so would
result in a very robotic and unemotional performance.
It is evident that since the metronome's existence, it has
been a topic of some controversy. It is not commonly agreed that
the metronome is to be seen as an exact tool for finding the tempo
for a performance. A composer's mood may change, a performer might
have had an emotional day, or the conductor may have done research
that may contradict the original tempo written for the piece. A
metronome can definitely be seen as a reference tool to remember a
specific tempo with, and it can be used to practice steadiness in
tempo while practising, but as for its use in performance, it is
limited to its role as a reference, and its values are not used as
an absolute value.
shawnm / New Objectives In Sound Exploration
shawnm@citenet.net
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--[3. The Man from MicroSoft]------------------------------------[Unknown]--
This was mailed to me by ior a few weeks ago, who got it from Snowman.
Since this seems to be a really slow week, might as well get it out of my
mailbox and into print. =)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
There was a knock on the door. It was the man from Microsoft. "Not
you again," I said.
"Sorry," he said, a little sheepishly. "I guess you know why I'm
here."
Indeed I did. Microsoft's $300 million campaign to promote the
Windows 95 operating system was meant to be universally effective,
to convince every human being on the planet that Windows 95 was an
essential, some would say integral, part of living. Problem was,
not everyone had bought it. Specifically, I hadn't. I was the Last
Human Being Without Windows 95. And now this little man from
Microsoft was at my door, and he wouldn't take no for an answer.
"No," I said.
"You know I can't take that," he said, pulling out a copy of Windows
95 from a briefcase. "Come on. Just one copy. That's all we ask."
"Not interested," I said. "Look, isn't there someone else you can
go bother for a while? There's got to be someone else on the planet
who doesn't have a copy."
"Well, no," the Microsoft man said. "You're the only one."
"You can't be serious. Not everyone on the planet has a computer,"
I said. "And certainly, not everyone has a PC! Some people own
Macintoshes, which run their own operating system. And some people
who have PCs run OS/2, though I hear that's just a rumor. In short,
there are some people who just have no USE for Windows 95."
The Microsoft man look perplexed. "I'm missing your point," he
said.
"Use!" I screamed. "Use! Use! Use! Why BUY it, if you can't USE
it?"
"Well, I don't know anything about this "use" thing you're going on
about," the Microsoft man said. "All I know is that according to
our records, everyone else on the planet has a copy."
"People without computers?"
"Got 'em."
"Amazonian Indians?"
"We had to get some malaria shots to go in, but yes."
"The Amish."
"Check."
"Oh, come on," I said. "They don't even wear BUTTONS. How
did you get them to buy a computer operating system?"
"We told them there were actually 95 very small windows in the box,"
the Microsoft man admitted. "We sort of lied. Which means we are
all going to Hell, every single employee of Microsoft." He was
somber for a minute, but then perked right up. "But that's not the
point!" he said. "The point is, EVERYONE has a copy. Except you."
"So what?" I said. "If everyone else jumped off a cliff, would you
expect me to do it, too?"
"If we spent $300 million advertising it? Absolutely."
"No."
"Oh, back to that again," the Microsoft man said. "Hey. I'll tell
you what. I'll GIVE you a copy. For free. Just take it and
install it on your computer." He waved the box in front of me.
"No," I said again. "No offense, pal, but I don't NEED it. And
frankly, your whole advertising blitz has sort of offended me. I
mean, it's a computer operating system. Great. Fine. Swell.
Whatever. But you guys are advertising it like it creates world
peace or something."
"It did."
"Pardon?"
"World peace. It was part of the original design. Really. One
button access. Click on it, poof, end to strife and hunger.
Simple."
"So what happened?"
"Well, you know," he said. "It took up a lot of space on the hard
drive. We had to decide between it or the Microsoft Network.
Anyway, we couldn't figure out how to make a profit off of world
peace."
"Go away," I said.
"I can't," he said. "I'll be killed if I fail."
"You have got to be kidding," I said.
"Look," the Microsoft man said, "We sold this to the Amish. The
Amish! Right now, they're opening the boxes and figuring out
they've been had. We'll be pitchforked if we ever step into Western
Pennsyvania again. But we did it. So to have YOU holding out,
well, it's embarassing. It's embarassing to the company. It's
embarassing to the product. It's embarassing to Bill."
"Bill Gates does not care about me," I said.
"He's watching right now," the Microsoft man said. "Borrowed one of
those military spy satellites just for the purpose. It's also got
one of those high-powered lasers. You close that door on me, zap,
I'm a pile of grey ash."
"He wouldn't do that," I said. "He might hit that copy of Windows
95 by accident."
"Oh, Bill's gotten pretty good with that laser," the Microsoft man
said nervously. "Okay. I wasn't supposed to do this, but you leave
me no choice. If you take this copy of Windows 95, we will reward
you handsomely. In fact, we'll give you your own Caribbean island!
How does Montserrat sound?"
"Terrible. There's an active volcano there."
"It's only a small one," the Microsoft man said.
"Look," I said, "even if you DID convince me to take that copy of
Windows 95, what would you do then? You'd have totally saturated
the market. That would be it. No new worlds to conquer. What
would you do then?"
The Microsoft man held up another box and gave it to me.
"'Windows 95....For Pets'?!?!?"
"There's a LOT of domestic animals out there," he said.
I shut the door quickly. There was a surprised yelp, the sound of a
laser, and then nothing.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
/-[Group Columns]-----------------------------------------------------------
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--[4. Epinicion Productions]------------------------------------------------
___ _______ _____________ ______ ______ _______ ______ _______ ___________
| // \\ \\_____) \\_____) \\_____) \\ \\ |
: / o \ o \ \ \ \ \ \ o \ \:
// _____// / \ : / \ _____/ \ / : \.
\\_______/ _//______\\_|__//______\\_____//______\\_____//____| /:
: \\____\\ ______________________________ oT /___//|
|________________________// e p i n i c i o n \\________________|
March 21st is closing fast, only a few more weeks until Epinicion no
longer exists.
Thanks to all of you who have made submissions for our final musicdisk.
Currently, we around six megs of music and looking for more. Members,
former members, and friends, please donate a song for our last release!
This music disk is the final mark of our work for the last two years in
the PC music scene.
Thank you.
-----
Submissions can be mailed via MIME or UUE to gwie@owl.csusm.edu
ALL of Epinicion's 1995 and 1996 releases can be found through ftp at:
kosmic.wit.com /kosmic/epinicion
Epinicion's webpage can be found at the following address:
http://www.csusm.edu/public/guests/gwie/epi.html.
Psibelius (Gene Wie)
Epinicion Founder
gwie@owl.csusm.edu
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
--[5. Explizit]-------------------------------------------------------------
.____.
.....______________.____________________________________________| |__...
:::::\__ _____ | ______ \ \______) \_____)_ _____/:::
:::::::/ __>/\/ . __/| __/ / /__ \_____ \ \| |::::::
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:::::/ \__| \_ :::\ / / / | \ / |::::::
:::::\__________/::|______/____|:::\_______/_____/________/_____/___:::::::
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::[sYNOPTiC]:::
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Explizit TraxWeekly column issue #10 - february 22, 1996
. .
.' explizit `.
`...............'
Hi there!
Explizit is a Dutch group making (house)music. We have three musicians,
two coders, one PR-dude and an awful lot of HQ's. We've been in the
scene since november 1995.
We've recruited a new member! His name is KoM'AH and he makes trance music
in FT2 ... he's about to release his new track so you'll hear from him.
We've installed a small mail-server program to serve you with all the
explizit releases :). You can subscribe to our mailing-list (in order
to receive our songs MIME-encoded) or send commands to retrieve old songs.
SUBSCRIBE
Subscribes you to the explizit mailing-list. You will receive
every future release MIME-encoded.
UNSUBSCRIBE
Unsubscribes from the list
RETRIEVE <filename> UUE
<filename> will be sent to you UUENCODED.
RETRIEVE <filename> MIME
<filename> will be sent to you MIME-encoded (default).
Note that <filename> has to be an explizit release and you
DON'T HAVE to be subscribed to the list to send the retrieve
command! Handy if you're looking for that one release of us.
You can send these commands to our server by putting them in the body
of a message to explizit@dds.nl.
Ch:ilm
explizit
. .
.' explizit membaz `.
`.......................'
Explizit group-mail [use this one!] explizit@dds.nl
Ch:ilm staff explizit@dds.nl
Phonc(ie) music,staff W.Langenhuizen@nl.cis.philips.com
Batjo music tgcpaw@stud.tue.nl
Jay music - none -
KoM'AH music - none -
Paranoid Man gfx - none -
LightWing code pflick@xmission.com
DirtBag ansi/ascii - none -
. .
.' news `.
`..........'
Exploration (the mag) is coming along quite nicely! ... i've got the
first beta here and it looks promising! Exploration will be released
in about one month or so.
I've started a compo on our WHQ. Everybody can join, but it's aimed
at the Dutch scene.
New UK distro: Purple Haze [syzo BiOS]
. .
.' releases `.
`...............'
E-SLC01.ZIP
Information file for the first SL1210 music compo (our WHQ)
E-RAVEZN.ZIP RaveZone! Phonc(ie) S3M
German rave ... members of mayday sound.
E-HPLND.ZIP Vibes From The Happyland Jay S3M
Happy [whappy] hardcore! Piano & Bells....
E-MYST.ZIP Mystic Flower KoM'AH XM
Techno/hardcore song, KoM'AH's first explizit release.
It's 5 months old but one of his better ones.
. .
.' end `.
`...........'
Thank you for reading, you can ftp all our releases from:
ftp://tillbm.stu.rpi.edu/explizit/
For feedback, info and a wreal kewl homepage:
http://huizen.dds.nl/~explizit
Ch:ilm/Explizit
explizit@dds.nl
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--[6. NOISE]----------------------------------------------------------------
__ __ ____ __ ____ ____
......../ / / /../ /../ /../ __/../ / /
......... / \/ /../ / /../ /../ /_.../ __/
............/__/\__/../___/../_/../_ /../ /_
............/__/_/_/_ /___/__/_/____/ /../___/
........../\________________________/../___/
.......\/_______________________/.....
.........( ( ( NOISE ) ) )....
New Objectives in Sound Exploration
Traxweekly Column 2/22/96
Well a lot of new things are happening at noise this week.
First of all we'd like to welcome our three newest members,
Spyder, Stoke, and Syrinx. We're glad to have you!
The NOISE webpage (http://www.citenet.net/noise) has been
updated with new releases as well as a way cool world view
imagemap of all the NOISE member and distribution locations
(way to go Shawnm!) Check it out!
Now on to this months new releases. All of the following
songs can be found on ftp.cdrom.com or any of the NOISE dis-
tribution BBS's. Links to the files on cdrom.com can be
found on the NOISE homepage.
2/18 Les Feuilles Mortes by Spyder [no-feuil.xm]
This is a cool jazz track based on the famous "Autumn
Leaves" jazz standard. Jazz lovers grab this!
2/17 Zydeco Jump by StOtE [no-zjump.s3m]
This is a techno tune with a little bit of a jungle feel.
There's a nice percussion track going on in there.
2/17 Variable-P by Syrinx [no-var-p.s3m]
This one's sort of combination of styles, including rock,
metal, industrial, and others.
2/17 CutThroat by SamH [no-knife.s3m]
A new Industrial tune by SamH.
Well thats about it for this week. Come check us out on our
webpage and let us know what you think.
NOISE Members:
ShawnM..........[Mus/Admin/WWW] Van Halen...[Musician]
Benoit Charland.[Musician] SamH........[Musician]
Danielm.........[Musician/WWW] Spyder......[Musician/Ed]
Harry...........[Musician] StOtE.......[Musician]
Delta X.........[Musician] Syrinx......[Musician]
NOISE is always looking for new members.
Contact Info:
Email: shawnm@citenet.net
WWW: http://www.citenet.net/noise
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/-[Closing]-----------------------------------------------------------------
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Contributions should be mailed as plain ascii text or filemailed
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TraxWeekly does not discriminate based on age, gender, race, political
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For questions and comments, you can contact the TraxWeekly staff at:
Editor: Psibelius (Gene Wie).................gwie@owl.csusm.edu
Staff: Atlantic (Barry Freeman).............as566@torfree.net
DennisC (Dennis Courtney)............dennisc@community.net
Kal Zakath (John Townsend)...........jtownsen@sescva.esc.edu
Master of Darkness (Todd Andlar).....as566@torfree.net
Mhoram (John Niespodzianski).........niespodj@neonramp.com
Mick Rippon..........................rip@hunterlink.net.au
Trifixion (Tyler Vagle)..............trifix@northernnet.com
Zinc (Justin Ray)....................rays@direct.ca
Reporter: Island of Reil (Jesse Rothenberg)....jroth@owl.csusm.edu
Graphics: Squidgalator2 (...)..................sq2@...
White Wizard (...)...................aac348@agora.ulaval.ca
WWW Page: Dragunov (Nicholas St-Pierre)........dragunov@info.polymtl.ca
TraxWeekly is a HORNET affiliation.
Copyright (c)1995,1996 - TraxWeekly Publishing, All Rights Reserved.
/-[END]---------------------------------------------------------------------
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...traxweekly emag
