Music is a spiritual phenomenon that is felt in the carnal world. Music is used to manipulate people all the time. There are conspiracy theories that link the death of Jimi Hendrix to the government. It is said to be they were afraid of the power Jimi had on the public. They feared he could cause a rebel revolt in the country.
Department stores play music that has subliminal messages in them telling you not to steal. They also encourage impulse buying. Athletes listen to music that stimulates the adrenaline gland to get the most out of their workouts while message therapist will have some music to help their clients relax their muscles. Could you imagine all the movies we love: Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Superman, etc. without the musical soundtracks? All those war scenes and dramatic cinematography would not have the same impact on us without the music. The music is what stirred all the emotions within us.
It wasn't that long ago that mainstream Christianity believed music with drums and electric guitars aka "Rock n Roll" was from the devil. Why was this? The feelings that come with certain types of chords and beats can bring about fear. I used to bring this point up in Church with the story of Jericho. When Israel marched around the walls of Jericho playing their song, it was said that it struck the people with much fear. I don't think the song was a sweet little harp to the melody of "Jesus Loves Me." It brought the walls down for crying out loud! Another great example in the Bible demonstrating how music affects our behavior is the story of David playing his harp for King Saul. King Saul would hire David's services to relieve him of the demonic spirits that would torment his soul.
Music is the yearbook of your life. There is a song that you graduated to. There was a song that was playing while you had your first French kiss. For me that was "Take My Breath Away" by: Berlin. There was a song that was playing in the car that made you cry because it reminded you of the girl friend who broke up with you. That was also "Take My Breath Away" by Berlin. A song you got married to. There will also be a song you get buried to. We have songs playing on our cell phones, on our web pages, and on every single video game that we play.
There are so many other scientific experiments that prove how music influences our emotional being. From romance, to depression, anger, to jubilance and it goes without saying music is the force that controls many aspects of our life. Maybe they play that corny elevator music to keep us all from freaking out in that Closter phobic space? I don't know but I did notice they do not play any music at the post office? Maybe they should re-think that one? It could solve the whole going postal thing.
Music influence on behavior
Posted in: Music History
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Blues Music: Past present and future
Posted in: Music History
You want to discover the blues you then have to go on down to the crossroads. Legend has it that this is where it all begins with the great blues players of the past. They would make a deal with the devil to become the best blues player in the land in exchange for their souls. This deal would put food on the table for them and their families and help their survival during hard times of slavery, poverty and racism. However, if you listen to Robert Johnson's "Hell Hound On My Trail" you can hear a torment in his voice that makes you believe that this was not just a story for Mr. Robert Johnson. This pain was coming deep down within his heart and soul. This is what we would eventually call "The Delta Blues".
To me the blues is not a genre it is a life style. Willie Nelson said, "All music comes from the blues". It is the tree that produces the fruit of all music. Makes sense without soul there is no life.
The blues started with an old wooden box called an acoustic guitar and you would slide a bottle neck across the strings to make it moan. The guitar would be transformed from a piece of wood to a living breathing extension of your heart and soul. The music would not stay stagnant. It would progress without limitation. What ever sounds man could dream up the guitar was capable of creating that sound.
Some say Muddy Waters invented Electricity. Without the electric guitar where would music be? The sounds and energy of electricity running through nickel plated strings, oh man what a feeling it gives to us. Music was more than notes and technical ability in the blues scene. It transcended space and time for those players. They had so much pain and heartache and had no way of really letting it out but through their music. The electric guitar was a gift from God in my opinion to those who hurt. I know for my self the first time I played a minor pentatonic scale and bent the string up and heard my Fender Stratocaster cry for the first time it brought tears to my eyes. I knew somehow the blues would one day heal my soul.
The first white blues player is said to be "Eddie Rabbit but he would play all the blues lines in a major pentatonic form instead of a minor pentatonic form. No one knew what to call it. It sounded different from all the other blues players. It would later be known as Bluegrass and Country blues. This would pave the road for other blues players
to create so many different styles of the blues. Chicago blues that B.B. King would make famous and Stevie Ray Vaughan would eventually revitalize the blues with a Texas Flood.
Today blues has become a little forgotten. It is a culture to be appreciated like fine wine or a good cup of coffee. You have to develop a taste for it with time. It is not easily accepted by the young generation. Kenny Wayne Sheppard did a good job helping us mourn the loss of Stevie Ray Vaughan during the mid nineties and Jonny Lang would give us hope. But the blues is not in the forefront of today's music. Kind of strange because what is popular today is emo music. A style for those who are depressed and have angst towards society. The blues was made for that but no kid is being educated on the blues music. There friends don't listen to it so it is hard to expose them to that genre. So with that being said we have to be thankful for the efforts of John Mayer. He is doing his best to bring the blues to the younger generation. Abandoning the money making sugar hits from his pop styling's to loaning his heart and soul to the blues. Paying tribute to the form of music that gave birth to all music we enjoy today.
To me the blues is not a genre it is a life style. Willie Nelson said, "All music comes from the blues". It is the tree that produces the fruit of all music. Makes sense without soul there is no life.
The blues started with an old wooden box called an acoustic guitar and you would slide a bottle neck across the strings to make it moan. The guitar would be transformed from a piece of wood to a living breathing extension of your heart and soul. The music would not stay stagnant. It would progress without limitation. What ever sounds man could dream up the guitar was capable of creating that sound.
Some say Muddy Waters invented Electricity. Without the electric guitar where would music be? The sounds and energy of electricity running through nickel plated strings, oh man what a feeling it gives to us. Music was more than notes and technical ability in the blues scene. It transcended space and time for those players. They had so much pain and heartache and had no way of really letting it out but through their music. The electric guitar was a gift from God in my opinion to those who hurt. I know for my self the first time I played a minor pentatonic scale and bent the string up and heard my Fender Stratocaster cry for the first time it brought tears to my eyes. I knew somehow the blues would one day heal my soul.
The first white blues player is said to be "Eddie Rabbit but he would play all the blues lines in a major pentatonic form instead of a minor pentatonic form. No one knew what to call it. It sounded different from all the other blues players. It would later be known as Bluegrass and Country blues. This would pave the road for other blues players
to create so many different styles of the blues. Chicago blues that B.B. King would make famous and Stevie Ray Vaughan would eventually revitalize the blues with a Texas Flood.
Today blues has become a little forgotten. It is a culture to be appreciated like fine wine or a good cup of coffee. You have to develop a taste for it with time. It is not easily accepted by the young generation. Kenny Wayne Sheppard did a good job helping us mourn the loss of Stevie Ray Vaughan during the mid nineties and Jonny Lang would give us hope. But the blues is not in the forefront of today's music. Kind of strange because what is popular today is emo music. A style for those who are depressed and have angst towards society. The blues was made for that but no kid is being educated on the blues music. There friends don't listen to it so it is hard to expose them to that genre. So with that being said we have to be thankful for the efforts of John Mayer. He is doing his best to bring the blues to the younger generation. Abandoning the money making sugar hits from his pop styling's to loaning his heart and soul to the blues. Paying tribute to the form of music that gave birth to all music we enjoy today.
THE WHO?
Posted in: Music History
The David Samuel Project - Newsletter
I hope most of you know the Who! If not please do not read any further you need to study a little rock-n- roll history! Just kidding! Anyhow, I thought you would enjoy this story about Pete Townshend the lead guitarist for the legendary rock band the WHO. Pete was known for having a bit of a short fuse when it came to his temper. The irony of this is that he was the one who gave the band a little spiritual depth to the songs. Before the Who became famous, they were somewhat of a copy cat band of the infamous group the Beatles. They wore the nice little suits and had cute little hair due’s like the Beatles and sang songs with lots of 3 part harmonies. So how did they become best known for their guitar smashing antics? By mere accident! He first smashed his guitar in a 1964 show well before they made it big with My Generation. Pete accidentally stuck his guitar head into a low ceiling. It ruined the guitar and he got pretty upset about the whole thing. He then pulled the head of the guitar out of the ceiling and started smashing it out of disgust. He luckily had a spare 12 string that he finished the show with. Legend has it that everyone at the show thought he smashed the guitar on purpose and the next night when they played the crowd more than doubled in size in anticipation for the smashing of the guitar bit during the Who concert. Well Pete couldn’t let them down now! Could he? For ever more that is what the Who became famous for and the crowds became so big they no longer could play the small little, low ceiling clubs any longer! The WHO was no longer a unknown band. They were the identity of Rock n Roll!
This was from the DSP newsletter. Subscribe to the newsletter or visit the website here!
I hope most of you know the Who! If not please do not read any further you need to study a little rock-n- roll history! Just kidding! Anyhow, I thought you would enjoy this story about Pete Townshend the lead guitarist for the legendary rock band the WHO. Pete was known for having a bit of a short fuse when it came to his temper. The irony of this is that he was the one who gave the band a little spiritual depth to the songs. Before the Who became famous, they were somewhat of a copy cat band of the infamous group the Beatles. They wore the nice little suits and had cute little hair due’s like the Beatles and sang songs with lots of 3 part harmonies. So how did they become best known for their guitar smashing antics? By mere accident! He first smashed his guitar in a 1964 show well before they made it big with My Generation. Pete accidentally stuck his guitar head into a low ceiling. It ruined the guitar and he got pretty upset about the whole thing. He then pulled the head of the guitar out of the ceiling and started smashing it out of disgust. He luckily had a spare 12 string that he finished the show with. Legend has it that everyone at the show thought he smashed the guitar on purpose and the next night when they played the crowd more than doubled in size in anticipation for the smashing of the guitar bit during the Who concert. Well Pete couldn’t let them down now! Could he? For ever more that is what the Who became famous for and the crowds became so big they no longer could play the small little, low ceiling clubs any longer! The WHO was no longer a unknown band. They were the identity of Rock n Roll!
This was from the DSP newsletter. Subscribe to the newsletter or visit the website here!
Stevie Ray Vaughan's Friend Jill Savage
Posted in: Music History
I met Jill Savage on myspace and she has filled my life with light! I had no idea when I was conversing with her that she was friends with my favorite blues rock guitar player of all time Stevie Ray Vaughan! I just thought she was really cool and wanted to get to know her better. She was kind and said that my songs touched her, and thought my song ashur definitly captured Stevie Ray's tone. If you are a fan of SRV you would be a fan of Jill! Anyhow I thought you would enjoy these pictures of her and Stevie Ray Vaughan as I know I did! http://www.srv1tome.com/albums/srv18.html
Jimi Hendrix
Posted in: Music History
PURPLE HAZE - JESUS SAVES
The working title of the Jimi Hendrix guitar classic" Purple Haze" was "Purple Haze - Jesus Saves" and was based on a long manuscript, according to the late Monika Dannemann ("The Inner Life of Jimi Hendrix"), "Hendrix's lover at the time of his death." In the manuscript Hendrix stated that the entire meaning of the song came from a dream he had. Ms. Dannemann said, ".he looked down on earth and saw an unborn fetus waiting for its birth. At the same time he saw spirits of the dead leaving earth. Screams from the children were reaching into the heavens. The earth became engulfed in a great flood, and later in the dream he was walking under the sea. Part of the song was about the purple haze which surrounded him, engulfed him, and in which he got lost. He told me later what a traumatic experience this had been, but that in the dream his faith in Jesus had saved him. Jesus was in the purple haze. Hendrix corroborated Dannemann's claim in a January 1967 interview with John King for "Music Express." Another song of Jimi Hendrix "If 6 were 9" was inspired by Hendrix's interest in numerology, where all Numbers have a spiritual meaning. Some say the language of God is numbers, or math. (Look up theomatics) The interesting thing is that music is just a bunch of math equations.
The working title of the Jimi Hendrix guitar classic" Purple Haze" was "Purple Haze - Jesus Saves" and was based on a long manuscript, according to the late Monika Dannemann ("The Inner Life of Jimi Hendrix"), "Hendrix's lover at the time of his death." In the manuscript Hendrix stated that the entire meaning of the song came from a dream he had. Ms. Dannemann said, ".he looked down on earth and saw an unborn fetus waiting for its birth. At the same time he saw spirits of the dead leaving earth. Screams from the children were reaching into the heavens. The earth became engulfed in a great flood, and later in the dream he was walking under the sea. Part of the song was about the purple haze which surrounded him, engulfed him, and in which he got lost. He told me later what a traumatic experience this had been, but that in the dream his faith in Jesus had saved him. Jesus was in the purple haze. Hendrix corroborated Dannemann's claim in a January 1967 interview with John King for "Music Express." Another song of Jimi Hendrix "If 6 were 9" was inspired by Hendrix's interest in numerology, where all Numbers have a spiritual meaning. Some say the language of God is numbers, or math. (Look up theomatics) The interesting thing is that music is just a bunch of math equations.
