Squeaking in just before the end of Black History Month, I'd like to write a little bit about the origins of House music. I get the impression that many people think of techno as a very white genre. Sure, it's huge in Europe, and white European artists, such as Kraftwerk and Giorgio Moroder, are central... Continue Reading →
I recently completed a small case study concerning the Beatles in the charts, and I found some really interesting things about the top records of the '60s. It has been quite educational about the uses and pitfalls of using chart rankings, especially journalistic summaries. Today I'm going to tell you about a few of my... Continue Reading →
As a medievalist, watching the fire at Notre Dame was gutting. I'm incredibly relieved that the damage was not worse. The remaining original 13th century glass survives! We all know about the cathedral's importance as an architectural marvel, but you might not know about its importance in music history. It holds a very special place.... Continue Reading →
I've been focusing on dissertation research lately, but I wanted to take a moment to remind readers, I love answering questions! Do you want to know something about music that Wikipedia didn't answer to your satisfaction? Ask me! I can answer questions about Western classical music and music theory. I specialize in medieval music, mainly... Continue Reading →
Since successfully defending my dissertation prospectus, life has been such that I've had little interest in blogging. I can hardly believe that the last post was in December. Time moves entirely too quickly. However, I find that working through ideas informally here is beneficial, and I'd like to maintain this here blog as a way... Continue Reading →
L'Homme arme is one of the best known songs of the Renaissance. BBC Radio did a documentary about it called "The Smash Hit of 1453," alluding to the date Constantinople was seized by the Ottoman Turks. (1) It is a short, catchy song about how one must fear the man at arms. In the context... Continue Reading →
Greetings, music enthusiasts! I took my exams and since then I've been hard at work on a dissertation prospectus, which is almost done. I've done a lot of reading, so I figured I might begin sharing some of my work toward my dissertation. Let's tie up some loose ends first, and then we'll mosey on.... Continue Reading →
In part 1 of this history of notation, we covered the earliest medieval notation up to the birth of mensural (measured) notation, c. 1260. In part 2, we'll proceed through the development of mensural notation, up to about 1400. The 14th century has the most challenging repertory in Western history, barring some of the most... Continue Reading →
I'm in the midst of preparing for my comprehensive exams (the last hurdle before dissertation writing), and that brings us to today's topic: the history of notation! You will not need to be able to read music in order to follow, but, it goes without saying that we're going to be talking about a lot... Continue Reading →
Much as life finds a way on Isla Nublar, so life finds a way in New York. A way of hurling surprises at you, at any rate. (I wonder: would a velociraptor epidemic be less traumatizing than a bed bug one?) Maintaining this poor old blog has simply not been possible over the last year,... Continue Reading →
Katarina von Sporken
Violent Brain Fever 