Musical Matinees

Keeping you up to date with Musical Matinee concerts throughout Port Stephens, Newcastle and the Hunter Valley

Sunday, June 25, 2017

Our Need to make music from the Cacophony of it all. New York Times Article

Our Need to Make Music From the Cacophony of It All

Brains keep looking for a beat, even when there isn’t one, research shows

Our Need to Make Music From the Cacophony of It All

Brains keep looking for a beat, even when there isn’t one, research shows

Illustration: Tomasz Walenta
We live in a random universe where order tends to fall apart and stable structures (say, a planet) are relatively few and far between. Cast into this entropy, our brains spontaneously try to impose structure—or, as a charming recent paper reports, look for a beat in the cacophony of it all.
All cultures have music that is rhythmic, and these rhythms show universal properties, as summarized in 2011 by Steven Brown and Joseph Jordania in the journal Psychology of Music. Wherever you go in the world, rhythmic music has regularly spaced beats, emphasizes some beats over others (for example, “downbeats” in Western music) and contains two- and three-beat motifs (like marches and waltzes, respectively). Another commonality is that the time intervals between beats tend to be multiples of 200 milliseconds. From a marching band in Peoria to a tribal drummer in the tropics, these patterns keep popping up.
Does the human brain automatically generate them? Andrea Ravignani of Belgium’s Free University Brusseland colleagues tackled this question in a study published late last year in the journal Nature Human Behaviour. The authors used a computer to create 32 rhythmic patterns that sounded like a snare drum. Each consisted of 12 beats, averaging about five seconds long. Crucially, the spacing between beats and strength of each one were totally random.
The authors then allowed these random rhythms to “evolve” experimentally with 48 student volunteers from the University of Edinburgh, divided into six chains. In each chain, the first subject listened to one of these random patterns and tried to repeat it as accurately as possible on an electronic drum pad. His recorded imitations were played for subject No. 2, who tried to repeat them. The second subject’s recorded imitations went to the third subject for imitation—all the way until subject No. 8.
A perfect chain of imitations would mean that No. 8’s drumming pattern would be identical to the original one. But rhythms drifted with each repetition. If such drift was random, the rhythm patterns of each subject No. 8 would have differed randomly from each subject No. 1. But instead, with each round of attempted repetition, the imitator imposed more structure—until, by the eighth generation, subjects produced patterns that conformed to the universals of rhythmicity that I described.
These patterns were structured. The first eight beats predicted the rest. Beats were regularly spaced and contained two- or three-beat motifs. The intervals between beats were statistically likely to be around 200 or 400 milliseconds. Just like in real music.
This might seem unimpressive. After all, though the subjects were nonmusicians, they undoubtedly knew rhythmic music. So maybe they were just generating familiar rhythms. But each subject’s goal was to perfectly repeat what he or she had just heard. Instead, unconsciously, each participant drifted toward those universals of rhythm. This is as unlikely as an eight-person game of telephone starting with random strings of nonsense syllables and always producing, by the eighth generation, a sentence mentioning both the Alamo and strawberry Pop-Tarts.
This isn’t the only instance of universal structure emerging from the complexity of our brains. Take the evolution of language. Linguistic history has shown that people speaking a hodgepodge of languages (for example, West African slaves in the Americas) soon create simple pidgin communication systems built from fragments of the individual languages. But their children then evolve the pidgins into creole languages that are grammatically similar world-wide, as Derek Bickerton of the University of Hawaii and others have shown.
Our brains are the universe’s supreme anti-entropy machines. From “tell me what you see in this inkblot” to perceiving scatterings of stars as a centaur or winged horse, we turn randomness into patterns. It makes things easier to learn, conveys information, provides comfort in explaining the inexplicable—and makes for better, catchier music.

 

Monday, March 6, 2017

Musical Matinees Presents Rituals and Remembrance and Russian Revelation 2pm, 8th April, 2017



Dear friends and music lovers,

Musical Matinees Inc is presenting two beautiful and inspiring Art Song recitals.


2pm on 8th April at St Andrews Presbyterian Church, Newcastle with the newly overhauled piano.


"Rituals and Remembrance" with soprano Joelene Griffith and pianist Bradley Gilchrist

 
 (Music by Bernstein, Delibes, Viradot, Rodrigo, Ravel Hahn and more)
          
AND

at approximately 3.15 pm "Russian Revelation" with soprano Samantha Cobcroft and pianist Vincent Parmeter
 (Including music by Rachmaninoff, Kats-Chernin, Medtner, Rimsky-Khorsakov)


Tickets are $25 for either recital or $40 for both. Tickets are available on the day at the door or from www.stickytickets.com.au/musicalmatinees . There will be a sumptuous Musical Matinees music inspired supper following the second recital.

We look forward to seeing you there.
Regards
Vincent

Monday, October 17, 2016

Musical Matinees Presents A Charismatic Christmas Program Indoors tonight in Newcastle



Charismatic Christmas - Program


ENGLAND
Christmas is Coming -  Edith Nesbitt (1858-1924)            
Joy to the World                                                                                           AUDIENCE SING
 text Issac Watts, music ? (often attr. Handel, Lowell Mason), arr. ????
What Child is This?                                                                          AUDIENCE SING
text W. C. Dix (1837-1898), 16th C English Air, arr. Sir John Stainer (1840-1901)          
Wassail Song - written 1850(?) Yorkshire, arr. ??
The Holy City - Michael Maybrick                     BLAKE PARHAM solo

AUSTRALIA
Tomorrow shall be my dancing day - trad English (written 1833?), arr. Colin Brumby (b.1933)
The Three Drovers - Words by John Wheeler, Music by William G. James (1892-1977)

GERMANY
Lo how a rose (“Es ist ein Ros entsprungen”) - text anon, music by Melchior Volpius (1560-1615)
Conditor Alme Siderum - Vesper Hymn arr. Michael Praetorius (1571-1621)
Silent Night    (“Stille Nacht”)                                                                      AUDIENCE SING
German text Joseph Mohr (1792-1848), English translation by John Freeman Young (1820-1885), music by Franz Gruber (1787-1863)
Es ist ein Ros entsprungen - (Low how a Rose) text anon, trad German hymn, arr. Michael Praetorius

FRANCE
O Holy Night  (“Minuit, chrétiens!”) - English text J. S. Dwight, Music by Adolfe Adam (1758-1848), arr. John E. West               BLAKE PARHAM solo (with choir and trumpet)
Far Away what splendour comes this way - text Mary Barham Johnson (1895-1996), attrib. J-Baptiste Lully (1632-1687), arr. Georges Bizet (1838-1875), adapt. Hygh Keyte and Andrew Parrott
Ding Dong Merrily on High                                                            AUDIENCE SING
Text George Ratcliffe Wood (1848-1934), 16th C French Melody, arr. Charles Wood (1866-1926)
Pat-a-Pan - Burgundian carol, 1720 arr. Charles Wood (1866-1926)
Noël, noël -  trad French Round

INTERVAL

ROMANIA
Trei Pastori (Three Shepherds) - Gabriel Dumetrescu (b.1936?)

POLAND
Infant Holy, based on"W żłobie leży", English translation by Edith M. G. Reed

CZECH/AMERICAN/ENGLISH
Little Drummer Boy/Peace on Earth  - NO MUSIC FOR THIS YET
(Notes: Little Drummer Boy composed by Katherine Davis (American) based on a Czech carol, Peace on Earth written by Grossman (American), Ian Fraser (English), Buz Kohan ( American), Written for Bing Crosby and David Bowie (who died in 2016!))


SPAIN
A un Niño llorando - Francisco Guerrero (1528-1599)
Riu Riu Chiu - Mateo Flecha el Viejo (1481-1553)

AMERICA
O magnum mysterium - text trad responsorial Christmas Matins Chant, music by Morten Lauridsen (b.1943)
Away in a Manger                                                                            AUDIENCE SING
 text anon, music by William Kirkpatrick (1838-1921)        
White Christmas - Irving Berlin                                                       BLAKE PARHAM solo
Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas - Text & Music by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane, Arr. Samuel Donovan (Newcastle, Australia!)

SWEDEN
Happy New Year                                                                                         
ABBA arr for Acappella Nova by Samantha Cobcroft (b. 1972)

ITALY                                                                                             
God be here and God be there - trad

Musical Matinees Present A Charismatic Christmas for your Christmas Party



By the weekend before Christmas, you will be sick of the commercialism around Christmas and ready to enjoy some old fashioned carols, so join us at Nelson Bay Diggers Club on Sunday Afternoon at 2pm for carols.

If you live in Newcastle, come to St Andrew's Presbyterian Church on the corner of Laman and Auckland Streets, Newcastle at 7pm on Friday 16th December.

We will also be at Singleton Uniting Church on Saturday 17th December at 2pm.

Join Aaron Passfield (trumpet), Vincent Parmeter (keyboard) and guest tenor Blake Parham with the sensational Acappella Nova Choir as they sing carols from around the world. There will be Jazz and a chance to sing along.
This will be a fabulous Christmas Party for 2016 if you are looking for something different. 
Otherwise join us for international carols and an end of year celebration. 

Our 2016 Young MCs, Hallam Ingram and Buckley Ingram, brothers and students of St Philip's Christian College will guide you through this Concert.

Tickets are available from Nelson Bay Diggers Club with a free drink voucher if you have lunch at the bistro beforehand.

For the other concerts, tickets are available from 

or at the door on the day.

A special, home made Christmas supper or afternoon tea will be provided at Singleton and Newcastle.

Please like us on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/musicalmatineesinc/





Russian Revelation CONCERT POSTPONED TO A DATE TO BE ADVISED due to URGENT REPAIRS REQUIRED on the piano at St Andrew's Presbyterian Church.



Oh Those Russians

St Andrews Presbyterian Church Saturday, 22 October 2016 from 2:00 PM.


 










Vincent Parmeter                  Samantha Cobcroft


Musical Matinees presents Russian Revelation at St Andrews Presbyterian Church on Saturday, 22 October 2016 at 2:00 PM.

Songs by Rachmaninoff, Medtner, Rimsky-Korsakov and excerpts from Elena Kats-Chernin's Wild Swans suite make you fall in love with Russian music all over again.

Samantha will captivate you, using ingenious programming and lucid explanations of text and style.

Vincent complements her with his stunningly passionate playing and intuitive timing.

A complimentary, home-made afternoon tea is provided in the church hall afterwards as usual.

Tickets are $25 at Sticky Tickets https://www.stickytickets.com.au or at the door. 

Please like us on facebook at  https://www.facebook.com/musicalmatineesinc


Russian Revelation CONCERT POSTPONED TO A DATE TO BE ADVISED due to URGENT REPAIRS REQUIRED on the piano at St Andrew's Presbyterian Church.



Oh Those Russians

St Andrews Presbyterian Church Saturday, 22 October 2016 from 2:00 PM.


 










Vincent Parmeter                  Samantha Cobcroft


Musical Matinees presents Russian Revelation at St Andrews Presbyterian Church on Saturday, 22 October 2016 at 2:00 PM.

Songs by Rachmaninoff, Medtner, Rimsky-Korsakov and excerpts from Elena Kats-Chernin's Wild Swans suite make you fall in love with Russian music all over again.

Samantha will captivate you, using ingenious programming and lucid explanations of text and style.

Vincent complements her with his stunningly passionate playing and intuitive timing.

A complimentary, home-made afternoon tea is provided in the church hall afterwards as usual.

Tickets are $25 at Sticky Tickets https://www.stickytickets.com.au or at the door. 

Please like us on facebook at  https://www.facebook.com/musicalmatineesinc