Rada music

16/04/2024

15/04/2024

Who said stage names have to be carefully thought out to stick? Certainly not Peter Loraine, the Top of the Pops editor who gave the British dance-pop music stars the Spice Girls their iconic nicknames. The nicknames were based on each member's character or habits. Here's a breakdown:

15/04/2024

The ”Song of Seikilos” dates back to the 1st or 2nd century CE, making it the oldest musical composition ever discovered. Engraved on a tombstone in Turkey, it carries themes of life and death, encouraging listeners to live life fully as our time here is limited.

Bonus fact: The tombstone with the song was missing for a time — until it was found serving as a pedestal for a flower pot. It’s now safely displayed in a museum in Denmark.

13/04/2024

Do you think a five-hour concert is long? For John Cage fans, that’s nothing. They have been holding an "ORGAN2/ASLSP" performance since 2001 in Halberstadt, Germany. They expect to finish the eight-page score in 2640 — 639 years after the first chord was played.

So why is an eight-page performance taking this long? John Cage left instructions to play the piece as slowly as possible, and his music fans accepted the challenge. So far, only a few tone changes have occurred, and there's a long way to go to complete the piece.

11/04/2024

Knowing how to read and write sheet music is great, but t's not entirely necessary — even if you want to make it in the music industry and produce number-one hit songs. In a 60 Minutes interview, Paul McCartney revealed that neither he nor his songwriting bandmates could read sheet music.

So how did the band amass such success without knowing how to read and write music? The answer lies in ear training.

The bandmates would hum tunes, commit them to memory, and reproduce their pitch. As you can likely guess, many tunes didn't make it to the public stage.

However, those that did had a catchy element that not only made it easy for the musicians to remember but also ingrained itself in listeners' minds, propelling the band to stardom.

09/04/2024

09/04/2024

Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield proved that you don't need a million-dollar studio to produce music by releasing an album of songs in space. The album — Space Sessions: Songs from a Tin Can — comprises original songs and a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity." We can only describe it as “out of this world” (pun intended).

07/04/2024

Now, before you get your speakers out to test this theory, let's explain — it's not music specifically that makes plants grow, but rather sounds.

Sound frequencies of 125 Hz and 250 Hz induce the production of fructose 1,6-bisphosphate aldolase (ald) and Rubisco small sub-unit (rbcS) genes, which are vital for photosynthesis. And, as you already know, photosynthesis results in energy, which translates to growth.

Further, green music (sounds like rainfall and birds chirping) and classical music promote seed germination, increased stress tolerance, and higher yields. So, don't be surprised if you hear music playing in your neighbor's garden.