Ice (Sarah McLauglan)

Musings Commence

So being my musings... I'm one of those people will often wake up with a song in my head.  At any given moment you can ask me what's in my head and I'll have a new answer for you.

I had this idea to just record snapshots of what's in my mind. Not a unique idea, but just a way to boost my self confidence. At least I can listen to myself and find those areas of improvement.

The song is not meant to be complete, nor is it meant to be perfect; this is just a one-take 'I hope I get this right'...

It was a cold-winded, icy day in spring that inspired this quick musing of Ice by Sarah McLauglan.

March 14, 2016

The Music of Nature

Lately I’ve been fascinated with the talent of humans to find music in the universe around them.

It started early in 2014 where I stumbled upon the song Years by Bartholomaus Traubeck; a media artist who used a high speed camera, math and a special turntable to turn tree rings into music. Each ring, discoloration and knot becomes its own tone on the piano creating haunting, beautiful melodies. What an amazing and original concept~!

Of course, there's also the famous piece circulating around the internet by Jarbas Agnelli called Birds on the Wires. Jarbas used a simple photo of birds aligning themselves naturally along telephone wires to create this beautiful melody that he set on piano.

Taking a step further into the sphere of science, we heard the sound of the comet 67P/C-G in November of 2014 from the European Space Agency (ESA). Based on oscillations in the magnetic field of the comet, the ESA has increased the data of the oscillations in millihertz by about 10,000 to make it audible to the human ear. Listening to this 'tune', I can hear a beat reminiscent of Flight of the Bumblebee (by Vol du Bourdon) and the next big electronica hit.

Taking one more step deep into the sphere of science we hear from Robert Connolly, a scientist who has his own "Plant Band". Firstly, Robert grew the plants in his band using water magnetized by Tesla coils. He then converted a commercially available polygraph machine to convert the tiny electrical impulses of the leaves and stems of his plants into musical notes (using MIDI technology). Each plant represents a musical instrument, and voilà a band is born... um, grown. Conducting them using a crystal bowl and his own bio-electric field, the plants "create" this lovely piece of music.

With this amazing world of ours, what original music will nature inspire next?

Musical Curation

Everyone who loves music passionately becomes a curator of music. 

I still remember the first piece of music I ever received: Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake. It was an audio tape given to me by my grandfather; I clearly remember it was dark green and had a piece of renaissance-looking art on the front, making it appear as a little book. I remember being confused by it until it was popped into a cassette deck and I was lost to the music as I heard the lovely floating tones... I was hooked.

I had a large collection of audio tapes, largely pop music bought at garage sales as well as a large collection of Weird Al Yankovic tapes (including Peter and the Wolf). I continued with my collection of tapes until the last tape I ever purchased: London Beat's In the Blood, for the hit "I've Been Thinking About You".

I remember switching to CDs, receiving 3 for Christmas. To this date I have a giant CD collection, ever increasing with gems found at thrift stores. Although, I now buy discount CDs with the intention of digitizing them. :)

In the 2000s I started up with iTunes. I’m not ashamed to admit it was the free song with iCoke points that got me hooked there. While there I discovered the weekly free songs (1 English, 1 French), which kept me going back at least once a week. Sadly, iTunes has abandoned their Free Song of the Week program, after 11 long years. It will be greatly missed. :(

I've also been a huge proponent of internet-based radio, available trough apps like TuneIn Radio, that has expanded my musical horizons even further. I love the channel ABC Lounge Radio!

We haven't even begun to discuss the giant platforms of free music we can search such as Soundcloud, YouTube or Stereomood...

The buskers, concerts, live shows, festivals... Each venue offering an opportunity to discover new songs that become the soundtrack to our lives.

Needless to say, the universe of music is ever expanding.
I can't wait to see what new horizons bring.

New Beginnings

As a child when I was prompted to think about career possibilities it was often said, "what would you do for the rest of your life even if you were not paid?". Since then, this has been simplified to "what brings joy to your life?", and for me there is one response that has rung true all my life.

Music.
Singing out loud at the top of my lungs!
Playing an instrument in a band with the swells and currents of a song in motion.
Singing back birdsong and getting a response in return.
Relaxing to the gentle sound of water flowing or of trees dancing in the breeze.

I've often wanted to share what songs compose my current universe, my latest bit of work, a cover song or bits of knowledge that have crossed my path.

So here I go, a new venture to express how I feel and who I am to the world at large.

Hello world.