humanity
Humanity topics include pieces on the real lives of music professionals, amateurs, inspiring students, celebrities, lifestyle influencers, and general feel good human stories in the music sphere.
In A World Gone Mad, Music Is My Savior
With so much static in our ears, it's hard to find some peace. 2020 has definitely been one for the record books. Through it all; the virus, the lockdowns, the racial disparities, the riots, the fires, and then Nov. Music has given me peace...
King LoganPublished 3 years ago in BeatJ-Liu New Jersey Musical Native Programs
In an internet interview, the New Jersey Artist J-Liu said his love for music began from the church. Because of this, I had been forcing him to become a drummer for the church services. In addition, he said the way he and other group members listed their first two or three songs in that exact same church.
Easy SEO OptimizerPublished 3 years ago in BeatHello And Welcome
Hi there and welcome to my new Vocal page! My name is Drew Lane and I'm a musical theatre composer based in Melbourne Australia. I do a whole host of other things as well (I'm not one for sitting still!) but you'll find out more about me as we go together.
Let the Music Heal Your Soul -- No Really
How often do you listen to music? When was the last time you listened to live music and danced, or perhaps a sad melody and thought of all those heartaches?
StorytellerPublished 3 years ago in BeatProud to introduce Taj Farrant guitar player
I first discovered this kid about a year or so ago, I had to see more and hear more. As I did it became apparent that this kid had some serious talent as well as a bright future. In this video Taj explains how he was introduced to playing the guitar, and how he came to pursue his dream. This platform was a wonderful stepping off point for him. Many of his fans believed that his audition was golden buzzer worthy. Many of his fans felt he deserved to be in the finals of this competition. Like many fans did we all sent messages of support and encouragement to our young star. He publicly thanked Australia's Got Talent for allowing him to be on the show. Mature young man. Before this appearance he was featured on the Ellen show. Since this appearance he has performed with many stars, the most prominent name would be Carlos Santana. If Carlos Santana allows you to share the stage with him, then that is a major endorsement of anyone's talent. I am sure it is a moment young Taj will never forget.
Lawrence Edward HincheePublished 3 years ago in BeatThankful Through It All
All alone in a room full of people. You might wonder how on earth is that even possible but it is something I feel a lot of people my age have felt and even people of all ages feel. Everybody can be praising you for something that you have done but if you aren't truly satisfied with what you have done or are doing are you truly going to be feeling good. I am a 17 year old young man with so many aspirations that sometimes I feel that maybe I am setting expectations that are not even realistic for anyone. You see I make music and have been making songs since my 8th grade year in middle school. I have released over 30 songs on all platforms and have a total of over 100,000 streams. Now for my age and what I have done it seems like I am off to a great start and while I am writing this right now I am realizing that dang, life is going not as bad as it feels at some times. It takes this reflection time of writing for me to realize this though. Ever since I was young I always have had this problem with worrying about the future and ever since I have been doing music it has totally taken me over. I get this anxiety with my songs when I finish making them or when I release them because I am trying to appeal to a fan base that is growing but is all over the place. You see every song I make is different and I am still developing my sound so I have no idea what people are gonna like or not.
Music touches the heart
I was pondering........ Does music still touch your heart? I am a recording artist and have been a fan of music in general as long as the message in the song was meaningful and touched my heart, or brought some type of excitement. Whether I was chilling in the room, taking a late-night ride around the city or getting ready with some friends to go out and about, the music had a way of setting the mood.
Dear Sia, you broke my heart.
Dear Sia, I first started listening to your music when I was fifteen. I had to do a jazz routine to "Clap Your Hands", and I immediately fell in love with your sound. When "Titanium" was released, I was in a state of depression and the lyrics gave me the strength I needed to keep moving forward. "Breathe Me" was one of the songs that I would listen to right before I fell asleep, and it made me feel like I was falling slowly and gracefully. I've lost count of how many times I've seen the music video for "Chandelier", and it made me feel proud of my weirdness. "The Greatest" was released the year I came out of the autism closet, and it had the biggest impact on me. Not only did I use the song for a one-woman show about autism the following year, but I also once ranked it at Number One on my list of Autism Anthems. Heck, "I'm free to be the greatest" was in my Instagram bio for four years. I loved it so much and I didn't see the point in changing it until now.
Catherine BurfordPublished 3 years ago in BeatWhy Music Is Universal Stardust
There's just something about music. It has an effect on the brain that's like no other. I'm not sure if it holds a golden key to the hippocampus or the frontal cortex, or whether there's a little bit of universal stardust dancing around the beats to give it a magic power.
Helen HaywardPublished 3 years ago in BeatMy Good Friend, "Chili Pepper" . . the Street Musician in San Jose Central with Only One String on His Guitar. .
I have been living here in the Central Valley area of Costa Rica on and off for over 10 years now. I am in love with this country! One of my best couple of things that I enjoy doing is to people watch and to make new friends. I love the energy of San Jose Central, especially around the Central Market. For those of you who have not visited downtown San Jose, the "Mercado Central" has been here since 1880! It is huge. . a square city block. All under one roof and filled with sodas (diners) and other little shops that sell everything from tomatoes to spices, from meats to fish, from coffee to mops & from nuts to bolts! Everything that one needs to live, you can purchase at the Mercado Central. Think of it as a Walmart. . with a Latin twist!
William "Skip" LichtPublished 3 years ago in BeatA New Beginning
Today really showed my lack of discipline/consistency. I actually woke up at a good time, did some yoga poses to warm my body up before meditation, and got a halfway decent meditation session in – even though I never really hit that deep meditative state. The meditation wasn’t as centering today since I didn’t have that extra dopamine burst of starting something for the first time. Once the novelty runs off is when the real work begins. The same could be said of my practice session today. I got more time in which was a step in the right direction, but I took more breaks too and found myself distracted more easily. I started with 10 minutes shy of 2 hours today on piano instead of violin, to experiment with the rotation, and I found it to be better (at least for today). I like to switch things up every now then to keep my mind fresh and to remember that schedules aren’t supposed to be prisons. This same notion carried into my piano practice. I did a few times around the block playing to Chuck Berry’s Johnny B. Goode but found myself quickly losing focus. That’s when I decided to switch to a YouTube video of Jacob Collier and Chris Martin playing Sparks. Jacob Collier has quickly become one of, if not, my favorite artists of all time. His imagination and color are so spectacular that each song he plays draws you in to this beautiful universe he creates, usually spontaneously which just adds to the magic of it all. I’m trying to learn as many lessons as I can from him on color and chords, so I often find myself playing along – or at least trying to – to his work. Truthfully, I enjoy bouncing between two songs to work out, particularly one up tempo and one a bit slower tempo. They’re complementary palate cleansers, if you will, for each other. I find anymore than two songs are too close to juggling, something I’ve never even come close to mastering. Sparks is this great three chord emotional song with lots of room for extensions, particularly the 9th, which on the piano is fun and easy to understand when you break things down into triads. For example, if you take Db (the I chord of the song) and play some shell structure like a 1-5, 1-7, 1-3-7, 1-5-7 or 1-5-8 (you get the picture) in the left hand and play triads in the right hand, you can see these basic building block triads and extensions as the same. My favorite voicing in the right hand was playing a C-Eb-Ab, which would be the M7th, the 9th, and the 5th (technically 12th) extensions of the Db chord, but it’s also an Ab chord in first inversion. So, instead of having to think in these isolated ideas around the chord I can start connecting these simple building blocks I already know, and it allows me to see how these chords all start to connect in more interesting ways. Not to mention, Jacob plays some amazing licks and passing chords that I’m hoping to imitate, assimilate, and innovate on. Chris Martin even asks Jacob at the end of the song if he had seen the movie Amadeus (which if you haven’t seen, love music, and have three hours to kill is a great movie), to which Jacob replies he had not. So, Chris begins to describe a scene where Mozart meets Salieri for the first time. Salieri is playing an original composition, Mozart hears it once, and sits down at the piano and begins to play it. He doesn’t play it straight like the original, however, he adds some flourishes and improves the theme in some parts much to Salieri’s dismay. Chris likens this scene to what Jacob just did with his song without all of the jealousy. It’s a touching moment between two fantastic and humble legends.
A Musicians Journey
I grew up a product of divorce from the age of six. I suffered from chemical depression, which was properly diagnosed much later in my life. Somewhere in those early years, I discovered music. It must have started with soundtracks to the movies Grease and Saturday Night Fever, not to mention the car radio which was harboring contemporary artists like the Eagles, Jimmy Buffet, disco tunes, and significant one-hit wonders of the '70s.
Eric SykesPublished 3 years ago in Beat