What kind of fool are you?

No, we don’t mean to offend you. But, you have to admit, this is a very pertinent question to be asked in a blog about April Fool’s Day.

Fortunately, April 1 comes but once a year so being silly or quirky for a day might be fun (and there is no age limit for silliness – anyone can do it!)

The message here is this: act the fool! There is actually some scientific evidence suggesting that people who are intentionally silly on occasion live longer. So, if you ever wanted to engage in a bit of buffoonery such as kissing the rain, chasing a flock of geese (probably difficult to do in New York) or carving your initials into a tree, go ahead – on April 1, nobody will fault you for being wacky. But please, please, don’t use April Fool’s day as an excuse to get a tattoo of snakes and dragons on your arms!

Do you feel foolish yet?

It had to start somewhere

The origins of April Fool’s Day are not known, though historians suspect that a fool initiated it. Seriously though, some theories have it that it started in 1582, the year France adopted the Gregorian calendar, shifting the observance of New Year’s Day from the end of March to January 1.

However, some traditionalists boycotted the revised schedule and continued to celebrate the New Year on April 1, becoming the laughing stocks of their entire villages (we are not quite sure, so don’t quote us on that, but we suspect that’s how the expression “which village is missing its idiot” started).

These holdouts became the butt of jokes, and the name “April’s Fool” stuck. Needless to say, this was not a politically correct era!

It’s no joke!

The only “celebrations” that take place on April 1 are assorted pranks, hoaxes, and other tomfoolery. As long as they are funny and harmless, it can be great fun.

Of course, NYC is not immune to a bit of foolishness, as evidenced by the annual April Fools’ Day Parade, which starts at Fifth Avenue and 59th Street and winds down at Washington Square Park. The only rule is to dress and act as foolishly as possible.  This is, after all, New York!

Now, you might think that you will never be on the receiving end of an April Fool’s prank because you are too clever.  However, many people have been “hoaxed,” not necessarily because they are gullible, but some of these fictitious tales are so elaborate and, at least on the surface, credible, that lots of people are fooled.

There are too many of these “tall tales” to mention here, but one famous one dates from 1957. A British TV station produced a short documentary about spaghetti harvest in Switzerland.

Unless you know for a fact that pasta doesn’t grow on trees, it’s easy to get caught in this plot.

Tricks AND treats

Are you in the mood to have fun on April 1? If you are, here’s a suggested playlist for your celebration:

“Guess I’m Dumb’” Glenn Campbell or Beach Boys

“What a Fool Believes,” The Doobie Brothers

“I Started a Joke,” Bee Gees

“Seven Day Fool,” Etta James

“How Sweet to be an Idiot,” Neil Innes

Do you want to learn more “foolish” songs? With our Manhattan music lessons you can. Even though our repertoire includes serious pieces of music as well, we’ll be happy to come to your home or office and …play the fool! (Remember though – this is your idea, not ours).

Oh yes, one more thing: in the spirit of this holiday, we’ve inserted a little hoax in this blog. Can you spot it?

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Photo Credit: www.Photobotos.com

The post Just a Silly Love Song? You can Play or Sing it, with Manhattan Music Lessons appeared first on Hey Joe Guitar.

You’ve heard the saying “music is universal,” but can you come up with names of famous musicians who have actually proven this to be true?

One person who immediately springs to mind is the Indian sitar virtuoso Ravi Shankar, who passed away last month. Maybe we wouldn’t even know what the sitar looks or sounds like if it weren’t for Shankar.

We also might not have had many opportunities to hear Indian music which is, both literally and figuratively, worlds apart from the Western sounds that most of us are familiar with.

As Shankar himself explained the difference, “Indian classical music is principally based on melody and rhythm, not on harmony, counterpoint, chords, modulation and the other basics of Western classical music.”

And the sitar, with its light and delicate sound, is the most popular string instrument of Indian music.

A different kind of sound

The instrument that Shankar played so beautifully is, to put it plainly, a long-necked lute with movable frets, played with a wire pick.

Its origins can be traced to the 10th century, when northern India fell under the Persian rule. As Persian culture and music were brought to the conquered land, a sitar-like instrument, most commonly played during religious festivals, appeared on the scene.
Throughout the centuries this instrument had undergone many changes, eventually emerging in its present form in the 18th century.

Over the years, the sitar has crossed over to the Western music. Shankar’s pupil, the Beatles’ lead guitarist George Harrison, introduced this instrument to pop music, playing it on the song “Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown”) and on the LP “Rubber Soul.”

Harrison’s sitar playing inspired Rolling Stones’ guitarist Brian Jones to learn this instrument as well, and he played it on the song “Paint it Black,” in 1966, and then a year later with Jimi Hendrix while recording the song “My Little One.”

Drumming it up

While the sitar is the principal string in Indian music, a two-piece percussion instrument called the tabla provides the main rhythmic accompaniment. Unlike the more conventional western drums, the tabla is quite delicate and can only be played with hands, rather than with sticks.

In its present form the kettle-drum-like tabla is a relative newcomer on the Indian music scene and is probably less than 100 years old, though a more primitive version is believed to date as far back as 200 BC.

Do the sitar and tabla play well together? Shankar, who was probably the best judge of the compatibility of these two Indian instruments, thought so. As he said, “the dazzling and rapid dialogue between sitar and tabla has the power to enthrall even the most uninitiated listener with its thrilling interplay.”

East meets West

We get it – the sitar and tabla are not exactly as popular (or well known) in New York City as they are in their native India.

But that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t aspire to play either of these instruments or that you won’t find anyone to teach you.

We at Hey Joe Guitar are not limited to just a few most popular instruments. We can come to your home or office and teach you any of the dozens of instruments out there, regardless of how well known they are.

Look at it this way: with New York City music lessons, you can be the first on your block to play the sitar or tabla like the Indians do!

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Photo Credit: Bradley Loos

The post The Sitar: From India With Love appeared first on Hey Joe Guitar.

“Ring out the old, ring in the new, ring, happy bells, across the snow. The year is going, let him go. Ring out the false, ring in the true.” ~Alfred Lord Tennyson, 1850 Christmas and Hanukkah are behind us, and the New Year is almost here. This is not exactly a news flash -we are not really telling you anything you don’t already know, are we? But here’s some happy news: December 21 came and went, and all of us are still here! The Mayan predictions didn’t come true, the end of the world is officially postponed, so we have every reason to rejoice and ring in the New Year in style. Whatever plans you have for the New Year’s Eve, whether it includes watching the ball drop in Times Square, partying into the wee hours of the morning, or spending time with friends and family, you will likely have a wonderful time. And chances are that some form of music will enliven your celebration.

Years come and go, but music is eternal! Fact is, live music has long been a part of New Year’s Eve revelries and some concerts have become legendary. Some of you may be too young to remember this, but for almost half a century (from 1929 to 1976), bandleader Guy Lombardo’s orchestra performed New Year’s Eve concerts, initially at Manhattan’s Roosevelt Hotel and later at the Waldorf Astoria. Broadcast first on the radio and later on network TV, these concerts – Big Band music and couples dancing cheek to cheek – have become a major part of New Year celebrations across the United States. In the mid-1970, in an effort to “rejuvenate” Guy Lombardo’s concerts, music icon Dick Clark, host of the American Bandstand, started his own program, Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve. Even though Clark passed away earlier this year, the show, hosted by Ryan Seacrest, is still part of NYC’s annual Times Square celebrations and is aired on television in prime-time. Millions of people have danced to Lombardo’s Big Band and Clark’s pop music over the years, but one of the most grandiose – though less known in the U.S. – musical performances has been the traditional New Year’s Concert of the Vienna Philharmonic, which is broadcast from Austria to an estimated 50 million people in 73 countries (in America, it can be seen on PBS on January 1). The classical tunes, which always include “The Blue Danube Waltz,” are accompanied, in selected pieces, by dancers from the Vienna State Opera Ballet. It may not be a piece of Americana in the same way as Lombardo and Clark’s concerts were, but you can’t beat these performances for classical music, Old-World charm and elegance. Sing, dance, and be merry Of course, when we think of the New Year’s music, the first song that probably comes to mind is the old tune, “Auld Lang Syne.” Penned by Robert Burns, an 18th century Scottish poet and lyricist, it is the last (and the first) song we sing as the clock strikes midnight. It is said that Burns did not intend this tune specifically to mark the New Year, but it’s title, which means “old long since” or “for old time’s sake,” as well as its lyrics, are especially appropriate for marking the end of the old year and the beginning of the new: “Should auld acquaintance be forgot, and never brought to mind? 
Should auld acquaintance be forgot, and auld lang syne!” While “Auld Lang Syne” might be the most popular and certainly the oldest known New Year’s song, it is not the only one. If you are in the mood for something more recent, you might want to listen to these tunes:

• “Happy New Year,” Abba
• “New Year’s Day,”
U2
• “Another Year Has Gone By,”
Celine Dion
• “Bringing in a Brand New Year,” Charles Brown
• “Funky New Year,” Eagles

Renew your commitment to music “We will open the book.  Its pages are blank.  We are going to put words on them ourselves.  The book is called ‘Opportunity’ and its first chapter is New Year’s Day.” ~Edith Lovejoy Pierce What opportunity will you seize once January 1 rolls in? We are Hey Joe Guitar hope that learning to play an instrument is at the top of your “to-do” list for 2013. Just as we have done in the years past, in the new one we will continue bringing beautiful music right into your home or office.  And, unlike the “Opportunity,” we will knock on your door more than once! So let’s begin the countdown: TEN, NINE, EIGHT, SEVEN, SIX, FIVE, FOUR, THREE, TWO, ONE… HAPPY NEW YEAR – with Manhattan music lessons!

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Photo Credit: kw~ny

The post Ring in the New Year in Style appeared first on Hey Joe Guitar.

“City sidewalks, busy sidewalks
Dressed in holiday style
In the air
There’s a feeling
of Christmas.”

— “Silver Bells”

True, most cities big and small exude their own special charm during the holiday season, but there is no denying that Christmas, Hanukkah and New Years’ Eve in New York is truly magical.

It is not only because the city glistens and glows with millions of sparkling lights and vibrant colors. Whether you are ice skating under the giant glitzed up spruce in Rockefeller Center, or taking a leisurely ride through Central Park in a one-horse open sleigh (which, needless to say, is jingling all the way), holiday time in the Big Apple is as enchanting as a fairy tale.

While we at Hey Joe Guitar love our city at any time of the year, we are partial to the Christmas season. One of the many reasons we love New York during the holidays is because its concert halls, churches, and other venues resound with beautiful music.

No doubt about it, holiday season in New York is the most wonderful time of the year!

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas

If you love music – as we do – then New York is your kind of town. There is no way we can fit all the wonderful musical performances into this one blog, so we are mentioning just a few to whet your appetite:

• No holiday season would be complete without the legendary Rockettes and Radio City Music Hall’s traditional Christmas Spectacular show (1260 Sixth Avenue). Lavish sets and costumes, as well as magnificent performances, are the quintessential part of New York’s Christmas celebrations.

• What would Christmas be like without the Sugar Plum fairies and other magical creatures? At holiday time, this enchantment comes alive with The Nutcracker. Performed each year by New York City Ballet, it evokes the spirit of old-fashioned Christmases. Lincoln Center, 10 Lincoln Center Plaza.

• The West Village Chorale will perform a number of Christmas concerts during December, including its annual Messiah Sing and Caroling Walk at Judson Memorial Church, 55 Washington Square South.

As we said, these are just three of literally hundreds of musical events that take place all over the city during the holidays, which goes to prove that Christmas and great music go hand-in-hand.

The best stocking filler

All you want for Christmas are your two front teeth? Or maybe you prefer two turtle doves and a partridge in a pear tree? Wait, we have a better idea!

How about a gift that – as the saying goes – keeps on giving, long after the holidays are over? We are talking about Hey Joe Guitar’s gift card for Manhattan music lessons. The recipient of this gift card can have voice or songwriting instruction, or learn to play an instrument. And, leave the traveling to us – we’ll go anywhere in Manhattan to give in-home or in-office lessons (but we’ll ring the doorbell, NOT come through the chimney!)

No matter what holiday you celebrate, this is a useful and practical gift that can be enjoyed the whole year round. And, no batteries are required!

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The post Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas – With New York City Music Lessons appeared first on Hey Joe Guitar.