Here is some, um, food for thought: what does jazz music taste like? And what about the classical, blues, country, and rock sounds?

You may not have thought about pairing food with music, but know this: careful matchmaking will help you create a harmonious and melodious experience. Yes, you can blend meals and soundtracks totally haphazardly (and nobody but a purist would notice the mish-mash). But, really, there is a far better way to achieve a smooth and coherent meld of two of life’s most pleasurable pursuits.

Now, in case you are thinking we are making this up, rest assured that we are not. True, pairing food with music is not exactly a widespread trend (yet), but it is growing. For example, a San Francisco-based project, Turntable Kitchen actually invents soundtracks for various recipes.

What is involved in this process? As Turntable’s Mathew Hickey explains it, “When I select a pairing, I like to start by thinking about the flavors in the meal. I’ll write down a few descriptive terms to help get the process going with words like floral, sweet, rustic, intense, subtle, upbeat, textured, contemporary, etc. I’ll also take into account geographic factors, which can help narrow down my selections. So, for example, if we have a sweet, upbeat and rustic recipe that includes ingredients that are commonly associated with the Pacific Northwest, I’ll go through my record collection and rack my brain for a band whose music is also sweet, upbeat, rustic and, ideally, from the Pacific Northwest.”

Taste for music

Now, here’s a question you probably never thought of asking: how does Bob Dylan taste? The answer is not blowin’ in the wind but, rather, comes from Blair Warsham, chef and co-founder of the “Covers” dinner and song series, who told the New York Times that the singer tastes “like aged beef, soy and seaweed. The beef represents Dylan’s leathery exterior and the seaweed and soy provide heavy notes that pair well with his raspy voice.”

And according to an NPR blog, classical music is the best match for a turkey dinner, as well as a variety of other dishes. As the article states: “Would you like some schlag with your Strauss? Are roast beef and Copland what’s for dinner? Would prosecco and a Rossini overture be a perfect kickoff to your Thanksgiving meal?”

Cook up your own batch!

What would YOU serve as an accompaniment to your favorite piece of music? If you are partial to rock, you might like to prepare a sizzling and fiery meal like a red curry; country sounds may call for tangy barbecued ribs and a sweet corn on the cob, while classical tunes probably go well with something smooth and sweet (chocolate mousse, anyone?)

On a personal note, we love pasta and think that its texture goes benissimo with a powerful tenor voice – like Andrea Bocelli’s

Obviously, the food–music pairing is not an exact science and, therefore, is totally subjective. That is just as well because you can use your own imagination to create a personalized menu that will please both your palate and your ear.

No pairings required

At Hey Joe Guitar, we like all kinds of arts – including the culinary ones. We have to admit, however, that we sometimes eat meals that are not at all compatible with the music playing on the iPod.

What about our teachers? If truth be told, they may be clueless as to what foods go well with Beethoven or which tunes match broccoli. Teaching music, however, is a piece of cake.

No matter which instrument you or your child would like to play – guitar, piano, drums, violin, or any other – one of our “cream of the crop” teachers will come to your Manhattan, Brooklyn, or Riverdale home or office and give you personalized, “a la carte” lessons.

Photo by Krystin Norman

The post Pass the Butter and Mozart, Please: NYC Music Lessons Are All About Good Taste! appeared first on Hey Joe Guitar.

During the holidays, a magical, fairylike aura envelops New York – from downtown to uptown, from East River to the Hudson, the city sparkles and glows.

NYC has many cherished holiday traditions: Santa’s arrival at Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, the NYC Ballet’s performance of “The Nutcracker” at Lincoln Center, the train show at the Botanical Gardens, and lots of others.

But among the best-known NYC holiday traditions are those that take place around Rockefeller Center – the lighting of the gigantic Christmas tree and Radio City Music Hall’s Christmas show.

Oh, Christmas tree

Every December for the past 83 years, a giant Christmas tree has been overlooking Rockefeller Center, its tens of thousands of lights twinkling amid snow flurries.

A symbol of holiday joy, the tree was actually borne out of grim circumstances: on Christmas Eve 1931, in the midst of Great Depression, a group of construction workers put up a 20-ft. tree on the muddy site of what would soon become one of the city’s best-known landmarks: the Rockefeller Center.

Over the years, through good times and bad, the tree has morphed from a humble fir to a magnificent Norwegian spruce that reaches the heights of between 70 and 100 feet. From the first days of December to the first week in January, the tree – which, these days, is decorated with energy-efficient LED lights – is a symbol of what a NYC Christmas is all about: joy, hope, and goodwill.

Christmas extravaganza

Just around the corner is another landmark associated with a cherished holiday tradition: Radio City Music Hall’s annual Christmas show.

Just as the tree, the theater too was erected during the Depression and opened for its first show on December 1932. (Interestingly enough, the area around the Radio City and Rockefeller Center, now a prime piece of real estate, was known back then as “the speakeasy belt”).

Today, it is the largest indoor theatre in the world – its marquee is a city-block long, its auditorium measures 160 feet from back to stage, and the ceiling reaches a height of 84 feet.

Since the day it opened, Radio City became home to the legendary Rockettes and its “Christmas Spectacular” extravaganza, a mega-show attended by more than 1 million people annually. Some elements of the production have remained the same since the beginning, such as Parade of the Wooden Soldiers and the Living Nativity scene .

Festive music lessons – all year round!

As New Yorkers we are really lucky to be surrounded by all this holiday spirit. Likewise, we should not take for granted all the wonderful concerts and other performances our city has to offer – at Christmas and year round.

We at Hey Joe Guitar are happy to be part of New York’s vibrant music scene and to have such talented teachers of the guitar, piano, and many other instruments in our midst. We love sending just the right teacher and instrument to your Manhattan, Brooklyn, or Riverdale home or office, and spreading good cheer all year round!

Photo by unknown, available under Creative Commons License

The post At Manhattan Guitar School We Love New York’s Christmas Landmarks! appeared first on Hey Joe Guitar.

Your child has decided to learn to play an instrument– congratulations! Music lessons are among the best and most enjoyable after-school activities for kids of all ages.

The next step is to choose just the right kind of instrument – by “right” we mean one that is adapted to your child’s age, size, and interests.

It is possible that you already have a specific idea of the instrument you’d like your son or daughter to play. Maybe you played the cello in your youth and would like your kids to continue the family tradition. Please, please resist the urge to influence your child’s choice and nudge him or her in the direction you want to go. (Instead, consider continuing cello lessons yourself!)

So how exactly do you go about choosing an instrument for your child? Here are some tips:

A thought-out choice

There are two things to consider: your child’s wishes, as well as his or her body type.

Let’s start with the first criterion. Say your child has been begging for a drum set. Should you acquiesce? That depends on two factors: the child’s age and the reason for this preference.

In a case of a very young child, the choice of an instrument may be just a whim. Maybe he saw it on TV and wants to have a set in the same way he’d want a new toy. So the question you should ask yourself is: is the child mature enough to know what he wants and does he have patience and discipline to follow through in a consistent manner?

If your child is a bit older, let’s say a pre-teen, the choice of an instrument might be swayed by what her friends are playing. At that age, kids are easily influenced by their peers. As a parent, exercise good judgment in deciding whether a request for the electric guitar is based on a genuine desire to learn this particular instrument, or it is just a passing phase.

Size matters!

What if your child doesn’t know which instrument he wants to learn? Let’s go with the second factor, the body type and physical characteristics.

Keep in mind that your child should be able to handle the instrument with relative ease, both size- and weight-wise. And, he should maintain good posture while playing.

For instance, if your child is little (or just small for his age), the bassoon is not the best choice because of the wide spread of the finger holes. However, the recorder, flute or trumpet might be just the right fit.

As a general rule, any instrument that is big and / or heavy is not suited for a child – unless smaller and lighter versions are available, as is the case with the guitar, violin, cello, double bass, and others (ask us for a recommendation).

Different strokes

Here are some further guidelines that will help you choose an instrument based on your child’s physical features:

• Tuba is a great choice for kids with larger lips, while flute, recorder and clarinet are better for small lips.
• To play the trombone, the student’s front teeth should be even; if your child wears braces, he will be at a disadvantage.
• Piano playing requires not only long fingers, but also hand dexterity.

What if a child has her heart set on a given instrument, but doesn’t (yet) have the size, strength, or other physical attributes to play? Don’t just give up the whole idea of music lessons – strike the iron while it’s hot, as the saying goes. Propose another, more suitable instrument with the understanding that she can switch to her first choice in a few years. Very likely, one of two things will happen (both of them good): she will get to love the current instrument so much – and become so good at it – that she won’t want to change; OR she will transition to the other instrument but still enjoy playing the first one as well.

Can we help?

Once the choice of an instrument is made, your child will need an excellent teacher. Don’t look any further: our Manhattan music lessons are just the ticket. We will send a top-notch, highly experienced teacher to your home or office in Manhattan, parts of Brooklyn, or Riverdale section of the Bronx.

We really will take a great care of your child!

Photo credit:  Cheryl Ogle

The post Choosing an Instrument is Child’s Play – with Manhattan Music Lessons appeared first on Hey Joe Guitar.

“All music is folk music. I ain’t never heard no horse sing a song.”
– Louis Armstrong

True, horses don’t usually belt out tunes (at least not the kind that are pleasing to a human ear), but there is at least one documented case of a singing equine – the famous Mr. Ed.

But, generally speaking, we have to agree with the great jazz trumpeter – outside of Hollywood, horses are not known for their musical abilities – it’s a definite neigh. Just as you can lead a horse to the water but can’t make him drink, you can also give him the violin, but, in all likelihood, can’t teach him to play it.

Now, the question you may be asking yourself is: do animals respond to “human” music? The answer is yes, and you heard it right from the horse’s mouth.

Monkeying around

As mentioned, animals (at least the domesticated ones) do respond to music but, according to scientists, they have their own specific preferences. A study carried out at University of Wisconsin-Madison found that our four-legged friends don’t like pitches that are too high or too low, which sound too shrill and grating to their fluffy ears.

Common consensus among animal researchers is that our pets are not fans of heavy metal and similar genres, because these types of harsh sounds make them agitated (lots of humans would agree).

One notable exception are monkeys – research showed that, unlike humans and domesticated pets, these primates love loud and shrill music. Now, THAT’s monkey business!

A different “breed” of music

What about the most common household pets, cats and dogs? Animal behaviorists say that Fido likes classical music the best. In studies, dogs that were exposed to this type of music spent less time barking, and appeared to be calmer and more relaxed.

The same is true for felines. Soft and soothing music is the cat’s meow: it seems to keep the frisky creatures from fighting, making them calm and, as far as we can tell…happy as a lark!

Now, having said all that, music is composed by humans for humans.  Let’s not forget that despite the contention that “animals are people too,” in reality they are a totally different breed (need we even say that?) This means that, given a choice, they’d prefer the so-called “species-specific” music that uses pitches, tones and tempos more adapted to their sense of hearing.

Still, there are certain similarities between “animal” and human music. For example:

• Whales use many of the musical concepts found in human music, including rhythms and structure.

• Bird songs follow rhythmic patterns and pitches that are in tune with human music.

The workings of nature are truly fascinating, aren’t they?

“People” skills only

We have news for you: it seems that you CAN teach an old dog new (musical) tricks!

Now, that doesn’t mean we can teach your dog to play the piano, so please don’t even ask! Our Manhattan music lessons do have a bite to them, but we make no bones about this: we draw a line at teaching in doghouses, stables, or barns. So if that’s the kind of lesson you have in mind, you’re barking up the wrong tree!

However, we’ll be happy to come to your (human) home or office and teach you to play any instrument. In our book, that makes a lot of horse sense!

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Photo Credit: Adam Foster

The post That’s No Bull: At Manhattan Music Lessons, We Like “Animal” Sounds appeared first on Hey Joe Guitar.

“Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”
~ Dr. Martin Luther King in his “I Have a Dream” Speech.

On August 28, 1963, hundreds of thousands of people from all over America marched on Washington D.C. to demand equal rights in the society that was still largely segregated.

It is difficult to imagine this today, but in those days and in many places across the country, African-Americans had no right to eat in the same restaurants, stay in the same hotels, and use the same restrooms and water fountains as other citizens. These were just some of many injustices and discriminatory practices inflicted on African-Americans one hundred years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation.

King’s rousing “I Have a Dream” speech, which he had given on that summer day on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, has mobilized millions of people and spawned the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

As the country is celebrating the Martin Luther King Day on January 21 and commemorating the civil rights movement that had changed the political and social landscape of the 1950s and 60s, let’s look at some of the the songs that had inspired people to keep fighting for justice and equality.

Songs of freedom

As President Obama mentioned during a 2010 White House event celebrating the Black History Month, “the civil rights movement was sustained by music.” Singing songs of hope gave people courage and comfort in the midst of the upheaval.

In a show of solidarity and support, black and white artists like Mahalia Jackson, Harry Belafonte, Bob Dylan, and Joan Baez, joined hands in promoting the cause through a variety of uplifting songs. The best known among then was “We Shall Overcome,” which was reportedly one of King’s favorites.  The song, which had been performed by a variety of artists, including Mahalia Jackson and Pete Seeger, expresses the hopes for freedom and equality:

“We shall live in peace someday;
Oh, deep in my heart, I do believe,
We shall live in peace someday.”

Other tunes, which captured both the turmoil and optimism surrounding the civil rights movement, also gained popularity. Among them were Bob Dylan’s famous rendition of “Times They Are a-Changin’,” Shirley Verrett’s “Oh Freedom,” and “Change is Gonna Come” by Sam Cooke.

Many more songs have provided a fitting soundtrack for the struggle that had resonated deeply among musicians and American citizens of all ages and stripes. Here’s a list of the most popular ones of that time: http://newsone.com/1460645/top-10-civil-rights-protest-songs-of-all-time/

Comfort though music

You might be wondering which songs that had inspired civil rights activists were King’s personal favorites. From the historic accounts, we know that, besides the aforementioned “We Shall Overcome” by Pete Seeger, he also enjoyed a traditional Black-American spiritual, “There is a Balm in Gilead,” Mahalia Jackson’s rendition of “Amazing Grace,” as well as hymns like “All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name,” “In Christ There is No East or West” and the “Hallelujah Chorus” from Handel’s “Messiah.”

These songs are not civil rights battle cries as such, but are more spiritual in nature. Let’s not forget, however, that besides being an activist, King was also a Baptist minister, so it’s not surprising that he found strength and comfort in religion.

Could King belt out some tunes himself? His widow, Coretta Scott King, a trained classical vocalist, wrote in her 1969 book, “I never really told him he couldn’t sing. He had a good voice for a choir.”

King’s old friend, the Rev. Joseph Lowery, answered this question in witty yet diplomatic manner: “I refuse to comment on the grounds it might make me sound nasty,” he said. “His gift was speaking more than singing, but he loved music.”

Make a difference through music

Love and appreciation of music are certainly good foundations on which to build musical training.

Our Manhattan music lessons are geared to people of all ages and levels, so whether you’d like to play an instrument or sing any of the songs that came out of the civil rights movement (or any other tunes, for that matter), we will be happy to come to your home or office and teach you.

Please call us soon, and in the meantime, let’s not forget people like Martin Luther King, who had fought tough battles and gave their lives so all of us can live in a more just society.

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The post New York City Guitar Lessons: Paying Tribute to Songs That Changed History appeared first on Hey Joe Guitar.

“When you work, you are a flute through whose heart the whispering of the hours turns to music.”

Mostly Wind

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