“God could not be everywhere and therefore he made mothers.”

~ Rudyard Kipling

That’s certainly one thought nobody can argue with – we all know that moms have eyes in the back of their heads. Just like Santa Claus, they see you when you’re sleeping, they know when you’re awake, and they know if you’ve been bad or good (so be good for goodness sake)!

This brings us to this blog’s topic: Mother’s Day. Traditionally – at least in the United States – this event is celebrated on the second Sunday of May, which this year falls on the 10th.

Celebrations of motherhood can be traced back to the ancient Greeks and Romans – all of whom, of course, had mothers. In the United States, this holiday started only at the beginning of the 20th century when a West Virginia woman named Anna Jarvis campaigned, after her own mom died in 1905, to set aside one day each year to honor all mothers.

Her efforts had not been in vain; in 1914, President Woodrow Wilson signed the proclamation creating Mother’s Day on the second Sunday in May as a national holiday. And the rest, as the saying goes, is history.

Singing praises to mom

There are many ways to celebrate Mother’s Day, beyond the usual gifts of flowers and chocolates. We are referring to music!

You may think that moms are not your typical muses for songwriters but, in fact, there are quite a few pieces of music that pay tribute to mothers’ love, advice, and devotion.

Take, for example, The Supremes’ 1966 hit song “You Can’t Hurry Love” , which talks about a mother’s wise advice:

“I need love, love to ease my mind
I need to find, find someone to call mine
But Mama said
You can’t hurry love.”

One of the most heartwarming “mom” songs is the Beatles’ 1970 hit, “Let it Be.” As Paul McCartney told it, back in 1968, as he was going through a particularly difficult time in his life and career, he had a dream about his late mother, Mary. “There was her face, completely clear, and she said to me very gently, very reassuringly: ‘Let it be.’”

And how sweet it was when the Backstreet Boys dedicated their 1999 song “The Perfect Fan” to their moms.

A more recent mom tribute is Taylor Swift’s “The Best Day” (2008), where she remembers her childhood and tells her mother, “you’re the prettiest lady in the whole wide world.”

There are, of course, many more songs dedicated to mothers, as this playlist from Billboard magazine demonstrates.

Mom says…call Hey Joe Guitar!

As you can see, Mother’s Day could be a truly musical celebration. But we don’t have to tell you that playing music is not an activity that’s limited to any particular holiday or celebration. Music really is perfect for any day and any reason.

It doesn’t matter whether you want to play the guitar piano, or any other instrument, or perhaps sing your heart out (figuratively speaking, of course). We have great teachers, who can come to your Manhattan, Brooklyn or Riverdale home or office, give you music lessons – and maybe even mother you a little!

Photo by unknown, available under Creative Commons License

The post At Manhattan Music School, Mom’s the Word appeared first on Hey Joe Guitar.

The name of Leonardo da Vinci is most often associated with his famous painting, the Mona Lisa. However, Leonardo was – literally – a quintessential Renaissance man, whose many talents encompassed mathematics, architecture, engineering, and other fields.

Among his many inventions was a little-known musical instrument, which he called “viola organista” – a string organ that can best be described as a blend of a harpsichord and cello.

The viola organista never really caught on, but recently a Polish musician used Leonardo’s 500-year-old design to build – and perform on – the mysterious instrument. Its sounds are truly unique and very beautiful.

Who knows how popular Leonardo’s invention would have become had it ever been mass-produced. It may not have ended up in the Louvre museum like the Mona Lisa, but it could have brought lots of pleasure and enjoyment to music lovers everywhere!

Playing their own tune

This is just one example of a little-known instrument, but there are many others. Unlike the viola organista, however, these instruments actually exist and are used – though not widely. Here’s a list of some interesting musical creations you likely never knew existed:

• The design of an instrument called the “gameleste” was commissioned by the Icelandic singer Björk for her 2011 album Biophilia. It’s a combination of a traditional Indonesian gamelan and a piano-like celesta. This hybrid instrument is quite unique and the sound it emits is ear-pleasing .
• The wheelharp is one of the newer kids on the block- it made its debut at the 2013 National Association of Music Merchants Show in California. An impressive piece of engineering, it has 61 strings that can be individually played and its sound is quite dramatic .
• The serpent is so called because it is shaped like a snake. Its sound , however, has nothing to do with hissing; in fact, to our ears it sounds more like a contrabass.
• And speaking of the contrabass, meet a device called the subcontrabass flute, which, at 15 feet long, is one of the largest instruments in the flute family. As you can hear, the sound it emits is quite dramatic in its intensity.

There are, of course, many, many more little-known but interesting instruments out there. Aren’t you glad we told you?

We’re not re-inventing the wheel

If you would like to have lessons in any the above-mentioned instruments, we’d better tell you right away: regretfully, we won’t be able to help you.

But if you are interested in learning to play the guitar, piano, drums, trumpet, trombone, brass, reeds, saxophone, clarinet flute, violin, viola, cello, strings, accordion, ukulele, banjo, recorder, mandolin, or have voice lessons – contact us.

One of our excellent teachers will come to your Manhattan, Brooklyn or Riverdale home or office and give you or your child music instruction. We may teach only ordinary instruments, but our lessons are truly EXTRAordinary!

Photo by unknown, available under Creative Commons License

The post New York Music School Has a Familiar Ring to it! appeared first on Hey Joe Guitar.

Roses are red, violets are blue, I like poetry and you do too.

Okay, we know we won’t win any literary prizes for this little ditty, but this is just a way to let you know that the Academy of American Poets has designated April as National Poetry Month.

Not only does this event highlight “poetry’s vital place in our culture,” but it also encourages private and public readings as a way for people of all ages and walks of life to get to know this art form.

We love this initiative, especially considering the very close relationship between poetry and music. What could be more poetic than this?

Common ground

If you think that there is no correlation between the two art forms, we beg to disagree. They are tightly intertwined, like a close-knit family, and not only because both are creative and inspirational forms of expression.

One might be communicated through words and the other through sounds, but music and poetry both rely on the same elements: flow, rhythm, expression, and emotion. And speaking of emotion, there is actually a British study, which demonstrated that listening to music and reading poetry produce the same strong, shiver-in-the-spine sensations, thoughts, and imagery.

As the 17th century English historian Thomas Fuller said, “Poetry is music in words and music is poetry in sound.” We couldn’t have put it better – or more poetically – ourselves!

Songs inspired by poems

There are quite a few songs whose lyrics had been inspired by poems. For instance, “My love is like a red, red, rose,” and “Auld Lang Syne” are based on poems by the 18th century Scottish poet Robert Browning.

“Because I Could Not Stop for Death” by our own Emily Dickinson was also set to music , as were some of her other poems, such as “If You Were Coming In The Fall” and “Hope.”

Many of William Shakespeare’s poems provided lyrics for songs as well, among them “Under the Greenwood Tree,” and “Double Trouble” from the Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban soundtrack.

There are many more examples: lyrics to “Hail to the Chief,” came from a poem, “The Lady of the Lake,” written by Sir Walter Scott. And the words to “America the Beautiful” are from a poem of the same title by Katharine Lee Bates.

We’ll stop here, but there are numerous other examples of poems that were set to music, proving that the two art forms seamlessly converge.

Artistic expression

Now, our music teachers are not poets in the traditional sense of the word, but their music lessons are poetry in motion.

We don’t mean to wax poetic, but when one of our music teachers shows up at your Manhattan, Brooklyn or Riverdale home or office, he or she will make sure your fingers perfectly strum the strings of the guitar or flutter gracefully over the piano’s keys.

Photo by unknown, available under Creative Commons License

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