TRIVIA
A grand piano can be played faster than an upright (spinet) piano.
A piano covers the full spectrum of all orchestra instruments, from below the lowest note of the double bassoon to above the top note of the piccolo.
The oldest musical instrument in the world is a 60,000-year-old Neanderthal flute discovered in Divje Babe cave near Cerkno, Slovenia. It is made from the left thighbone of a young cave bear and has four pierced holes. Musical experiments confirmed findings of archaeological research that the size and the position of the holes were made with the intention of musical expression. Another early musical instrument is a flute made of bird bone found in a cave in Geißenklösterle, a part of the Swabian caves system in southern Germany. It is dated at about 40,000 years BP. and was made by modern humans.
The largest musical instrument in the world is the “Stalacpipe Organ,” in Luray Caverns, Virginia. It spans three-and-a-half acres. It was built in 1956 by Leland W. Sprinkle. It is an organ that’s made out of a series of stalactites. In order to achieve these incredible sounds, the stalactites are hit with rubber mallets activated via solenoids — coiled wires that develop magnetic fields when a current is run through them. The electrical pulses sent through the solenoids are activated when the organ’s keys are played.
The smallest instrument ever created was made in a science lab. It’s called the nano harp. It’s made out of a single piece of silicon and is around 140 atoms thick. The sound it makes is way beyond human hearing. Some of the sounds are at 380 megahertz (humans generally can’t hear above 20 kilohertz).
The world’s best-selling music instrument is the Harmonica.
I recently attended a performance of Rachmaninoff’s 3rd Piano Concerto, by Nobuyuki Tsujii at the Sydney Opera House. This astounding Japanese pianist has been blind from birth, but learns scores by ear. It is inspirational to experience the heights that humanity can reach, and humbling to be able bodied in their presence.
Other famous blind pianists include: Art Tatum, George Shearing, Ray Charles, Diane Schuur and Stevie Wonder.
The Greek National Anthem has 158 verses.
Top-selling albums used to reach sales of 20 million copies before the advent of online piracy – by 2009 it had dropped to about 5 million.
“C” is the most common key in pop music and the word “Love” is the most common word.
Doc Pomus wrote the song “Save the last dance for me” on a napkin at his own wedding. He was watching other men dancing with his bride. He himself couldn’t dance as he was a polio victim and was in a wheelchair.
The Hora (הורה) is widespread in the Jewish diaspora and played a primal role in modern Israeli folk dancing. Although considered traditional, some claim it rose to popularity due to "Hora Agadati", named after dancer and choreographer Baruch Agadati who performed it for the first time in 1924.
The didgeridoo is an aboriginal wind instrument from northern Australia. It is at least 1500 years old. It is played using a technique called “circular breathing” which allows a continuous sound to be produced.
The first pop video was "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen, released in 1975.
The term “disc jockey” was first used in 1937.
Music sung by two people at the same time is called a duel.
Since 2012, Tim Storms (US singer) has held the world record for the lowest ever vocal note. Storms is a bass (basso profondo). He possesses a vocal range of 12 octaves (G/G#−7 to G/G#5). He has extended his lower range to G−7 (0.189 Hz) while breaking his own record for the widest vocal range for a male singer. His lowest frequencies can only be heard by elephants and various animals that use low frequencies for communication, as well as dedicated scientific measurement devices.
Joy Chapman, a vocalist from Surrey, British Columbia, Canada holds the world record for the lowest vocal note by a female, hitting a 34.21 Hz (C♯₁) .
The highest vocal note by a male is F# in the 8th octave (F#8, 5989 Hz). Amirhossein Molaei from Tehran, Iran, achieved this feat on 31 July 2019.
The highest note ever sung by a female is G10, sung by Georgia Brown (Brazil). She has a vocal range of eight octaves, extending from G2 to G10. The highest note that she hit, the G10, is techincally not a musical note but a frequency.
The top selling singles of all time are Elton John’s “Candle in the Wind ‘97″, at 33 million, Bing Crosby’s “White Christmas”, 30 million, and Bill Haley’s “Rock Around the Clock”, 25 million.
The only member of the Texas rock band ZZTOP without a beard is the drummer, Frank Beard.
Klezmer music is derived from two Hebrew words, clay and zimmer, meaning “vessel of music.”
A virtuoso is a musician with really high morals.
Mozart composed his first work at the age of 5.
The Sydney Opera House weighs 161,000 tonnes
The biggest selling single ever in Australia was comedian Austen Tayshus’ “Australiana” in 1983. Hugh played for his wedding.
“To achieve great things, two things are needed: a plan and not quite enough time.”
― Leonard Bernstein
The song “Happy Birthday To You” is not a public-domain composition, despite the 1998 Guinness Book of World Records declaring it to be the most recognised song in the English language. The melody was written, in 1893, by two kindergarten school teachers, sisters, Patty and Mildred Hill from Kentucky for the song “Good Morning to All.”
The Summy Company, which owned the publishing rights of “Good Morning to All”, copyrighted “Happy Birthday to You” in 1935 as a song for hire. Time Warner Corporation bought the rights in 1998. So now a single use in a film or TV program will cost around $10,000!
Ten is the minimum number of musicians a band must have to be considered a "big band".
Monaco’s National Orchestra is larger than its army.
“Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted” ― John Lennon
20% of the world’s 900 Nobel prizes have been won by Jews.
The airplane in which Buddy Holly died was called “American Pie”. Don McLean’s song refers to this.
Janis Ian receives almost 500 Valentine's Day cards from fans every year. The singer had revealed in her 1977 hit ballad "At Seventeen” that she never received Valentine's Day cards as a teenager.
Louis Armstrong's nickname "Satchmo" came from shortening "Satchel Mouth".
Suzanne Vega is considered the “mother” of the mp3 format. The creators of the mp3 used her voice from the song Tom’s Diner for analyzing the different sound spectrums when creating the compression algorithm.
“I don’t know anything about music, In my line you don’t have to.”
― Elvis Presley
In 1989, the U.S. military blared AC/DC music at General Noriega's compound in Panama for 2 continuous days, after which the dictator surrendered.
The British Navy uses Britney Spears' songs to scare off Somali pirates.
Somali pirates use Andrew Lloyd Webber songs to scare off the British Navy.
When Billy Crystal was a child, his babysitter was the legendary Billie Holiday.
“When I was a little boy, I told my dad, ‘When I grow up, I want to be a musician.’ My dad said: ‘You can’t do both, Son’.”
― Chet Atkins
Chuck Berry aspired to be a professional photographer and only performed music to buy photography equipment.
The famous opening chord on “A HARD DAY’S NIGHT" was played by George on a 12-string electric guitar. “It's an F chord, but you put a G on top, and a G on the bottom, and then you put a C next to that G," he explains. "Paul's playing a D on the bass, and John's rhythm guitar was a Dsus4." But George Martin was also playing an F on the piano.
“Too many pieces of music finish too long after the end.”
― Igor Stravinsky
When Donald Trump had great difficulty finding any reputable entertainers to agree to perform at his inauguration it was suggested he try Rolf Harris or Gary Glitter.
“It’s easy to play any musical instrument: all you have to do is touch the right key at the right time and the instrument will play itself.”
― Johann Sebastian Bach