Tabla de contenidos para The 2024 Music Edition en The Goodnewspaper

Unfettered AI use is a growing concern around the world. Young Guru, Jay-Z’s sound engineer, rang the alarm bells last year when he shared a clip of a Jay-Z song — that was made with an AI Jay-Z. “I’ve been trying to tell everyone that this is where we are now with AI,” Young Guru wrote on Instagram after the video went viral. “For some reason, this one got everyone’s attention. So what do we do? On one hand, I’m well aware that you can’t stop technology. Once the genie is out of the box you can’t put him back in. On the other hand, we have to protect the rights of the artist.” Young Guru’s online stunt raised questions: Who gets money when an artist’s voice is used to…

It’s no secret that many colleges and universities have informal popularity contests between disciplines. The STEM majors roll their eyes at the liberal arts students, perhaps. But not at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg. Earlier this year, Heather O’Leary, an assistant professor of anthropology, published a paper on the depletion of coral reefs due to Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease. The research is deeply important; O’Leary and her team found that the disease cost Florida an estimated $2.7 billion in tourism-related losses in recent years. But the research wasn’t exactly approachable for non-experts to understand. When O’Leary went to a concert put on by the university’s symphonic band and wind ensemble, she had an idea. She reached out to the director of bands, who called in a professor…

Your Voice is Power is a Canadian education program and creative music competition that challenges teens to use coding basics to separate, edit, and remix tracks. This year’s edition comes with an added focus: the celebration of Indigenous music. “I think it’s really a unique experience,” Marika Schalla, an Indigenous educator behind the program, told CTV News Calgary. In addition to teaching computer science skills, the program also welcomes nuanced conversations on the socioeconomic and environmental hardships faced by First Nations, Inuit, and Métis people. For Indigenous students, it’s an invitation to swirl their lived experiences into their art. For their classmates, it’s an opportunity to listen as they learn beside them. “You wouldn’t think that coding music and social justice would go so beautifully together, but they create a…

In San Francisco, California, Ronald Querian stands before a row of eight gongs, ready to play kulintang: a traditional Filipino instrument. “The pitches of the instrument are different, the scales sound unfamiliar, and the tempos feel very fast,” he told Hawaii Public Radio. “So when a lot of people hear kulintang music for the first time, it really grabs their attention, and in some cases, it sticks to them like a bug.” Alongside his wife, Lydia, Querian founded The House of Gongs studio in the hopes of creating a musical community united by the Filipino diaspora. They take a “learn by doing” approach to music education. “When the students came in, my strategy was to get their hands on the instruments as fast as possible,” Querian said. “As the first…

In 1965, Joseph Lenherr spent seven months in Taiwan, taping field recordings of the music sung in the Indigenous communities he visited. Decades later, ethnomusicologist Mei-Chen Chen found herself in UCLA’s Ethnomusicology Archive, sifting through his work. “The role of [the] Ethnomusicology Archive is very important,” Chen told the Daily Bruin. “I noticed this collection last year, and it had been buried there for more than maybe 50 or 60 years. There’s really a lot of treasure there.” Treasure, indeed. Ethnomusicology is the examination of music through a social and historical lens, and Chen had found a trove of lost gems. Through lectures, discussions, and knowledge sharing, Chen wants to bring these recordings to light. Chen acknowledged that the music recordings hold value for music scholars and historians, but more…

MUSIC TO OUR EARS “The American healthcare system is broken,” say the creators of the O+ Festival. O+ (as in, O-Positive) is the brainchild of a group of local artists, doctors, and a dentist from Kingston, New York, who, in 2010, gathered around a simple idea: “Bring a band to town in exchange for dental work.” In the 14 years since, the group has hosted an annual festival in the communal upstate city to support indie musicians, organize Narcan and CPR trainings, host local health expos, offer cycling events, and most importantly: provide no-cost medical care. Because U.S. health care is so inaccessible — especially for self-employed touring musicians who have to pay for their own private insurance plans — the founders of O+ decided to try a different approach:…

The opera just got a whole lot more inclusive for Deaf and hard of hearing audience members at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. This is thanks to a pilot program to bring the SoundShirt to opera lovers: a device worn as a jacket that’s equipped with 16 haptic actuators that transmit sound from the stage into pulses, vibrations, and other sensations. While the Lyric has championed accessibility measures like performances with American Sign Language interpretation, projected subtitles, and assisted listening devices, as well as Braille and large-print programs, audio-described performances, and pre-performance “touch tours,” the SoundShirt brings a newfound innovation to the performing arts. “It doesn’t re-create the experience of listening to music,” Brad Dunn of the Lyric told the Washington Post. “It’s its own thing. It translates the music…

GOOD Enjoy the unique perspective disabled artists bring to all kinds of music! A great place to start? Watching Gaelynn Lee’s Tiny Desk Concert by NPR. You’ll love her “untraditional” way of playing Irish fiddle tunes. BETTER Support Open Up Music, the nonprofit behind the National Open Youth Orchestra; the world’s first disabled-led national youth orchestra of 11-25-year-old musicians. Visit openupmusic.org. BEST Learn American Sign Language! Classes can be found at colleges, libraries, churches, and more. Many advocates recommend learning ASL from a Deaf or hard of hearing person, so keep that in mind as you find a teacher!…

GOOD Integrating music with STEM fields first means understanding the science behind music! Read “This Is Your Brain on Music” by Daniel Levitin to build a deeper appreciation for music’s impact on our brains. BETTER Donate to Arts Impact, a nonprofit that infuses art into STEM education for students, especially through their EcoArts and Native Voices programming. Learn more at arts-impact.org. BEST Learn more by visiting MathScienceMusic.org, where you can find a wealth of resources about things like counting, ecology, pattern recognition, and coding through music.…

The film “Kneecap,” which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, is based on the true story of a Belfast-based Irish rap group. When Kneecap hit the music scene in 2019, they did something largely unheard of: They rapped in their native language. Way back in 1367, Britain passed the Statute of Kilkenny, making it illegal to speak the Irish language, play Irish music, or do any matter of things that were intrinsically Irish. Though largely unenforceable, this law set in motion a precedent for prejudice and censorship for generations. Irish (also known as Gaeilge) never fully died out, but the number of native speakers dwindled over time. In fact, it wasn’t until 2022 that Irish was recognized as an official language in the UK. The leads of…

GOOD Noise pollution makes it difficult for animals to fly, forage, and even mate. You don’t have to chuck your speaker out, but consider reaching for the earbuds more often, especially when you’re in the great outdoors. BETTER Search for the profile “NATURES” on Spotify or Apple Music, and you’ll find a playlist of birds, oceans, and storms. 63% ofroyalties from streaming the sounds go to EarthPercent, a charity dedicated to conservation. BEST Seek out musicians who are prioritizing sustainability in the music industry, from their merch, to their venues, to the records they make. Your next favorite band could be greener than you think!…

In 2015, British conductor Leo Geyer visited Auschwitz to find inspiration for an original score he was composing in memory of Holocaust historian Martin Gilbert. He didn’t expect to find music compositions that had sat undiscovered — and unplayed — for over 70 years. “I had a conversation with one of the archivists, and he said in a somewhat offhand way that there were some manuscripts in the archive,” Geyer told the Washington Post. “I nearly fell over at the time when he mentioned it because I couldn’t believe that such a thing could exist and that it had been overlooked all this time.” Geyer returned a month later to continue his research, uncovering 210 compositions in total. Although most of them were lost vestiges from musicians who were forced…

Since 2018, the University of Southern California’s Annenberg Inclusion Initiative has been keeping track of gender disparities in the music industry, and year after year, the numbers for female performing artists have been discouraging — at one point dipping as low as 17% in comparison to male performers. But 2023 marked a new era. It’s the same year that gave us the “Barbie” movie soundtrack, Olivia Rodrigo’s much-anticipated sophomore album, SZA’s “Kill Bill” single, and more. It seems everyone was talking about the “Year of Woman” and USC had the data to prove it was a landmark year. For the first time since the study began, the majority of the year’s top 100 songs (56%) featured at least one female songwriter. Stacy L. Smith, the lead author of the study…

According to the American Tinnitus Association, more than 25 million adults in the United States have tinnitus, a condition that includes phantom sounds like ringing and buzzing in the ears, and may even lead to hearing loss. There is no cure. However, with the help of tools like hearing aids, mindfulness therapies, or even acupuncture, many are able to reduce their symptoms. There’s also a new device called the Lenire, which was recently approved by the FDA. It introduces the use of electrical stimulation of the tongue to help treat tinnitus. By shifting the brain’s attention away from the buzzing or “phantom sounds,” Lenire re-trains the brain to understand that those sounds are not important information and can be quieted. “It’s kind of like if I lived near a waterfall…

WE HAVE GOOD NEWS Public school budget cut proposals are like bat signals to teachers and parents who want the best for their kids. But there’s nothing quite like a crowd of elementary school teachers banding together to protest music education cuts. “Because we’re musicians we’re just louder,” Becky Chuhta — the district content leader for music education in Stamford, Connecticut — told the Stamford Advocate. It was a chilly January morning when throngs of teachers, parents, and kids gathered together for an early morning “walk in” at Davenport Ridge Elementary School in support of continuing music education programs for 1,650 students in fourth and fifth grade across the county. Colorful, hand-drawn — and hand-crayoned — signs could be spotted throughout the crowd, reading: “We want music” and “Do not…

“Earth” by Lil Dicky The comedic climate change rap — featuring Katy Perry, Snoop Dogg, Miley Cyrus, and more — raised over $1.5 million for organizations focused on renewable energy, conservation, and food sustainability. “Stop Crying Your Heart Out” by BBC Radio 2 Allstars This Oasis song, covered by Lenny Kravitz, Cher, Kylie Minogue, Bryan Adams, and 20 other artists, raised $37 million for the UK-based charity Children in Need. “HIND’S HALL” by Macklemore Released in early May, this single is an ode to the college students across the country who have been protesting the rise of civilian deaths in Palestine. All proceeds are going to UNRWA.…

THE MEANING BEHIND THE MUSIC There is a TikTok video with over 30 million views, in which Shina Novalinga and her mother, Caroline, are standing face-to-face humming, echoing, and gasping in mesmerizing harmony. They are throat singing. “For many years, us Indigenous Peoples weren’t allowed to throat sing,” Novalinga writes in the video’s caption. “It was forbidden and considered a sin to Christian priests. We almost lost this tradition, but today we are stronger and we throat sing for those who couldn’t.” In an interview with Vogue, Novalinga praises her mother for teaching her how to throat sing from a young age. “[My mother] has always made me comfortable when learning how to throat sing,” Novalinga said. “It takes time, practice, and mistakes. She always pushed me to keep going…

WE HAVE GOOD NEWS Music teacher Emily Boedeker has long been a fan of parody music videos. The Lawrence Public Schools teacher had been known for performing videos that celebrate snow days or as a way to prompt students remotely during lockdown. But earlier this year, she had a new idea. What if the long-time residents of the Lawrence Humane Society had their own theme songs? So, Boedeker began creating parody songs and videos to help shelter pets get adopted. First there was 2-year-old Peanut, whose song was sung to the tune of Hall and Oates’ “You Make My Dreams.” “What I want is a home to call mine forever. I’ve been stuck here in this shelter for 600 days. Oh, no,” Boedeker sang. For her next act, Boedeker shared…