Content tagged with “music” under “Stuff I Looked Up”

There are 17 item(s) tagged with “music” in this section.

See items tagged with “music” across the entire site.

Other tags used by these items: brazil, movies, television, storytelling, worship, dance, definition

Arpeggiate
Explanation
December 21, 2024
66

“ This is a musical term which means playing the notes that comprise a chord, individually and in order. As a noun, it’s ‘arpeggio.’ ”

Bossa Nova
Explanation
December 16, 2022
247

“This is a style of music that originated in Brazil in the 1950s. The phrase literally means ‘new talent’ or ‘new way’ in Brazilian Portuguese. It’s a variation of samba, which is a musical style which originated in Brazil. Musical styles are hard to explain, but – to me – this feels like a laid…”

Chanteuse
Stuff I Looked Up
Explanation
April 30, 2022
219

“It’s simple French – ‘chanter’ is ‘to sing’ and ‘-euse’ is the feminine suffix. In many definitions its specifically stated to mean a ‘concert’ singer or a ‘nightclub’ singer. I think it generally refers to a female singer that is not part of a group or a background singer – so, a singer who is the…”

Concertina
Stuff I Looked Up
Explanation
April 11, 2024
74

“ This is an accordion-like musical instrument, meant to be played between the hands. It has buttons on either side, but, unlike an accordion, it does not have a keyboard. ”

Deep Cut
Stuff I Looked Up
Explanation
August 18, 2024
272

“This is a colloquial expression referring to a musical track not normally heard on the radio. The track might not have been released as a single, so it’s not in normal rotation, and the deejay (assuming there was one) ‘cut deep’ through the album track list to select it. I’m wondering how the…”

Diegesis
Stuff I Looked Up
Explanation
September 11, 2024
541

“In narrative story-telling, diegesis refers to things that are experienced by the characters within the story. Non-diegesis refers to things that are experienced by the audience, not the characters. Example, if watching a movie: Background music coming from a band playing in a bar as part of the…”

Doxology
Stuff I Looked Up
Explanation
February 8, 2025
96

“ This is a general term to refer to a category of music. ”

Euphonium
Stuff I Looked Up
Explanation
October 25, 2021
63

“ This is a brass instrument that looks a lot like a French horn (to me, someone with no musical instrument experience). ”

Grammy Awards
Stuff I Looked Up
Explanation
February 10, 2024
283

“The Grammys have confusing award names. They’re named in a way that might have made sense 50 years ago, but doesn’t make sense today. There are four ‘general’ Grammy Awards, meaning those open to any genre of music. One of them is ‘Best New Artist,’ which is self-explanatory and appropriately…”

Hammer Pants
Stuff I Looked Up
Explanation
October 23, 2024
157

“This is a colloquial name for the shiny, baggy pants made popular by MC Hammer in the early 1990s, typified by his U Can’t Touch This music video. I searched for ‘hammer pants’ on Amazon , and several results were labeled ‘Harem Pants.’ The chief characteristic was both bagginess, and a crotch that…”

Luthier
Stuff I Looked Up
Explanation
April 14, 2023
101

“ The word comes from ‘lute,’ which was an early guitar. ”

Non-Cagean
Stuff I Looked Up
Explanation
November 24, 2023
358

“This is a weird one, because it’s an invented form of the name of John Cage , who was an experimental composer in the 20th century. Cage was known for using strange and unique musical instruments and styles. He might be most known for 4′33″ , which is a 1952 musical ‘composition’ consisting of four…”

Outlaw Country
Stuff I Looked Up
Explanation
August 12, 2023
199

“It’s an actual genre. The ‘outlaw’ part comes from the fact that it was pioneered by artists that worked outside of Nashville, mainly in the 70s. From an article at Holler : The term was potentially coined in an article by music critic Dave Hickey, to describe artists who opposed the commercial and…”

Paean
Stuff I Looked Up
Explanation
January 11, 2022
221
Scansion
Stuff I Looked Up
Explanation
September 29, 2024
140

“This is written notation used to explain how a poem (or other text) should be read out loud. It’s kind of like a pronunciation guide, but for a block of text – how to ‘pronounce’ an entire paragraph, for example. Clearly, this only matters when the text is meant to sound a particular way. A…”

Wagnerian
Stuff I Looked Up
Explanation
November 20, 2021
345

“Richard Wagner was a German composer in the 1800s. (In English, his last name is pronounced ‘vog-ner.’) He’s most well-known for his epic opera cycle The Ring and specifically one of its musical numbers, The Ride of the Valkyries This was the music played through the helicopter speakers in the…”

Yale Whiffenpoofs
Stuff I Looked Up
Explanation
September 10, 2024
194

“This is a legendary a capella singing group at Yale University. The group is comprised of 14 seniors, both men and women. It’s claimed to be the oldest a capella group in the country. They refer to themselves as ‘The Yale Whiffenpoofs of XXXX’ (insert year of graduation). In addition to George H.W….”