John Winston Ono Lennon, MBE (9 October 1940 – 8 December 1980) was an iconic 20th century composer and singer of popular music with Paul McCartney as Lennon McCartney throughout the 1960s, and was the founding member of The Beatles.
Lennon’s songwriting was an integral part of The Beatles’ profound commercial and critical impact. His melodies, written during the Lennon-McCartney era, and later, in his solo career, are distinctive and unashamedly romantic.
Lennon’s lyrics reflected his personal and career demands, philosophical outlook, his unease with his fame and current events. He and McCartney popularized the use of electronic effects in rock music.
Lennon, on television and in films such as A Hard Day’s Night (1964), and by press conferences and interviews, revealed his rebellious, iconoclastic nature and quick, irreverent wit. Lennon channeled his fame and penchant for controversy into his work as a peace activist, artist and author. He was murdered in New York City in December 1980.
In 2002, the BBC polled the British public about the 100 Greatest Britons of all time. Respondents voted Lennon into eighth place.
Lennon had a profound influence on rock ‘n’ roll and in expanding the genre’s boundaries during the 1960s. He is widely considered, along with McCartney, to be one of the most influential singer-songwriter-musicians of the 20th century.
Many of the songs written exclusively or primarily by Lennon, however, are more introspective — often in the first person — and more personal than McCartney’s.
His most surreal pieces of songwriting, “Strawberry Fields Forever” and “I Am the Walrus”, are examples of his unique style. Lennon’s partnership in songwriting with McCartney involved him – many times – in complementing and counterbalancing McCartney’s upbeat positive outlook with the other side of the coin, as one of their songs, “Getting Better” demonstrates.
Lennon had a profound influence on rock ‘n’ roll and in expanding the genre’s boundaries during the 1960s. He is widely considered, along with McCartney, to be one of the most influential singer-songwriter-musicians of the 20th century. Many of the songs written exclusively or primarily by Lennon, however, are more introspective — often in the first person — and more personal than McCartney’s. His most surreal pieces of songwriting.
There is a perception that performing and practicing music are two very different activities. I think that the relationship between performing and practicing is deeply intertwined and at a certain level the distinction between the two virtually disappears.
At some point in a musical career, performing itself becomes the greater learning experience. Greatly significant aspect of performing is the tremendous energy that is experienced during a live performance in front of a receptive audience.
The true purpose of developing mechanical and musical ability becomes evident and the focus of practice sessions is changed. At that point, ironically enough, performing itself becomes the true learning experience because a tremendous energy is experienced during a live performance in front of a receptive audience. The energy of the audience, as perceived or felt by the performer, pushes him to new heights of artistic achievement and practicing becomes preparation to concentrate and enhance that experience; this marks the beginning of the transition from musician to artist.
The artist will find new ways of practicing to bring live performances closer to the pure ecstasy of musical expression in all ways. Bringing diverse disciplines such as psychology and other artistic disciplines such as theater and dance will enable the artist-musician to achieve greater control of the instrument and maximize the overall performance itself.
This is the true transformation from musician to artist, by developing personal, unique and creative ways of expression. As these progresses, the artist will realize great improvement in concentration, ease of performance and greater synchronicity of body, mind and what professional musicians like to call “soul”.
As practice is transformed into a more fulfilling and rewarding experience is reached an important step towards scaling the heights of artistic achievement. As music is something that the artist enjoys, practice is, in effect, playing music and should always be enjoyed for its own sake.
Question by ANDREW: I’ve heard that the Singing Saw is a heard instrument to self teach – True or False? I’m very interested in the Singing Saw, and just want to know what I need to play it, and where to get it, is it hard to learn? and is there online lessons? Thanks
Best answer:
Answer by Musical Saw– The fundamentals are very easy. Within minutes you should be makings sounds – maybe not music quite yet, but the music will come quickly. After a few days of making sounds you should work on trying to play simple songs. After that, how beautiful the music is depends upon your ear. If you are tone deaf, this is probably a lost cause. But if you can whistle or hum in tune then you are well on your way. The better your ear, the better your music. There are ample tutorials on the internet or YouTube. Do a search for “Musical Saw Tutorial” or Musical Saw Lessons” and you’ll find many.
Marlene with Paul Laval & his Band. July 16.1944 Aloha Oe Music By Queen Liliuokalani.
In München steht ein Hofbräuhaus Music by Wiga-Gabriel and Lyrics by Klaus S. Richter.
Instrumental only.
Musical Saw (Singende Säge) played by Miss Marlene Dietrich,she learned to play the Musical Saw 1927 in Vienna,Austria by Igo Sym-1896-1941.
Thanks to “George Simpson Buck” for posting this to FaceBook (Musical Saw group)
Here is Natalia (Saw Lady) playing Musical Saw in the subway in New York. Great accoustics. The first time I heard a Musical Saw was a guy playing under a bridge so same effect.
Natalia sponsors the Musical Saw festival in NYC every year – more details at SawLady.com
