Happy New Year's Day, readers — and Happy Public Domain Day. Every January 1st, we get to celebrate not only the greatest day of college football but also the greatest day for release from copyright of great works of literature, music, art, and other previously copyrighted material — at least in the United States.
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Chess, Jazz, and Renga
Each of these artists were working with an understanding that almost everything improvisational is ephemeral. Little lasts. Most is lost.
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Original Derivation
For each of these, Dylan, Bach, jazz, Shakespeare, and chant—the bread and butter is something not made, but received. More than that, using this given material seems to have enhanced their originality. It gives them more room to think.
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Music Recommendation: Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou
Meet Emahoy, the 99-year-old Ethiopian nun who writes and plays her own unique blend of music from ancient to modern influences, all of them deeply personal.
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Bach’s Favorite Number
Bach’s 14 canons contain too much mathematical coding to suppose their self-harmonization is a coincidence. If the musician understands how to fit all the pieces of the mathematical puzzle within the canon together, then they can unlock its beauty.
