June 2018 Zach's Facts - Ben Franklin's Glass Armonica

Many of you, I’m sure, have sat around a dinner table with a crystal glass, wetted your finger and
rubbed it along the rim to produce a bell like tone and thought to yourself, wow what a cool sound!
Well you are not alone, a Mr. Ben Franklin thought the same thing. Back in his day, while touring
Europe on his civic duties for the colonies of the United States, Ben saw many musicians performing
enchanting melodies on glasses. Inspired by these events the ever-inventive Franklin sought to create
an instrument that would allow the players to produce chords and more complex melodies. Working
with a glass blower in London, Franklin invented the “glass armonica.” It made playing the glasses akin
to playing a piano. The glasses were laid on their sides with a rod going through that was connected to
a foot pedal allowing the player to spin the glasses and with wet fingers could easily produce the sound.
No longer was water required to tune the glasses the different bowls were measured to the appropriate
size and density to produce the right note. The instrument was an immediate success with composers
such as Mozart and Beethoven writing music for it. Franklin called it the most satisfying of his many
inventions, but why then did it fall to obscurity by the 1820s? Unfortunately, some people believed it
was a cursed instrument, the high pitched frequencies caused illness or madness or conjured ghosts.
After the death of a child in Germany during a performance the instrument was banned in several towns.
It’s important to note that none of these claims were ever proven and Franklin enjoyed playing the
instrument until he died without experiencing any of these “side effects.” Despite the popularity,
Franklin never made a dime off of his invention, he said quote ”As we enjoy great Advantages from the
Inventions of others we should be glad of an Opportunity to serve others by any Invention of ours, and
this we should do freely and generously." Great words to live by Ben!

June 2018 Zach's Facts - Bach's Café

The almighty German composer Johann Sebastian Bach, known for his work expanding the complexity of harmony and rhythms of western music, may have wrote some of his blistering lines and arpeggios while on a serious caffeine high. Yes, Bach loved coffee, so much so that he wrote a cantata (a vocal work, often one that tells a story) about it. The work is popularly known as the Coffee Cantata but is actually named Schweigt Stille, Plaudert Nicht, which translates to Be Still, Stop Chatting—a title that perfectly sums up a twitchy coffee buzz.

The piece tells a comical tale  of a father named Schlendrian, which means “Stick in the Mud”, and his frustrations with his daughter’s obsession with coffee. Coffee was somewhat of a controversial substance at the time, feared by some to be be a devilish drink not fit for children, women, or men concerned about vitality, and coffee houses were considered to be bawdy places not typically suitable for women. Not only did the cantata intend to parody coffee addicts, it also celebrated a strong-willed woman determined to get her fix.

The piece was written and performed for the crowds at the Zimmerman Coffee House in Leipzig, a popular destination for local musicians and artistic types. Bach ran a small “house band” at the cafe and performed concerts weekly. Nowadays, the piece is often performed as a “mini opera” with full costumes and staging. So the next time you’re sitting at a cafe and drinking a dank brew, pour a little out for J.S. Bach.

April 2018 Zach's Facts - Celine Dion and Phil Spector's Wall of Silence

Very behind,  a year behind actually on posting the Zach's Facts here, so I am going to blast em out now.

It was the middle of the 90s, and a French Canadian singer from a humble background was about to record her breakthrough album, Falling into You, and take the pop world by storm. That singer of course was Celine Dion. The stars were lining up for Celine: her previous album, The Colour of Love was a commercial success, she’d had a hit for Disney’s Beauty and The Beast soundtrack, and it looked like the world was ready for a Quebecois pop-star. Celine’s team, lead by her husband and manager, Rene Angelil (who discovered and began working with her when she was 12—creepy, right?), had a lot of pressure to put the right team together. The man they choose to oversee the album was legendary 60’s producer Phil Spector, famous for his “Wall of Sound”.

On paper, the collaboration seemed intriguing. Spector would be emerging from retirement, having not produced in 15 years, and working with a rising talent with an extraordinary voice and who he seemed excited to collaborate. Things started off well enough with Beach Boy Brian Wilson even visiting the mixing studio. However, this story would not have a happy ending. While Spector is a genius, he certainly is not without faults, and definitely isn’t known for compromise. Conflicts of artistic direction derailed the sessions, with Spector allegedly wanting to control everything. After the fallout of the sessions, Spector told Entertainment Weekly: "It became apparent that the people around Ms. Dion were more interested in controlling the project and the people who recorded her than in making history”. The two sides entered a legal impasse that went colder than a Canadian winter and the tapes were locked away in Spector’s vault. But perhaps through time, and through Spector’s many legal troubles (he turned out to be a murderer), the Dion-Spector tapes will hit our ears someday soon.