The cuckoo has long been a symbol of cuckoldry from Shakespeare to the Disney channel, but did you know this musical bird also inspired the door bell and the bell itself? The common cuckoo calls in major thirds, and almost exclusively in C major. Click on the score below to listen. Common Cuckoo Call “Go-koo,” […]
Archive of posts tagged Horses
Bada Bing Bada Boom
Italian Americans like to imitate drum beats when they talk. Capeesh? Kapow! Badumcha. They speak a kind of Percussionese dialect, refusing to integrate into their host country. Such is the phrase “Bada Bing Bada Boom” which means a “job well done” and according to my dictionary, is diminutive of a drum roll. But I ain’t […]
Turn! Turn! Turn! (to Everything There Is a Signal)
The classic Car Turn Signal is a sloppy shuffle. Like a horse walk, the turn signal clip clops along at a swinging uneven beat. Perhaps the turn signal of the automobile was designed to mimic the turning of the equestrian’s steed, harking back to that ole clippity-clop. Compare with the equine version. The Car Turn […]
The Snappy Slap Hand Canter
It’s hand jiving time―time to break out your 3-lined white gloves, just like the kind Mickey and Mario wear (the kind Hamburger Helper Helping Hand is). Roll over the three hands below from left to right. Try it slow. Try it fast. Try it backwards. To get a canter rolling, you’ll need to make counterclockwise […]
Hipporhythmics: The Four Horse Beats of the Apocalypse
Zoomusicologists are just now beginning to understand the enormous influence non-human animal music has had on the development of human animal music. The three traditional aspects of music―melody, harmony, and rhythm―are not uniquely human at all, and were in fact copied from our fellow animal musicians. Songbirds showed mankind how to whistle melody, in Major […]
