PRX » Playlists » Music Station Picks for November '10

Playlist: Music Station Picks for November '10

Credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kgregory/3432973908/sizes/m/in/photostream/">Katie Gregory</a>

Image by: Katie Gregory

Curated Playlist

November picks for music stations curated by PRX Music Format Curator David Srebnik.

Find out what David listens for in music programming.

Suggestions from David:

"Are you on Twitter? PRX is on Twitter — I've found it to be an invaluable programming resource, providing information and updates on new program that are available on PRX. It's like getting an instant update from PRX without having to go to the PRX site.

"One PRX Twitter feed features curated daily picks from the PRX Editors

Another PRX Twitter feed contains a link to each new PRX piece.

The third PRX feed tells you which programs have been bought in real time."

Hide notes

A Feast for the Ears

From WGUC | 01:57:33

Every year, WGUC host/producer Mark Perzel creates one of the warmest and most elegant-sounding Thanksgiving music programs.

I've heard this show for years — while running the board for it on Thanksgiving Day at Stations A, B and C, and also at home, while worrying about turkey fitness.

For listeners, this will serve as a worthy and welcome fit for the Thanksgiving preparation, cooking and post feast (food) coma. Suitable for all formats.

Playing: A Feast for the Ears
From: WGUC

Default-piece-image-0 As families come together and give thanks, A Feast for the Ears helps set the atmosphere and provide deeper meaning to the Thanksgiving holiday. A two-hour program, A Feast for the Ears reflects on the rich history and traditions of this well-loved American holiday and highlights music by American composers such as Aaron Copeland, Virgil Thomson, William Billings and Charles Ives, along with some undiscovered treasures by Rick Sowash and Mark O?Connor. Host Mark Perzel presents a melodic and intriguing exploration of Thanksgiving history, lore and roots in early European harvest festivals, as well as a thoughtful examination of the holiday's evolution and contemporary traditions.

Concierto 10/23/10

From WDAV Classical Public Radio | 01:58:00

It was a bold, forward thinking and innovative move on the part of WDAV (Davidson, NC) to launch a weekly classical music program in Spanish.

Station PD Frank Dominguez is the host of “Concierto,” a bilingual program “presenting classical standards performed by Hispanic artists and orchestras, as well as music by Spanish and Latin American composers.”

Based on your audience, demographics and market, and knowing the demographic direction your market may go in the next 1-10 years, you can determine whether Concierto is a good and timely fit.

The music selection is excellent, and Frank Dominguez, one of classical music radio’s most quintessential hosts, sounds good in any language.

Available weekly as a one-hour or two-hour block.

Playing: Concierto 10/23/10
From: WDAV Classical Public Radio

Concierto_small Concierto is a bilingual classical music program presenting classical standards performed by Hispanic artists and orchestras, as well as music by Spanish and Latin American composers.

Touchdown Song (Series)

Produced by ARTSEDGE

New from Producer Richard Paul, and his Artsedge series: the link between music and football. The series, titled Touchdown Song, cleverly and delightfully shows three ways music and football are inseparable.

The history of halftime celebrates what happens between part one and part two of the game. Content, assembly, pacing and mix could not be better — it will grab you. Both interesting and entertaining.

Film and TV honors the music that brilliantly accompanied, and sometimes dominated the classic NFL Films’ documentaries and the recounting of famous games. "Film and TV" wisely includes “Dah Dut dut Daaahhhh” (Not Beethoven’s 5th, but Monday Night Football’s four famous notes.)

The Fight Song: Fight songs are often lovely; lovely tributes to the school and the coeds who stroll the college grounds.

Programs in the Touchdown Song series run 12:01-15:40 minutes. Though a time-length scheduling challenge, it’s worth finding a creative way to insert any or all of the programs in the series within your program schedule.

Most recent piece in this series:

Halftime

From ARTSEDGE | Part of the Touchdown Song series | 14:05

Playing: Halftime
From: ARTSEDGE

H-notre_dame_band_marching_in_formation_small Even though it's nothing more than a chance for football teams to go an rest, Halftime has become an American institution where fans cheer, dance and to get up and shout. It's also brought us multiple styles of marching band music that are uniquely American. Join the Verizon-ArtsEdge Half Time Report, hosted by Tom Hedden, who composed songs for 19 years at NFL Films, and learn everything there is to know about the music that comes between the action.

view all pieces in this series

Piece of My Heart: The Story of Janis Joplin

From KUT | 57:31

Do you know...do you remember Janis Joplin? She was a belter, a wailer and a musical screamer who invested all of her blood, soul, guts (and a certain sweetness) into her music. Big Brother and the Holding Company... The Monterey Pop Festival... "Ball ‘n Chain”..."Me and Bobby McGee”... "Summertime"... I hope they ring a bell.

“A Piece of My Heart: The Story of Janis Joplin" is more exceptional radio documentary work from David Brown and Texas Music Matters Unit (KUT). I loved hearing the music (again), hearing the voice that could do anything and the simple personal insights Janis Joplin provides in her own words – including the approval-seeking letter that only a daughter could write to her disapproving (or not quite sure what to make of all this) parents in Port Arthur, Texas.

More than just a nostalgic trip down the '60s memory lane.

Playing: Piece of My Heart: The Story of Janis Joplin
From: KUT

Janis-joplin-free-when-she-sang-242x300_small

Though Janis became an international symbol of the San Francisco music scene of the ‘60s, her Texas roots profoundly influenced her music, her identity, and ultimately her enduring legacy. Join Kris Kristofferson, Tracy Nelson of Mother Earth, and some of those closest to Janis during her days growing up in Texas for an exclusive one hour documentary-- “Piece of My Heart: the Story of Janis Joplin”. Hosted by David Brown and produced by the award-winning Texas Music Matters team at KUT Austin.

Music and Mental Illness

From Paolo Pietropaolo | 11:17

We know that musicians are nutty, but some were depressed, insane...crazy...absolutely mad.

And yet...

They managed to write music that will touch people and change lives for eternity.

Producer Paolo Pietropaolo provides a historical overview of the presence of mental illness in the music world, citing the creative and chaotic minds of Robert Schumann, Hector Berlioz, Billie Holiday, Kurt Cobain and others. He provides interesting theories on the link between mental illness and music’s madmen. Music might have been their only way out.

Exceptionally well written, mixed, assembled and paced, and highly recommended for all news and music formats.

Playing: Music and Mental Illness
From: Paolo Pietropaolo

Schumann-photo1850_small

Robert Schumann was perhaps the archetypal moody artist, alternating between blazing bouts of creativity and periods of antisocial depression.

It’s a common cliché that has, all too often, been sustained by sad life stories punctuated by tragic endings. Schumann died a broken man in an insane asylum. More recently, we’ve seen gifted musicians like Kurt Cobain and Elliott Smith take their own lives after struggling with depression.

There are many, many others who fit the cliché (Tchaikovsky, Billie Holiday, Joy Division’s Ian Curtis…the list goes on and on). Why are there so many artists and musicians that struggle with depression and other forms of mental illness?

Anthony Storr was a British psychiatrist who wrote about music and mental illness in his book Music and the Mind. He suggested that there might be a link between mental illness and creativity – he wrote: “The ability to think creatively, to make new links between concepts, is more often found in families which include a member who is diagnosable as mentally ill.”

"Music and Mental Illness" is a short radio essay featuring music by Schumann, Tchaikovsky, Cobain, Smith and others.