Music on Eclectic Stacks

Take a number, any number - time signatures of the unexpected

Mon, 04 May 2026 17:00:00 +0100

“Fly me to the Moon” comes in two time signatures, I recently learned - the one which everyone knows (arranged by Quincy Jones for Frank Sinatra) in 4/4, and Bart Howard’s less familiar original in 3/4 waltz - which why the rhythms I now find in my book of piano jazz standards didn’t match what I’d grown up with!

(Meanwhile, my orange copy of Handel’s “Messiah”, now clearly well-used and with programmes and leaflets tucked inside from various performances over the years, had movements in alternative time signatures in the appendix - and the pencilled directions remind me that one conductor had decided to replace the 4/4 version of “Rejoice Greatly, Daughter of Zion” and send us flipping to the back for the 12/8 variation.)

Two musical Easter eggs - with unicorns, artists, and heavenly dancers

Tue, 25 Apr 2023 22:00:00 +0100

A couple of recent opportunities to feel (perhaps unreasonably) pleased with myself for spotting some musical homages and quotations, but in case they might amuse…

Frets, on ukuleles, violins, and - tangentially - minds

Sat, 19 Nov 2022 08:22:00 +0000

Earlier in the year we acquired a ukulele. Having played violin years ago, I was impressed by innovations - a digital tuner is much better than the pitch pipes whose pitch varied depending on how hard you blew - I know I should have been able to do it all with an A and an ear…)

And I only now learned that the metal bars running across the fingerboard of ukuleles, guitars, etc. don’t just guide the fingers but actually stop the string themselves, making tuning more precise - which set me wondering why I never had frets on my violin…