Homemade drum set

After watching videos about John Cage and others who are inspired by John Cage, I decided to search youtube for videos of people who made music using every day objects.  I posted a video weeks about of Jimmy Fallon and Christina Aguilera using office supplies to make music, so I wanted to see more.  I came across this video of someone who had an assignment for school to make an instrument using every day objects. He decided to make a drum set and it sounds pretty good.  He said, "I used two buckets, a paint bucket (bass drum) and a garden bucket (snare drum) The cymbals are pots and pans. I used duct tape to hold the bass drum in place. The hardest part was the bass drum pedal."

"Sign Language"

This song is a personal favorite.  It's called "Sign Language" by Kinetics and One Love ft. Wynter Gordon.  A friend of mine told me to listen to it because they enjoyed it too and I was instantly hooked.  It is a powerful song with meaningful lyrics.  The chorus is sung by Wynter Gordon who has a beautiful voice.  The verses are rapped and very dramatic.  It is a good mixture of singing and rapping.  The song is about two people who secretly like each other but neither one of them know it.  They each try to tell each other but it just doesn't work out.  The girl is deaf and that's why she can't express her love for the boy and the boy thinks he just isn't liked.  The video goes really well with this song and creates and good visual.

Christina Aguilera and Jimmy Fallon

I thought this video was creative and funny.  When Christina Aguilera was on Jimmy Fallon's show, they recorded a version of her new song, "Your Body".  Instead of using instruments, they used office supplies such as a stapler, ripping paper, pulling tape, and pencils.  Jimmy Fallon's house band, The Roots joined them in this video to help with the sound.  I like this song and like this version because it's catchy and humorous at the same time.

"Crazy"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=va-QvaSpWL4

This is a video from the first season of The Voice.  The judges of this show, Blake Shelton, Christina Aguileria, Adam Levine, and Ce Lo Green came together to perform the hit song "Crazy" by Gnarls Barkley which Ce Lo Green was a part of.  I like this version of the song because it blends 4 different singers together who each sing very different types of music.  It is a nice change to mix it up.  Even though they all sing very differently, blending their voices together worked.

Collin McLoughlin from The Voice

This is a video of a man named Collin McLoughlin doing an acoustic version of Adele's "Someone like you", Katy Perry's "The one that got away", and Rihanna's "We found love".  I first saw Collin on the show, The Voice.  I fell in love with his audition and have been following him ever since.  He started off on Adam Levine's team but Adam let him go and Blake Shelton stole him for his team so he is still on the show!  I think his voice is clean and refreshing.  He is definitely unique and I find his videos of him singing very calming.  I hope he makes it far!

The A-team

This is the official music video for Ed Sheeran's "The A-team".  Recently, this song has been all over the radio and is becoming more and more popular.  It has a good melody and the message of the song is very powerful.  The song describes the life of a troubled young girl who does whatever she can to survive.  The video for this song makes it even more powerful.  It describes that she is addicted to drugs. When it says that she's in class A-team, it is referring to her feeling when she is on the drugs. It also talks about her horrible appearance and that she sells her love to men for money.  The line it's too cold outside for angels to fly is referring to her wanting a different life.  I love this song for the melody and the meaning and think it is a good song for everyone to hear and watch the video.

4 Chords

The Axis of Awesome is an Australian musical comedy act. The band's members are Jordan Raskopoulos, Lee Naimo and Benny Davis. They made this song called 4 Chords which consists of 36 popular songs.  The songs all use the same 4 chords and this band uses it as a form of humor.  They made this music video singing all of the songs which make one long song.  They dress up as the musicians and incorporate funny costumes as entertainment.  It's interesting to see which songs are actually similar.  I never realized it until I hear this song.

The X Factor

I was watching The X Factor a couple weeks ago and saw this 13 year old girl, Carly Rose Sonenclar, perform Nina Simone's "Feeling Good".  When she first came out and told the four judges what she was going to sing, you can see that they did not expect this to be a good performance because it is such a powerful song.  Once Carly Rose opened her mouth, the judges and everyone else was blown away.  She has such a wide range for only being 13 years old.  She sang the song perfectly and had such confidence while doing it.  Her performance was effortless.  She is definitely a natural star and I hope she continues to do well on the show.

Michael Buble "Everything"

This is a video of Michael Buble singing his popular song, "Everything" live at Madison Square Garden.  He is a crooner singer from Canada who covers songs by popular artists like Frank Sinatra and he also has some songs of his own, this being one of them.  I have had the pleasure of seeing Michael Buble live three times and all three times were the best concerts I have ever been to.  The way he carries himself is effortless and his voice is great.  This video does not do his voice or the sound of his live band justice.  His band is so powerful.  He is such a good performer and interacts with the crowd like they are all his friends.  His audience goes from little kids to grandmothers because he is so versatile.  He always wears a suit which gives his concerts a sense of class.

Newsies "King of New York"

This is a clip from the musical Newsies (1992) starring Christian Bale.  It it about poor orphaned boys who sell newspapers for money.  Eventually the boys go on strike and stick together by singing songs.  This song is about what it would be like to make it big.  All they have ever known is the poor life.  The music and choreography in the movie is so good and helps express the emotions of the boys.  I personally love this movie and it has recently made it to broadway.  I used to watch this movie every day when I was little.  I think it is definitely one of the best musicals I have seen.

Peter Hollens Accapella

I came across this video months ago and thought it was so interesting.  Peter Hollens records cover songs of numerous popular songs and posts them on YouTube.  He is the only person singing, but records himself singing all of the parts of the song, harmonizing amazingly.  It is so interesting to hear how he can sing all the parts of the song to make it sound like a group of people.  I have watched other videos that he has posted and sometimes he adds in some hand claps for more sound.  I think this song is so good on its own, but Peter Hollens makes it sound so much better.  It is so clean and sounds perfect.  He is truly a talented musician.

Naturally 7

Naturally 7 is vocal group from New York City. They originated in 1999 and still perform today.  They play the role of an a cappella group and a traditional band without the use of any instruments.  They came up with the idea of becoming a "vocal play" group because they sing as instruments.  I have had the opportunity to see Naturally 7 perform three times while they toured with Michael Buble. Their opening show was about an hour long and was the most entertaining and interesting music performance I have ever seen.  Watching Naturally 7 on Youtube does not do them justice.  Their unique sound of impersonating instruments is so perfect, it took me awhile to believe they were not using any actual instruments at all.  Their sound is so convincing, it is like seeing a show with a full traditional band.  They also sing very well and interact with the crowd during their whole performance.  I would love to see them again and I recommend every one to see them live at least once.  Their talent is worth it.