The Music Blog Series -- Part 1

I call it the Music Blog Series.

I love music! I love listening to music, I love playing music, I love singing, I love it all.

I believe that my favorite type of music would be a toss up between barbershop and blues. The reason these are my favorites is because they both possess what I truly love about music ... emotion. Don't get me wrong, other genres of music possess emotion, but there is nothing like that of blues and barbershop.

If you think about it, every blues song is the same. They all have the same chord structure and the rhythms are incredibly simple. When you listen to B.B. King, John Lee Hooker, Eric Clapton, Muddy Waters, and now even John Mayer you can hear and feel the emotion and the passion they put into their music and lyrics. The blues genre of music is like human beings ... the bones are the same no matter who you are, but we are all different and unique.

Barbershop is very unique in its own. If you ever get the opportunity to go to a barbershop chorus concert I would highly encourage you to go. People have heard of barbershop quartets and generally make fun of them, but when you hear the sound put out by a chorus you will be blown away. In barbershop, you don't just sing a song, you perform the song and its message. The chorus doesn't just stand on the risers and sing, they move, they dance, they act out the song.

I would encourage everyone to get on youtube.com and search barbershop choruses. Check out the Ambassadors of Harmony, Westminster Chorus, and Vocal Majority. For some amazing quartets check out the Gas House Gang, Vocal Spectrum, Max Q, Crossroads, Platinum, OC Times, and Realtime.

Stay tuned for Part Two.