Alma Deutscher, Child Prodigy Musician

Ready to be amazed? Meet a remarkable young musician, Alma Deutscher, who was born in 2005.

Alma Deutscher was introduced to thousands of new fans while appearing on The Ellen Show, where Alma delighted Ellen and the audience alike. Here is Alma playing a song written for Ellen:

Here is a story few people experience. Alma had a dream that there was an opera by Mozart, but when she awoke she realized that she had thought of it herself:

For a broader glimpse of Alma and her personality, here is a full-length interview:

Alma’s recordings can be found online in many places, including right from her own website.

What were you doing when you were 8?

Very Slow Music

What is the slowest music you can think of? An old ballad or a molto largo movement of a symphony?

With the exception of John Cage’s organ piece, “As Slow As Possible”, a composition that has been in performance since 2001 and isn’t scheduled to be finished until the year 2640 (info here), most music that claims to be slow is actually still pretty fast. It has 60 beats per minute, or maybe 40, or perhaps even a metronome marking of 30. Compared with what’s possible, most “very slow music” is actually pretty zippy.

Enter “Very Slow Music”, a performance of two pieces that normally take about a minute to perform but have here been slowed down 10-15 times that amount.

According to the album notes, here’s what you can listen for:

Music played at a VERY slow tempo. I basically hold each chord until it feels like the right time to move on to the next one. Homophony is broken into rolled chords for more color.

I love the way the frequencies cause beats and intrigue once everything is slowed down.

There is a ton of interesting stuff going on when music is played at this tempo. The better your speakers, the more you can enjoy this.

Dr. Quantum – Double Slit Experiment

Good old Dr. Quantum. If you’re unfamiliar with the double slit experiment, here it is:

Amazingly, it appears as though the simple act of observing an event can change it. This is a real mind-bender!

Electric Universe Documentary

Got a spare 64 minutes? Like documentaries that try to re-explain everything? Films with spacey music in the background?

If so, hit ‘play’ and find a comfy couch. They’re not selling anything and certainly can’t be accused of unoriginality.

Entitled “Thunderbolts of the Gods”, this documentary is based on a book of the same title by David Talbott and Wallace Thornhill.

According to the film intro on thunderbolts.info, this is a revolutionary approach to seemingly disconnected disciplines including myth, deep space, quantum physics, and plasma. Naturally, whenever a paradigm shift is proposed, debate and disbelief follow closely behind.

Agree with it or not, it’s an interesting way to spend some screen time.

Personally, I love it when new theories are presented. It sure beats watching baseball, fixing cars, or reading the gossip column.