Musica - music shop - bigger and better in Hudson, NY

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Foreign Language Songs

If you want to think about the act of singing in a new way, one of the methods I’ve discovered is to learn a song in a foreign language. Of course, if you speak the language fluently, this is easy enough, but if you choose a language in which you can pronounce the words but don’t know all of their meanings, you will be forced to think about each sound that you make, instead of thinking in sentences, as you might in English. My project of the week is learning the Serge Gainsbourg song “La Javanaise,” which is something of a tongue-twister itself:

J’avoue j’en ai bavé, pas vous
mon amour
Avant d’avoir eu vent de vous
mon amour

Good luck!

posted by Trevor Caldwell on Jun. 26 08

Guerilla Jug Band Strikes

photo by Kathy Stumph

Chatham is currently the only town in the area with a pedestrian walkway. Not only that, you can watch big machines doing big stuff during the week, chat with the friendly constructioneers and imagine yourself behind the steering aparatus of that bulldozer. I sent the above picture to my friend Sverrir in Iceland joking that this is what post nuclear holocaust Chatham would look like.I think he was a little jealous (he’s very fond of Chatham) because there is obviously a great party going on here. Let’s have fun with our short opportunity to have a town different from the norm. As the above picture illustrates - where some see destruction and economic ruin, others see a concert venue. Buy stuff in Chatham during this exciting interlude - the shop owners are nice and they sell good stuff,

posted by Rob on May. 24 08

Shruti Boxes!!!

We’ve been selling a lot of them lately. I’m not sure why. Just thought I’d let you know we have them. Here’s an electric one

They play notes and chords with reeds. You have to pump the manual ones like a harmonium.

Like this one.

They cost between $100 and $200 for either the electric or the manual. I think they’re great for musical exploration and having something to sing along with.

Come to the store and check one out!

posted by Rob on Apr. 6 08

Hudson Rocks!

Did you know that the composer Philip Glass has called Hudson, NY home? Or that one of the most rare coins ever minted in the United States commemorated the town’s 150th anniversary (apparently a thank you present from Franklin Delano Roosevelt)?

Discover more trivia (and more reasons to visit—though we all know Musica is enough...) by reading this excellent Wikipedia entry.

posted by Trevor Caldwell on Jun. 26 08

Pian Pian goes West!

Pian Pian is our Student of the Month!

She has been accepted to the Cornell Summer College the summer which will “play a huge role in nurturing my mind and provide me with some guidance for the future.”

Pian Pian was the original cellist for the Guerrilla Jug Band and a favorite protege of the Chatham School District’s String Director Jean Waggoner. She has also studied with Beth Craig and has actually participated and initiated in eclectic blends of music and performance art on the streets of Chatham (some of you may recall her visciously destroying a (faux) cello on the streets of Chatham or performing at inappropriate venues such as Video Visions and the old Chatham Chinese Kitchen with the Guerillas.

Much luck to you Pian Pian - give us the details of your Cornell residency when you return in August. .

posted by Rob on Jun. 18 08

We’re here!

Musica’s nifty new signage on the 4th St. store front

We’re in the building roaming around looking for places to put stuff and looking for stuff to put in places. Come see. We have lots of new stuff. And we’ll get a lot more new stuff now that there’s room .Mark your social calenders for July 19 when we will have a wonderful Grand Opening party and concert featuring many amazing local and international super stars. The Hudson musical community’s reception to the new Musica store has been awesome! Thanks so much Hudson, for making us feel at home!

More later

Gotta go hang stuff from the walls.

posted by Rob on Jun. 18 08

Hellvar: Icelandic Rock in Chatham America

Thanks so much to everyone who attended and helped with the mad sick Hellvar concert. Heida, Sverrir, Alexandra and Elvar are back in Keflavik sending promos to journalists and getting ready for the Airwaves concerts. Heida, who is working on a solo acoustic album, has since played Icelandic radio a few times.

Copies of their great new album BAT OUT OF HELLVAR have finally arrived and are now on sale at Musica!

posted by Christy on Sep. 19 07

Musica is a community music shop, primarially interested in cultivating a participatory music culture in our own community