Make The Hang: Live in NYC – Thursday, June 29th 6:30p

Make The Hang: Live in NYC – Thursday, June 29th 6:30p

by | Jun 27, 2023 | The Hang, Uncategorized

Come meet the people who are transforming the music industry – it’s FREE, and will include two “sets” of wide-ranging conversations, punctuated by musical performances. There will be a short intermission to, well, hang. The Bitter End 147 Bleecker St., NYC Thursday, June 29th, 6:30p Free, but reserve yourself a spot info: (212) 673-7030 THE HANG: LIVE is sponsored by the NYC Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment, and is part of New York Music Month, the official month-long celebration of New York City’s vibrant and dynamic music ecosystem. www.nymusicmonth.nyc. YOUR HOST: New York-based recording artist, author, and lecturing professor Mike Errico teaches songwriting at universities including Yale, Wesleyan, the New School, and NYU’s Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music. He was nominated for 2019’s David Payne-Carter Award for Excellence in Teaching, and taught the 2022 GRAMMY® Museum’s inaugural Summer Sessions in New York City. His first book, Music, Lyrics, and Life, is a deep dive into the mystery of songwriting and the logistics of life as a songwriter. PREGAME LISTENING — KNOW BEFORE YOU GO OUR GUESTS Matthew Wang is a film and TV composer who has worked on projects including Yellowjackets, New Amsterdam, and the last two Reno 911 films. He is also working on a 150-track meditation album, and just released a film scoring class on Studio.com (a site that also hosts songwriting classes with Charlie Puth and Ryan Tedder, among others). Sofia D’Angelo is an NYC-born vocalist and songwriter in the band MICHELLE on Atlantic Records. They’ve appeared internationally with Mitski, Briston Maroney, and Arlo Parks, and at festivals including Outside Lands, All Things Go, and this year’s Governors Ball in Flushing Meadows. This summer, they’ll be at Lollapalooza...
Talking to Cosmologist Janna Levin in Smithsonian Magazine

Talking to Cosmologist Janna Levin in Smithsonian Magazine

by | Oct 4, 2022 | Uncategorized

Here’s the latest: My conversation with astrophysicist Janna Levin on the art and science of repetition, whether it’s in a three-minute pop song or a spiral galaxy 300 million light years away. Some of it is excerpted from Music, Lyrics, and Life: A Field Guide for the Advancing Songwriter, but I added nuggets, because the James Webb telescope is sending back mind-blowing images, and because what Janna gave me was more than an explanation of musical repetition—it was a new interpretation of reality itself. What Pop Stars and Actual Stars Have in Common A songwriter and an astrophysicist discuss the art and science of repetition By Mike Errico (excerpt) Songwriters and astrophysicists have an affinity for repetition. It’s frequently used as a tool in music, but for astronomers, there seems to be an assumption that repetition implies forces that are purposefully at work, perhaps even intelligently so. Absolutely. One of the things SETI—the Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence—does is that they look for very regular mathematical signals because they assume that nature won’t provide such a thing—nature’s messy, and so nature can’t do anything so regular. So if you find an incredibly regular signal, you’re hoping that it was sent by somebody who controls their environment, who made it go that way. What does it say about humans that we’re so intrigued by repeated information? I am a big believer that we inherit mathematical structures because math made us. Evolution is guided by forces of nature—that’s how we evolve—and those forces, not surprisingly, leave an imprint in the structure of our minds. Of course they have to be mathematical. And in some...
Mission Statement Songs: Interview with Songfacts

Mission Statement Songs: Interview with Songfacts

by | Oct 18, 2021 | Uncategorized

Errico is a musician and teacher with a knack for explaining complex songwriting concepts in simple terms, drawing on experts from other fields for context (like astrophysicist Janna Levin, who explains the benefits of repetition). His book covers a lot of ground, but we’re going to dial in on chapter 8: Mission Songs, to examine the songs that make the statements for the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Mary J. Blige, and Britney Spears.   Read the article here.       Music, Lyrics, and Life: A Field Guide for the Advancing Songwriter “The songwriting class you always wish you’d taken, taught by the professor you always wish you’d had.” Coming November 15, 2021 on Backbeat Books PRE-ORDER HERE: Amazon  | Bookshop | Goodreads  |  Books Are Magic MUSIC Bandcamp  |  iTunes  |  Spotify  | SOCIAL Instagram  |  Facebook  |  Twitter ...