Joost Blog

There is a lot of music up on Joost, and it’s great to able to find any number of music videos, live performances and concert footage. However, if you’re looking for more than just a three to four minute burst of entertainment or some ambient background music, then here are a few things worth devoting your time to.

Guitar World isn’t just about rock bands and sexy trade models (although you can find both on this channel). What’s really surprising and impressive are the mini-master classes by some of today’s most well-regarded players. Take for example, Joe Satriani on Modes. I thought music theory was something lost or cast to the wayside by the many who probably found it too mentally cumbersome or abstruse. And who talks about modes anyway, let alone know what they are? The mention of words such as Phrygian, Dorian, Ionian, or Mixolydian would strike most as some bizarre medieval incantation or maybe even a song title vaguely reminiscent of Radiohead (Myxomitosis anyone?) – not as an integral part of a guitarist’s vernacular. This just goes to show, if you wanna play like Joe or anyone of the like, do your homework.

Associated-Rediffusion had a few musical gems as well in the form of documentaries. These are even more esoteric – Artie Shaw, Quest for Perfection, is great kick-back to old school jazz and an instrument that I have a personal bias towards, the clarinet. Follow the journey of Artie Shaw, a player of virtuosic talent who rivaled the chops of Benny Goodman. Who is the greater of the two? You can be the judge.

And if thinking outside the box – or inside it, or beside it, or any other position for that matter – is of any particular interest to you, then check out Here’s a Piano I Prepared Earlier. Delve into the often polemical world of experimental music. This program serves as a great overview of the movement that started to take shape in the ‘60s as well as to highlight some of its pioneers.

Here’s a big wink to the pursuit of musical intellectualism.