Skip to main content

About The New Beatmaker

Hi!  I'm Lee.  Welcome to my blog.  Here we talk music: news, reviews, interviews, tips, tutorials and more.  I'm also working on the upcoming podcast  Influenced  as a guest, writer and researcher alongside music aficionado Mark Williams and friends.  Watch this space! I have been a lover of music for as long as I can remember, an amateur lyricist for 25 years, a music writer for 15 years and a hobbyist musician and blogger for almost 10 years. My tastes range from jazz to house to hip hop and I love helping artists from all genres develop their sound. My music, videos, reviews and interviews have been featured in a variety of magazines and websites, including: B-Boy Tech Report Gimme That Beat Humanhuman Audio Skills Dream House Beats Where Did the Road Go Beat Tape Co-Op Push Power Promo Drum Magazine You can find my music on Bandcamp: Monkey Mind Sounds AKA LeeTNB And you can find me on Facebook: The New Beatmaker page Lee's personal page

Beatmaking and Charity: Today’s Future Sound

NEWS: The New Beatmaker is very, very proud to present the first selection of videos we are sharing in partnership with Today’s Future Sound (TFS), a charity helping children learn vital skills through beatmaking and hip hop culture

To paraphrase, TFS believes in the power of music to transform and inspire youth to create positive change in their lives and communities.

TFS not only introduces young children to beatmaking as an art form, but also as a vehicle to communicate maths and science in a way that is novel and, I dare say, more engaging and entertaining to many of the children than textbooks and chalk boards are.


Today's Future Sound depend on donors to sustain their organization, provide direct services, and put on events.  Please donate by sending Paypal contributions to donate@todaysfuturesound.org
TFS uses beatmaking as a vehicle to communicate maths and science in a way that is novel and, I dare say, more engaging and entertaining to many of the children than they find textbooks and chalk boards.
In addition, TFS uses rapping to promote positivity and to encourage children to recognise their own self-worth. 



Here's a bit more from TFS themselves:

'We view our work as having educational, therapeutic and social components that can empower individuals to build confidence, inspire creativity, and create change. Today’s Future Sound (TFS) has a team of volunteers ready to bring our mobile music production and DJ’ing center to you—schools, community centers and events...'
We view our work as having educational, therapeutic and social components that can empower individuals to build confidence, inspire creativity, and create change.
TFS and African dance and drumming group Afrique Sogue collaborated for a joint production of "Precious Drop" in the spring of 2014 which culminated in a final performance in June.  TFS students at West Oakland Middle School in Oakland, CA had made a soundtrack based on the theme of water, which they then performed live with master drummer Lamine Bangoura. The soundtrack can be downloaded for free from the TFS website and bandcamp via the links below:

todaysfuturesound.org/music/student-musicalbums/
todaysfuturesound.bandcamp.com/album/todays-future-sound-and-explo-present-explo-beats-vol-ii

Students were asked what water meant to them and what they learned from the experience and they respond in the mini-documentary on the TFS/Afrique Sogue collaboration.



TFS depend on donors to sustain their organization, provide direct services, and put on events.  
Please donate by sending Paypal contributions to donate@todaysfuturesound.org

The New Beatmaker will be sharing videos in partnership with TFS on a monthly basis, for more information, visit todaysfuturesound.org.
 
To never miss a post again, subscribe below:

Enter your email address:


Delivered by FeedBurner

Popular posts from this blog

About The New Beatmaker

Hi!  I'm Lee.  Welcome to my blog.  Here we talk music: news, reviews, interviews, tips, tutorials and more.  I'm also working on the upcoming podcast  Influenced  as a guest, writer and researcher alongside music aficionado Mark Williams and friends.  Watch this space! I have been a lover of music for as long as I can remember, an amateur lyricist for 25 years, a music writer for 15 years and a hobbyist musician and blogger for almost 10 years. My tastes range from jazz to house to hip hop and I love helping artists from all genres develop their sound. My music, videos, reviews and interviews have been featured in a variety of magazines and websites, including: B-Boy Tech Report Gimme That Beat Humanhuman Audio Skills Dream House Beats Where Did the Road Go Beat Tape Co-Op Push Power Promo Drum Magazine You can find my music on Bandcamp: Monkey Mind Sounds AKA LeeTNB And you can find me on Facebook: The New Beatmaker page Lee's personal page

Learn How to Play D'Angelo's 'How Does it Feel': Piano Couture

Barely a week goes by without me playing 'Voodoo' at some point and with it, a desire to learn how to play 'How Does it Feel'.   This tutorial video by youtube user pianocouture is one of the best 'how to play' videos I have seen for the classic track.   I think that instructional videos like this are good for two main reasons.  Reason one: obviously, a learner player will gain confidence and enjoyment from learning a favourite song of theirs.   Reason two: Even if a beatmaker has no desire to learn to play the keyboard, but wants to create a loop or a riff (a feeling) similar to 'How Does it Feel', what better way to, than playing the song itself (or similar sounds), sampling it and chopping it up? Either way, this is a great tutorial video.  I've subscribed to Piano Couture's youtube page and, if you are looking to get your key game up, I suggest you do too ;) Related Posts: ?uestlove talks new D'Angelo, J Dilla Video: youtube.com/user/pian

Objects In Orbit 'Panoramas'

REVIEW :  The New Beatmaker favourite changes his name, hones his craft on potential best album of 2020 Producer, Sound Engineer, Musician and Videographer Objects In Orbit has been a favourite of the site since 2013. Whilst there is not a single bad project in the catalogue of the artist formerly known as Evil Alex, he has evolved and improved almost constantly from one project to the next. He is a master of sonic suspense with many of his projects sounding perfectly at home in an art installation or art-house cinema. His trademark style mixes hip hop born sample-based techniques and 4/4 beat composition along with jazz influenced time signatures and experimentation. He often incorporates eerie, industrial stylings and at times dissonant tones.  Whilst predominantly instrumental, Objects In Orbit finely weaves into layers of musical samples either long stretches of dialogue, which make the listener feel as though they are eavesdropping on private conversation, or snip