Pirates Of The Caribbean Were Just Lucky With The Weather

                                                                  
Henry Morgan once put his long and lucrative career in privateering down to a misspent youth, being “more used to the pike than the book”.

Black Sam Bellamy, the Robin Hood of the sea, liked to boast of his peculiar blend of dash and gallantry. Jack Sparrow, portrayed on screen by Johnny Depp, cited “skulduggery and pernickety-nee”.

Yet a new study suggests that the real pirates of the Caribbean may have owed their success to something much less glamorous: a distinct lack of shiver in their timbers.

Researchers counting Spanish shipwrecks and ancient tree rings have found that the scale of hurricanes in the tropics fell by as much as three-quarters after 1645, leaving the seas far calmer than they have been at any time since.

Historians often refer to the years between 1650 and 1730 as the golden age of piracy, when trade tussles from Tortuga to the Barbary Coast gave free rein to any man in command of a seaworthy ship, a hearty crew and malleable scruples.

                                                               

Nowhere did the pirates flourish more than in the West Indies, where the likes of Blackbeard, William Kidd and Calico Jack became rich at the expense of Spanish shipping.
This period happened to ­coincide with an abrupt drop in solar activity known as the Maunder Minimum.

From about 1645 to 1710, sunspots — vast magnetic storms on the surface of the Sun that are linked to solar flares and violent outbursts of burning gas — turned up as rarely as once every six months, compared with four or five times a day in the modern era.

The outcome was a cooling of the Earth, which meant calmer seas and thus fewer cyclones.

Scientists and historians at the universities of Huelva in Spain and Arizona and southern Mississippi in the US looked at records of 657 Spanish ships that had been wrecked in the ­Caribbean basin between 1495 and 1825 in an attempt to map out a history of cyclones in the region.

They also used the size of the rings in 38 ancient slash pine trees from Florida Keys, which tend to grow much less in years of fierce winds and surges of ­seawater whipped up by storms.
                                                                   

Their calculations, published in the journal PNAS, show a ­decline in hurricanes between the middle of the 17th century and the early years of the 18th.

Thar, in short, she did not blow — at least not as much as she used to.
 By Oliver Moody

With many thanks to The Australian

                                                          

Tortuga -  with many thanks to Google Maps.

Reprise - Jarrod Radnich plays  the theme from Pirates Of The Caribbean

                                                                

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Lang Lang: The Piano Man

                                                                                                                                 
A while ago I posted two pieces about Jarrod Radnich. 
  

I really admire his ability to arrange his own music as he does in “The Pirates of the Caribbean” theme, by Klaus Badelt and/or Hans Zimmer, and also “The Harry Potter Theme”, composed by John Williams.

Jarrod also composes.

I recently updated the “Pirates” theme as I found out some new information about it – see link above. 

I was most intrigued by the technology Jarrod uses, namely Zenph Sound Innovation's Internet MIDI software. It looks amazing!

However this post is about Chinese pianist, Lang Lang, and his new album which features Chopin who is most definitely one of my favourite composers.

Whilst he has critics and admirers all over the world it seems to me that he has achieved a lot more than fame and fortune in the music industry with his talent.

I think perhaps it is the fact that he has inspired so many youngsters, (and older people), to learn the piano and to listen to classical music.

There is another world out there rather than only contemporary music, and Lang Lang has brought it to many younger audiences who crave better quality and more diversity in their music libraries/iPods.

by: Tim Teeman 

Lang Lang's detractors accuse him of indulging in theatrics during performances.Source: Supplied

IN his Manhattan apartment, Central Park a delicious green and brown autumnal carpet 36 storeys below, superstar pianist Lang Lang shows me the hand exercises he employs after pounding the keys in concert hall after concert hall.
 

The 30-year-old Chinese musician, boyish-pretty with jetted quiff, stretches his digits, rolls his shoulders and bends his elbows. "I have a massage once every two days on tour. Since I was a teenager I worried about injuring my hands. But you just buy insurance." He guffaws. "It's a good psychological way of escaping the darkness of the threat of injury."

The laughter is deceiving. In Journey of a Thousand Miles, his 2008 autobiography, Lang says injuring his arms and hands became "his biggest fear", realised in 2003 when he hurt himself hitting the ivory keys of one piano too hard. How much are his hands insured for - $1 million? "More than that," Lang says in almost fluent, only slightly broken English. "I've put more money in over the years ... I think $15m." Does he ever think, "My hands are worth $15m"? 

"Oh, they're worth more than that. You don't want to exchange your health for it. I wouldn't exchange $100m for unhealthy hands. I just wouldn't do it." Another guffaw. "No amount of insurance matches the value of my hands."

Lang doesn't say this arrogantly; he simply, passionately loves the piano and making music. 

Hailed as "the hottest artist on the classical music planet" by The New York Times, this modest musician signed to Sony Music for a reported $3m two years ago. His CDs - the latest, The Chopin Album, includes a piece he first performed aged 5 - sell in the hundreds of thousands.

He played at the opening of the Beijing Olympics in 2008 and at the Queen's diamond jubilee concert in London in June.

There have been Lang Lang-branded pianos (created by Steinway), scarfs and trainers. His appearances at concert halls across the world attract adulatory fans - "I can feel their passion," he says - and although critics have carped, Lang often plays the showman, standing at the piano. He's quieter in person, courtly even: before every concert he eats fruit, a roast beef sandwich and drinks earl grey or chamomile tea. "I have never gotten drunk in my life," he says. "I would much rather play sports or go on a date than get drunk. I don't have a problem with it; I just don't touch it."

Lang's apartment is glossy: floor-to-ceiling windows, TV spanning one wall, a letter from Tchaikovsky given as an 18th birthday gift on another.

He is "moving away from commercial branding to education, I want to give back to society", running the Lang Lang International Music Foundation to encourage young musicians and the Lang Lang Music World arts school in China, where he is said to have inspired 40 million children to take up the piano. ("I ask children why they are playing and it seems more for love than because their parents have told them to.") 

His school has 85 students and is in the city of Shenzhen, "known as Piano City, there are so many children learning it".

If on stage Lang plays the rock star, in person this is muted to a puppyish enthusiasm, a lightness contrasting starkly with his upbringing in Shenyang, northern China, where his parents bought his first piano when he was one. 

The young Lang was inspired by Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No 2, which he heard on a Tom and Jerry cartoon. While his mother, Xiulan Zhou, was a calm, loving presence to whom Lang felt very close, Lang Guoren, his father, was so fixated on him being the best he moved himself and Lang to Beijing, where one sneering teacher whom Lang nicknamed Professor Angry almost crushed his spirit. ("I teach kids differently; I'm very clear but not harsh - I wouldn't want them to go through what I did.")

Neighbours complained about the din of Lang's endless practising. 

His fierce father was once so furious at what he perceived as his son's lack of commitment that he encouraged Lang, then nine, to commit suicide by taking an overdose of pills, then - when his son refused - told him to jump out of their apartment window. 

In Lang's autobiography, he recalls begging his father: "Stop! You're crazy! Leave me alone! I don't want to die! I'm not going to die!" "You must play perfect," his dad would say. "You must not make a mistake. Not one mistake." (When, later, Lang injured his hand it was a strange relief: he caught up with friends and relaxed.)

In China, Lang's father recently published his autobiography, My Thirty Years with Lang Lang. "I cried many times reading it, I really did," confesses his son. "It was very emotional. He explains why he was so iron-faced: it's very oriental - the father is strict because otherwise the boy will not listen. He felt he had to be strict in order for me to achieve exceptional success. He will never forgive himself for some things. He doesn't want to talk about the moment he tried to make me commit suicide. He says that's probably his biggest mistake. He feels incredible pain when people ask about it. He made a wrong decision. I made a right decision not to listen to him."

What if he had listened to him? "My father would have jumped from the building too, I think," Lang says quickly. "He's not going to let just me die. That's what I believe. Thank god it didn't happen." Afterwards Lang hit his hands repeatedly against a wall, "because I didn't want to play any more. I hated it. I always wanted to be a pianist, but it wasn't like after piano there was nothing else. I was pretty good at my other studies."

Was his father too hard on him? "I'd say there were some moments [when] it was unnecessary because I was not the type of person who hated the piano. I loved it. I didn't need the pressure. I think he was scared I would not achieve in my career like he hadn't in his - that was the shadow."

His father played the erhu, a traditional Chinese two-string fiddle, "and he was very good in his region, but it was a Chinese instrument so not many people would have listened to him".
The Cultural Revolution, which forced so many artists and musicians away from their crafts, also helped scupper his father's dream. "He flashed back to that when bringing me up. He didn't want what happened to him to happen to me."

Also, Lang adds: "Artistically you need to be pushed so you can achieve. My father is an educator, he has a heart and he encourages and challenges me to do better all the time."

Lang gained entrance to the Beijing Central Music Conservatory, won competitions, then studied at the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia.

His break came at 17 when he was asked to stand in for another pianist for the Chicago Symphony. Orchestras from New York, Boston, Philadelphia and Cleveland asked him to play with them. Conductor and pianist Daniel Barenboim became his mentor. He told Lang: "We should not just learn music from our life experience but also learn life experience through music. In this way, no matter how old you are, you can play something incredible."

Lang remembers his first time in a five-star hotel. "I was so excited about the mini-bar, swimming pool, room service - 'Wow, touring is cool,' I thought." But he once wrote he had "to wonder what's out there beyond the luxury hotels and restaurants. I can never forget where I came from - the poverty, the loneliness."

"It was challenging," Lang says of youthful fame. "People have high expectations. They say, 'He'll grow up and won't play as well. Is he still going to be this good in two years?' Today, everyone is questioning whether Justin Bieber will go far after he's 20. For me it was annoying: I just focused on the art. Advice is great sometimes, but it can be harmful: you must not forget what you're doing. You mustn't think about stardom."

Still, he was "heavily influenced" by popular culture, amazed by large numbers of people knowing who Michael Jordan was. "You could go to any pharmacy or store and see their connection to the public. With classical music you have to go to a special section of the store to find our music. I learned from Yo-Yo Ma [the American cellist], whose CDs are sometimes in Starbucks, how to promote myself.

"But it's also very challenging because you have to behave properly at all times. When I'm followed by paparazzi, or when people take my photograph outside a hotel or restaurant, it feels unnatural."

But Lang hopes his youth and style help free classical music from its perceived ghetto. "I believe great art should be shared with everyone. Maybe Beethoven was paid by the king, but he wanted his pieces to be heard by everyone. 'Let's stay in our little club' is not the right kind of promotion for classical music."

As for the flamboyance: "I do it when the piece demands it, but it is only one part of my playing. You don't need to be approved of by people, just play and be sincere."

 From the "I must win" of his youth, his attitude now is: "No 1: that's stupid, just do your art. I am still developing." 

He once wrote that depression had stalked him, "looming over me since my professional career took off. I'd felt constantly unmoored, always completely alone in spite of the crowds that clamoured for my attention." He feels more secure now. "You can be one of the best only when you are doing your best. A big ego will lead you to play wrong notes." He laughs. "I think the best thing is to play every concert as if it's your first."

Has Lang ever been starstruck? Yes, he nods: Lionel Messi, the Argentinian footballer, at Wimbledon one year, "and world leaders. I enjoyed my conversation with Mr George Bush Sr. It was very meaningful: he believed, as I do, music education needs to be improved. I thought that was very sweet."

After the diamond jubilee concert, the Queen said, " 'Your fingers are moving so fast.' I was like, 'Yes, that's practice.' She said, 'Keep it going.' " At another concert, Sasha and Malia Obama "asked the Jonas Brothers how to sing and me how to prepare [for] a recital. I told them, 'Take a nap, eat some strawberries and, if you like to eat sweeter stuff, chocolate.' For me, the most incredible experiences are not state dinners - it was when I was 21, playing for a village in Africa where they got me a keyboard, not a piano, singing local songs with the kids."

In the testiest moment between us, Lang will not state whether he supports Ai Weiwei, the artist and activist who has been detained by the Chinese authorities.

"I try to avoid political things," he says. "I'm not afraid of saying something wrong. I think my goal as a musician is to create art. I don't know him as a person." Lang claims, "Artists always have the freedom to express themselves," which might come as surprising news to Ai. "You create art, you can explain this in millions of ways. I don't think political things can stop artistic creation."

Lang hopes "the world better understands China" through its art.

 Is China friendly to artists? "Very. For the people I know. I can't speak for every artist, of course. I've got a good space [for his school]." If the government gives other artists space, "They just create art. It's not pro-China or anti-China. People are creating amazing things in China, political or not." Is Lang worried about Ai, his treatment, what it means? "Making music is my world. I have no interest in politics."

Next, Lang will do a recording of Bartok concertos with Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic. He is inspired by pianists such as Glenn Gould, Arthur Rubinstein and Vladimir Horowitz and contemporary musicians Joshua Bell, Gustavo Dudamel and Valery Gergiev. "I like Adele very much," he adds. "When she sings she has this real quality. I went to a Lady Gaga concert: it was fun, a lot of revolutionary ideas. 

From man-world, everything Jay-Z touches is unique." Paul McCartney, whom Lang has met three times, said to him, "You're a classical pianist, I'm a classic rocker." Lang wants to work with McCartney and Adele. Elton John is a friend; the pair are discussing a collaboration, "a totally new song".

Does Lang want children? "This type of schedule means it's not possible, I'm focused more on music. I would like children in 10 years' time. That's the plan, but you never know." Is he in a relationship? "I'm going on a date tonight. Every time I come home I try to have as much time for myself to have a relationship. I don't have a steady girlfriend. It would be nice to find someone, but it's nice to make friends first." Has he been in love? "Yes, during school when I was 17. You have more time then, you see that person all the time. But then the touring started. I think love is very important, it's one of the most important things in life."

His mother lives nearby and is his travelling companion, while he and his father video-chat every day. His father is coaching young musicians in Beijing. Lang thinks age has softened him. (He says, laughing: "I would like him to be more energetic.") 

Has his father said sorry for what happened when Lang was a child? "No, it's very oriental. You know you're wrong, but it's hard to say sorry. He will not say it in front of me. Maybe to the public he will because he feels bad. He feels he loves me so much he doesn't need to say sorry." Would Lang like him to? "No. My father showed he cared about me. He was being very protective, though he made mistakes. We are all human beings. It wasn't as if he was drunk every day and hitting me. He wanted his kid to have a wonderful future. I don't need him to say he's sorry for that. We all know he felt bad: that's good enough."

Lang retains the "spiritual discipline" of his childhood, "but I'm an adult now", so on non-concert days he shops, eats out and plays football with friends in Central Park with a Manchester United football. "My English team, from when Beckham played. I think [Wayne] Rooney is amazing."

He has become addicted to the gym. "I go every day. If you're a pianist you spend your time sitting down. You need to exercise your legs." 

Lang practises for two hours a day on the piano that stands in the windowed apex of his apartment. "I am a pianist and will remain a pianist and to remain as one is a lot of hard work," he says. Unlike in your youth, there's no neighbour telling you to shut up, I say. 
Lang replies: "There have been complaints. I am not allowed to play after 11pm."
Superstar or not, disturb your New York neighbours at your peril.

The Times Magazine
The Chopin Album is out on Sony Music. 

Picture credit and article with thanks to The Australian

Although Lang Lang was not born during the height of China’s communist era his story reminds me a bit of Li Cunxin “Mao’s Last Dancer”.

Both have reached the pinnacle of their choice in the world of art.


 Lindsey Stirling & Lang Lang – Spider-Man Theme

 

Just for Fun Quotes - Pirates!

                                                                       

          

One a fictitious character, the other a very real person who changed the world in so many ways.

Black and White Picture Credit: Big Quote

                                                                                                                                

Pirates of the Caribbean - Incredible Piano Solo of Jarrod Radnich and the Technology He Uses

                                                         

                                                             

                                                                        

I really like this piece of music, and enjoyed the latest "Pirate" movie!
 
Unsurprisingly, it was directed by Rob Marshall who also directed "Chicago" , a superbly directed movie.

I thought the third installment was very ordinary, but this one seems to have made up for it.

Jarrod Radnich is inspirational with this piece.

It had achieved over 23 million hits, and counting, on You Tube when I first posted this.

I think he deserves it! Now that Jarrod Radnich has his own You Tube channel the numbers will be different.

His performances are part of a new featured attraction at Disneyland's "Dream Home Of The Future" in Tomorrowland.

Video production credits: Paul Anderson, Tel Stewart, and Craig Knudsen. Piano arrangement and performance: Jarrod Radnich.

Sheet music for this and other arrangements are available through Radnich's website:

http://www.jarrodradnich.com/store.html.

                                                                       

                                                     

Jarrod Radnich, nationally noted composer and pianist of "Virtuosic Piano Solo Series" personally instructed Miss South Dakota, Anna Simpson, on one of his piano compositions. 

The composition, Pirates of the Caribbean, was then performed by Simpson at the Miss America Pageant. 

He did the training with a distance of thousands of miles between them!

NBC's nationally-broadcast Today Show recently covered this story (4/27/2012) and featured the PianoDisc piano player system and Zenph Sound Innovation's Internet MIDI software used to link the pianos. Amazing!

For more information on Jarrod Radnich or sheet music of his many piano compositions go to www.jarrodradnich.com

For more information on the Miss South Dakota program go to www.misssd.org

                                                                 

See also:

Top 10 Movie Sets Ever Built


Incredible Piano Solo of Jarrod Radnich - Harry Potter Theme

Jarrod Radnich: Don't Stop Believin' - Virtuosic Piano Solo

Jarrod Radnich: Game of Thrones Medley - Virtuosic Piano Solo

Jarrod Radnich - Virtuosic Piano Solo - Bohemian Rhapsody

Jarrod Radnich - Strong From 'Cinderella' 2015