You’ve probably heard of white noise, but pink noise might be news to you. It was to us. Pink noise is getting a lot of attention these days as a potential booster for sleep. Unlike white noise, which gives equal intensity to all frequencies of sound, pink noise creates a balance of high- and low-frequency sounds that mimic many sounds found in nature such as ocean waves or rain on a roof. A number of small studies have shown that people exposed to pink noise during sleep spend more time in deep, slow-wave sleep. Looking to improve your memory as well as your sleep? A new study by scientists at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, found that pink noise exposure at night led to better memory recall.

Thankfully, we seem to be emerging from the pandemic, and some of the most interesting musical endeavors are also emerging. For example, pianist and composer Dan Tepfer, a lover of all things Bach, whom he calls a “badass”, decided to put his pandemic-driven confinement to his New York home to some intriguing use. Long a lover of and performer of Bach’s Goldberg Variations, Tepfer believed that Bach’s mastery of counterpoint was so perfect that the Variations would sound just as good ‘upside down” as they did in their original form. So, he developed a computer program that would take each variation and invert it chromatically to test his theory. The Goldbergs are in G-major. So, he is inverting around the axis of E and F so the variations stay in G, but invert from major to minor or minor to major. That’s how he explains it. We just think it sounds cool. Check out his project here. Click here.

Here is Goldberg Variation #1 and its inverted version. Click here.

We hope you had a great July 4^th this year and that you were able to see friends and family whom you may have had to keep distant over the last year or so. We took the month of June off to catch up and take a break. This month marks the beginning of the 7^th year of Alla Breve On-Line.

We have new singers who are ready to join the Rockbridge Chorus and we are hoping for a return to rehearsals for the fall. The RCS Board of Directors and our artistic director are working to figure out how we can get to singing again. Our youth chorale director is getting ready to start up with rehearsals in August. To keep tabs on where we are on these fronts and more, please check out our website at www.rcs.org

School is right around the corner and we know the kids will be glad to be back in class with their friends and back to in-person rehearsals. Enjoy Summer while it lasts!