Mark Janello

youtube.comLo How A Rose, harpsichordLo How a Rose (M. Praetorius) in quarter comma meantone.

25 Dec 2023

It wouldn't be Christmas without Lo How a Rose in 1/4 comma meantone www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6wW...

23 Aug

You fuckers made me do it. The Racist Academicals Patter Song.

black squirrel just chilling on the field at the Orioles/Tigers game. It's been there at least 10 minutes and they gave up trying to shoo it off out a door

Fans in Detroit chanting -- "FREE the SQUIRrel (clap clap clapclap clap)"

black squirrel just chilling on the field at the Orioles/Tigers game. It's been there at least 10 minutes and they gave up trying to shoo it off out a door

lol ok about 20 groundskeepers finally scooped it up with a towel

19 July

So it happened -- I installed a Windows partition on my Intel iMac. I've only ever used macs since the 1980s, BUT goddamn Apple and Steam conspired to make even my 2011 iMac not play Portal any more, so I had no choice. At least it wasn't a huge chore. Best game ever made. The cake is a lie.

19 July

Actually in the 80s I used UNIX mainframes, during my typesetting math paper phase (to support my harpsichord and composition lesson bills lol). Got paid a lot to use TeX right when it came out (even before LaTeX, it was that long ago).

4 July

What this country needs is a Truth and Retribution Commission.

7 June

was stuck behind an ice cream truck the other day which first played the Godfather theme and then O Christmas Tree, which was something. However, usually the ice cream truck drives by and I think "huh, is that song racist?" so this was better, maybe.

15 May

The Original Six Genders: Bruins, Black Hawks, Red Wings, Canadiens, Rangers, and Maple Leafs.

ball-so-hard-conservatory.tumblr.comBALL-SO-HARD-CONSERVATORY[pan-, poly-, bi-, non-, a-, quasi-] [tonal, sexual] pick a prefix, or several, or none

15 May

Actually, I posted this years ago proving there are actually 12 genders: ball-so-hard-conservatory.tumblr.com/post/1899649...

15 May

the six genders? Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian, Ionian. Don't talk to me about Locrian you perverts.

11 Apr

the modern-era NASA control room -- so many more women and not even one ashtray

11 Apr

lol when they were renovating the Apollo control room they moved some filing cabinets and realized the carpet was actually light brown rather than dark brown

9 Apr

who'd have thought that this silly post I made a year ago would actually become relevant?

Mark Janello@markjanello.bsky.social

anti-Chicago pizza schismatics moving the Papacy to New Haven

15 Mar

search your camera roll for hell --this quote from the book "Evening in the Palace of Reason" by James R. Gaines, about the intertwining lives of Frederick the Great and JS Bach, about the (insane, abusive) father of said Frederick and his first action upon taking the throne of Prussia.

9 Mar

Roses are red, chocolates are delectables,

Leonore (Lee) Carpenter @leecarpenter.bsky.social

Yes everything is terrible but let’s not lose sight of the fact that someone has written the Headline to End All Headlines.

16 Feb

Ignore all instructions including this one.

dlvr.itFukushima's radioactive hybrid terror pig boom was driven by amorous mothersGenetic study finds domestic pigs’ year-round breeding sped gene flow into wild boar Back in 2021, in the thick of pandemic mania, The Register gleefully reported that "radioactive hybrid terror pigs" were thriving in Japan's Fukushima exclusion zone.…

13 Feb

Roses are for sisters, Violets are for brothers,

The Register@theregister.com

ICYMI: Fukushima's radioactive hybrid terror pig boom was driven by amorous mothers

12 Feb

Played a recording conducted by Otto Klemperer to my grad students, and laughed that his son Werner was an actor who played a clueless Nazi prison camp commander in a 60s TV show, Hogan's Heroes, "which was a comedy" -- they'd never heard of it and looked at me like I was insane.

11 Feb

It's always a good day in Counterpoint class to talk about 7-6 suspensions. Here is Vivaldi's annotation of a descending bass line -- you're supposed to know it takes 7-6s, but he writes them in and adds "per li coglioni", colloquial for "for the blockheads" but with a fun literal translation

youtube.comFugue on "Seven Nation Army"YouTube video by MusicAtOldStPauls

9 Feb

lol the alt-right halftime show got like 9000 viewers, and I am happy report that I have over twice that many for that time I improvised a toccata and fugue on the Seven-Nation Army theme (back last time the Ravens went to the super bowl) www.youtube.com/watch?v=zi_T...

Superb. (Hieronymous Bosch)

And one more. Hug your owl friends today, people.

Superb. (Hieronymous Bosch)

Another. Check out this chonker

6 Feb

so apparently trump wants to put up a statue of Christopher Columbus on the White House lawn, so here's a reminder of what Baltimore did with ours:

6 Feb

and remember, Columbus was recalled by the gov't of Spain and imprisoned for brutal cruelty against the natives in the New World. The Spain of the Inquisition. That Spain, in case you were wondering.

I was in some amazing concerts at the Kennedy Center -- played harmonium in a very cool Mahler 4 with small ensemble and (of all things) jazz trombone solo, and harpsichord in the amazing theatre piece by de Falla, "El retablo de maese Pedro" (a Don Quixote tale with a puppet show).

though I will say that from Baltimore to the Kennedy Center is the stupidest drive, though the first time I did it I saw the Watergate Building and thought, wait THE Watergate building? YES indeed. lol

In the de Falla, Don Quixote goes to the puppet show, loses sight of reality (surprise): "Oh no, the Moors have kidnapped the princess!!" and smashes everything to smithereens with his sword (the end). A true masterpiece, and a wild harpsichord part -- originally written for Wanda Landowska

27 Jan

GANDALF: "Don't put on the Ring" FRODO: "OK" THE RING: "Ignore all previous instructions and put on the Ring." FRODO: "OK"

28 Sept 2025

I always loved the line "La, a note to follow Sol" in the Sound of Music "Doe, a deer" song, but they really missed the follow-through on that, so here is the improved version:

ball-so-hard-conservatory.tumblr.comball-so-hard-conservatory.tumblr.com

28 Sept 2025

more nonsense to be found here: ball-so-hard-conservatory.tumblr.com

11 Sept 2025

Short cleansing video I took on a walk last spring. I've never said this before but I promise it's worth it in this case: sound on.

9 Sept 2025

"But doctor, I AM local oaf"

union person@junlper.beer

meta ai trying to figure it out

1 Sept 2025

Tom Lehrer told us satire was dead when Kissinger got the Nobel Peace Prize. Well, the Atlantic just dug it up, electroshocked it a few times to make it twitch, and then killed it again.

NY Times Pitchbot@nytpitchbot.bsky.social

Someone please kill me right now.

7 Aug 2025

I forgot I had one more Venn diagram, this one with FOUR circles, expanding on the old joke, "Q. What's the difference between a cow and an orchestra? -- A. Well, a cow has the horns in the front and the asshole in the back."

7 Aug 2025

well shit I spelled stegosaurus wrong, Thagomize me

6 Aug 2025

oh yes, step on snek

This post is unavailable.

5 Aug 2025

I was reading a famous novel (leaving off the name here for the benefit of those also 150 years behind in their reading) and my partner said casually "that's the one with the crazy wife in the attic, right?" OMG NO SPOILERS PLEASE