Sound

If you're a big fan, you already knew what was coming in the season finale. But it didn't make it any easier -- or less heartbreaking -- to watch. The majority of the Season 3 "Downton" finale, or the "Christmas special" as its called in the U.K., took place in Scotland, where the whole family (minus Branson) visits the Highlands home of the Dowager's niece, Susan, and her husband, Shrimpy. Most of the trip included bagpipes, hunting, more bagpipes and Scottish reel dancing. But more on that later (and more on O'Brien meeting her Scottish lady's maid doppelganger)

Country singer Carrie Underwood will replace Faith Hill this fall in singing "Waiting All Day for Sunday Night," the anthem of NBC's top-rated weekly football telecast. The Sunday night broadcast, which averaged an audience of 21.8 million to become prime-time TV's highest rated show, is one the most skillfully and carefully packaged events in popular culture. "It's going to be the same song, same lyrics, but it's going to be with my flair," the Grammy-Award-winning singer said in a teleconference Tuesday.

After nearly a decade of winning over local and out-of-town crowds as the lead singer of Fools & Horses, singer-songwriter Matt Hutchison suddenly became a solo act after the band broke up in October 2011. Since then, he's played wherever they'll have him — colleges, coffeehouses, the Night Cat in Easton, Joe Squared in Station North, to name a few places — trying to rebuild the interest his previous band earned. Consistent gigs are good, but it's difficult to gain listeners without releasing albums.

Our leaders in Washington face tough budget issues ("Obama budget would have big impact in MD," April 11). But one proposal we should all agree on is for targeted investments in local pre-kindergarten learning. As a grandfather, I support giving America's children a better educational start. As a retired Army general, I see this as a sound investment in making our next generation more competitive and contributing to our national security. The defense department estimates that 75 percent of all Americans age 17-24 are unable to join the military.

Find the SoundListening to words said clearly in isolation sharpens a child's ability to attend selectively to sounds. The activity below will help your child understand that sounds have position in words. Help your child learn to listen attentively to everyday sounds, too (the wind, a telephone ringing, footsteps in the hall). Ability to listen helps your child in getting ready to follow oral directions and develop the phoneme awareness skills needed in learning to read.To PlayTake three paper cups and label one with the word "beginning," one with the word "middle" and the third with the word "end."

Use a shopping catalog such as J.C. Penny or Sears. Tell your child you are going on a shopping trip. Have him select an item, such as a television, and ask him, "What sound does television begin with?"You can do the same with other items, and every time he gives the correct sound, he gets to cut out and keep that object. When he does not know a sound, tell him, "Television begins with the sound 't'." Try not to say a vowel after the sound, in other words say 't' not 'tuh.' Praise him for the sounds he does give correctly.

NEW YORK - Pedestrians hurrying over a grate in the triangular median where Broadway and Seventh Avenue converge in Times Square, just south of 46th Street, rarely seem to notice anything out of the ordinary. But Max Neuhaus hopes that, subliminally, their lives are being changed. Neuhaus is a sound artist, a trained musician and a former famous percussionist who now shapes what he calls intangible sound in space, rather than the tangible sound of a composer working in time. "Times Square" is, if not necessarily his masterpiece, then at least his only work still up and running in the United States.

There's almost something patriotic about the notion of Americana. Drawing from roots-oriented strains of country, folk, blues and rock, the sound is as American as apple pie.But you don't have to be American to play it.Indeed, some of the most interesting variations on the American approach can be found north of the border, thanks to bands like Cowboy Junkies. Like fellow Canadians Blue Rodeo, Spirit of the West and the Waltons, the Junkies are intimately familiar with Americana's musical vocabulary.

I'M SO HAPPY to be rid of this past winter, its cold and long nights, that I've been getting up at 5:45 in the morning. I'm not sure that I really have any choice in the matter. The birds are a potent alarm clock - but what a delightful way to be roused from sleep. Friends who don't know what it is like to live at 26th and St. Paul in the city are often surprised when I tell them how quiet the old neighborhood is. The other night, I was dropped off at my front door after the end of the game where the Yankees clubbed the Orioles.

Marketers around the world are using innovative audio technology that sends sound in a narrow beam, just like light, making it possible to direct messages right into consumers' ears while they shop or sit in waiting rooms. The audio spotlight device, created by Holosonic Research Labs Inc. of Watertown, Mass., has been used to hawk everything from cereals in supermarket aisles to glasses at doctor's offices. The messages are often quick and targeted - and a little creepy to the uninitiated.

Sound Garden, the Fells Point staple and all-around awesome record store, has received another national accolade. In its latest issue, Billboard magazine named the Baltimore shop one of the top 13 independent record stores in the country. Here's what writer Hilary Hughes wrote about Sound Garden: Five thousand people rifle through the shelves and stacks of the Sound Garden on an average day. That number doubles on Record Store Day, and owner Bryan Burkert and his staff work a 14-hour stretch to ensure the in-stores go smoothly - this year, Baltimore's Clutch will be performing - and get patrons the limited pressings they need.

The state of Maryland requires me to get a license to go fishing in the Patapsco River or crabbing off Booby Point or hunting at Elk Neck. To drive a car, I am required to have a license - and the first time, I needed to pass a test to get one. I must register with my local board of elections to vote. But requiring me to get a license to purchase a gun is asking too much? Requiring me to undergo a background check, provide my fingerprints and take a gun-safety course would "trample on" my Second Amendment rights?

In a public forum packed with emotion as well as people, the Baltimore school board heard Wednesday from independently operated schools fighting for contract extensions as some presented narratives describing their strengths and weaknesses. Baltimore schools CEO Andrés Alonso recommended last month three- and five-year contract extensions for the majority of the 25 schools, primarily charters, that underwent a months-long process that scrutinized various data and overall governance.

Your headline on the Jan. 3 letter, "Columbia Association official says club is a solid investment," seems like an eerie echo from the past. This rosy prediction for CA's high-end fitness club recalls the myth CA staff  were promulgating 20-some years ago about the Fairway Hills Golf Course. That's Fairway Hills, as in the golf course that, since its opening in FY'96, has lost money every year, for a total of $8,637,000. This is a far cry from what CA staff projected when they sought $5.2 million from the CA Board to develop Fairway Hills.

In what might have been President Barack Obama's most progressive speech, his second inaugural address Monday marked a distinct change from the so-called New Democrat ideology of pragmatism and compromise to a full embrace of the principles that once put the Democratic Party squarely on the side of the middle class and the poor. Better late than never. It is only because the tea party has pushed the Republican Party further to the far right - and perhaps off the cliff - that Barack Obama is seen by some as a liberal.

After the "holidaze," nothing to me is as restorative as a return to routine. At first, when picking up wrapping paper and boxes, it seems that order will never return. All efforts feel uphill, with no end to clutter in sight. Refrigerators and desktops overflow. Bite by bite, box by box (plus a few bags to the trash and Goodwill), a glimmer of order reappears. If a few tasks are done each day, gradually the house resumes a semblance of order. I begin reading one or two of the books I've been given as Christmas gifts, go to a movie, listen to new music and eat some spicy chili or Italian food as an antidote to holiday fare.

Alienation is a funny thing. When New Order first came to prominence in the mid '80s, it owed most of its audience to a shared sense of estrangement. Some of that had to do with what the songs said, but mostly it was a reflection of how they sounded -- of the emptiness evoked by their affectless vocals, thrumming guitars and insistent beat.At first, New Order's all-tension/no-release approach made it an anomaly on the dance music scene. But as time passed, not only were New Order's ideas absorbed into the mainstream, but the group itself was beginning to cross over, cracking the Top 40 in this country and topping the singles chart in its native Britain.

Ever wonder why rock concerts are so loud?Sure you have -- especially on those mornings after, when you wake up and your ears are still buzzing from the night before. It probably doesn't bother you in the parking lot after the show; heck, everybody expects ringing ears after a rock concert. But when it's still there 18 hours later, even dedicated rock fans begin to wonder about the value of too much volume.Even in the music business, most people agree that rock concerts are often ear-crushingly loud.

More than any defining play that Ray Lewis made or accolade that he earned, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell will most remember the leadership that the long-time Ravens middle linebacker brought to both his team and the league. In a phone interview with The Baltimore Sun on Thursday, Goodell said he was saddened but not surprised about Lewis' announcement Wednesday that this season, the linebacker's 17th, will be his last in the NFL. Goodell expressed confidence that Lewis will remain involved with the league long after he retires.