Making Rapid Progress in Your Music Practice

Music is about the only discipline in which simply putting in time is seen as a virtue. "I practice my instrument an hour a day," is something that you will hear students say with pride. (Or, "My Mom makes me practice thirty minutes a day.") Teachers frequently require a certain amount of time per day on the instrument.

When I was first starting out on violin I brought home a paper each week which required my mother to write down how many minutes I had practiced every single day. I brought the paper to my lesson each week, and a part of my grade was simply the number of minutes that I had practiced. The results of those minutes practiced often seemed secondary to the number.

Large numbers of minutes spent in simple, rote repetition is often held up as the standard way to learn an instrument or a piece of music. It is my contention that this is wrong. Now before you start shouting that I don't know what I am talking about, let me quash the idea that I am saying that a student should not spend a reasonable amount of time practicing the instrument. What I am saying is that our focus should not be on the clock or on the number of repetitions played, it needs to be somewhere else.

Teachers and student musicians should change their focus from how long I practice to how much progress is made during practice. A two hour practice in which no real progress is made is not nearly as effective as a thirty minute practice with a discernible improvement made in a passage or on a technique. Admittedly there will be times when the focus is simply on repetition and doing something correctly. In that instance repetition of a technique done well is a great goal. But playing a scale twenty times with the same note played badly each time is actually counter-productive.

Let's focus on an improving what we are doing. Let's focus on playing the passage or performing the technique, if not perfectly, at least better than we were doing it before the practice session.

How do we accomplish this?

When practicing a technique, I believe that the key is speed. Actually, I believe that the key is a lack of speed. We start almost agonizingly slow . . . slow enough that we are able to perform the technique correctly. Repeat the technique at this speed until it becomes natural and at least relatively comfortable. Then we speed up just a little bit . . . just far enough that we are on the verge of failing. When we have determined where that point is we work at that speed until we have mastered it.

This is an instance in which a metronome is a great tool. The metronome helps us maintain the proper speed for our practice. It is also a great measure of progress. At the end of a practice, if I can say that I moved from playing at thirty beats per minute to forty beats per minute I have made discernible progress.

If I am just starting with a piece of music I use a method similar to that which I just discussed with technique. I start very, very slowly with a passage which I can play. I repeat that passage at a speed at which I am comfortable until I can play it reasonably well.

Once I have established a starting point with the piece, I use a practice technique I think of as, "AND . . .?" Here, I use the part that I can play well as a starting point and I add to it. "Okay, I'll play this part AND . . .?" and then I add a phrase, or a measure, or maybe even a single note. Perhaps I will simply try to improve a portion of the selection I already feel comfortable with to make it even better. I will start as slowly as I need to make it right and then I speed up. At the end of practice, if I can say that I started with the ability to play twenty measures correctly, and now I can play twenty five correctly, that is discernible progress.

If I am really practicing instead of just spending time, I almost never end a practice playing something the same way that it was when I started practice. If I can make substantial progress in forty-five minutes rather than an hour, that's great! I may actually stop at the end of forty-five minutes. Or I may go on to something that I want to learn for myself, rather than at the behest of a teacher. Or I may challenge myself to stay with the piece for that last fifteen minutes and really polish it or add and extra three measures! I always end practice with a run-through of the piece as well as I can play it, then reward myself by playing something that I can play well and that I truly enjoy. That way I walk away from the practice session feeling happy about the instrument, myself, and my teacher!

Carlos Santana

Carlos Santana formed his namesake band, Santana, in San Francisco in the late 1960's. The group's foundation was built upon Latin rhythms fueled by a percussion section which included drums, timbales, and congas, over which Carlos superimposed his tonal magic. Among his early influences were blues guitarist B.B. King - Santana not only imitated King's playing, but also the facial expressions of the "King of the Blues".

Building upon these stepping stones, he was able to create his own unique guitar sound from the use of jazz-rock scales augmented by feedback and sustain, creating a searing, soaring tonal montage. He once compared the three dimensional nature of his guitar tone to a pond, where you can see the sun reflecting from the surface, the fish swimming in the water, and the sand and corals at the bottom.

Santana's first break came from landing a gig at Woodstock, where they played the instrumental "Soul Sacrifice" to a receptive gathering that was perfectly suited to the spiritual nature of the embryonic band's musical offerings.

In this stage of his career, Carlos' musical vision was channeled through Gibson SG Special guitars and Mesa-Boogie amplifiers. Early tracks "Evil Ways" and "Jingo", from their debut album "Santana", as well as "Black Magic Woman" (written by Fleetwood Mac guitarist Peter Green) and "Oye Como Va", from the masterpiece "Abraxas", provided the launching pad for Santana's

Further expanding their jazz fusion direction, Santana added to their legacy with "Everybody's Everything" and "No One to Depend On", from Santana III, and a cover of the Zombies "She's Not There" (featuring the use of a Wah pedal) from "Moonflower". During this period Carlos was partial to Gibson Les Pauls and Gibson

In the 1980's Carlos collaborated with musicians such as keyboardist Booker T Jones (leader of the instrumental rhythm and blues group Booker T and the, drummer Buddy Miles (alumni of the Band of Gypsys, led by Jimi Hendrix), as well as jazz keyboardist McCoy Tyner and jazz saxophonist Wayne Shorter. During this period, Santana began to endorse custom made Paul Reed Smith guitars. He received great critical reviews in this era, but not much commercial success.

However, that changed in 1999, with the chart topping CD "Supernatural", followed by another number one release, "Shaman" in 2002. At this point, Carlos was generating his trademark tone with custom made Dumble amplifiers.

From the beginning of his career to the present, despite all the changes in Carlos Santana's music and fellow musicians, and his choice of guitars, amps, and effects pedals, there remains one constant: his quest for the holy grail of magical, supernatural, transcendental tone.

How to Write a Song - Study the Masters

If you want to learn how to write a song, do what all great songwriters do: Study great songs! If you want to be a master songwriter, you must learn from the masters.

If you've been writing songs for a while, it's very likely are doing something right. When you write regularly, you tend to get a feel for it. You develop an instinct for what is catchy, memorable and engaging. But you can take it a lot further than that.

Think of a craftsman, say, someone who is good with wood. He may have a natural ability to carve or construct things from wood. If he does it all the time he's going to get really good at it.

Now, if that same person studied woodworking as an apprentice, imagine how much faster he will learn his craft. By studying with the masters, he will learn shortcuts and techniques that might take him years longer on his own.

It's the same with songwriting.

By studying the techniques of hit songwriters, you learn what works and what doesn't. You learn how to write songs. You learn how to write songs that resonate with people on a deep level. That doesn't mean you have to give up your natural style, or change who you are.

It simply means you learn better ways to present your unique ideas.

By studying song form you can learn to better express those ideas which are unique to you. You learn to build a better vehicle to take your song ideas where you want them to go. So how do we study hit songs?

Listen to the radio! Listen to the radio with a critical ear. Listen closely and ask yourself a series of questions:

1. Why does this song appeal to me?

2. What is it about the chorus that I find so irresistible?

3. What emotion/s does the melody evoke?

4. Why do the lyrics speak to me?

Keep on asking yourself these questions. Keep digging deeper for more answers. There can be many reasons why a song is so appealing. Find and analyse the reasons why it appeals to you.

Realise also, the importance of rewriting. If you settle for the first draft, you'll never find out how good your song can really be. That's what all great songwriters have done and continue to do.

It's an ongoing process. You never stop learning. So don't ever think you're done!

Josh Groban

Josh Groban is a 25-year-old baritone who has tremendous contributions in revolutionizing the music world. He was born in Los Angeles, California. With a classical voice combined with the young energy and appeal of a rock star, Josh Groban offers a refreshing alternative to the standard Top 40 fare. Crossing the boundaries that define radio's musical genres--pop, classical, rock--his music combines elements of romantic classical pieces with the beats and the synthesized sounds of world music. In addition to English, Josh sings in Italian, French, and Spanish, but doesn't speak those languages fluently.

Josh is also a talented instrumentalist and composer besides being a great vocalist. He plays both piano and drums, and he co wrote three of the songs on Closer, his second album which ultimately encouraged him to write his own songs for his future albums.

Pop and classical (http://events.ixs.net/Classical.aspx ) singer Josh Groban made his debut in the seventh grade, but then put music aside for a few years until he enrolled at the Interlochen Arts Program. In late 1998, he hooked up with a friend of his vocal coach, producer/writer/arranger David Foster. Groban worked for Foster as a rehearsal singer on a series of high-profile events, including the inauguration of Grey Davis as governor of California and the Grammy Awards (at which he rehearsed Foster's "The Prayer" with Celine Dion in place of Andrea Bocelli).

He successfully got admission into the theater department of Carnegie Mellon College. However, He was lucky enough to get a recording contract at Warner Bros which temporarily halted his education.He made his recording debut singing "For Always" with Lara Fabian on the soundtrack to A.I.: Artificial Intelligence, and appeared in the 2001 season finale of the television series Ally McBeal.

His first wonderful achievement was his debut album, Josh Groban, that was released in November 2001 and Luckily, it proved to be big hit. Within a Year, Groban was a rising star. His album went double platinum, and he had his own PBS special in November 2002. A month later, he performed "To Where You Are" and "The Prayer" at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Oslo, Norway, and joined the Corrs, Ronan Keating, Sting, Lionel Richie, and others for a holiday performance at the Vatican in Rome. His second album was released in November 2003. Two months later, he earned his first number one record when Closer skyrocketed from number 11 to the top spot on the Billboard album charts. In 2006, Groban released his third studio album, Awake, featuring guest appearances by the vocal group Ladysmith Black Mambazo and jazz pianist Herbie Hancock. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide

He was a very successful and a very popular musician. He's sold over 14 million albums worldwide, had a #1 album and four #1 singles, and been nominated for a Grammy, American Music Award, World Music Award, and People's Choice Award.

Groban's 'hands on' approach in the creative process of "Awake" is reflected in several Groban penned and produced songs along with musical contributions from Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Dave Matthews, Glen Ballard, Eric Mouquet, John Ondrasik (Five for Fighting) Marius DeVries, David Foster, Imogen Heap and Herbie Hancock.

"Awake's" 13 new songs including the just released first single, "You Are Loved (Don't Give Up)" show the Grammy nominated Groban's tremendous growth as a vocalist, producer and songwriter since he first appeared on the musical landscape.

With a lineup of stellar producers including Marius DeVries, Guy Sigsworth, Glen Ballard and David Foster, the album contains songs in Italian, Spanish and of course English. An early stand-out, "February Song" with Josh on keyboards came to the 25-year-old Los Angeles native on a sleepless night. “

Additionally, Groban recorded a suite of two stunningly haunting songs where he harmonizes with longtime idols Ladysmith Black Mambazo. The first song, the Groban/Dave Mattthews penned "Lullaby" is sung a cappella and the follow up, the South African song, "Weeping" which Josh first heard on a trip to South Africa. "The musical tapestry of the country and their heated history, the honor of meeting Nelson Mandela and visiting schools in Soweto was totally inspiring. And, it was a dream of a lifetime for me to sing with Ladysmith in the studio. I've loved them from the moment I heard Paul Simon's Graceland."

Josh Groban dominated the international music scene in 2001 with the release of his self-titled debut album featuring the hit single, "To Where You Are." His follow up CD "Closer" with the smash hit "You Raise Me Up" brought enormous success to the young singing sensation. He has made scores of television appearances beginning with Ally McBeal and continuing with countless performances on Oprah Winfrey, Good Morning America, The Today Show, two PBS specials, the Superbowl, the Oscars and the closing ceremonies of the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics with an audience of over 2 billion people.

His first PBS Special went on to become the No. 1 selling DVD of 2002. On the touring front, Groban started out his now legendary 40-city concert tour (which sold out in a record breaking 20 minutes) and then went straight forward to a two year arena tour across the US.A Josh Groban tour for 2007 is expected to be announced shortly.

Josh has admitted to being a romantic person, using music to express the emotions that he normally wouldn't feel comfortable saying otherwise.

Josh is a performer with a meticulous eye to detail. He spends hours learning the meaning of every song he records, perfecting the pronunciation of his foreign language songs, and working with the producer to ensure that the finished product is impeccable. He takes a very "hands-on" approach to all aspects of his music and his tour production.

A typical, perfecting the pronunciation of his foreign language songs, and working with the producer to ensure that the finished product is impeccable. He takes a very "hands-on" approach to all aspects of his music and his tour production.

The Black Eyed Peas

The Black Eyed Pea is an International fame American hip-hop group. They are from Los Angeles, California, America. The group is composed of will.i.am, apl.de.ap, Taboo and Fergie. Their music styles are pop-rap and alternative hip hop. The Black Eyed Peas Group was created in 1989 when will.i.am real name William Adams and Apl.de.ap real name Allan Pineda met and started rapping plus performing together around Los Angeles. They also got opportunity of signing to Ruthless Records that is run by Eazy-E, after inviting the attention of the nephew of Jerry Heller who is Eazy-E's manager. Having another friend in their group, Dante Santiago, they named their trio Atban Klann.

In the beginning of their career, The Group faced some problems. Their first album, "Grass Roots", was never released as Ruthless did not consider the social themes mirrored in the group's music to be marketable to their listeners. The Group was renamed as Black Eyed Pods by Atban Klann. However, Finally it was decided to name it Black Eyed Peas, because - as will.i.am stated on the front cover of the Monkey Business album, "Black Eyed Peas are food for the soul". There were also changes made in the team of the band. The band replaced their original third member with Taboo real name Jaime Gomez, plus had Kim Hill as a steady background singer. Contrary to many hip-hop acts, they opt to perform with a live band and chose a musical and clothing style that wildly different from the "Gangsta Rap" sounds of other Los Angeles-based hip-hop (http://events.ixs.net/Rap-Hip-Hop.aspx ) acts at the time.

Most of the performances of the band were exhibited in the local club circuit since the mid-'90s beside fellow acts like Ozomatli and Jurassic 5. Then they launched their second album named Bridging the Gap in 2000. This album contained the hit "Request + Line" featuring Macy Gray. In 2003, they released their third album, Elephunk which proved to be a superhit. Importantly, The lovely voice of Stacy “Fergie” was featured in this album.From this very album the anti-war anthem "Where is the Love?" came. (possible protest against the Iraq war which began the same year the song was released. in 2003) featuring an unaccredited Justin Timberlake that proved the band's first major hit, mounting at #8 on the US Hot 100, in addition topping the charts almost everywhere else, counting six weeks at #1 in the UK where it was the biggest-selling single of 2003.

Another great song of "Elephunk" was "Shut Up" that ranked at #2 in the UK. However, One of the critic commented on this song as "the single most vacuous, pointless, vile and generally loathsome song in a generation") and topped the charts in many other European countries including France and Germany. Elephunk was an international success and went gold and platinum in the US, UK, Germany and other European markets. The third single from the album, although significantly restyled from the original Elephunk version, "Hey Mama" hit the Top 10 in the UK, Germany and other European countries and reached #23 in the US.

The Black Eyed Peas continued enjoying their work and wrote many new songs.Their next album, Monkey Business, was released on June 7, 2005. The first single of the album, "Don't Phunk with My Heart", was an instant hit in the U.S., going to number three on the Billboard Hot 100. This song rested on the highest pinnacle yet of their career and they brought home another Grammy for Best Rap Performance By A Duo Or Group. The song also became three in the UK, and five in Canada, and number one in Australia. Though it also earned some criticism due to its obscenity. Another song form the same album "My Humps", instantly achieved commercial success in the U.S. and reasonable substantial radio play regardless of the sexually suggestive lyrics; also reaching number three on the Billboard Hot 100. Black Eyed Peas released an iTunes Originals play list of their greatest hits in Sept 2005, as well as some that were re-recorded especially for purchase through iTunes. The play list involved popular songs like "Don't Lie", "Shut Up" plus a new version of "Where Is the Love?"

It is worthmentioning here that Black Eyed Peas also involved themselves in the social welfare services. They established the Pea Pod Foundation to help suffering children globally. The foundation is administered by the Entertainment Industry Foundation. On February 6, 2006, At a concert in Hollywood, California the band was joined by Sergio Mendes, Jessica Simpson, and other stars to benefit the foundation.

Keeping in view of the modern trends, Black Eyed Peas also produced a remix album, named "Renegotiations" on March 21, 2006. It is actually the Remixes" to iTunes. It includes remixed versions of Ba Bump, My Style, Feel It, Disco Club, They Don't Want Music, Audio Delite at Low Fidelity, plus also the standard version and video of "Like That". And the next week it was released on CD without the music video. Others who took part in it were on the EP included DJ Premier, Pete Rock, Erick Sermon, DJ Jazzy Jeff, and Large Professor.

Making of Classical Music

Classical music is governed by some known conventions that have its roots in a variety of forms, genres, styles and historical periods. These features together go in defining the term ‘classical music.’ Music rated as classical has always made its thumping presence felt. With the evolution of the popular music forms, the dominance of the classical form has not diminished. In-fact, it further magnified with new forms and codes.

There are several factors that define Classical Music. These can be classified under the following heads:-

Instrumentation - This is one way of classifying the classical genre of music. Different instruments are brought to use for creating the symphony that make it classical. Various string instruments like violin, string, woodwind instruments, brass instruments and other diverse percussion are commonly used to give this form of music a unique style. However, nowadays electronic instruments like electric guitars are occasionally brought to use.

Form and Technical Execution – The classical form generally take the form of a song, symphony, dance music, chamber suite, symphony, concerto, electronic music and more. The composition of this form of music requires expertise as a lot of complexities are involved in arriving at a balance between its emotional content and the music that accompanies it. The Classical Guitar Music is one such example of complex composition.

Complexity – The complexities involved in making of classical works are not just confined to instruments and beats. But a lot of it lies in the development, modulation, musical phrases and even length and variations of tones. A perfect combination of all these features results in the development of a perfect symphony of music. In-fact, the large scale classical works are built from smaller units of musical compositions.

Society – The classical forms of music maintains a repute of being a choice of the upper-level society. The music has never been popular among the working class. However, it is not compulsory as most of the classical musicians fall in the middle class range. The Classical Music CD buyers and concert goers also include the middle class audience.

Timeline – This form of music passed through several stages. It has its roots ingrained in medieval times, even dating back to ancient Greeks. The form has evolved a lot in the present age. It still has major time divisions like the Medieval (476 – 1400) and Renaissance (1400 – 1600). Then there is the common practice period that includes Baroque (1600 – 1750), Classical (1730 – 1820) and Romantic Periods (1895 – 1910). The modern contemporary period includes 20th Century Classical (1900 – 2000) and contemporary classical (1975 to current).

The form of music which is preserved as classical is primarily a written musical tradition. These written works are then given expression in the form of recordings, oral transformations and musical notes. Music plays an effective role in transmitting classical notations. The written instructions, however, do not have explicit instructions. But, music does help to build the mood of a classical masterpiece. It helps in better understanding of the masterpieces.

A great influence of the classical form of music lies in its cultural durability. It is interesting to note its evolution from past to the present form. The form has taken materials from popular music and folk music. Yet it retained its originality and showed up as updated versions of the classical masterpieces.

The commercialism of classical music has popularised it among the people. Now, DVDs of the latest versions of classical music are available in retail stores. The prices of the DVDs are kept low and so all income group people can buy the DVDs from the Classical Music Stores. People now need not go to a theatre to watch a performance. In-fact, theatre comes to home in the form of the DVDs.The classical music CDs have made it very simple for people to get acquainted to classical forms of music. Most of the current masterpieces are compiled in CDs and sold in the market. This has made it possible for people to have a library of the classical form of music at their homes.

How to enjoy opera

Even though by historical standards opera is a very young art genre (as opposed to, say, theatre or painting), the amount of nonsense that has been said, written, and published about it over the past two centuries truly defies imagination. At least eight different conflicting OFFICIAL opinions exist on any and all of its aspects; whenever an expert opens his or her mouth to utter a comment, ten others jump at the commentator’s throat … No. Not really. As it is with pretty much everything today, opera commentary has become politically correct, i.e. vague and uncertain, lest someone should take offense; so much so that it is taken as a matter of course that folks who ask straight questions are amateurs while those who provide straight, to the point answers are ignoramuses. Straight answers are an endangered species facing extinction.

This would be comical if it weren’t so detrimental to opera.

Constantly complaining about the “lack of new blood,” opera’s powers-that-be and their voluntary assistants with music school diplomas and insecurity complexes make every effort to confuse, rather than enlighten, the newcomer.

At one of our recent live seminars, as Ricardo was busy elucidating types of operatic voices for an eager audience consisting mostly of novices, a man with a pot belly raised an objection, proclaiming in screechy tones that the tenor was NOT the highest male voice in opera. Ricardo countered by saying that FOR ALL INTENTS the tenor IS the highest male voice … “And the High C,” interrupted the “erudite,” continuing to flaunt his pseudo-knowledge, “is NOT the highest note in the tenor range. There are parts in operas from the Seventeenth Century to the present that include the High F! You’re ignorant! You don’t now what you’re talking about!”

He continued to “demonstrate” with increasing frequency how knowledgeable and superior he was until finally I had to escort him out. Our live seminars are pretty expensive ($60 per person, locally; $200 per person when we go on tour); folks flock to us to find out how they can enjoy opera, and we absolutely have to give them their money’s worth. If you think your knowledge and expertise are valuable and sellable, by all means, set up your own seminar.

Anyway, the point I’m trying to make here is that the knowledge that certain tenor parts do in fact include that silly-sounding High F, and that the countertenor does in fact sing higher than the ordinary tenor, is the ultimate reward to those who insist on pointing such things out whenever an opportunity presents itself. Such people don’t really enjoy, nor even care about, opera. They have no respect (never mind love) for their fellow human beings, either. Just as the biblical Pharisees took all joy out of religion (and annoyed Jesus and his apostles every chance they got), operatic Pharisees today take all joy out of opera, distracting and annoying those who for one reason or another wish to wrench it from the stifling control of elitist bureaucracy and restore it to its proper owner: the audience. If there is a special place in hell for the operatic Pharisee, I hope it features a large auditorium with good acoustics, in which the unrepentant pedant will be forced to take in day and night, FOREVER, a repertoire consisting exclusively of operas that include countertenors and/or High F’s.

(Let me explain. I’m not merely an artist, critic, or connoisseur; I’m an epicurean as well. I have an EXTREMELY LOW BOREDOM THRESHOLD. Seriously, I do. I absolutely HATE being bored. I cannot stand it. Boredom to me is unbelievable spiritual and mental torture. There is exactly ONE composer of note who employs ONE countertenor part in ONE of his operas, and the piece is not a very good one, either. There is exactly ONE opera by a notable composer that features a High F, and that opera is BORING. I go to the opera to be moved and entertained; I purchase recordings that I know will move and entertain me. You couldn’t pay me enough to endure three acts of BORING music, no matter how many important and reputable folks have praised it and built their careers around it. My taste, my ear, my perception are, to the best of my knowledge, pretty standard; from which I conclude that since, after taking in two thousand live operatic performances of all kinds, I still find Bellini’s operas tedious (and Debussy’s, and Berlioz’s, and Berg’s, too), so will thousands of others potential opera buffs. To expose a novice to a tedious piece FIRST is to turn him or her away from opera forever. My rhetorical question to every operatic Pharisee out there goes like this. I have turned countless folks into die-hard opera buffs. What have you done?)

Opera as we know it is not rocket science. There is so little one has to know beforehand to enjoy a GOOD opera fully that it all fits into the three-hour format of Ricardo’s “Getting Opera” Course, with time to spare (our live seminars feature questions-and-answers sessions and a fifteen-minute coffee-and-cigarette break). Neither of us is affiliated with the opera industry, or music industry, in any way. Ricardo’s opinions are entirely objective, his expertise true, his approach honest and very effective.

What “Getting Opera” does is sweep away the layers of nonsense accumulated over the past two centuries: the nonsense that is put into textbooks and guides, the nonsense that is taught in music schools and proclaimed fatuously from the lectern; and leaves in just what used to enable an ordinary clerk or factory worker in a fifth ring seat (in New York, in New Orleans, in Milan, in Vienna, in opera’s heyday) to appreciate every note and every shade of harmony of the beloved operatic masterpieces.

The entire history of opera is presented as if it were an adventure story, with subplots, intrigue, love affairs, gunfire, and callous meddling politicians getting in the way. The three major opera periods, which include the sixteen great operas written by five composers are covered in full. The differences between the styles are thoroughly (and humorously) explained and easily grasped. The best recordings are used to illustrate each point, and before you know it, you find yourself familiar with several opera plots (libretti). Some terminology sinks in as if by magic, so much so that the listener will be able to hold his or her own in a conversation about opera – with anyone.

Building a guitar-the timber

For those amongst us who play guitar and are fairly adept with their hands, the thought of building your own guitar must have crossed your mind at some point..go on, you know it's true! Probably, like me you shrank back from the very thought of having to work to the peak of perfection to a standard that you never dreamed you could achieve. But there are a few secrets, and the best one I reckon is that each stage of the build must be approached with precision, each stage an individual project in itself.

This includes the planning of the whole project and that includes the selection of all of the components that go to make up the guitar itself. Dont worry about, for example, the tools at this point in time..do a separate project when it comes to those..see where I'm heading? In this series of articles I will discuss the various requirements of the build and naturally, one of the critical aspects of your guitar will be the selections of exactly which tonewoods you will select for your creation. There are a couple of ways of going about the first build. You can decide that this guitar will be crafted from the finest of timbers that money can buy, thus creating the 'ultimate guitar" you know, the kind of Maton or Martin, Guild or Gibson that you will never be able to afford ( not in this lifetime anyway).the best of everything, spruce bracing, brazilian rosewood guitar sides, or classical tonewoods for your guitar, Japanese maple , ebony fingerboard or a Japanese or even Australian maple back and sides. Some of the more mentally afflicted amongst us may dream of Koa, the ultimate luxury I'm told. I even have a friend who owns a Koa Martin, how dare he?

On the other hand, there are many that think in a kind of negative way. "I'll knock the first one up out of Mahogany plywood, If I stuff it up, it wont be such a disaster,will it?" Well, personally, I reckon that's a built in attitude that will definitely put the mockers on it right from the word go. Use the best you can possibly afford but dont be blinded so that you pay out thousands from some unscrupulous mother that sees you coming, half a block away. Do some serious enquiring before you spend out those hard earned dollars. Even to the point where you may well, with the help of the internet, source your rarish timbers from another country or another State. They may well be a hell of a lot cheaper than you would ever begin to realise and many suppliers are keen to do business with you. You would not believe the difference in prices that I found when I was pricing up the timber for my Weissenborn acoustic lap steel guitar. It varied from about two hundred bucks for Mahogany to a thousand for the same thing!

So what are we looking at? The traditional tonewoods depend on the type of guitar you want to build. It will be very different for a Spanish style classical , different again for a weissenborn or slide and different again for a standard steel string guitar. A typical scenario would be close grained spruce for the soundboard, no imperfections or discolourations. Brazilian rosewood guitar sides or even East indian rosewood sides, Mahogany will also do very well here. I own a lovely little guitar made for me by a friend who just lives and breathes guitars. It is built from Californian Redwood, lock stock and barrel apart from the fingerboard which is rosewood. It sounds as sweet as a nut and looks so pretty too. So be prepared to encompass some different ideas too when selecting your wood. I was interested as to why the bridge should always be rosewood, ebony or a derivitive. I wondered why I couldn't make mine from Maple. I enquired found no reason why not and therefore did it. It works perfectly, the only thing I have to be careful of is that because it is sofeter than tradition hardwoods normally used, it can be dented when changing the strings. TIP: use a small spoon to lever the strings out of the peg holes.. it doesnt dent so much as when you use something else.

So, the finger board is also traditionally made from East indian Rosewood, A harder mahogany, Obeche or similar. However, for a weissenborn as the fingers never play on the timber, therefore won't wear it away over the years, a softer wood is an option. Usually a darker one is preferable as they do get dirtier quicker.

Then again, look at the blond Fender necks that are so popular of late! One thing I do urge you to do, look outside the square when selecting your timbers for your guitars. The timber that has been raped to death for guitar building are supposed to be in terrifyingly short supply and therefore the prices are at a premium and the remaining trees are being threatened. I'm no mad greenie but good sense should prevail here! You can achieve a couple of blows for good sense at the same time if you choose alternative timbers that may well do the job required of them. Talk to people in the business, hear their views on certain timbers and reason out your choices. The internet is a great option here, just look under Australian Maple for example, its a great timber and I'm a stout flagbearer for it, Blackwood too, close cousins of the very rare and expensive Koa that seems to be disappearing fast. dont get sucked in or get in a rut, think outside the square, you will be amazed at what you can find!

Piano Lesson – Improvisation Made Easy

One of the greatest thrills a pianist can have is to be able to sit at the piano and just play; without music and without thought. Unfortunately many pianists never learn to do this. They are closely tied to their music because that’s not only what’s comfortable for them that’s the way they learned.

However, what if I were to tell you that in as little as ten piano lessons you could be playing your favorite melodies without music and also be able to improvise as well? Would that be something you’d be interested in? Take a moment and picture you sitting at the piano at a party and just playing. How does it feel? Great, that’s what you need to feel if you’re going to do what it takes to learn properly.

Let’s get started. In our first piano lesson, you must understand how music is structured in order to be able to improvise. Most western music is based on what we call tertian harmony, which simply means chord structures that are based on intervals of three. For example a C major chord is made up of the notes C E and G. Each of these notes is spaced a third away from the next.

So, assuming that all chords are based on tertian harmony, then next thing you need to know is where do the notes we choose for our chords come from? Well, they come directly out of a major or minor scale. For example; let’s take a C major scale which is C D E F G A B and back to C. When we build chords on top of each of the notes of a major scale we would build them in intervals of 3 and the quality of the chord (major or minor) is determined by the scale.

That means just like our C major chord which is C E and G (notes chosen from the major scale), our F major chord would be F A and C, where A and C are notes from the C major scale. We wouldn’t use for example Ab or C# because they do not come from the C major scale. Likewise for a G major chord, G B and D, the note B and D come also from the C major scale.

The number of the chord is important as well. Since our C major chord is built on the first note of the scale we call this one (1). The F major chord is four (4) because it is built on the 4th note of the C major scale. And, the G major chord is five (5) because it’s the 5th note of the C major scale.

Coincidentally, the chords C, F and G or 1, 4 and 5 are what most classical and popular music is based upon. The vast majority of songs use the chord progression 4, 5 to 1 which is the most common chord progression there is.

Understanding the 4, 5, 1 chord progression is essential to understating how to improvise. Knowing that 4 is followed usually by 5 and then resolving to 1 is of high importance if you wish to be able to play your favorite music without using sheet music.

In our next piano lesson we’ll discuss how to substitute richer chords for the 4, 5, 1 progression and how to choose our melody notes so as to create and improvisational theme.

Tips on Playing Blues Guitar Like The Pros

For just about anyone, you can learn how to play blues guitar in the same fashion as learning how to play any other type of guitar. The primary difference is in the feel while strumming, and the note choice of the scales. When you have those things together, it all boils down to of practice and patience.

Normally in pop and rock songs, eighth notes divide each beat into two equal pieces. The eighth notes create the familiar “one & two & three & four &” feel that we’re used to in rock songs. On the other hand, blues guitar uses a swing feel, where each beat is divided into three pieces. Instead of “one & two &,” we get “one & a two & a three & a four & a.” Breaking the beats into three pieces creates what are called eighth note triplets. Since there are usually four beats per measure in the blues, you are usually playing four groups of three.

When you are learning how to play blues guitar, you want to practice strumming a chord like an E7, which is a shorthand way to write E dominant 7, with a swing feel. You should practice strumming down on the strong beats, those that fall on the one, two, three, or four, skip the ‘&,’ and strum up again on the ‘a.’ With that rhythm you get the do DAH do DAH do DAH do DAH sound made famous by artists such as Buddy Guy, Robert Cray, and BB King.

Another big part of learning how to play blues guitar is learning how to play a dominant seventh type of chord. All chords have 2 pieces, and blues guitar chords are no exception. If you have an A7 chord, you know two pieces of information from that name, you know that the chord is built on an A note, and you know it has a dominant seventh chord quality, or sound. Dominant seventh chords use the root, third, fifth, and flatted seventh of the major scale. It is that blending together of the major third and minor seventh notes that give dominant seventh chords their unique appeal. In most forms of music, only the chord built from the fifth tone is permitted to be a dominant seventh chord. Not so in blues, every chord is a dominant seventh chord often.

The last thing about blues guitar is the use of the blues scale. From a major scale, take the root, flatted third, fourth, flatted fifth, fifth, and flatted seventh degree and you have a minor blues scale. To get the major blues scale, you take the root, second, flatted third, third, fifth, and sixth tones from a major scale. What really makes these scales sound ‘bluesy’ is the way they contain a flatted third, but are played against dominant seventh chords which have a major third. This usage is one of the more prevalent characteristics of blues music. It is also a major component of a lot of blues-based rock and popular music.

If you are learning how to play blues guitar, never forget the words of the great BB King, “The blues is the easiest music to learn, and the hardest to master.” As in many facets of life, the blues is taking small ideas and constructing them together in such a way that they make something great.

Enhanced Healing Through Music

Music has always been a very important part of our lives, from childhood to our being an adult. As a part of our experience, music can have both a physiological and psychological affect upon us as human beings. In addition to the influence that it has on our life, music also has many therapeutic qualities and has been utilized in promoting a variety of healings throughout the ages. As we know further, music can be a very powerful medium for altering our state, of changing how we actually feel. More specifically music can be very effective in producing a very deep and healing state of relaxation and in the process, reduce stress and even promote sleep. Music can also be used to assist one in improving his or her self-esteem and furthering an individual’s personal growth and development, transformation.

As a therapist I have always used relaxation music in my clinical and counseling work with others. I have found that when I use relaxation music during both an individual and group counseling session that my clients do more productive work, are able to focus more effectively on themselves and the issues that they are becoming present to because they are more relaxed, focused and centered and as a result, better able to concentrate. Being relaxed during the counseling process always tends to generate more productive results for the individual being counseled. Relaxation music can be a very effective and powerful aid for assisting a client to reach resolution with respect to that which he or she is working on with their counselor.

The relaxation music that I now utilize during both my individual and group counseling sessions with others is that which is found on the CD, Prescription for Stress. The musical patterns that are on Prescription for Stress were originally developed for my work in counseling and especially in my hypnotic work with clients. In addition to its application for a traditional counseling session, the musical patterns on Prescription for Stress are excellent for assisting in the induction of a hypnotic state in that this music helps the client enter into a very relaxed state of hypnosis more easily. In the past I have used a variety of other musical compositions in my counseling practice but was very dissatisfied with the results that my clients and I achieved with them. As a musician I eventually decided to compose my own music and have found the results of my compositions with the clients that I work with to be excellent. After using the relaxation music that I composed for my work in counseling, I also discovered that the music had another application as well, that is, to assist anyone in achieving a very deep state of relaxation and as a result to effectively and efficiently reduce the stress in their lives.

Managing our stress is very important if not crucial to our overall well being. Prescription for Stress is an audio product specially designed to assist an individual in managing and reducing the stress that he or she may experience on a daily basis. This audio health care product utilizes two components to assist an individual in effectively experiencing a very deep state of relaxation, reducing stress and also in promoting a peaceful, restful sleep. The first component is the musical pattern itself. I have found that musical compositions that are harmonically slow, repetitious, with sustained voices, which are rhythmically, random in tempo assists an individual in experiencing a very deep state of relaxation. The second component of this product is the binaural audio tones that are interwoven into the music. The binaural tones, through a process referred to as entrainment or frequency following, gently guides or directs the mind/body to generate more of the targeted frequency of brain wave activity whether it be for either profound relaxation or sleep. The first CD contains binaural audio tones within the alpha and theta range, which induces a very relaxed state. The second CD contains binaural audio tones within the delta range and thereby assists one in experiencing a peaceful, restful sleep.

Anyone can experience the technology and effect of Prescription for Stress by merely playing it on their home audio system. Use of this powerful relaxation music can be accomplished by listening to it with ones stereo speakers or with headphones, the latter being the more effective way to listen to his product. Listening to Prescription for Stress with headphones allows one to experience the full effect of the technology, the uniquely designed music compositions combined with the binaural audio tones and thereby gain a deeper state of relaxation. Those who practice meditation, self-hypnosis or yoga will find that their practice is even more enhanced while listening to this audio product. I now also recommend that mental health and addiction counselors use this product when conducting counseling sessions with their clients whether it is in a group or individual setting. While many counselors are not present to the power of this type of relaxation music when utilized within a counseling context, those who do employ it find that their sessions with a client to be more effective and productive due to the reason stated above.

Self-esteem is also extremely essential to ones well-being. Enhancing My Self Esteem is an audio health care product uniquely designed to assist an individual in improving his or her self esteem, supporting the development of a positive self-image and promoting the individual’s personal growth and development, transformation. Enhancing My Self Esteem will assist a person in changing negative and possibly even destructive thought patterns to positive and empowering beliefs about him or herself. Utilizing the same combination of original musical compositions and binaural audio tones as Prescription for Stress, Enhancing My Self Esteem is an audio health care product that creates a very profound and relaxing auditory environment, a space for the individual to become open or highly suggestible to a series of very positive affirmations. Within a conversation of transformation, the thoughts that we think and say or commit to word are very important, very powerful for improving our self-image and transforming our lives. Enhancing My Self Esteem is an audio product that creates a very relaxed auditory environment for the person to listen to, begin to practice and eventually accept 50 positive affirmations, affirmations designed to improve a person’s self esteem and begin the process of transforming his or her life.

To fully experience the beneficial effects of Enhancing My Self Esteem it is recommended that a person listen to both tracks once a day for a minimum of 90 days. The first track has been designed for use with your stereo system’s speakers and should be listened to during the morning or afternoon hours. Track One provides a person the opportunity to consciously practice all of the positive affirmations, to commit them to word, to make them real. Track two has been developed exclusively for use with headphones and should be listened to during the evening hours preferably before the individual goes to sleep. The second track has been developed for a person’s unconscious mind and will be that which the individual takes into his or her dream state. Each listening should be done when the individual will be completely free of any distractions. After the first ninety days of use, it is recommended that the person listen to both tracks two times a week for another 90 days to further enhance the beneficial effects.

In addition to anyone wanting to improve their self esteem and further his or her personal transformation, I also recommend that mental health and addiction-oriented counselors utilize Enhancing My Self Esteem with their clients. Most of the clients that mental health and addiction counselors see in treatment in either an individual or group setting have an impaired self-image and are continuously experiencing extremely low self-esteem. For whatever reason the clients that are seen by mental health and addiction oriented counselors tend to have many negative thoughts and beliefs about themselves, many negative affirmations about who they think they are. Assigning Enhancing My Self Esteem as homework for a client to listen to outside of the counseling session allows that client the opportunity to begin a process of improving his or her self-esteem and as a result to be more productive within the counseling session.

I am currently using Enhancing My Self Esteem with all of the clients at the Holistic Addiction Treatment Program, a residential and outpatient program in North Miami Beach, Florida. The Holistic Addiction Treatment Program is an agency that treats individuals who suffer from alcohol or drug dependency. The vast majority of clients of this agency experience chronic relapse. Within Transformational Counseling, Enhancing My Self Esteem is assigned as homework for all of my clients, as a way of continuing the work that is presented in my individual and group counseling sessions, as a way of transforming the thoughts and words of the client. The prescription for use of this product is the same as mentioned above. After the assignment is made I always ask the clients about their use of this product, about what they are becoming present to as they listen. In addition to assisting the individual in eventually feeling better about themselves and increasing their motivation with their recovery, I have also found that Enhancing My Self Esteem tends to elicit important thoughts and memories from the past, thoughts and memories that are then processed in the preceding counseling session.

Enhancing My Self Esteem is a very powerful, healing product. With continued use, clients tend to always report that they feel better about themselves and are more motivated, especially with respect to their recovery. When utilized in conjunction with Transformational Counseling, the effects can be extraordinary for a client. As Transformational Counseling is about an individual altering his or her very thoughts and words, that which has defined their very being in the past, Enhancing My Self Esteem is a product that allows a client to powerfully practice their transformation on a daily basis. While the basis or foundation for the actual transformation is in an individual’s language, the thoughts that he or she thinks and the very words that they say, the environment from which this takes place is one that is initially created through the power of music.

4 Tips to Pick an Unlimited Music Downloads Site

Unlimited music downloads are now made conveniently available through online music stores. Music lovers like the convenience of being able to transfer music to their MP3 players at lightning speed. It does not matter where you are or at what time, as long as there is an internet access, you can download as many songs as you love at these sites that offer unlimited music downloads.

Free download sites are not the best places to download music online simply because there are many problems associated with the files. Either you are getting corrupted files that your MP3 player like iPod or Zune cannot read or you are pulling viruses and adware onto your PC.

So that leaves us with the option of using paid membership sites that can offer genuine unlimited music downloads for an affordable fee. This is where we can a whole range of genres like rock and pop, R&B, rap, hip-hop, classical, Latin and more. Here are 4 tips to help you pick one excellent site.

1. Cost of No-limits Membership

Many sites nowadays charge you a flat lifetime fee to download music online. Make sure you do not need to pay per download or monthly for these sites. There are competitors that offer unlimited music downloads for less than $40. So do not be conned into paying more.

2. Selection of Media Files

While you are looking for music MP3s and soundtracks, you would be greeted pleasantly by sites that offer you other media files, even MP4. The better-run download sites now also offer you movies, videos, TV shows like LOST, HEROES and others. You can even find wallpaper and software that comes complete with your membership package without extra charges.

3. Multi-Genre of Music

You do get to download music online of many genres at several popular services. Be it rock, pop, rap, jazz and so on, you are sure to find them amongst the unlimited music downloads. Anyone can find the music from the slowest beat to the fastest.

4. Well-Rounded Service

This is subjective and everyone has a different yardstick but I tend to go with a strict one. Make sure that the service gives you excellent technical and customer after-sales service. The user interface needs to be simple to navigate around, and it must be able to cope with heavy traffic so that the music downloads are fast.

Benefits of Music Education

It would be easier to deduce the benefits of music education, once you are clear about the basic qualities of music.

Music Soothes

Music is an ever-expanding field. What do you do when we want to relax? An immediate reply would be: listen to good music. And why? Because you tend to forget that a world exists outside, especially when the music is soft, lilting, and melodious.

This has been proved through research too. Wondrous are the effects of music on the human mind. Music creates positive energy and releases it to the individuals. That is the reason why music therapies are being adopted in every field.

Multi-faceted Benefits

Music improves the efficiency and attitude of the people. Its effects are especially felt and useful in treating sick and afflicted persons, because both the young and the old like it.

Music education helps us to learn new concepts and forms of music. You can learn and enjoy the serenity of music while sitting in your living room. Music education can be complete only if the learner grasps it properly. Efficient tutors can simplify complicated concepts and present them in a suitable manner.

Music education helps in creating awareness, and develops a person's attitude by making him or her appreciate the finer things of life. Music is not merely an art, but a fine art too! By learning the basics, nuances, and forms of music through music education, you can enjoy the benefits bestowed by music in a holistic way.

Music Quotations

You can understand the benefits of music looking at some excellent quotations.

Music is God's gift to man, the only art of Heaven given to earth, the only art of earth we take to Heaven. -Walter Savage Landor

Music is the divine way to tell beautiful, poetic things to the heart.-Pablo Casals

Music is the soul of language.-Max Heindel

Music hath charms to soothe a savage breast, to soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak. -William Congreve

Jazz Sheet Music

Most jazz lovers or for that matter any music lover can never forget the name Louis Armstrong, or the famous 'Satchmo.' One of the most revered kinds of music styles in the world of jazz music is that of 'Mr. Satchmo.'

Jazz music originated in 1920?s and continues to be popular not just in the United Stated but also in the whole world. Jazz sheet music is basically a blend of old African American music, with a little bit of a classical touch. Jazz music is a very soothing experience to ardent music lovers, not just of jazz, but also of classical music.

Music scores contain all kinds of styles and rock and roll music sequences. African Americans developed jazz music in the beginning of the 20th century in the United States in New Orleans. It was because of stars like Louis Armstrong that Jazz music became so popular and has such a great fan following in the world today.

Jazz sheet is no ordinary sheet music like other classical music sheets. This music sheet has many kinds of accidentals, rests and prolonged chords and so on. Jazz music sheets are quite complex in nature, as there can be variations for semitone changes for higher or lower pitches. Jazz sheet music is a combination of major, chromatic and diatonic scales. This music can also accommodate accidental bass pitches if any, with vocal parts as well. Jazz sheet music has many parts, and can sometimes produce non-harmony and non-melody music. Thus, a musician is always advised to select the right kind of players, instruments and voice pitches to produce harmony.

Jazz sheet music is indeed quite complex and difficult to read but indeed it is quite interesting and very melodious to play and listen to. Its popularity is at par with country music.

Managing Your Time, when Music isn't Your "Day Job"

You CAN do everything.

Repeat.

You CAN do everything. What you cannot do, however, is do everything at the same time, or create a day that’s longer than 24 hours.

The two most important aspects of time management are acceptance and choice. When you think of time in terms of acceptance and choice, you’re never “wrong”, “bad”, or “lazy”, you’ve just made certain choices. When you think in terms of discipline and willpower, however, your inner critic can really do a number on you. We already have low self-esteem as artists; let’s not add to the problem!!

An example of this from my own life is that I choose to live alone instead of with a roommate; that means I also choose higher rent and the need to bring in enough income to cover that rent. When sneaky thoughts of resentment or self-pity creep in to my head, I need to remember the choice that I made, and I need to accept this is how things are for now.

Here are some tips for using choice and acceptance to manage your time.

Decide what you want to have time for. What keeps getting pushed to the back burner or rushed through? How will you spend your time once you’ve made your songwriting dreams come true and you’ve become the artist you’re meant to be? Nourish this vision until it’s clear in your mind. It’s essential to know what you’re working towards. Remember, you won’t always be this busy unless you choose to be.

Choose not to be this busy – for one week, track your time using a time log. You can make one yourself; simply chart out (on paper or on the computer) your day in fifteen-minute intervals and then record what you do in each of those blocks of time. Completing a time log will illuminate how much time you’re spending on different things. Look carefully at the choices you’re making. What do you most want to do with the time you have available?

Accept your day job for what it is – a source of the financial support you need to eat and live – and write songs! Practice feeling grateful for the job you have, instead of feeling resentful about the time it’s taking away from your songwriting. For instance, what recording equipment, CD’s, manuscript paper, software programs or musical instruments have you bought from the money you earned in this job? Also, the job is giving you life experiences, and most likely lots of opportunities to interact with other people. Your passion is to communicate with people through your music – how can you take some of that passion and apply it to your day-to-day interactions? What kind of stories do your co-workers have to tell? What ideas do those stir up for you that you can use in your writing?

Look for a “day job” that’s meaningful and that’s taking you in the direction of your dreams. Do you need some ideas? Try meditating to access inner wisdom and spiritual guidance. If songwriting is your primary passion, what’s your second passion? What ELSE gets your juices flowing? There’s no need to be in a job that doesn’t make you feel alive, in order to support what does. Some artists that I know get lots of fulfillment from teaching children or adults about their craft. Others take jobs that involve public speaking, to give them more experience and confidence talking to groups. Some take jobs in music stores, where they can have lots of time to learn about the newest equipment, meet lots of fellow artists, and get a discount, to boot!

Schedule time with yourself for your songwriting, collaborating and rehearsing. Keep these dates with yourself and others as sacred appointments!

Be good to your body and don’t sacrifice sleep for productivity (if you keep doing that, you won’t be in much shape to produce anything!).

There are only a couple of things that we really NEED to do every day. Everything else is a choice.

Find Music and Movies at Great Prices

If you enjoy watching music or listening to movies in your spare time, there are many ways to save money on your entertainment needs. Whether you are a movie and music collector or you prefer to watch, listen, and then move on, there are many options available.

Take a look at the following available options when you are in search of your next entertainment fix.

• Buy and Trade Online - You can now find many movies and music CDs for a great price online. Many companies now offer online stores where you can save a bundle on your next purchases. These companies can charge lower prices, since they do not have to mark the cost up to cover a store front business. You can also find online websites that allow you to swap movies and CDs with other members. It doesn't cost anything to sign up for these sites; you simply receive credits for items you swap and then you can use them to pick out items from other members.

• Join a Rental Club - There are many companies online you can now rent movies from through the mail. You can sign up online and pick out your favorites. The company ships the movies to your door and when you return them, you get another set. If you are bad about deadlines, these sites are great, since they do not charge late fees.

• Sign Up For a Membership - You can sign up for many music and movie clubs and get great deals. These companies will give you a set number of movies or CDs for a discounted price just for joining and then you are required to purchase a set number of new items each year. In general, you can usually save up to 40% off of store prices by purchasing through a club.

• Buy Used From Local Companies - Many music and movie stores will sell used products at a discounted price. Movie stores generally purchase a lot of copies for the release of a movie, but as the hype subsides, they will cut back to just a few copies and sell the others at a great rate. Used music stores will usually have an exchange program. You can trade in used CDs for credit to buy others. By doing this, they can offer great rates on used CDs.

• Patience Is A Virtue - Most stores, whether they are new or used, will mark down prices once a movie or album has been on the market for a while. If you can be patient a few weeks, you can usually see a significant savings off of the original new release price.

• Coupons Offer Savings - You can also look in your local newspaper or online and find coupons for your next movie or music purchase. Searching online is a great way to find coupons quickly and print them out. Many companies now have complete sites that offer nothing but coupons. You can usually find a great deal; just make sure you check expiration dates.

Music Vending Machines

Music vending machines are special vending machines that offer music in return to money. They belong to new generation vending machines. Music vending machines excite the music crazy crowd. They are at the beginning stage of their popularity. They motivate the music market with a new trend. Music vending machines help you listen to or purchase music on the road. They download music in digital format. Music vending machines offer a retail profit of 35%. Some machines offers opportunity to carry back the purchased music by copying the music in CDs or MP3. They also help to download the music to cell phones and iPods.

Music vending machines are usually installed in pubs, stores, clubs, super markets, railway stations, universities, sub ways, gas stations etc, all over the country. They help to purchase the favorite song or piece of music, instead of buying the whole music CD. Music vending machines offer western music, pop songs, classical music, children?s songs, traditional music etc.

Music vending machines helps to make custom CDs. They have a pool of music with thousands of tracks. From the touch screen menu, the music option can be selected. In case of transferring music to CD, a few lines of the track can be heard to confirm the track. The label for the CD can also be downloaded from the pool. It can include the photographs or signature of the favorite artist.

Music vending machines are the modified versions of jukeboxes. They have music hearing post and operating computer system. Technological innovations have enabled the machines to download music using the FairPlay DRM technology or Harmony DRM conversion system.

Some music companies tie up with soft drink giants such as Coca cola and Pepsi to market integrated machines. The integrated machines offer opportunity to have soft drinks while enjoying music.

Understand and Read Piano Music

If you are trying to learn how to read piano music then the best way to do that is a little bit at a time. Do not jump into it or you will just get frustrated or intimidated. Reading piano music is not as difficult as it may seem at first. Taking small steps will get you there faster than trying to run. With a piano, you can play the most beautiful music, but in order to do that you have to learn how to read the songs you want to play.

The first thing you need to do is learn the names of the notes, and how they look when they are in music. There are only seven notes that you should know. A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. Find out what the notes look like when they are on sheet music.

Next, purchase a music book. Purchase one that is at your skill level, or a little lower, and make it one that you will enjoy the music from. Open the book to the first song, and name each note out loud. Go through it a few times and name every note that is there. Then you should play it.

Keep on playing it over and over again until you are comfortable with how well you did. Then start over again with the next song. Name the notes, then play it. Soon you will not have to name the notes because you will just know what they are.

Piano lessons can be extremely expensive, but with Instrumentmaster.com you can learn to play any instrument for a low price. You save a lot of money compared to learning from a private tutor or in a classroom.

Music Expresses Your Soul

Nothing can move a person like music.

Think about it. No matter who you are, there is at least one song, or tune, or musical phrase that stirs you every time you hear it. A fleeting bit of a popular track from when you were young. The National Anthem played at the beginning of a sporting event. A nursery rhyme your mother sang to you. The Sesame Street theme.

Music is directly connected to our subconscious. It affects us on a level that we can't control. It's not intellectual, at least not completely. No matter how complicated a symphonic movement, it's the feeling that we latch onto first. No two people can play the same song the same way. Every bit of knowledge and history, their hopes and desires, their pain and tragedy, are translated into every note they play.

Music is also conversation between the composer and the listener. This is what makes it so unique. What the listener takes away from the music may not be exactly what the composer was setting out to convey. Even if the lyrics lead you line by line through a story, the feelings stirred may be vastly different in the person receiving the information than the person projecting it.

It's this individual experience that permits music to become a part of you. You will always remember your favorite song BECAUSE of everything surrounding the first time you heard it. Where you were, what you were doing, whom you were with, what time of year, how old you were: all these factors combine to create something that is totally and exclusively yours. In a way, you will always own that song, because of your interpretation of it.

There is a notion that every piece of music is part of one great song, a collective gathering and celebration of expression. It can be viewed as everyone bringing their own thing to a party, and everyone at the party being able to enjoy it. Someone can point to a pie they baked and say, "I made that," but all the guests are able to partake. And every day, more and more people are showing up. As they come in, they bring their own thing. The new arrivals learn from what came before, but get to mix it up and add new ingredients, making something unique.

And, somewhere down the line, a new memory is born.

The Health Benefits of Listening to Music

"If music is the medicine of the soul let it play on", so said a playwright. I think the made the statement because probably he got some relieve from music. Music has some strange healing ability. Read on you will understand the picture I'm trying to paint.

Research has shown that stress can be handled by music. Music enters into the brain cells thus affecting the human brain. Medical scientists have proved that a person that is stressed out can actually listen to some kind of music and become well. How? The researchers said that since stress comes as a result of life events such as starting a new family, starting a new business, starting a new job, and relocating to a new place, one can actually listen to good music and feel good because as stress touches the human mind negatively so good music also touches the human mind positively. Music helps you to forget the stressful life events and remember the momentous events that once happened in your life.

Depression is a disease caused by so many factors including stress, alcoholic addiction, drug abuse or addiction, smoking, social problems such as unemployment, family crisis, divorce, conflict, and imprisonment. Depression is also caused by economic problems such as poverty, and failure in business. Depression is characterized by weakness, headache, confusion, and loss of concentration. Good music makes one to remember happy moments or good days; if you play music about love it makes you feel like falling in love again though you have had several heartbreaks. And such good feeling makes you healthy.

Anxiety is another health problem that can be controlled by music. Anxiety is a side effect of some major health problems such as cancer of the liver and cancer of the breast. Good music makes you feel relaxed and eliminates the pains inherited from these diseases. It removes every factor responsible for anxiety and makes you feel all right.

Cool good music helps to control your breathing and heart rate. Poor breathing rate could be as a result of lung problems such as common cold, tuberculosis, and pneumonia. Good music helps to calm down the cells and tissues that make up the lungs thereby bringing down the patient's breathing and heart rate to normal.

Good music can send you to sleep. And you need to know that sleep puts your body in a healthy condition. Sleep takes away the effects of stress, depression and anxiety from a person.

You don't have to underrate the power of good music. It performs unimaginable wonders. I think music should be classified as one of the wonders of the world. It is a universal language spoken by everyone across the world.

Play good music when you feel unhealthy and it will certainly ease off some of those nasty pains.

Music Legend Bob Dylan

I think of a hero as someone who understands the degree of responsibility that comes with freedom." This a famous quote once stated by Bob Dylan who is also known as the voice of protest. According to this quote that Dylan has stated, he should be considered a hero because of all of his influential songs that he composed. He influenced many other musicians as well as some politicians. He also helped to show his own opinion about the civil rights movements by putting his opinions in his songs. In the time that bob Dylan was a big musical artist the music he created added to rebellion music. Dylan has not only achieved a wonderful music career, but has also received many different awards. People need to realize that Bob Dylan (as well as many other musicians) have more to them then just there music.

Bob Dylan was born on May 24, 1941 in Duluth, Minnesota. He was born as Robert Allen Zimmerman or Zimmy (as a nickname to what his parents had called him). He was the older brother of his family. Bob Dylan has always wanted to be a musician even when he was a kid ever since he had taught himself how to play certain instruments. At age ten he started to teach himself to play the guitar, and only five years later when he was fifteen he learned how to play the harmonica.

When Dylan was only six years old him and his family left his childhood home and moved to Hibbling, Minnesota. This is where he would attend the Hibbling High School which he would graduate from in 1959. Though he was out of high school and he was free to continue his dream career instead he decided to further his education. In 1959 he enrolled into the University of Minnesota. Although he was eager to learn his college life did not last very long. That same year while he was still a freshman in college he dropped out of the university.

Now that he was out of college there was no more obstacles stopping him now from pursuing his lifelong dream of being a musician and the fact that he was finding life a little too boring. He just did so, on January 1961 he was headed to Chicago when he decided not to go there but to try his luck in The Big Apple also known as New York City. This is a decision that would change his life as long as his career. After finding that New York City was a little out of his price range he moved to a quieter and cheaper place called Greenwich Village. Here he started sing at clubs to make a living.

In 1965 Dylan got married to an ex-model named Shirley Noznisky. Soonly after on July 29, 1966 he was in a near fatal motorcycle accident near Woodstock, New York. As a result from the accident he suffered from a broken neck, a concussion and some lacerations. This put him into seclusion for nine months. Unfortunately in March of 1979 he divorced Shirley Noznisky.

He did get a break though, in June 4, 1986 he got married again to a Sara and later he got divorced again in 1992. He currently has five children and nine grandchildren and, is the father of the singer Jakob Dylan.

When Bob Dylan was starting to be influenced by being a musical artist he started listening to and being inspired by Hank Williams and Little Richard. His career started while singing at clubs and parties in New York. While in New York he also befriended Woody Guthrie. His career did not really take off until September 29, 1961 when Robert Shelton a critic wrote a review for the New York Times. This review helped Dylan to Get a record deal.

That same year 1961 Dylan signed a contact with Colombia Records. This deal was created by John Hammond Sr. John never gave upon Dylan, and Dylan recorded and remained with Colombia Records throughout his whole musical career. Being with Colombia Records eventually paid off when in 1965 he received his first major hit for his song"Like A Rolling Stone". Now thinking that he was someone big he decided to change things up a little by going onto stage with an electric guitar instead of an acoustic. This later resulted in him being booed off stage. The reason that he said that he changed from folk to rock is by inspiration from the Beatles.