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Memorize Piano Facts and Put Knowledge at Your Fingertips!

2005-10-16T19:51:00.000-07:00

What is holding you back from reaching your musical dreams? Most often what is holding us back from achieving our goals is the very thing we are avoiding for one reason or another. This is certainly true with learning to play the piano. Memorizing music facts for example is a great way to keep important piano knowledge at your fingertips!

If your dream is to learn to play the piano well, don’t avoid acquiring the knowledge you need to play with ease, accomplish more, and understand the music you're trying to play. Yes it’s true that memorization takes time and concentrated effort. That’s why piano students tend to avoid it. But if this is you, don’t worry. It's just a habit that can be changed. My advice for you: Just Do It Today!

Focus on your goals by committing to spend time memorizing music facts with a specific plan for covering your material. This could be things like note names, scales, chords, key signatures, Circle of 3rds, Circle of 5ths, and memorizing pieces of music.

Here’s a simple 7-step plan to help you get started by writing down your goals.

Step 1 - What music facts do you want to memorize this year?

Step 2 - What music facts do you want to memorize this month?

Step 3 - What music facts do you want to memorize this week.

Step 4 - What music facts do you want to memorize today.

Step 5 - Do it!

Step 6 - Keep doing it!

Step 7 - Every month celebrate your progress by doing something special for yourself, such as buying a new piano CD, music book, or tickets to a concert.

Follow this straight-forward plan and I guarantee that every day you’ll have more music knowledge at your fingertips then you had the day before, and be empowered with a valuable tool for achieving your musical dreams. By the end of the year you’ll wonder why you didn’t “Just Do It” sooner!

Author : Cynthia VanLandingham

Discover Piano Map to Keyboard Treasure � And Read It!

2005-10-16T19:49:00.000-07:00

To discover keyboard treasure and achieve your musical potential, imagine a globe of the earth. Visualize the northern hemisphere, the southern hemisphere, and the equator. Now visualize the city or town you live in. Your town is one location on the globe. Now visualize the grand staff of the piano. There is a top staff for the high notes, a bottom staff for the low notes, and in between the two staves is some space where you’ll find a note with a short line through it – Middle C.

Middle C is the equator of piano land. Can you guess where the North Pole of Piano Land is? Yep – the highest note on the piano keyboard. And the South Pole is the lowest note on the piano. Of course there are a lot of C’s on a full size piano (8 to be exact), but only one of those is Middle C. Just as your home town is one location on the globe, each line or space on the piano Grand Staff is one specific location, or key on the piano. So the Grand Staff is truly a map of the piano.

To discover your keyboard treasure, learn to visualize the keyboard as you are learning to read notes. If you’re not doing this, you’re wasting your time. You may know the name of a note, but if you can’t find it on the piano it won’t do you any good. Practice visualizing the piano when you play by keeping your eyes on the music instead of looking down at your hands, once you have your hand position. In this way you’ll be forced to develop a piano keyboard in your imagination.

Over time, as you learn to play in different hand positions and keys signatures, you’ll be drawing the piano keyboard in your mind. Once you are able to visualize the keyboard, you’ll have this map forever. And you can use it to discover all kinds of keyboard treasure to achieve your musical potential. Such as playing scales and chords, memorizing music, and learning music theory for piano composition. That’s a lot of musical treasure waiting for you. Start discovering it today by keeping your eyes on the piano map. And I promise you’ll never lose your way in Piano Land!

For some great resources to help your child in piano achieve their musical dreams, visit Piano Adventure Bears Learning Resources for Families You'll find a treasure box full of piano resources to create an exciting musical adventure for children. Kids love these heartwarming piano stories, games, and piano lessons featuring the Piano Adventure Bears, Mrs. Treble Beary and her piano student, Albeart Littlebud. Don't wait to give your children the gift of music!

Author : Cynthia VanLandingham

Music Aids in Studying, Concentration, Retention and Retrieval of Information

2005-10-16T19:48:00.000-07:00

Research has shown that music aids in absorption, retention and retrieval of information.

Try playing classical music as background music while your child when he is studying or doing home work. It helps him to concentrate, focus and memorize facts easier.

At home, we play smoothing music in the background when our daughter (41/2 year old at point of writing) when she is doing mental work like maths and puzzles. She perform a lot better as compared to the time when no music is played.

Also, I played music for our 8-month-old son when he cried or get irritated for no reason. The moment when the music is played, he calmed down immediately and even tapped his hands and feet. Music really has a powerful effect on human brain.

Below is a list of music that I highly recommend to parents:

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Mozart for Your Mind - this CD contains the Piano Concerto in D used in the University of California, Irvine, study to enhance spatial-temporary reasoning

Concerto for Piano No. 18 in B-flat Major
Concerto for Piano No. 23 in A Major
Concerto for Violin No. 5 in A Major
Symphony in A Major
Symphony No 40 in G Minor
Symphony No 35 in D Major, "Haffner"
Symphony No D Major, Prague

Johannes Brahms
Concerto for Violin, D Major, Op 77

Arcangelo Corelli
Concerti Grossi, Op 2,4,5,8,10,11,12

Johann Sebastian Bach
Brandenburg Concertos
Fantasy for Organ in G Major
Fantasy in C Minor
Perlude and Fugue in G Major
Organ Fugue in E Flat Major

Ludwig Wan Beethoven
Emperor Concerto for Piano, No 5
Violin Cncerto in D

George Frideric Handel
Water Music
Concerto for Organ B-flat Major, Op.7,6

Joespeh Haydn
Concerto No 1 for Violin
Concerto No. 2 for Violin
Symphony No. 101, The Clock
Symphony No.94 in G Major

Peter Ilyich Thaikovsk
Concerto for Violin, Op 35
Concerto for Piano, No.1

Antonio Vivaldi
The Four Seasons, No. 8 (my personal favorite)

Author : Alvin Poh Hee Kwang

Music Software 101

2005-10-16T19:45:00.000-07:00

Which Music Software Programs Fit Your Needs?

Want to find out how to listen to all your favorite songs whenever you want? If so, you’ll want to learn more about music software and how you can install some programs onto your computer. Here are some descriptions of some basic music software programs you will want to learn more about:

CD Ripper

A CD Ripper program allows you to convert tracks from a compact disc to your mp3 player, or onto your computer. You can make your own mp3s from audio CDs, so that you make your own song selections. You can also convert batches of WAV decoded files at a time to mp3 files on the CD Ripper, and if you want to download this program onto your computer, you’ll need to have Microsoft Windows 95, 98, or 2000, and a CD-ROM drive. For most CD Ripper programs, you can try a free download first before purchasing the product.

Audio Editors

If you are into recording and creating your own music, an audio editor program may be a good investment. An audio editor program allows you to save your own studio sessions or songs to modify later. Most include a metronome (to keep music and vocals in rhythm) and an audio mixer. The mixer allows you to adjust different music track settings like tone, pitch or volume. On some programs you can even ‘beat match’ between tracks, thus allowing for a smoother transition between songs. One audio editing program you may want to try is Blaze Media Pro, a program which is also a CD burner and converter. And, if you’re recording a large file, most audio editors will be able to support your files with no problem at all. If you are using a multi-track editor, one thing to keep in mind is whether your sound card and memory capabilities are up to the task of handling large volumes of songs,.

Although most audio editor programs are commercial (and not freeware) and have a standard price tag, you can receive free trials for audio editor programs as well. Be aware of the memory and sound card requirements as designated by the company who produces the software. Depending on who makes the software, it may be available for Windows XP, Windows 98, ME, 2000 and even Mac OSX.

Author : Mansi Aggarwal

How to Maintain a Drum Set

2005-10-16T19:43:00.000-07:00

It is full of fun to play a drum but at the same time one must take care of the drum set. There are few steps to maintain a drum set and one can easily follow them. The following steps are listed below:

1. One must not forget to detune your drums slightly before packing up, especially in more humid conditions. This preserves the life of the heads and allows them maintain their elasticity.

2. Don't miss Drum Bum's drum tab database.

3. When you change your drumheads, write the date in small numbers off to the side of each head. This will help you know how long it's been since the last time it's been changed. Remember that there is no specific period of time to gauge when you should replace your heads. It should depend on how they sound (feel), how hard you hit and how often you play.

4. Simply tape 4 or 5 pennies to the back of a 5" strip of duct tape (about 1" wide) and tape it to the bell of your ride. This will allow your cymbal to sizzle as if it had rivets in it.

5. One must remember the local library as a rich resource of information about drums, drum set, miscellaneous drum things and overall percussion. So one must keep in contact with them to maintain a drum set.

6. It is also very necessary to clean the drum set from time to time. It is cleaned by sandpaper. Sometimes comet used for this use. If that scares you, then try dish soap and water with a heavy nylon scrub brush. A cheap old hair brush with thick wiry bristles works great. Best type of maintenance is always wiping your cymbals down before storing them away. If you still have the plastic bag that your cymbal came in, put the cymbal in the bag before putting it in your case. This helps to keep gunk off the cymbal while it's being stored and helps prevent the cymbals from wearing each other down as they're bounced around during travel.

For more more information about drums please visit http://www.learn-to-play-the-drum.com

Author : Peter Lenkefi

How to Buy a Used or New Drum

2005-10-16T19:41:00.000-07:00

Before buying a new or a used drum sets one should remember the points given:

1. Bass Drum: This instrument uses one head to be struck. The open side of the bass drum allows the user to place a "sound absorption" blanket to kill lengthy resonation.

2. Support Rods: Four of these metal rods keep the drum in place as it is hit by the mallet head on the end of the foot pedal.

3. Foot Pedal: This attaches to the floor side of the head-rim to allow the foot maximum flexibility of tempo and dynamics of soft and loud.

4. Snare Drum: This circular shell is 5 1/2" deep and 14" in diameter. It fits on a stand and sits between the knees of the seated player. It is encased by 2 skin or plastic heads secured by clamps and screw-bolt devices called "lugs". The top head is struck with the drum sticks or brushes. The bottom head has a 1 1/2" wide collection of adjustable parallel metal wires. These are the "snares" and can be loosened or tightened by a threaded bolt device called a "strainer". These snares vibrate sympathetically when the top head is struck. They can be disabled using a "trigger switch" located on the side of the snare shell.

5. Sticks: Two round sticks 12 - 14" in length each with a small and a large end. The "tip" is the small end. The "butt" is the large end. The tip is used to produce sound more often than the butt.

6. Brushes: Six to eight inches of "fan-shaped" wires extend from the end of a storage tube. These produce a very light weight sound when used on the snare drum or the cymbal.

7. Adjustable stool: The drummer uses this for seating comfort and height adjustment. It's often called a "throne".

8. Ride Cymbal: This can be as large as 19" in diameter and $260 in cost.

9. Crash Cymbal: This can be a 10" diameter cymbal and $160 in cost.

10. High Hat Cymbal: A floor-stand holds two horizontal cymbals that are brought together using a foot pedal.

11. Cymbal Stands: Most stands rest on the floor.

12. Toms: These are like a drum without snares. A floor tom can be 14" in diameter and 14" deep. Two smaller toms are often attached to the top of the hoop-rim of the bass drum. .

One must also take care of the following points before purchasing a drum: 1. Avoid getting carried away by visions of "soloistic flight."

2. A fancy demonstration of percussion skill by a salesperson should not be the main reason for making a purchase.

3. Glitter, lacquer and external finish are the least important factors when purchasing a drum set.

4. Learn to listen well to the sounds that are produced.

For more more information about drums please visit http://www.tama-drum.com

Author : Peter Lenkefi

Piano Artistry - Painting Pictures of Sound in the Ear

2005-10-16T19:35:00.000-07:00

Do you appreciate a simple beam of light shining on the side walk, or imagine how a photograph will look as you frame your subject in the camera’s lens and snap the picture? If so you have the creative gift of observation. Piano artists learn to observe with their ear.

Piano sheet music is no more than ink blots on paper. So how does a professional pianist or a piano student transform this into a beautiful picture of sound? The same way a painter does, with brushes! Yep, there are lots of different brushes available to a pianist, as well as hues of color. Piano artistry includes a palette of playing styles, rhythms and techniques to tell and illustrate musical stories.

Music always has a story to tell. The Russian Sailor Dance for example is a traditional physical endurance test sailors perform to music in a minor key. It has a steady march beat famous for repeated notes. It’s not a happy tune, but it helps sailors impress girls with their physical strength. It’s the one where they bend their knees and kick out one foot at a time to the music with their arms crossed over their chests. Get the picture? It’s awesome! Now imagine military Muscovites in Red Square performing their traditional dance to a waltz. It just wouldn’t produce the same affect! Outraged Russians girls would protest. “Hey mates, what gives? If we were impressed by a waltz, we'd marry dancing bears!”

Pianists and other musicians tell stories illustrated with music that has the power to bring history back to life and touch the hearts of people everywhere. Just imagine what the movie Star Wars would be like without music?

If you’re a piano student who wants to play with more artistry and style, ask “What’s the story that I’m trying to tell with this piece of music? Am I conveying the right picture? How could I get this message across to an audience more clearly?” Experiment with different playing styles and techniques until you find the one that tells the story best. Remember you’re not just the piano player. You’re also the artist and the director. Learn to observe with your ear and snap the right picture!

For terrific resources to help your children in piano achieve their musical dreams, visit Piano Adventure Bears Learning Resources for Families! You’ll find a treasure box full of piano resources to create an exciting musical adventure for children. Kids love these heartwarming piano stories, games, and piano lessons featuring the Piano Adventure Bears, Mrs. Treble Beary and her piano student, Albeart Littlebud. Don’t wait to give your child the gift of music!

Author : Cynthia VanLandingham

Dont Be Afraid of Melody

2005-10-16T19:33:00.000-07:00

In New Age piano music, there are basically two styles - textural and melodic. The textural style is usually associated with George Winston where you hear beautiful backgrounds created by the left hand while the right improvises melody.

The melodic style popularized by David Lanz, places melody at the forefront.

Many students fall in love with the textural side of New Age piano and while there is nothing wrong at all with this, it's also a good idea to not put melody off to the side. It's a very good idea to familiarize yourself with both aspects of New Age piano playing.

For example, the piece "Egrets" focuses mostly on melody. In fact, the first thing you hear is the theme, which is, repeated two times more after the introduction. It's a simple theme that most would say is "New Age." In the lesson piece Cirrus, we have something entirely different! We have textures created by broken chords. Melody is not playing the lead role here. In fact, there really is no discernible melody at all - although there really is no music without melody - (a whole new topic!)

While I'm the first person to say play what you feel and don't try and force yourself into playing something that's not your personal aesthetic, I'm also an advocate of not brushing off something completely just because it's not "your thing."

Leaning how to create pieces with melody at the forefront is a skill that will come in handy whether you enjoy this side of New Age piano or not.

Author : Edward Weiss

Funerary Bagpiping: a Guide for Ceremonial Bagpipers

2005-10-16T19:31:00.000-07:00

Funerals are often highly emotionally charged events. Especially when children, friends, or family are involved, you must to be able to maintain sufficient clinical detachment to get the job done, or else get someone else to pipe for you. I always try to have the first couple of bars of the next tune running through my mind before my cue to strike in. Find a spot in the distance to visually focus on, concentrate on your tune, and focus on steady, rhythmic timing, to the exclusion of all other sights and sounds. More than any other, you should know you’re funerary repertoire so well that you can play them in your sleep.

Make absolutely sure of your location. Don’t blithely trust the funeral home, and don’t trust driving-direction map web sites. I’ve looked up an obscure cemetery on the Internet, knew the directions given were incorrect, and did some more checking. At the appointed time I was at graveside; the hearse and limousine ended up in front of an antique store downtown. Make sure that you allow yourself plenty of time to negotiate traffic, road construction, lane closures, accidents, detours, etc., and still arrive with plenty of time to tune up and get ready. Most cemeteries will have a marquee at the main entrance and signposts with the decedent’s name directing you to the gravesite. I know of one that’s color-coded (“Smith: blue”, with blue arrows for the Smith funeral). Some municipal cemeteries might not have anything at all. If there’s no signage and no office or caretaker, look for the guys with a backhoe; they’ll know who’s being interred where today.

If you’re piping at a National cemetery, they are often very busy and working on strict timelines. You may be restricted to one or possibly two tunes; no twenty minute piobaireachds. Check in at the main gate; they can tell you where your funeral cortège will form up. You can ask to be allowed to precede the cortège to join the honor guard at the site; maybe they’ll let you, maybe they won’t. Tune up as best as you can at the main entrance, because you’ll have no chance to do so on site. Tune to a “cold” reed; so that when you first strike in you’re in tune with no warm-up. Clear the area as soon as possible afterwards, as there’s usually another funeral cortège lined up ready and waiting to go right behind yours.

Dress like you’re going to a funeral. Brush your coat, shine your shoes, and polish your brass. The funeral director and their associates will all be in coats and ties, the officiant will be in a coat and tie (or collar), most if not all of the male mourners will be in coats and ties. Shirtsleeves will be interpreted by many (quite possibly including the family) as indicative of a lack of respect. The funeral director will most certainly see it this way, and when it comes to opportunities for repeat business, you can bet that they will take that into account. If it’s a long drive to the cemetery or church, consider wearing a pair of shorts and put on your kilt upon arrival; your pleats will be much more presentable. Don’t wear a Prince Charlie & bow tie unless the rest of the funeral party is in tuxedos and evening gowns.

Remember; absolutely nobody in the funeral party wants to hear you tune; you must be as fully tuned up as you ever will be well before the flower car arrives. Tune up in the environment where you will be playing, after your pipes have had a chance to acclimate. Here in Florida, the heat and humidity outdoors will sharpen the heck out of my chanter, so there’s no sense even trying to tune until it’s reached ambient temperature. Obviously, you need to get to the gravesite with plenty enough time for this to occur; driving to the cemetery with the A/C off and the windows down helps speed this process. Tune quickly to a “cold” reed; essentially mimicking the conditions under which you will play. If you warm up with a few sets first before tuning and then set your pipes aside to await your cue, your drones will be very sharp to your chanter when you strike in to perform before your audience. Try to avoid playing inside an air-conditioned church and then again outside at the gravesite; the radical change in temperature and humidity will positively wreck your tuning. When I play a Catholic church service where I won’t be invited to pipe during mass, I pipe the casket in from the hearse, then my pipes and I sit outside on a bench until mass is over, when I pipe the casket back out again. Yes, it’s hot, but at least my pipes are still relatively in tune.

If I'm contracted to pipe, I pipe; rain or shine. If it was considered important enough by the family to arrange for a piper at the graveside, it should damn well be important enough to me to ensure that their loved one is properly memorialized in accordance to their wishes to the best of my ability, regardless of weather. I oil my drones twice a year and use only waxed hemp; my tuning slides have a layer of Teflon tape over the hemp as well. I play them almost every day (if nothing else it keeps the moisture content of the wood stable) and I've never had a joint swell or lock up on me. I use a polypenco chanter on rainy days; cane chanter reeds can go quite flat in a heavy rain, so you may have to screw it in accordingly. If I lived in an area where playing in the rain was more frequently an issue, I’d consider a plastic Clanrye chanter reed for my wet weather chanter; what they lack in tone would be more than compensated for in this situation by stable tuning. You may also need to open up your drone reeds a bit, as they may tend to shut off in the rain, especially inverted bass reeds. A good Inverness coat is an absolute necessity; for standing in the mud I wear a pair of cheap (but well polished) second-hand thrift-store wingtips instead of my expensive bulled-up ghillies, and rather than risk one of my expensive tailor-made wool kilts I've a cheap EBay “foul weather” kilt to wear on nasty days outdoors (they can only see a flash of the apron when wearing a greatcoat anyway). Towel off your drones once you’re back in the car, and thoroughly swab out and dry off everything when you get home, then leave everything disassembled to air-dry. If you’ve a zipper bag, open it up, and remove any water trap or moisture control gear. Do not under any circumstances use a hair dryer or heater to quickly dry your pipes; the rapid change in moisture content and temperature will result in uneven forces of expansion and contraction that can split your drones into kindling! Hang up your kilt & jacket to air-dry thoroughly before putting them away; putting them in a dark closet even slightly damp is a sure-fire recipe for mold.

When it’s not raining it’s very hot here; uncover, leave your coat off until the last minute, stay in the shade as much as possible, and keep well hydrated. I look for a spot about 20-30 paces away from the gravesite at about a 45o angle from the mourners where I can be plainly seen, preferably to the opposite side of the lectern (if any), and preferably under the shade of a tree. Don’t stand behind the mourners, or on the far side of the casket. Always play facing the casket and funeral party.

Once you’ve scouted your position, wait where you can see the entrance and keep a sharp eye out; around here the first vehicle you see will usually be a flower car/service car/van carrying the flowers, usually preceding the funeral cortège by (hopefully) at least 5-10 minutes. Now’s the time to put on your coat, straighten your tie, and get in position. From this moment onward, you are actively engaged in one of the must solemn events in a family’s life; the final farewell to someone’s beloved child, parent, sister or brother. Whatever you do in the next fifteen or twenty minutes those family members will remember for years to come; you’ve got just one chance to get it right. Respect, courtesy, and consideration must be reflected in every aspect of your speech, demeanor, and deportment from the very first moment you sight the funeral cortège entering the cemetery until you’re in your alone in car and well past it’s gates on your journey home, or you simply don’t belong there.

In this part of the country, the first car to pull in is almost always the “lead car”; a sedan with an amber light bar on top, carrying the funeral director and possibly the clergy. When there’s no lead car, the first one in the procession will be the hearse. I stand by the roadside at attention, a couple of yards towards the entrance to the cemetery from the cemetery truck (the cart for the casket, where the back of the hearse will stop), and lower my drones as the hearse passes (keep an eye out for the cortège taking a route through the cemetery you didn’t expect, and adapt accordingly. An American hearse is about 21 feet long, and they’ll avoid making sharp turns). If the hearse is flying American flags and/or the casket is draped in an American flag, place your hand over your heart as it passes. The immediate family will be directly behind the hearse in the limousine and will plainly see whether or not you render proper respect.

Immediately go over and briefly coordinate with the officiant. All they want to know is what you’re going to play and when. Whenever possible, I use liturgical names for tunes; for instance, “Go Silent Friend” instead of “Danny Boy”. Semantics, I know, but it makes ministers and particularly priests happy; people with whom I’d like to foster a good working relationship; again, it’s a matter of respect. On some occasions, it may help to ensure that the family’s wishes are carried out without some ecclesiastic debate over what constitutes “proper” liturgical music. I ask the officiant, when they have completed their committal service, to please turn and nod to me when they’re ready for the hymn (like it or not, usually “Amazing Grace”). Remember; you’re probably out of earshot and won’t be able to hear when the benediction’s over, so you’ll need a visual cue of some sort. I ask the funeral director to do precisely the same thing, just in case. Funeral or wedding, playing solo is different than playing in a band. Always start off on the first note of the tune; do not sound an E “pick-up” note like you do in a band setting. Also, funerary marches are played much slower than normal, about 60 beats per minute, so take care not to rush and run away with it.

My typical funeral service starts immediately as the funeral party exits their vehicles with a processional to the gravesite, usually a lament. If the gravesite is any distance from the hearse, I’ll usually lead the casket and pallbearers, detouring off to my pre-selected site once I reach the graveside. The casket will be rolled or carried feet first, and set with the feet towards the east. On a mechanical lowering device, you’ll see a stop at one end of the rollers; that’s where the foot goes, and the casket will be loaded from the other end. Once reaching the gravesite, try to keep watch out of the corner of your eye, and plan your route to stay out of the way of the casket team. Practice slow marching to tunes like “Going Home” or “Foggy Dew” (“I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say”); not only does it add an air of formality and ceremony; it’ll help you maintain the proper tempo. However, if it’s raining or they’re carrying a particularly heavy casket, walk, or you’re likely to be bypassed or run over. Similar to weddings, practice cutting a processional short with a proper dénouement so the officiant can get on with the service once everyone’s seated. I usually remain at pipes up, watching the officiant carefully for signs that they’re about to conclude their service. Pay attention; do not under any circumstances miss your cue!

If the casket is flag draped and they haven’t an honor guard, I offer beforehand to pipe “Taps” for them. I ask the funeral director to have their attendants raise the flag over the casket, at attention with eyes front. When the flag comes taut, that’s my visual cue to pipe “Taps”. This is almost invariably the very last part of the committal ceremony, after the service and hymn (if any). I personally think “Taps” sounds best piped very simply with a minimum of embellishment; no need to guild the lily. Also, the way you may of heard it in the movies isn’t the way it’s played in the military; practice matching the timing of a recording of a military bugler. If I’ve not been asked to pipe a retreat or recessional, I come to pipes down and parade rest, and remain until the funeral party has begun to disperse; do not race off and jump in your car. If the family and not the funeral home contracted me, I do my best not to let the funeral director get away without some of my business cards in their pocket.

Author : Emmet Bondurant

MP3 Encoding Technology

2005-10-16T19:28:00.000-07:00

The MP3 is a complete godsend for anyone who enjoys and appreciates good music. Not only does it afford users the convenience of purchasing music online and ripping from purchased CDs, it also provides the utmost ease in portability. There are more MP3 players on the market than I can name. These players allow you to download hundreds and in some cases thousands of MP3’s to take along with you anywhere. I create MP3 CD’s containing up to 120 of my favorite songs for my listening pleasure in my car. But how can so many audio files get stored on my 800MB (Megabyte) CD?

MP3 Encoders and MP3 converters are the software that creates MP3s by using an MP3 compression and decompression algorithm. For example, an average 3 minute WAV file can be as large as 15MB. Using MP3 encoders and MP3 converters, a large WAV file can be cut down to a much smaller and more portable MP3 file of about 3MB.

MP3 stands for MPEG Audio Layer 3. At layer 3, psychoacoustics principles are used to find and remove all unnecessary sound data, leaving behind only the crucial audio data. By unnecessary sound data I mean all of the stuff that we humans don’t hear anyway. Most people can’t hear sounds above 16 kHz so why would you want it hogging your disk or hard drive space? Non-music audio such as speeches, sermons, audio books and comedy albums, can be reduced even less based on this.

Compression occurs after the essential data has been separated from the redundant data. At this stage, the same amount of data can be stored using fewer bits and less space. The bit rate is the ratio of the number of bits transferred between two devices per second. The higher the bit rate, the higher the sound quality. The lower the bit rate ratio, the lower the sound quality. 192 Kb/s is the most popular bit rate used in peer-to-peer networks. For the most part, MP3 converters and encoders today use variable bit rates. This allows for much better quality audio because the bit rate conforms to the dynamics of the audio frames being stored which in turn keeps more of the important music data.

There are dozens of MP3 compressor and encoder software programs available online and at stores. Some of the main encoding engines are: LAME, Blade Enc, Fraunhofer Encoders and Xing. Deciding which MP3 encoding engine technology is right for you depends on your individual needs and preferences. Blaze Media Pro is an excellent option if you're looking for a powerful, yet easy to use, all-in-one multimedia solution.

Author : Mansi Aggarwal

Upcoming Band! Snish The Best in South London!

2005-10-16T19:25:00.000-07:00

Rather than the ambience created when a dodgy duo under the collective title Jim and Bob play keyboard covers at your local, here there was an air of professionalism. Maybe it was the Mean Fiddler, an irrefutably prestigious venue for unsigned bands to play, or maybe the number of AnR milling aroundthe bar. The Fresh Sounds showcase has become a regular affair at the Mean Fiddler, offering unsigned artists the opportunity to prove their worth on a decent stage.

First to do so were Bromley quartet Snish. With this being their biggest gig to date, it’s unsurprising that the band seems somewhat nervous, however frontman Josh exudes a confidence which has been a constant focal point in earlier shows. Their blend of poundingly prominent bass lines with an extremely talented guitarist in Andrew Matthews gave them a promising edge. Compared with their confusingly diverse earlier shows, a much more honed style was displayed, finally giving way to where the band’s strengths lie.

The better named Honeycube should've felt quite at home on stage given their seven year track record of gigging, yet vocalist and guitarist Joe endearingly declared his nervousness from the outset. A faster paced and all round heavier set almost hinting at a Hardcore style ensued to a rapturous reception, despite occasional wobbly notes and mis-harmonisation between Honeycube’s vocal duo. Their extensive period together certainly shone through and alludes to something quite special.

The members of Chapter were bouncing around amongst the audience all evening, and looked only too pleased to finally spring on stage. A blistering opener sets the band’s musical talents in context, complemented by their not unreasonable confidence. Scott (drums) seems rather fond of his bass pedal which makes a royal appearance during a solo, yet the fact remains that Chapter is an extremely tight foursome where all things rhythmic are concerned. Just as the mundanity started to creep into their rather generic style of Metal, the band launched into ‘Remember’, which bears a remarkable resemblance to the seasonally-apt ‘Simply Having A Wonderful Christmas Time’ by Paul McCartney. A particularly receptive audience was impressed by tonight’s showcase - and not irrationally either - there really is an inkling of talent across South London.

Author : Martin Cooper

What to Look for in an Online Guitar Course

2005-10-16T19:23:00.000-07:00

The internet has opened up many opportunities to have information transferred around the world. One of the more recent developments on the internet has been the proliferation of ‘how to’ websites trying to sell their programs online. This article will focus on this and particularly on learning how to play guitar sites.

The first things that you should think about when you are looking into learning the guitar are your goals and ambitions. It is important to develop are clear vision about where you want to go. This could be a dream of rock stardom or just simply having the goal to be able to play a few simple songs.

There are many ways you can go about learning the guitar. You could try and learn the songs of your favorite band go to a guitar teacher or go online and find an online course. I personally think just going out and learning songs is not the best way to go. The reason for this is that you will not learn systematically. Also you will only learn the techniques used in one genre of music. This can lead to you having a narrow set of skills.

I think going to a guitar teacher is a good idea as it is good to have someone who can lead you though the process to become a good guitarist. However constant practice with a teacher can be expensive. For this reason many people are moving towards buying online guitar teaching packages. I personally thing going this route is the way to go. These days there are many affordable and comprehensive packages available online.

So if you are going to purchase an online lessons program what should you look for? Like I said there are a lot of good products out there, but there are also some duds. For this reason I will give you some things to look for when deciding what to buy when you are in the market for an online learning product.

I think the most important part of any guitar learning system is that it is systematic. An online guitar course should be able to replace a teacher and for this reason it needs to put in place a systematic learning program so you can become a complete player.

Teaching all the important chords is a very important thing for any guitarist to learn. Chords form the basis of nearly all guitar music. For the beginner learning chords is a critical part of developing a comprehensive skill base. Chords are also relatively easy to learn and for this reason you can build up a reasonable repertoire without to much difficultly. Like I said chords are the building bocks for not only most guitar music, but even non-guitar music is usually based around chords.

Focusing on rhythm is critical because all instruments use rhythm. If you can develop a good sense of rhythm your playing will become more developed. Any course that develops your rhythm is valuable. Rhythm can be difficult to learn so it can be hard to find a course that clearly teaches rhythm. Rhythm is often overlooked when purchasing a lesson course. For this reason I would recommend you look into the way rhythm is taught on any course you are interested in. Honestly I don’t think you need a course that has a lot of songs. You can go to www.harmonycentral.com and you will be able to nearly any well known song on guitar. For this reason it is not necessary to find a course that provides a lot of different Tabs.

So when you are shopping around for an online course take some time to think about the factors that I have briefly gone over here. Also don’t forget you are individual and you should look for something that will also suit you as an individual.

Just a quick note on the Jamorama program; when I was first researching this piece I could only find two lessons review sites that were constantly updated. These were http://www.guitarlessonsreview.com/ and http://www.learnguitar2day.com/ ; as both of these sites recommended Jamorama I went to website and checked it out. At www.jamorama.com you can find some free lessons to see if you think the course will suit you. If you like it they will ask you to pay but you can trial the program for free so it is worth checking out.

Ben Edwards has been playing the guitar for more than 12 years. He has been involved in the music industry for 6 years. He has worked as a session musician recording in some of the world’s best recording studios. Ben has also written and co-producing two full length studio albums, and he has toured internationally and shared the stage with many top international acts.

Author : Ben Edwards

The World Is Full Of Great Guitar Solos

2005-10-16T19:20:00.000-07:00

Do you have a favourite guitar solo? You know, one that sends a cold chill down the back of your neck? One, that for some unknown reason seems to fit the song so perfectly that you couldn't imagine any other guitar solo being played in that song? I bet you have a few you could mention. I'm going to list five all time classic solos that influenced me when I was starting out. See what you think.

Something by George Harrison - A beautiful solo for a beautiful song. I heard a story that the final solo used on the Abbey Road album was actually a mix of a few solos George had recorded. There is no doubting that he excelled himself on this song. It just goes to show that sometimes the simplest of licks will suffice. Thanks for the memories George....

All Right Now by Paul Kossoff - An absolute classic rock solo!!. A composition within itself you might say. This solo features no right hand tapping, no full throttle speed licks and no wammy bar heroics. Instead we have a brilliantly constructed solo with a definite beginning, middle and end. Check out the way Paul gently pulls the listener in by using a couple of licks to introduce the solo and then builds up to a fantastic ending. This solo is a prime example of how to play a great rock solo.

All Along The Watchtower by Jimi Hendrix - Jimi plays Dylan. This is probably one of my all time favourites. This is one of those solos that I really do not want to analyse. I just want to sit back, listen and enjoy. To be honest, there are many of Jimi solos I could have included in this but, to me, this one is simply outstanding. It's one I never, ever tire of listening to. Each and every time it just blows me away. The whole feeling of this track is just amazing.

Cliffs Of Dover by Eric Johnson - This is a prime example of great technique being mixed with a great feel for the music being played. As with Jimi, there are many Eric Johnson tracks I could have chosen. I decided on this one because it was the first thing I ever heard Eric Johnson play. Back in the mid to late 80's Guitar Player magazine included it as a freebie flexidisc in one of its issues. I loved it then and I love it now. If you haven't heard this track check it out as soon as you can.

I'm Goin' Home by Alvin Lee - A song by helicopter! This is just plain old rock n' roll from the wonderful Alvin Lee. I've chosen this one because it was a big favourite of mine when I was first starting to play. It is raw, exciting, and it makes you want to play. I remember being knocked out by the sheer speed of Alvin's fingers when I first heard this one. A gem from one of the greats.

Obviously there are many great solos I have had to miss from this list. Who could forget, Django Reinhardt's Nuages, Larry Carlton's Kid Charlemagne, Elliott Randall's Reeling In The Years, Brian May's Bohemian Rhapsody, Eddie Van Halen's Beat it, Albert Lee's Country Boy, Bert Jansch's Angie, David Gilmour's Comfortably Numb, Jimmy Page's Stairway To Heaven, Steve Vai's For The Love Of God, Eric Clapton's Sunshine Of Your Love, Brian Setzer's I Won't Stand In Your Way, Mason Williams' Classical Gas, Jimi's Little Wing, Chet Atkins' Yakety Axe, Scotty Moore's That's All Right Mama.....etc...etc....etc.... The list goes on and on.

The five I chose were important to me in my early years as a player. If compiling the same list next week, I might come up with something completely different. My tastes have changed over the years and I am sure they will continue to do so.

What five guitar solos would you list and why?

http://www.jack-sky.com

Author : Peter Jones

Self Home Recording Vs Paying a Recording Studio

2005-10-16T19:16:00.000-07:00

Back in the old days (around 'Nam) recording at home was a new miracle. You could actually hit record on a device and capture sound in your own home. Your eyes would light up just like Thomas Edison did when he first invented audio recording. Fast forward to 2005. It's now completely affordable to outfit a fully functional recording rig in your home for the price of a high quality, American made guitar. While the price of getting into home recording is much cheaper than it has ever been before, it's still a lot of money. Is setting up a small studio worth the price? What are the pitfalls of trying to record yourself? Would you be better off just paying a professional recording studio to do the job for you? Hopefully, I'll answer these questions and more.

What It Takes

You are going to need a lot of knowledge, gear, time, and patience before jumping into the recording studio world. I was a computer nerd half done with a degree in electronics when I jumped into the recording world. I understood electronic basics and had run live sound numerous times. I totally understood how to operate a mixer/console. So all I had to do was jump into the recording portion, right? ....Well, it turned out that there was quite a learning curve to go from an empty room to the creative process (which is the fun part) and walk out with a finished cd in hand.

I had no idea how much time I would spend cursing Windows audio drivers, failed hard drives, out of sync audio files, clicks and pops, unwanted distortion, etc. Truth be told, I went from an average computer user to a computer master in that couple of monthes it took me to work out all the kinks in my system. That's right. It took me a few monthes before I was ready to record my first band. It was that tough. That was in 2001. Maybe things are easier now. I'm guessing that you'll still have quite a road in front of you.

After you get your rig fully operational, you are still going to have to learn the software. I would HIGHLY recommend that you buy a DVD and a book to teach you the software that you intend to use. I could have saved myself hundreds of hours of headaches if I would have just read the stupid manual and had a little instruction. I learned a lot by tinkering (which may be your nature too) but there is no point in learning things the hard way if you don't have to. On my very first recording session, I had my manual in my lap. You could only imagine how stressful it can be if you have 5 guys staring at you while you desperately push buttons on something you barely understand. I'd say it took me a good 3 monthes of everyday tinkering before I felt comfortable using the software for basic recording. Keep in mind that I wasn't trying anything advanced here. No crazy editing, no fancy automation. In fact, I had very little understanding of audio when it came down to early reflections and multi-tap delays. I'm talking about just getting the stupid song onto the computer.

Okay, so I've kind of prepped you on how the learning curve required for recording music. Let's talk about the gear.

These days, it's a waste of time to use the stand alone recorders you see in the mail order company catalogs. While these boxes promise to have everything you need to record your demo (and they usually do) the learning curve requirements are astounding. Yes, I just wrote an entire section on how tough it was to learn computer recording. However, there is a big difference between the learning curve of computer audio and the learning curve of stand alone recorders. When you learn computer knowledge, that knowledge is useful on just about every computer on the planet. (I've kept myself from starving a number of times with my computer knowledge which I mostly attribute to recording). Also, computer recording software generally uses a mixer that is a fairly close simulation of the real thing. The concepts stay the same. When you are using the stand alone recorders, you end up learning to hold E1 + Function + Menu to get to Aux send page. Why do you need a page for aux send? Anyway, I've had several friends who have used these boxes and don't know anything about audio. They spent all their time learning this foreign language that will be obsolete as soon as the record is. In summary, I highly recommend that you go with a computer for your digital recordings.

Okay, so you need a computer. The good news is you don't need a very fast one by today's standards. In fact, I built my recording computer for about $300 and it's overkill. I need a faster computer than most because I do more projects than most. It makes a difference when I'm rendering down mixes that I can do it twice as fast because I have too many songs to mix on a given day. I don't have 3 minutes to sit around and wait for the computer to think.

On top of the computer, you'll need a soundcard. I recommend a soundcard with a breakout box. This means that a cable will actually come out of the back of your computer and connect to a box where your audio connections are made. Setups with breakout boxes are almost always preferred. In fact, I ownly know of one professional audio company that doesn't rely on a breakout box for their computer interphases. I do not recommend Sound Blaster and those sorts. We are not playing games or watching DVDs. We are recording music. The demands are certainly not the same. You will find many Firewire and PCI soundcards in the mail order catalogs that work great. Pay special attention to the number of inputs and optional preamps. This is important. You may only need 2 inputs for your recording. In fact, most projects I do seldom use more than 2 channels 90% of the time. Of course, the other 10% of the time we may be using 19 or 20 channels. If you are recording electronic music and only plan on doing a few overdubs with vocals or the occasional instrument, 2 channels will probably work fine. If you plan on recording your entire 4 piece rock band live with rock drums you are going to need at least 10 inputs (maybe more). So plan ahead and figure out how many mics you plan to use at once.

Next, you need preamps. Preamps boost the signal of a microphone up to line level and are pretty much required. Preamps are usually the top knob on the mixer of your PA. You'll need one preamp for every microphone you plan on using at one time. You'll want to have the same number of preamp channels as you do inputs on your soundcard. There are many soundcards that come with preamps. There are many many external preamps that CAN improve you sound quality just slightly. If all else fails, use the preamps in your PA mixer. If your mixer uses inserts you can split the signal right off the preamp by only pushing in the cable half way. I'm referring to the cable that goes out of your preamp and into your soundcard.

Next you'll need mic stands. There aren't too many cases where you don't need a mic stand. You have to be very very careful with mic stands. If you buy a supercheap mic stand, you may have problems with the mic changing it's position in the middle of a session. The results can be absolutely horrible. So buy decent mic stands. $30 per stand is a reasonable low budget stand. I would not recommend that you spend any less on a mic stand.

Next is microphones. This is where it gets fun. There are so many to choose from and there are so many tonal options. You'll want as many mics as you have preamp channels and soundcard channels (or you went overkill on preamps / soundcards). Choosing microphones is beyond the scope of this article. You can spend $50 on a mic or you can spend $3000 on a mic and you have no way of knowing which will sound better on a given source. This is a severely big deal when it comes to recording and it's one major area that seperates the men from the boys, so to speak. Home recording studios usually have terrible mic selections to choose from.

The most important piece of gear in your studio is your studio monitors. If you try to use a boombox you will be very dissapointed when you burn a cd and try to show mom on another stereo system. Of course, you'll probably be dissapointed even if you have a $10,000 set of studio monitors because your acoustics will be all wrong in you room and even still you probably haven't mixed enough songs to be any good at actually mixing.

Okay, I've outlined what goes into recording your cd. Guess what, any decent studio has all of this taken care of you. Do you know about audio latency in XP? Do you know anything about room nodes? The studio guy probably does. That's how he makes his living.

So when you walk into a professional recording studio ran by a serious engineer who cares about your music, you can expect to focus on one thing... the recording of your music. You don't have to wonder about the specs of the computer, the cables connecting the preamps and the soundcard. You don't have to worry about wasting huge amounts of time while the bass player stares at a mess of cables. You don't have to buy the mess of cables. In fact, I've recorded entire albums cheaper than you would spend on mic stands. In other words, I've delayed charging a high price so that I could get tons of practice and become well known in my area. You might find a serious recording guy yourself who might work cheaper than you think.

What an experienced recording studio engineer knows that you probably don't.

1)The value of his time - An experienced engineer isn't cheap (but could be much cheaper than trying to record yourself) but he knows that his time is worth X dollars. How is this an advantage? It's amazing how humans rise to meet a challenge. When you go in knowing that you are about to spend $20, $30, or $50 an hour on recording all of a sudden you take the time to get your guitar setup beforehand. You make sure your songs are mega tight and ready to go. You get your butt in gear because you are about to spend some money. When your guitar players tell you that he thinks he has the recording device working right, you don't jump up get busy. You get frustrated while he tries to figure out the problems on channel 1 and 5.

2)Advanced knowledge of acoustics - This is one of those areas that you will entirely put off. At first, you are just trying to figure out how to turn the computer on. Have you really put any serious thought into the comb filtering effects of your room? The odds are minute. In fact, I bet most bands put no thought into their room acoustics. Guess what. Any good studio has spent thousands and thousands of dollars pefecting their acoustics. The only thing more important than acoustics in a recording is the song, the musicians, and the instruments. After that, acoutics is first. Proper acoustics are more important than microphones. I'd gladly record an album with $50 mics in a $2,000,000 room before I did the opposite.

3)Advanced microphone selection - Having the right mic for the job is an extremely important part of being a recording engineer. When you know that a guitar is too bright, you put a mic on it that will reduce this brightness. When a vocalist sounds dull, you put a bright mic on them. It goes on and on. This is what really makes the sound quality part of recording. Recording at home will make it hard to justify a $15,000 mic collection (or much higher). Some studios have $15,000 mics.

4)Advanced knowledge of mic placement - Even more important than the microphone is where you put it. A seasoned pro will know what has worked on the past 10 albums he's done. He knows what he likes and what he doesn't. He doesn't have to wait until after the mixing is complete for him to figure out that the snare sound sucks. You'll be experimenting like crazy, but it will take a while before you get it right, more than likely.

When you combine all this knowledge together, it becomes quite clear that there are serious advantages to letting the pros handle the work. With that being said, if you really want to learn audio, don't mind pumping thousands into a bottomless pit, and are really that excited about taking years and years and years to learn the craft properly, go for it. I did.

Author : Brandon Drury

So, You Wanna Be a Rock N Roll Star-ling?

2005-10-16T19:14:00.000-07:00

Rock n' Roll has become somewhat of a generic term used to identify a wide variety of popular music today. Like many other things associated with this generation, it has been reduced to an almost pathetic state of relativism, but it wasn't always so.

When Rock n' Roll was born, it offered up a fresh new sound that was radical and different. Rockers such as Little Richard, Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, Bill Haley and the Comets, and Elvis, among others, burst onto the scene in such a way that audiences were amazed, some were shocked and others were absolutely appalled. However, most of us can now look back in hindsight and recognize the important influence these early artists had on the direction that popular music was to take.

Which brings me to the point of this article. Last week, my husband informed me of an interesting fact about a little bird known as a starling. Since we happen to have a family of them living under the eave of our house, he has been having fun recording them with his new camcorder. He showed me the clip and pointed out that I should listen to them sing. At first they sounded like themselves. Then, all of a sudden, one of them sang like a meadowlark! He told me that he has heard them sound like magpies, ravens, and even a rooster once! Starlings love to mimic other birds.

Mr. B.B. King once told a class of young guitar students that he didn't care if they could play like him. No one needs another B.B. King, he said; that's already been done. You've got to find your own voice.

This is a wise piece of advice from someone who knows from whence he speaks, so please take heed. Do you have dreams of really making it big someday? Then let me ask you an important question: are you going to be a Rock n' Roll Star or a Rock n' Roll Star--ling? How you answer, may well determine your future.

Author : Kathy Unruh

The 60s in Retrospect

2005-10-16T19:09:00.000-07:00

Well, this past week was definitely a "journey through the past" for many of us who watched the PBS specials featuring highlights from the 60's. Kicking off with "No Direction Home", a documentary about Bob Dylan, helped set the scene for what was to come. Rare glimpses into the life and times of this private and self-effacing man were a special treat for me. Joan Biaz made the comment that "it goes down real deep" for those of us who are fans of Dylan. This is very true and sometimes hard to explain to others who don't share the sentiment. But, one thing is certain, as musicians and songwriters, we can all learn something from him. What stands out most prominently about Bob Dylan in my mind, is the fact that he is always true to himself and doesn't let anyone put him in a box. When others wanted him to carry their torch or lead their cause, he stayed on course and followed his own path. He knew who he was and as a result many more people benefited from hearing his music and message. Bob Dylan carried his own torch and it proved to be brighter and stronger than all the others who came before him.

Wednesday night presented "The Best of the Beatles" which was actually a play on words - "Best" referring to Pete Best, the former drummer of the Beatles. It was interesting to hear this familiar story told again through the eyes of Pete Best himself. A gracious man, you couldn't help feeling his regret for having missed out on being a part of the most famous band in rock n' roll history. But can you imagine if the group had been John, Paul, George and Pete? Naah... I don't think so.

Revolution and anarchy finished off the week. We saw the idealism of the 60's turn into disillusionment by the end of the decade. After years of struggling for peace, hopes were exacerbated by the assassinations of Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King. Dropping out, tuning out, increased drug use- all signs of an unhappy, unhealthy society- now marred the dream. Some good came out of this time though. Starting with George Harrison and his relief concert for Bangledesh, efforts began to be made by musicians to help raise money for people in need. We saw the formation of "Band Aid", another brainchild of Bob Dylan, come into existence with the help of Willie Nelson. It continues to this day to raise money through annual benefit concerts held on behalf of the many struggling farmers in our nation.

There is so much here to reflect on and think about! Music and musicians can make a difference. Some of the important lessons I've learned from famous musicians and songwriters this week are:

Be real.

Don't compromise.

Put your heart into it.

And always keep your eyes open for opportunities to help others in need.

By keeping these things in mind, perhaps my own music (and yours too) can have a part in making the world a better place.

Author : Kathy Unruh

Taking Care of Your Soul Mate: Useful Piano Care Tips

2005-10-16T19:07:00.000-07:00

Your piano is your soul mate. Once you start playing it, you two are hopelessly entwined, enjoying a world of your own, mindless of what goes on outside your world. It is therefore absolutely important that you take care of your piano properly.

Taking care of your piano does not only entail having it tuned up every two to five years. It would also appreciate a daily maintenance from the owner himself. What good would it do to a piano if it would just be left at one corner of the house, untouched for sometime? Absolutely nothing, and it would just gather dust and rust.

One of the best ways to maintain its good condition is to play it often. Just like a human being, this piece of entertainment equipment needs exercise so as not to expire soon. Through regular playing, you are not only practicing to become a better pianist, you can also play and check if your piano is still in perfect tune.

It feels great to let your fingers glide over smooth and shiny ivory keyboards. It can’t be helped though, especially when you have little kids at home, to have little sticky hands pounding on the keys from time to time, unless you have strict off-limits rule on your piano. So, to keep your keyboard clean, shiny and non-sticky, try wiping a lemon or lemon-salt paste over the keys and then rinse with clean, wet cloth then polish with dry cloth.

Check out some of the things you must do in cleaning and taking care of your piano:

The Keys:

It is recommended to clean the keys with a light soap solution preferably that of Ivory brand

The Cabinet:

Some pianos, especially those with high-gloss finish should be handled with utmost care. Use a new soft cloth to wipe the cabinet. Do not use old towel converted into rags as the rough fabric can scratch the finishing. And the small particles, even dust can leave permanent graze over the glossy cover. To clean, wipe a damp rag over a small portion and then immediately wipe the area with dry cloth. The wet portion must not be left wet for more than a minute. Repeat process until the entire cabinet is cleaned.

To polish the cabinet, it is best to use piano polish. Furniture paste wax will do as well. An old upright piano with an old wood finish may be cleaned with one of those new orange spray cleaner/polisher. Do not use the usual aerosol cleaner on a piano as it contains alcohol that will react with the finishing or tarnish the varnish or lacquer paint on your piano surface. You can buy specially designed piano polisher and polishing cloth as well in most piano stores.

The piano should be positioned by the wall of the home and not along a concrete block or floor as they can cause unstable temperature due to dampness. Constant changing of temperature can cause your piano to go out of tune. But the foremost cause of the change in tune is the change in humidity.

Having a piano at home is achieving a lot of goals. Other than it being an attraction, most of the time, visitors tend to assume that when a homeowner has a piano in his home he is not only musically inclined but also knows how to belong in the elite society. It is because a piano is still seen as a classical and very important musical instrument.

Author : Ismael Tabije

Secrets of Choosing the Perfect Acoustic Guitar

2005-10-16T19:04:00.000-07:00

Whether you are looking to buy new, or replace an old acoustic guitar, the first thing you should always bear in mind is that no other materials should be used to make an acoustic guitar apart from than dried wood. Most of us take wood for granted, but if the wood used to make an acoustic guitar is not completely dried before molding into guitar shape, then the sound will never come out right. The whole life of the acoustic guitar will be one of poor sound quality.

The most important part of any acoustic guitar is what is called the bridge. The bridge unit of the instrument is a vital part of where the sound vibrations come from to move to the sound chamber of the guitar. Without the bridge, which is also constructed from dried wood, the sound would not be there on this instrument.

The body of the acoustic guitar is usually what attracts potential buyers to that particular brand of guitar. Usually the type of wood that is used to make the acoustic guitar body can be determined by the price of the guitar. The higher the price, the higher the cut of wood is - it is rather like a steak.

Understanding not only these two parts of an acoustic guitar, but all other parts as well will allow you to find the perfect acoustic guitar for your needs. If you are looking for that special acoustic guitar with the sturdiest neck or the one that has the best sounding bridge, it is always important to get specialist advice. However the bridge and the body are what most looking to buy an acoustic guitar look at first.

Author : Mike Corrado

The Secret to Composition

2005-10-16T19:01:00.000-07:00

When I first started out playing piano and trying to compose, I couldn't figure out how someone could get his or her inspiration down on paper.

It was very frustrating to look at and listen to other artists who seemed to know the "secret" to composition.

Little did I know that the big secret really isn't about composing - it's about being able to trust your own intuition and let it lead you instead of the other way around. It took a long while before I was able to just let go and allow the music to flow out. But once I could do this, the idea of capturing an idea didn't seem to matter so much. No. It was more important for me to let it all go.

It also occurred to me that the more I tried to "capture" an idea, the harder it was to get down. Another artistic irony that's proved itself over the years.

Many people who want to compose their own music have problems because they believe that the musical idea they are working on is holy. They don't understand that there are literally millions of ideas waiting to be born. If they loosened their grip slightly they would be able to gently notate that idea and see where it would lead them. An entirely different approach and one that allows for so called errors, mistakes, etc.

For me, the secret to composing is not knowing how to capture a musical idea. It's being able to open up to the limitless ideas within and allowing them to express naturally through improvisation.

Author : Edward Weiss

Basic Guitar Chords: How to Easily Master the Guitar Chords You Must Know

2005-10-16T18:58:00.000-07:00

One of the first challenges faced by the advancing guitar player is learning a core group of basic guitar chords. Why is it so important to learn these basic chords? Chords form the backbone of most rock and pop songs, and provide the harmonic accompaniment to the melody and instrumental solos.

Rhythm guitar based on basic chords provides many of the most memorable rock riffs… think AC/DC’s “Back in Black” or The Who’s “Won’t Get Fooled Again”. What’s really amazing is that by learning no more than 10 to 15 basic guitar chords, you will be equipped to play thousands of rock and pop songs!

First let’s establish the definition of a chord. A chord is three or more different musical notes played together. In the case of the guitar, this means that at least three strings are strummed or plucked simultaneously to sound three or more notes. Since the guitar has six strings, the maximum numbers of notes in a guitar chord is six. All chords can be placed in one of three groups based on the musical structure of the chord: Major, Minor, or Seventh. Each of these chord groups has its own “sound” or “feel”. Major chords sound stable and complete. Minor chords can evoke a more somber or pensive mood, and Seventh chords are jazzy and somewhat incomplete sounding.

There is no standard list of “basic guitar chords” that every one agrees to. However, there is general agreement that there is a list of somewhere between 8 and 18 basic guitar chords (open string) that every guitarist must know cold. These chords are used in all musical styles from rock and pop to country, jazz, and classical. No matter where you are on your guitar-playing path, you should take the time to learn and master the basic chords. Getting these right will ensure you have the basic tools and skills to learn many songs and increase your playing enjoyment.

So what are the basic guitar chords? Our basic stable includes the major and minor chords from four common musical keys, A,G,C, and D. They are played as “open chords”, that is at least one string in the chord is not fretted (pressed down with a finger). Open chords are easier to learn and play than more advanced chords such as Barre chords, or complex chords further up the guitar neck. Our list of basic major and minor chords is:

A Major (or A), A Minor (or Am), C, D, Dm, E, Em, F, G

These chords can be best learned as chord “families” (by key) that can be combined into great-sounding chord sequences that make up lots of popular songs. Using this chord family approach is much more interesting and useful than just memorizing a bunch of chords in random order!

These chords grouped by chord family (key) are as follows:

A Family (Key of A): A, D, E
D Family (Key of D): D, Em, G, A
G Family (Key of G): G, Am, C, D, Em
C Family (Key of C): C, Dm, Em, F, G

Tips for Learning the Basic Chords:

1. Pick a Chord Family and master it. This will give you quick success and let you play great sounding progressions right away.

2. Use a Guitar Chord Chart as a reference tool. A chord chart shows each chord as an easy to read “chord diagram” with exact finger positions. See this example of a chart of basic guitar chords.

3. Find the chords and lyrics for an easy song that is based on the chord family so you can apply your skills. Many great songs are based on only three chords!

4. Ensure each string sounds right. Take care to make sure that each string is sounding clearly, and that only the strings that should be played are played.

5. Practice, practice, practice! Every day, practice continually change from one chord to another until you can do it rapidly. Learn the chord families one at a time.

6. Master all the basic chords first. Only then move on to Barre chords and other more complex chords. First things first!

7. Expand with 7th chords. As a next step you can easily expand on your basic chord knowledge by adding 7th and minor 7th chords based on the nine basic major and minor chords.

8. Have fun using your new skills! Enjoy your musical ability by applying it to learning a small set of 5-10 songs you know really well and can confidently play at any time.

Author : Peter Bussey

The Truth Behind Press Kits, Bios, and Controlling Your Image

2005-10-16T10:27:00.000-07:00

A lot of what you have been told about creating your image is false. This article is meant to be a simple list of things that might surprise you as a musician. Some of you have had “managers” misguide you. You know the drill. Your guitar player’s girlfriend has a connection at some local club so now she thinks she is fit to orchestrate your entire career. Maybe you have a know-it-all singer who spent 5 minutes glossing over some music industry website and now he is writing your bio chalk full of transparent lies and over-exagerated descriptions of your rock fury. No matter what the case may be, I can guarantee you that you have at least a few misconceptions about how to properly present your image. This article will briefly outline some of the major issues on writing better bios, press kits, and press releases.

YOU HAVE MORE CONTROL THAN YOU THINK

The most important thing I can tell you is you have more control than you think. If you really get the hang of image presentation and playing this game we call the music biz you can virtually create any image you want of yourself or your band. First and foremost I want to talk about the press. Ever surf the net doing some research of some new band your friend told you about? Ever notice how multiple music sites will have the exact same description of the band? Of course, you aren’t an idiot, you realize these sites simply rip what the band wrote in their bio on the band homepage. But do you realize the POWER of this? Basically, you have the power to syndicate your image in a way. These websites simply don’t have the time, nor intimate knowledge of your band, to create some pseudo-bio for you. They rely on you, and what you have to say about yourself. This is power. Use it wisely.

But you already knew that. What I’m about to tell you is something you may not know, but could drastically affect your bands promotional campaign. PRINT MAGAZINES DO THIS TOO. Yep, a lot of those long write-ups you see in your favorite magazines about your favorite band, have content ripped straight from the bands’ bio. The trick is that this only applies to well written bios. If you do in fact have such a bio, this can be the most powerful weapon in your promotional arsenal.

THE SECRET BIO SAUCE RECIPE

Ok. So let’s recap real quickly. You know that your bio can help control your image on the net. And now you know you can even control how the print media presents you. But how do you write such a bio? First, let’s go over what NOT to do.

INFLATE: Do not inflate your image beyond the reality of your band. Don’t be all flash and no smash. In other words, don’t talk about what you can’t back up. This is the most common mistake in bio writing. I call it “inflation”. This is pretty much adjective abuse. Avoid phrases like “intense live show” or “super sonic blast from the future”. This is stock. This is not creative. If you aren’t the biggest drawing band in your own market, don’t say “this band is taking the nation by storm”. The press and online community have been reading bios with such inflations since the beginning, they see past this very well.

QUOTE FANS: If you can’t get someone credible to say something nice about your band DO NOT resort to using a fan comment. Ever…for any reason.

LIST SONG DESCRIPTIONS: If you are already an “inflator” then talking about your own songs will only cause pain and tragedy.

SPENDING TOO MUCH TIME ON PREVIOUS BANDS: If your last band didn’t have a record deal or tour, don’t bother. If you have some leverage with your “former member of…” status use it tastefully and only in brief.

Now that we have got those cardinal sins out of the way you are probably thinking “jeeze, what else is there to write about”. This is where we start digging. Time to put on your thinking cap. You have to think like a reporter looking for a refreshing angle. You have to find the one thing that can create an image that will stick. You have to find THE STORY.

By this time I have lost some of you. You either don’t know what I mean by “the story” or you have a bio that breaks every rule I just outlined and you can’t admit it. The best bios read like a good music rag write-up. If your bio is written correctly it should make a staff writer’s job easy. It should be easy for him to “rip” or “cop”. It’s no co-incidence that many pro bands use these kinds of writers to pen their own bios!

Perhaps you have an interesting story about how you came together. Perhaps you have some gimmick, like Siamese twins or 3 bearded lady bassists. But hopefully you have something that connects your band to something going on in the world of music. You need something that will get people’s attention. Maybe your band is the only Death Metal band for 100 miles in the Bible belt. You get the picture.

I am going to list some things that can make great stories (and double as press releases).

- Being produced by someone reputable

- Being managed by someone reputable

- Breaking some mark in online CD sales or downloads

- Getting a supporting slot on a festival or tour

- Having a reputable person as a quoted fan

A PHOTO SPEAKS 1,000 FLAWS

I want to get one thing out of the way: I’m not going to tell you how to dress. But I am going to tell you that it may be your biggest problem. I am not a stylist. I can not solve this problem. I can tell you this though: The camera will expose every flaw you have in your style. With that said, let’s get on with at least getting a quality photo.

I am not a professional photographer. I am not going to tell you how to take a photo of yourself. I am going to tell you where to get one. Your best bet is to find a local photographer that you see at local shows. More often than not, they are either legitimate press, legitimate artist, or a legitimate student. Browse their catalog of band photography and if you think it stands up, there ya go. This may all seem like common sense, but I want to stress that this is abandoned and somehow your guitar player’s girlfriend is your “photographer” because her mom has a camera. Do not let this happen to you. Find people with pro gear. Get a professional or at least a digital arts student. These are always your best bets.

If you are going for sheer impact with your 8 x 10 one good tip is to at least look like you are in the same band. I’m not saying get a gimmick or wear make-up. I’m saying that even if you think your personal look is “plain”, your band as a whole can benefit from at least being on the same page.

LOGO

The miracle of Adobe Photoshop has given birth to some of the most breathtaking digital art we have seen. It has also, to the misfortune of bands mostly, created total rubbish. If your logo sucks it says many things about you.

It shows you have high tolerance for bad art.

It shows you yourself might be a bad artist and were not smart enough to hire a professional.

It shows you have a very distorted view about the genre of your band.

It shows some of you are totally unprofessional and don’t care about your image.

You might be surprised how many ways there are to find good digital artists to create your logo. In my personal opinion, even paying up to $100 is worth it for a good logo. Bottom line, the sites below are the best place to find killer artists.

DeviantArt.com
Mylkhead.com
AngryBlue.com
PlayWithKnives.com
EyeSuckInk.com

PRESS KIT SECRETS

One very strong tip I can offer is to try to think of your image as “dynamic”. It has to be all things to all people. You might have to add something extra to that envelope before you send it off.

If you are sending your kit out to an artist rep at a prospective endorsee you ALWAYS want it to contain tour dates. This is the most important thing in your attempt to get gear for cheap and say those lovely words to all your loser musician friends playing crappy guitars… “I got an endorsement deal”.

A great add-in is a DVD. There are a lot of affordable ways to make a DVD these days. Again, this is one of those things that will expose your flaws. You don’t want to put your life story on there. Live footage is great if its done right. Fake smoke and that cheesy “page turn effect” are not. Don’t make a wedding video. This will be valuable in your arsenal when try to book gigs.

Ask First. Send. Follow Up. This is your best way to make some impact and get a solid contact in the biz. Your press kit will always have more impact if the person is expecting it (send it promptly).

Make sure you are to the point when calling someone you’d like to send a press kit to. You are Jon Doe from The Doetones. You are going to be in town around this time. You want to send a press kit for a possible gig. If you are sending an email and have an EPK (Electronic Press Kit) NEVER send the press kit in first. Always try to get a response before sending the press kit. If you are sending to a possible endorsee put your upcoming dates in the initial email.

Following up is crucial. Many of the people you will be dealing with in this business are either busy or forgetful…mostly both. You must initiate contact. Be tactful and patient. Do not hound people, but make sure you give yourself a chance to make some opportunities and pick up the phone yourself.

Remember, you are in essence, trying to self yourself to a company or consumer. You have to be a salesman. Try to connect to people and have them want to talk to you. If you can do this they will always want to help you or get you involved in something that will. Or best of all, spend money on you and your product.

Author : Bishop Dolarhyde

IPod Energy Source

2005-10-16T10:13:00.000-07:00

Imagine a magic iPod player, which was small and compact, that you could take anywhere. Okay they already thought of that and it is available. So let’s imagine an iPod that was small, light, you could take anywhere and it never needed power? No battery to recharge and no need to do anything, but enjoy your music and audio books. Imagine that. Magic. Well sort of, but your wish is my command, as I propose we make one, we all can enjoy forever using no external charge needed, no batteries; you got to love it. IPod. Can you see the commercials now?

Well this is all possible and I have a secret plan, which will allow you to simply take your iPod, shake it up and then allow the Radio Waves to keep it powered all the time? Yes, it is possible using electromagnetic induction technology to charge a capacitor instead of the system working off a battery or power source. The iPod system would have an LED chip in it allowing this to happen.

Currently there are some nifty micro-flashlights being used which you can buy which use a similar technique and are available thanks to the Everlite Flashlight technology research lab. These smaller flashlights work by shaking them for about thirty seconds and shine for about 6 minutes and they shine quite bright since they use a very bright LED light. Here is a link to this home use flashlight:

http://demo.physics.uiuc.edu/LectDemo/scripts/demo_descript.idc?DemoID=1138

Now then, I know what you are saying this is too cool right? But you are thinking that the flashlight is way too big to carry around, but that is okay we can miniaturize the system to be the width of about 12-15 business cards stack on top of each other and about double the length. Now you have Magic in the form of Music. You like? Thought you would, think on it.

Author : Lance Winslow

Right Intention, Wrong Advice

2005-10-16T10:05:00.000-07:00

Not long after I added the hobby of four part a capella singing to my repertoire of interests, my younger sister, Diane, mentioned that she liked singing in the church choir. Being an amateur singer myself, I was impressed. I asked her to give me a sample and she eagerly complied.

"Amazing Grace" was the song she chose, and she sang it with confidence and power. At its completion, I politely clapped as she waited for my comments. Thinking of myself as a beginning expert, I proceeded to explain that although she sang it well, I thought her voice was too breathy and her vibrato too pronounced. She asked me to explain and I went on for some time, adding that I didn't think she'd make it as a professional singer, but would be fine for the chorus. All very uppity and know-it-all. She took the criticism quietly and promised to hear our quartet the next time she was in our area.

Five years later I got a postcard from Diane from the decks of a large cruise ship as it passed through the Panama Canal. She had been chosen to be the featured singer on the ship and even had the floating nightclub named after her. In love with her keyboard player, they later married and settled in Florida. I was flabbergasted! My little sister who I thought couldn't sing a note - famous?

I found out why when three months later I received a tape recording of Diane singing to the accompaniment of a small trio. Her voice spoke to my mind, projecting the words with emotion and like Peggy Lee sounded as if she were singing just to you. A southern drawl enhanced the pure melodic tones as she performed nine of the favorite pop songs of the day. She had quite a good range and phrased the words like a female Frank Sinatra. Her arrangements were striking and individual, far better than even the original hits. My wife, Marianne, who is quite particular about who she likes, stated that Diane sang better than any of the pop singers on the radio. We, of course, wrote Diane of our amazement and wished her success in her new trade. So much for my "professional" advice.

I am the baritone in a barbershop quartet called "The Bell Tones"

Author : Kenneth Hoffman

Guitar Chord Diagrams: An Essential Tool for Learning to Play the Guitar

2005-10-16T09:56:00.000-07:00

How do you use guitar chord diagrams? A complete understanding of how to read and use diagrams of guitar chords is essential knowledge for any guitar player, from the “greenhorn” beginner to more advanced players. The best and easiest path to becoming a competent guitar player is by learning some chords and then applying them to learning the rhythm parts of songs. Guitar chord diagrams help you do just that!

What is a Guitar Chord Diagram?

A guitar chord diagram is a graphical representation of a single guitar chord, often referred to as a “chord box”. It is basically a box in the shape of a rectangle that shows you how to play a particular chord. It represents the guitar fretboard, and shows you exactly where to place your fingers to form the chord, and which strings to strike to play it. It is truly amazing how much useful information is packed into such a small package.

How to Read a Chord Diagram

There are several different styles and formats, but all chord diagrams have these common elements:

• There are six lines that represent the strings of the guitar. Depending on the format of the chord box, the strings run vertically up and down the page (most common), or else across the page horizontally.
• For vertical diagrams, the string on the left represents the low E string (thickest one), and the string on the right is the high E (thinnest string.)
• There are a series of lines running across the string lines (at a right angle) that represent the frets.
• The string lines and the fret lines come together to form a grid representing the guitar fretboard.
• Circles or dots are placed on the grid to show exactly which strings to press on which fret to play the chord.

With just this basic information on a chord diagram, you can form and play any guitar chord. The best part is that you don’t need to know how to read standard musical notation, or even guitar tabulature, to read a chord diagram. Well enough words! View examples of guitar chord diagrams here.

Here are some additional features of chord diagrams that pack in even more useful information:

• At the top of the box is a thicker line representing the guitar nut, or end of the neck
• An “x” symbol above the nut line means “Do Not Play This String”.
• An “o” symbol above the nut line means that the string is played open (not fingered.)
• Numbers (1 to 4) on the dots (or under the box) indicate which finger to use on that string, with 1= the index finger, and 4= the little finger.
• A line or bar running across two or more strings indicates a “Barre Chord”, in which one finger presses more than one string.

Tips for Using Guitar Chord Diagrams

1. Chord Diagrams are the single most powerful tool for learning and improving your guitar playing. Make good use of them!

2. Individual chord diagrams can be combined to form chord charts. These are a practical means to learn basic chords, chord families and sequences, and songs.

3. Make use of the wealth of free online resources to help you learn about guitar chord diagrams and chord charts. One such resource is The Guitar Players Toolbox.

Play well!

Author : Peter Bussey

How to Improve Your Sight-Reading

2005-10-16T09:45:00.000-07:00

As an organist, I have been working in club land in the North of England for the past 30 years or so and one of the crucial qualifications in this environment is the ability to sight read music on demand.

When I say music this can be anything from a beer mat to a ripped piece of paper repaired with sellotape and stained with beer.

To be fair most of the music is written by professionals and is nice to read but not always easy.

As a club organist, you do not get a band call. In fact, you are lucky to get five minutes to scan through between 10 and 15 pieces of music. Some written in different keys, and every organist will tell you they hate it when they get the dreaded 6 sharps or 6 flats or even 7 sharp keys in a piece of music that just happens to contain a solo especially written for you.

So how do you improve your sight-reading? Well I asked my music teacher this very question as I embarked on my club land career. His answer was to practice sight-reading. He went on to tell me that session musicians practice by picking up any music book start playing on page one and continue until they have finished the book.

Does it work? Yes it does. Try it for yourself, pick up any piece of music you can find, preferably one that you are not that familiar with, then start to play, but do not stop. If you make a mistake it does not matter, you are not practising how to play this piece of music you are practising sight-reading this piece of music.

If you really want to test yourself. Get yourself an audience. I practice my sight-reading every week in front of a 200 plus audience. Its surprising how your concentration improves.

Author : Mike Shaw

Should I Buy a Digital Piano or an Upright Piano?

2005-10-16T09:40:00.000-07:00

Should I Buy a Digital Piano or an Upright Piano?

Digital pianos sound nothing like a real piano. Upright pianos take up too much room. There is a lot of conflicting advice floating around. I will give you the right piano buying advice so you can make your own decision on whether the digital piano or the upright piano is right for your needs.

A brief history of the digital piano.
Digital pianos were invented about 20 years ago and when they where first introduced they were pretty terrible, the keys were much too light, spongy and nothing like a real piano. The sound was incredibly bright and the sampling was quite dreadful. You couldn't really say that it sounded much like a piano at all. These digital pianos also looked nothing like a real acoustic piano, they had ugly, plastic lookin cases that didn't match any type of furniture in the room. If guests came around it was almost an embarrassment to have this ugly plastic looking machine in the living room. My how things have changed over the last 20 years!

A brief history of the upright piano.
The upright piano was invented in 1709 by the Italian Cristofori. It was a four octave instrument compared to the seven and a quarter octave instrument of today, with hammers striking the strings just as they do on a modern upright piano. The instrument was invented to meet the need to control dynamics by touch, which could not be achieved on the harpsichord. The early upright piano went through many changes before it emerged as the instrument we all know today. The Cristofori piano was wing shaped like grand pianos, it had a curved body and a lid that could be elevated. There were also square pianos in which the strings ran from left to right as on the clavichord. And by 1800, there were upright pianos whose strings ran perpendicular to the keyboard. Other names commonly used are: vertical piano or acoustic piano, they mean essentially the same thing. A typical old fashioned upright piano, tall upright standing, ivory keys, beautiful wood, moulded carvings, stylish legs and brass candlestick holders. The old pianos always had a beautiful warm tone because they were made with quality materials and real wood. The soundboard was seasoned for ages which in turn created a resonant and sustaining tone. The superior quality meant that your piano would easily last a lifetime.

Moving on to modern times
These days your typical starter piano is mass produced in China, Indonesia or Korea with very cheap materials, soundboards made out of trees that were probably knocked down the day before and thrown together as quickly as possible to get distributed around the world. Well maybe it is not quite as bad as this, but anyway i am sure you get my point.

You can find a list of upright pianos here: upright pianos for sale

ADVANTAGES & DISADVANTAGES OF ACOUSTIC AND DIGITAL PIANOS

Advantages of Digital Pianos:
1) You can plug in headphones so nobody can hear you play.
2) You can turn the volume up or down.
3) You can record your music on the instrument itself, or to disc, smart media, floppy etc.
4) You can experiment with lots of different instrument sounds
5) Due to their light weight, digital pianos can easily be moved from room to room
6) Your digital piano will never need tuning or maintenance, which will save you a small fortune.
7) You can download songs from the web and play them on your instrument. (Normally the more expensive digital pianos offer this facility).
8) Digital pianos are very reasonably priced for what they are. You can pick one up from as little as £400.
9) Digital pianos take up less space than the acoustic piano. They are slightly shorter in length, much lower in height and most importantly about 2/3rds the depth (front to back) of an acoustic piano, thus saving you valuable space

Disadvantages of Digital Pianos:
1) The value of your piano depreciates very quickly.
2) New models are introduced every 2-3 years making your piano even less valuable and harder to sell
3) The sound is electronic and although improvements have been made, it will never sound like the real thing.
4) The touch is slighter lighter than a real piano and the key balance isn’t perfect.
5) The digital piano’s appearance is not as appealing as an acoustic piano and is made from plastic and chipboard. It can easily get damaged if moved around.
6) The outer casing is difficult and expensive to repair if damage has been done
7) Digital pianos are very expensive to repair if anything goes wrong with the mechanics or electronics
9) The warranty is normally quite short, anything form 1 year to 3 years.

Advantages of Upright Pianos
1) Your piano will hold its value over time and if it is looked after it will normally increase over a longer period (normally 20 years plus)
2) The piano has natural acoustic sounds which is produced by the hammer striking the string and then amplified by the soundboard.
3) The piano is made from wood, sometimes MDF and is very strong.
4) If the piano’s outer casing is damaged it can be repaired easily and fairly cheaply by a French polisher.
5) If there is a problem with the piano mechanically, it can normally be fixed by a piano tuner very quickly and cheaply. (With the exception of old pianos that normally need a lot of work).
6) The touch of a real piano is second to none. The deep, rich natural tones enable you to really enjoy playing music.
7) You normally get a long warranty with acoustic pianos, anywhere from 5-10 years.

Disadvantages of Upright Pianos
1) The upright piano is extremely heavy (can weigh 175kg upwards) and is almost impossible to maneuver without the help of professional piano movers
2) The volume of the piano cannot be turned up or down, it is reliant on the player to control this.
3) The piano needs tuning regularly (normally twice a year) and can cost in the region of £40-£60 a time.
4) The piano will need the occasional maintenance (every 5-10 years)
5) A good, well made piano can be quite expensive (Usually £2500 upwards)
6) Upright pianos take up a lot of room, especially the grands and the taller uprights.
7) They can mark your floor if you try to move them even the slightest bit and because of the immense weight, the wheels or feet leave deep indentations in your floor over a period of time

I hope this article has helped you in your piano buying quest.

Author : Henry Howard

Acoustic Guitars – Laminated Wood Versus Solid Wood

2005-10-16T09:37:00.000-07:00

A lot has transpired through the years in the debate over acoustic guitars in the area of laminate versus solid wood construction. It is not a secret that the type of materials and craftsmanship affect the quality, durability, sound and price of acoustic guitars. However, there is probably no other discussion bigger than this.

The question that many players ask themselves is whether a solid body is worth the price? Despite the better sound, they require care and regular maintenance to prevent cracking. When using laminated you run the risk that it will separate over time. There is no clear answer to this question and as long as there is a discussion about acoustic guitars, it will always be at the forefront.

The Debate - Uncut

Laminated is several pieces of wood glued together and solid body is exactly that, one piece. There are pros and cons to both kinds. It is a fact that laminate is known to produce a ‘dead’ sound that does not sustain or project sound very well and the one-piece body is known for its richer tone. Laminate is more used because it is more durable and less sensitive to humidity and change in temperature. A body that is made from one-piece timber is very sensitive to humidity and climate change. The top is like a sponge that you can’t let dry out.

A Bit Of History

Years ago the debate was not about sound quality or durability, it was about price. The one piece timber body guitars were very expensive so many musicians did not have a choice but to buy one made of laminate. A one piece is coveted because of its rich and beautiful tone that only seems to become better over time. However, times have changed quite a bit in the world of laminate including the craftsmanship. Better quality laminate is being used and more detailed craftsmanship has been applied so they are sounding better and better everyday.

It is evident why this debate is becoming less spectacular, but the fact will always remain the same that a laminate will never be able to sound as good.

The Main Problem

When building a guitar you want the soundboard, better known as the top, to be as lightweight and strong as possible. Creating this ratio with laminate is often difficult because in order to make it strong it ends up too heavy. The wet glue used to secure the pieces of timber together can become to heavy when too much is used. Unfortunately, when too little of the glue is used, the timber pulls apart. Recently new adhesives have been introduced that have helped to solve this problem and ensure lightness. This is one of the ways that laminated construction is becoming more popular and competitive.

Necks, Sides & Backs

Acoustic laminate necks are very common and widely accepted. This has become a popular way to make the neck stronger. Hybrid guitars are also extremely common. Many models are made with one piece body tops and laminate sides and backs. The sound quality is 90% dependent on what the top is made of, so as long as the soundboard is one piece the rich sound will be present. This is also a great way to make solid body tops affordable.

How Do You Tell The Difference?

Depending on how dark the timber or stain is, telling the difference between them can be a difficult task. First, you need to look at the inside edge of the sound hole on the top of the body. If the edge has a natural finish it is a one piece body and if it has two or more layers it is made of laminate. To determine what the back and sides are constructed with you need to first look at the back of the guitar. Next, look inside the sound hole at the same spot on the back and see if the wood grains are the same. If they are the same it is a whole body. You can do this same technique with the sides.

It’s a Wrap

Everyone’s opinion is different. Many believe that there is no need to buy an acoustic made of laminated timber when solid bodies are so affordable now. Others believe that the sound quality of laminate bodies on their own and in a hybrid model is comparable. Each individual needs to evaluate the pros and cons of both, and decide what makes sense for them. For example if you travel often, perhaps it makes sense to purchase a laminate model for its durability. When buying there are always a lot of questions that need to be answered, this is just another one.

Author : Ken Searcy

Rock Concert Discount Tickets Thru Alternative Energy Lighting

2005-10-16T09:32:00.000-07:00

Can we use the roar of the high intensity crowd and all their human energy to light up the stadium? If we can use all this high energy, can we get a discount on our tickets for the energy savings? How about a Rock Concert discount tickets thru Alternative Energy Lighting Program? Sounds good to me? But is it really possible to light up a stage and all the lighting using vibrational energy from all the people packed in?

It maybe possible by placing large 4 x 8’ sandwich sheets with a taunt film on the vibrational side and small copper lined tubes, hundreds of them running perpendicular to the sheets, with magnets inside bouncing back and forth. These magnets will charge a capacitor and be hooked up to an LED lighting system using fiber optics or reflectors, each one hooked up to a .2 to .5 watt light. With hundreds of thousands of lights hooked up in a composite format it will light up the stage and building.

Currently this technology is being used in those little flashlights you see advertised on television that you shake and they light, but you never need batteries. This idea of lighting up the stadium is using that technology on a larger scale with miniaturized parts making up the guts between the sandwich sheets. Let there be light, thru vibrational energy and there was. Think on it.

Author : Lance Winslow

How Fast Should My Child in Piano Progress?

2005-10-16T09:28:00.000-07:00

Parents ask this question because they want to be sure they’re doing everything they should to support their child in piano lessons. Sometimes parents are concerned their children aren't practicing enough at home, and assume they must not be making much progress. It can take some time, however, for children to learn how to apply themselves to their lessons. Learning to practice is part of the learning process that will take time to achieve. If your child in piano isn’t practicing as much as you would like, try not to come to a hasty judgment about their musical potential.

As the parent you really can’t control your child’s musical progress. This is especially true when kids approach their teen years. As one family therapist explains, “Trying to control your teenager is a bad idea – you might as well try to put pants on a gorilla!”

My suggestion is to give your child ownership of their piano lessons early on, so they can learn from their mistakes and successes through a process of trial and error. In the long run your child will learn more by relying on their natural energy and motivation that comes from personal ownership and responsibility. Trying to control your child’s progress too much in piano can actually keep them from learning how to go about taking responsibility for their own success.

So try not to worry if your child in piano is slow to practice. Give him or her some time to develop their own motivation and you’ll be able to delight in their independent spirit. I can guarantee this is a lot more fun than putting pants on a gorilla!

For piano resources to get your young child in piano off to the right start visit, Piano Adventure Bears Learning Resources for Families! You'll find a treasure box filled with piano resources to help your young child in piano set goals and achieve their musical dreams!

Author : Cynthia VanLandingham

Piano for Kids - Creating a Practice Environment at Home

2005-10-16T09:12:00.000-07:00

Children need help setting the right boundaries that will protect their dreams. Helping your child in piano establish good habits that will support their goals is the first step. A good habit is like a little fence around your child’s piano goals, that will protect their dreams and help bring them to life. Here are five ways to create a positive learning environment at home that will go a long way toward protecting your child’s piano dreams.

1. Establish a daily practice time when your child will plan to sit down at the piano and practice.

This is important because there are so many choices for how to spend time, such as watching a favorite TV show, eating dinner, playing with friends, doing homework, running an errand, etc. Everyday new choices will arise. To protect your child’s piano dream, set aside a daily practice time and protect it by making the decision ahead of time.

2. Associate daily practice time with some other enjoyable activity your child also does on a routine basis.

To help your child get into a routine, associate their daily practice time with another enjoyable activity they do on a daily basis. This could be feeding the fish, or taking the family pet for a short walk, or reading a story to your child. Think of something you think would be meaningful to your child.

3. Be sure your child practices at home right after their weekly piano lesson or as soon as possible thereafter.

If your child waits a few days after their weekly piano lesson to practice their pieces it is very likely they will have forgotten what their teacher showed them at their lesson. To get the most benefit from the weekly lesson students should practice at home right after their lesson, or at least the next day. This way they will remember what to do and this will reinforce practice through the week.

4. Eliminate distractions during practice.

Young children generally do not like to be alone. Putting the piano in a room away from the rest of the family can make them feel punished. Put the piano where your child can see you while they are practicing, or at least know they’re not alone. Also eliminate distractions such as television and ask your child’s friends to come over after piano practice.

5.Make sure your child knows what their weekly goals are.

Focusing on our goals is the best way to practice with purpose and meaning. You want your child’s effort to be effective. So ask your child, “What are your piano goals this week?” The more specific they can be, they more progress they will make. For example, “I’m learning C Position.” Then you can ask them “What is a good habit that would help you reach that goal?” If your child doesn’t know, have them write the question down in a journal and ask their teacher at their next lesson. Keeping a piano journal of their goals and questions will help your child stay focused. It will also help create important boundaries that will protect their piano dreams and bring them life.

Author : Cynthia VanLandingham

Should Music be Used for Something?

2005-10-16T09:00:00.000-07:00

I have this great Japanese flute and koto CD I listen to. It's called Satori and I put it on every once in a while, not to relax, but just to be reminded of what music for music's sake sounds like.

There is no planning here. No forethought. It is pure improvisation and frankly, there is nothing that compares with it as far as being in the moment improv is concerned. You can really "feel" the moment here. It's as if time is suspended and there is nothing but the player and the music.

The best thing about this is that you enter the state of mind the musician is in when he recorded the music. You feel, through the music, the feelings and, in this case, the peace the flute player has in his heart as the instrument is played. It's really quite amazing!

Here in the West, we are used to a music that must have a definite beginning and end. Everything is planned out and is designed to produce a certain emotional state. Drums, bass, volume, and heavy production are all used to drive the point home.

But the mind can quickly grow tired of listening to the drone of a digital beat and wants something closer to itself. Something more natural and organic. I can think of no better music to treat the mind to than Japanese flute and koto music.

Author : Edward Weiss

Is My Child Ready for Piano Lessons?

2005-10-16T08:49:00.000-07:00

Because of the many benefits of piano lessons for young children, parents don’t want to wait too long before enrolling their children in piano lessons. They do want to be sure, however, that their young child is old enough to benefit from formal musical training. Fortunately, making this decision is a straightforward process.

Because playing piano is an inter-play of left and right brain activity, some basic language and math skills are very helpful. Your child will need to know all of these to succeed in school as well as to begin piano. And in turn, learning to play the piano will improve your child’s overall educational achievement in school. Below are five things kids need to know to begin piano lessons, and some resources parents can use at home to prepare young child for piano lessons.

1. Knows the alphabet (music alphabet is the first seven letters.)

Knowing the alphabet is important because it is foundational to music theory. Notes, sounds, and the piano keys are identified by their letter names.

2. Identifies and counts numbers 1 to 10.

Knowing their numbers is necessary to learn note values as well as for fingering. For example, “Play this note with finger number 2.”

3. Knows opposites - up and down; right and left; high sounds and low sounds.

Opposites give necessary perspective to important musical concepts.

4. Likes to play one key on the piano at a time, and listens to the sound each makes.

If your child is attracted to the piano, and out of curiosity enjoys playing the keys one at a time to hear their sounds, and likes to experiment a little, they are ready for piano. If your child, however, simply runs to the piano and starts banging on the keys with their fists, they are probably not quite ready to be a thoughtful piano student.

5. Is beginning to read.

Music always tells a story, so being able to read and sing the fun stories that often go along with beginning piano music is very helpful for young children. This develops the ear and gives context and meaning to each piece of music. This is what makes piano fun for kids.

Author : Cynthia VanLandingham

Piano Practice Tips for Beginning Students

2005-10-16T08:42:00.000-07:00

Children can benefit from piano lessons and learn to play well if they focus on the basics. Here are three practice tips to make sure your beginning piano student gets off to a great start, and goes on to achieve their musical dreams. But don’t let these simple ideas fool you – they’re also very important! The simplicity of playing is often what trips up beginning piano students. Most of what students need to learn piano are not complex ideas. In fact they’re so simple students and parents often don’t appreciate them. In our complex, modern world we tend to assume that if something doesn’t flash at us, it isn’t worthy of our attention. Most of what kids need to know and do to achieve their piano goals and dreams, however, are very simple ideas - that need to be taken seriously. Before I give you my three practice tips, I want to share some simple ideas with you that you can pass along to your young piano student.

What are some very simple things that are also very important? Can you think of any? Here are some ideas to get you started - sunshine, water, a smile, trees, and your name. Having a name, for example, is a very simple idea. But just imagine what it would be like if you didn’t have one? Above the Artic Circle it is basically dark for six months of the year and light for six months. How does this affect the lives folks who live in these regions? It makes life more challenging for sure. Such simple things as a warm meal, a glass of water, the sun shining through the trees, a friendly smile, are basic values necessary for a happy life. So why don’t we appreciate the simple things more? Because too often we take them for granted, and it’s dangerous! So don’t let your child in piano fall into this trap. Help them pay attention to the simple things that will create the foundation of their piano success.

Here are three simple practice tips to share with your beginning piano student to get them on the road to genuine and satisfying achievement.

1. Keep your eyes on the music.

Keeping their eyes on the music and not looking down at their hands helps students create a keyboard in their imaginations. This is so valuable. I really can’t stress this enough. Of course sometimes students will need to look at their hands. But not learn the basic five-finger hand positions. Once students have their hands in place, they need to keep their eyes completely on the music. If a student doesn’t know what finger E is under without looking down at their hands, for example, they really aren’t learning the hand position.

2. Sing the note names as you play them.

Singing the note names as they are played is the best way to learn to read notes well. This simple act and reinforces learning. If you’re child can’t name the notes as they play them, then they don’t know the names of the notes, they are just remembering what keys to play. Don’t misunderstand me though. Remembering a tune by listening is wonderful! Just not at the expense of learning to read music. Singing the note names allows both knowledge and listening to reinforce each other.

3. Keep a rounded hand position over the keys.

Keeping a rounded hand position is important. Let me explain why. If the hands are not rounded, students aren’t using the right muscles to play. Instead of stretching each finger down to the keys from knuckle at the top of the hand, the will be pushing the whole hand down into the keys to play the notes. This just doesn’t allow the fingers to work independently, as it puts a lot of strain on the wrists. When the hands are rounded over the keyboard, the fingers can easily stretch down to the keys and the wrist is flexible.

Author : Cynthia VanLandingham

Articles4Free.Com - Free Articles Online! A Unique Idea to share information

2005-10-16T08:17:00.000-07:00

What in the world is “naked music?”

You know it when you hear it, but the words that describe it sound strange, don’t they? We’ve all heard of popular music and rock music and gospel music and jazz music, but naked music?

Naked music is simply the notes on a piece of sheet music. It’s “naked” – not dressed up or arranged at all. No fills, no slurs, none of the ingredients that make a song come to life.

Not a single professional musician plays the music exactly as it appears on a piece of sheet music. Instead, they use the written music as a map, or an outline, and then proceed to do their own thing with it. They twist it, bend it, add to it, subtract from it, put fills in it, change the key, change the words, change some of the melody notes, and on and on.

So when you hear your favorite artist perform a piece of music, if you look at the written sheet music while they are performing it, you will see it is MUCH different and MUCH better than the plain old “naked music!”

So how can the average musician dress up naked music? There are many ways, but here are seven of my favorites:

1.Change the chords slightly by adding color tones. What are color tones? Color tones are notes added to the basic chord, usually expressed as 6ths, 7ths, 9ths, etc. For example, instead of playing just a straight C chord as it is written – C, E, G – try adding a color tone to it, such as a 6th (A) or a 7th (Bb) or a major 7th (B) or a 9th (D). In fact, try adding a couple together, like a 6th and a 9th. So instead of being a plain vanilla chord made up of C, E, and G, you’ve made it a tasty variation adding A and D to the equation.

2.During the pause between phrases, add a counter melody. How? Take the given melody notes and turn them upside down or inside out, or change the rhythm slightly so the tune is still recognizable, but different.

3.Add chord substitutions. Instead of always using the chords that are written, ask yourself this question: “Into what other chord will this melody note fit?” For example, if the melody is G and the chord is C, what other chords contain the note G in them? There are several answers to that question. G is not only in the C chord, but it is also in the Em chord, the Eb major chord, the G chord, the Gm chord, etc. Try one of those alternate chords until you like the sound combination, then use it instead of the C chord. It will add an originality and freshness to your playing almost immediately.

4.Add fills and runs between phrases. How do you do that? Simply break up the chord that is in force at the moment, and run it up the keyboard as a broken chord – one note at a time. Or start at the top of the keyboard and come down. Or play with the chord a bit by playing 2 of the 3 notes instead of the entire 3 note chord.

5.Use melodic echos. After you have played the melody, echo it by playing it an octave higher, or two octaves higher, or an octave lower.

6.Use half-step slides. If the chord progression is from D7 to G7, instead of going to G7 directly, “slide into it” by playing the chord that is one-half step above – namely, Ab7, then quickly sliding off Ab7 to G7.

7.Use “blue notes.” Blue notes are created by sliding off a black key onto a white key quickly. For example, if the melody is E, slide off Eb to E quickly using the same finger.

This is just a tiny sampling of what you can do to dress up your music. There are literally hundreds of other techniques, from pseudo-modulations to inside blues moves to deceptive cadences to tremelos to twangs to crunches to straddles to 3-1 breakups to walk-downs and walk-ups and on and on.

By simply adding a few of these techniques to your playing you can easily double and triple the excitement created by your piano playing as you “dress up naked music!”

Author : Duane Shinn

3 Secrets To Understanding What Music Is Made Of

2005-10-16T08:12:00.000-07:00

It’s no secret that virtually everyone loves music in some form or other. After all, it is the universal language, and we all participate in it to some degree from the cradle to the grave. It starts with our Mothers’ lullaby, ends with our funeral song, with a zillion other stops along the way.

But what is music, anyway? What makes it tick? We all love some form of it and dislike other forms of it.

The country-western fan may not like jazz, but he or she sure loves the sound of pickin’ & grinnin’. And the jazz fan feels just the opposite.

And that’s as it should be. If we all liked the same kind of music, there just wouldn’t be the variety that is available to us now. We can choose from musical styles ranging from heavy classical and opera to rock to children’s songs to Broadway musicals to gospel music to the blues.

Each has its place, and each seems on the surface to be drastically different than another form of music. The key word is “on the surface.” But beneath the surface of all music is a commonality that is organic to all forms and styles of music.

So what does all music have in common?

At least 3 things – sometimes more, but never less:

1. Melody
2. Rhythm
3. Harmony

The melody is the part of a song or composition that you whistle or hum – in other words, the tune of the song. In one sense, it is the most visible of the 3 elements, because melody is what identifies a song. Without melody, it would be difficult to even conceive of a song or piece.

In musical notation, the melody is almost always written in the treble clef – also known as the treble staff. It consists of a horizontal line of notes that move up and down on the clef as the tune moves higher or lower.

Rhythm is the beat – the swing – the throb of the music. It happens in repeating patterns, depending upon the type of music. It is like a horizontal line of beats which occur at regular or semi-regular intervals. A waltz, for example, basically consists of a heavy beat followed by two lighter beats. So we say that a waltz is in triple meter – one strong beat followed by two weak beats, then repeated.

A march, on the other hand, generally consists of a heavy beat followed by a light beat, then another heavy beat followed by another light beat. (I’m simplifying, of course – there are many varieties…) So a march is in duple meter – as you might expect since we have two feet and we march in left-right-left-right patterns.

All rhythms are some combination of triple meter and/or duple meter, and the possibilities are endless – from boogie to R&B to mambos and sambas and bossa novas and….on and on.

Harmony, the 3rd aspect of music, is the musical background of a song – the chords, or intervals “behind” the melody. Without harmony, a song sounds empty – like a vocalist singing without an accompanist – or accapella. Music doesn’t HAVE to have harmony to function, but in actual practice it almost always does, even if it is just the interplay of two melodies, as in counterpoint.

You could spend a lifetime learning all the nuances of music, but it its most basic form, it is these 3 elements combined together; melody, rhythm, and harmony.

Author : Duane Shinn

10 Top Reasons You Should Learn to Play Chord Piano

2005-10-16T08:06:00.000-07:00

There are roughly umpteen zillion reasons why you should learn enough chords to be able to “chord a song” at the piano.

By “chord a song”, I mean the ability to play 3 or 4 chords on the piano in some sort of rhythm while you or someone else sings the tune. To do this, you don’t need to be a Van Cliburn; all you need to do is learn a few basic chords and be able to more back and forth between them in some organized rhythmic pattern.

For example, did you realize that all of these songs (and hundreds more) can be sung or played with just 3 chords?

Auld Lang Syne

Amazing Grace

Kum Ba Ya

Silent Night

Joy To The World

Jingle Bells

Happy Birthday

Down In The Valley

On Top Of Old Smoky…

and hundreds or maybe thousands more!

Add just one more chord to the basic 3, and you can play another thousand songs or so. So why not learn a few chords and start your chording career?

Here are my top 10 reasons for learning “chord piano”:

1) It’s easy. Learn 3 chords and start in.

2) Even though it’s easy to get started, you don’t have to stop there. You can learn more and more chords and more rhythm patterns and get really good.

3) You’ll be able to play “Happy Birthday” while the gang sings it.

4) You’ll be able to play half-a-dozen Christmas carols. In case you haven’t noticed, Christmas comes every year, so every year you’ll get better as you participate in family gatherings.

5) You can help your kids learn to play the piano, guitar, or most any other instrument by learning chords. Most teachers don’t teach chords, so you’ll be giving your kids an advantage by learning chords.

6) People will admire you. It’s true. Musicians are popular. Anyone who can play anything is in demand at parties and social gatherings. And if you can “chord” while others sing, you’re bound to be popular.

7) Piano playing using chords is good for your brain. Studies have shown that people who actively participate in music do their brain lots of good. And since chords require 3 or 4 notes at a time instead of one, you are giving your brain a good workout.

8) Piano playing, particularly using chords, is good exercise for your wrists and fingers. (Take the time to learn about correct hand position, though!)

9) Piano playing is excellent therapy for the stress of life. Many professional people come home from a hard days work and relax by expressing their emotions on the keyboard. Play a few dark and angry chords, and you’ll be surprised how much better you feel!

10) Piano playing is a blast. It’s just plain old fun. So learn 3 or 4 chords and get going. Maybe you’ll stop there and enjoy it the rest of your life.

But just maybe you’ll love it so much that you keep going and turn yourself into an excellent piano player who can read music as well as play chords!

Author : Duane Shinn

The Classical Guitar - A Rich Heritage

2005-10-16T08:03:00.000-07:00

The "classic" or classical guitar that was first developed in Spain by Antonio de Torres, sometime during the 1800s, is considered to be the foundation stone and model for all modern guitars. Torres broke new ground in the world of guitar making by using an innovative "fan-strutting" technique that he applied underneath the top for better sound distribution and strength. His unique method is still the basic standard adopted by most luthiers today. He is credited with improving the overall design, volume and tonal quality of the instrument, thus making Torres guitars a popular choice among classical guitar enthusiasts.

These guitars were originally strung with "gut" treble-strings (made from cat gut) and metal-wound silk bass-strings. As time progressed, the old strings were eventually replaced with nylon treble-strings and nylon steel-wound bass-strings which lasted longer and produced a better sound.

The classical guitar has a wider neck than the average steel-string acoustic guitar in order to facilitate finger picking. Each finger of the guitarist's right hand is identified with a letter from the Latin word which represents a particular finger.

P = Pulga (thumb)
I = Indicio (index)
M = Medio (middle)
A = Anular (ring)

Favorite woods used in construction often include Brazillian or Indian rosewood for the body, cedar for the neck, and silka-spruce or cedar for the top. Well made classical guitars produce a beautifully deep, rich, mellow tone. The sound resonates clearly through the woods and can be easily distinquished from the brighter tone of it's cousin, the steel-stringed acoustic. Because the strings are made of nylon, they are usually softer and easier to play as well.

The guitar probably originated from the "Vihuela," an instrument that was used during the 16th century to entertain royalty. Early songs were written in tablature and used for accompaniment as well as instrumental pieces. The classical guitar fell into a brief period of obscurity during the 18th century due to the increasing popularity of the piano, but this didn't last for long! Virtuosos such as Dionisio Aquado, Mauro Guiliani, and Fernando Sor began to appear on the scene, keeping the music alive by demonstrating their creative genius and technical skills. By the time the 19th century arrived, Fransisco Terrega was teaching a school of students and performing the works of great classical composers. Next in line was Andres Segovia of the 20th century who almost single handedly re-established the classical guitar as an important concert-hall instrument. He also went on to become the master-teacher of one of todays most popular classical guitarists- Christopher Parkening.

Many styles have since developed, either directly or indirectly, as a result of those who made the effort to preserve our classical guitar heritage. Techniques used for blues, folk, flamenco, rock and more can find their roots here. Tablature, scales, glissando (slides), tremelo, etc. are not new, they have been used for hundreds of years! Now it's up to us to keep this music alive, in our hearts and in our fingers, so that we too can share it with the next generation.

Author : Kathy Unruh

The Classical Guitar - A Rich Heritage

2005-10-16T07:58:00.000-07:00

High School Band Early Morning Practice

2005-10-16T07:54:00.000-07:00

Anyone who has ever been involved in an award winning High School Band knows that it takes hours of practice to make the grade. This means High School Bands must get up early to get it done. Many times as daylight savings time sets in they are practicing before sunrise, in the dark. But with school budgets strapped they may find that the School District will not turn on the stadium lights for them to practice to become perfect. Without perfection they cannot win. Additionally High School traveling and competing bands have huge budgets in excess of $65,000 per year.

http://www.carwashguys.com/fundraisers/LAschools.html

Travel costs have gone up too and there is only so much the High School Bands can earn doing fundraisers to pay for these costs yet still have time to practice. School Buses use diesel fuel and those costs are now in excess of $3.15 per gallon. The kids cannot adequately absorb these costs and it is really not safe to be doing all this stuff in the dark.

I propose that we use beat of the drums and sounds of the band along with alternative energy too power up the lights for the kids using the vibrational energy of the machinery and refinery itself. How so you ask? By placing large 4’ X 8’ sandwich sheets with a taunt film on the vibrational side and small copper lined tubes; hundreds of these tubes running perpendicular to the sheets, with magnets inside bouncing back and forth. These magnets will charge a capacitor and be hooked up to an LED lighting system using fiber optics or reflectors, each one hooked up to a .2 to .5 watt light. With hundreds of thousands of lights hooked up in a composite format it will light up the lights needed for these early morning or after school night time practices without the light pollution associated with streetlights, stadium lights or in large cities.

Currently this technology is being used in those little flashlights you see advertised on television that you shake and they light, but you never need batteries. This idea of lighting up the early morning practice is using that technology on a larger scale with miniaturized parts making up the guts between the sandwich sheets. Let there be light, thru vibrational energy and there was. Think on it.

Author : Lance Winslow

How To Choose The Perfect Digital Camera For You!

2005-10-02T12:13:00.000-07:00

The huge variety of Digital Cameras in the market is a great thing but it is making our buying decision a difficult task. The following buying tips will help you make a better, more educated, focused and rational purchase decision. Please take into acccount that there is no one perfect Digital Camera that contains all the requiered features and sells at a low price too, so it will be a compromise like many others we make in life.

Do You Really Need a Digital Camera?

To answer this compare the price of mid range digital cameras and devide it by the cost of a roll of film. How many rolls of film you need to buy before covering the cost of your digital camera? On average good mid range digital camera cost aprox $ 600. Film will avarage $ 2. you will buy 200 rolls of films before ever covering the cost of your new digital camera. Think about it, how much time in terms of years would it take to shoot 300 rolls of film X 36 frames? It is almost 11,000 pictures! Shooting ten rolls a year on average would take 30 years to spend $ 600 in terms of rolls of film and if the cost of the camera was only $ 200 then it will take " only " 10 years. Do you start geting the picture here? Don't forget that there is the cost of developing and the cost of the prints, but if you want to get simmilar quality prints as film camera then you will have to send your digital images to a mini lab printer as well.

So please, don't buy into the idea you are saving money here...

It is true though that with the digital camera you print only the best shots you like most and not all 36 pictures, so at some point everything begins to balance out. Another point to consider is that, many people don't print digital images, they store it on their computers or over the internet in digital albums, or they make a presentation with background music, burn it on a DVD disk, and share it with family and friends at their living room on TV. The truth is always somewhere in the middle.

If it is not necessarily cheaper, Does the Digital Cameras give better quality results? The answer is short: NO! experts may even argue that film quality is better.

There is the psychological aspect behind it all. Remember not having to buy film gives you the free feeling of taking as many pictures as you like, with instant satisfaction of seeing results immediately. Secondly,you always have the option to retake shots.

Thirdly, people tend to store or print only the best pictures. The overall result is improvement in our recorded memories, we shoot much more, correct and delete bad ones and store or print only the very best.

In addition, imaging software enables us to even further improve saturation of colors, Compensate for bad exposures, crop, rotate, make a collage from many pictures, add Artistic Graphics Text and style.

To sum it all up, it is not true that the Digital Cameras are saving money, the quality is not higher than Film camera, in general the new better Digital cameras give you more manual control over exposure and shutter speeds. Psychologically we feel relaxed and free to shoot much more pictures. The end result is an overall improvement in recording our live memories.

What Do You Need to Look for in a Digital Camera:

Examine the Camera at a real store:

First I would like to suggest that the whole buying process not be done over the internet even though it is convenient and tempting. In my view it is very important to see the camera, to hold it in your hands, and most importantly to try it and see the results. The features of many digital cameras look quite similar and it is hard to make a decision merely by feature comparisons . It might be very handsome nice looking camera on the internet but may be it is too small for your big hands? Did you know that some Digital cameras Have up to 3 seconds delay between pushing the button and the actual shutter Movement (Picture taking). In 3 seconds my son is out of the frame already... One warning, come prepared (after reading this article), listen to the salesman but with a critic ear, as objectivety may be abscured and profit margin goals may be at mind. You don't have to buy at the store, If you like a specific camera now is the time to go to the internet and compare specific model prices. buy only at a reputable and reliable store either virtual or not.

Decide on a Certain Budget and Stick to it:

Photo gear has a lot of wana haves, nice to haves and let me have that one as well, gadgets. most camera manufacturers provide a basic memory card of 16 MB, this will be good for only a few high quality pictures, I strongly recommend you will buy a 128 MB or even better yet 256 MB Memory Card. Since Digital Cameras use LCD screen, batery consumption is much higher than what you are use to in film cameras, it is recommended to invest in a battery charger. Allocate a budget for your camera, but make sure it includes the Camera + Memory Card + Battery charger + case and even consider Wide Angel Converter.

Skin tone:

Test the cameras quality by taking a picture of people, observe the skin tone (face, hands etc'), does the skin tone looks natural to you? Or is it too pale or yellowish? Is it too reddish or pink? Insist on a good natural result.

How Many Mega Pixels?

The very basic " Point & Shoot " models can start with 2 Mega and can give very good results but I recommend you choose 3 mega or even 4 Mega for prints of up to 5 x 7. If you don't need many enlargements it is high quality and sufficient. There are compact models with even 7 Mega pixels but for all practical reasons it is an over kill, I would invest in wider aperture lens and longer range zoom. Don't think if your neighbor bought a 7 Mega camera that his camera is better, It's not.

What Aperture Lens:

The smaller the number the better, it is always marked with "f", for instance aperture range: f2.8 - f4, if it is constant on the entire zoom range, let's say f2.8 on all zoon range - excellent, the longer the zoom range the harder it is to produce a small aperture number, for instance a zoom range of 36mm - 420mm (12 X) if it is f2.8 on all the range it is impressive. a camera with Aperture range of f2 - f3 Very good. Higher aperture than f5 will produce less desirable results.

Zoom Range:(Optical)

The longer the range the better, you can catch a distant object, make nice close ups and portraits, it gives you more accessibility, flexibility and creative options. A long 420 mm (12 X) is excellent range BUT, you need to understand that the longer the zoom range the bigger the amplification of any hand shaking with the camera, therefore it is recommended to hold your breath, be as stable as you can with your hands and body but even better yet to use a Tripod. I would even compromise a bit on the range to be 370 mm (10 X) " only ". Important feature on a long-range zoom is an Anti-Shake or Image stabilizer. These features compensate approximately one f stop or more on movements.

I referred here to Optical zoom, there is a digital zoom in addition but usually the quality of it is very low, some salesmen tend to confuse the customers by multiplying the optical zoom by the digital zoon and claiming the camera to be 12 optical x 4 digital = (48 X)! Ignore such statements, refer just to Optical zoom.

In the old Film cameras a long zoom range meant a very long bulge, in the current modern Digital Cameras it extends less than an inch and stops, all the rest is done internally by the Cameras optics.

Wide Angel:

Most Digital Cameras do not have wide angel! It is one of the their biggest shortcomings, 36 mm or even worse 37 mm is not a wide angel zoom, as a result when taking pictures indoor you will notice you cannot catch a better part of the scene or only part of the room, when shooting outdoor you will notice that only part of the landscape can be included in the frame. Not to worry, there is a solution! Wide Angel Adaptor, it is an add on which is placed over the existing lens. It can be (X 0.75) = 28 mm, it can be (X 0.66) = 24 mm which is excellent. There is an additional charge for adopters as they are produced either by a third party or the original manufacturer of the camera. Adaptors give small Distortions so as a rule of thumb it is much better to have the original manufacturer adaptor as it matches optically much better. There are even Macro ad on Adaptors available.

LCD Screen:

The bigger the better, average size is 1.8", but there are models with 2" and even 2.5", another feature is a swivel (flip-out & twist) LCD screens, you can show your kid His picture in real time, and it can help you take a difficult angel and access shots. The LCD screens have one big problem, that is, under sun light and outdoor conditions it is very difficult to see the picture on them. Therefore, if it has Anti Glare feature it's better. The more pixels the better.

ISO Rating:

This one is important to actually check in the store and observe the results carefully. The wider the range the better, both on the low and high sides of the scale. If it is less than 100 it means you will get very good results in bright day light sunny conditions ( Iso 50 or 80 ), if it is Iso 400 and up it means you will get excellent results on low light conditions. Some of Digital Cameras don't perform well in Iso rating of above 200, (e.g. you will see a lot of noise and snow flakes), this is why I recommended verifying it.

Optics:

The quality of the Glass Optics is Important, some of the Manufacturers wave with their Optics Brands well known producers like:

Leica lens
Carl Zeiss lens
Schneider-Kreuznach Variogon lens
Nikkor Lens
Canon Lens
Etc’.
Additional points:

Auto Focus - The more points the better - (9 Points is very good).
External Flash option via hot shoe a plus.
Lens Protective Hood - Better Light input + physical protection of the lens.
Who is the Camera manufacturer?

Most of the Digital cameras are designed in Japan, it is very important to choose a reliable producer with strong and experienced knowledge of Cameras, with a large variety of models and commitment to service and excellence. Always think who is the manufacturer, is he coming from the film field, Printers producer, electronics or has he dealt with cameras from day one.

Summary:

The economy of the Digital Camera is not cheaper than Film Cameras.
The overall result of using Digital Camera is improvement in our recorded memories, we shoot much more, correct and delete bad ones and Store only the very best.
Examine and test the Camera at a real store only then compare prices in the Internet, buy only at reputable store.
Decide on a Budget and stick to it, Take into account all the accessories such as bigger memory card of at least 256 MB.
Aperture lens - The smaller the "f" number the better, Range between f2 - f3 is very good, f2.8 across all the zoom range is excellent. Especially if the zoom is long.
Zoom range of (12 X) or (10 X), with Anti Shake or Image Stabilizer is great, Consider adding a Tripod.
Wide angel adaptor is most important (0.75 X) or even better yet (0.66 X), original manufacturer adapters will give you best optical compatibility.
LCD Screen - The bigger the better, Flip out & twist, Anti Glare, High Resolution.
ISO Rating - Preferable range 50 - 800, settle for 80 - 400, Test It!
Optics - well known manufacturers will give you better quality output.
Auto Focus - The more points the better - (9 Points is very good).
External Flash option via hot shoe a big plus.
Lens Protective Hood - Better Light input + physical protection of the lens.
Well-known leader and experienced Camera manufacturer with good service backup.
A list of major camera manufacturers web sites:

Canon USA
Casio-USA
Nikon USA
Fuji-Film-US
Hasselblad
HP-US
Kodak Photo
Konica-Minolta-US
Mamiya
Leica-Camera
Olympus-America
Panasonic-Cameras
Pentax
Samsung-camera-usa
Sigma-Cameras
Sony-US
In my view the best place to look for Information on Digital Cameras Is the DpReview web site at: www.dpreview.com. Here you can Read the Latest Digital Camera news, In depth reviews of specific models, Compare side by side cameras, see picture samples, forums with specific Sections of Manufacturers and cameras models. In addition you get final professional Conclusions. This article can be obtained Free of charge at: www.1st-Photography-World.com.

Author : Amit Laufer

The Right Projector Screen Can Save You Money

2005-10-02T11:56:00.000-07:00

At LCDProjectorCenter.com we concentrate very much on lcd projectors, so why am I writing about projector screens? Quite simple really. Buying your lcd projector in isolation from the screen without considering how they work together is likely to cost you more and give you less than perfect results.

How can picking the right projector screen save you money?

One of the biggest challenges when choosing an lcd projector is getting the right brightness for the room you are going to be using it in. For home use you can usually darken the room. This means you can buy a cheap lcd projector, often saving many hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars.

But often darkening the room significantly is neither possible nor desirable. Buying a higher specification projector will give you a brighter image, but it's probably cheaper to buy a high gain projector screen. The quality lcd projector may cost you a thousand dollars more than a dimmer model, whilst quality projector screens that enhance the image brightness and clarity are only a few hundred dollars more.

Projector Brightness and Screen Gain

The brightness of an lcd projector is given in ansi lumen. Typical values for home theater and business presentation use are 500 to 3000. The higher the number, the brighter the picture will be. At the low end a darkened room is essential, whilst at the very top end acceptable results are possible with higher light levels. The current generation of home use projectors are typically in the 1000-1500 range.

The gain of a projector screen is the increase in brightness of the image produced compared to a flat matt white screen. This is given as a simple number, eg 1, 1.5, 2 etc. A gain of 1 means the image is the same brightness as on a flat matt white surface, whereas 2 means the image is twice as bright.

As an example, if you decide you need about 1500 lumen to get an acceptable quality picture, you could buy a projector with that rating and worry about the screen later. Or you could buy a cheaper 1000 lumen model and match it to a projector screen with a gain of 1.5. This would give you an effective image brightness of 1500 lumen at a reduced cost.

Very High Gain Projector Screens

Typical cheap projector screens have gains of between 1 and 1.2. Gains of 1.5 to 1.8 are achieved with high quality perlescent finishes at about double the cost. If money is no object and you need the maximum gain possible then you need a chromatically matched projector screen.

Gains of up to 4 can now be achieved with matched projectors and screens. An lcd projector only transmits 3 narrow wavelengths of light in Red, Green and Blue. A matched projector screen is covered with material that reflects only these wavelengths. Almost all of the ambient light is absorbed or scattered, so the projected image appears very much brighter.

The Downside of High Projector Screen Gain

Whilst projector screen gain might help you use a cheap lcd projector in brighter rooms than it could cope with on its own, there are 3 trade-offs. These are the viewing angle, color shifting and uneven brightness.

High gain projector screens limit the viewing angle. For a screen with a gain of 1 the picture appears high quality out to about 50 degrees from the projector. But at a gain of 1.5 that viewing angle is reduced to about 35 degrees. Over 2 and the viewing angle is down to around 25 degrees, making it much more difficult to layout your room.

Color shifting happens due to the surface properties of the higher gain screens. A true white screen will render colors accurately. By trying to manipulate the way light reflects, a high gain screen can cause a shift in some of the colors. This is rarely a reason not to buy, unless you really do need the colors to be spot on.

The biggest impact a high gain projector screen has on image quality is the change is brightness from the center of the screen to the edge. There can be up to 30% difference at gains over 2. This is usually not too much of a problem, but it does become far more noticable the higher the viewing angle.

Conclusion

A little research and a bit of leg work could help you make great savings. Treat the projector screen as an integral part of your system and buy it together with your projector. Visit stores and insist on demonstrations with a variety of lcd projector and screen combinations.

Choosing a good quality, moderate gain (1.4-1.6) projector screen can decrease the cost and increase the performance of your system. A cheap lcd projector can produce a bright, clear image at higher than expected light levels. So whilst your projector screen may cost more, overall you save.

Author : Nick Summers

Toshiba Has HD-DVD-R Ready for Mass Production

2005-10-02T11:49:00.000-07:00

The time has come for Toshiba and Nec, the main backers of HD-DVD format to announce they're ready for write-once HD-DVD-R disc mass production.

Their discs can store 15 GB of data, and should be available for the consumers in the first half of the next year, by the same time that HD-DVD recorders and PC drives will be also on the market.

As we all know, HD-DVD fights in a tight competition with Blu-ray for the “format of the future” title, that also means a multibillion dollar market as a price for the winner.

Similar blue laser technology stays at the core of both formats, as the blue laser has a shorter wavelength than the red lasers used in current DVD equipment, allowing discs to store data at higher densities needed for high-definition TV and movies.

The advantage that HD-DVD-R disc has over its main competitor, the Blu-ray disc is it has the same disc structure as the classic DVD and thus can be manufactured by using the same production lines. This, for the DVD manufacturers, means they can start HD-DVD-R mass production at full speed, right away, with not much additional cost. A replacement stamper is needed of course and the old dye must be replaced with blue-light sensitive, resin dye. The new dye was developed in a joint project of Hayashibara Biochemical Laboratories, Mitsubishi Kagaku Media/Verbatim and Toshiba Corporation.

But at the same time, Blu-ray competitor has its own advantages, like superior storing capacity. Toshiba claims it works at this aspect also, but moving from single-layer discs that are written at 1x speed, to dual-layer 30GB discs could take several years, its spokespersons said. Toshiba promised to introduce 20GB HD-DVD-RW discs by this time next year.

So far, the Blu-ray Disc Association and the HD DVD Promotion Group have refused to compromise to a unified hybrid format for the future DVD.

Author : Iulia Pascanu

Who Uses Satellite Surveillance?

2005-10-02T11:19:00.000-07:00

Satellite surveillance is one of those technological capabilities that we most often associate with the military and with organizations like the CIA. What we do not think about, however, is how satellite surveillance is available to more than just the American government. Space is owned by no one, and anyone who has the funds can launch a satellite. Telecommunications companies, various governments, and media corporations all have satellites. Additionally, it is possible to make use of satellites using computers. In fact, that is how satellite phones and GPS devices work. So, who uses satellite surveillance? The answer: just about anyone.

Satellite surveillance can be used for a variety of purposes. Most common now is relays to watch television or to place phone calls. For the United States and Canada, it actually provides a way to more effectively track and fight fires. And it is possible to track powerful storms and other natural events. And it is no surprise to most people that pictures from satellites can be used by government agencies to keep tabs on possible enemies. What many people do not know is the pinpoint accuracy with which it is possible to view an object about three feet in size.

So, who uses satellite surveillance? For the most part, anyone with access to a satellite’s codes and information and a computer can access the images from that satellite. Television stations use them to show pictures of swirling clouds that represent storms, NASA uses them to take pictures of deep space, and governments and militaries use them to spy on others, and quite possibly even on its own citizens. Interestingly enough, regular U.S. law enforcement agencies do not have regular satellite surveillance access. In order for law enforcement to use satellites for surveillance, they must have warrants and be given special permission. It is even conceivable that some well-connected criminal organizations might possible have satellite access.

Satellite surveillance is a fact of life in our world. Whether or not you truly have to be worried about being singled out for this special attention is a matter for debate. However, it is worth noting that if you are a person of interest to the government, chances are that it can find you and then keep tabs on you.

Author : Shawn Davis

Benefits of Satellite TV

2005-10-02T11:17:00.000-07:00

Satellite TV seems to be the way of the future. With many people already switching from cable, it makes you wonder what is so great about Satellite TV. Some of the main reasons people are switching over is due to the free offers of equipment and installation, the HDTV picture quality, the channel selection, as well as the range of service.

Due to the intense competition between DirecTV and Dish Network, the prices have been getting lower and lower. These price wars have caused the most recent offers to include free satellite dish, free receivers, free installation, free DVR's and more. The two are very similar in what they offer to their customers, but do differ in a few areas such as channel selection, and sporting packages.

As many know, satellite television has excellent picture quality. Now is the best time to purchase a HDTV and link it up to your satellite and enjoy the best of the best. Once you plug in the satellite, the television, and the surround sound, you will be ready to enjoy the ultimate entertainment experience!

The channel selection with satellite TV is also one of their strengths. Satellite TV allows the customer to pick which package they want, which can be quite difficult when they are choosing from 300 available channels.

One of the main benefits to satellite TV is its range of service. If you are living in a rural area, which most likely doesn't receive cable service, its is very likely that you will be able to receive satellite service. The one draw back may be that you need one of the older, larger dishes in order to tune in the programming.

Satellite TV has a lot to offer its customers. By switching over now, you will be able to reap all the rewards and offers that are available through DirecTV, and Dish Network.

Author : Tina Porter

Home Theater's 3 UGLY Secrets!

2005-10-02T11:15:00.000-07:00

Secret #1: WHAT YOU BUY TODAY WILL BE OBSOLETE TOMORROW, IF IT ISN'T ALREADY.

What you should do about it:

Don't sweat it. Just read what you can before you buy to educate yourself so you don't make a terrible mistake. If you shop wisely, you can get a tremendous leap over what you have come to know as television. The good news is the better stuff coming down the pipe is knocking prices down on the stuff out now.

Plus, consumer surveys SCREAM to the electronics companies that people WANT these new, slim, high resolution Home Theater setups. There are billions of dollars to be made. Those surveys snapped the head of every exec in the biz. They geared up to make more. "Make more" equals "economies of scale" equals "make MORE money," even at lower price points! The first one costs a bazillion dollars: research, tooling up, marketing. Then, with volume, the cost per unit plummets. The guys who want to have very latest get to pay the most. Why be that person?

If you’ve already purchased a particular technology – Plasma, DLP, LCD, front or rear projector, whatever, ENJOY it. It IS important to realize that wide screen aspect ratio does not equal high-definition TV, though. Some think if the picture is wide, they’re there. That might be FAR from there. I hate to say this because I’m a guy and guys hate this – you might want to read the instructions.

Secret #2. And this is really, really big: YOU CAN'T TELL WHAT THE PICTURE LOOKS LIKE FROM WHAT YOU SEE IN THE STORE.

What you should do about it:

What you are doing now. Research. The hard part is cutting through the opinions of weenies who want to see a feather clearly, blowing in the wind at 50 yards. I'll help you there. Read on.

There are three reasons why Home Theater Ugly Secret #2 is true.

1- The sets aren't adjusted right. They are turned way up to dazzle you. The dazzle will bother you when you get home. Worse, it drives the set to what you'd call distortion. The better picture happens when the picture is turned down in brightness, sharpness, contrast, and whatever else has been goosed. Why do they let this happen? It's like a conspiracy that everyone is in on - except you. Because when they are all lined up, 40 sets in a row, the manufacturers know you might think theirs is different and better. But they ALL do it, so it's a wipe. And if a store is a little bit shady, with some hi-def sets to move at a higher profit margin, well, now, those might have been "optimized" to look better than the others.

Yes, most of the hi-def sets CAN be adjusted correctly for you in your home. MAYBE by you.

Did I mention that Bubba the shopper-doofus was there, just before you browsed in, that he found the remote control and screwed up all the settings anyway?

So, you can't trust what you see in most stores. But wait, there's more.

2- Many of the sets are being fed video poorly. A distribution amp or humungous splitter shares the picture among the displays. That hurts the picture. A store might have 40 sets on one distribution, but the ones they really want to move on a purer source, showing a better picture. You'll never know.

3- What you see may or may not be high definition or even good quality. Just as bad, it might be super fidelity you won't likely ever see again. Because, what you watch at home might not be broadcast or cablecast with a good picture. So, you can see misaligned sets fed bad pictures that bear little resemblance to anything you'd see at home. Ready to drop several THOUSAND on that? Didn't think so. But tens of thousands of people do. Probably WILL this weekend. Eager commissioned salespeople will confide that THIS unit is the superior one. No hidden agenda there, do you think, huh?!

Secret #3. THERE'S SOMETHING WRONG WITH EVERYTHING.

What you should do about it:

Relax. Don't obsess. It's more a matter of things being done different ways by different designers. For example, on this set, the colors are spot on, but the resolution is a little off. On that set over there, the resolution is incredible, but the red... You are still going to love the setup you buy - and remember - you just might have it for 10 years or MORE! You'll look at it more than you look at your wife, husband or kids. I'm talking face time. Relax. We'll get you through this.

A personal note to THE OBSESSIVES:

If you haven't already left this article, I want you to think about the fact that there are millions of screen dots to go wrong. Not that they will, but the 317th one from the left and 119th from the bottom IS a little shaky, don't you think? Time to take a deep breath. One, two, three. Exhale. Even though there's something wrong with everything, if you embrace that thought and LET IT GO you'll be able to enjoy the - uh - big picture. The state of the Home Theater art - even if it IS yesterday's art, is very very nice.

Relax.

Why a Home Theater? And what's it MEAN anyway? Good questions. A Home Theater is simply the natural; evolution of the TV experience. Now that we can, we do. It's how it goes. Basically, you get a shorter, wider picture (more like a movie in a... theater) and the picture is much clearer than the TV you sat too close to as a kid – remember Mom yelling? And you can have better sound too. It can be all around you, or just in the front. You choose. You can have a box that plays the deep notes - fun things like car crashes, earthquakes, whale farts, cannons. You get to experience them like never before. It's not essential, but it's there if you want it.

A Home Theater is just like going to the movies. Except the screen isn't that big, but you can get a good seat. You don't have to endure advertisements in the ‘pre-show entertainment’ if you don't want to. You can go to the bathroom and touch the door handle on the way out. No paying $5.75 for a bag of stale popcorn. No popcorn bagging zomboid teenagers. No lines. No sticky floors (unless that's the way you live, not that there's anything wrong with that.)

There. Now you know the top 3 Ugly Home Theater secrets.

But, it isn’t quite that simple. At http://www.GreatHomeTheater.com/ there are 9 more secrets revealed. I promise you won’t get neurotic or your hands dirty, and I won’t talk you out of what can be a tremendous and highly enjoyable leap forward in home entertainment.

Author : Bob Wood