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Choosing a Music TeacherWriten by Sam Salmon

Although it is quite possible to teach yourself how to play an instrument, the advances that you can make with a good music teacher and following a course of structured lessons can not be overvalued. Dont be afraid to make that call to a teacher and discuss your needs. As adults it can be hard to take that first step, but playing music is undeniably good for the soul, and you shouldnt allow yourself to miss out on the opportunity to feel happier and learn something new.

Before you make that call it helps to know what style of music you would like to learn so you can discuss this with a prospective music teacher. Learning a style you enjoy helps you to stay motivated and make you want to keep practicing. It will also help your teacher to tailor the lessons to suit you.

Music teachers can be found in the local papers, Yellow Pages and Thompson Local as well as on the internet. Go to Google and type in music teachers in and add your town and county. Another good source is your local music shop. They usually know the local teachers personally, or know of the good ones from word of mouth from their customers.

There are a number of things to consider when choosing a music teacher, and price should really NOT be one of them. Four lessons a month with an adequate teacher who is cheap may not be as beneficial to you as twice a month with a superior but more expensive teacher. Its true that more expensive is not always better, but an excellent teacher will have no problem finding students prepared to pay a higher rate.

You can expect to pay anywhere from 12 to 30 an hour, though many teachers offer half hour lessons which may well be better for people early into their instrument playing. Ask if there is the possibility of group lessons, if this suits you. This can seriously help reduce the costs for those on tight budget. Those who have family constraints or transport problems might want to consider having a teacher come to their home.

Any good teacher will be happy to talk to you about the possibility of teaching you and should be happy to answer your questions.

* Ask if you can sit in on a lesson. This is especially good if youre thinking of taking group lessons.

* Avoid teachers who are not fun. Playing an instrument should be fun not a chore. If you dont find learning with a particular teacher fun, move on. It should not be work, otherwise youd work an instrument not play it

* Ask if you can tape record any lessons you have. A teacher who is confident in their teaching methods will have no problem with this, and you will have a source of reference to help you in your practice.

* Never be afraid to ask what their professional and educational experience is. While qualifications may not be everything you should expect a music teacher to have taken their music exams in the instrument or instruments they teach. Also find out how long theyve been teaching and the kind of people they teach. For example do they teach adults and children? References can be asked for, but none come higher than personal recommendation from a happy student.

* Ask how much practice is expected of you, and find out if there will be opportunities to perform in the future, especially if you are learning an instrument that plays as part of large band or orchestra.

Which ever path you go down, the bottom line is practice practice practice. Little and often is always better than spending 4 hours the day before your next lesson trying to practice what you were shown last lesson! It never fools the teacher and all you do is waste your own money and time. Things sink in better if practiced a little everyday anyway. To spend 10 minutes several times a day working on something you find particularly difficult can often achieve better results than 2 hours in one sitting.

Sam Salmon runs http://www.iwantedtobeapopstar.co.uk helping amateur musicians find others to play with.

Is The Ipod Ruining Music?Writen by Brandon Drury

Effects of The Ipod

Just a week ago, I was headed up to a concert about two hours away from home. We sort of consider these concerts to be miniature road trips. In the past, we'd pop in a cd, crank it up for a while, and then we hop into a discussion about chicks, politics, potatoes, etc. The music being played kind of took a back seat until we ran out of things to talk about.

Well, this trip was a little different. The difference was no one brought any cds. Instead two of the group brought Ipods which played through the radio with an FM modulator. In the past, we'd flip through cd case after cd case looking for that one certain cd, but once we had found that one cd we were committed to it. On long trips, it was rare to take a cd out without listening all the way through it.

Well, enter the age of the Ipod. The Ipod has done to music what cable has done to television. You now have the magical curse called choice. Of course, all choice does is lead to indecision. I'm not sure if watching another person flip through 200 satellite channels on TV drives you crazy, but it certainly does me. For two hours, I watched two people do nothing but flip through song after song. It was VERY rare if we made it through one minute of a song. In fact, I doubt if we made it through an entire song at all.

While it does seem great being able to carry 41 days of constant music in your pocket, I have to say that the average Ipod user may be missing out. There was something to listening to an entire cd on a trip that helped define the great albums. We all have those 5 or so records that we'll never get bored with that we can always listen to all the way through. How would you know what a great record was if you had never had to listen to it all the way through? Sure, sometimes it seamed like a curse having to listen through a crappy song, but cds took care of that pretty easily. You just hit the skip button.

The real tragedy is there really wasn't that much music listening going on. It seams that a device that is designed to make it easier to listen to more music has a drastic downside. If people do little more than flip through song after song with their Ipod, then the Ipod is taking away from people's musical experience.

Yet, people still try to buy bigger and bigger Ipods. I remember thinking that 10GB of Mp3s was an enormous amount of music. Now 60GB versions are very common. I couldn't imagine who really needs 41 continuous days of music without repeating a single song. If you turn the Ipod off for sleeping, you are sitting at right at 60 days of music without repeating a single song.

Where Are All Of These Songs Coming From?

So how are people filling up their Ipods? Are they buying songs at $1 per song from Itunes? I've got a gut feeling that most of them are not. Assuming a one minute MP3 uses 1 MB and the average song is 4 minutes long, it would cost $15,000 to fill up a 60GB Ipod. Ouch! I don't know too many people who have spent $15,000 on purchasing music. I DON'T KNOW ANYONE WHO HAS SPENT $15,000 ON MUSIC!!

It seams pretty clear that if the average college kid were paying $1 per song, they would probably wouldn't need an Ipod much larger than 1 or 2GB. Yes, I'm aware that you can store other data on an Ipod, but I don't know too many people who plan to haul around RAW video data on their Ipods.

So Who Is Getting Paid?

The labels still seam to be afloat even if they are signing a smaller quantity of artists. They certainly don't seam to be as excited about their profits as they may have been ten years ago. It's no secret that if the labels aren't getting paid, the artists definitely aren't getting paid either.

Music Is Expendable!

I remember just a little over 10 years ago. My family was low on cash. I decided that I wanted a rare Nirvana import called Outcesticide 3. The cd cost $30 and had to be ordered from Japan. I decided that the only way to buy the cd was to not each lunch at school for a month. (I was too young to get a job). So, I did without a meal each day for an entire month so that I could save $1 per day and order my Nirvana import. You could imagine how I felt the day the cd finally came in. I had put myself through torture for an entire month to get that cd.

I was at an uncle's house recently. My cousin was on his computer. He decided he wanted to listen to some rare Nirvana songs. He opened up his favorite peer to peer download software and typed in Nirvana or whatever. In about 10 minutes, he had almost the entire cd that I had starved for a month for.

While it is exciting that technology exists that makes it faster to download a song than it is to take the cd out of it's case and place it in the player, it seams that this somehow makes the music worth less to the individual. When a listener has to sacrifice for an album, the album is a little more memorable.

I mean I can remember the exact day I purchased many of my favorite cds. For example, I remember being 16 and buying Goo Goo Dolls, A Boy Named Goo. Me and my buddy were driving 90 mph on the way home like a bunch of immature idiots. It turned out that we had passed my mom without realizing it. When I got home, I was doomed. (That one didn't end on a happy note).

Uhh, good luck having any stories about how fast you downloaded an mp3. Good luck even remembering the day you downloaded a given mp3.

So who is winning with the Ipod?

Is the music listener winning? They now have a portable music machine that can hold 2 million zillion songs. Of course, the mp3 player costs about 3 times as much as a portable cd player did 10 years ago. With the luxury of having so many musical options, some people spend a lot more time flipping through songs than they used to. Ipods can hold an enormous amount of data, but this just leads to people blindly downloading every song under the planet. It's cool being able to hear a song, but having a free library of every song under the sun can make music expendable. Of course, the labels and artists don't seam to be winning.

In fact, I can only think of one guy who has really won from the Ipod...Steve Jobs, founder of Macintosh.

Brandon Drury runs an active music forum on his site at http://www.recordingreview.com which covers everything from songwriting to recording to cd replication to music marketing.

Roslyn Ridgeway: Bridging the Gap between Music & TV and FilmWriten by Isha Edwards

Can a musician revive their music career through film or television? For entertainment consultant, Roslyn Ridgeway, the answer is yes.

President and CEO of De Roz Productions, Inc., Roslyns proof-in-the-pudding is recording artist, TV and film star, Irene Cara. Cara is among a select group of mega-talented performers who have successfully transitioned from theater to television then records and feature films. The award-winning performer is best noted for her film roles in Sparkle, Fame, City Heat and the TV mini series, Roots. Although Ms. Cara has spent much of her energy developing music, with Roslyns help, Cara leveraged the reality television craze to gain visibility for herself and her female band, Hot Caramel. With Irenes talent and accomplishments on the screen, it was a hard task to re-introduce her to the public as a musician. We went back to her roots to do this. We did it through the power of television, Roslyn said.

Since reality television captivates most American audiences, the transition for Cara was seamless. After a twenty-year hiatus from TV and film, in 2005, Cara debuted on NBCs hit reality television show Hit Me Baby One More Time. Winning out over music legends Wang Chung, Cameo, Howard Jones, and Sophie B. Hawkins, Roslyn saw the power of television at work. Millions tuned in to watch Cara beat her competition. Reality television put Cara back in the limelight reminding fans of her talent and peaking interest in Hot Caramel.

Roslyns hard work continues to payoff. Currently, the Atlanta native is working with twin brothers and accomplished musicians, Darrell and Pharell Floyd. The twins career made a turn towards film after appearing in 20th Century Foxs Drumline.

The newly minted president of Business Women Professionals-USA, Roslyns resume reflects success in a myriad of industries, including entertainment, non-profit, and small business. As music artists continue to expand their careers into film and television, Roslyn works diligently to make her mark by bridging the gap between music, television and film.

Related Music Sites : http://www.entertainbox.com > http://www.guitarready.com > http://www.learntomasterpiano.com

Music Over TimeWriten by Barbara Brinson

Music is the art of combining vocal and/or instrumental tones in a structured manner.

Music has been around almost as long as the earth is old. We can designate medieval music as a beginning, although a precise time is impossible because the knowledge of that time period is too vague.

However, in the 1100s large volumes of written, notated polyphony and non-liturgical Latin songs began emerging before two major changes began to take place.

a) The use of the interval of a third as a stable harmony.
b) Humanistic orientation to text with music.

These changes took several decades, putting the beginning of the Renaissance somewhere between the 1420s (harmonies of Dufay) and the 1500s (humanistic texts of Josquin), which brings us to the beginning of opera in the 1600s. The Renaissance style ended around 1750 and is also among the clearest divisions of Western music.

Sometime in the early 1700s through the late 1800s, the best known pieces of European Classical music were written.

The 1800s was the beginning of a new era, because of a brilliant man by the name of Thomas Edison. This man was an exceptional inventor, on 12-6-1877 he finished one of his best inventions...The phonograph and had it patent on 2-19-1878. Now mind you it was a fairly complicated machine, using a metal cylinder with tin foil wrapped around it. The machine had two diaphragm-and-needle units, one for recording, and one for playback. When he spoke into a mouthpiece, the sound vibrations would be indented onto the cylinder by the recording needle in a vertical groove pattern. Edison gave a sketch of the machine to his mechanic, John Kreusi, to build, which Kreusi supposedly did within about 30 hours. Edison immediately tested the machine by speaking the nursery rhyme Mary had a little lamb into the mouthpiece, and to his amazement, the machine played his words back to him.

Now, we are going to get a little closer to the twentieth century of music in time in the 1900s. Starting in the beginning of the 1900s, there were disks (no, not CD's yet) used by recording studios to record music. These discs called records were then sold in stores for consumers to purchase and take home to play on their (phonograph) record player. The last of the records to come out was the 45 made for single songs.

It took the music industry decades to advance from the 45 record to new formats, such as 8-tracks and audio/cassette tapes. Once they were created it seemed as if the industry took off and overnight the CD (molded plastic disk scanned by a laser beam for digital data) was orn. These, like the record were, and still are, sold in stores for customers to purchase and take home to play on their CD players. Following shortly behind is the Mp3 player(standard technology and format for compressing audio signals into very small computer files. Sound data from a CD is compressed to 1/12 the original size) and ipod (portable Mp3 player).

Now, the pace has picked up even faster and we can download music right off the internet. In the beginning though, a company (I'm not going to mention any names) was allowing people to download as many songs as they chose for free. But, there was a problem..It was not exactly legal. A computer company names Apple made the process legitimate by allowing the artists to get paid for their work. The music industry now has the opportunity to license and sell it's content over the internet. The idea that people would pay for downloading music seemed a bit far fetched in the beginning. But, music sales have gone down by one-fifth since the millennium and downloads increased to over 500 million by July of 2005.

A revolution in the music industry was changed dramatically on February 23, 2006 when a 16 year old, Alex Ostrovsky came home and downloaded a song from the Coldplay concert he left just minutes before. Alex down loaded one of the songs for 99 cents from the iTunes Music store (which the Apple computer company started less than 3 years ago). Shortly after that an Apple employee called to let him know he has just downloaded the ONE BILLIONTH song. For being the lucky downloader, Apple Computer Company is sending him a $10,000.00 gift card for the iTunes Music Store, a 20-inch iMac, 10 ipods, and a scholarship to the Juilliard School in New York.

The one billionth download should go to show you how much this industry has taken over the music world over time!

RESOURCE BOX:

About the Author: Barbara Brinson Website: http://music-down-loads-for-you.blogspot.com

Barbara Brinson has a lot of experience downloading music and has dealt with plenty of download companies. So, go take a look at music-down-loads-for-you.blogspot.com now, and see why downloaders from all over are going to her site.

See Piano Learning Info Here > http://www.learntomasterpiano.com/

Jazz SaxophonesWriten by Kristy Annely

Saxophones are musical instruments belonging to the woodwind category. Saxophones were generally used in the military and in big orchestras, but are now found in smaller bands as well. They are generally used for big band music, pop music and jazz. A saxophone is as complex as a classical instrument and as unconventional as a non-classical instrument. People who play saxophones are called saxophonists.

The saxophone was invented by Adolphe Sax, a Belgian, in the 1840s. Later, many people made their own alterations to the instrument. There are many kinds of saxophones but the most commonly used are: Soprano, Alto, Tenor and Baritone saxophones. The smaller alto saxophones are ideal for first-time players. The tenor saxophones are generally preferred by jazz musicians, especially soloists. The alto is the next preferred model. There are also vintage saxophones available.

Saxophones are generally associated with jazz music, but they are also suitable for classical music. The saxophone often complements the French horn since both of them have a similar range and timbre. Jazz saxophones use high-baffled mouthpieces. Their configuration allows the baffle, or ceiling, to be closer to the reed for a brighter sound. The sound should be bright enough to cut through the other big instruments in a band or an orchestra. The baffle and the tone depend on the shape of the mouthpiece. Those with larger tip openings allow for greater flexibility in the pitch for bending notes. This is very useful in jazz and pop music. Lower baffles and smaller tip openings make the pitch more stable and give a darker sound. This is more suitable to classical music.

The local music store, mail-order service, a private party or the Internet are popular sources for buying saxophones. The main aspects to be considered are the quality, service, price and the model. The Internet is a good place to find information about jazz saxophones, but it is wise to test a few of them before buying.

Saxophones provides detailed information about saxophones, jazz saxophones, soprano saxophones, alto saxophones and more. Saxophones is the sister site of Violins Web.

See Online Music Lessons at > http://www.entertainbox.com/

The Language of Music is One that All Arts Aspire toWriten by Bronwen Roberts

It was Schopenhauer who first said that all arts aspire to the condition of music. What he was referring to was the abstract qualities of music. The path between music and audience is a direct one, without the intervention of a medium of communication that is used for other everyday purposes, which is unlike many other art forms! The architect expresses himself in buildings, which have some utilitarian purpose. The poet uses words, which we use on a daily basis in conversation. The painter usually expresses himself by representing what he sees i.e. the visible world. Only the composer of music is perfectly free to create a work of art out of his own consciousness, which performs no function, other than to please.

A testimony to the mystical nature of music is the unknown Polish classical composer whos Symphony of Sorrowful Songs sold more than pop icon, Madonna, in the year it was released and more than any other classical composer in the entire history of the world! However, this remarkable achievement only occurred 17-years after he composed it.

Polish Composer in Translation

The composers name is Henryk Gorecki and his success is nothing short of a miracle. When he wrote the symphony (his 3rd) in 1976, he and his wife were declared non-persons under the communist regime and their passports were confiscated. His name was unknown, and according to records in Poland, he did not even exist. Gorecki had been born in Czernica, in the coal-mining belt of Silesia on The Czechoslovakian border. It is 20-minutes from the town Oswiecim, which the Germans would later name Auschwitz. This piece of music was so inspired, as to be a warning to future generations and to bear witness to what had occurred there. Corecki commented: The fact that 17 years later, it seems young people all over the world have heard what I said, and understood: that my warning will not go forgotten into the world.

Beauty and hope are firmly embedded in this piece of music that is played by taxi drivers and royalty alike. 300 000 copies were sold worldwide when it was released, unheard of for a classical piece which would hopefully sell 10 to 20.000 copies in a lifetime, and thats about it.

A Symphony of International Value

The road to fame of the Symphony of Sorrowful Songs is an interesting one. 1976, the year it was composed saw the first performance in a Paris concert hall. After the performance a music critic whispered Merde! into Gorecks ear. The first recorded version appeared in Britain in 1987, and was basically ignored by the classical music magazines. In 1989, the piece reappeared; this time in concert at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, after the London Sinfonietta decided to champion Goreckis work.

Bob Hurwitz, head of Warners Elektra Nonesuch label decided to attain the symphony for his label. In 1990, Hurwitz recorded it with the London Sinfonietta using young American conductor David Zinmaan and the soprano Dawn Upshaw. In September 1992, classic FM, Britains first commercial classical music station was launched and picked Goreckis symphony as the stations first classic sure thing. In October that year a sudden demand caused chart sponsors W H Smith to stock the symphony. In November BBC Radios 3 and 4 followed, then Radio 2, and finally, DJ Simon Bates on Radio 1.

A Multicultural Moment

January 1993 was a watershed moment for 'Symphony of Sorrows' as the album jumped from 71 to 27 in the Music Week pop charts. In February that year Gorecki received a gold disc for sales of 100,000.

Fascinating to think that a symphony, 54-minutes long, scored for a large string orchestra, would climb so high up the charts and sell more than a contemporary musical legend. It is a true testament to the universal language of music, the genius that lies in certain compositions and the infinite power of music to move people.

The language of music is the most common denominator between different cultures and nations. The Bilinguagroup team are all multilingual and from various international backgrounds - they have a true understanding of different cultures and languages. As an international recruitment agency they know what is required of their candidates to live and work abroad and as a translation company they have the capabilities of translating anything from Polish to Punjabi - which is what helps them stay at the forefront of the rich pageant of multicultural life.

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Eric Bachman - Music ReviewWriten by Eric Nielsen

Eric Bachman played the Casbah Thursday to an emptier house than he is accustomed to. He was traveling solo this time. He played a handful of new songs and some of his classic Crooked Fingers pieces. It was very interesting to see him play solo.

He started the night off playing electric guitar with his pod effect pedal that allowed him to get a loop going that he played over. I was hoping to hear more of that.

You know, more layers of sound. Playing solo and listening to soloists can be terribly difficult and boring. We've all seen our share of guitars and singers. But, Eric's voice is what warms your heart. He sings songs of love and horror. Mature lyrics coupled with his experience of being on the road forever.

He picked up his nylon string guitar and played a handful of new songs that were both great and difficult. In the full band of Crooked Fingers you can get this amazing drone of sound, loud sound. With the nylon string guitar he would approach these driving songs and sometimes hit and sometimes miss. The fragility itself was riveting. The out of key notes added flavor.

This man knows what it means to play live and soloing for anyone is a challenge. I had an interesting night of thinking listening to his songs.

Blog San Diego is an online resource for live music reviews, cd reviews, music news & features.

See Online Music Lessons at > http://www.entertainbox.com/