How to Practice Classical ORGAN MUSIC on the Spinet Electronic Organ With the Short Pedal Board?

Hammond TR-200 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Although much of classical organ music requires the full length of pedal board, not every organist have access to this kind of instrument, either pipe organ or electronic organ. Many people have Spinet electronic organs at home and they have to solve the pedal playing problem because Spinet organ pedal board have only 13 keys (C-c). For organists who practice on various kinds of electronic organs, such as Spinet, adjusting to the short pedal board is a very important question. In this article, I will give you 2 solutions for practicing classical organ music on the Spinet electronic organ with the short pedal board.

In general, it depends on what kind of music you are working on. There is plenty of organ music which was written for manuals only. Obviously, to play such music on the Spinet organ is no problem at all. In addition, a significant part of early organ repertoire was composed with a short pedal board in mind.

For example, Italian organs for many centuries didn't have a full pedal board so anything Italian would work fine on a Spinet organ. The question remains what to do with the classical organ music, like the music of Bach which often requires 27 note pedal board (sometimes even 30)

In general, for music which requires the full compass of pedal board you have only 2 options:

1) To arrange the pedal part so that it will fit the short compass of the Spinet. For example, notes in the pedal part above tenor c would have to be played one octave lower. Sometimes an entire excerpt might be played one octave lower.

If you have to play notes from c sharp up to f in the treble octave, you can lower them by two octaves. In doing so, you may also have to adjust the pedaling. For example, this could mean that using the right foot on the Spinet organ might be complicated so the majority of notes should be played by the left foot.

2) To play as written, imagine the additional pedals, and press the approximate spot on the floor. It is also possible to add a wooden board on the floor of approximate the same height as the Spinet pedals so that you will have the same feeling while playing with your feet. In addition, you can draw the missing pedals on this board so that you will know exactly where to play.

If you want to play classical organ music on the Spinet electronic organ, use the above tips for pedal playing. It is also a good idea from time to time to get access to the real pipe organ. Occasional practice on a full length pedal board will allow you to have the correct feeling for your feet.

By Vidas Pinkevicius By the way, do you want to learn to play the King of Instruments - the pipe organ? If so, download my FREE video guide "How to Master Any Organ Composition" http://www.organduo.lt/organ-tutorial.html in which I will show you my EXACT steps, techniques, and methods that I use to practice, learn and master any piece of organ music. Article Source: EzineArticles

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Bowed musical instrument VIOLA

Many people are unfamiliar to the instrument viola and can envision a viola to be a violin. But viola is a stringed instrument that looks similar to violin and it belongs to the class of stringed instrument that is bowed like a violin. On a closer inspection of the instrument viola you can recognize the distinctions between a violin and a viola. The timbre of viola is filled with rich sound and it has a full bodied structure .The instrument is generally not played solo like violin and it does not have the repute of a violin .It is played in concerts and you can find the instrument getting played in inner musical chords and harmonies.

"Playing viola". Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.

Violas have a bow like structure and to play the instrument it is positioned on the shoulders of the player. The instrument size does not have a regular standard size like a violin. The size of viola varies to suit musicians of different age groups. For a child the size of the viola can be 12 inches and for adults the size varies from 13 to 16.5 inches depending upon the choice of the musician. Even a small sized viola has the strong sound like the bigger ones due to its sound box. Voila has a large body and thick strings that need the musicians to have great physical stamina to play the instrument and to press the strings. A few people find it uncomfortable to hold viola on shoulders and for such instrument players a light material and short viola are made accessible.

There are many choices available to the buyers who wish to buy viola for themselves .The person’s comfort level on the instrument helps in selection of the instrument type. Viola is hand made instrument and its looks are very aesthetical .There are many a popular violas in market and one among them is called Mozart.

To purchase a viola you need not go to the local store near your house to check out for the instrument. The internet technology can help you to have your instrument at your doorstep through the window shopping faculties available on the websites. You can get the product online with a guarantee that if you are discontented with the delivered product you are free to return it back to us. You can call us through the leading website of the product called Stringworks. To get more information regarding the instrument and to give it just a try to know how to play the instrument, you can opt for a hired instrument through our website.

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LES PAUL GUITARS - What Makes Them Special?

A 1974 Gibson Les Paul Custom guitar.
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Gibson Les Paul guitar was conceived at the very beginning of electric guitar history and has held its place at the forefront of guitar technology ever since. The two key elements that make the Les Paul guitars special are the vision of Les Paul himself, an eminent guitarist and enthusiastic inventor and the fact that the Gibson guitar company has always held extremely high standards of excellence for its instruments. 

Les Paul is often credited with inventing the solid body electric guitar, and his involvement with the Gibson models was more or less just a happy accident. When he was a teenage performer he tried amplifying an ordinary acoustic guitar so that he could be heard by the audience. The feedback that resulted was finally eliminated by attaching the neck of an Epiphone guitar onto a block of wood. This was so strange looking that Les' musical talents were not taken seriously so he attached wings to the side of the wood so that it resembled a conventional guitar shape.

The moving force behind the financial and artistic success of the Les Paul guitar was the desire of the Gibson Guitar Corporation to market a solid body model electric guitar under the name of an established guitarist. By this time, the early 1950's, Les Paul was the most popular electric guitar player of the time. It would be a great triumph for Gibson to snare the endorsement of this guitarist who had conceived and made his own electric guitar which had become the basis for a solid electric guitar sold by his friend, Leo Fender. Eventually, after recommending some changes to the appearance of the new Gibson guitar, Les Paul allowed it to be released under his name.

There are a couple of design elements that stand out in the Les Paul range of guitars. The strings on a Les Paul guitar are mounted "hollow body style" on top of the guitar instead of passing through the body as is common with other brands of solid body guitars. This is merely a stylistic distinction, not affecting the sound of the guitar. The characteristic warm tone of the Les Paul guitars is due to the types of wood chosen by Gibson for these models. As we should expect from a guitar endorsed by the man whose own guitar design was nicknamed "the log", Les Paul guitars are also heavier and thicker than other solid body guitars. Both Les Paul and the Gibson corporation were fans of starting with substance and piling on heaps of style, so most Les Paul model guitars feature flashy inlays on the neck and headstock.

The Gibson Guitar Corporation has made many models under the Les Paul brand. Featuring names like Classic, Supreme, Standard, Studio Baritone, Studio, Goddess, Menace, New Century, Vixen, Special, Doublecuts and Melody Maker, each one has its own individual sound. Between 1969 and 1979 Gibson even marketed a range of Les Paul bass guitars. The Gibson Les Paul guitars have also been imitated by other companies such as Ibanez and Tokai. The legal wrangles surrounding these attempts at copying Les Paul guitars have only added to their collectibility.

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MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS Of The Renaissance, The Ancestor Of Modern Musical Instruments

The Renaissance is an important time period of history; the word means in French “rebirth” and is very appropriate to define the most spectacular historical age in Italy. Western Europe was also influenced by its main features, the revival of learning based on classical sources (Greek and Latin), and the rise of papal patronage, the development of perspective and great advancements of science.

Albrecht Durer was the first to describe Italian art as “Renaissance”. Giorgio Vasari, Giotto, Masaccio, Bruneleschi, and Donatello are developing the painting art to the perfection. Leonardo da Vinci, a great scientist, painter and sculptor, Michelangelo developed their awesome art on the desire to study the nature.

Left: Octochordis mandolino-lira (mandolin)
Right: Mandolino (mandolin)
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Renaissance was a great period for musical instruments. Renaissance music is represented by liturgical forms. Composers of sacred music began to adopt new forms, such as “madrigal” and use improved musical instruments of the Renaissance. Sacred new genres appeared; the madrigale spirituale, the laude, the mass and the motet. Instrumental music was composed for viol or recorder. Most popular genres were the toccata, the ricercar, the prelude, and the canzona. The great idea of polyphonies, the basic of today’s music, is coming from those great times.

The most important is that most of the musical modern instruments have evolved from the musical instruments of the Renaissance. Many popular musical instruments, such as flute, oboe, trumpet, trombone, and guitar can be traced back to the Renaissance. Wind instruments are really related to this period. Many musical instruments of the Renaissance were made out of wood, such as shawm, flute, recorder or sackbut. The shawm is the first oboe; it is also the ancestor of English horn and bassoon. All these musical instruments of the Renaissance were played with a double reed. The shawm produces really loud sounds, the kortholt and the dulcian too. All those musical instruments of the Renaissance are using a reed-cap and have a two and one-half octave range.

The cornetts were also very popular during the Renaissance; all of them were made out of wood. Today the trumpets are made out of brass. Musical instruments of the Renaissance such as cornetts come in three types: the curved Cornett, the mute Cornett, and the straight Cornett. The recorder, the flute, and the transverse wee also very popular during the Renaissance, because they were easy to play.

The transverse flute was the first musical instrument of the Renaissance where the vibrato can be used. Today vibrato is used on a large scale of musical instruments.

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CLASSICAL for Beginners

Now and then, people ask me for advice on where to begin with the daunting world of classical music recordings. They've heard bits here and there, they're curious, they imagine they'd probably enjoy it once they got involved, but they wouldn't know where to look if they walked into -- oops, I mean logged onto eMusic.com and started poking around. My strategy is always to offer a handful of suggestions, in as wide a variety as possible. "Try these," I say. "See what grabs you, and we'll work from there." 

That's the idea behind this Dozen. Here are 12 recordings selected to entice people who have had little exposure to classical music, but who know they want more. I've carefully contrived the list to cover a wide range of colors and styles, instruments and moods, shapes and sizes. Some pieces are light, some heavy; some charming, some imposing; some dramatic, meditative, amorous, tragic, lofty, goofy. All in all, the selections encompass 1,200 years of music history -- and they've all been chosen to make a good first impression and whet your appetite. They're "gateway" works, if you will. I'd be surprised if there were anyone who couldn't find something on this list that pleasured and intrigued them. Think of it as a sampler, a tapas menu: if you don't care for the stuffed olives/Renaissance Mass, try the garlic shrimp/20th-century string quartet. 

Are these the twelve greatest works ever? No, though some of them could justly claim a place on such a list. Most of these are works I actually have suggested to people, and which have gotten a favorable response. Others I have seen appeal to newbies in ways I never expected. Others are just a few personal favorites which I proselytize for whenever possible. 

Gregorian Chant For Easter

Artist: Capella Antiqua, Munich 

Release Date: 2006

The recorded history of "classical" music in the Western "art" tradition (so many of these terms are so problematic) begins in the medieval period with music composed for church use -- settings of sacred texts in Latin for choirs singing in unison, just one note at a time. The serene meditativeness of Gregorian chant (named for liturgical reformer Pope Gregory, 540-604, who launched the practice according to legend) has made it popular in recent years, usable as a backdrop for anything from yoga to post-rave chilling. There are plenty of chant CDs out there, some with hipper packaging, but these performances by the male voices of Capella Antiqua, Munich, surrounded by a cathedral-like halo of reverb, are stately and gorgeous.

Ockeghem: Requiem

Artist: Ensemble Organum, Marcel Pérès 

Release Date: 1993

A friend of mine, also a musician, has played a number of classical pieces for his infant son, and reports that Allen seems to like the music of Johannes Ockeghem (c. 1410-1497) best. It could be the way this Renaissance composer weaves voices together to create a sort of ear-blanket. Or perhaps this music's low gentle murmuring reminds him of sounds in utero. Either way, the Ensemble Organum's performance of this Requiem (a Mass to honor the dead) is spacious and calm, but also possesses a sort of authoritative, virile resonance. 

Bach: Six Concertos for the Margrave of Brandenburg

Artist: Trevor Pinnock 

Release Date: 2008

Incomparably joyous and sparkling, these six pieces can claim to be both the greatest of baroque instrumental works and, with the possible exception of Vivaldi's "Four Seasons" concertos, the most popular. Composers in the baroque era (roughly 1600-1750) prioritized a musical skill called counterpoint, the practice of combining independent instrumental or vocal lines into a complex whole. Johann Sebastian Bach had no rivals (and surely never will) in this art, giving every section of the orchestra something rewarding -- and fun -- to do. He built structures of grandeur and irresistible energy. Each of these concertos are scored for a different combination; if you'd like a taste, try the first movement of the Concerto no. 2, in which four bright-toned soloists (violin, flute, oboe and trumpet) dance festively around the accompanying string orchestra, or the fleet finale of the Concerto no. 3, a whirlwind showpiece for strings alone.

MOZART: Overtures

Artist: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

After Bach and his contemporaries had brought Baroque counterpoint to its peak, composers of the next generation reacted by lightening the texture of their music. The melody line dominated, and the middle and bass instruments were entrusted with harmonic and rhythmic accompaniment rather than with independent lines of their own. This new style, though, was no less bubbling and energetic -- see the overtures (instrumental preludes) which Mozart (1756-91) wrote for his operas. Brilliant attention-getters, arresting but never too pompous, full of catchy tunes, cheeky wind solos and stirring trumpet-and drum passages, these overtures are played with great verve by Capella Istropolitana.

CHOPIN: Etudes Opp. 10 and 25

Artist: Freddy Kempf 

Release Date: 2004

Frederic Chopin's music, full of innovations in nuances of harmony and delicate coloristic effects, pushed the boundaries of what a piano could do. In these two sets of etudes (completed in 1832 and 1836), he also pushed piano technique, making unprecedented demands of virtuosity in works that are still among the most richly dazzling ever written. Not all the pieces are finger-tanglers, though; some are studies in sensitive touch and singing melody. Though pianist Freddy Kempf's technique is precise, these etudes are for him poetry first; in op. 10 no. 3 in E or op. 25 no. 1 in A-flat, he phrases the surface melody with the expressivity a great vocalist might bring to it.

Pearl Fishers and Other Famous Operatic Duets

Artist: Various Artists

It occurred to me that an album of duets might make an even better introduction to opera than one of solo arias -- even though those big diva/divo moments are what the general public thinks of when they hear the term opera. Duets, of course, display the character interplay that the dramatic side of opera is all about: love, conflict, friendship -- or betrayal, as in the searing finale to Act II of Verdi's Otello, when Iago falsely swears loyalty to the title character. Two rapturous and justly popular duets recorded here come from French operas, the rest from Italian. Complete recordings of many of these operas are also available on eMusic, so if these excerpts whet your appetite, you can move on to explore the entire work.

Dvorak / Haydn / Shostakovich: String Quartets

Artist: Quartetto Cassoviae 

Release Date: 2000

Contained on this disc is a mini-history of the string quartet itself: an elegant, buoyant piece (1799) by Franz Josef Haydn, a pioneer of the form; a fragrantly tuneful example (1893) by Antonin Dvorak, written under the influence of American folksong; and a bitter, semi-autobiographical work (1960) by Dmitri Shostakovich, reflective of his state of mind during a life lived under Soviet oppression. The Quartetto Cassoviae's performance of this last quartet is perhaps the disc's most impressive: it's taut, wiry, grippingly expressive and even a little nightmarish.

  

Alexander Borodin: Symphony No.2 - Conducted by Carlos Kleiber & Erich Kleiber

Artist: Kleiber 

Release Date: 2003

I chose this symphony because I clearly remember my sister, eight or nine at the time, dragged to one of my school orchestra concerts and, at its conclusion, telling me she liked this piece best. The brusque gesture that launches Alexander Borodin's Second Symphony (1876) is definitely one of the more arresting openings: glowering, passionate and Russian, Russian, Russian. Compare it to the sinuous oboe melody that comes later, and you hear the two sides of Borodin's musical personality: barbaric vs. sensuous, both tinged with the exotic folk colors of ancient Asian tribes. This disc is also the only one I know that offers father-son performances of the same work, by Erich (1890-1956) and Carlos Kleiber (1930-2004).

STRAVINSKY: 125th Anniversary Album - The Rite of Spring / Violin Concerto (Stravinsky, Vol. 8)

Artist: Jennifer Frautschi

When Igor Stravinsky got a commission to write music for a ballet depicting ancient fertility rituals, did he intend from the start to revolutionize musical history? He filled his colorful score (completed in 1913) with pounding, asymmetrical rhythms and harsh dissonances -- unprecedented elements at the time; he's one of the many composers in the first few decades of the 20th century who tossed a bomb into the middle of Romantic-era assumptions about what music could be. This earthy, viscerally intense showpiece still startles audiences -- especially those who see classical music as something stuffy and genteel. Think of it as heavy metal classical. Robert Craft, a longtime colleague of the composer, conducts a particularly gutsy and un-pretty performance.

Strauss: Symphonia Domestica / Eine Alpensinfonie / Oboe Concerto / Duett-Concertino

Artist: Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra 

Release Date: 2006

This disc shows the two sides of composer Richard Strauss. In the Symphonia domestica (1903) and Eine Alpensinfonie (An Alpine Symphony, 1915), he capped the tradition of German romanticism with two of the grandest and most opulent orchestral works ever; in his two nostalgic concertos (one for oboe from 1945, the other for clarinet and bassoon from 1947), he revived the spirit of Mozart in slender, tuneful, but autumnal pieces for a (much) smaller orchestra. Oboe soloist Jonathan Small, in particular, plays with ravishing fluency, and conductor Gerard Schwarz is especially adept in this soaring, sweeping music.

Daughters Of The Lonsome Isle

Artist: Margaret Leng Tan 

Release Date: 1994

Just by inserting screws, rubber erasers and other tidbits between a piano's strings, John Cage (1912-1992) was able to turn the instrument into a miniature percussion orchestra. This was just one of the avant gardist's many innovations. On this disc, keyboardist Margaret Leng Tan, the world's foremost toy piano virtuoso, pays homage to Cage's experiments, his rhythmic vitality and the Zen-inspired spirit that led him to ask profound conceptual questions about music. But even as Cage challenged traditional notions of music, it's not hard to find great beauty, wit, depth and spiritual gentleness in his work. It's scarcely possible, for example, not to fall in love with Cage's pulsing, gnomic Bacchanale or the elegiac In the Name of the Holocaust, which proves that the instrument he called a "prepared piano" was just as capable of stark intensity.

Reich: Different Trains

Artist: The Duke Quartet, Andrew Russo & Marc Mellits

As a child in the early '40s, composer Steve Reich used to travel across the U.S. by train each year. In thinking about the very "different trains" he could have been riding as a Jew had he grown up in Europe, Reich was inspired to compose this powerful work for string quartet and tape. Snippets of recorded interviews with actual railroad employees are woven among the urgently churning string parts, with their licks echoing the speakers' vocal inflections. Also included here is Reich's 1967 Piano Phase, which was a groundbreaking early work that used a compositional technique that caught his imagination: complex rhythmic effects achieved by subtle shifts in temporal coordination between musicians, creating a trance-like rippling effect.

Cheap ELECTRIC GUITARS

If you are looking for cheap electric guitars there is a lot of choice out there. 

You can buy a cheap electric guitar from as little as £70 and there are a number of brands making cheap guitars.

Don’t spend under £90 on a guitar

PRS Standard 22 Platinum Guitar (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

If you are buying your first electric guitar, I wouldn’t recommend spending under £90. Most of these guitars are built with very cheap materials to bring the production costs down, hence the retail price. The guitar’s sound will be compromised with this lower quality and the finish will also look a bit rough. 

You will usually find that the guitar strings are the cheapest ones you can buy, they will sound twangy. 

The other downside of these cheap electric guitars due to the low build quality is the durability. You will be lucky if you can play it for more than 1 year and not have a problem with the guitar parts. You will end up with a cheap electric guitar (cheap meaning the quality this time and not the price). 

Spend £90-£150 on a guitar

My advice is to spend between £90 and £150 on your first electric guitar. You will get some reasonable quality at the lower end and good quality at the upper end. 

Electric guitar brands to look out for

Here is a list of guitar brands that offer beginner electric guitars within the above price range: Stagg, Crafter, Vintage, Encore, Cruiser by Crafter, Gould, Squier, Yamaha, Dean, Peavey, Epiphone, Carlsbro and Ibanez.

The Epiphone, Vintage and Yamaha are the most popular electric guitars from the above list, the Stagg offers the best value for money in my opinion.

Should I Buy My Guitar in a Music Shop or Online? 

It is really up to you, but my advice would be to buy one of the recommended guitar brands above. You can do this easily online, and you won’t get a shop salesman trying to push what’s best for them rather than what’s best for you.

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How to Play the TRUMPET - 6 Tips For Playing Like a Pro!

The trumpet is a magnificent instrument which produces a beautiful tone. It's versatile and can be played in many different types of bands, including orchestras, pop bands, and big bands.

However, mastering how to play the trumpet is a long process requiring immense dedication and passion, but having played the trumpet for over twenty years, I think it's well worth it!

So, to help you out here are six top tips for propelling your trumpet playing and to help you learn how to play the trumpet like a pro...

Photo  by   oddsock 

1. Warm up by buzzing just with your lips and then with your mouthpiece. This really helps build strength without causing lip fatigue which can happen if you just practice on your trumpet.

Do the following just with your lips and just with your mouthpiece:

- Buzz a note for a count of four, and then continue up the scale one tone at a time. You can vary this with different exercises you know or by buzzing louder of softer.

2. Rest for as long you play. This is so simple but players rarely do it. This helps your lip muscles recuperate quicker and means you can play for longer without getting tired.

I would recommend regular mini breaks rather than playing for 10 minutes and resting for 10 minutes. Practice an exercise or a part of your music and rest for as long as you played. While resting you can practice finger patterns on the valves or just stretch out your lips.

3. Practice with a metronome. Again, this is a very simple idea that is rarely adhered to.

Most music you play will require you to play in time and doing this really helps you to regulate your internal metronome. It also helps when practicing exercises or difficult musical passages as you can gradually build up the speed you play them at by increasing the speed of the metronome.

4. Practice your pedal notes. Pedal notes, for the purpose of this exercise, are all the notes below middle C. By playing the low register you build strength and range with less pressure on your lips. This means you can play for longer.

When you play the notes below bottom G you will need to create the notes using your lips and the fingering you would use for the octave above. This is great for improving tone and intonation.

5. Play without taking the trumpet off your lips. This is a fantastic way to build strength and endurance as well as learning how to control your breathing.

To do this, find an exercise that you can play continuously without stopping. Continue playing for 5mins non-stop, then 10minutes then for as long as you can at the end of every other practice session.

When you're gigging, especially in Big Bands, you can be playing for anything up to 2 hours with few breaks so this is a fantastic way to practice for these gigs and build your chops!

6. Plan your practice session. This will make a huge difference in the effectiveness of your practice while learning how to play the trumpet.

First, make a list of every element of playing the trumpet, eg tonguing, breathing, and tone, then before each practice session, list what you will practice during your session. This will always ensure that you regularly practice all the different elements, it will keep you focused and make the most efficient use of your time while practicing.

That's it, obviously, there are many more skills to learning how to play the trumpet but these have made a huge improvement to my playing and I hope they do for you too!

It takes some discipline to integrate these ideas into your practice regime but do it for a month and it will become a great habit that will feel like you've always practiced this way!

Ingram Sanders is an experienced trumpeter who has played for over 20 years.  Article Directory: EzineArticles

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Bernstein's Kaddish Symphony Dedicated to JFK Is Now Dedicated to BERNSTEIN

Leonard Bernstein (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Leonard Bernstein was never happy with the text to his Symphony No. 3 ("Kaddish") written to lament the death of President Kennedy. Following its 1963 debut in Israel, he believed that version of the Jewish prayer for the dead needed a stronger relationship with the Almighty. When he met Samuel Pisar, he knew he had found the perfect librettist.

Pisar, the youngest survivor of Auschwitz, became an international lawyer, author, humanitarian, adviser to presidents and world leaders and recipient of many earned and honorary degrees. Following his example, two of his children currently are White House advisers.

Close friend though he was of Bernstein, Pisar watched several decades pass before a national tragedy convinced him to undertake the project. When he and conductor John Axelrod first met and worked with Christoph Eschenbach to coordinate the score and Pisar's narration of his new text for its 2003 Ravinia debut in Chicago, they were like kindred spirits, two young boys in a sandbox. The only major change they made was a space added after the Tower of Babel and before the Finale to create a long interval in which Pisar gives his sermon, first a message to the world, then his personal message of optimism.

Pisar has a voice like Gregory Peck and a commanding presence like the statesman he is. His tremendous ability to attract attention projects the power a rabbi, a priest or an imam might present to a congregation. The emotional text opens with an invocation to God. Haunted by his own survival, Pisar has seen his father tortured, executed and tossed into a mass grave and his mother, sister and schoolmates sent off in a cattle-train.

When he was rescued by Russian and American soldiers, he was "a skeletal kid with shaved head and sunken eyes, trembling at the threshold of a Birkenau gas chamber." The lullaby, perhaps the most dramatic segment, recalls the sweet voice of his grandmother "silenced in the ovens of Treblinka."

After 9/11, he knew he had to comply with Bernstein's final wish, but first he had to go back to those terrible memories, bring them to life and make every word a bomb. Technically, he had to speak totally embedded in Bernstein's complex atonal machinery. When the orchestra reaches the lullaby, the music becomes softer leading to a reconciliation with God toward "tolerance, solidarity and peace on this fragile planet." At the final word, "Amen," the audiences look stunned. They stand as if they are not going to applaud, then they burst out as if released to express what they have just felt. They know the text is authentic and they know where Pisar has been.

Pisar and Axelrod, who studied with Bernstein and shared a mutual interest with him in jazz and good music of all genres, have presented this masterpiece many times with major orchestras in several countries. In September, they will appear in Moscow with the Russian National Symphony Orchestra at the invitation of the Russian government to commemorate the tenth anniversary of September 11, 2001, something Pisar never dreamed could happen.

By Emily Cary Emily Cary is a prize-winning teacher and novelist whose articles about entertainers appear regularly in the DC Examiner. She is a genealogist, an avid traveler, and a researcher who incorporates landscapes, cultures and the power of music in her books and articles. Article Source: EzineArticles

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Rock and Roll SAXOPHONE

By the 1940's the saxophone was a well established and very popular instrument in both classical and jazz music. As the 40's brought more musical styles like jump blues, rhythm and blues and rock and roll the instrument would become even more important and play a major roll in the new sound.

"King Curtis"  (Wikimedia Commons)

Illinios Jacqeut was a very good swing jazz player and like many others, he was drawn to the new sounds. He was only19 years old when he worked with Lionel Hampton's band and recorded his famous solo that started others honkin' and screaming' to start the beginning of the rock and roll saxophone.

One kid he inspired was Big Jay McNeely who took the honkin' over the edge and made a show of it... laying on his back, strolling into the crowds and walking on top of bars. (That's where the term "honkers and bar walkers" came from. That's a good cd compilation series featuring other rock and roll saxophonists)

Ahh... those crazy kids. This was a new generation, born in the 20's right around the time Louis Armstrong and Coleman Hawkins were coming on the scene. They probably thought these guys were nuts, but they fuelled the bands and drove the audience crazy with their energy.

Honkin' and screamin' aside, the saxophone, especially the tenor was sounding big and raunchy like never before. Guys were growling more and making it squawk and really wailin'. The honkin' was a fad that passed quickly but it helped to take the sax to another level of popularity, The rock and roll saxophone sound was now mandatory in all the jump, R&B, and rock and roll bands.

This new sound of the 40's rhythm and blues produced many rock and roll saxophone stars. Besides the ones I mentioned above, here are a few others; Joe Houston, Red Prysock, Sam "the man" Taylor, Lee Allen, Willis "gatortail" Jackson, Louis Jordan and King Curtis.

"Tenor battles" were popular as soon as you had a couple greats at any given time, like Coleman Hawkins with Lester Young, or Red Prysock with Sil Austin, and two of my favorites Sam Taylor with King Curtis.

Most of these guys were coming from the swing scene as well but were involved with their own R&B / rock and roll groups or were sidemen to star singers like Little Richard, Fats Domino, Wynonie Harris, and Ray Charles.

Without a doubt, one of the most influential for us guys playing any kind of rock and roll saxophone today is King Curtis, who came onto the New York scene shortly after the rock and roll movement got into full swing in the mid 50's. Of course you've heard his sax on many hit records from Aretha Franklin to The Coasters and he had many of his own as well in the 60's.

Unfortunately he was killed tragically at a young age. For me, his was the quintessential rock and roll saxophone

Rock on JF

By Johnny Ferreira Listen to some real Rock and Roll Sax music and for more information on sax related music, articles, audio samples visit http://JohnnyFerreira.com Article Source: EzineArticles

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MOZART’s Music

Statue of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
 by Ludwig Michael Schwanthaler
 at Mozart-Mozartplatz Salzburg.
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is perhaps the most well-known of any composer the world has ever seen. Almost everyone has heard of how Mozart was composing music by the age of five (some urban legends even claim it was at age two) and performing before kings and queens, dukes and duchesses, before he was seven years old. He created more than 600 compositions, from operas to sonatas to full symphonies, and died tragically, mysteriously, before his 36th birthday in 1791. Some of his more famous pieces of music include Eine kleine Nachtmusik (A Little Night Music, 1787) and the operas Don Giovanni (1787) and Die Zauberflote (The Magic Flute, 1791).

The movie Amadeus (1984) put into popular parlance the idea of Mozart as an immature and spoiled musical prodigy, given to fast living and obnoxious, braying laughter. It also portrays him as having been tormented by a brooding, jealous rival composer named Salieri, who may or may not have killed him. History paints only a slightly less dramatic picture. Born in 1756 in Salzburg, Austria, Mozart was the only son of a professional musician who very early on recognized the boy’s extraordinary musical talent. Today’s critical and politically correct eyes may look with disfavor on the way that Leopold Mozart exploited his son’s musical genius, but at the time it was neither uncommon nor unacceptable to parade child prodigies through the courts of Europe. The young Mozart spent his boyhood at the feet of kings and queens, performing and composing and perfecting his unique musical vision.

He also spent his childhood suffering from various illnesses—tuberculosis, tonsillitis, and typhoid are just some of the many ailments he is said to have suffered. He was a sickly child and each bout of poor health left him reduced in vigor, more frail, and more susceptible to what would, ultimately, kill him. Legend has it that he was poisoned, but recent, more scientific explanation has it that he died of rheumatic fever, even while working to complete one of his greatest musical accomplishments, the Requiem.

Mozart’s music, like his life, defies easy classification. As a product of what historians term the Classical Era (1750-1825), he perfected the prevalent musical forms of symphony, opera, and concerto, and yet he also turned them on their heads. The upper-crust audiences for whom he played were jarred by his complex, mysterious, sometimes raucous music, accustomed as they were to lighter, more frivolous pieces. In 1782, the Emperor Joseph II even told Mozart that his German opera had “too many notes.”

Such a characterization of Mozart’s music may well seem absurd to us today, who have been conditioned to think of Mozart as an unparalleled genius. Even before birth, babies are rocked to sleep by Mozart’s music being piped into their mothers’ wombs. We relax to his music, we grow to it, we learn through it; his music enriches and inspires our lives.

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Biography of FREDERIC CHOPIN, The Great Piano Composer

Frederic Chopin

"Chopin at 28" by Eugène Delacroix
Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.

Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin, the Polish composer, and pianist was born either on either February 22, or March 1, 1810, in the village of Zelazowa Wola near Sochaczew, in the region of Mazovia, which was part of the Duchy of Warsaw. His father, Mikolaj (Nicolas) Chopin, was born in 1771 in Marainville, France. When he was 16, Mikolaj permanently moved to Poland permanently, never returning to France, nor keeping contact with his French family. He married Tekla Justyna Krzyzanowska in 1806. Fryderyk was the second of four children. Several months after his birth, the whole family moved to Warsaw, where Mikolaj Chopin was offered a better job.

Chopin was a child prodigy, even being compared to Mozart. By the age of seven, he had already written his first two Polonaises. His received publicity, giving receptions and benefit concerts in this early age. He outgrew his first teacher by the time he was 12. After this, he received instruction from Wilhelm Wuerfel, a famous pianist, and teacher at the Warsaw Conservatory.

From 1823 to 1826, while attending the Warsaw Lyceum, where his father taught, he spent his summer holidays in the countryside, visiting Szafarnia in the Kujawy region. It was here where he became interested in Polish folk music, with its distinct tonality, the richness of rhythms and lively dance. He composed his first mazurkas in 1825, but his love for Polish folk music would continue to have an influence on him for the rest of his life.

In the autumn of 1826, Chopin began studying the theory of music, figured bass and composition, and counterpoint at the Warsaw School of Music, under the composer Jozef Elsner (b. 1769 in Silesia). Already possessing immeasurable talent, it was in this time that Chopin greatly advanced in compositional skill, demonstrating these advances in his first extended works, also written at this time. He graduated in 1829, receiving this report from his teacher: "Chopin, Fryderyk, third-year student, amazing talent, musical genius".

After completing his studies, Chopin spent some time outside of Poland, in Bad Reinertz, in Berlin, and Vienna, where he gave concerts and received high praise from the public for both his performances and his compositions. On November 2, 1830, he moved to Vienna for eight months. He hoped to establish his popularity there but was hindered by the trauma of war developing in his home country. The Russians would, later on, take Warsaw, which was very disturbing for the 20-year-old Pole. Despite this, in this time his style developed, into something with more force and passion, seen in his Concerto in E minor, and the Etudes from op. 10.

In the autumn of 1831, after a stop in Munich, Chopin came to Paris, where he met many fellow Poles, who had chosen exile after the war. Chopin made close contacts with the so-called Great Emigration, attending meetings, playing at charity concerts held for their poor, and organizing similar events. In Paris, his reputation as an artist grew rapidly, and he became friends of Liszt, Mendelssohn, and Berlioz. He also gave lessons to the wealthy French and Polish. Because he decided to identify with the immigrants in Paris, and not to conform to the Russian regulations at this time, he was not allowed to visit Poland, to see his family, but was able to meet them outside of Poland in 1835, in Karlsbad. After this, Chopin visited friends of his family, where he also fell in love with their daughter, whom he was later engaged to secretly, only later to be deemed unsuitable by her parents because of his irregular lifestyle. In an attempt to forget these unpleasant memories, Chopin traveled to London in July 1837.

Soon afterward, he entered into a close relationship with George Sand, the famous French writer. The lovers spent the winter of 1838/1839 on the Spanish island of Majorca, where, because of the weather, Chopin became very ill, showing symptoms of tuberculosis. For many weeks, he stayed at home sick but managing to compose. After returning to France, Chopin would spend long vacations in George Sand’s summer manor in Nohant, in central France. This is where he wrote most of his greatest works and was the happiest. For years their relationship continued, was ended after a bitter quarrel, involving Sand’s daughter, in July 1847.

This had a horrible effect on the health and creativity of Chopin. Almost giving up composition altogether, from then on, he only wrote a few miniatures. In April 1848, he left for England and Scotland, under the persuasion of his Scottish pupil, Jane Stirling. In Scotland, the hectic schedule of performance and traveling took its toll on the fragile Chopin’s health. On November 16, 1848, despite frailty and fever, he gave his last concert in London, returning to Paris a few days later.

His rapidly progressing disease made it impossible to continue giving lessons. In the summer of 1849, his older sister came from Warsaw to take care of him. On October 17, 1849, Chopin died of pulmonary tuberculosis in Paris. His body was buried in Paris, but upon his orders, his sister brought his heart to Warsaw, where it was buried was placed in an urn installed in a pillar of the Holy Cross church in Krakowskie Przedmiescie, one of the main streets in Warsaw.

About the Author: Adrian Edler Source: www.isnare.com

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The MANDOLIN Sounds in the Roots of BLUEGRASS

Bluegrass music is traditionally played on acoustic instruments, which may include the banjo, guitar, fiddle, mandolin, Dobro and bass. For readers unfamiliar with this musical genre, bluegrass music is the sound produced with particular acoustic stringed instruments like the Mandolin and the Debro. To understand bluegrass music is to realize and appreciate its musical roots. Bluegrass is an original American music formed from a number of varied influences including the early Old Time ballads, fiddle tunes and string band music with its proven roots to the homeland musical heritage of the immigrants who pioneered America.

Sweet By and By www.myspace.com/sweetbyandby IMG_1143 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Above all, bluegrass music is acoustic, although there are plenty of vocal and instrumental microphones on the modern bluegrass stage. Bluegrass tends to use both vocals and instruments as an ensemble. It is distinctively acoustic, rarely using electric instruments. In bluegrass, as in jazz, each instrument takes a turn playing the melody and improvising around it, while the others revert to backing the lead. This is in contrast to old-time music, in which all instruments play the melody together or one instrument carries the lead throughout while the others provide accompaniment.

The various types of music brought with the people who began migrating to America in the early 1600s are considered to be the roots of bluegrass music. This would include the ballads from the Scots-Irish immigrants of Appalachia and England, as well as the African-American gospel music and blues which sprang up from rural America. This "Mountain music" held on and grew into today's bluegrass despite the pressures from more socially acceptable forms of popular music. The rural people of the south and other parts of the country clung tenaciously to the music which has grown into an integral contribution to American culture.

Though its inception was influenced by Scottish and Irish folk music, bluegrass music is a distinctly American form. And, its Scottish and Celtic connections mixed with its vibrant and undeniable American roots define a beloved genre of music. Bluegrass music is more of a synthesis of American southern string band music, blues, English, Irish, and Scottish traditions, wrapped up in a sacred country music form.

It is important to note that bluegrass is not and never was simply folk music under a strict definition; however, the topical and narrative themes of many bluegrass songs are highly reminiscent of "folk music". In fact many songs that are widely considered to be bluegrass are older works legitimately classified as folk or old-time performed in a bluegrass style.

While bluegrass is not folk music in the strictest sense, the interplay between bluegrass music and other folk forms has been looked at by many music authorities and scholars. And, it has since received separate genre recognition as a form of country music. By in large its status as a genre is a credit to the talented artists, musicians and bands of the twentieth century as proof of their devotion and optimism toward a music style intrinsic to their heritage and prodigy.

Performing bluegrass bands have included instruments as diverse as the Dobro resonator guitar, accordion, harmonica, Jew's harp, piano, drums, electric guitar, and electric versions of all other common bluegrass instruments, though these are considered to be more progressive and are a departure from the traditional bluegrass style.

Beyond instrumentation, the singing, which is central to bluegrass music genre, has become known as "the high lonesome sound," which gives the song, along with its typically sad lyrics, a haunting and mournful timbre. This distinguishing characteristic of bluegrass is vocal harmony featuring two, three, or four parts, often featuring a dissonant, modal sound in the highest voice. If you hear toe tapping music played mainly on a fiddle, mandolin, five string banjo, guitar or bass guitar followed by an emotionally compelling vocal solo, then it's probably bluegrass music.

The most famous contributor of the bluegrass genre was the legendary Bill Monroe. His main instrument, of course, was the mandolin for which he has developed a distinctive and very influential style, but he has always played with a guitar back-up. His earliest recordings were with his brother Charlie, and The Monroe Brothers, like other country groups, all of whom sang tight harmonies with Bill's mandolin taking the instrumental solos and Charlie's guitar keeping the rhythm and bass tones going behind him.

Today Bill Monroe is referred to as the "founding father" of bluegrass music. The bluegrass style was named after his band, the Blue Grass Boys which was formed in 1939. His singing and music was directly influenced by the mountain church singing and melodic harmonies of his youth in western Kentucky. On October 28, 1939 Bill Monroe introduced the world to his style of music by playing "Muleskinner Blues" during the Grand Old Opry's Saturday night show. They became popular performers on the Grand Ole Opry with many appearances throughout the mid to late twentieth century.

By some arguments, as long as the Blue Grass Boys were the only band playing this music, it was just their unique style. Their music could not be considered a musical genre until other bands began performing the same style. Debate rages among bluegrass musicians, fans, and scholars over what instrumentation constitutes a bluegrass band. Monroe had a unique sound but wanted to fine tune the sound into more of an amalgam of old-time music, blues, ragtime and jazz accompanied by the acoustic instrumentals. Early in the 1940s and not satisfied with their current sound, Monroe began searching for other musicians to give his band a fuller sound.

He formed a new group which featured a young Earl Scruggs on 5-string banjo, and the unusually complex three-finger picking, combined with Monroe's driving mandolin. Lester Flatt's guitar, and Chubby Wise's fiddle, gave the group a power and excitement not heard before in country music. As one musician put it..."Ultimately, the elements of bluegrass came together in Monroe's band as sacred and secular, black and white, urban and rural combined to form an altogether new strain of American music". A significant portion of the content we hear in Bluegrass music today is original Bill Monroe material.

In addition to what might be considered "mainstream" bluegrass, which has gradually changed over the last 60 years, there have been several major subgenres which have existed almost since the music's beginning. Although nearly all bluegrass artists regularly incorporate gospel music into their repertoire, "Bluegrass Gospel" has emerged as a major subgenre. Distinctive elements of this style of bluegrass music include lyrics focused on Christian faith and theology and soulful three or four part harmony singing mixed with an occasionally subdued instrumental solo.

In recent years, several modern country music artists have recorded bluegrass music albums. More recently, artists such as Ricky Skaggs, groups such as the Lonesome River Band and Alison Krauss have continued to spearhead a kind of country crossover that puts more emphasis on blues over that of pure bluegrass. Bluegrass music is now being played in venues all over the world. For bluegrass music fans, there are many summer bluegrass music festivals held annually throughout the United States, including Colorado's Telluride Bluegrass Festival which draws mainstream country artists like Emmylou Harris and Dolly Parton.

Additionally, the Oklahoma International Bluegrass Festival and the Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival in Ancramdale, New York are budding annual festivals. Today, bluegrass bands and concerts can be found in every state in America. With the bands getting younger and the styles getting more hip and slick, there's also a wide range of bluegrass music available.

Bluegrass music is experiencing some of the greatest success it's had in the past 60 years. Its pure acoustic sound with its down home appeal is winning new fans throughout the United States and abroad. It is now performed and enjoyed around the world. The International Bluegrass Music Association alone claims members in all 50 states and over 30 countries.

By Allen Newsom Allen Newsom has developed a rare appreciation for all forms of music genres. His other articles can be read and downloaded from his websites at: [http://www.emusicguides.com] and http://www.guitar-domain.com Various musical instrument accessories can be purchased at his online music store http://stores.ebay.com/Top-Shelf-Accessories/?refid=store Article Source: EzineArticles

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