Playing the BAGPIPES: What to Know and What It Takes?

Photo  by Silly Little Man 

BAGPIPES are ancient and enchantingly beautiful sounding instruments in the world. They arouse feelings of honour, loss and profound respect. Maybe you have wondered what it takes to play the bagpipes. With that bag and all those pipes, it may be a little daunting to know how to even begin. However, if you take the steps listed below, that big goal to play the bagpipes suddenly seems manageable.

Playing of the bagpipes is rapidly becoming something of a lost art, but those who choose to take up the instrument will find a world of pleasure. Learning to play the instrument itself is somewhat difficult, and hinges on a trio of important opening steps: the purchase and playing of a practice chanter, the use of an instruction book and lessons from a teacher.

A practice chanter looks something like a recorder that many of us played for a time in elementary school. The practice chanter should be used well in advance of picking up a full instrument in order for the student become acquainted with the method behind playing the bagpipes. Later the practice chanter will become a way to practice songs, learn highly complex fingering sequences and to take to places where pulling out the entire instrument is just not feasible. Look for a practice chanter of a good design, featuring a good reed. Quality is highly important at this stage because a student learning to play needs to learn on a reliable instrument.

At this point, the student needs to incorporate both a practice book published by a reputable source and, if at all possible, lessons with an instructor. This is important because the student needs to know fingerings of notes and technique well in advance of picking up an actual bagpipe. Search hard for a formal instructor, or even just an accomplished player, to help with hands-on, real-life experience.

After the practice chanter is mastered, the student can move on to the actual bagpipe. The first step in picking up the entire instrument is basically to pick it up in parts. At first, students need to use a "goose," which is a bagpipe without its three drones. The drones are simple tubes, each usually featuring a single reed, which lay over the shoulder or across the arm opposite the bag. Players change the pitch of the tune by manipulating the drones. Using the "goose" lets the student begin to play while concentrating on developing adequate breathing techniques and learning bag control.

The process of setting up a pipe, its reeds and the tuning process can be highly complicated and can take years for a beginning player to learn and fully master. This is yet another reason why some instruction from an experienced player or professional tutor is essential. Care of the instrument includes the ability to put it together and take it apart correctly from the beginning, and these are skills more easily learned from an experienced individual than from a book or a tutorial video.

With some work, a player wanting to learn to play the bagpipe can begin to master the craft. All it takes is the proper equipment and adequate instruction, and a would-be player can be belting out tunes in seemingly no time at all. Find a reputable provider of the necessary equipment, along with a teacher to help along the way, and the ability to play the bagpipes is well within grasp.

Joshua Perry Joshua Perry - ArticleSource: GoArticles

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How to Pick Out Snare DRUM STICKS

A snare drum.  (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Snare drum sticks are the objects that drummers hold and use to play the drums. Since there are different kinds of drums and styles of music, the sticks that drummers use to create their music can have a direct impact on the way they sound. As a result, it is important that drummers know the anatomy of a drumstick as well as how the characteristics of a drumstick can influence their sound.

Drumsticks can be made of many different types of materials but are usually made of wood. Common wood choices include hickory, oak, and hard maple. Each type of wood obtains unique characteristics that may make it more suitable in some musical situations than in others. Therefore, choosing the right wood for a performance is one key element to every drummer's unique tone.

Hickory tends to be the most popular wood used in drumsticks. It is denser, heavier and more rigid than the most types of wood allowing it to absorb a great amount of shock which helps reduce wrist and hand fatigue. Maple wood which is less dense and much lighter than hickory wood so it helps give the feel of a big stick without the extra weight of the hickory. Lastly, oak wood is very heavy and non-flexible causing the drumsticks made of oak to be some of the heaviest, hardest, and most durable drumsticks.

While the three types of wood mentioned above are the most common materials used to make drumsticks, other woods such as beech, hornbeam, lancewood, and massaranduba are also sources of snare drum sticks. It's important to note that sticks can also be made out of other materials including aluminum, plastic, and graphite, however, these are much rarer.

A snare drumstick has 4 basic parts but there will be 6 parts discussed in this article. First is the tip which is also known as the bead. It is located at the end part in which the head is being struck. It can be oval, round, acorn, or barrel-shaped. The shape of the bead can influence the way the stick rebounds off of the drum head after a stroke and is one of the most important aspects of a drumstick. Next is the neck of the drumstick. It is the small part of a snare drum stick that connects the tip to the shoulder. It is the thinnest part with the exception of some specialty drumsticks. The shoulder is the part where the stick starts to taper or slope into the neck. The closer the shoulder is to the tip, the less bounce and response you will get. The taper is used to identify the shape and the length of the drumstick shoulder. The shaft or the body is the biggest part of the stick which is used to hold and sometimes to produce specialty strokes. Lastly, the butt is the opposite of the tip which is the thicker, counterbalance end of the stick. Though it is not specifically designed as the part to play, some drummers flip the sticks to use butts for effects.

When picking out your first pair of snare drum sticks, be sure to consider the factors mentioned in this article. Determine what type of music you will be playing and decide what type of material will best fit that style of music. Next, determine what type of tip you want as well as what size drumstick best fits your hand. If you can feel confident making these decisions, you will have an easy time finding the perfect pair of sticks for your drumming experience!

By Richard J. Klein Richard J. Klein is a passionate drummer and drum teacher who loves sharing his knowledge with people all around the world. Article Source: EzineArticles

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Five Fingers Same Position Notes Reading Method

Hand  (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

There are beginner piano books begin by introducing five notes i.e. CDEFG in right hand (RH) and CBAGF in left (LH) by using the same fingers position such as on RH note C played by thumb, D played by the index finger, etc. On LH note C played by thumb, B played by the index finger, and so on. I called "five fingers same position".

The benefit is before added the new note, beginners have practiced some similar exercises so they, especially kids will not be confused by rhythm, names, and positions of notes.

Because of many exercises that using the same fingers position, mostly kids tend to read the fingers numbers as notes positions. For instance, they mean no. 1 on RH is C - always played by thumb, no. 2 is D - always played by the index finger and so on, likewise on LH.

In early lessons, students seem fluent in notes reading but the problem comes when start playing pieces with no "five fingers the same position".

If students have to use "five fingers same position" books, as teachers, we have to explain from the first lesson that one note can be played by any fingers and fingers numbers are never changed such as on RH no.1 always for thumb, no. 2 always for index finger and so on, likewise on LH.

To make students remember the fingers numbers quickly, we can ask them to play as fast as they can such as "Play C with finger number 1 …. Now play C with finger number 2 and so on". The kids will love this fun game! Then ask them to play the same piece with any fingers by writing a new fingering on their book. For instance, for RH play C with finger number 2, D with finger number 3 and so on.

There is no perfect method in notes reading, as teachers, we can only find the suitable one for each student by merging one method with another. I prefer using "five fingers same position" book at first lesson by using any kinds of fingers positions, not just as written in the book.

It is much benefit and easier to learn right at first than re-learn after made mistakes. However, if students have made misunderstandings on notes reading, no matter with our ‘own’ students that have been taking lessons with us since their first day on a piano lesson or transferred ones, just do not ever blame them, their old teachers (for transferred ones) and ourselves especially beginner teachers. It will not make notes reading for students better.

The solution is re-teaching them as the first lesson. Of course, it needs much time, patiently and often rather difficult to train ‘a new habit’. The students could be frustrate and complain but with a fun game as I mentioned above, kids usually enjoy the lesson again. It happens on teens or adults (so far, I never found yet), we can support them by positive words so that they have ‘new spirit’ to continue their lesson. Moreover, as teachers, we should not ever stop learning.

Author: Sujanti Djuanda

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BAGPIPE - Music-Instruments of the World

Bagpipe - Music-Instruments of the World

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A Guide to Buying a TRUMPET

Trumpet bell (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Picking the best trumpet can be a difficult task. Most parents looking for a trumpet have no idea what to buy. I've been a trumpet teacher for twenty years and a band director for the last fifteen. I've played on almost every trumpet available today, and many of them are great instruments while some are far from it.

Trumpets come in different levels. There are the beginning or student trumpets, intermediate trumpets, professional trumpets, and custom trumpets. There are also some instruments that should only be made into lamps or put on walls as decoration because of their inferior quality. The price gives them away. If you buy one of these, you're most likely throwing your money away. Be very careful.

Most students start out at the beginning or student trumpets. Student trumpets are generally built with less hand-fitting and tougher materials. They are usually built to withstand normal student use, and they should last through the first few years of the band. Don't just buy a cheap trumpet. Some of them are so poorly made, they will hold a student back.

Intermediate trumpets come next. These instruments have some of the professional trumpet characteristics, and they do perform a little better than a student trumpet. They are often silver plated. They will always have a first valve slide saddle and third valve slide ring so they can be kicked out. While these trumpets don't cost as much as a professional trumpet, the price can be close. Generally, it's better to go ahead and purchase a professional trumpet when it is time to purchase a "step-up" trumpet.

Professional trumpets are truly fine instruments, and most professional trumpet players perform on them. I received my first professional trumpet when I progressed to high school band, and I believe most students that work hard should move to a professional trumpet at that time. These instruments will have slides that all work well right out of the case. They are hand fitted throughout the instrument, and they play as well as any high school student is able to play. These instruments will last through college, and for players that don't perform for a living, they will probably last the rest of their lives.

Custom trumpets come next. These are the best instruments available today. True custom trumpets are hand-made throughout. While these are truly incredible trumpets, they are not necessary for most high school students. If you want to have the best trumpet available today though, buy one of these.

By Harry Richardson - Article Source: EzineArticles

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Richard WAGNER - Titan of Opera

Richard Wagner - Photo Wikipedia (CC)

Because of the lack of discrimination in ascertaining how the composers used t motives, we can understand Massenet's et Cie. ambivalence about Wagner's influence. The Wagner system was not only about motives but also in how they were employed and what kinds of things they were meant to symbolize, that was all part of the "system." Other composers broke with that system by using motives entirely differently, Verdi, for example, used them extremely sparingly and kept them intact, to him they were used as recontextualized reminiscence.

Massenet followed that path as well, his theme usage in Manon and Werther are sparse. They highlight just a few issues and moments within the work. Though their job was to see these discrete techniques and artistic conceptions, critics at the time became partisans and polemicists and Wagner's breakthroughs led to a decade of deep creative frustration and ambivalence.

A look at Manon and Carmen shows how "Mademoiselle Wagner" was as much an inheritor of Bizet and of traditional opera as he was an acolyte of Wagner. Though published at a time when operas had firmly become "Music Drama" Manon is comfortably within the same family as its famous predecessor.

Some of the scenes in both operas are startlingly parallel. They open with huge tableaux showing us all these slices of life scenes, the changing of the guard and the cigarette girls in Carmen and the Inn at Amiens were the townspeople chatter and gossip waiting for Guillot and De Bretigny to arrive. The music here is boisterous festive and self-referential. Both composers here are concerned with evincing extended local colors and flavors, hardly a Wagnerian concern.

In the first act, we already see Bizet employing the limited use of motive that in 1874 already got tarred as Wagnerism. The use of Carmen's fate theme, which is one of the devices that allows Bizet to connect his opera between the individual "numbers" is much in the same vein that Massenet uses his themes. It's true that in Bizet these themes are not employed as subtly as in Manon but a decade separates these works and innovation and aesthetic temperament grow and change.

Both these operas concern themselves with a heroine too morally ambivalent to serve as a Wagnerian philosophical prop. The story of their journeys from the desire to defiance to death is firmly in the traditional school of operatic stories and despite hysterical criticism that the orchestras in each of these operas dominated the singers (!) these works show no great leap from that last international opera composed for Paris, Verdi's Don Carlos in 1867.

That Wagner's influence is tremendous is obvious. I have not even gone through the changes he made in the theater such as the hidden pit and the completely unlit performance hall. It is hard to believe that before him orchestra pits were public affairs and those operatic spectacles were viewed with the house lights on. This does not mention his advocacy for chromatic horns, the invention of the Wagner horns, and the standardization of the orchestra as we know it nor his role in the primacy of the conductor. His idiom is still the idiom of popular classical music to this day, in television, films and video games, the scores are composed with Wagner in mind. To have to deal with that influence, particularly at its first great plateau must have been an enormous preoccupation. The terror that Brahms and Schubert had of Beethoven even pales in comparison. For classical music, particularly opera, this age was the birth of the anxiety of influence, and the French composers of that time must have realized that they would not live long enough to see themselves understood or appreciated for their personal contributions.

By Sammy Higgins Sammy Higgins lives in New York City where he runs http://www.operadepot.com Article Source: EzineArticles

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The History of the TANGO

Photo  by aka_serge 

The Tango has always been one of my favorite ballroom dances, as it is so different from all the others, and a real challenge to master both musically and technically. Here is a brief history of the Tango over the last hundred odd years.

The story of Tango is said to have started with the gauchos of Argentina. These were men that were hardened from working with horses and also from the sweat on the horse's body. This is also why gauchos walked with flexed knees. These men would go into the crowded nightclubs and ask the local girls to dance. Since the gaucho hadn't showered, the lady would dance in the crook of the man's right arm, holding her head back. Her right hand was held low on his left hip, close to his pocket, looking for a payment for dancing with him. The man danced in a curving fashion because the floor was small with round tables, so he had to dance in between and around them.

The word "tango" is said to come from one of two sources. One of the more popular rumors in recent years has been that it came from the Niger-Congo languages of Africa. Another story is that the word "tango", which was already in common use in Andalusia to describe a style of music, lent its name to a vastly different style of music in Argentina and Uruguay.

Strangely enough, it is said that the Tango's History actually evolves from African slavery and musically used African Rhythms in the beginning. It is an intense and erotic dance and many believe that it started off in the Ghettos of Buenos Aires as far back as the 1890's with the lower classes. Back then it was known as "Baile con corte" which means "Dance with a rest." After that, it was mainly danced in Argentina, Haiti, and Cuba. It was also danced in Spain in a different form.

Between 1907 and 1912 the Tango was first introduced in France and the dance took Paris by storm. By the year 1912, it had crossed over the Channel to England.

By 1913, New York was hit by the Tango craze. What was previously a dance for the lower and middle classes was fast becoming a favorite with the upper classes.

Between 1903 and 1910 over a third of the gramophone records released were Tango music and the sheet music was sold in vast quantities all over Europe.

During the great depression of 1929, the Tango's popularity declined but it became fashionable again during the presidency of Juan Peron.

During the 1950's the Tango started it's decline again due to the economic recession and the banning of public gatherings.

During the 1980's it was revived again with the Broadway Musicals Forever Tango, Tango Passion, and Tango Argentino.

There are now three types of Tango, namely Argentine, International Style and American, and I don't think that the Tango will ever totally lose its appeal.

By Michel Maling - To find out more about different dance forms, visit http://dancersforum.com Article Source: EzineArticles

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How To Preserve Good SINGING VOICE

Portrait of Harry Belafonte
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Good professional singers not only have to be fit and healthy to look good for stage performances, they must also know how to maintain and preserve a good singing voice.

You have only one voice and when your voice is damaged permanently, it will probably spell the end of a singer's. Many singers who have not been through professional singing coaching by good singing coaches or attend any singing schools may not even know that they may be damaging their voice.

Many singers also forget that when their singing voice does not feel right and they are not singing effortlessly as they should be, they will have a tendency to compensate for bad and unhealthy singing habits. These newly created or old bad habits may become stuck unconsciously and will have to be unlearned with the right vocal exercises. That is if the singer is aware that such habits are already in existence in the first place.

There are many things you can do to damage your singing voice and sometimes the damage will lead to permanent damage to your vocal chords. Here are some examples of what can harm your voice and there are much more.

a) Constant screaming or talking forcefully all the time. This happens very often if you are singing in a night club environment where you have to speak above the din to be heard.

Making funny voices maybe cute, but you may be doing terrible damages to your vocal folds.

b) Dry air and/or not enough water consumption will dry up your larynx and thus placing too much friction on them.

c) Poor diet, lack of sleep, stress will place more toll on your body and your singing mechanism.

d) Caffeine consumption, alcohol consumption, smoking will also damage your voice.

e) Talking, singing or whispering when you have laryngitis or sore throat. You need to rest your voice when you have a sore throat.

True professional singers must spend a lifetime working to minimize the stresses on their voices. Why should they want to destroy their singing career by being ignorant about what these bad habits can do to their singing?

What is more, if the voice is damaged because of frequent abuse and polyps grow on the larynx, they may even need to go for a surgery to remove the polyps. That will mean an of income and avoidable medical expenses. So you must preserve and maintain a healthy singing voice if you want to have a successful singing career.

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CELTIC HARP - Music-Instruments of the World

CELTIC HARP - Music-Instruments of the World - Photo: Wikipedia

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Shopping For A MUSIC STAND?

A wooden music stand.
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Make sure you buy the right one!

Shopping for a music stand is easy. Deciding which music stand will fit your needs might not be as easy.

To shop for a music stand all you have to do is go to a music store or do an online search. If you walk into a music store you’ll see the music stands the prices for each. If you do an online search, you can see pictures of the music stands that are out there and again find out how much each one is. That is the easy part.

The hard part is figuring out which music stand you need. There are several different music stands that are designed very differently.

The opera stand is an illuminated music stand for the opera singer. The stem on it is designed so that it does not interfere with the opera singer’s feet if they sit down. The opera stands can be nested together for easy storage.

The wooden stand is made to match a modern or historic concert hall. These stands are made of polished metal stems and natural wood trays. These stands nest together for compact storage also.

The jazz stand is a music stand that folds. It will fold down to the size of the tray. It is an adjustable stand for sitting or standing to play or sing. To store them, they will stand right next to each other or you can store them folded. If they are folded, they store one right on top of another.

The school music stand is designed for students. It is unbreakable. It does not have knobs, but rather raises and lowers easily. It has an extra lip on the tray for pencils and erasers. These also nest together for easy storage.

The studio stand is a modern looking stand for all types of musicians. It is like the opera stand, except it does not have the light attached to it. It is designed so that if the musician swings their legs, they will not knock the stand over. Like many of the other music stands, they are designed to be nested together for storage.

The scherzo stand is a foldable stand. It is made of aluminum. The aluminum makes it very lightweight for easy transportation.

Now that you know how each music stand is designed, you can decide which music stand will work best for your music needs.

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TRUMPET and TROMBONE High Notes

Photo  by Christophe ALARY 

Are you a brass player that has heard an album or a live performance by one of the giants of our instrument and been totally amazed at how they possess a complete command of the instrument?

Such giants as Maynard Ferguson, Wayne Bergeron, Bill Watrous, Slide Hampton?  It's not that these individuals were born with great skills and never had to practice, yet more over, they were driven by the desire to play.  Along with that desire comes support.  Support from family, friends, peers, and authority figures such as band directors.

What is essential for all beginning players young and old is a strong support system.  Family, friends and teachers must all rally around the student to help them believe in themselves and in what they're doing!  Statements such as... ya, ya, that's good but can you do that somewhere else is not exactly a supportive frame of mind.

If you could go back in time and interview the greatest players, you would find that they were strongly supported by family and cohorts.  Maynard Ferguson is a prime example of this!  His parents were both school principals in Montreal Quebec Canada, and as he and his brother Percy were growing up, they were strongly supported in everything they did.  Whether it was sports or music, they were rallying to their kids support.

As Maynard grew into his early teen years and showed a knack for trumpet playing, his parents nourished this talent by not only buying him the recordings, but taking him to the performances that came through.  From Duke Ellington to Dizzy Gillespie, they were there.

The next thing a young player needs is the right tools.  Teachers who don't really know what they're teaching can be a serious detriment to a young player and his growth.  The right approach and the right books as well as specific instruction on how to perform each exercise is vital!

If you are a player who did not exactly experience either of the above, it's not too late.  Trumpet players are most likely looking for that Maynard type range and power.  The high notes that make the audience just sit back in total amazement and wonder - does that hurt?  Is that some freak trick?

High notes are nothing more than just really fast air being forced through a very small hole.  NOT large volumes of air, but rather extremely compressed air moving rapidly through a small hole between your lips.

Sounds easy, doesn't it?  It is once you gain the right concept.

Keith Fiala / Anna Romano - Article Directory: EzineArticles

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The Well-Tempered Clavier by J S BACH

Photo  by MuseScore 

The Well-Tempered Clavier is generally referred to as the pianists' "Old Testament of Western music", also in Barenboim's fingers, it definitely has an "Old World" condition to it. Seen in its entirety, the performance brings to mind Edwin Fischer's recording from the thirties: great pianism, frequently elegant playing, notably by means of the liberal use of the pedals.

This is, needless to say, planets independent of the incisive, razor-sharp resolution that Glenn Gould, as well as Mehmet Okonsar, brought to these works. As opposed to concentrating on offering the spectacular complexity as well as the polyphonic aspect of those compositions, Barenboim is without a doubt more happy putting together an abundant harmonic texture to each piece, magnificently experienced on a contemporary Steinway.

I'm a tremendous fan of Bach. He was simply a fabulous genius and far in advance of his time period and the Well-Tempered Clavier is just mind-blowing. As a recreational piano player, I discover his music a genuine treasure. The complexity and beauty of his music continue to be so incredibly inspiring.

There are considerable records to support Bach's claim that he employed the Well-Tempered Clavier as part of his lessons, nevertheless, the work accomplishes so many purposes that it must be an easy task to overlook its part as a teaching tool. Obviously, the most crucial feature of the Well-Tempered Clavier is that its full of sublime music from cover to cover.

The fact that it illustrates Werckmeister's "well-tuned" technique pertaining to keyboard instruments seems incidental to us all right now, however, it was outstanding in Bach's day. We still wonder at the genius which expended each prelude and fugue using a unique musical style, drawing on a multitude of compositional processes to shed light on his students. The idea sounds dry, having a piece in every key in ascending arrangement from C major, however, the result could not end up being closer to excellence.

Fugues are usually said to be in a number of voices or parts (the term voices may be used whether or not the fugue has not been written with regard to singers), which is, self-sufficient melodic lines. Fugues are generally in from three to five parts, however, eight and even ten parts are achievable in large choral or orchestral fugues. Fugues in fewer than 3 parts tend to be rare since with 2 parts the actual subject is only able to jump back and forth between the upper and lower part. The best-known illustration of a two-voice work is certainly the E minor fugue out of Book 1.

These forty-eight preludes and fugues in all the major and minor keys have got very little related to public virtuosos, stages or even audiences. Like a lot of Bach's work -- especially the music written, or at least put together when it comes to the ending of his existence -- the ''Well-Tempered'' makes statements, advances concepts, draws together bodies of expertise. Moreover, its lessons happen to be learned, and its particular messages attained, in the home.

The Bach preludes and fugues are actually, to utilize Schumann's well-known explanation, the keyboard player's "everyday bread." All musicians exercise however rarely perform them. Wrapping one's ears and fingers around these pieces amount to both an undergraduate and a postgraduate training: what things to make visible, what you should render as background, how to make the load of the finger interact to the control from the ear and so forth.

My commitment to the original issue of Gould's performance of the Well-Tempered Clavier was sizable however by the time Okonsar's recording emerged it had wanted to some degree.

There was (and still is) no doubt Gould's awesome proficiency to managing, varying as well as diverse touch in clarifying textures through 'orchestration', however Okonsar's reading of the work and the eschewing all forms of obvious pianism remained (and remains) a new testimony to his faithfulness to representing this kind of music, as he observed it, devoid of seeking back to the harpsichord or forward to the nineteenth-century piano.

As numerous reviewers at that time excited, Gould's was an impressive success, yet the cautiously calculated however communicative as well as packed with feelings playing of Okonsar, along with some idiosyncrasies added up to an analytical as well as a human performance of it.

The actual doubts began to find their way in, and retrospectively, with Prelude I of Book 1: the varying articulation of the last few notes of each group speaks of Gould as well as Okonsar, but what does it say of Bach? Echo answered as it did to other, subsequent concerns.

The actual harpsichord cannot provide more weight to any one line, nor is there any proof that players of Bach's period employed severe variations of articulation pertaining to such a function, notably in the ready-balanced texture and consistency of a fugue; such 'painting by way of numbers' is an anachronistic imposition.

Amongst the currently available piano versions of the 48 Schiff's on Decca remains, in my opinion, the most effective and the freest from excess; its pluses and minuses were broadly mentioned. Keith Jarrett's recording (ECM/New Note) is all that particular may well reasonably desire. That both occupy simply three discs may encourage a few readers to purchase Gould's and/or Okonsar's sets, both amaze as well as irritates by turns, and also over which controversy will certainly likely carry on for a long period in the future.

By Anthony B Summers Although I am a literary person and a novel editor classical music is always there when I work for publishers. As a side effect, I started to provide some reviews and articles on a couple of classical music papers as well. My favorite Bach interpreters are Glenn Gould and Mehmet Okonsar. Article Source: EzineArticles

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BASIC GUITAR Chords And How To Play Them

C major chord for guitar in open position.
Beginners chord.
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

One of the challenges for the novice guitarist is learning the basic chords. You will not only need to know where to put your fingers but also how to change from one chord to another. The technique of smooth transition between chords is a learning process we are never really finished with. Every time we learn something new on the guitar, that's another sequence of small movements our body learns, and these sets of movements must be executed smoothly through relaxed, calm practice.

Holding chords with your left hand is a new skill. It uses groups of muscles we do not normally use, so it takes time to learn the chord shapes without experiencing discomfort. There is light at the end of the tunnel, although sometimes the tunnel seems very, very long.

Another physical adaptation that has to be made when you learn your basic guitar chords is the left-hand fingers need to be toughened up. Callouses form on the tips of the fingers after a few weeks playing, but until they do you need to put up with the pain.

Fortunately learning the notes on the guitar is a job that does come to an end. As you learn more songs, chords, and scales you will feel your ease with musical theory and notation growing even if you didn't directly learn much theoretical stuff. If you learned in your own way the knowledge gets into you by way of constant practice and the enjoyment you bring to your guitar playing.

So the task at hand is to learn a basic group of chords. This is your toolbox you begin your guitar playing with. 

Picture taken from taking barre chord on a guitar.
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Each chord is identified by a letter. If the letter is followed by the word, minor, it's a minor chord. If it is just the letter alone, it's a major chord.

Major chords contain the Root note, a major third above the Root plus a fifth above the Root.

Minor chords, which have a more "sad" sound, are the same except that they contain a minor third instead of a major third.

A basic rule of thumb for understanding major and minor chords is for a 

major chord plays the (1) (3) and (5) of the major scale, and for a minor chord play the (1) (3) and (5) of the minor scale.

A handy thing to know once you start playing barre chords is that if you learn the major chord shape, you only need to lift one left-hand finger to play the minor chord.

The basic chords come from the keys of A G C and D. The chords themselves can be played at all positions on the fretboard, but beginners start with open chords at the first position. This means that at least one note is played on an open string.

We group the basic keys to families:

The A family contains the chords A, D and E.

The D family contains the chords D, E minor, G and A.

The G family contains the chords G, A minor, C, D and E minor.

The C family contains the chords C, D minor, E minor, F and G.

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FATBOY SLIM - Norman Cook biography

Photo Wikimedia Commons.

Norman Cook has experienced an exceptionally diverse musical career. He's produced or played on records covering a multitude of genres, including indie pop, hip-hop, house and big beat, and is also one of the most famous DJs in the world under his Fatboy Slim moniker.

Fatboy was born Quentin Cook in Bromley in 1983 and grew up in Reigate in Surrey.

He was heavily into music at an early age, producing a punk fanzine as a teenager before meeting Paul Heaton at 6th form college. He went to the University of Brighton (he studied English, Sociology, and Politics) and began to DJ around the town where the club scene was thriving at that time.

In 1985 he received a call from Heaton asking him to join up with The Housemartins to replace their recently departed bassist. The group was based in Hull, and Norman (as he was now known) moved north to be with them. They soon had a hit with "Happy Hour", and eventually had a number one single in 1986 with a cover of "Caravan Of Love".

The group broke up in 1988 and Cook returned to Brighton to re-invigorate his love for the club scene. He teamed up with Lindy Layton to produce a dub house classic in "Dub Be Good To Me" (a mashup of the bassline from The Clash's "The Guns Of Brixton" and vocals inspired by SOS band's "Love Be Good To me") which went to number one.

Beats International had 2 albums before disbanding. Norman went on to form Freakpower with vocalist and brass-player Ashley Slater and had a massive hit with when it was picked up by Levi's to be used in a commercial.

The following year the band had a hit with "Rush", and the single also contained a remix by Pizzaman - another Cook alias. He went on to produce some massive club hits in the next couple of years under the Pizzaman alias - "Trippin On Sunshine", "Sex On The Streets" and "Happiness" being particularly popular.

Freakpower continued to record albums together, and in 1996 had a hit with "New Direction". This track was appropriately titled as Norman had just released a record under what was to become his most famous alias yet - that of Fatboy Slim.

Norman had teamed up with Damien Harris to create a new record label in Brighton, and Fatboy Slim's "Santa Cruz" was to be its first release. They called the label Skint Records and set themselves a mission to release music with massive beats big and basslines that would be equally popular in-house and indie clubs alike.

Fatboy had a further hit in 1996 with "Everybody Loves A 303", an homage to the classic Roland synth that still sounds fresh today. He went on to release his debut album "Better Living Through Chemistry", an album that spawned two further singles in "Going Out Of My Head" and "Punk To Funk" and helped to create the Big Beat genre.

Fatboy's hugely anticipated second album, You've Come a Long Way, Baby, followed in 1998. The album displayed huge international appeal, and went platinum in the U.S. and included two massive hits, "The Rockafeller Skank" and "Praise You", which also boasted a Spike Jonze-directed video that earned three MTV Video Music Awards as well as two Grammy nominations.

The next Fatboy Slim album, 2000's "Halfway Between The Gutter And The Stars", showed a bit more diversity and contained tracks with R&B, hip-hop and hard house influences. The big single from the album, "Star 69" contained a big sweary vocal and a huge kick drum to send the crowd mental.

Fatboy went on to release another album, 2004's Palookaville, and a compilation album and is still one of the biggest DJs and producers in the world.

Aliases: Pizzaman, Freakpower, Beats International, Mighty Dub Kats

More to Fatboy slim: Wikipedia

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Music Of BRAZIL

Samba (album) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Brazil, the fifth largest country in South America, is a land rich in history, mystique, and exceptions to the rule. Founded as a Portuguese colony in 1500 that was later known as the Empire of Brazil, it became a republic in 1889 and is now known as the Federative Republic of Brazil. Its official language is Portuguese, which is spoken by nearly the entire population - and the only Portuguese-speaking nation in Latin America - making its natural and cultural identity very distinct from its Spanish-speaking neighbors. Brazilian Portuguese is also different from that spoken in Portugal. It is fitting that the Museum of the Portuguese Language in Brazil 's capital São Paulo is the first language museum in the world.

One of the founding members of the United Nations, Brazil is the world's tenth largest economy and boasts a natural environment of unparalleled diversity and breathtaking geographic beauty, making it a great draw for international tourists seeking sun and beach and adventure forays into the Amazon Rainforest. But where Brazil really stands out in terms of its natural resources and cultural contribution to the world is music, specifically jazz. Although it can claim many fine classical composers, Brazil is where the great rhythm-and-beat styles of the samba, bossa nova, pagoda, frevo and many others found life.

"Watercolor of Brazil" (known in most English-speaking countries as simply "Brazil"), written in 1939 by politically militant composer Ary Barroso, became one of the most popular songs of all times and was the birth of the samba. Since then it has enjoyed innumerable recordings from Brazilian native musical artists like Antonio Carlos Jobim and João Gilberto, but internationally as well by such legends as Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Rosemary Clooney to still more recent versions by Placido Domingo, Dionne Warwick, and the Ritchie Family. With the ballroom dancing craze fuelled by popular TV shows like "Dancing With the Stars," the song "Brazil" and the samba have found a fresh generation of eager fans.

Arguably one of the most beloved and respected musicians of the 20/21st century is Brazil's João Gilberto who rose to fame in the late 1950s when he slowed down the samba to work with his syncopated acoustic guitar. His cool, hip way of whispering lyrics made him an idol of U.S. beatniks and jazz artists alike, and he continues to inspire a new generation of pop artists like Gilberto Gil, Caetano Veloso and his own daughter Bebel Gilberto, now a star in her own right. But Gilberto's place on the world jazz map was firmly stamped when a collaboration with songwriter Jobim, a fellow Brazilian, led them to record "Chega de Saudade" and create the bossa nova.

The bossa nova quickly became a craze in the United States and spread through the world after American jazz saxophone legend Stan Getz discovered the sound and recorded, amongst others, "The Girl From Ipanema" with Gilberto and his wife Astrud. Bossa nova-style jazz remained Getz's icon sound until he died. Gilberto remains a superstar in Brazil and one of its greatest natural resources.

By John Parks - Article Source: EzineArticles

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WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART - (27.1.1756 - 5.12.1791)

WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART - (27.1.1756 - 5.12.1791) - Photo: Wikimedia

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Tuning, Intonation, And The SAXOPHONE

Photo  by woodleywonderworks 

Playing your saxophone in tune with others in your band requires much more than simply playing a reference note into a tuner and adjusting the mouthpiece on the instrument. In order to really understand the tuning process and how best to tune your saxophone, it helps to know the physics behind the sound that you produce while playing. When we are talking about physics and the saxophone we are dealing in the realm of invisible vibrations called sound waves.

To better understand these sound waves it helps to think about a guitar string. When you pluck a note on a guitar the string vibrates at a specific rate or "frequency." The length of this string dictates what frequency the string will vibrate at. By moving your finger up and down the fretboard you can change the pitch to any of a dozen or so pitches. Now think about a fretless guitar. Instead of a dozen pitches, you could potentially have hundreds of pitches, each very slightly different than the other. Saxophones behave in this same way but use a vibrating column of air instead of a vibrating string.

When you add or subtract fingers on the saxophone you are changing the overall length of the tube, creating shorter or longer sound waves in the process. Many things can affect this resultant wave. A key that is not adjusted properly can partially close over an open hole causing all notes above that key to be slightly flat. Likewise, a key that is left open when it should be closed can make other notes out of tune or at the very least sound less focused.

Two saxophones that are not perfectly tuned to each other will always vibrate at different frequencies even when playing the same note. When two sound waves of the exact same frequency are played together they reinforce each other creating a stronger, more pleasing overall sound. When two pitches are slightly out of tune they occasionally collide with each other causing a disturbance in the combined waveform. This phenomenon creates audible "beats" or bumps in what the listener hears. Each bump in the combined sound is literally the two sound waves slamming into each other. It is often easier to understand this process by seeing it visually. Take a look at the examples shown at http://library.thinkquest.org/19537/Physics.html.

As a saxophone player, it should be your goal to learn how to play your instrument in perfect tune. Unfortunately, this requires more than simply tuning your concert A or B-flat. Now that you know a little about the physics of sound, however, you can begin to understand the inherent pitch problems of your saxophone and relate this to your overall performance and study routine.

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