On March 21, 1685, a German organist and regarded as one of the greatest composers of all time, Johann Sebastian Bach was born. He came from a family of musicians. His father is Ambrosius Bach who worked as the town piper.
His father's profession included organizing the town's secular music and participating in the church music. In addition, his uncles were church chamber musicians to various composers and organists for the church. It is believed that Bach started his interest in music at an early age when he started helping his father in his work. During that time, sons were expected to aid their father's work.
Bach lost his mother when he was just a young boy. When he turned nine, his father passed away. Bach then moved with his brother Johann Christoph Bach who worked as an organist in Ohrdruf. He continued studying, copying, and playing music at his brother's house.
In Ohrdruf, Bach started to learn the process of building an organ, where he would usually fix the church's organ. During that time, an organ is considered a very complex machine in the European town. Bach's knowledge with the innards of the organ is believed to be influential to his exemplary skills in playing said instrument.
At the very young age of 18, Bach finished his Latin school, which is considered as an extraordinary accomplishment. He started working as an organist in Arnstadt in 1703. He then became a court organist in 1708 where he was given the chance of not just playing the organ but composing and playing a varied repertoire of music as well.
Bach gained immense popularity because of his exceptional talent. Some of his works include "Brandenburg Concertos," the "Partitas," and "Mass in B Minor." His works have given inspiration to almost all musicians in the European tradition including Mozart.
As a music teacher, I am frequently asked how to play left-hand easy piano chords when learning to play the piano, electronic keyboard, and organ. Well, the first thing you need to do when learning chords are to learn the popular or basic chords first. These are major chords, minor chords, and seventh chords. These piano or keyboard chords are basically the foundations on which other chords are built. For instance, let's look at the C family of chords:
C
C6
C7
C9
C11
C13
All the chords above are basically a C chord with an added 6th, 7th, 9th, 11th or 13th. So when learning chords it's important to learn the basic C chord first. If you come across a C11 or C13 and you don't know what it is, just play the C chord. That's not to say you shouldn't eventually learn the 11th and 13th chords, but for beginners, just playing the C chord is adequate and harmonically correct and it means you can keep playing the piano or keyboard without stopping, which is what every learner wants to do.
The other thing to consider if you are learning on the electronic keyboard is that if you use the Auto Chord system that many of these keyboards have, then you won't be able to play the more advanced keyboard chords because the keyboard can't recognize certain chords, such as 11th and 13th chords.
Actually, keeping the number of chords you learn to a minimum will help you to play more pieces of music and the way to do this is to learn how to substitute one chord for another as mentioned above.
For instance, if you learn to substitute all 9th chords for 7th chords, then this would cut your learning time by a hundred percent, obviously, you have to learn the 7th chords first, there are 12 major chords with a seventh and 12 Minor chords with a seventh and we can even reduce this further. Instead of learning all 12 major and minor chords all at once, just learn what you need. You do this with the help of key signatures. Most beginners start learning to play in the key of C and there are only a few easy piano chords associated with this key, they are, C, G, Dm, Am and sometimes F. If you pick pieces of music in this key you can learn these chords faster. When you are accomplished with those chords move on to the next key which is normally G.
This is the easiest and most enjoyable way of learning to play, it means you get to play music virtually straight away and you can move at your own pace, learn as many easy piano chords as you personally want. Many people just want to sit down and play a few tunes, nothing fancy and if you are one of those people then this is the way to go. Remember you don't need to learn a ton of chords be able to play music, just learn what you need and enjoy yourself.
By Mike Shaw Mike has developed a chord book specifically for beginners; find out more about this on his website, Mikes Music Room. If you want more advanced piano training then read his piano lessons reviews at The Piano Lessons Software Expert website. Article Source: EzineArticles
The truth is that to "make it" as a professional opera singer involves a lot of studies, practice, and dedication and most professionals will not set foot on a stage until they have been training for at least 10 years.
Whether an opera singer is preparing for a live opera performance, opera gala, singing at a wedding, providing operatic entertainment for a corporate event or doing a Singing Waiter performance or 'gig' (as it is called in the profession), there is a lot of preparation that takes place beforehand in order for the performance to come across as effortless, stylish and enjoyable to an audience.
If an opera singer is singing in an opera, they often know well in advance what they will be performing, as well as when and where they are doing it. It can sometimes be as long as a year or more in advance of the performance that an opera singer will be offered a role. This gives them ample time to prepare for it; learning the music, the words (which can be in several different languages) researching the character, time period and anything else they need to do to feel polished and prepared.
However, sometimes it can be a completely different story. A singer might fall ill, and suddenly the singer gets a call asking if they can step in at short notice. This could happen months, weeks or even days in advance. Sometimes, it even happens on the day itself! Many well-known operatic names have got their "big break" this way.
When an opera singer performs in an Opera Gala, at a wedding, corporate event or Singing Waiter performance, it is much more usual to rehearse and perform on the day of the performance. Often they are very familiar with the repertoire, and sometimes they arrive and the first time they perform that particular programme is on that very day. When an opera singer does these one-off performances, it is much more likely they have had to step in at the last minute, so they have to constantly make sure that their sight reading is up to scratch!
Doing a job as a Singing Waiter is quite easy in some respects, as an opera singer doesn't need to worry about costumes as they are dressed as waiters. The same goes for Christmas carol singing, where they normally perform in traditional Christmas Carol outfits.
For corporate entertainment performances it can be anything; from Singing Waiters to full opera gala costume. At times a corporate entertainment performance will have a theme in the sense that the client wants a certain "look" whether it is traditional gala dresses or "Phantom of the Opera" theme. It all depends on what the client wants.
Whatever the occasion, rest assured that an audience will always be enthralled by their magical singing!
Every one of us has music inside. And it is not an abstract statement, but scientifically proved fact. Molecules of DNA "sound" inside us and it is very important if music from outside is in keeping with music inside us.
Scientists pay great attention to researches concerning music’s influence on human beings. Attention to such researches has increased recently and their results are interesting and convincing. For example, after listening to classical music cows have increased their yield of milk and mimosa and petunias have grown faster and burst into bloom 2 weeks earlier. 120 breast-feed mothers took part in an experiment in Japan. Some women listened to classical music, other women listened to pop and rock music. In the first group the amount of milk increased by 20 percent, and in the second group - reduced twice.
Such researches are the attempt to synthesize science and art (music). But in ancient India, science and art were considered to be the parts of single creative power. All knowledge of ancient India one can find in the Vedas (Holy Indian Scripture) and one of four main Vedas Sama-Veda is entirely dedicated to music. According to the Vedas, the creating of the world started from the primordial sound "OM", which appeared while a division of the Almighty (Sadashiva) and his creative energy (Adi Shakti). "OM" was the foundation of the universe and the first musical sound.
A human subtle system consists of 7 main chakras (energetic centers) and 3 channels, which rule mental, emotional and physical life activity of a person. 7 chakras of our subtle body revolve with a certain frequency and form an octave, which consists of 7 tones of proper altitude. Intervals between them should reflect intervals between chakras. These tones were called musical sounds - notes (’svars’ in Indian music). They sound - sa, re, ga, ma, pa, da, ni and they are in keeping with chakras - from first till seventh. 5 notes can change (fall and rise), creating 5 additional sounds (left and right aspects of chakras). Thus, these notes are a built-in subtle body and represent the ideal "repository" of information, the repository of those feelings, emotions, wishes, and thoughts, which composer or performer has.
While listening music a person receives some influence on a subtle level, which later appears on the physical body. Same notes can bring destruction or good, it depends on the inner condition of a person. For example, anger, aggression, drug intoxication and so on, which have power over the mind of composer or musician, will find the reflection in his music. There are some styles and forms in music which reflect only such bad qualities. Such music may do harm not only the musician but also a person who listen to it. Clear, inspired people, who have lucid mind will never create such music. They created only folk music with great variety and classical music which has its roots in folk music.
Let’s listen to music, which is in keeping with music inside us.
Learning how to read a musical piano sheet music should not cause you to worry. You do not need to have a very high IQ to do this. All you need to do is to have the patience for constant practice and an easy-to-read musical piano sheet. If you have all these, then learning would be easier. There are tips that you can follow and hopefully, these will help you as you slowly learn to read piano music.
Firstly, you need to begin by having a quick glance over the music sheet in its entirety. Next, look over the music sheet a second time, but this time, try getting familiar with the notes, tempo indications, articulations, and chords. Spend extra time reading notes that are difficult. Flagging these cords may help you understand them later.
Next, you should also study its key and time signatures. These keys might still be very unfamiliar to you, you can consult music books first. These key signatures are very important in understanding the music piece.
The third thing you should do is look for significant changes in the piece, tempo changes included. You need to identify key changes throughout the entirety of the music. When these changes have been seen, you should try to become familiar with the crucial key changes and the new keys.
Next, you need to look for common passages within the music piece. You need to point out whether there are repetitions in certain motifs or phrases in the piece. If you see that there is a variation somewhere, then you can always choose to familiarize yourself with the basic passages. Familiarizing yourself with basic passages can make you learn the variations much faster.
Most importantly, always try to play the musical piece incessantly especially for the first time. Try not to stop playing when you do it for the first time even if you feel it impossible to continue playing. This manner of playing helps you get a closer look and an aural experience of the entire musical piece. Repeat it for several times until you already get the hang it the piece. You will notice later on that you know how to read piano notes.
"George Gershwin 1937" by Carl Van Vechten Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons
Composer George Gershwin is among the best-known composers. His style was uniquely American: Big, boisterous, and an energetic fusion of old and new. He typified the “melting pot” that was the America of his day.
Born Jacob Gershovitz in 1898 to Russian Jewish immigrant parents, the boy who later became George Gershwin was no Mozart-like child prodigy. He was inspired to begin music lessons after attending the violin recital of a young friend of his – at the ripe old age of 10.
So much for the idea that you can’t amount to much, musically, unless you start piano before your feet can reach the pedals.
George’s parents had bought a piano for his older brother Ira, and at his request, allowed the younger boy to begin lessons. Five years later, George Gershwin was ready to quit school and begin playing piano professionally.
Command performances for the royalty of Europe? Um, no. Again, in contrast to Mozart, Gershwin began his professional career as a lowly “song plugger” – a pianist hired by a music company to demonstrate the latest songs available on sheet music. In this way, perhaps, he developed an ear for popular music that would serve him well later.
In 1916, when he was just 17 years old, Gershwin published his first song for the princely fee of $5. Also in 1916, Gershwin began work for the Aeolian Company and Standard Music Rolls in New York City, making recordings, arranging, and composing under his own and assumed names.
By 1920, Gershwin had begun to see commercial success for his compositions. In 1924, he collaborated with older brother Ira on a musical called Lady Be Good, the first of many productive collaborations between the two brothers. George handled the musical composition, while Ira wrote the dialogue and lyrics (the “book”).
Also in 1924, George Gershwin wrote what is perhaps his most famous major piano work, the Rhapsody in Blue. It is an American composition: A 15-minute concerto for piano and full orchestra – containing clear elements of jazz, popular, and folk music are woven into the very fabric of the piece. Gershwin himself thought of it as “a kaleidoscope of America.”
Gershwin wrote this amazing piece in only 5 weeks, and only reluctantly at that. His friend, bandleader Paul Whiteman, had requested a concerto-like jazz piano piece for a concert he wanted to put on called An Experiment in Modern Music. The concert was held on February 12, 1924.
Initially, Gershwin refused, thinking that he couldn’t produce such a major work in the short amount of time allotted. But after seeing a report in the newspaper that quoted Whiteman as saying, “George Gershwin is at work on a jazz concerto,” he felt he had to deliver. And deliver he did.
1924 was a busy year for young George. This was also the year in which he traveled to Paris, seeking to study under master composers of the day. Maurice Ravel, an admirer, famously refused to take him on as a student, fearing it would ruin the jazz influence that made Gershwin so unique. While in Paris, Gershwin wrote another piece that has proved enduringly popular, the symphonic work An American In Paris.
In 1935, Gershwin produced his most ambitious work, which he called a “folk opera,” Porgy and Bess. This was based on the novel Porgy, by DuBose Heyward. Heyward, with his wife, had previously adapted the novel to play form and collaborated with Ira Gershwin to adapt the play to the operatic form.
In 1937, Gershwin, then only 38 years old, began to experience blinding headaches. Later in the year, he was diagnosed as having brain cancer, although the diagnosis of the exact kind of cancer since been questioned. Following surgery for his tumor, George Gershwin died on July 11, 1937.
Here Gershwin finally comes to resemble Mozart. Not a child prodigy, not a performer for royalty. Yet still a prolific composer of wildly popular music — and Gershwin, like Mozart, died too young.
When many people think of country music, they think of sad songs about lost loves, broken down trucks and runaway dogs. In their minds, they are hearing all of these woes sung in the traditional twangy country accents of the south. However, these perceptions of country music are far from where this style of music has evolved. Today, country music is one of the most popular genres of music, normally outsold only by rock and pop genres.
Created in the late 19th century, country music has undergone many changes over the years. There are now many sub-genres to this type of music, with some of the sub-genres being commonly played on top 40 radio stations.
To understand country music, it is helpful to know about the instruments commonly associated with it. In country music, one of the most common instruments used is the fiddle (or violin). Some of these instruments can be expensive, but most are relatively inexpensive and are very easily transports since they are light in weight and not overly large. When country music first ‘hit the scene’, the fiddle was practically the only instrument used as accompaniment.
However, as the country music style became more popular, the addition of other accompanying instruments became normal. The banjo became popular in some country music pieces in the mid-1800s, while the guitar did not break into the country music scene until the early 1900s. Electric guitars did not become a regular instrument in country music until much later in the 50s. Other various instruments used in country music are the piano (introduced in the 1930s) and the drums (used since the 1960s). Rarely used, but distinctive sounding instruments are used in certain country songs: the accordion, the harmonica, and the washboards.
Country music has roots in several different styles of music. Its beginnings started with the settlers that came from Europe. During that time, many couldn’t read or write, so songs were created to pass history down from one generation to the next. Although country ballads have changed a great deal, going from the original songs about objective, though gruesome, events to more personal, subjective ballads without all the gore.
Today, the sound of country music can sometimes be very similar to other genres of pop and rock. Some country musicians, like Shania Twain, have many songs playing on stations that aren’t considered “country”. There are also musicians, like Sheryl Crow, who are considered pop/rock but have songs popular on country stations.
There are many philosophies when it comes to practicing guitar. Some people don't practice at all, others practice for 10+ hours per day! Steve Vai's legendary 10-hour guitar workout comes to mind. But consider this...who do you think is the better guitar player? The person who hardly practices, or the person who practices on a regular basis? Of course, it's the person who practices regularly!
I'm a strong advocate of practicing on a regular basis because, with good guitar technique, you can play anything! If you think about it, it makes perfect sense. If you can alternate pick most any lick or picking pattern, then any time you’re trying to learn something new you’ll be able to pick it up much more quickly then if you don’t have good technique.
Obviously, you want to practice things that you have difficulty playing, or create your own exercises that are similar to those things you struggle with. By focusing your practice time on these things, you will improve much quicker. Then in the future when you encounter things you previously used to struggle with, you’ll breeze right through it!
Think about it…if all you practice are power chords, you just really limit yourself as to what you can potentially play. By focusing on certain techniques, you’ll be able to do so much more. But you can still play power chords if you choose. I don’t know, maybe some people are happy only playing power chords, but I digress…
Now I'm not saying that you should go out and start practicing for 10+ hours per day. I never practiced for more than 3-4 hours per day. I think that what you practice is more important than how long you practice. Of course, it’s ultimately up to you. This is just how I view the guitar.
For a newbie, this may seem a little intimidating. But with the right tools, a little knowledge, and some practice, you'll be able to restring an electric guitar like a professional guitar tech. When I was gigging regularly, I would restring my guitar every week. My body chemistry is acidic and the sweat and oils from my hands would tend to dull the brightness of the strings as well as make them feel "dirty". For me, the bright sound and smooth feel of a new set of strings would inspire my playing. It became a ritual for me the night before the weekend's gigs started. I would sit in front of the TV and restring my electric guitar; my acoustic was much less frequent.
OK, so you've decided you don't want to pay the guys at the music store and you want to know how to restring an electric guitar yourself. Here is the list of tools and supplies you will need:
·A new set of strings (naturally!) Click here for info on string sizes
·A string winder (not required but very handy)
·A pair of wire cutters
·A guitar tuner (again, not required but helpful)
You will need to set aside about an hour of time to do this correctly, but as I stated earlier, with practice you will know how to restring your electric guitar in about 20-30 minutes.
The first thing to remember, do NOT remove all six strings at the same time. The guitar neck is designed to withstand the tension of the strings and if all of the tension is removed for any significant amount of time you could damage your guitar.
Also, there are some guitars that are literally held together by the string tension. I remember reading a story about a guy who had recently gotten hired as a guitar tech for the Ramones. Wanting to make a good impression on Johnny Ramone he decided to restring his guitar for him right before the show. He removed all six strings and Johnny's Mosrite guitar literally fell apart in his hands. The string tension held the whole guitar together! What's worse, the bridge of the guitar bounced across the floor and fell down the air conditioning duct.
If I remember the story correctly, they spent quite some time using a coat hanger and chewing gum trying to rescue the bridge from the duct. He retrieved it and managed to keep his job, living to restring the guitar another day. But not all six strings at once!
But I digress. Some people work in pairs of strings at a time, I prefer to work on individual strings. You will quickly decide what works best for you. Use this article as a guideline to get you up to speed quickly.
OK, let's get down to it. I always start with the high E string (personal preference); it helps keep me organized.
If your guitar has a locking nut tremolo (whammy bar) system you will have to unlock it. It works best if you remove the clamps completely and work with just the nut until the restringing process is done and the strings are stretched and tuned. Then replace the locking clamps and fine tune using the tuners on the tremolo bridge.
·Use your string winder and loosen the string until there is enough slack that you can unwind the string from the tuning post by hand.
·Use your wire cutters to cut off the curled end of the string and discard. Do this to minimize the chance of scratching the finish of your guitar. Push/pull the string back through the bridge slowly making sure it does not drag across the body. You don't want to restring your guitar to result in refinishing your guitar!
·Next, unwrap the appropriate new string. Insert it through the bridge of the guitar, over the saddle, up the neck, over the nut and into the hole in the tuning post. Again make sure the trailing end of the string doesn't drag across the guitar body.
·Start turning the tuner by hand making sure the string wraps over the top of the tuning post. Ideally, you want to have 3-4 wraps of the string around the tuner, but this is nothing to stress over.
·Turn the tuner until the slack is out and the string is properly seated in the nut and over the bridge saddle.
·Next clip the excess string off close to the tuner and use your string winder to bring the string up to pitch.
·Use your digital tuner and tune to pitch.
·Next, grab the string with your picking hand halfway between the bridge and the nut and lightly tug the string away from the fretboard. Do not pull real hard, just hard enough to pull the stretch out of the string and tighten it around the tuner post.
·Tune to pitch and repeat the stretching process until the string stays in tune.
Now repeat the entire process for the remaining five strings. Know that the pitch of the new strings may fluctuate as you work on the remaining strings. This is especially true with a Floyd Rose or similar type floating bridge. When you have replaced and stretched the last string make sure all six strings are still in tune. If you have a locking tremolo system, replace the clamps for the locking nut, tighten, and use the bridge fine tuners to get the proper pitch.
The final step is the best one; sit back, crank up your amp and enjoy. Make sure you play something with lots of note bending in it and make sure the stretch is all played.
Take satisfaction in knowing that you now know how to restring an electric guitar.
A drab, dirty, and unpolished trumpet has never been inviting to play. Yet, most players, especially in high school, never do anything to care for their horn. The trumpet is one of the most visible instruments on the marching band field. Clarinets do not need to be polished, flutes are too small, mellophones are pointed straight ahead, and tubas are mostly hidden in the back. However, the trumpet is at the front of every show, with its dirty bell pointing up (hopefully) at the judges.
Your trumpet does not need to be unattractive in appearance. In fact, a few minutes every day and an hour every couple of months will keep your horn looking fifty times better than all the rest.
A preparatory note: if the trumpet appears to have the lacquer (finish) chipping off or wearing through, take it to a repair shop. Polishing the horn further will only harm the exposed metal.
Major Cleaning:
I recommend a major cleaning about three times per year. Once just after school ends, once after marching band ends, and once in the spring. A major cleaning should take an hour or less if you do it right.
First, disassemble the horn and place all parts on a soft towel or cloth. Take all parts of the valves apart, including the felt and valve caps. Keep all parts organized by valve number because some pieces fit better on a certain valve. In a bathtub or large sink, heat water until it is fairly warm. Add a drop or two of mild dish detergent, if desired. Take a spray nozzle and use it to spray through all of the tubings on the trumpet and slides. Let the horn soak in the water for twenty minutes.
Now assemble three cleaning tools: a mouthpiece brush, valve, brush, and snake. The snake is a small brush connected to plastic tubing that allows you to push the tool through the piping of the horn. Clean the mouthpiece, valves, and piping with the tools, pushing and twisting the brushes as you go to ensure that all grime is removed. Use the snake to clean the valve holes.
Rinse all the parts of the horn and place them on towels to air dry. Reassemble the trumpet. Place a fair amount of valve oil directly on the valves and work the valve up and down for at least thirty seconds to get the oil worked in. Use a very small amount of tuning slide grease on all four slides (including the second valve slide). If the slides are prone to sticking, skip the slide grease and add a very small amount of valve oil to loosen the slides up.
You can now choose to polish the horn or wipe it down.
After Practice Polishing:
Polishing the horn with a polishing cloth will reduce the number of times you need to give a major cleaning or polishing. This polishing can be extensive or very brief. Purchase two polishing cloths for your horn finish (brass or silver). Also, have another cloth that is just as flexible and small for general cleaning. Hold the trumpet with one hand near the mouthpiece, protected by one cloth. Use the non-polishing cloth to work between the slides, valve holes, and in any other hard-to-reach areas. Then, use the second polishing cloth to shine the instrument. You must apply some pressure to actually get any polishing done. Go over the same area five or ten times. Move down the horn so you are not touching any of the areas already completed. Spend the most amount of time on the outside and inside of the bell and the mouthpiece tube. They are the most visible parts of the horn.
Silver Polish:
Before marching band competitions or large performances, I always do a whole horn polish. This makes the most difference for silver horns, but can be done with brass polish on brass horns as well. This is an extremely messy process for both you and your horn.
Obtain some silver polish. I recommend using a kind that is not too liquid. The best types are those that are a semi-solid and are applied with a foam sponge. Get several small towels, hand towels work well enough, that can get very dirty. You will also need a pair of bad quality thin gloves and the three cloths used above.
You must polish only the outside portions of your horn, so do not remove any of the valves or slide parts. Also, do not polish your mouthpiece. Lay out a hand towel or two on the floor and stand the trumpet on its bell. Hold it by the pipe curve near the mouthpiece. Use one gloved hand to apply enough polish to thinly cover all easily accessible surfaces. Do not waste time trying to get polish between the slides or piping. You must work quickly so that the polish does not get cemented on. Work from the top down, ending with the outside of the bell. Then, lift the trumpet up; and complete the inside of the bell, making sure not to put polish very far into the bell. Set the trumpet back down.
Take about a one-minute break. You want to make sure that all the polish dries, but it will get hard if you wait too long. Take another towel and carefully wipe as much of the polish off as you can. Be sure that the towel remains relatively clean during the wiping process to avoid smearing used polish back on the horn. Remember to wipe off the inside of the bell.
Use the rag cloth to work out the polish that may be in the little crevices of the piping. Make sure to get off all of the polish; it will become a nightmare if left to bake on for a long time. Touch up some areas with the polishing cloths. Then you are done! Wash the towels and gloves so that they can be used for later polishing.
Benefits:
Caring for a horn properly does take some time. However, you only will need to give your trumpet a bath or use silver polish a few times per year if you wipe the horn down after every practice or two. One major benefit of keeping a horn clean is that the valves and slide will move faster and get stuck much less often. This helps keep the horn out of the shop and lasting longer. The second advantage is appearance. Such a benefit may seem obvious, but even the most beat-up trumpet can still look great if polished.
Resources and Products:
If you are in a high school band, hopefully, your trumpet section leader or director can point you in the right direction to get supplies. I recommend Blue Juice or Yamaha valve oil. I have found that the Blue Juice does a great job at keeping valves working quickly, but it needs to be applied often and sometimes gets gunk buildup. I have had good success with the Yamaha oil lasting a very long time and causing no buildup. It is not as fast-moving and will not unstick a valve quickly, but it is a good all-around choice. Silver polish is mostly your choice and can be purchased at grocery stores.
Purchasing a trumpet "care kit" should get you the requisite cleaning brushes; Selmer makes one that should be fine for most. Finally, I like large polishing cloths of no particular brand. It is easier to get into small areas with a larger cloth.
William O'Brochta is a recipient of the William T. Hornaday Silver Medal for Distinguished Service to Conservation in the Boy Scouts of America and William T. Hornaday Badge. He is an Eagle Scout with nine Eagle palms and has earned sixty-five Merit Badges. William is currently an Assistant Scoutmaster for Troop 17 in Roanoke, Virginia working with Troop elections, new Scout advancement, and Eagle projects. He also serves as an active member of the Blue Ridge Mountains Council Conservation, Advancement, Eagle Board of Review, and Troop Committees. He has been involved in Scouting for more than ten years.
William attends Patrick Henry High School and the Roanoke Valley Governor's School and is ranked first in his class of 500. Currently, he is working on a three-year environmental research project dealing with using plants to remove pesticides from the soil. He has presented this research at the Society of Toxicology Annual Meeting. A musician, he plays trumpet and serves as Drum Major for the Marching Band.
Committed to community service, he has volunteered for six months for Habitat for Humanity in Hungary and helped Breakell, Inc. General Contractors achieve LEED Platinum energy efficiency certification.
Uillean pipes - practice set (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Bagpipes are known for being highly traditional instruments. Some people may even think that bagpipes are crude instruments. On the contrary, though, bagpipes produce one of the sweetest melodies among the windpipe instruments.
Irish bagpipes
The Irish bagpipe, or the Uilleann bagpipe, is the national bagpipe of Ireland. It produces a wide range of notes that are distinctly sweet in tone, distinguishing it from other types of bagpipes.
Irish bagpipes are made with a set of bellows designed to be wrapped around the right arm and the waist to inflate the pipe bag. Its chanter produces sound in two full octave ranges including the flats and the sharps. It is typically designed to be played indoors while sitting down.
Kinds of bagpipes
Irish bagpipes come in three different kinds, each ranging from the level of knowledge of the user in playing bagpipes.
1. Irish practice set bagpipes - these are bagpipes best used by beginners and young players. They usually consist of a pipe bag, a chanter, and bellows. The beginner set's chanter can be played in the concert pitch D or B flat.
2. Irish half set bagpipes - this set is designed for average or intermediate players, mastering the practice set for at least a year. It has a tenor, baritone, and bass drone. A stock connects these drones to one another and ties them to the bag. The drones can be switched off using a key attached to the stack.
3. Irish full set bagpipes - for expert players, the Irish full set bagpipe is perfect. It is made of complete Uilleann pipes. It is essentially a half set made with additional three regulators.
Tips
When looking to buy an Irish bagpipe, look for one that is leak resistant. Make sure that it is not susceptible to air leaks. Choose a pipe bag made from elk-tanned leather and bellows made of a heavy-duty leather gusset.
Sydney Opera House viewed from the side (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Australia is easily among the most popular tourist destinations around the world, offering travelers everything from a vast wilderness to explore, and wonderful modern cities teeming with culture. As a huge country that is sparsely populated yet is among the first ranks of the developed nations, Australia is a land of contrasts. The wilderness of the outback populated with dangerous and exotic animals is a sharp contrast to the cosmopolitan nature of cities like Sydney and Melbourne.
Sydney is home to over 4M people - a significant portion of Australia's population. It is a beautiful city with much to do and a lot to see. You could take weeks and still not fully explore this magnificent city, but there is at least one sight you just have to see.
That sight would be the Sydney Opera House. A landmark that is as famous and intrinsic to the city as New York's Statue of Liberty, the Opera House ranks constantly among the most photographed destinations in the world and is considered among the seven modern wonders. The Opera House was designed as an embodiment of Australia and all that Australians stand for - boldness, strength, passion and a lust for life. Its architecture, thoroughly unique and evocative, invokes these very same qualities.
What adds to its charm is its location. Situated at the edge of the Sydney Harbour, it offers a breathtaking view of Sydney and is a photographer's dream come true. At night, it lights up the entire coastline and is a sight to behold.
Once you are through admiring the architecture of the building, you may want to step inside to see some of the world's best opera singers perform live. As one of the premier opera houses in the world, it frequently stages some terrific productions.
Whatever you do, if you visit Australia, make sure that you at least catch a glimpse of the Sydney Opera House. It will bring out your inner talent for photography and give you memories worth cherishing a lifetime.
Portrait of Yehudi Menuhin & Stephane Grappelli (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
What do the following have in common?
symphony orchestra, string quartet, Stradivari, high school orchestra, Yehudi Menuhin, string orchestra
That's right - it is the Violin.
So what is a violin?
Here are various violin facts of interest.
A violin is a musical instrument with four strings played with a bow or plucked and is the smallest, highest sounding member of the string family. A violin consists of a sound body or belly with two f shaped sound holes, a fingerboard attached to one end, four strings and a separate bow. All in all a violin consists of no fewer than eighty-four pieces.
The sound body is made of wood and it increases the volume of sound. The two f shaped sound holes in the sound body allow sound vibrations to escape from the body of the instrument. The four strings made of catgut or fine spun metal is held in place by pegs at one end of the fingerboard and the tailpiece which is attached to the belly. There is a wooden bridge near the tailpiece which supports the strings. The bow is a flexible stick with horsehair stretched across, used to produce sound vibrations when moved on the strings.
A violinist holds the violin firmly under the chin on a chin rest fixed to the left of the tailpiece and raised slightly from the sound body. A pad is placed between the back of the violin and the body to strengthen the grip of the chin and collarbone on the violin if desired. A sound is produced when the violinist draws the bow with the right hand across the string(s). The left hand is used to finger the desired note and this is done by pressing the string (s) down along the fingerboard. The length of the string alters depending on where the finger is pressed and this will give the varied notes.
Before a violinist plays music, the violin needs to be tuned. Tuning is done using the four open strings and an external source such as another instrument eg piano or oboe or electric tuner. Each string is plucked and if they do not sound the same as the equivalent note on the other instrument or tuner then the pegs are turned either tighter or looser. The open or full-length strings of the violin are G D A E which are fifths apart ie the interval of G to D is a fifth and so on.
Once tuning is done then sounds are created. The sound of the violin is nearer to the human voice than any other instrument. The violin produces sounds ranging three and a half octaves and music is written on a treble clef stave. Violin players can play a wide range of music from solo playing to group playing in orchestras eg symphony, string and high school, string quartets, smaller jazz bands and more. It is interesting to note that a violin can be modified to become an electric violin where a lead attachment to the sound body is added. You hook a lead from the violin attachment to an amplifier thus creating a louder sound suitable for violinists to play the jazz-pop music of the twentieth and twenty-first century.
Let's go back in time to the sixteenth century. This is when violins first emerged. Some great violins were being made in Italy by people such as the Amati family from Cremona, namely Andrea, his sons Antonio and Girolamo, Girolamo's son Nicolo and Nicolo's son Girolamo. Andrea perfected the violin, his two sons made some changes but Nicolo was considered the greatest of the Amatis. He had pupils, Antonio Stradivari and Giuseppe Guarneri who produced great violins and passed the craft on to their families.
Italians also composed some great music for the violin and these included Arcangelo Corelli (1653 - 1713 ), Antonio Vivaldi (1678 - 1741 ) and Giuseppe Tartini (1692 -1770 ). Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 - 1750 ) from Germany composed three partitas for solo violin which was a landmark for solo violin. And this was just the beginning. There were many great violin composers over the years.
There were also many great violinists over the ages. These included the four Baroque composers mentioned above. Others included Joseph Haydn ( 1732 - 1809 ), Wolfgang Mozart ( 1719 - 1787 ), Niccolo Paganini ( 1732 - 1840, Joseph Joachin ( 1831 - 1907 ), Ludwig Spohr ( 1784 - 1859 ). George Enesco ( 1881 - 1955 ), Yehudi Menuhin ( 1916 - 1999 ) and Nigel Kennedy ( 1956 - ). Nigel Kennedy was a pupil at The Yehudi Menuhin School founded by Yehudi Menuhin in 1963. This is just a small example of violinists as the list is large.
Hope you have enjoyed reading the various violin facts of interest. As you can see the violin has had a good few hundred years of history with great creators, composers, and players. This small instrument with a wooden body, strings, and bow to help produce the sound can play some wonderful music once tuned, whether it be solo or in a group. It is a beautiful instrument to listen to.
The essence of the appeal of Jazz music has expanded and became reinvented from the use of elements found in African drumming, spiritual and hymn music, bluegrass hillbilly music, blues, impressionist, and classical traits to newer sounds. Jazz music became popular on radio and underground clubs that influenced other parts of the world. For instance, Europe's French Jazz scene created Gypsy Jazz and South America's Brazilian and Afro-Cuban Jazz sounds. Not only did make its mark on the world, but it also found its way back to its roots through urban contemporary gospel music of percussion as well as brass instruments.
Today the contemporary gospel music uses guitars, keyboard, piano, drums and brass instruments for their sound. One can usually tell during the ballads how Jazz chord harmonies are used in the keyboard and piano. The harmony in Barbershop music like Jazz came from the African American Black gospel church community which uses close four-part harmony without accompaniment. This particular style of music without accompaniment is known as A capella. The Mills Brothers were popular Jazz musicians who learned how this harmonization in the barbershop owned by their father.
In many Jazz groups such as Manhattan Transfer, New York Voices, Acoustix, Bara Vox, Beach Front, BR6 and more the harmonies are similar to that of barbershop. These harmonies are from the chromatic chordal harmony found in Jazz Music. The group Take 6 has expanded the traditional four-part harmonies to six tones. Jazz Music did not stop there but grew into an array of different styles that produce different aesthetic appeal.
The aesthetic appeal can be found in how each part of the music makes one feel once heard. All the different elements from the lyrical content to the kaleidoscope of colorful harmony to the depth of the mood provides its own ambiance of sound. To give examples:
On the extent to which Jazz has expanded are listed below as new expressions to the music.
Vocalese - From 1952 to 1962 Eddie Jefferson and Jon Hendricks made their mark by using their vocals as a substitute for the musical instrument in the exact melody. Meaning, the voice imitated the exact solo of a saxophonist solo. It was not widely accepted until the musicians above made it popular.
Cool Jazz- From the latter 1940's and 1950's a softer more gentle style of Jazz of both bop and swing with arranged harmonies that are present in Jazz ballads today.
Hard Bop-From the middle of 1950's the church's spiritual and gospel roots of African style returned to the Jazz music which assisted in the making of Rhythm and Blues. One example of this music is Davis' work titled "Walkin".
Mainstream- From the 1950's era, Jazz improvisation changed from single line melodic ornamentation to chordal which appeared again as a loose form of Jazz music in the later part of the 1970's and 1980's. This style was influenced by the cool, classical, and hard bop Jazz styles.
violin strings, used and new, coiled on a workbench (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Hello, today I am continuing with my series everything you need to know about violin from A-Z. Today we are on S for strings. A hundred years ago violin strings were made from sheep gut. First, you would have to take a newly killed sheep and disembowel it. You would have to stretch the intestines to their full 9 meters. You then had to knead out the offal by hand and soak the guts in water until they were soft and malleable. After that, you would strip and crush the guts and finally twist then into violin strings.
It was a disgusting painstaking job and thank heavens that era is behind us. Modern strings today are made with far easier and modern methods, although some players still use gut strings there are also now steel core strings and synthetic core strings. The type of strings you use will depend on the style of music that you play.
Gut strings today are not made entirely out of gut like in the old days; they are now wrapped with silver or copper wire which helps to stabilize the tone. Gut strings have a warm rich tone they take longer to stretch out than synthetics but once stretched out are generally quite stable. Gut strings are susceptible to bad weather and you will have to check the tuning of your violin if there is bad weather. Gut strings are generally used by violinists playing classical or baroque music.
Steel core strings are popular among non-classical players such as that playing country and bluegrass styles of music. Steel core strings have a very direct clear sound with few overtones. They also last longer and are mostly used for smaller or beginner instruments.
Synthetic core strings are made from synthetic materials such as high-tech nylons and composite materials they have the warm sound qualities of gut but are more stable in pitch.
Thicker strings give more volume and center tones, while thinner strings give brighter tones but less sustain.
