The foot joint of the flute consists of 3 keys on a C flute and 4 keys if there is a low B on the foot. The foot joint keys are the property of the baby finger of the right hand. The keys are made in such a way as to be pushed in different combinations by the baby finger.
One of the weakest points on the flute is where the foot joint joins the body. This is called the lower tenon and can be easily damaged. The foot joint can become loose and cause air leakage and loss of sound or become to tight and be very difficult to remove or put on. This can lead to numerous problems. The fact is that the foot joint is long, almost 6 inches in some cases, and the tendon that supports its weight is only half an inch long. Supporting that much weight and length as well as being constantly put under the pressure of the keys being pushed down can tend to take it's toll if not maintained.
Like the body of the flute, the foot joint keys, springs and pads have to be maintained. Replacing, leveling, and seating all have to be done in order to have the keys seal correctly and thus allow the lower notes to play.
Almost all of the keys of the flute work in conjunction with one or more other keys. This means that when you press down on one key it may also cause one or more other keys to be pressed down at the same time. These keys have to be regulated so that when it is required that two or more keys close at the same time, it has to be the same time or you will have loss of sound and the flute won't play. Regulating the keys so that they work in this fashion is probably the most vital repair of the instrument. It requires a delicate balance of bending and leveling the keys as well as seating the pads better and adjusting spring tensions.
The final result of all of this should be a flute that is solid feeling, with no rattles or excessive key noise. No sticky pads or loose feeling keys. When you press the keys it should be very light pressure with a big sound and minimal effort. The last thing you want when you are playing the flute or any instrument really is to be fighting with the physicalness of it instead of just enjoying the artistic and creative nature of it.
To sum it up, you need to have respect for the instrument you are playing and give it the attention it needs. Care and maintenance mean that it will always perform the way it is intended to play and you will enjoy your creativity uninterrupted by physical glitches.
Your drums are not just instruments that you set on a stage and play and then take home again for practice without ever touching them for maintenance or cleaning. The truth is, if you don't want to take the time to clean them and keep them properly tuned, you are not true to your trade. Depending on the type of drums that you have, their way is variations on the maintenance that the manufacturer recommends. How you care for your set depends also on the material from which it is made.
So, if there isn't a rule regarding drum care, what do you do? As with your clothing, you follow the recommendations of the manufacturer. When you buy a new outfit, you check the label for laundering instructions – or you should – and the same is true of your drum set. Cymbals, for the most part, can be cleaned with a window cleaner, but how you clean your drums needs to depend upon a variety of factors including material of the skins and of the outside. Steel is not recommended, though sometimes used, and there will be a different method than other material, which is usually simply soap and water or even glass cleaner for a shine.
As a drummer, you should be proud of your skins and want to keep them clean in between performances. It doesn't take more than perhaps a half hour a day to keep your set looking in top condition, but you want to make sure that you know exactly what you need to do before you even take the set home. If you order your drum set online, be sure you read all of the instructions regarding care and maintenance before you ever set up the kit, because some kits require oiling before you ever use the drums for the first time. Failing to do that when required can result in your drums sounding out of tune or not blending in with the rest of the musical instruments in the band.
Bear in mind that your drums are a major investment, and if you want them to last you for years to come, you have to take the time to take care of them from the day you first own them. You do not simply leave them to collect dust when you are not using them nor do you only take them in for maintenance when they don't sound as good as they did when they were new. Regular cleaning and routine maintenance will be your drum kit looking and sounding new for many years to come. It is unnecessary to buy a new set every few years if you take care of what you have from the start.
Pop music in the 1960's produced several top recording duos dotting the music charts and influencing future songwriters and groups to this day. Let’s explore a few successful duos from the 60's that also recorded as lesser known names before they hit it big as the names they are known as today.
An early release by the duo that called themselves Tom & Jerry in 1957 did not fare well, although the duo did manage to crack the top 100 on the music charts. But subsequent releases proved to be very substantial, not only for pop rock but for folk-rock as well. After minimal success as Tom & Jerry and reuniting together in the mid 60's as Simon and Garfunkel, the duo forged a path through pop and folk music that is iconic.
With a barrage of finely crafted pop and folk arrangements, Simon and Garfunkel amassed many pop hits such as “Homeward Bound, ““Sound’s Of Silence,” “I Am A Rock,” “Mrs. Robinson” (from the movie “The Graduate”), “The Boxer” and the Garfunkel-led ballad “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” among others. After they split up, Garfunkel went on to record several well-received albums, but Paul Simon became known as one of the most prolific and vital songwriters of the pop music era.
After the split from Simon and Garfunkel, Paul Simon scored top ten pop hits with “Mother And Child Reunion,” “Kodachrome,” “Loves Me Like A Rock” as well as “50 Ways To Leave Your Lover.” But Simon broke new ground musically and personally in 1986 with the album “Graceland,” which he adeptly mixed a collage of musical genres and political statements into one of the most remarkable solo albums of all time. Somewhat controversial, it remains the benchmark for all solo artists who want to experiment with their musical background and add a mix of different cultures to the album to capture not only their already existing fan base but create a new one as well.
Although popular for their 1959 hit “Baby Talk,” Jan Berry and Dean Torrence rode the waves of the Beach Boys-led surf music sound in the early 1960's. Previously known as Jan and Arnie, their infectious hit “Surf City,” (the duo’s only number one hit) was co-written by Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys, who also provided backup vocals. Jan Berry returned the favor in1966 by singing lead on the Beach Boy’s hit “Barbara Ann.” Jan and Dean had other chart hits such as “Drag City,” the prophetic “Dead Man’s Curve” and the whimsical “The Little Old Lady From Pasadena.” The duo’s success was cut short in April of 1966 when Jan was critically injured in an automobile accident.
The husband and wife team of Caesar and Cleo did not secure fame until they changed their name to Sonny and Cher and went on to pop mega-stardom, not only in music but in television as well. Their breakthrough hit “I Got You Babe” reached number one status and held that position for three weeks in 1965. While still together as Sonny and Cher, each scored hits recording separately, Sonny with “Laugh At Me” and Cher with “All I Really Want To Do” and “Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down).” Their magical musical combination and wisecracking repartee spawned a highly successful CBS-TV variety series that ran from1971 through 1974. As a duo, Sonny and Cher secured top ten hits such as “Baby Don’t Go,” “ The Beat Goes On,” “All I Ever Need Is You” and “A Cowboy’s Work Is Never Done.” Unfortunately, the marriage ended in divorce in 1973, but the story of Sonny and Cher does not.
They were briefly reunited in 1975 and Cher continued on to a brilliant solo career and Sonny entered politics. Sonny Bono was elected mayor of Palm Springs, California and then elected to Congress in 1994 until his tragic death from a skiing accident in 1998. Cher continued in music and also added a first-rate acting career to her repertoire.
As a solo artist in the 1970's, Cher scored hits with songs like “Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves,” “The Way Of Love,” “Half-Breed” and “Dark Lady” among others. Cher was also an accomplished actress, with starring roles in the acclaimed motion pictures “Silkwood” and “The Witches Of Eastwick.” In 1987, Cher won an Oscar for her role in the movie “Moonstruck.” She revived her musical career in 1989 scoring a top ten hit called “After All,” a duet with Peter Cetera from the motion picture “Chances Are” and the intense reflective “If I Could Turn Back Time.” Remarkably, ten years later Cher was again in the Top 40 with her number one hit “Believe,” which spent four weeks as the top pop song and remained on the charts for twenty-five weeks. To this day Cher remains peerless and is one of the most celebrated female singers and her trademark voice will be heard for decades to come.
El considerado rey del Blues con su inseparable Lucille.(Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Anybody interested in modern music sooner or later asks the question, "Where did it begin?" Well, if you leave blues guitar music out, you will not have much of an answer. So let us look at where the blues came from, where it went and who it met on the way. We will also take a look at the "blues guitar sound" and how it has its unique effect on our feelings.
The blues as a musical phenomenon began around 1911 when W.C. Handy published popular songs, notably "Memphis Blues" and "St Louis Blues", which affected the hearts and souls of the black people. By the nineteen twenties the general population was beginning to hear this new music through its influence on jazz. Early blues singers like Bessie Smith and Billie Holiday sang with jazz bands while others played with "jug bands" accompanied by fiddle, kazoo and washboard.
Of course to people like W. C. Handy who were brought up singing in church, the piano was the natural instrumental accompaniment to their songs. But the guitar is portable and always was popular so it had to have a place in blues and jazz. Blues guitar players like twelve-string guitarist Leadbelly and future electric guitar player B.B. King were making sure the guitar would be an integral part of the blues. Other blues guitarists made their living in smoky saloons playing slide guitar using a bottleneck or the blade of a knife to fret the notes.
After the Second World War young artists like Elvis Presley and Bill Haley were wrapping the blues in a new package called "rock'n'roll" and the players of the electric blues guitar like B.B. King were heralding the arrival of the lead guitar, soon to be a great attraction for both musicians and audiences. Throughout the evolution of the blues the guitar had always taken its turn for solos in jazz bands but now it competed with the singer for the attention of the audience.
Blues guitar can be played in any key that takes your fancy and comes in three basic forms: eight bars, for example, "Heartbreak Hotel", sixteen bars like "Saint James Infirmary" and twelve bars like "St. Louis Blues". For some reason, the twelve-bar blues form is way more singer-friendly and popular with audiences than the other two, and it is the basis of many great songs outside the blues idiom.
If you go poking around the internet you will find that the blues scales are just your garden variety major and minor scales except that the third, fifth and seventh notes are played flat. However, you may be astonished to learn that blues players managed for centuries without knowing about European musical theory. They learned to sing and play from their families and friends just as many of the young white blues players of the nineteen sixties learned from imitating the artists they heard on records.
And this is where the blues takes another direction. After years of imitating their idols, something odd happened to the white blues guitar players in Britain and the USA. They developed their own authentic, original styles. The older blues players even began using the new arrangements of classic songs and adopting some of the unbluesy musical innovations introduced by young white guitarists like Eric Clapton. So the beat goes on. A foreign culture influences American popular music and in turn gets fresh input from a new generation of guitar players from all over the world.
The ability to sing high notes and increasing the vocal range is an aspiration of most singers. However, most singers find it very difficult to increase their vocal range so that they can hit and sustain those high notes effortlessly and effectively.
So how can you own a powerful singing voice and hit those high notes without straining your vocal cords or even damaging them?
Although expanding your vocal range is an elusive issue, the good news is that it is not all that difficult. Once you understand it, you will be surprised that it can be so simple after all.
Now, for the bad news, it is somewhat like learning how to swim. You cannot possibly learn to swim by reading an article or even a zillion articles without getting into the pool and start practicing your swimming strokes. The problem is that many singers are doing just that when learning how to sing.
It is the same when you want to increase your vocal range to hit those high notes. You can possibly learn the theory from an article such as this one but would be most unlikely that you can master the skill because it involves the coordination of muscles moving and correct breathing techniques when you are singing.
The precise coordination of these singing muscles and breathing techniques can only be learned by listening and repeating vocal exercises and then in actual singing.
People will think that you are crazy if you go around asking, "Can you provide me with some helpful tips on becoming a proficient surgeon in time for an open heart operation next week?", but no one will give you a second look when you ask "Give me some singing tips on how to sing high notes."
Having said that the correct vocal exercises are crucial for you to expand your vocal range, here are some singing tips for you to sing the high notes.
In order to increase your singing vocal range, you must learn to get the wrong muscles out of the way, so try this experiment.
Begin by gently placing your hand over your throat so that your chin is cradled between your thumb and your forefinger. Pretend that you are trying to hide your throat from view but just barely touching it so that you can feel its movement.
Once your hands are in place, just swallow. Can you feel things moving inside your throat? Of course, you do. What just happened is that more than 30 muscle groups working just to ensure that you swallow properly!
These muscle movements are to make sure food goes down your gullet and not into your windpipe. They are also designed to work for about as long as a swallow lasts, then they go back to their original position.
Unfortunately, these muscles are also activated when you are singing and especially so when you are singing the higher notes.
I said "unfortunately" because the muscles actually do nothing to help you to sing higher notes but are using up energy and increasing the tension around the muscles that are needed for you to sing higher.
Do remember that the swallowing muscles are designed to work for just a second or two when you swallow and they then go back to their original position, but when you begin to sing, you are more likely to feel them engaged and stay engaged until they wear the singer out. Therefore the singer must educate the actual singing muscles not to over-exert themselves when singing higher and higher notes.
Your most natural sounding voice is the voice you use when you are speaking. When you sing in a "normal" tone, you will start in this voice. It very likely is your "chest" voice. It is called "chest voice" because most of the resonating or vibrating to create sound is happening in your chest.
In your most natural sounding voice, you have learned to make a nice, strong sound by letting the tone vibrate mostly in your chest. You didn't even need to think about it and that is why it is natural. It is a very open, rich and full sound. It sounds "firm" and not "mushy" at all.
Your little tiny noise-making muscles which are your vocal cords are generally vibrating along their entire length when you are singing in your chest voice. Your vocal cords are amazing muscles. They perform tricks and some of those tricks are used to easily take your voice over three or even more octaves.
Your vocal cords change the notes along the bottom of your range by contracting. The tighter they contract, the higher the rate of vibration as air passes between them from your lungs.
Just like any muscles, they will reach a limit as to how tight they can contract without injuring themselves. At that critical point, they will do one of these two things:-
a) They protect themselves while maintaining their ability to sing higher than that critical point by suddenly dumping tension by swinging apart slightly, and producing an airy false voice usually referred to as the falsetto voice. I called the falsetto "false" because it sounds so unlike that rich chest tone you were producing just a few notes lower. Get the picture?
When your singing voice goes into a falsetto, you will experience a physical relief since you went from a high tension state to almost no tension at all. Your singing will go from struggling for the next note to easily reach the next higher note.
However, you will probably not be comfortable with the fact that your voice tone changed so drastically and losing the power in your singing. It is really an emotional a let-down. It makes you feel like writing emails to people asking "How can I sing higher notes?".
If you are properly trained, your vocal cords will do the next two tricks and can easily shift into the next gear rather than flip into a falsetto voice when singing higher notes.
Your vocal cords will begin to thin out as you go higher and changing their mass so that they vibrate at a higher rate of vibration and therefore they do not tighten more. It is just like changing to a thinner guitar string but keeping the tension exactly the same.
So your voice is unlike going into a falsetto as they don't pull apart so that the tone produced will still have that firm sound rather than that airy false sound.
You will eventually enter into what is called the "head voice" because the resonance moves from your chest cavity to the cavities in your head and face.
If you are practicing with the correct vocal exercises, your body will learn to fade more resonance into the head cavities and out of the chest cavity producing what is called a "mixed voice". When you listen to a singer who has a wide, powerful voice range, this is exactly what that singer is doing.
Once your vocal cords have taken you as high as they can go by thinning out, they will actually close off a portion of their length which is not unlike fretting a guitar string. This will result in even higher notes like the whistle tones of Mariah Carey because the length of the vibrating surface has been shortened.
So do you want to be able to sing high notes effectively? Don't let anyone tell that you can't.
There are many famous instances of immortal musicians being insulted by other famous musicians.
Johann Sebastian Bach, like most musicians of the day, worked as a church musician. He was anything but docile and was known to rankle easily.
He was once reproved for playing "strange harmonies" during a church service. Bach's answer was to play even stranger harmonies the next Sunday, and this from the greatest composer of religious music the world has ever seen, the composer of the St. Matthew Passion.
Still steaming, the elders complained again to Bach and added the insult that the music was at some points "too long."
The next Sunday, of course, the music was much too short.
Beethoven also had his feuds, especially in the early years when he was establishing himself as a great pianist.
A worthless popinjay named Steibelt had made it known that he thought Beethoven a terrible pianist, and in essence challenged Beethoven to a musical duel, a common occurrence in those days. Beethoven despised Steibelt, for he was in truth a talentless oaf that foolishly dared to challenge a great master.
At a party the next week, Beethoven heard Steibelt playing one of his own compositions, an insipid Trio for piano, violin, and cello. It was the type of horrid, elaborately ornamented fluff that Beethoven reviled, but he watched calmly as Steibelt finished the piece and took his bows.
A hush fell over the crowd as Beethoven appeared out of the shadows and walked toward the piano. Everyone was aware of the grudge between Steibelt and Beethoven and the air was thick with apprehension.
Steibelt, startled by the angry look on the master's face, stepped away from the piano.
As Beethoven walked past the cello's music stand, he snidely grabbed the cello's sheet music.
Carefully showing the astounded crowd the page of sheet music, Beethoven sat at the piano and then put the music, upside down, onto the piano music stand.
As Steibelt and the hushed crowd watched, Beethoven plunked out the notes of the upside down cello part, forcefully jabbing with his pointed and angry index finger, not taking his eyes off Steibelt.
Then Ludwig began to improvise like a madman on Steibelt's upside down cello part theme. The crowd was carried away with Beethoven's angered showmanship.
And it was magnificent, one of those legendary Beethoven improvisations that have gone down in history, a passionate outpouring of ideas and bravura, until at last the piece was over with a furious ending and crash.
John Aschenbrenner is a leading children's music educator and book publisher, and the author of numerous fun piano method books in the series PIANO BY NUMBER for kids. You can see the PIANO BY NUMBER series of books at http://www.pianoiseasy.com
If one examines the average guitar, either electric or acoustic, one will find small raised bars running width-wise across the instrument's neck. These bars are called frets, and they are placed on stringed instruments to allow the player to accurately and consistently determine where to depress a string in order to produce the desired note. However, not all guitars use frets in the same way; in fact, some lack frets completely. And although such guitars are fairly uncommon, they are by no means unheard of.
A fretless guitar is one that lacks frets completely. Its strings run from the guitar's bridge to its headstock. The instrument is played in the same manner as a fretted version. Because this guitar is, in a manner, less structured than its fretted cousins, it is capable of a wider variety of music. Most guitars are confined to 12-tone scales, but some musicians prefer fretless guitars because they allow for more tonal experimentation.
Fretless guitars also produce a different sound from their fretted cousins. The strings of a fretless guitar are only ever depressed between the player's fingertips and the soundboard. Such a technique absorbs the energy from the string's vibration faster than would occur if a fret were used. As a result, the strings of the fretless guitar have a more "damped" sound.
Without the frets to create a barrier between the strings and the fingerboard, fretless guitars can sometimes suffer from additional fingerboard wear. In an effort to counteract this problem, the fingerboard of a fretless guitar, especially a bass guitar, is usually made of a hardwood, such as ebony. Another solution is to apply a coat of epoxy to the strings or to use a type of string, such as flat-wound, that will reduce fingerboard wear.
Some artists criticize fretless guitars on several counts. For one thing, these instruments are much more difficult to play than typical guitars. The lack of frets leaves more room for error in hand positioning. As a result, more listening training is required of a fretless guitarist in order that he may be able to discern the minute differences in intonation that his instrument permits. Another common complaint is the fact that acoustic fretless guitars are simply softer than those with frets. On bass guitars, this problem is at least partially solved by the instrument's strings. Bass guitars use much heavier strings and have a heavier body overall, which creates a naturally louder sound. The issue, of course, can be solved on non-bass guitars via the use of pickups and amplification.
Although fretless guitars are not the norm, they have gained a certain number of followers, especially among electric bass guitarists. The use of these guitars is particularly common in jazz, funk, and R&B, probably due to the fact that the sound of a fretless guitar is similar to that of a double bass. Famous fretless bass guitarists include Bill Wyman (formerly) of The Rolling Stones, John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin and the incomparable Sting of The Police.
The shakuhachi is a Japanese end-blown flute. It is the Japanese most well-known woodwind instrument. The shakuhachi flute (or also known as Zen flute) is used by Zen Buddhist as a tool for meditation as well as playing jazz, classical and traditional Japanese folk music. This flute is made from the very bottom of a bamboo tree, but versions now exist in ABS and hardwoods.
Although the bamboo flute is quite simple in appearance, it is very difficult to play; its unique and magical quality is revealed to the listeners by the purity of its tone. In the hands of a master, the flute produces an extraordinary, subtle, sensual music – prized as being perfect for meditation and relaxation. Its beautiful, soulful sound made it popular in 80’s pop music in the English-speaking world.
The name shakuhachi is derived from the term “isshaku hassun” meaning one shaku and eight suns (1.8 Japanese feet). Usually, the term shakuhachi refers to the standard size instrument, which is 54.5 cm in length, but it can also refer to many different sizes ranging from 1.3 – 2.5 shaku (39.4 – 75.7 cm) and longer. The shakuhachi is usually made from the root portion of a thick-walled bamboo (known as madake in Japanese).
There are two contrasting styles of making these instruments: the first involves using a style that is similar to the Zen Buddhist monks from the past. There is no filler in this shakuhachi and it is also sometimes called as ji nashi or hocchiku. If you look down the bore of a ji nashi, you can see some nodes of the bamboo protruding. While the second style has a filler made up of a certain mixture of ingredients, possibly including a powder called tonoko, lacquer or urushi and water. This is finished to create a polished surface.
Shakuhachi can be made in one piece (it is called as nobekan) or in two pieces with a middle joint (this also called as nakatsuki). Two of them has no difference in quality, only the two piece is easier to transport and often contains filler. The top part of shakuhachi is called utaguchi – literally ‘song mouth’, and this contains an insert made of various materials such as buffalo horn, ivory and plastic. Its shape is based on the preference of different schools.
Shakuhachi flute is possibly the simplest non-percussive instrument ever conceived. This instrument has no keys or pads like a western flute, no strings like a violin or guitar, no mechanism inside like organ or piano, no reed like a clarinet or saxophone, it does not even have a mouthpiece like a recorder. Zen flute has only five finger holes, which is fewer than the penny whistle or much other wind instruments. To play a note, your mouth and lips must become part of the instrument. Despite this simple construction, this instrument can produce an inconceivably broad range of musical sounds
The Zen flute came from China to Japan sometime in the 6th century. The instrument was then adopted by a sect of Zen Buddhist monks around the 15th century. During this period, the flutes began to be made from the spiked root section of the bamboo – so the flute could double as a particularly ferocious weapon. That probably explains the flute’s long association with the martial arts.
Have you ever wondered the reason for pop and rock stars success? They range between religion, exotic tricks and genetically predetermined luck. Still, one hit twinkling stars are shadowed by megastars Rolling Stones, Madonna, Aerosmith, Sting, Paul McCartney and others.
So what is the key to their triumphant success, which brought them world recognition, glory, popularity and vast amounts of money?
One of the tricks is to achieve acclamation in one sector and then, moving on, make the use of it in another one. The most widespread example among women sees a combination of abilities to sing and to perform.
Barbara Streisand, Madonna, Jen Lo, Mila Yovovich and Britney Spears proved their multiple skills in businesses they embarked on. The top stars now engage themselves in fashion. Christina Aguilera asserts it a trick of raising one’s slipping popularity.
Meanwhile, all pop starts to enlarge personal fan-base by applying these methods. For example, Madonna’s music is fancied by a bulk of the world’s population. There some, yet, disadmiring her musical activity, however, thrilled to films, featuring Madonna or books, she poses the author of.
Thus, the increasing popularity occurs. It’s still in question whether its self-realization or money bids that pop idols chase. They say, if the talent takes place it’s multiple.
The Klezmer music is the traditional Jewish music originated in Eastern Europe in the last centuries. In fact, the term Klezmer is a Yiddish word which is a contraction of two Hebrew words, "kli" and "zemer". The meaning of kli is instrument, tool, while zemer definition is air, melody, song.
So the Klezmer is the instrument of the song, the vessel of the voice. At the origin, the word klezmer was employed to designate the itinerant Jewish musicians (the plural is "klezmorim") who were playing at weddings and celebrations, traveling from village to village. The Jewish folk music had many cultural and geographical influences. Although being essentially an Ashkenazi music the impact of the Oriental, Greek, Turkish, Jewish and non-Jewish communities living in the Ottoman empire was not negligible.
Wherever they were, The musicians picked up music from the people living around them, the Gypsies, Romanian, Ukrainian, Moldavian, Lithuanian, Polish and many others. But in spite of or maybe thanks to all those external influences the Klezmer kept his particularity, his characteristics, and his unmistakable sound. At the beginning of the 20th century, this music style was indexed as Jewish music, Yiddish folk music or even as "Bulgar", but gradually the word Klezmer began to refer to the style and the repertoire.
It is probably Moshe Beregowsky, a Russian-Jewish ethnomusicologist who used for the first time the term Klezmer as the music performed by the Klezmorim. In the seventies, while the Klezmer revival occurred, the word was definitively adopted as the generic term for the musicians and the music style.
Hence, while the music itself is a few centuries old, the word Klezmer is a kind of neologism. In fact, the juxtaposition of klezmer and music is a tautology, a redundancy. Although the Klezmer is a secular music, its roots are religious, liturgic. The fact is that globally and in every culture, music has always a religious or mystical origin. It is a way to accompany the rites or the ceremonies, to reach a state of trance and to approach the divinity.
Klezmer is not an exception, the Psalms of King David in the Bible are maybe the first apparition of structured music. The Klezmer adopted also the intonation and the voicing of the cantor at the synagogue. The Klezmer is not playing, but rather he is singing through his instrument, hence first the violin and then the clarinet were the instruments of predilection for the Klezmer because they are very close to the human voice.
The art of klezmer is an art of interpretation, many players can play the same tune, the same melody, the same nigun (nigun in Yiddish means a wordless melody), but it will always sound different because each musician is expressing his deep emotions and revealing his own soul. Giora Feidman, the great clarinet Klezmer player called this "the inner voice". Maybe the Klezmer is the most appropriate musical expression to show off sentiments, feelings, sensibility. It can be joyful, it can cry, it can burst out laughing or burst into tears.
But in spite of this ambivalence, there is always a message of hope.
About the Author: Arik Nitsan is a clarinetist who is specialized in Klezmer and world music. For more resources on clarinet and Klezmer, visit his website: clarinet-klezmer - Source: www.isnare.com
Hello, today I am continuing with my series everything you need to know about violin from A-Z. We are now on T for Francois Tourte. Francois Tourte is credited for the creation of the bow as we know it today. He made is known for making a significant contribution to the development of the violin bow and is considered the most important figure in its history. He has often been called the Stradivari of the bow.
Francois Tourte was a Frenchman that started out making watches but soon changed to bows for classical stringed instruments. He began his career as an apprentice to his father who was also a bow maker.
After his father died he took over the business and in collaboration with virtuoso violinist G.B Viotti began to make important changes in the design of the bow.
The biggest changes he made were to lengthen them slightly, use more wood in the tip and a use a heavier nut. He also invented the idea of having a screw in the nut used to regulate the tension in the hair. His final innovation was the invention of the spreader block. Violinists of that time complained that the hair was tangling when attached in a bunched or roped fashion; the spreader spreads the hair out into a flat ribbon preventing it from tangling.
Tourte's bows were made from pernambuco wood and were noted for their heaviness. He never varnished them and instead rubbed them with pumice powder.
Tourte was noted for his extremely accurate and neat workmanship at the height of his career he could name his price and would destroy any bow that was not absolutely perfect before leaving his workshop.
By Eric B Hill is a professional violin player and teacher with over 20 years experience. Article Source: EzineArticles
Clarinet with a Boehm System. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
For the most part, I loved my childhood. I loved growing up in a house full of brothers and sisters. I always had a playmate and there was never a dull moment. We had a great family time and my mother was the most amazing cook. We all had to take lessons of all kinds from the time we were really young. I remember being forced into trying piano and clarinet from around the time I started elementary school. At first, I was quite excited about the piano and quite hesitant about learning the clarinet.
My feelings changed rather quickly, however, when I began showing a natural talent for the clarinet. I had trouble mastering the ivories of the piano and my mouth and fingers just naturally worked together on the clarinet in a way that my mom said sounded just like magic. I think she might have said that simply because she wanted to inspire me to stick with the instrument for her own listening pleasure.
I'm not exactly sure when it happened, but eventually, I came to enjoy playing the clarinet as much as my mother loved hearing me play. I guess I liked it because it was the one way I stood out from among my siblings. In a large family, I had to take any opportunity I could get to stand out and make a name for myself. The clarinet was my opportunity and I grabbed ahold of it with all I could.
I signed up for private lessons after school and I became a part of every local band and orchestra that would accept me. I guess my perfectionism was evident even from these early years. All of my hard work paid off when I was offered a scholarship to a well-known music conservatory where I went for three years after high school. My parents could not be more proud of me, except I think they were a little concerned that I would not make a career out of clarinet and would be stuck poor and leaning on them.
My time in the conservatory led me to get a master's in music education and I have found my calling as a teacher of clarinet at a local university. It is my privilege to use my love for the clarinet and my talents to help other students achieve their dreams with the clarinet as well. So follow your dreams, whatever they are. For me, it was the clarinet. I'm so glad that I grew up playing it.
As a singer without any formal vocal training, you would probably have wondered whether to hire a vocal coach to train your singing voice. Well, your procrastination is hurting your singing career.
Just name me any famous singer who never had any vocal training? Yes, some of them may have gotten popular without any formal singing lessons but all these popular singers, without exception realized that they have to engage a vocal coach at one time or another take their spectacular singing career to superstardom and to stay up there.
So what makes you think that you do not need vocal lessons? If you are already singing professionally, then it is vital that you take up voice training to separate you from the mediocre singers. This is how you can get noticed when you are above the pack and above your singing competitors.
If others do not believe in vocal training and you do, then you would already have won because you will be singing much better and control higher fees for your performances.
You need to take care and respect for your voice. That is your musical instrument and your voice determines whether you succeed or fail in your singing career.
Finding a good singing teacher can be a little tricky. There are many so-called vocal coaches out there proclaiming themselves to be singing teachers after merely reading up a few books. As this industry is not regulated, there are many charlatans out there.
The best way to determine a good singing teacher is to ask good singers. After all, they are already good singers themselves and their recommendation won't be all that bad, isn't it?
However, since singing teachers are human beings, it is thus important that the teacher-student relationship is good and you can get along your vocal coach. The chemistry between you and your coach must be good, otherwise, when you are singing under stress, your voice will come out as very strained and that voice is awful to the ears. If you can't along with your singing teacher, then you may need to change your vocal coach.
One way of eliminating this human problem in learning how to sing is to get VCD, DVD and video singing lessons of famous and proven vocal coaches. Not only is it much less expensive than hiring a vocal teacher, you can work at your own time and own pace. Since the teaching tools are yours, you can practice your vocal training anytime and anywhere. Better yet, you are learning from the best!
Most good singing coaches will have a vocal workout lessons plan for you. Learning how to breathe and use your diaphragm properly are the basics of a singer's inventory. You will find out how remarkable your voice can get when you mastered only these two singing exercises. Once you are using correct breathing and diaphragm control techniques, your singing voice and confidence will soar.
So, if want to bring your singing career to greater heights then go and get a vocal coach now and start practicing singing skills now.
Two mouthpieces for tenor saxophone: the one on the left is rubber; the one on the right is metal. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The most important question to be answered is: What kind of music we wish to play? The answer could be: Classical, Jazz, Pop or All and based on your answer the horn mouthpiece should be selected. It will have an effect on the type of sound your saxophone makes. There are a few things to be considered when buying a mouthpiece. Some of these include material, opening, and tone chamber. These notes will try to give a few tips for choosing a saxophone mouthpiece.
A professionally selected mouthpiece will improve sound more than any other part of the saxophone. For general playing - classical mouthpiece is good enough. They are plastic but look like made from hard rubber. There are three excellent mouthpieces which are reasonably priced: Rousseau 4R is about $70, Selmer S80 C* is about $100 and the new Rousseau plays like an S80 with a little different sound. All three of them could be recommended for all of the saxophones. Jazz mouthpieces are a little more complicated. If you play Alto sax, most people will go for a hard rubber mouthpiece as opposed to the metal, which tends to be a little bright for the Alto Sax. If you are going to play a lot of rock music, you may want that bright sound. The favorite mouthpiece for the Alto Saxophones for general jazz playing is the Meyer 6M. This is a classic that has been around for a long time.
It would be smart to start here before anything else for Alto saxophone. Tenor and Baritone sax is generally preferred to a metal mouthpiece. For Tenor Horn musicians really like the Otto Link 7 or 6. These mouthpieces have a good sound and are pretty popular all around. Before paying the big bucks for a mouthpiece, you should always try it out first. If you bought 10 of the same exact brand and tried them all, you'd find that they all play differently. Always try out first and pick the one that works best for you. Later on, you may want to buy a handmade mouthpiece and enjoy the wonderful sound that comes from that.
Be prepared to pay the big bucks for one of these! You will definitely need a different size of Reed for jazz mouthpiece. Then use a classical one. Most people use a little shorter size of the jazz mouthpiece. Also, if the mouthpiece feels funny on the teeth, a musician can buy a patch to put on the mouthpiece. This will feel more comfortable on the front teeth and protect the mouthpiece for a longer time. If a person just begins to learn to play the saxophone, he really should stick with the classical piece. After he advanced, he will probably want the jazz piece for all other styles.
If you are not interested in popular styles of music, you won't need the jazz piece. There is a great difference between the two types, and if you plan on playing all styles, you will definitely need both types of mouthpieces.
In general, a lute is a stringed instrument that loosely resembles a guitar, but has a round body, a deep and round back, a fretted or unfretted neck and is a member of the family of European lutes. The instrument is played by plucking the strings, which vibrate and create the sound.
The strings are placed over a bridge which allows them to vibrate freely and the body of the lute is hollow in order to intensify the sound so that others can clearly hear the instrument. While the instrument is not overly popular today, it was incredibly popular during the baroque music period when people would play the instrument alone or as an accompaniment to other instruments.
When the lute was created is not clear. There is much speculation about how long it has been around. Some say that a variation of the lute may have existed during the time of the Ancient Egyptians, but others say it may not have existed until the 1500s. It is difficult to tell when exactly the lute was first created because there were so many instruments that existed throughout history that somewhat resemble the lute.
Though most may think that the lute is an instrument of the past, it is one that is still played today; however, the instrument is often custom made and is not one that is easily found in used music stores. As a result, this particular stringed instrument can be quite expensive to acquire. Finding someone who can teach one how to play the lute is not as difficult and the lessons may not be as expensive as they can be for other instruments.
In general, the lute is not the first instrument that people will choose to play, probably because it is not one that is seen as often as the guitar or the saxophone. The general population is influenced by the instruments they see most often, which will leave the lute out of the picture because it is not too common in much of today’s music.
This is not to say that the lute will never gain popularity again or that there is not really any place for it. People who play the lute find music to play, though it may not exactly be rock and roll.
Anyone looking for a unique instrument that is out of the norm might want to give the lute a try. It has its own unique sound that is not duplicated by other instruments and one that takes skill and practice to be able to play the instrument well. It can be a little challenging for some, while it can be easier for others at the same time. Some experience with playing the guitar might make learning how to play the lute easier, while someone with no experience is starting from scratch so they may have a more difficult time at first. Someone who really has an interest in learning to play the lute will probably have little difficulty regardless of whether they have previous experience with stringed instruments or not.
A five string electric violin. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
An annoyed grimace spread across my conductor's face upon hearing a Bach concerto played with crunchy distortion in the band room before an orchestra rehearsal.
Expecting to find a headbanger guitarist mocking the establishment by shredding away at a time-honoured classic, his fury slowly melted into a pitying look of concern and sad loss, as if inside his head he was thinking, “Dear God, there goes another one.”
My dad had bought me an electric violin and I was making heads turn with my heavy variations on the classics.
The Zeta Strados Modern violin, with its funky profile, maple flame finish and revolutionary bridge pickup design, has been the height of electric violin technology for some time. Technology aside, this violin made it possible for me to be regarded as cool by my peers, even though I was still playing music by dead guys with wigs.
My model even had five strings, which made it more of a violin/viola hybrid, the low range is perfect for raunchy power chords and guitar-like riffs.
Despite my conductor's fears, the arrival of the Zeta did not mean the end of my classical playing, though it did make me humbly aware of the huge proverbial iceberg of music that lay hidden beneath Beethoven and Mozart.
The electric violin made it possible for me to play in heavily amplified situations free from a fussy microphone and a clumsy mic stand and completely eliminated feedback. Word got out that there was an electric violinist at school and I played in all sorts of bands, from country to heavy metal, jazz to pop and disco to swing.
I soon discovered this violin wasn't limited to playing in loud venues entirely. My Zeta became very useful in studio situations where consistent levels, tone and timbre are required. No microphone is needed here, so engineers don't have to fuss to get the mic in the exact same spot every session and the room doesn't have to have good acoustics. I just plug in my patch cable directly into the main mixer and play, leaving reverb and levels up to the engineer.
Forget the noises of passing trains, cell phones and even the player's breathing into the mic wrecking a good take. This gal stomps to the beat, playing free from headphone or isolation booths, and chatting it up with the engineer between solos. And since Zetas are designed to sound exactly like an acoustic violin rather than a “bowed guitar,” the end result sounds unmistakably like a regular, old-fashioned violin.
Granted, there are things you can do to tweak your violin into sounding quite unlike a violin. I plug into an effects box and play with chorus, reverb and distortion effects. Better yet, Zeta makes the “Synthony,” a synthesizer that converts the violin's analogue signal to MIDI.
Jargon aside, with this tool you can make your Zeta sound like anything from a trumpet to a Chinese gong or any other sound imaginable. With more features than I can list, the Synthony isn't cheap, which explains why I'm still stuck in analogue mode.
Which brings up cost: Even though electric violins have no acoustic body, there is still a vast difference between low and high-end models. Don’t be swindled into buying a cheap $150 “instrument” from anyone, no matter how nice the thing looks in the photo.
Remember that you get what you pay for and electric violins, like any new technology, have become a market for suckers. You wouldn’t buy a $150 stereo system, why’d you buy a $150 instrument and amp? Such “bargains” sound nothing like a violin, feedback terribly when amplified and never last very long due to cheap components. Just like acoustic violins, you’re better off saving up for a good violin rather than throwing good money after bad.
Heck, it’s worth getting a fine electric violin just for the looks you get from other players! I’ve always enjoyed the double and triple-takes I get when I play the Zeta anywhere. I also reserve full bragging rights when speaking to other electric violinists. Denis Letourneau, one of my violin idols in BC, Canada, has a green one-of-a-kind Thompson violin, “Green Dragon.” He’d kill to have a Zeta though, so I’ve always got something to hold over him whenever we talk shop!
As a year-end treat I the Zeta into lessons and teach my violin students about reverb, distortion and the concept of studio recording. Shocked faces, similar to the aforementioned expression of my former conductor, meet the music as concerned parents witness their children creating gruesome variations on their lesson songs.
The kids absolutely love playing on it, especially with distortion and reverb. The shyest of students are rock stars as they bang out a G major scale at full volume. That's the beauty of this instrument: even a scale or arpeggio becomes fun for students.
I usually teach students a pentatonic scale or show them how to pull off power chords in 5ths. This literally keeps them occupied for the entire lesson and they leave only grudgingly. This at the final lesson of the summer when most kids are not at all keen to be indoors or learning scales. They leave the lesson motivated to practice their butts off and prove to their parents they are dedicated enough to deserve one too.
“I've created a monster,” I say to myself, knowing these parents will be inundated with requests for in the car on the way home.
Check out Zeta at http://www.zetamusic.com and tell them about my endorsement of their 5-string Strados Modern violin! Maybe they'll sponsor me...
By Rhiannon Schmitt **Rhiannon Schmitt (nee Nachbaur) is a professional violinist and music teacher who has enjoyed creative writing for years. She currently writes columns for two Canadian publications and has been featured in Australia's "Music Teacher Magazine." Writing allows her to teach people that the world of music is as fun as you spin it to be! Rhiannon's business, Fiddleheads Violin School & Shop, has won several distinguished young entrepreneur business awards for her commitment to excellence. Her shop offers beginner to professional level instruments, accessories and supplies for very reasonable prices: Visit http://www.fiddleheads.ca
With a barrage of finely crafted pop and folk arrangements, Simon and Garfunkel amassed many pop hits such as “Homeward Bound, ““Sound’s Of Silence,” “I Am A Rock,” “Mrs. Robinson” (from the movie “The Graduate”), “The Boxer” and the Garfunkel-led ballad “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” among others. After they split up, Garfunkel went on to record several well-received albums, but Paul Simon became known as one of the most prolific and vital songwriters of the pop music era.
The husband and wife team of Caesar and Cleo did not secure fame until they changed their name to Sonny and Cher and went on to pop mega-stardom, not only in music but in television as well. Their breakthrough hit “I Got You Babe” reached number one status and held that position for three weeks in 1965. While still together as Sonny and Cher, each scored hits recording separately, Sonny with “Laugh At Me” and Cher with “All I Really Want To Do” and “
, Madonna, Jen Lo, Mila Yovovich and Britney Spears proved their multiple skills in businesses they embarked on. The top stars now engage themselves in fashion. Christina Aguilera asserts it a trick of raising one’s slipping popularity.
