In 1939, Alex Steinweiss was employed at Columbia Records as the first art director for the company and decided to spruce up and repackage vinyl records. We all know the result, album cover art has become an important part of music and pop culture. (Prior to Steinweiss’s creative influences, records were generally stored in plain, undecorated packaging).
For collectors, album cover art can sometimes be as valuable as the vinyl record it holds. For instance, one of the most famous album covers of all time, the Beatles “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” cover was one of the most inventive at the time and included cut out inserts and lyrics. The price one would pay for a copy of this album is influenced by whether or not it has the original contents and they are intact. There are many album covers that included posters of the band as well and other “perks” for the buyer and all these elements factor into the resale price and collectibility.
There have been many dynamic and world-famous album covers. Consider the Beatles’ album “Yesterday...and Today” (1966), also called the “butcher block album” because the Beatles were pictured on the front cover wearing white butcher coats surrounded by bloody meat and cut up dolls. The album was quickly pulled by Capitol Records after the company received numerous complaints from reviewers and DJ’s. The company recalled the issue and ordered a new cover but did not want to waste the several hundred thousand that had already been printed. Capitol then hired part-time helpers to remove that photo from the cover and paste on the new photo for the cover. But, it seems that there were many lazy employees and to save time, they just pasted the new cover on top of the old cover and the one that was supposed to be removed. The result is three different versions of that particular album and a collector’s dream, the different versions of the album are worth several thousand dollars (prices vary-check a record price guide to ascertain exactly what album you may have to get the exact price).
Album cover art has also spawned numerous web sites in which to view famous covers and designs, readers’ favourites and top ten lists. One such site, www.superseventies.com offers a comprehensive look at some of the most famous covers from the 1970s including the Sex Pistols “Never Mind The Bollocks,” the Eagles “Hotel California,” Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side Of The Moon” and the Rolling Stones’ “Sticky Fingers” among others. Additionally, www.superseventies.com offers their reader’s favourite seventies album covers (more than 300) with detailed descriptions and reviews of each specific release. This is a great way to spend a rainy day, as you discover some of the best album cover art of the '70s.
Album cover design is an art form and allows the musicians greater control over the content and another important avenue in which to express themselves. In my humble opinion (and I share this opinion with countless others), with the advent of the CD, the music-buying public lost a national treasure, album cover art. It is part of pop culture and recorded music in general. Sure, Cd’s offer you a “stripped down” version of the original cover art, but it certainly pales in comparison to the real thing. I am sure Mr Steinweiss would totally agree with me.
Clarinet with a Boehm System. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Like starting with any instrument, beginning clarinet is a process of learning that involves both great achievement and the occasional setback. However, if the beginning clarinetist follows a few tips relating to clarinet care and clarinet playing, the success is sure to outweigh the setbacks.
The first thing that a new clarinet player should learn is to put together their instrument properly, and how to hold it. One of the important things when putting a clarinet together is not to force any part into another, and that the side lever is up when the lower and upper parts are put together, otherwise bent keys could be the result.
This type of care should be extended to all parts of the clarinet - while it is inevitable that reeds will eventually split, they will last longer with careful care. The clarinet itself will last longer and have less need for repair if it is looked after properly, which includes cleaning after each time it is played and being put in its case properly.
One of the most difficult things for the beginning clarinetist is getting the embouchure correct. The embouchure is how the lips are shaped to hold the mouthpiece and create the correct vibration of the reed. Make sure that the bottom teeth are covered by the bottom lip and that the top teeth are touching the mouthpiece, but not clamping down too tight. It is normal for beginner clarinet players to have a lot of squeaking! As you continue to learn and practice, this annoying part of beginner clarinet playing should disappear.
Breakdancing is street dancing which began around 1969. Most people will agree that superstar James Brown began the whole thing with a dance called the "Good Foot". James Brown was a real innovator and his dancing was something to behold. He did things with his feet that would give most of us a couple of broken legs!
Simultaneously in the ghetto, what is known as the "dance battle" became very popular and in many cases replaced gangster warfare as a method to end disputes. Breakdancing lent itself very well to the dance battle and the Good Foot was a perfect base for breakdancing.
Street dancers adopted the Good Foot which, for a short period, became known as the B-Boy and then breakdancing. Back then the dance moves were a lot different from the kind of breaking we see today. There were no popular, documented moves such as the headspin or the windmill. The dancers simply used their feet and nothing else. Some would argue that this "old style breaking" is more complicated than the kind of dancing we see these days.
Some of the floor work improvised back then was fantastically complex. If you go to a modern breakdancing competition you won't see many of the old school moves but you will see a lot of gymnastics. Impressive though this is, there are those that think breakdancing has lost its roots a little. On the other side of the coin, you have people saying that it's just an evolution.
As a way to solve street battles and gang violence, it was inspired. You were finding that amazingly, the gangs were using breakdancing instead of fighting. The breakdancing "battle" took on a world of its own. Of course, there were still fights and inevitably sometimes a sore loser in a breaking battle would resort to violence.
Out of all this, breakdancing crews were formed. The members of a crew would practice and dance together. This is when the first very basic breakdancing choreography came about. One crew would invent a move that would inspire an opposing crew to go one better. For some of these guys breakdancing was literally the difference between life and death. They were very dedicated to what they were doing.
Just as all these new breakdancing crews were bursting onto the scene a guy called Afrika Bambaataa embraced the genre. Afrika Bambaataa is a legendary figure in the hip hop world. He was largely responsible for bringing breakdancing into the general public's consciousness. He got to know all the crews and encouraged them to develop what they were doing. Bambaataa's "Zulu Kings" breakdancing crew became a force to be reckoned with, winning many battles.
Since then breakdancing has continually progressed and more and more very talented dancers were bringing their skills into the arena. There were new moves being invented by the week and it wasn't long before we had headspins, windmills, backspin, and all the other high energy, acrobatic moves we see these days.
The "Rock Steady Crew" was one of the groups to pioneer this new school breaking. These guys along with Charles Ahearn who made the seminal hip hop movie "Wild Style" were to bring breakdancing fully up to date and the dancing phenomenon became much more popular. There was no stopping the onward march of the breakdance.
Nowadays breakdancing influences a lot of the choreographed dance routines which are an integral part of a modern pop record release. You have young kids coming up who are really into it and the genre is experiencing something of a renaissance. There's no doubt about it, breakdancing is here to stay and if you want more info a quick search on the Internet will turn up thousands of references to this modern art form.
Paganini's name is one that burns with lustre peculiarly of its own in the record of musical art in the nineteenth century. He represents the climax and the highest triumph of the virtuoso. Soon after the beginning of the nineteenth century came about what Dr Hanslick calls a "new birth of the wandering musician," in the travelling virtuoso. Thalberg, Liszt, Chopin, Henselt, Clara Schumann, Döhler, Dreyshock, the pianists, and the violinists Spohr, Paganini, Vieuxtemps, Ole Bull, Lipinski, de Beriot, the cellist Servais, and still others, all appeared within a very few years of each other, contesting for the palm.
Of all these, the most potent in his spell upon the public, the most mystifying in the magic of his wonderful technical powers, was Niccolo Paganini. With only one other of his kind was the comparable - Franz Liszt. But unlike him, Paganini lacked a high and truly musical gift. His powers were chiefly comprised in his marvellous mastery of the violin, and in the effects, he obtained upon it, before him unheard of and unimagined. His composition has certain originality and charm and many of them still appeal to violinists of the virtuoso style, and through them to the public; they exploit, naturally, the brilliancy and novelty of the technical devices that he introduced and that have become famous.
Paganini was born at Genoa, Italy, February 18, 1784. His father was a petty shopkeeper, uneducated, but fond of music, and a performer on the mandolin.
The young Niccolo, like most who have made a great mark in music, early showed evidence of his genius, and his father took steps to develop it, forcing his talent, in fact, with the greatest roughness and severity. He studied at first under local teachers. He had made much progress by the time he was six years old, and when he was eight he wrote a sonata. His master made him play a new concerto in church every Sunday, and at the age of nine years, he made his first appearance at a concert. Then he was sent to Ghiretti and Alexander Rolla, of Parma. He even then began to experiment with a veritable frenzy. He made his first concert tour in the neighbouring Lombardy cities when he was thirteen years old, and laid there the foundation of a reputation that never ceased growing during his lifetime.
He speedily entered upon a checkered and adventurous career, in which his artistic successes were mingled with dissipations of all sorts, especially with a passion for gambling. For some years he experienced the strangest vicissitudes of mood, sometimes giving up the violin for the guitar for months at a time, sometimes devoting himself exclusively to amateur agriculture.
But he finally began his concert tours again, which he kept up in Italy with constantly increasing success, to the admiration and bewilderment of the public. In 1828 he left Italy for the first time and appeared in Vienna. The contemporary accounts exhaust the resources of language to describe the delirium of excitement and wonder into which his performances threw the whole city. During his long stay in the Austrian capital, he was honoured in every possible way, official and unofficial. His progress through the cities of Germany was similar in kind. He reached Paris in 1831, where his success was quite as great.
Only in England was he received somewhat coldly, and his business methods aroused opposition: but his pecuniary gains were enormous.
The winter of 1833 he spent in Paris; one fruit of his sojourn was the symphony with viola obbligato, "Harold in Italy", which Berlioz wrote for him at his suggestion. In 1834 he returned to Italy, where he had invested his great earnings in landed estates. The final chapter of his life was a miserable end to his brilliant career; it was unfolded in France between 1836 and 1840. He joined with a firm of speculators in the building of a clubhouse, called the Casino Paganini, in Paris, nominally for musical entertainments, really for gambling. The government refused it a license: the concerts failed to pay. He hurried to Paris to save the venture by performing at them himself, but he was too ill to play. The company collapsed; he was sued for 50,000 francs, which he had to pay under pain of arrest. As the sentence was about to be executed upon him, he died of laryngeal consumption, on May 27, 1840, being at that time in Nice, in search of health.
Much has been written about the characteristics of Paganini's playing, which must have been much more than the mere trickery of a virtuoso. He seems to have had a fine though not very large tone, and an expressive cantilena; his intonation was unfailing, his rapidity on the fingerboard lightning-like, his bowing of the highest dexterity. He had such a command of double stops, harmonics, and double harmonics, as none other ever possessed. He introduced or revived a number of novel effects that long puzzled violinists, notably by tuning his instrument in unusual ways.
His violent staccato, his frequent use of left-hand pizzicato passages, were peculiarities of his playing. One of his most noted feats was to play solos upon the G-string, which he tuned higher, and upon which, by the use of harmonics, he attained a compass if three octaves.
Paganini's influence upon the modern technique of his instrument and the development of its style was very great, comparable only with that of Liszt upon pianoforte playing. His compositions are not numerous. Paganini's sheet music includes twenty-four caprices for violin solo, twelve sonatas, two concertos, in E flat and B minor, a "Moto Perpetuo", several sets of variations and three quartets for violin, viola, guitar and violoncello.
The Boy Scouts Marching Band. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
There are numerous and variety of musical instruments played by the members of a marching band. Most commonly played musical instruments in a marching band include brass, woodwind and percussion instruments.
These instruments can be easily carried and simultaneously played by marching band members while marching.
Brass instruments of a marching band include Cornet, Trumpet, Tuba and French horn.
Cornet is similar to a trumpet which is usually pitched in the B flat. Cornet is a transposing instrument that features valves and it is extensively used in brass bands.
The trumpet is also a transposing musical instrument that has undergone numerous changes with the passage of time. The trumpet was initially used for the military purposes to declare danger and today it's used band members of Jazz bands.
Tuba is a deep sound-producing musical instrument and regarded as the largest instrument in brass-wind family.
The main feature of the French horn is that it produces a unique musical effect with bell point backwards.
Woodwind instruments in a marching band comprise clarinet, flute, oboe and saxophone.
The Clarinet has undergone numerous innovation and changes since its inception. As a result of unique sound, it is extensively used in band performances.
The flute is a man-made musical instrument and initially, the flutes were made up of wood.
Oboe is one of the musical instruments and has only two keys. This instrument is used in orchestras and military band performances.
The saxophone is available in a variety of types and sizes. Baritone sax, alto sax and tenor sax are the most commonly used saxophone varieties in musical bands.
Bass drum, cymbals, glockenspiel, timpani and xylophone are the percussion instruments used in a marching band.
Bass drum is a percussion instrument regarded as the largest members in the drum family.
Cymbals are shaken, scraped or struck percussion instrument with or without a pitch.
Glockenspiel is the best example of a tuned musical instrument
Timpani is a kind of musical instrument that emerged from the kettledrums.
The xylophone is a variety of percussion instruments that has resonating metal tubes and supported extensively by the frames.
Most of these instruments can be practised by enrolling in your school's music class. Most teachers allow students to practice these instruments during class. Try practising each instrument before choosing which one you will be using full time. It's important to know the ins and outs of each instrument, which will help with your decision. Visit your local music class for more information.
As a former talent booking agent with the William Morris Agency, I know the struggles and the emotional whirlwinds that often face young singers attempting to find their niche in the music industry. Satisfying the desire to become successful in the music industry is not easily achieved or obtained, but those who make it, are well aware of the rewards.
In an effort to increase your odds and to obtain any “real” recognition in the music industry, whether as an artist, jingle singer, or just plain session singing, let’s take a closer look at a few factors that might increase your odds. Notice, I didn’t say do this or that and it’s a done deal. If you’re familiar at all with the music industry you are well too familiar that some make it with virtually no talent at all and others, with incredible style, look and drive, never even get the slightest nod from music industry executives.
To begin with – What’s your career blueprint look like? What are you doing from a pre-determined game plan right now? Have you actually taken the time over a cup of coffee and sat down with a pad and pencil and jotted down 1) your goals, short term and long term 2) your overall game plan and 3) how you are going to implement yours to-do list to get to your end goal?
I’m surprised to learn how few really get this far. Sure, many sit in the car or on the couch “thinking about life and their career” and have a general idea, but until you put it down on paper and follow through with a course of action, you might as well forget it. Start by writing down your goals with a course of action and break it down with what you can do this month, this week and what I can get done today - This will help you to not only stay focused but give you the boost when you feel like giving up.
Next, now that you’ve figured out what you want to do and how you’re going to go about doing it with a set blueprint, what does your demo sound like? It can’t just sound pretty good – And yes, this does take time and money - $75 demos won’t get the job done. Good and pretty good won’t get it – It has to knock their socks off and turn the heads of the listeners. Yes, as I mentioned earlier, some with virtually little talent get in, but what I’m talking about here is reflected in an overall picture of what’s being sent to the A&R director, producer, etc.
Not only does this demo sound great, but “Should we use it as the final mix in the CD, because it’s already in the pocket and we won’t have to spend any more production money re-cutting any of these songs.” That’s how good your demo’s should be – And as an aspiring jingle singer, don’t settle for a “mom and pop” or car commercially sounding demo reel. Your jingles ought to sound like they’re national TV and radio spots like you’ve already arrived.
The next important element, almost as important as the music itself, is your press kit and how you present yourself to industry professionals. I will break this up into 2 segments the first on the artist press kit and secondly phone calls and interviews. Anything that you send out in print or on your CD, has got to look like you’re established and you’ve already made it. Make sure that your CD covers are printed on gloss paper with high-quality photographs of you or the band. Managers, producers, and A&R directors alike, are more inclined to pick up an act that looks together. They don’t have time to figure out if this poorly imaged act has what it takes or not – And they very well might – But they don’t have the presentation. In here lies what I consider to be your greatest ally. If you will spend time and money to have your artist press kit not only look professional but with an edge, you can convey 1) your image, 2) your marketability, 3) and your dedication and sincerity – This is not a fleeting moment or idea for you. You’re in this for the long haul and your presentation states that. Make anything in print that you send out, shine.
The next part of your presentation is in the phone calls, meetings, and grin and grip events, whether concerts, showcases or otherwise. If you don’t have a natural ability to interact with individuals, you are going to have to practice. And furthermore, there’s nothing wrong, and I would suggest, writing down on paper anything that you want to come to mind before a phone conversation even begins. If you’re bad with names, as many of us are, have those names written down, easily obtained in the middle of a call. Prepare as much as you can before the conversation and be honest. Honesty goes a long way with people. Most in the industry have “heard it all” and it’s so refreshing to hear somebody state, “I’m not sure, but I’ll find out.” Speak with sincerity, honesty, but with confidence as well. After all, you’ve got something unique and it’s your vocal career. You need to sell them, but they also need to recognize the obvious, and that is that they’ve just discovered the next…
So as you begin or at least start looking at your singing career, look at these simple to implement principals that we have just looked at and know ahead of time that you are going to be specific, analytic, and purposeful in your singing career strategies. Take a look at your strengths and weaknesses and be honest. Ask others. Don’t be afraid to change course or look at other singing alternatives as well. We know that short articles are difficult to present every point of the equation, so don’t hesitate to contact us should you have further questions.
Beethoven in 1818 by August Klöber (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Let's put aside everything that we've been told about Beethoven and consider this question. It's an ugly question that will probably provoke aggression, but it is nevertheless interesting.
What is the evidence that Beethoven was deaf? Scrounging through literature and websites shows many anecdotes, letters, and references to an autopsy report (of which the original has been lost). It looks pretty promising, however, we really can't definitively say whether or not it is authentic. This is where this post begins to sound like a conspiracy theory, but rest assured, I'm only trying to use an example to ask a larger philosophical question.
Beethoven's biggest legacy could be his development of the idea of how we think of artists. His music broke the classical boundaries and originated the idea of the brooding, highly individual artist (as opposed to the former artisan status of composers). At the time, his music was very avant-garde and widely criticized. That's not to say that his music was bad, it was arguably pretty amazing, however, it wasn't what people were used to, and in order for people to accept progress, they need to think that it's worth their time to do so. This is where it gets interesting. For argument's sake, let's say that Beethoven was a genius. The problem posed to him was: How do I get people to give this music a chance?
Imagine you are a 19th-century citizen. It is a Friday night and you're looking to go out and have a good time. You hear that there is a concert being given with some new Beethoven piece. You're slightly interested. Then you hear the rumor that Beethoven's gone deaf... What? At this point, you are fully interested. You feel compelled to go, even if it's just to laugh at the chaos of the music. That is exactly the type of person that Beethoven's music would snare.
Their minds would be open and without expectation for normal classical-era music. What happens when you go to this concert and the music is actually really good? It is human nature to love stories of brave people overcoming tragedy, therefore people would want for his music to be good and would be more likely to pay attention and accept his eccentricities as a genius. Beethoven was notorious for stopping concerts if he felt he wasn't being given full attention. Did his deafness not afford him exactly the attention wanted?
The bust statue of Ludwig van Beethoven by Hugo Hagen (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
One of the reasons that Beethoven's deafness could be viewed as an attention grabber is the way that he revealed his affliction to everyone. Whether or not his deafness was real, it is obvious that he was portraying himself as romantically as possible, trying to evoke feelings of sympathy or admiration for his courage in accepting every challenge life had to offer. I would say a wonderful example of this is the report of him having guests over to his house in 1814, whereupon he proceeded to play piano extremely loudly (that he may also hear), whilst remarking "Isn't it beautiful?".
This apparently had a wonderful effect on the guests who felt deep sympathy for him and his courage. Nice one. Another piece of evidence for his self-romanticization is in his letters in which he says things such as: "Live alone in your art! Restricted though you be by your defective sense, this is still the only existence for you" or my personal favorite "Perfect the ear trumpets as far as possible, and then travel; this you owe to yourself, to mankind and to the Almighty! Only thus can you develop all that is still locked within you;-- and a little court,--a little chapel,--writing the music and having it performed to the glory of the Almighty, the Eternal, the Infinite---".
Oh, what a tragic character he is. What makes it so much more charismatic is that it's a true story! The references to religion are particularly interesting. It gives him so much more power to say that he is driven by divine forces.
It would seem as though he was trying to employ a gimmick or create a character for himself. Where would he have gotten an idea like this? Why was the timing for this "deafness" historically logical? The answer to both of these questions could be Mozart. The concept of Mozart is a perfect father to Beethoven's deafness.
Mozart was also, to a lesser extent, a romantic character. His music is backed by a story. The story of a child genius, born only to compose and enchant. He was writing symphonies by the time he was 8. Wow! It didn't matter that the music was bad, people didn't care about the music, they cared about the story. His father was also a musician, so who knows how much of these early works were actually Wolfgang. I'm not trying to say that all of Mozart was a sham and that he's a worthless composer, just that he was founded on a gimmick. His later music is actually quite good.
Nevertheless, the gimmick was quite successful and everyone wanted to see the freak of nature that was Mozart. The idea of the child genius caught on and many people tried to replicate it exactly. Beethoven, a huge fan of Mozart, could have seen this gimmick and wanted to have his own. Thus the age of gimmicks (that is still alive today) was born.
The gimmick is such a powerful tool in art. Beethoven's legacy has proven this to us. Ask anyone today about Beethoven, and you will just as likely hear a reference to his deafness as to an admiration for any particular piece. In fact, I would argue that the average person would know Beethoven only by his deafness. To demonstrate the power of the gimmick, imagine showing a person the second movement from Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata.
It's a beautiful piece to be sure. Imagine their expression when you tell them that it was written by a deaf composer and that it saved him from suicide. Just then, the piece transforms from a beautiful piece to a compelling testament to the triumph of human perseverance. Although it's only a partially true statement, the effect that it has on the listener is enormous. My question here is: If backstory can create such a powerful effect, why would a genius such as Beethoven not seek to employ is strategical?
Bösendorfer piano. The removable capo d'astro bar is located across the upper two (treble) sections of the cast-iron plate. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
What’s the best piano you’ve ever played on? What’s the worst? Can the quality of pianos that are used for composing and performing seriously affect your musical output? Here are some thoughts.
Two of the most remarkable pianos ever built are the nine-foot Steinway and the nine-and-a-half foot Bosendorfer. The Bosendorfer is more of a conversation piece because of its additional low notes, used for extra resonance when playing the sustain pedal. Both brands are of the highest quality and produce a sound and key action second to none.
There are so many quality brands these days that deserve honorable mention. Heintzman pianos are generally gems and Yamaha is producing wonderful instruments. I could go on, but I’d rather talk about lousy pianos. It’s more fun.
Terrifying pianos are just another name for poorly maintained pianos. Although these types of pianos can be found virtually anywhere, occasionally they are found in schools and in retirement homes. What a shame!
A bad piano in a school supplies students with lesser music education. Musical demonstrations by an instructor are out of tune and private piano tutoring is a disastrous effort on such instruments.
Retirement homes with bad pianos are truly tragic circumstances. Just because residents in a home are retired, doesn’t mean that the poor piano has to retire from a life of tuning and maintenance. Yours truly encountered one such piano in a retirement home in Baltimore, Maryland. The year was 1988, and it was the year that I came closest to breaking a finger. While playing a Chopin study (opus. 10 no. 8), my right-hand third finger actually got stuck in between two black notes!
Ouch! One of the black keys was too close to the adjacent black key, either through poor construction or through some sort of warping process over time (probably the latter). The otherwise happy Chopin Etude must have had a painful emotional feel to it from about the midway point of the composition until its conclusion. Thankfully, this was the last piece on the program. Suffice to say, there were no encores.
Here’s another gem of a piano. When first arriving at the Peabody Institute in Baltimore, I was invited to the house of a friend. After dinner, I was asked by our charming host to perform on their piano for the three couples that were also invited to dinner. On this occasion, I decided to play the Chopin Barcarolle. To my great surprise, the piano was out of tune by more than a semitone. To a composer with perfect pitch, this is a death sentence.
Before going on, no implication was intended in labeling Baltimore and the surrounding areas with an infestation of bad pianos. Two bad pianos in one state is nothing more than an unfortunate coincidence.
From the above past experiences, it can be concluded that badly maintained pianos can most definitely have a negative impact on performers. However, can the quality of a piano actually improve one's output? After all, it can be argued that music comes from within and that true emotion will not be subdued, regardless of the instrument that one is composing or performing on.
In the practical world, good equipment is always an asset. If a piano delivers a quality, singing tone, it becomes addictive to play. That, alone, is an extremely positive consideration. Any composer or performer that has the incentive to remain at their instrument for greater lengths of time is bound to produce positive results.
Another point to consider is that a singing tone makes ones soul sing. Any performer or composer that is brought to a state of singing is in a very positive creative place.
As a final thought, a well-maintained piano makes for a happy performer, composer, and piano. The better the instrument is, the better the chance of a successful emergence of profoundly moving performances and compositions from performers and composers respectively.
Even non-musicians are familiar with keyboard instruments. Few people reach adulthood without having had at least one opportunity to bang on a keyboard of some type. However, many people (including musicians) aren't aware of the history behind keyboard instruments. Their evolution is both fascinating and surprising.
Many people mistakenly believe that the harpsichord was the earliest keyboard instrument. Harpsichords were undoubtedly a precursor to the piano. However, the pipe organ actually predates the harpsichord by some 1100 years. In fact, the pipe organ was the only keyboard instrument until the invention of the clavichord and the harpsichord.
The earliest pipe organs were massive structures. Upon their emergence, few companies actually made pipe organs. Even fewer people were trained to install and repair them. Their size and complexity made them difficult to work with, although the sound they produced was magnificent. Pipe organs often contained multiple keyboards to operate the many pipes and produce the rich sounds that the instrument is associated with. Naturally, this was not the type of instrument that the average person played at home. Most pipe organs were located in churches and concert halls.
Eventually, more compact versions were invented. Pipe organs evolved into regular organs, which most people of today are familiar with. They were more easily afforded by smaller parishes and even private owners. They were also much more compact and easier to repair.
Various keyboard instruments (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The clavichord entered the scene in the early 15th century. It first emerged as a "practice instrument." Since not all musicians could afford or had easy access to an organ, the clavichord became a convenient alternative. It provided organists a means for practicing at home without having to go to a church or other location to find an organ. Clavichords were smaller than today's piano and may be compared to today's smaller keyboard synthesizers, minus the need for electricity.
It was likely very shortly after that the harpsichord was invented. The harpsichord more closely resembled today's piano. This may be part of the reason that people believe the harpsichord was the first keyboard instrument. Modern pianos are based on a very similar design to its predecessors. Harpsichords, however, were much smaller (though larger than the clavichord). The harpsichord had many variations that operated on the same basic musical principles. Some of these include the virginal, the spinet and the clavicytherium.
Hieronymus Albrecht Hass, Hamburg, 1734 - clavecin. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Like music trends always do, the harpsichord fell out of fashion upon the advent of the piano. The piano, though usually a bit larger, produced a cleaner sound. Harpsichords became all but obsolete within just a few decades. Ironically, harpsichords have come back into fashion in recent years because of their unique and distinctive sound. They are often heard as part of the backup for many contemporary songs, though relatively few people actually own a genuine harpsichord.
The piano is by far the most common keyboard instrument today. They are found in nearly every school and church in North America, as well as in millions of private homes. Most every music student has at least some piano training. They are one of the easiest instruments to learn to play and provide a good musical basis for learning other instruments.
Of course, with an electronics-loving society came the natural evolution of the piano to a plug-in version. These are commonly referred to as synthesizers. Aside from the obvious difference from the piano in the requirement of electricity, synthesizers are capable of mimicking many different instruments. Even the most rudimentary of synthesizers usually have several different instrument modes. The more complex the machine, the more sounds it is able to reproduce. More expensive models are extremely complex and technical. Their technology is of such quality that it can be difficult to distinguish their sound from the actual instrument they are mimicking.
New advances in technology, especially in computers, are being made every year. How this will affect the further evolution of keyboard instruments remains to be seen. It appears, though, that the good old fashioned piano is here to stay for a while.
George Frideric Handel, by Balthasar Denner (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
A great gift to music entered into the world on 23 February 1685 in Halle, Germany. A life of great musical interest; one filled with an unbelievable talent that would become a beacon to many throughout the European continent and span centuries past its lifetime. It is a life that would become centered around a great mystery of how the musical talent would blossom into a recognized and celebrated gift; a life that would alter the musical landscape and the spiritual worship realm in a short 24 days, and a life that would become so influential that it would dictate musical compositions for many years afterward.
A musical life that in the beginning would find itself struggling to exist; a life that will be forever known in George Frideric Handel. It is through Handel that we credit many great musical accomplishments; accomplishments in the mixture of homophonic and polyphonic textures, through the creation of his own unique works through the process of combining German, Italian, French, and English musical traditions into his highly successful English Oratorios. And most importantly through the lasting effects of Handel's single greatest gift to the world, and the world of music: The Messiah. But how does the work of this single musician leave such a strong impression on the music that we have today? What could possibly make the music of Handel something that would be hailed as electric, memorable, unique, and even cutting edge? And most importantly how could one person alter the musical idiom through a single twenty-four-day creation of a setting of Christ's life? Through these questions, I will explore Handel's impact on music in a way that shed's light on the significance of Handel as a musician, a teacher, and inventor and as a religious preserver. It is with Handel that we credit a great deal of musical advancement.
Adversity in Handel's life was something that he encountered early on in life. At an early age, Handel found himself faced with a father that did not support a career in music, in fact, his father was a person that greatly hated music; noting that it was a pastime that served the sole purpose of casting a light on the weakness of character found within a person. It was his father that wished he would strive to obtain a career as a lawyer, a position that would come with a great deal of security in position and financial stability. This was something that Handel himself would have to come to terms with, because he himself was born with "signs of a fierce ambition, born of an awareness of his superiority as a musician, and with a determination to maintain his independence." This determination to advance his musical skill became a task that took a great deal of hard work and convincing; though it was Handel's mother that provided access to a clavichord hidden in the family's attic. The hours spent hiding from his father in the attic, covering the strings of the clavichord with cloth to dampen the sound, allowed young George the time to practice his musical development and eventually the knowledge of how to play both the clavichord and the organ. This early study is most likely what saved the musical career for Handel because it was during the time stuck in the attic that a young Duke passing by heard young George playing in the attic and was so moved by what he heard, that he stopped to listen. After hearing young George play the organ, the Duke pleaded with George's father to allow him to travel to Berlin and begin to take music lessons. The young Handel began taking lessons at the age of eight, and was easily able to conquer learning the violin, composition and theory techniques, harpsichord, and reinforce the organ playing skills. By the age of 11, there seemed little that any music teacher could teach George; it was at this point that George's father began angrily and again expressed his desire for George to cease playing in the music, and to return home and do as he wished. Handel at the request of his father did, in fact, return home, only to arrive at his father's deathbed. This was a dark period of struggle for the young Handel, compelled to honor his father's wishes, George decided that it was best to keep to his studies in law; though during this same time he continued to also sharpen the musical skills that he knew he possessed. It was during this time that Handel began to write cantatas for the various churches that he was serving in as an organist. It was the service in music that called out to Handel, and by the time he reached the age of eighteen, Handel had realized that it was, in fact, his destiny to become a great musician noting that he was destined to improve his musical abilities and his knowledge of music.
Leaving his birth city of Halle lead him on a series of travels that would shape the musical aspect of the outlook that Handel would eventually have on music. The various travels and cities that Handel was to visit would begin to influence every aspect of music that Handel would come to know and appreciate, and it was his first destination in Hamburg that would lead Handel on the path of musical greatness. It was during his time in Hamburg that Handel was really introduced to opera, and it took no time before Handel was given a position in the orchestra on the second violin. The time at the Opera house playing the violin was a period that would bring the birth of what people would come to see as a man that was described as a "large and very portly man", one that was full of a short temper and one that had a general appearance about him that was "somewhat heavy and sour." The personality of Handel would be something that many really would see as a double-edged sword, in one aspect he was an intelligent man that had a good sense of humor, one that shows a remarkable sense of integrity, reliability, and absolute honesty in all aspects of his life; but at the same time, Handel was a person that possessed a short fuse, and hot temper. He was a man that was short-tempered and vocal about his opinions of life in general, and especially music. This personality would be a defining part of Handel's musical career, as it was shortly after he started working in Hamburg at the Opera house, that George was given the opportunity to display his tremendous talent at the harpsichord; though it was also this talent that caused young George (now approximately age 22) to vocally disagree with composer Johann Mattheson on a composition Mattheson had written. It was this short fuse of Handel's that nearly ended his career, and life; though this spunk Handel exhibited also gave him the opportunity to catch the eye of a young prince, Prince Ferdinando de' Medici, which would become impressed with the music Handel was performing. This leads to Handel being asked to leave his home, now Hamburg, and make the journey to Italy where he would again be placed in a situation of being surrounded by new composers and styles of music.
Portrait of Georg Friedrich Händel - (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The move to Italy was an exciting time for Handel, as Handel was at a point of where his primary motivation for traveling to new areas was that of gaining experience, and in the case of the opportunity to visit Italy, the objective was to learn as much as he could from the composers of Italy, and their wonderful operas. It was in Italy that Handel made significant strides in his musical career and overall development. For when Handel made it to Italy he was exposed to the world's greatest forms of music consisting of compositions of the likes of Opera, Cantatas, oratorios, chamber cantatas, concertos, and sonatas. This was a period that Handel began the task of refining his knowledge and really defining the compositional talents he had been using to this point.
Handel was afforded the luxury of being able to set no limit on the boundaries of which his music would take because of the generous gift of being surrounded by people that we're able to support Handel and his daily needs. As a member of Prince Francesco Ruspoli court, Handel was given the freedom to explore compositional aspects and dig into the music that so highly intrigued him, though it wasn't until 1710 that Handel's musical world would come to full realization, and would establish Handel as one of the greatest musicians of all times. The year 1710 came with Handel's move back to Germany where he would fall into the role once held by Steffani in Hanover as Kapellmeister to the Elector, George Louis, who eventually become King George I of England. Once in Hanover Handel was quickly convinced to travel to England with Prince George to scout out the music scene in the country as Prince George's mother Sophia was married to the English Elector, meaning that Prince George would eventually assume the throne of England (which happened in 1714). During the early visits to London, the young Handel became highly intrigued in London's newest opera house, the Queen's Theater, and it was here that Handel decided that he would produce an opera that was Italian in nature and composed specifically for London. The opera Rinaldo was thus first produced in 1711, and consisted of slightly over a dozen performances, all of which were considered a huge success; thus paving the way for Handel's move to England, and what was to become the foundation for the overall success of Handel.
The move to England was a positive move for Handel overall, leading to his ultimate desire to become a British citizen. Once he was finally settled into his life in England, Handel was offered and accepted the role of music director for the Royal Academy of Music when it opened in 1720. The academy was the center for operatic studies for many years after opening; credited greatly to the presence of Handel himself and his ability to attract the best singers to perform the works he had written himself. Though as with any worthy project dealing with the biggest and brightest stars, the academy began to see a decline in stature and operation; attributed to the high demands the singers were placed on the academy both performance-wise and financially. This was only fueled by internal conflicts among performers, patrons, and rival composers. This was a time when Handel's short fuse and hot temper did not help, as Handel himself was part of many of the quarrels that took place, though he was clever enough to lighten the situation and make the tensions eventually come to an end through humor and quick wit. This did not help the academy in the long run as it eventually was forced to close its doors, but at the same time, it only freed Handel to focus on his career, and eventually give him the time to prepare for the needed shift in musical direction as the opera itself had reached a point to where it was no longer a viable musical performance option in England.
The shift from opera was one that Handel himself was easily able to undertake, for the ambition and determination to succeed in the music realm allowed Handel to develop an internal motivator that he looked to for resolve to win fame and fortune and to "make money; honestly, if you can, but make money." This was something that would serve Handel himself well because it is Handel's personality and desire to serve the music and the people that gave him the title of "musician of the people." This afforded Handel the ability to see a great deal of success with his music and career while in England going through the period of shifting from the Operatic style to that of composing English Oratorios. This also only aided Handel in popularity because many people saw Handel's music as "property of the people, familiar, understood, and loved" and this was related to many English subjects as to the "work of not another great master the wide world over."
The overall history of Handel is able to show that the experience and cultural exposure of his various travels, gave Handel himself a wide range and palette to work from. It is through the exposure to these cultures and musical styles, compositions, composers, patron, and musician employers that Handel was given the tools needed to succeed in the music world, but the experiences themselves did not create a unique character that was what was admired in Handel. It was the personal traits that Handel possessed that afforded him the opportunity to be loved by many and respected by all. The personality of Handel was a unique blend of every imaginable aspect one could possibly think of, he had a drive; a determination to succeed, the ability to make people laugh, a sense of quick-wittedness, a familiarity aspect, devotion to religion, honesty, integrity, and incredible love of music. But most importantly Handel never let anything stand in his way of doing what he loved: serving the people, the music, and his religion. An example comes in the form of the inability of anything to stand in the way of Handel's success. In 1737 Handel suffered a stroke that for the most part threatened to end everything. The stroke had left Handel's right arm paralyzed and thus prevented him from being able to perform and also had an effect on his mind. It was during this time that Handel fought to remain active and did through the writing of Italian operas though the public no longer favored them. Handel pushed through all obstacles that he encountered including eventual blindness that took a toll on his compositions and eventually left Handel performing his music for organs from memory. It was ironic that Handel had a determination to succeed because it was this determination that left him a person that was totally withdrawal from life and society, though loved by all. He did spend most of his time and life locked away from society and the daily life in order to focus on his music and thus never married nor had any children. He was a man that truly devoted his life to the people, his music, and changing the world of music.
The Influence Handel had on music was immense, the style and techniques that he was able to incorporate into the daily musical vocabulary was a blending of the major European styles that Handel had experienced in his travels from Halle to Hanover, to Hamburg, Italy, and England. Simply put, Handel took the best of all the styles and created one Handelian style that would become a standard for the musical world, allowing him to "mature as a composer in England, the country than most hospitable to foreign composers." Handel had a solid foundation from the early Lutheran church music that he was around growing up, this attention to the harmonic structure and counterpoint of the music he was able to adapt a rich lush style in the compositions that he wrote from the sacred cantatas through the opera, and eventually into the English Oratorios. One defining feature of the style that Handel possessed is that he was ever aware of the changing trends of the time, though his style of writing stayed pretty much the same and didn't need much altering for he has such a gift for writing melodies that one would never realize that many times a harmony was not present under the melodic line. The melodies were bold and self-sustaining and thus needed no support from a harmonic progression to carry it through. A strong feature of Handel's compositional style was the process of "borrowing" materials. It is clear and evident that Handel borrowed musical ideas from others during his life as a way to create a new melting pot of musical ideas. But Handel also employed the technique of borrowing musical material, or re-use of musical material, from his own work; however, he did like to use material from other composers better. He did this in a way that varied, one method was simply to take entire pieces, or movements, from one work and reuse them in another, or to borrow material from a composer and then rework it to create essentially new compositions, as seen in the Choruses from Messiah and Belshazzar's feast; using the Italian duet "for unto us a child is born." The use of the borrowing technique is one that is unique to Handel because it was in the 1930's that it seems as if the practice ceases, though this could be because Handel found the need to shift composition styles, and thus opened himself to a wide range of materials to now pull from, thus making the reference of music harder to pinpoint. But the fact remains that the "borrowing does not affect his status as a composer" because Handel himself never based his career on any single piece of work that utilized music that was credited to the creation of another person. Thus it is not known if any single composer influenced Handel himself, however, it was obvious that Handel left an obvious influence on a composer that appeared during his time and certainly after his death in 1759.
But it was in the 1930s that Handel really would begin to impact and alter the trajectory of music and musical composition through the creation of the new genre of the English Oratorio. The English Oratorio was much like the Italian form of the genre as it set dialogue in lyrical and recitative verses but then was combined with foreign elements from the French drama, Greek tragedy, German passion, and most importantly the English masque. These characteristics combined together was enough to solidify the fact that Handel was to be the greatest musical figure of all time, and one of the most respected people in all of London and England. One of the most important contributions the Oratorio made was to the vocal setting, and through the addition of the chorus. What made this such a huge success for Handel and for the popularity of his music was the sheer fact that Handel was able to create unique effects with the orchestration of the vocal score to create a simple form that alternated in the written passages of verses from an open fugal style to that of a solid harmonic sound. This added with the orchestra, who normally was scored in a way to support the vocal parts created a work that was not only easy to sing but also made it accessible to the general public, making it established that "Handel is the musician of the people." This form of music was never meant to be suited for the church, the Oratorios were meant for concert hall performance settings and thus even though the Messiah, one of Handel's most well-known piece was written as an Oratorio, it was actually seen more as a "sacred entertainment" piece.
But Handel's contribution did not stop at the creation of the new style of music in the English Oratorio, but he actually found a great deal of success in writing instrumental works. The instrumental aspect of Handel's musical output was one that garnished him with a great deal of extra income and was a major factor in keeping the name of Handel fresh in everyone's mind and in their daily musical dealings. Though true to the nature of Handel, he was dedicated to being as successful as he could in all writing aspects that he undertook. Thus the two of his works in the instrumental category best know were written for the King and were meant to be for the public pleasure during the various outdoor performances and social gatherings. The first, Water Music was written in 1717 and was comprised of three suites for winds and strings that were meant to be played from a boat on the River Thames for the king's pleasure while he was entertaining socially those that he wished to stay in good graces with. The later of the works written in 1749 is the Music for the Royal Fireworks, a staggering piece written for an enormous wind section with strings later added in, meant to be played in an outdoor London park during a firework celebration. The work was written for many military instruments and was a work that excluded the use of stringed instruments, something that Handel initially had objections with. These two works directly play into the desire of Handel to continue to push the boundaries of what music was, and what it could do for the people, and how it could be enjoyed for all, in all aspects of life.
The most profound work that Handel ever wrote, one that would become the model work in the sacred realm of composition; one that would receive a great deal of homage by composers from all areas of Europe and for many decades, is the now infamous, Messiah. The Messiah is a remarkable piece simply from the process in which Handel took to write it. In a short twenty-four day span, the work would come to existence from a mere thought. A large part of the ability for Handel to become so musically genius was the way in which he typically broke, or even stretched out traditional styles of composing music in order to make a dramatic impact on the work he was involved with. He was able to do this through the way in which he personally lived his life and through the enriched skills he had developed throughout his extensive travels. He had acquired the ability to take raw talent and to polish it up into something of pure beauty and wonder. Since Handel himself typically chose various religious themes for many of his compositions, more and more of the British citizens began to approve using his music as a method of worshiping their god. It was fitting that Handel made his home in England because it is the English that "have always been a Bible-reading... god-fearing nation, with strong religious instincts and a reverence for sacred things". Messiah is Handel's most well-known work, and it is the best example of a work that can be used as a creative worship piece. The work is divided into three segments: The coming of the Messiah, The suffering and death of Christ, and the Resurrection. This work was composed and contained various features that gave way to a wide range of emotions: joy, sadness, fear, excitement, love, compassion, dramatic, and hopefully; but no matter what the need or feeling that way to be expressed Handel found a way to do it, and the Messiah was the catalyst to showcase those talents.
The Messiah composed in 1742 is seen by many as the best-written oratorio that has ever been written. The extensive piece contains some fifty sections of music and performance that takes nearly three hours to fully perform and celebrate. The most impressive aspect of the piece is the fact that it was composed in a mere twenty-four days; accomplished by Handel locking himself in his home refusing to be interrupted by anyone. During this time it was reported that Handel barely ate anything and slept very little. This was yet another nod to the dedication that Handel was known to have, and also played into the aspect that Handel had simply become part of his work, and thus always made sure that his full attention and thought were put into the music as it was composed. It might have been odd for Handel to write such a religiously profound piece considering that he himself was not a very religious person until the later part of his life; though there are accounts that lay claim to a "divine source" as the inspirational and motivational factor for the composition of the work. So profound was the work that Handel himself self-stated that "I did see Heaven before me, and the great God himself" when he had finished the widely recognized Hallelujah chorus. The work has had a lasting effect on not only the composer's reputation as one of the greatest advancers of the musical composition spectrum but also on the works of composers who have been inspired by the works of Handel; Mozart being someone that had become extremely influenced by Handel and in particular the Messiah. But there also have been effects of this wonderful composition on the tradition of the work, and the performance aspect of how it moves people to feel something nearly spiritual every time it is heard. It is reported that during the first performance of this composition in London, that the current King of England, King George II, felt so moved and religiously compelled to stand during the singing of the Hallelujah chorus that others fell in step with the king (as was the protocol of subjects to their king) and stood as well. This is a tradition that continues to this very day during the performances of Handel's Messiah.
As you can see Handel had an enduring legacy on music and the compositional aspects of music. The dedication that Handel should to his life of music and the preservation of a lasting legacy has allowed Handel to really never leave us. His effects have been felt to this very day through the standing of the audience during the Messiah, to the compositional nods that composers give to Handel in their works. Handel is someone that proved to many that as long as there exists the desire to achieve, the object of their desire can be reached. Handel's life there seemed to be filled with adversity from the beginning. From his father not wanting Handel to participate in a career filled with music, to his struggles with changing musical styles, the sometimes-awkward positions that Handel found himself in as it relates to arguments; Handel persevered through it all. It was not until the end of his life that Handel showed signs of a frail individual not able to continue on. Blindness was a severe blow to Handel's career being that the production of, and revision of large-scale works was something that could no longer be done. Handel continued to do what he had done all of his life and find new ways to stay relevant and current with the musical needs and did so through the use of trusted friends that did most of the dictation work for Handel, however eventual total blindness left Handel in such poor health that even that had to come to an end. It was finally on April 14, 1759, that Handel left his body form and thus was not the death of Handel, but was the birth of an enduring legacy of Handel on the musical styling of what was to come.
Penelope Jean - Publicist, TV Entertainment Analyst, and Booking Agent (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
In the world of the music business, there are true singers who sing and singers who don’t, along with talent booking agents who book and those that couldn’t sell cotton candy at the circus. Is it drive, talent, or a mystical combination of “factors” that create singers and talent booking agents, or is it yet the pure unexplainable? Let’s look at some factors in this article as singers, looking to further their careers, try to find suitable representation.
As a former talent booking agent with the William Morris Agency, I can tell you that there are many factors that determine both effective agents and marketable singers and artists. While there are many explainable factors, there certainly is the element of luck, the right place at the right time and the “Who knows, it just happened,” phenomenon. Let’s start with what we can determine and hopefully, you will gain some insight into what effective booking agents look like and your securing one of them.
To begin with, there are many calibers of booking agents out there. As I’ve outlined in a previous article on booking talent, that you can find at ReelMusician, there is the order taking agents who book mainly headline acts, the agent who started in some agency somewhere and who branches out starting their own agency booking more of the “has been” acts and the lowest, but not always the least on the totem pole agents. These agents are usually friends of the artist or a manager looking to push their act before a major record deal signing, etc.
With each agent level comes a different approach. The order taking agent, with the larger well-known talent agencies, isn’t going to be interested in your act unless there are interest and ongoing courting from a major record label. These agents take the “baby” acts and use leverage, with promoters who want the headline act, into a must take the baby act as well deal – And most promoters don’t have a problem and understand that this is part of the deal when playing in the big boys club. Unless you have a record deal or are very appealing and are drawing some interest from the labels or a big-time manager, you won’t find yourself behind the desk of one of these agents. If you are trying to approach the agent at the top of the pyramid, you must recognize that image, packaging, appeal, and your knowing and talking the game to a tee, and not in artsy-fartsy language, is going to be key.
I recommend that you really have your act together and don’t even begin to bother these individuals, not that they’re necessarily the best agents in the game, but certainly have more power and influence from position alone, before approaching them. Your artist bio, pictures, artist demos have to look like there label ready. And before that, you really need to have a manager and a manager working on securing an agent on your behalf.
Again, many more articles on this and other topics can be found at ReelMusician. So, unless you really have your act together, with management in place, don’t bother wasting yours or the agent’s time.
The next level down the agent totem pole will not only be easier to gain access to but easier to gain representation from. The middle line agents are hard-working agents who make their bread and butter on the older, end of the product or market shelf life acts. These acts, because of name recognition, can make these agents a significant income. You will have to prove to this agent that you will not take up any more time than any other activity that they are promoting. Why should they spend all of their time trying to book your act with nothing or little in return? This is a key question. Ask yourself, as an agent, what do I get out of this? - Phone bills and mailing costs or am I going to see a valid positive cash flow return on all of my time expended on this act? I want you to think about that question and reflect. This alone will help you not only relate, converse knowing their difficulties in booking but ultimately help you secure a booking agent.
In the game of booking, you as an artist have to have something more than “hip and cool” and a “new” artist sound, but you have to be able to present to the seller, that being your agent, that he or she has something of value to sell with minimal headaches. You can’t possibly begin to imagine how hard it is to book some acts – when you start booking your own shows, with vested interest I might ad, you begin to touch on the realities of the agent’s day to day barrage of booking complexities. So begin to compile a mental list of positive booking attributes that you or your band can bring to the table.
As you look at either contemplating a manager, or a serious friend who wants a try at booking and management of your act, try to be reasonable in your business relationships. I’ve said it before, that everyone wants to be a star, but nobody wants to help pay for it. For the most part, artists just expect that booking agents and managers will pick up the exhaustive phone, mailing and press kit bills. You might inquire, if you are really serious about securing a business team, about helping out with some of the initial start-up costs trying to land your act on the map. It takes a tremendous amount of energy and money and just your willingness to help out alone, will tell a manager or booking agent that you are serious and not just “takers.” This alone, even if they decline the financial help, may be the key in determining the start of a successful relationship.
In closing, in order for you to succeed, you must remain in front of the masses and this is done not so much musically, but in your day to attitude and business focus and with your professional and well laid out blueprint for success. Feel free to contact us at the contact numbers that follow.
