Concert List

Setting It To Music-I know some people like to write while their favourite music is playing, and others prefer silence. I’m a silence person myself but there are special cases.

For example, if the kids are home and making a racket, music through headphones is a great way to isolate myself for an hour or two. I don’t mean I wander round the house 24/7 in a musical daze, but if I need a couple of quiet hours of writing time to finish off my word count this is the way to get it.

Second, if I’m writing an important scene I find the right music can really help to set my own mood, and therefore the mood of the piece I’m writing.

And that’s really the reason for this blog post.

You see, although you might listen to music while writing, how carefully do you select the pieces? I use my own yPlay software which allows 100 named playlists, but anything else with similar features should do. And here’s what you need: a playlist for each mood and style of writing. Have a Romance playlist with gentle love songs, an Action playlist with heavy drumming and wild electric guitars, perhaps a Classical playlist for a bit of culture – something to listen to while you’re writing about a visit to a posh hotel or restaurant, forexample.

What you don’t want to do is have one playlist with all your faves mixed up. It’s very hard to write a touching romantic scene when heavy metal is hammering your ears one minute and Cliff Richard is going on about his walking talking doll the next.

Live Music!-”Live music.” That common saying may contain some truth, but these days the word “live” is having less and less to do with music. For many people, a dj is their form of live music. Despite what dj’s would like to have you believe, musicians make excellent entertainment.

In the first place, people enjoy human performance. Many musicians like great athletes are multi-talented. They will croon on the tenor saxophone right to your soul, then turn around and chunk out a funky rhythm on a Fender Stratocaster. Can a dj play a turntable behind his head or with his teeth? Professional musicians love to sing and groove on just about any style of music from a Frank Sinatra to Outkast. They especially enjoy playing when the audience is responding to their performance.

In the second place, musicians are students of the arts. Musicians do not merely “push buttons.” They’ve had years of practice in their homes, and they do their thing on stage. Unlike dj’s musicians do not try to sing over or add other loud or strange noises to program music. Once a song starts it flows to the end and in the unfortunate event of a power shortage musicians can continue to entertain acoustically until power is restored. Even non-professional musicians usually understand “the show must go on” concept.

Lastly, one of the most attractive features of bands as entertainment is the affinity between them and their audience. Watching a great drummer is never boring because they’re constantly moving…feeling. An animated solo violinist playing an old wooden Stradivarius violin has a much greater chance of reaching into your soul and stirring your emotions than a dj with an array of magnetic speakers and digital amplifiers no matter how great his system sounds. It’s an apple trying to be an orange. It’s the difference between human blood and electricity.

Contrary to popular opinion, bands can be affordable. Just like with a dj, finding a band well in advance and securing them with a low down payment, the price can be negotiated to avoid costly or inadequate entertainment. Bands will even throw in a free cocktail hour or an extra half hour at the end to secure a date! Many bands are now offering “dj time.” This is when the musician hat comes off and the dj hat is put on to play the Techno, House, Hip-Hop, etc…Genres of today. People who have small parties should appreciate these characteristics of bands. However, many people who have large parties opt to have bands because they love the musician personality. In many ways, musicians are the ideal entertainers.

Pop Music-Pop music is a genre of popular music distinguished from classical or art music and from folk music . The term indicates specific stylistic traits, but the genre also includes artists working in many styles such as rock, hip hop, rhythm and blues (R&B), and country, making it a flexible category. The expression “pop music” may also be used to refer to particular subgenres (within the pop music genre) that are in some cases referred to as soft rock and pop/rock.

Characteristics as a subgenre
Pop “is designed to appeal to everyone” and “doesn’t come from any particular place or mark off any particular taste.” In musical terms, it is essentially “conservative” in that it attempts to resonate with a large segment of its target demographic rather than pushing artistic boundaries. It is “provided from on high (by record companies, radio programmers and concert promoters) rather than being made from below…” (Frith 2001, p.95-96). But over time, pop has gone from “popular in general” to “a genre” described as sounding musically similar to rap, but with singing. This is due to radio stations labeling themselves as “pop stations” taking heavy preference over certain sounds, tossing other popular bands who don’t fit into the sound or other categories like rock into the “alternative” label.

Often used to describe the current popular genres of music of any given time, the term “pop” cannot be used describe any one particular style.

History of pop music

1930s and 1940s
Styles influencing the later development of pop include the Blues (Chicago), and Country (Tennessee)

1950s
Early Pop music artists include Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Bobby Darin, and Peggy Lee, but other artists like Bill Haley and his Comets, Fats Domino and Elvis Presley become popular with the younger generation.

1960s
The decade starts out with such Teen Idols such as, Johnny Tillotson, Bobby Vee, Brian Hyland, Tommy Roe, Gene Pitney, and Frankie Avalon. It explodes midway with Carole King, Neil Diamond, Burt Bacharach, Aretha Franklin, Isley Brothers, Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder, The Supremes, Marvin Gaye, Bob Dylan, and Simon and Garfunkel. It can be said that The Beatles led the British Invasion in this decade.

1970s
A proliferation of new sounds from the disco of the BeeGees, the piano sounds of Billy Joel and Elton John, the country of the Eagles, the rock-influenced pop of artists like Rod Stewart, Steely Dan, and Fleetwood Mac. ABBA was a swedish band who grew to fame after winning Eurovision Song Contest and starting a whole new revolution of pop music.
1980s
Notable highlights for pop music in the 1980s are Michael Jackson’s second Epic label release, Thriller, which went on to become the best-selling album of all time, and Madonna albums “Like a Virgin”, “True Blue”, “Like a Prayer” . Michael Jackson was sometimes referred to as “The King of Pop” and Madonna was named “The Queen of Pop”. Other artists included Michael Bolton, Prince, Janet Jackson, Duran Duran, The Police, ABBA, Cyndi Lauper, Whitney Houston, Phil Collins, Kylie Minogue and Culture Club.

1990s and 21st century
The 1990s and 21st century were marked by a resurgence of boy band and girl group trends. From the UK came the likes of Take That, Blue, the Spice Girls, a highly successful formula. Irish boy bands of the time include Boyzone and Westlife. The US had New Edition, New Kids On The Block followed by the Backstreet Boys, Hanson, girl trio Destiny’s Child and then ‘N Sync and Pop Princesses Willa Ford, Mandy Moore, Britney Spears, Gwen Stefani and Christina Aguilera. Canadian Avril Lavigne became popular with her album Let Go. Australia had Boys from Oz. 1999 saw the rise of the Latin explosion with Ricky Martin at the forefront with his worldwide smash hit “Livin’ La Vida Loca”. Other latin artists to follow were Jennifer Lopez, Shakira, Enrique Iglesias, and Marc Anthony. In 2002, Justin Timberlake had critical and commercial acclaim with his “Justified” album, emerging as the new “Prince of Pop”, Jesse McCartney has emerged from Dream Street as a high-rating singer with songs like She’s No You, Lindsay Lohan and Hilary Duff has become popular in the 2000s. Artists like Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, Kylie Minogue, Celine Dion, Garth Brooks, Shania Twain and Madonna have also been highly successful. Reality television shows, such as American Idol, begin producing multi-platinum artists like Kelly Clarkson and Clay Aiken. British pop rock groups such as McFly emerge.

Sound and themes
Pop music, in whatever musical influence form it derives from, may be produced by a more basic songwriting approach and arrangement. The emphasis is often on a simpler melody, which makes the songs more memorable, and may use stripped-down rhythms. The combination of the melody and the rhythm allows for harmony to be a driving force of the song. Themes range from personal songs to vivacious party jams. However, the most common theme deals with the wide range of emotions which stem from physical or emotional love.

Music videos and live performances are often used for exposure in the media, and artists may have extravagant stage shows and use choreographed dancing. Many pop tunes are used in both Dance clubs and Sport clubs.

Pop Music-Pop music is a liberal and vague category of modern music not marked by artistic considerations but by its promising audience or future market. Pop is music composed with calculated objective to influence the majority of its contemporaries.

In contrast to music that calls for education or arrangement to appreciate, a significant characteristic of pop music is that anyone is able to enjoy it. Artistic concepts such as complex musical form and aesthetics are not a matter in the writing of pop songs, the key aim being audience satisfaction and commercial triumph. Although the aim of pop music is to sell records and do really well in the charts, it does not require wide acclaim or commercial success. There are bad or unsuccessful pop songs.

Originally the term was an abbreviation of, and synonymous to, popular music, but developed around 1954 to express a particular musical category. The stylistic origins of pop music is folk, jazz, R&B, rock and roll, traditional pop music. The typical instruments are electric guitar, bass guitar, drum kit and keyboard. The cultural origins date back to 1950’s in the United States.It is popular worldwide since 1960s.

The standard format of pop music is the song, usually less than five minutes in length. The instrumentation can range from an orchestra to a lone singer. In spite of this wide choice, a standard lineup in a pop band includes a lead guitarist, a bassist, a drummer (or an electronic drum machine), a keyboardist and one or more singers, generally not themselves instrumentalists.
Pop songs are generally conspicuous by a heavy rhythmic element, a mainstream style and traditional structure. The most common modification is strophic in form and focuses on memorable melodies, catchy hooks and the appeal of the verse-chorus-verse arrangement, with the chorus sharply contrasting the verse melodically, rhythmically and harmonically.

Lyrics in pop compositions are usually simple and speak of universal experiences and feelings, moving away from incomprehensible or debatable issues.The international appeal of pop was evident in the new millennium, with artists from around the world influencing the genre and local variants merging with the mainstream. As of 2008, pop music is now currently the most popular style of music of youth culture, making competition with hip hop, dance and country.

Online Music – Let’s Groove!-If music is food for life, then let it play on and on and on….. I hope all the music lovers would love to listen to these lines time and again. Music has proved to be a mediator between the spiritual and sensual life. For a music addict, it is beautiful and soothing. Today, the craze of music is on an extreme. There are numerous websites that offers downloads for free. One can find the latest and the most happening music, playing online. From the Beetles to Bon Jovi, it’s all about soothing your senses. There are so many online stores that provide your favorite music over Internet, with a nominal charge or at times totally free.

One can listen to their favorite music over the World Wide Web whenever and wherever. There are so many music stores, which lead you to your favorite music junction, where not only can you listen to them, you can even download it. Very often we download our favorite music via Internet. One can also listen to his favorite collection over an store, which sells audio files, usually music, on a per-song and/or subscription basis. For this you need to become a member. Once you become the member of the site, you are entitled for free downloads. Like it’s said “there are two sides of the same coin” so is the case with online music. Piracy is becoming a major concern these days. You can get the music online even before it is released. Though, keeping a tab seems difficult, the manufacturers are trying different hard to put a check on piracy. A more recent development allows the instant downloading of radio-songs, as they are broad casted, straight to a mobile phone in less than 60 seconds. This technical innovation from Sweden, called DROPme, represents a different channel and consumer behaviour relative to the online services.

One benefit of music is that you don’t have to go shopping looking for your favourite music. With the advent of the Internet, life has become easy and convenient. You just have to browse the music sites to get your favourite number right on your desktop. Online shopping has given lovers a whole new experience of listening to music. One can also buy CD/DVDs online, which will be delivered right at our doorstep.

Well, if you think that you do not need the complete collection and want to listen just few songs out of many, then you can download and store the songs for future as well. For this, at times you need to be a member. Centralized repository of it makes it easier to find the songs you want. Online music has their own niche of people. From children to adults, everyone can get involved. Like it’s said “If its music on your mind it has to be online”

Information About Music Online-Using the internet to find music you like to listen to and build your music collection in any style of music is an easy and affordable way to add to your music library as you can easily burn your own CD’s or download mp3’s to your iPod or other music player. It is also a great way to find out about current and new artists, new album and single releases, get free lyrics and find free music downloads. The popular free iTunes software and music library allows you to create your own music library, find TV shows, podcasts and get free music downloads and for only $0.99 a song download you cannot really go wrong. Plus there are a lot of websites online where you can find free music videos and mp3 downloads like YouTube, MySpace, Rawkus, CDBaby, Soundclick and so many others.

What does this mean for the future of music? With the everyday consumer buying on average 2 new music albums a month this could have an effect on the music industry but most shops like Virgin, HMV and other well known music retail shops also have online websites which offer even more discounts and sometimes a music community so the music lovers using the internet can only boost music sales.

The internet is also a good place for independent artists without a major record label to upload and promote their music. There are a lot of independent music websites where you can create your own profile, update fans with your news and even sell your own music. The royalty companies like ASCAP, PRS, Harry Fox and BMI also have internet music licenses you can get so that you receive royalties and commissions for all music plays on internet radio stations, and for any music downloads and mp3 or CD sales.

You can even make your own music by buying and downloading music production and creation software you find online to your PC or laptop and if you have a good sound card and microphone you can make and record your own music and beats very easily. In fact, you can find hundreds of free loops and backing tracks you can download and even license for commercial use making it easy for the music producer and songwriter to make their own music.

And if you want to learn about music, study an instrument or get advice on the music industry you can do a search on the internet and find so much free and useful information in articles and on music websites and blogs.

Does this take away the traditional way of making and playing music for the musician? Some think so but you can look at it like this; the internet has opened up the whole globe to us and you can make good music contacts from all over the world and build your own worldwide fan base just by promoting your music online. Music you may never have even heard of has become easily available and the whole music scene and industry has benefited and grown because of internet and satellite communications.

You can see then that using the internet connects music lovers around the world and Cyber Technology has made it easier for the songwriter and musician to create and record their own music. Plus it opens doors for the independent music artist and also increases exposure for major record label artists so that they can build their fan base and sell more of their music.

Online Music – Choice of Youth-They say that music never betrays the heart that loves it. True indeed, music has always made our lives better and it has soothed our senses since time immemorial. The 21st century has seen a revolution in the form of computers that have proved to be instrumental in making our lives better and much convenient as compared to the others. And most definitely it has changed the way you listen to your music.

Contemporary times have witnessed a tremendous upsurge in the Internet marketing which has made music really popular amongst the music freaks all around the world. The users can now listen to the music through the Internet. There are several websites that deal with providing the online music to the music lovers. With an increase in the stiff competition and many players going online, several lucrative offers have cropped up in the recent past. Now the user is free to download the music of his choice, from a particular website, which is purely legalised. So, all of your famous and lesser known tracks are getting revamped in the online arena. All you have to do is to download them at the earliest.

Remember all those overtly insignificant songs that were once anthems for you? If you think that those have been withered away in an eternal limbo, you can easily find all of them lingering in the cyberspace. It certainly ejaculates our senses, even to think about discovering those long lost tracks. In fact, the Internet has particularly been helpful in reviving all the long lost numbers, back in action and going popular all over again.

You could easily download these tracks into your mobile phones and MP3 music players and listen to them whenever you feel like. So, you could easily pep up your life with the music of your choice. Secondly, these websites also give you a lot of exciting offers and cashbacks for your downloads. Therefore it adds on to the profitability of your deals and makes them look more attractive.

So, don’t miss your chance of finding the best online music… because the Internet is surely going to make you find your kind of music!

Learn to Read Music Online-If you or anyone you know wants to learn to read music, it’s a lot easier to do than it used to be. The Internet gives us all access to almost unlimited information, and can deliver an incredible array of products and tools right to our desktops. Not surprisingly, there are some really clever products out there that can help you learn to read notes.

“Piano is Fun” from Anthony Fernando is a great beginner package for a very reasonable price that will teach you how to read music. The knowledge and practice available here would cost many times the purchase price ($24.95) in personal lessons. Included in the price are free lifetime upgrades and a 30 day money-back guarantee.

Purchase and Installation

Purchase and installation are both a snap. The entire process takes no more than five minutes and is virtually foolproof. So, what’s in the product? A series of lessons and practice games that teach you how to read music and make it fun! And that’s quite an accomplishment! Most students find it an awesome, dreadful task, but it really doesn’t have to be, as this product demonstrates. When you start the program, you might think that the product is just for kids. Well, it is great for kids, but it’s also fun for anyone that wants to learn to read music for the piano. My own bass clef reading skills fade in and out, and I actually enjoyed clicking through the lessons and “games” (review tests).

Getting Started

The basic package features a series of twenty lessons that start very simply and progress through both the treble and bass clefs. The graphics are big and bright and easy to read. There are good sound and visual effects – enough to keep your interest up but not so much that it distracts from the point of learning the notes. The way to get started with the product is to take the tour, which explains the layout of the lessons and the “games” that are used as review tests for each of the twenty lessons. As a student progresses through each lesson, awards are given and displayed on a separate screen – great little reinforcers to keep you going.

Menu and Options

The main menu is completely self-explanatory and includes a button for “Start Here” which leads to the “tour”, a “Lessons” button, which leads to the twenty lessons, an “Options” button (explained below) and buttons for advanced tests called the Bronze, Silver, and Gold Challenges. The Options button lets you control what happens when a correct answer is entered (there are a few different choices), and contains an option for teachers that allows the addition or deletion of a student’s name. It is also possible for a “teacher” to construct “custom” lessons that operate like the other lessons. The option is in choosing the notes that are presented in the test. So, if you want your child or student to concentrate on recognizing certain notes, you can easily create exercises that contain only those notes. There is also a sound option that lets you turn on or off the sound effects that accompany parts of the program.

Extra Challenging Exercises

The Bronze, Silver, and Gold Challenge exercises are more note recognition tests but with the notes passing across the screen at a faster pace, obviously requiring a quicker response from the user. If a student can master these, there isn’t much doubt that they know their notes.

So that’s about it! This program doesn’t balance your checkbook, manage your portfolio, or vacuum your carpet, but it never claimed to! If you want to learn to read music, or have a child that’s about to start lessons or just shows interest, this product is a great buy. Imagine your piano teacher’s surprise when your 5 year old shows up knowing how to read music on both the treble and bass clefs! She’ll fall off her piano bench! By the way, my son, who has been taking lessons for two years, came home from school yesterday and ASKED if he could use the Piano is Fun program! Think about that!

Listen, Listen, Listen To Your Prospect-Many years ago John Burroughs, a naturalist, one summer evening was walking through a crowded park. Above the sounds of city life he heard the song of a bird. He stopped and listened! Those with him had not heard it. He looked around. No one else had noticed it. It bothered him that everyone should miss something so beautiful. He took a coin from his pocket and flipped it into the air. It struck the pavement with a ring, no louder than the song of the bird. Everyone turned; they could hear that! It is difficult to separate from all the sounds of city traffic the song of a bird. But you can hear it. You can hear it plainly if you train yourself to listen for it.

One of our sons has always been interested in radio. When he was a little fellow, his Christmas present was a very elementary radio construction set. As he grew, and as we could afford it, and as he could earn it, he received more sophisticated equipment. There have been many times over the years, some very recently, when I have sat with him as he talked with someone in a distant part of the world. I could hear static and interference and catch a word or two, or sometimes several voices at once. Yet he can understand, for he has trained himself to tune out the interference.

When prospecting you need to focus on the prospect intently or you may miss some form of communication that may be vital to the success of the conversation. The most effective communication breaks down into three critical areas, the words we use, our tone of voice, and our body language. Which do you think is most important? As ingredients of a successful communication it looks like this, words 7%, tone 38%, body language 55%.

Since most of our prospecting is done by phone it is critical that we focus on the words being used by the prospect but more important is the tone of voice. We must listen well enough to understand how they feel about certain things. Are they really motivated? What is their true why for wanting a change. This will likely require that we be in a quite place where we won’t be distracted or wherever we can best focus on the prospect and how he/she is using words to express himself. We must tune out the busyness around us so we can hear the song of a bird.

Online Music-Music is the essence of the day to day life of any person. It is immaterial that you are young or aged, the love for music among people never dies. Being a music lover, I know that the thirst for good music never ends and how is it possible when it is such a sweet and soft gift for us.

In the early days, people had to buy music cassettes or records as soon as they were launched in the market. Sometimes, it also happened that any specific music was not available due to finished stock or other factors. But today, with the help of new technology such as Mp3, the distribution of music has become even faster and much wider. Now you have the options for music cassettes, compact disc (CD), digital versatile disc (DVD), mp3’s and also online websites that let you hear the music of your choice.

If you wish to purchase a music CD you have to visit the store that requires your time and if the album is in huge demand then it might happen that you have to wait until the next day. Online music makes it very easier whereby you can easily find the song tracks you wish to hear. There are many online music websites whereby you can enter the name of the song or the artist you wish to listen and the track shall be played online.

To get access to online music, you need to have a computer with the compatible software such as media player, an internet connection and attached sound system. Most of the websites offer free music service whereby there are no charges involved except the download charges that you need to pay with your internet bill.

You can also make a collection of your favorite music tracks just by downloading from the website into the hard disk drive of your computer which you can later burn in a compact disc. This saves your money from purchasing different music albums if you love songs of various artists and movies that are not available in a single album.