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Does it Take Long to Learn to Play Piano?

jeni — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 14:19:07 +0000

The answer to this question depends on two things. You and your musical ability and the amount of time you are willing to put into it. Initially, do not expect great things overnight and it should be fully understood the commitment involved depending on the standard you want to achieve. Playing piano is a complex skill. In the first few weeks you will need to develop your technical ability to play your instrument, learn about basic rhythm and the fundamentals of music theory. However, if you are coming to piano playing having learned another instrument then you will have a head start on the complete novice.

Success is measured by how much happiness and satisfaction playing brings you and not by how fast or perfectly you play. Many people begin hoping that within a few weeks they’ll be playing a certain classical piece of music or a favourite tune and get despondent when it doesn’t happen. With the greater percentage of cases this level of progress will not happen and it’s worth keeping this in mind at the outset.

Therefore perseverance is important, but more importantly practice is a daily priority. Progress will be slow initially, but regular practise sessions will keep you focused, even if it’s only for 30 minutes a day. Piano playing is a repetitive exercise and by missing practise sessions that repetitiveness is lost. Development will be slow and will lead to a lack of interest and ultimately regret for not fulfilling your ambitions. A lack of commitment will always lead to failure.

When practicing, find a quiet location that is free from interruptions and noise and try to set aside a definite time each day and stick to the programme. Avoiding or delaying getting to the piano will just make you run out of time. Real practice involves both mental and physical commitment. Repeating errors instead of correcting them before continuing is counter productive. It’s not the measure of time you spend that’s most important, but how you utilise that time. If you practice several hours a day and simply repeat the same mistakes each time, then your practice is inefficient. Failure to practice correctly and sufficiently is the single biggest reason that people fail in their ambitions to master the piano.

It may seem like a chore for the first few years. So why would anyone go to the inconvenience to learn to play the piano? Because when it all finally comes together and you can open a piece of music and play it, it is an amazing feeling. And all the hours of practice will have been worth it.

It may seem inconceivable at the beginning, but anyone can play the piano if they’re willing to dedicate the time and the effort to do it. The piano can transport you to places you never thought possible and it will become part of your life. However, the hardest part to learning to play the piano is to start. Procrastination will not do it for you.

The BillBoard Hot 100 Video Archive Review

substance — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 01:36:46 +0000

The BillBoard Hot 100 Video Archive features an extensive list of music that dates way back to the year 1946 to the year 2009. Anyone can search for the hot 100 music charts of the year. You can also get the billboard videos widgets translated in 40 different languages from Albania to Vietnamese. This is an interesting site to search for your classic music videos and of course the recent ones too.

For the last year top number One music video is “Low” by FLO Rida featuring T-pain and the number 100^th featuring in the list is “ She Got it” by the 2 pistols featuring T-pain and Tay Dizm. In 1946 the top number 1 videos listed was “The prisoner of Love” by Perry Como and making it to the 30th^th is the” You won’t be Satisfied until you break my Heart” by Les Brown. Serious researching and compilation of the top 100 list have been done for the hot 100 music charts from the year 1946 to the year 2009 is done. These charts list are compiled based on the reviews received on real people and judging from their ratings, this listed videos charts have come out. It is useful for anyone in music business or music fans to go and have a look over the happening in the music world.

The http://www.billboardvideos.net is a premier music publication and is serving the entertainment business as well as the fans. This site and its popular music charts is another primary source of information on trends and innovation in music, serving music fans, artists alike. They have tracked and compiled them as top 100 has changed over the years. In early times, importance was given more to each music track produced and the compilation was done on the basis of a single sound track. But these have changed and the focus has shifted from single soundtrack to the album as a whole. Since most of us are just aware of a fraction of the music videos that comes out each year, most other music videos are hardly known which don’t make it to the tops of the charts. However, these billboard hot 100 videos archives have a list of the best music videos archive from all over the world.

This site offers an extensive array of searchable, playable charts, breaking music news, artist interviews and exclusives, news, video and more. Launched recently, it has thousands of music videos in his database that anybody can have accesses and attracts lots of unique visitors each month from more than 50 countries. You can come to http://www.billboardvideos.net to search for your favorite music videos dating back to 1946.

Guitar Hall – Revolutionizing Music Education In India

metalhammer — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 12:21:35 +0000

When Guitar Hall opened its doors in Mumbai in 1998, it was the right place and time for a great new idea in music education: a focused, intense, hands-on contemporary program designed and taught by working professional musicians and located in the center of the business hub.

What began as a guitar school has since expanded to become the foremost guitar training academy in India, a complete array of guitar training programs in one of the world’s foremost teaching and performing facilities. Guitar Hall has evolved tremendously over the years, but their mission remains the same.

In 1998, Guitar Hall revolutionized contemporary music education in India with the first full-time program to offer hands-on professional training for the guitarist. Over a decade later, Guitar Hall remains the leader in guitar education with a unique system that combines technical, creative and professional development in a performance-based program. There are several music classes in India that claim to train the students in guitars. But Guitar Hall has bagged the tag of the best guitar training academy by imparting professional guitar training and consistently producing quality guitar players over the years.

Guitar Hall provides a positive, supportive and non-competitive learning environment through teamwork and hands-on training. The entire program is conducted in a very relaxed and enjoyable setting. Each student is engaged in an intensive program of their interest.
At Guitar Hall, you learn from a proven curriculum taught by the best guitar instructors in India, augmented by guitar workshops by visiting guitarist’s, seminars, and lessons from some of the greatest players in contemporary music in India. Network with other players, find your creative voice, and get the training you need to become the player you’ve always dreamed of being.

Their students range in age from 13 to 70, with skills ranging form the absolute beginner to the seasoned professional. They come from all over India with different cultural and economic backgrounds. The diversity found within their student body, as well as with their faculty, make for a rich and memorable musical experience.

GUITAR HALL HEADQUARTERS:-
1) CHEMBUR: B-7,Gurudev Apartments,R.C. Marg,Chembur naka,near Akbarallys,Chembur,Mumbai-71.
(Kindly take an appointment before dropping down)
Moble: – 9833518423 /9820428423/ 9930212388
Email: guitarhall@gmail.com
Official Website: http://www.guitarhallonline.com

Your Favorite Music Instrument Store

trafficsystem — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 13:41:49 +0000

In a typical music instrument store you’ll find electric guitars, acoustic guitars and bass guitars, as well as drums and percussion, music keyboards, live sound and recording software and studio equipment from all the leading brands.

A good music instrument store will offer deals on the hottest music gear. Music123 is one such store that has a wide selection of musical instruments and musical equipment.

Other items you might find in a music instrument store would be DJ equipment and stage lighting, band and orchestra needs, clothes and lifestyle items, music instruction videos and books about making music.

Any instrument that produces music is a musical instrument.

There are six main categories of instruments to be found in a music instrument store. These are bowed strings, woodwind, brass, percussion, keyboard and the guitar family.

” Bowed Strings: the violins, the violas, the cellos and the double basses
” Woodwind: flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon
” Brass Instruments: trumpet, fresh horn, trombone, tuba
” Percussion Instruments: tuned, indefinite pitch
” Keyboard Instruments: plucked, struck, aerated, electronic
” Guitar Family: six-stringed and the four-string bass guitar.

The brass and woodwind instruments work by blowing air into the instrument which in turn vibrates within the instrument making a sound. The type of music that is produced will depend on the length of the circulation of air that is blown into the product, the shape of it and also the method of the tone and also the way in which it is created.

The percussion instruments produce sounds when they are struck. The sounds that are generated from it will depend on the shape of the device and also the size of the item.

Bowed instruments including the guitar family are played by strumming and plucking at the strings. These instruments produce a sound that is dependent on the amount of strings, the tension and the length of the vibration of the strings.

Other types of music devices include keyboards, piano as well as electronic items.

In the western world, one of the largest musical instruments, the piano, is the most popular form of producing music.

A piano can be classified as both a percussion and a string instrument; percussion because the player strikes the key to make a sound, and string because the sound is actually the result of a string’s vibration. The strength of striking on the key determines the volume – the percussion angle, whereas some will argue that the “velocity” of the keystroke that determines the volume and not the strength behind it – thus making it a string instrument.

Many people would love to learn how to play a musical instrument, but for many the price of buying a new instrument is just too high. Consider the cost of a new piano which can cost well over $2000 for the most basic model. Even a smaller instrument such as a flute can cost as much as $3000 which is far beyond what many can afford to pay.

As an alternative to purchasing new from a music instrument store, there is always the option of buying used musical instrument. This is a viable option for those wanting to learn to play without spending a fortune. Typically over 50% savings can be realized.

Finding used music instruments can be somewhat difficult. Common instruments like pianos, violins and guitars are easy to find, however more obscure instruments are harder to find. Searching the internet is usually the first approach but sometimes your local music instrument store may surprise you in having the piece you would like (or at least know where to get one).

Get timely info in the topic of one way links – your own knowledge base.

Music Therapy, Real or Just Plain Silly

Pamela — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 04:17:13 +0000

Music Therapy is something I remember hearing about right around the time I was going off to college. I recently went and looked at the site “American Music Therapy Association” and it was established in 1998. I personally think it is a very creative way to addressing stress and providing an alternative to medicine in the pill form. I believe that the world is already way too medicated. I also think people need to just calm down. Now even though I don’t see music therapy as being a widely accepted practice, I do think they have a great idea. I mean who didn’t listen to music when they were a teenager (not that I am saying you don’t now); your parents make you mad or even a sibling or maybe just school sucked that day.

So you go home and go to your room crank up your favorite tunes and just relax. Teenagers deal with a lot of stress, not that I am saying that adults don’t however when you are starting to gain independence and responsibilities and your body in changing and your mind is developing and your hormones are going crazy; I myself just loved to crank up the music and let if all float away. Even today if I have a bad day at work the first thing I do when I get to the sanctuary of my car is blast the radio to a song I like scream it out to an audience of myself and let all the days problems just go.

I see this therapy being most helpful to young adults, because it is not just about listening to music and feeling better, about palying or writing or whatever will let you express yourself and let it out. (Madonna had it right!) Now insurance does pay for this and like anything to do with an insurance company not all apply and not all will be covered but that site does go into pretty good detail about different states and coverage.

I think before parents throw their children on ritalin or concerta or zoloft or any more of those “make my children act right drugs” maybe this could be a safe and drug free alternative to calming and destressing. Music by nature is supposed to be joyous and a sort of celebration or at least that is my take on it. I mean to right down the words and put it to music and then lay it down on cd or vinyl or whatever it has to be something that not only appeals to you but is something others in the world can appreciate as well.

I think that music is a wonderful thing and I personally try and listen and watch as much as I can. I also think that maybe not as far as going to a doctor and be prescribed music, I have used music many many times to help me get into a better mood or let something go, and I am sure I am not the only one. So anyway if anyone is feeling a bit overwhelmed try putting on something you find calming and turn down the lights and turn up the volume

Music Lover, That’s Me!

Pamela — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 01:57:11 +0000

Hello all I am new here but by no means am I new to music. I have always loved music and probably always will. I think of music as not a living breathing creature but very similar. Music, well I should say good music, in my mind would be described with humanistic descriptions for example: I believe it has a pulse a set rhyme that will continue through the piece, now that may speed up or it may slow down, maybe a bit of both but a beat none the less that will carry the song through to the end. I believe that good music is not only about the musical instruments itself but also the words the accents the little quirks or hell yeahs in each song that make them original.

You can have great words but if the beat sucks chances are not a lot of people will like it. Just like people in many ways, average will get you nowhere. Unless you can stand out from the crowd whether it is by being catchy, absurd, having clever words, or clever beats you just won’t stand out. One of these qualities may get your song hear but if you want to be remembered or covered or eternal then you must have a combination of those things, As I get older I can’t figure out if music is just going into a slump or maybe I just don’t hear the variety that I used to to it just seems like all there is today is covers. I know there are a lot of good, no great songs of old, but come on people. You can’t tell me that there are no original thoughts out there anymore. I will admit I like more than my fair share of music that most the world would turn there noses up at but all this whiny stuff and the covers aren’t even changed up into “remixes” anymore they are done exactly the same but by someone else.

I know if the music of today was not in high demand and people were not buying it then it would not be being produced. So maybe instead of being upset with the what things are going with music I should be asking what is wrong with people today. Originality is the best quality to music and humans alike do not be a sell out, do not fit the mold, do not be afraid to walk your own path and even though you may walk alone sometime at least you are being you. Musicians with their music and people with there lives need to listen in.

Reissues Of The Year- From Rolling Stone Magizine

Pamela — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 17:00:16 +0000

Musiblog.info has brought this list to you from Rolling Stone magazine. You may have already read it there, but go ahead and check it out here on the Reissues of the year list!

1. Dennis Wilson- Pacific Ocean Blue
The most handsome Beach Boy was also, in 1977, the most daring. Denis Wilson’s only official solo album was the biggest any member of the group, and is still the best: 12 songs of gripping need and tortured beauty, sung in craggy, soulful voice by a surfer dreamboat for whom the California dream was real, but not enough. Pacific Ocean Blue is Dennis’ version of his brother Brian’s triumph, Pet Sounds- an Intensely personal masterpiece0 while the session material from Dennis’ planned second album, Bambu, is his version of Brian’s SMiLE: a promise aborted and, with his death in 1983, forever unfulfilled.

2. Hank Williams- The Unreleased Recordings
It is an unimaginable thrill today: the greatest singer in country music crooning to you over your oatmeal. But in 1951, Hank Williams and his band the Drifting Cowboys were on the radio every morning at 7:15 a.m., Touting Mother’s Best Flour and rolling out an astonishing array of tunes his own songs, old-time spirituals and cover of Ernest Tubbs and Roy Acuff. On this three- CD set, Williams’ Voice is crisp and virile, and there is a kitchen-table immediacy to the performances, as if he’s right there sharing a cup of coffee.

3. Various Artist- Let Me Be Your Sidetrack: The Influence of Jimmie Rodgers
Jimmie Rodgers, the Singing Brakeman (1897-1933), was America’s first singer-songwriter of the recording era, His hillbilly tales, yodels and love stories- such as “T for Texas,” “Mule Skinner Blues” and “Miss the Mississippi in You”- hace been the bedrock repertoire of generations of country, folk and blues singers. Released on the 75th anniversary of his death, this six-CD set charts the force of that influence through the rest of the centurym in covers by every major voice in country as well as Pete Seeger Rick Nelson, Bono and arguably Rodgers’ biggest fan, Bob Dylan.

4. U2- Boy
U2’s near-perfect 1980 debut album- a precociously mature sunburst of spiritual optimism and the Edge’s minimalist church-ball guitar- becomes an essential history lesson with a second CD of pre-LP singles and hell bent live recordings showing the Irish quartet’s learning curve out of garage land. The club-on-fire versions of “Boy-Girl” and “11o’clock Tick Tock”, from the Marquee in London, are thrilling preview if how U2 would soon slay America. Alco recommended: the two-CD reissue of 1981’s October, a flawed follow-up made fuller with concert and BBC performances of a strong, united band on its way to 1983’s War.

5. Robyn Hitchcock and the Egyptians- Luminous Groove
The mid-Eighties electrics albums of England’s most enduring psychedelic son- the studio LPs Fegmania and Element of Light and the live blast Gotta Let This Hen Out- finally get the box set they deserve, along with extra tracks and a bonus double CD or related trips wryly titled Bad Case of History. In fact, Robyn Hitchcock and his Egyptians ( a slimmed-down version on his earlier band the Soft Boys) are in constant forward motion on theis five-disc collection, combining the fifth-dimension wonder of Syd Barrett and the amplified vigor of the ’66 Bob Dylan.

6. Various Artist- Boogie Woggie and Blues Piano
Boogie-woogie piano was the hip-hop of its day- a Chicago-born spin on the blues, charged with the fast syncopation of black urban life. Some of the tracks on this three-disc set come in tuxedos: Lionel Hampton and Benny Carter lead full bands (a young Nat “King” Cole rolls wild on Hampton’s “Central Avenue Breakdown”). But many of these 1936-41 recordings are basically fisticuffs-with-ivories by original masters of the form such as Meade Lux Lewis, Albert Ammons, Jimmy Yancey and Cripple Clarence Lofton, who’s “Strut That Thing” sounds like the granddad of Ray Charles’ “Mess Around.”

7. Nina Simone- To Be Free: The Nina Simone Story
The former Eunice Kathleen Waymon was the first R&B diva: a protean singer, equally gifted in jazz, folk and show tunes, who challenged racial injustice (“Mississippi Goddam”) and laid her melancholy on the table (“My Man’s Gone Now”) with the same deep range and sensual vibrato. This set is the perfect entrance into her rich discopraghy, covering multiple labels with space for her transforming covers of Bob Dylan, the Beatles, and Leonard Cohen, as well as her holy-warrior medley of George Harrison’s “my Sweet Lord” and the poem “Today Is a Killer” – from a 1971 show ar Fort Dix.

8. Various artist- The Jerry Ragovoy Atroy: Time is on My Side, 1953-2003
The timeline covers Henry Ragovoy’s half-century, as a producer, writer and arranger, in the fine print of classic R&B and soul records beginning with a 1953 doo-woop single by the Castelles, But most of these tracks were cut in the early and mid-Sixties, when Ragovoy made magic daily with mighty voices such as Howard Tate(“You’re Lookin’ Good”), Garnet Mimms (“Cry Baby”), Miriam Makeba (“Pata Pata”), Dusty Springfield (“what’s It Gonna Be”), and Lorraine Ellison ( the Ever-majestic “Stay With Me”). Ragovoy didn’t sing a not on these sides, but these are hiss greatest hits all the same.

9. Rodriguez- Cold Fact
This remarkable artifact of Michigan hippie soul by singer-songwriter Sixto Diaz Rodriguez- a lost classic originally issued in 1970- is what Bob Dylan’s mid-Sixites electric records might have sounded like if he’d made them in Detriot at the dawn of funk. Rodriguez’s strident acoustic strumming and period-arguments lyrics (“Curicify Your Mind”, “Rich Folkes Hoax”) are coated in brittle-fuzz guitars, while Rodriguez vocally recalls a young Cat Stevens- atop the Afro-acid strut of early Funkadelic. Ironically, some years after it bombed in the United States, Cold Fact became a hit- in South America. Now it finally gets another chance here.

10. Augustus Pablo- The Mystic World of Augustus Pablo: The Rocker Story
For the Jamaican producer, composer and keyboard player Augustus Pablo, reggae was not a music. It was a sacrament. Pablo, a devout Rastafarian, pursued the black heart and holy ecstasy of Jamaican rhythm and vocal soul in records he made not only hinder his own name (“East of the River Nile”, “King David’s Melody”) but for great voices like Jacob Miller, the Heptones and Hugh Mundell. These four CDs (plus a DVD) go deep with a wise emphasis on Pablo’s dub sorcery and his fascination with the plastic-church-organ sound of melodic a.

American Idol… Adam Lambert

Pamela — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 16:54:35 +0000

So I was a work and I brought up good old Google News and found an article by Los Angeles Times talking about how Adam Lambert impressed the remaining members of the band queen after the finale performance this last wednesday night. Though they are not sure they are quiet ready to make him the new lead singer, they did say they would be very interested in working with him in the future.

Adam Lambert was by far the best performer this year and I think he made it very clear in the very early rounds, that he was in a league all of his own. The other performers were great don’t get me wrong however Adam was pretty much untouchable every night from the start of the competition straight up to the last night. I still have no idea how it ended up that Chris Allen took the idol crown for season 8.

Chris Allen is talented and personally the whole acoustic guitar beach guy all laid back and mellow is right up my alley, but there is just no denying that the voters got it wrong yet again this year. 07- David Archuleta should have won over David Cook, and this year the crown should have went to Adam.

I am sure not being the winner will in no way hurt a person like Adam he has so much self confidence and talent (the man was born to perform)! So if you have not heard of the man be sure to check out some of his performances, even if you are not an American Idol fan. I am sure he will not disappoint. One of my person favorites besides the finale night was his version of “ring of fire” by the late and great Johnny Cash. Also Mad World, there is nothing that this kid sang that sounded bad and I am sure that he will go far so two thumbs up high for Adam in season 8