How does your memory benefit from playing an instrument?  What benefits do you think you derive as you continue honing and developing finger and brain skills?  The human brain receives, actually, an excellent workout when playing an instrument.  We have normally a high regard for accomplished musicians and consider them to have a high intellect because they have been labeled “musically-skilled individuals.”

Most of these performers are known to have natural talent and can detect different pitches and notes.  They have the special ability to memorize the music by simply listening and then playing its notes.  This is a myth because, chances are, they have studied music for many years.  Therefore, playing an instrument employs your learned and practiced skills through the application of detecting, memorizing, and applying the notes, pitches and rhythm you hear. Your brain is constantly working and benefiting as you play any instrument.

Your mind is also busy doing the computations as you tickle those ivories or strings.  Why computations, you might be wondering?  It is because playing music takes mathematical skills in theory.  All music is written in mathematical terms so your brain must process the mathematical signals of the notes and rhythm of the written music as you play a specific piece of music.

The left part of the human brain is said to be the processor of the mathematical elements. From the notes that you are working on when you are pressing those ivories or strings with your fingers, you are also trying to solve a mathematical problem.

Therefore, in the same manner that your body needs nutritious foods and physical workouts to be in excellent condition, you also need the intellectual workouts for your brain.  Playing a musical instrument is just one of the ways to exercise your brain.

Another benefit of playing a musical instrument is that you develop motor coordination.  Hand and eye coordination tend to develop to ultimate levels and the brain develops the signals to allow the coordination.  The brain signals include which keys or strings to play and allows your ears to determine if the chord sounded by the hands is pleasurable to hear.  The brain sends signals to all of your fingers in this process.

Playing music can lessen, or eliminate, the stress you may have as a result of just living. As you attempt to play and hear the music, you have entered into another dimension whose world is nothing but peaceful and serene. You won’t care about anything around you except focusing and allowing consummation of the sounds you are creating.  Playing an instrument has a calming effect for both, the listening audience and performer. The performer also develops self discipline which will affect other areas of their life.

Napster, the same business that started as just a vehicle for peer-to-peer music exchanges, has now become the owner of the largest music catalog on the Internet, with over seven million titles.  While it is not free, as it was in the wild days of the early Internet, it is still an amazing bargain.  The site provides what is widely regarded as the greatest bargain for music fans with a three month introductory subscription and renewals at the same low rates.  Three months will give you a good sense of what the service has to offer, and I strongly suspect that you’ll decide to renew.  A lot of people have maintained a membership for years.

For a remarkably low price, you receive five download credits and special bonus download credits as a subscription bonus.  Included in the plan is the reason that most people subscribe in the first place–unlimited (!) streaming music.  You can listen to the entire catalog’s of your favorite artists or, if you prefer, the entire albums of a variety of artists.  There are also over a thousand interactive, genre playlists.  They even have a streaming radio station.

The downloads you choose can be played on any MP3 compatible device, including Ipod, Zune and many others.  In fact, if your cell phone has this option, you can even carry the music you’ve downloaded from Napster on that, as well.

With your three month membership downloads, you receive unrestricted rights, so you can put your music onto your various players.  You can even burn a CD for yourself.

There is a huge list of musical genres.  If your tastes are similar to mine, you can choose from a lot of different genres, but if your tastes are more specific, you will certainly find your favorite genre.  Among those genres are rock, pop, classical, R&B, musical soundtracks, Christian, jazz, comedy, and the list goes on.

All of this is just $15 for the three months of delightful musical saturation at Napster.com.  Face it, that’s cheaper than a fast food lunch for three.

Playing a musical instrument often entails uninteresting tasks such as playing scales that can become boring. Scales are a necessary evil, if you will and if applied properly can be a path to better playing, no matter the instrument. If you can remember why you are playing scales you can receive the best result from their use.

How Do Scales Help?

Scales are helpful for the improvement of technique in your playing, being it guitar or piano. Scales help you to perform more challenging pieces. You will understand music theory more when you grasp scales, they go hand in hand. Jazz players will attest to the importance of scales to playing jazz music. To be unfamiliar with scales is to not be able to read the road map of music, especially in jazz.

Scales must be a part of every serious practice in order to make them second nature. One of the benefits of scales is to warm up your fingers before you begin playing.

Tips for Practice With Scales

It is important to start with a scale that is easy for you. Remember to not push too hard at first. A short run, say a triad or even less is a good place to warm up before you move to a full octave or even more. Move your starting point up a half step at a time until you have moved up an octave. Next you will repeat the process with a different scale, say a minor one instead of a major one.

The patterns you learn as you play scales will become part of your permanent muscle memory. As you progress you will be able to play one scale after another as you move up and down. Your technique as you play scales is vitally important. Scales practice is often dreaded and feared by all musicians until you understand what it will do for you.
You are developing good or bad habits as you play scales, so concentrate and play well.

Over and over again, I have heard someone say, “I don’t like classical music!”  But did you know that all music evolved from classical music? Some of the early music can hardly be recognized as a sound, let alone music!

Most of the early music resembled what we now term “chant”.  The chant is still used in protests, religious services, sports games and other ways.  The early musicians used composition of new music to practice and contribute to their religion. Music evolved through the periods of medieval, renaissance and baroque styles. Some of these styles were not very melodic.  When the classical period was borne, music was exceptionally creative and drew listener interest and respect.

From this beginning, all of the greatest composers evolved.  Many of the great composers were very involved in their personal religious efforts and wrote their music for that purpose.  George Frideric Handel is a prime example of religious purpose when he composed “The Messiah”.  Many of the independent pieces of “The Messiah” are performed and listened to almost daily . . it’s just the unknowing listener who does not connect the music with the name of the composer and the composer’s works. Another example of religious purpose is “Silent Night” a very well known Christmas anthem composed by Franz Gruber.  “Largo”, listened to fairly frequently, is another example of an individual piece extracted from a much larger composition.  It is actually from an Italian opera, composed by George Frideric Handel.

Johann Sebastian Bach, a descendent of a long line of musical “Bachs”, was a church organist at 18 years of age. As history progressed, he was known as the greatest organist in Germany and very much in demand.  Many of our current day organ preludes (music played before religious services begin) were the compositions of Johann Sebastian Bach. Much of his music concentrated on the organ but other music has been written for the orchestra, piano and voice. One of of his works of modern favoritism is (Aire on a G-String). While this piece was written for the violin, there are also variations written for the piano, full orchestra and guitar.

Among the composers and their serious or light hearted dance music, there was one well known comic, Joseph Haydn.  “The Surprise Symphony” in G Major pulls off the surprise using dynamics (extreme tones varying from very soft to very loud) and, if the listener is not aware of what is to come and if the music is played correctly, could lift you off your chair! Hence, “The Surprise!”

Much of today’s music is written in variation.  It can be played on many instruments or on one and, perhaps, not the instruments it was orginally designed to be played on.
Variations create more interest to the listener, particularly, when the listener can identify with the instrument carrying the major part of the composition.

The summation of all this is never say, “I don’t like classical music!” because, more usually than not, you have probably listened to some of it every day of your life without being aware you were listening to classical music!  Understanding the history of the composers, who pleasure us with their compositions, will bring a new respect for their music.

One of the most relaxing activities we can find,  is listening to music.  This helps relax our body as well as our mind.  Gender or age doesn’t matter when it comes to listening to music;  it is an enjoyable experience.

Of course, people rarely find time to listen to music in the comfort of their own home, sitting on their favorite sofa.  Fortunately, mobile Mp3 players have become a common electronic device allowing people to listen to music whenever they want, whether in the subway or when having lunch.

Mp3 players now allow people to do much more than just listen to music. Advanced players, called portable media players, even allow users to view photos or their favorite videos.

Zen 4gb player is one such advanced player which offers a FM radio tuner in addition to the player.  Using the Zen 4gb player is simple and it easily fits into your pocket.  Besides its advanced features, the player also offers enough storage space to fit a large number of songs.

Since listening to music in public has become common, even people who found this weird in the past are using them now.  Headphones have gotten smaller and smaller, so small, no one will even know you’re wearing them. Finding a little time to listen to some of your favorite music, or watch a favorite video is a very important method of relaxation, and the Zen 4g player helps you accomplish this. Give it a try; you won’t be disappointed!

Benefits of purchasing music online for downloading is that you are able to:

Listen to the music before you buy it. Most online music sites allow you to listen to each track so that you can decide if you want to purchase the full album of music or just tracks (songs).  Of course, you have the right to search for something else. This saves you the trouble of buying a CD disc offline and then arriving home to discover that you really don’t like it.

Portability: When you download digital or recorded music, you immediately have portable tunes! You can upload tracks on your MP3 player so you are able to take it wherever you go or, you could place it on your external flash drive, enabling the ability to put the music on a   notebook or another computer.  Downloaded albums are very easy to carry around and super enjoyable!

Downloading album music has quite a few benefits.  Below are some good reasons for downloading  music:

Cost Effective: Usually, it is more cost effective to purchase the album you want by downloading  rather than it is to buy a physical CD disc.  Downloaded music won’t wear out as quickly as a physical CD disc.  In some cases, you will receive    freebies which are included when purchasing the entire album for download.  Even if you pay full price for  an album when you download the music, you save in the long run because your downloaded album will not wear out as fast as a physical CD disc.  It is less expensive to download album music from an online store because an offline store has higher overhead expenses.  Consider this, when you download the music you aren’t paying for distribution, transportation to the shop, packaging and other expenses which are associated with physical distribution of   CD’s.

You May Receive Extra Bonus Tracks:   Frequently, when you are downloading album music, you receive additional tracks that are included with the album which aren’t available for single song purchases. Though lots of albums provide some or most of the songs, or tracks, as stand alone purchases, many albums include bonus tracks or certain tracks that are only available when you purchase the complete album.  When you download an album, besides receiving your desired music, you additionally receive some nice bonuses as well.

Convenience: Downloading music albums and/or songs is just plain convenient.  You can easily go online and purchase your favorite music while you are lying on the couch.  You don’t need to change out of your pajamas in order to go shopping for music!  You simply purchase the album online and then download the music.  Now, you have it right on your computer!  You can choose to listen to the music or add it to your MP3 player.

The next time that you catch yourself standing in an offline music shop, holding a handful of CD discs, relax for a moment and consider if it wouldn’t be easier, less expensive and more convenient to just go home, boot up your trusty pc, log on at your favorite online album retailer and download those albums.  You may decide this is the better way to proceed!  For additional interesting posts about various types of music downloads, come see us at: http://musicdownloadsforyouonline.com

Tip # 1. Key Signature.  The key signature of the piece of music that you are about to play requires special attention.  Having the correct sharps and flats committed to memory makes your play much smoother and accurate. 

Tip # 2. Time Signature.  This is another basic characteristic of every piece of music that you must understand in order to sight-read.  You will need to know what kind of note gets one beat. One question to always ask is “how many beats in a measure”.

Tip # 3. Key or Time Signatures Changes.  You need to examine your piece of music to see if the key or time signatures change.  Not knowing about a transition will obviously affect the quality of your play. 

Tip # 4. Starting and Ending Notes.  Starting and Ending notes are excellent reference points for your piano play. Make sure you are familiar with them.

Tip # 5. Note the Rhythm.  Check your left hand chords to see what rhythm is used throughout the piece.  As you look through the song, you usually can get an idea of how it will go.  This will ease you through when trying to play the correct rhythm during sight-reading.

Tip # 6.  Play the Melody First.  Also look through the right hand melody line. It helps to play just the melody first if possible.  This will help give you an idea of the sound of the song and then you can put it all together and you will be able to identify the unique melodic line.

Tip # 7.  Check for Other Markings.  You should know all about loudness/softness, speed, and other technical aspects of music. Check the printed sheets for these markings and make a mental note of them. 

Tip # 8. Relax and Focus. Finally, before you play it is important to take a deep breath and relax yourself.  Focus on the music and the beauty therein.  Try to play the song all the way through for your first sight-reading.  This gives you a general idea of what the song will sound like.  Later you can break it down and work on each measure or group of measures as you see fit. Keep in mind that we are playing music for the love of it, not as a chore.  

So, why exactly am I suggesting that you learn to sight-read instead of using the “learn-a-bit-at-a-time” method?  Sight-reading forces you to move forward at a faster pace until you finish the song, ultimately helping you learn to play music faster.  This helps you get rid of the bad habits that lead to starts and stops when first playing a new piece of music.  Sight-reading is an important skill to learn if you wish to become a good piano player.

For more tips about learning to play piano, including a free mini-course, visit the Learning To Play Piano Today site.

One of the best things about the Internet is that you can now download music. Oftentimes for free, and you can add it to your MP3 player in just seconds!There are some good free sites, but be careful when downloading from a free site. The quality is not always great. Beware, sometimes those “free” sites include spyware or malware with your download. I recommend BeeMP3.com for great free music downloads.
The music is very good quality.

It may be necessary to pay for music if you want the quality and peace of mind. Amazon has a terrific selections and the price is not too bad, $0.79 to $0.99 per song.

(This article is only about MP3 players, downloads, Windows-based products and information. Sorry Apple users!)!)

There are other free sites out there that I have used to download music, but they are not quite legitimate. One, of the sites I like, is always getting into legal trouble with their government for copyright issues (the site is based somewhere in Europe). I am a somewhat wary of recommending or linking to any questionable sites.

My recommendation for the best MP3 player on the market today is the Zune from Microsoft. There are plenty of MP3 products on the marketplace today. There are products that are cheaper than the Zune, but they just do not have the capacity nor the ease of use that the Zune offers. The Zune is targeted to people who want to amass a huge music library on their computer and their portable player as well. I have maxed out my 80 GB Zune. In order to download more songs, I’ve had to delete some files. Maybe next Christmas I’ll get the 120 from Santa.

If you are a bit confused with all the technical jargon, I’ve written an e-book about how to create a digital music library on your computer and on your MP3 player. My e-book offers a truly easy way to collect a state-of-the-art digital music library that is inexpensive, portable and takes up very little space.

Happy music downloading, enjoy!

You could’ve heard someone say that a track was compressed before at least once. Compressed tracks tend to sound a lot better than a track without it. Professionals use it so much that you could have a compressor in every piece of every track. If you want to become a professional than you need to invest in professional hardware right?

Do I have to get a compressor?

If you use any type of audio system for recording vocals, you will eventually need some type of compressor. The compressor is like a regulator for the distance between the loud and quiet parts in a sound track. The volume is reduced when the gain is too loud to level out the two sounds or loud and quiet parts. During this process, the compressor will perform Gain Reduction. Another way to say it is that gain decreases when input reaches threshold.

Then, of course, you want the best available compressor out right? Gain reduction in compressors that’s best for you can be found and researched easily on here to help you make better decisions on what to buy. Whether you trying to buy or sell one we offer you advice.

You might say that you don’t want anything else, but the best. Then, maybe you are the type of person who likes to own the rare things in life. Compressions from the highest quality to the rarest kind are shown on gainreduction.com with their prices compared to the competition and you can even read the reviews of other people who’ve owned this product before. Don’t look anywhere else! Get your tools for Gain Reduction right here.

“Bohemian Rhapsody” was written by Freddie Mercury alone. Unusually, it was written on a telephone book in blocks. Each day he would add a new part to the composure. All the other instrumental parts bass, guitar and drum parts were thought up by Freddie as he went along. The rest of the band refereed to it as Freddie’s thing. Having now idea how the song would turn out, the other members of the band recorded their various parts as directed by Freddie. While composing,What started out as a small interlude,”Galileos”, became the famous operatic feature of the entire song. This intertwined with the hard rock and ballad parts of the song during the final mix.

A Queen Songs revival!

During the the making of “Wayne’s World 2″ in 1992, this track was used while the crew were going down town in the ‘Murph Mobile’. Parts of the original video were in the film, while the boys sang along, doing their stuff in the car. It was a bit of a blast from the past and not quite in tune with the film but what a way to wake the fans up!

The title only came to light towards the end of the recording of the song. “Queen Bohemian Rhapsody” is one the all time great of popular music songs. Of course the band had other outstanding tracks and songs in the history of their long and colorful career. Crazy Little Thing Called Love,We will rock you, Love of My life and many others too.