Category: Music

There was a study recently that indicated that most individuals who graduated from college as music majors never gravitate to an occupation in music. Besides the real conclusion that a great deal of children never ever reach their levels, it brings about another less evident conclusion. And that is that there is a great deal of musical skill available that is not properly touched.

As we talked about that finding, you may have kept in mind an ambition you could have had in life to have your own singing group and to delight in preparing and performing programs, also if it was on an amateur basis. And when you view those four guys or gals on stage in striped tee shirts and straw hats and launch into Lida Rose or Good Night Ladies, the temptation to do like that on your own is quite compelling.

There is not a better time to put together your very own barbershop quartet than in your retired life years. That massive urges of concealed musical skill is practically and most certainly hiding in your retirement home or neighborhood. The probabilities are that when you put a notification up on the buliten board at the retirement community or Laundromat of the seniors center that you are assembling a barbershop quartet, you will get swamped with interested elders who intend to join in on the fun.

It will certainly take some rehearsal and maybe a few voice lessons to get those aged voices up and running but there is no factor that the vocalizing voices of four well practiced and talented senior people could not sing those tunes and get everyone’s toes tapping. And think about the gratification you will really feel that you didn’t permit your music talent go to squander given that you are utilizing it to bring music and joy to others.

Barbershop is not the only kind of music that you and your musical senior people could really want to build a team about. While they were younger, many of us don’t believe regarding the reality that John Belushi and Dan Ackroyd endured their goal when they joined with each other as the Blues Brothers. These were 2 guys who liked the Chicago beat and they took that love of songs and took together a band that offered us all a bunch of enjoyable and joyful memories. Who is to say you and a couple of “Blues Brothers” of the kind the senior citizen in your area can not assemble equally as fun to perform locally.

Starting a sheet music collection is easy, once you’ve decided what you want to collect.

Sheet music is inexpensive and relatively easy to find. You can find music at yard sales, antique shows and on the internet. Only music that is very scarce or rare is expensive. Most pieces can be found at a price between three and twenty five dollars. Extremely rare sheet music can carry a price of up to a thousand dollars, but few pieces fall into this category. You will find music in any color graphic or subject matter you are looking for.

People collect sheet music in many ways. Sometimes sheet music is collected by the genre or songs. You could put together a history of music in America with a sheet music collection. You could do this with the entire history of our country or concentrate on one time period or decade. The possibilities are endless – be creative when building your collection! Songs have been written about most important events in our history, including wars, plane crashes and natural disasters. Themes such as love or the evolution of images of women in music are popular themes for sheet music collections. Other collectors focus on one composer or cover artist.

Ragtime music from the early twentieth century is popular with collectors of vintage sheet music. This music is considered the foundation of modern jazz music. A ragtime music collection looks great displayed in a room decorated in the Early American style. And the cover art on rag time sheet music looks great displayed in picture frames on a wall or sofa table.

Music written by famous composers is popular among sheet music collectors. This music is readily available in all music genres. Other collectors focus on rare or vintage sheet music. The value of these documents depends largely on the condition of the sheets. Pieces in mint condition will be more expensive. Most sheet music isn’t found in perfect condition. The spine of the sheet was usually broken to make the score stand up in the music stand. Spills, tears and names written on the covers are common because sheet music was often used at parties.

Sheet music displayed in a family room or bar area makes a great focal point. Even people who don’t collect sheet music use it in a display of other collectibles. Collectors of beer, whisky, golf, military, cigars or trains can find sheet music to accent their collection. A few pieces of sheet music with great cover art enhance a display of other collectibles. Collectors of memorabilia from movies or Broadway productions often look for sheet music written for the production.

Any sheet music that isn’t displayed should be stored properly to preserve the condition. Store each set of sheet music in a plastic baggie like those used for comic book collections. Place those bags in a large plastic storage container to protect them from being ripped or crumpled. Store your containers in a dry place away from sunlight or moisture, which can damage the music.

Inspired by Peter and the Wolf – Children, Infants & toddlers can learn the names and sounds that instruments of the orchestra make in this fun kids nursery rhyme with real music instrument…
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Question by Jake: What are examples of Indian Musical Instruments?
Can anyone give me examples of Indian Musical Instruments? If you can, please provide a link of where you got it. I’m still searching the web and from my encyclopedia books.

Best answer:

Answer by Colten S
The Sitar is one of my favorite instruments. If you want to hear what one sounds like, basically just listen to any song that George Harrison wrote.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sitar

Give your answer to this question below!

This guy is pretty impressive…. Spot on on his intonation.

And I like his accompaniement setup.

Bob Marley’s birthday today.

Celebrate with music!

Which Musical Instrument is Recommended for Beginners?

*Will the instrument I choose be affordable?

*Which instruments are easy to learn and which are difficult to learn?

*Will it be a quiet instrument or a noisy one?

*If I don’t choose a popular instrument will I be able to find a teacher easily?

*Is the musical instrument of my choice popular or is it an instrument that not many people play?

*How much will a lesson cost?

*I want to choose a musical instrument that I can play in a band. What instruments should I choose?

*I want to play a certain type of music. Which musical instruments are suitable for different styles?

In the following article I will be answering all of the above.

Here is a list of musical instruments to choose from listed in popularity, with the number 1 being the most popular:

1) Guitar

2) Piano

3) Keyboard

4) Drums

5) Violin

6) Cello

7) Flute

8) Saxophone

9) Clarinet

10) Trumpet/Cornet

11) Trombone

12) French Horn

13) Banjo

14) Recorder

15) Viola

16) Tuba

17) Oboe

You can see a list of all musical instruments here:
Musical Instrument Shop. Lots of information and choice. Buy Musical Instruments here

Will the instrument I choose be affordable?

If you want to buy a musical instrument but don’t wont to spend too much money I would choose either a guitar, keyboard, violin, clarinet or trumpet. These instruments are the
cheapest to buy when starting out.

Which musical instruments are easy to learn and which are difficult to learn?

The easiest musical instruments to learn from the list above are: Guitars, Drums and Recorders.

Guitar

The guitar should be easy to pick a few chords and you can almost start strumming and playing a simple tune from your first lesson. It is best advised to learn the classical guitar first as it has nylon strings and will be easier on the fingers than a steel strung electric or acoustic guitar.

Drums

Drums are fairly easy to learn as well. The important thing is to feel the rhythm, once you have this, everything else should be easy to pick up.

Recorder

The recorder is probably the easiest of all musical instruments to learn. Most children at school take up this instrument before progressing on to the clarinet, flute or saxophone which is much more difficult to learn.

The most difficult musical instruments to learn from the list above are: Oboe, French horn, Trumpet and Piano.

The Oboe

The Oboe is probably the most difficult musical instrument to learn. It is very difficult to even produce a sound at first, let alone a musical note. This instrument can take many years to master

The French Horn

The French horn also takes quite a while to get the hang of. The sound is produced not only by blowing, but by creating an embouchure and buzzing the lips to control the air stream, which in turn creates the correct pitch to produce the note. Then the correct valves that correspond to the right pitch have to be learnt. The hand is also used to help the quality of sound by placing in the bell. Wow! Perhaps this is not a great instrument for beginners!

The Trumpet

The trumpet is considered difficult to learn initially because of the techniques needed (similar to the French horn but without using the hand in the bell). The difficult thing about the trumpet is trying to make a nice sound which can take a few years to perfect.

The Piano

Although it is easy to make a sound on a piano, just by pressing any note you sound like a professional, the piano is very difficult when you need to play more than one note at a time. All the above instruments require you to play just one note at a time but with the piano sometimes you need to use every finger and thumb at the same time!
You also need to learn two different clefs, and to learn to read this at the same time is not easy at first.

Will it be a quiet musical instrument or a noisy one?

Do you have neighbours that don’t appreciate music? And they live right next to you with thin walls.
Do you want to play late at night or early in the morning
Are you embarrassed that you are not making a good sound yet, or you don’t want people to hear what you are playing.

If any of the above is true, you need a quite musical instrument or at least one that you can play with headphones or adjust the sound electronically.

If you want to learn a quiet musical instrument, then choose one of the following: Guitar, Piano, Keyboard, Recorder, Clarinet or Flute.

The Classical guitar is very quite and delicate but not the electric or acoustic guitar which are very noisy when amplified!

You can plug headphones in to a digital piano or keyboard or you can turn the sound down. This is the ideal instrument to buy if you don’t want to make any noise. The acoustic piano (also known as the upright or grand piano) is very noisy and should be avoided if you need some peace.

The Recorder is fairly quiet, apart from the high notes, so this instrument would be ok.
The Clarinet is a fairly quiet instrument. It does really depend on how it is played.
The Flute is also quiet but the sound can be a bit piercing on the higher notes.

If I don’t choose a popular musical instrument, will I be able to find a teacher easily?

You can find a musical instrument teacher almost anywhere; there are literally tens of thousands in the UK.
You will almost certainly have no problem finding a teacher if you play the more popular musical instruments: guitar, piano, keyboard, drums or violin.

Is the musical instrument of my choice popular or is it an instrument that not many people play?

Please see the above list of musical instruments. They are listed in order of popularity, number 1 being the most popular instrument.

There are a few guides to find out if a musical instrument is popular. Just look at a symphony orchestra or a wind band and count the number of instruments there are and how many there are of each.
You will find that there are lots of violins and percussion (clarinets and flutes in the wind band case) which means that there is no shortage of people learning these instruments. You will also find that there is only one tuba, one oboe, a few french horns, a few flutes, a few clarinets etc. Of course this is only a guide, as some of the other popular musical instruments such as the guitar, piano and keyboard are not normally found in a symphony orchestra.

How much will a lesson cost?

Individual musical instrument lessons can cost between £8 and £20 for half an hour. Group instrument lessons £5 to £12. Popular musical instruments are normally cheap than not so popular instruments, normally because there is no shortage of teachers and competition tends to bring the prices down.

It is normally better to learn instruments in a group rather than learn individually. Group learning is much more fun as every one is the same level as you and you can share experiences together. Individual instrument lessons can be too serious for a beginner and can actually put you off learning music because of this. However, individual lessons are a must when you get to a certain level of proficiency.

I want to choose a musical instrument that I can play in a band. Which instrument should I choose?

The best musical instruments to learn if you want to play in band are: Guitar, Saxophone, Clarinet, Violin or Cornet.

This list might be considered a strange one, but let me explain the reasoning behind this.

*The guitar is second-to-none as a solo instrument for a band. If you are the lead guitarist (electric guitar), you get all the limelight. You can play great riffs from all the famous songs.

* The Saxophone is a great solo instrument and if you play in a jazz band or big band you get lots of solos to play.

*The clarinet is the king of the wind band; it is the orchestra’s equivalent of the lead violin. In a wind band you get to play lots of solos and intricate melodies.

*The Violin is a fantastic solo instrument and orchestral instrument. Many of the great composers have written beautiful solos and melodies for this instrument.

*The Cornet is the king of the brass band. This instrument has one of the most delightful sounds of all. The cornet is given the lead role in a brass band and is featured in all the best arrangements. The lead cornet player gets to play many solos.

I want to play a certain type of music. Which musical instruments are suitable for different styles?

Here is a list of different music styles:
Rock, Classical, Pop, heavy Metal, R&B, Jazz, Blues, Folk, Caribbean, African, Latin, Dance, Country, Rap, Hip Hop, Christian, Opera.
This list below would be endless if I went in to it in great detail, so here is a short list.

1) Guitar. The electric or bass guitar is suitable for pop, rock, R&B, heavy metal, R&B, Jazz and blues, the classical guitar for classical music, the acoustic guitar for pop and folk.

2) Piano. The acoustic piano is suitable for classical, jazz, blues and dance.

3) Digital Piano/Keyboard is suitable for pop music, dance, jazz and blues.

4) Drums are suitable for pop, rock, classical, jazz, African – well, almost everything!

5) Violin is suitable for classical, folk, country and dance.

6) Cello is suitable for classical.

7) Flute is suitable for classical.

8) Saxophone is suitable for jazz, blues, pop.

9) Clarinet is suitable for classical, jazz and blues.

10) Trumpet/Cornet is suitable for classical, jazz, blues and dance.

11) Trombone is suitable for classical, jazz and blues.

12) French horn is suitable for classical.

13) Banjo is suitable for country and folk.

14) Recorder is suitable for classical.

15) Viola is suitable for classical.

16) Tuba is suitable for classical.

17) Oboe is suitable for classical.

I hope that you now feel more informed and can make a decision on which musical instrument is best for your needs.
If you need more information about musical instruments I can recommend visiting http://www.soundsmusical.comthe top musical instrument shop in the UK – Soundsmusical.com

Happy learning!

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