When a painter is getting ready to paint, a color palette is usually chosen first. For example, if a forest is to be painted, the artist may choose browns, greens, and blues for the sky. Once the palette is chosen, it makes it easier to create the painting. Why? Because color decisions are now out of the way.

We can apply this concept to music as well. In particular, New Age piano playing. In your lesson, Reflections in Water, we have four chords to play with and we have the order in which they are to be played. Now, all that is required “to paint” your sound portrait is the ability to take these chords and play around with them.

Once the decision about what chords to play and how to play them are out of the way, you can now focus on making music. This is how I created Reflections in Water. I knew that the piece would be in the Key of C. I then chose a few chords from this key and fooled around with them.

It can be very confusing for the beginner in improvisation.

There are so many choices and ways to go about making music. This is why limiting choice is important. Also, it is equally important to begin by using simple means. Many students think that if they can’t compose like Beethoven or Mozart, they are untalented. Get rid of this idea quickly. Everyone starts from simple means and it’s a good idea to begin your experience in improvisation the same way.

Edward Weiss is a pianist/composer and webmaster of Quiescence Music’s online piano lessons. He has been helping students learn how to play piano in the New Age style for over 14 years and works with students in private, in groups, and now over the internet. Stop by now at http://www.quiescencemusic.com/piano_lessons.html for a FREE piano lesson!

That’s right “Chronicles of Narnia”, Richard Pryor and the new movie “Brokeback Mountain” posess an insidious link to, a controversial persuasion author, JK Ellis.

This is a conspiracy of implication.

JK Ellis and Richard Pryor - fearless in telling you whats on our minds. JK Ellis and the movie “Chronicles of Narnia” - compelling in what we have to offer. JK Ellis and the new movie “Brokeback Mountain” - willing to discuss things that everyone else wants to ignore or deny.

This is merely a demonstration of how one can persuade by association and implication. Simply by comparing the writer JK Ellis to three things in the popular culture it creates a fit in the mind s of the public.

JK Ellis points this out on his Mind Control blog http://mindcontrol101.blogspot.com as “not quite the same thing as name dropping to impress people but it’s along the sames lines.”

How do the best PR people in the world use this strategy?

1) Quotes - telling people what other people have said about you. This is different than just stating it out right. “Quotes” provides distance.

2) Plant a story or press release that piggy backs something in the popular culture with your name. Example: “Controversial Mind Control Author warns of advance influence technology in Harry Potter movies”.

3) Covertly drop a name. Meaning while you’re on the phone you turn your back to the listener and whisper just loud enough for them to hear “Tell Mr. Tarantino that I can’t work with him until his assistant clears his schedule for me. There’s no way that…. Oops… I have to go.”

4) Leaving a scratch pad on your desk with the words “Lindsay Lohan cell# 619-722-8099″

The key is to distance yourself as much as possible from actually dropping the name yourself.

None of this is new, of course. Planting credible evidence has been one keys to success since the time of Chinese General Sun Tzu.

For more information on covert persuasion and mind control you can read JK Ellis blog at http://mindcontrol101.blogspot.com .

Getting reviews can be one of the toughest things for any new band. It’s not just trying to figure out who the best people to send your cd to, it’s making sure they listen to your band and actually write the review. Music writers get an avalanche of band’s cds each week, I have learnt that through doing my own zine Beat Motel. Some really good bands get overlooked when it comes to getting reviews because they don’t follow a few simple but golden review rules. If you don’t follow these rules you might as well make that stack of CDs then chuck them in the bin;

The Golden Rules of Getting your band reviews

Be INTERESTING, sounds obvious, but if you can’t be arsed with your output then why should anyone else care about you?

Review contacts
The biggest challenge when planning a PR campaign for you band is getting contacts. You can spend months looking up publication/ zine contacts on the web only to have your press packs returned undeliverable. This is especially true with webzines, they are often started with fantastic enthusiasm by the people behind them, then left to rot after a few weeks.

Reading your band’s reviews
The next part of your ‘get heard’ challenge is reading your band’s reviews. Sound daft doesn’t it! But think about it for a moment, you’ve spent months finding contacts, stuffing envelopes with your world changing cds, but how are you going to get copies of the reviews if they are published? 99.99% of zines/ magazines will not send you a free copy of their publication. Most zines (especially the big ones that you really want reviews published in) get sent anything up to 100 cds a week, if they sent out a free copy to each of those 100 bands then they wouldn’t have any copies left to actually sell! So what do you do? You subscribe to every single one of these publications, in fact you’d probably have to as the chances of your release / demo getting reviewed when you think it will be are pretty damn rare. So you’d have to buy every copy of the magazine (or whatever) until you happen across your own review.

So is this all worth it?
Of course it is silly! Getting reviews brings exposure, interviews and about a thousand other positive outcomes!

Here’s an easy answer…
There is a solution to all these problems if you have a bit of cash. Use a PR company, they have all the contacts, relationships with the publications they are sending your output to and will even send you copies of your reviews when they come out!

We recommend corndogpr.co.uk for getting your band reviewed, interviewed and out there!

Andrew Culture has written for various publications based on music and politics for the last 6 or seven years. Andrew has also been working on his first novel for ten years, and is getting nowhere. Andrew Culture also published the zine ‘Beat Motel’, more details here - http://www.beatmotel.co.uk

Tomorrow’s MP3 digital music - will it be small with tons of storage, larger with a video screen, or non-existent and end up in a cellphone.

Changes in the market will likely split into all three markets the way as stated in the title above. Most of it really depends on the Americans and Europeans and which continent will be more aggressive in marketing. Basically Europeans tend to like their gadgets in one source. But Americans seem to have more than one gizmo on them. Music players probably will not get much smaller because they are at the limit of there usability.

Future of digital music

Flash memory players may eventually not be able to keep up with the hard drive mp3 players due to manufacturers working on potentially offering more storage where 5 to 10 gigabit players will become available on the hard drive end. Going forward, they could be all about video and image playback just like they are now all about music. This will not move forward until manufactures and software companies are convinced their copyright is secure since being such a new area in music development.

Future music around the house

More music digital video will eventually change music listening at home. Manufactures are constantly creating devices to take music from a computer and have it play hi fi digital music on your home stereo. There are a few wireless systems currently available on the market, like the wireless music centre from Phillips, the Sonos digital music system, or Microsoft’s media center extender. Apple also has it own product called airport express. All of these can stream wireless music around your home.

Three times in the last month I’ve been asked the question, “what do I need to do to organise a gig?” In reality, when this question is asked it can mean several things: How do I find a venue? How do I sort out the PA? How do I get an audience? And so on.

But there is a stage before all of this: the budget. I would suggest that the moment you start thinking about organising an event you should write a budget. This budget spreadsheet informs you of most things that you will need to consider and will also show you the risk, projected profit and the breakeven point. A sample spreadshhet is available to download from this address http://www.josaka.com/features/2005/Organise-A-Gig/Event-PandL.pdf

If the budget numbers don’t look like they are working perhaps the event is not the right thing to be running. If you don’t like the level of risk, perhaps you aren’t cut out to be a promoter.

So the start point is a spreadsheet. This should include all costs and all incomes. The key headings for costs should include: performer cost, PA, lighting, venue hire, marketing, box office costs etc. The income is likely to be largely ticket sales but don’t forget the opportunity to add a sponsor to the event.

The spreadsheet will help you work out the breakeven point for the event i.e. how many tickets you need to sell to cover all costs. Every sale beyond breakeven is of course profit (exluding any box office commision). The added bonus of creating an event spreadsheet is that helps define all the key tasks to be performed.

The realisation of the forecasted numbers becoming actual figures suggests that all parties have got the deal they were looking for or agreed to. The sample speadsheet also illustrates that everyone else involved in the gig is largely earning a fixed fee and therefore the only person taking a financial risk is the promoter.

So if you are thinking of organising a live event I coomed you to work on the numbers first. This will help ensure you deliver a great show and have control over the money.

Kevin Harrington is the founder of josaka http://www.josaka.com the site that supports live music in Berkshire, UK. He is also director of marketing for Arkade http://www.arkade.com the mp3 distribution business.

There are really only two ways you can play chords on the piano - solid or broken. While solid chords are nice, it’s the arpeggio or broken chord that students love to play! Cascading notes shimmer and glide up and down the piano keyboard to create a waterfall of sound!

Creating a broken chord piano improvisation need not be difficult. All that you need to know is what chords to play and how to create the broken chord sound. Knowing the chords you will play is the easy part. Creating the broken chord sound can present some with problems. These problems can be easily overcome if we start out by using a special chord structure known as the open position chord.

Here, both hands are used to create a modern sounding seventh chord. The left hand gets the root, fifth, and seventh of the chord while the right takes care of the third and seventh as well. With this chord structure, the beginner can create that beautiful lush sound right away!

We can begin in the left hand and go up to play what is called an ascending piano run, or we can begin in the right and go down. We can alternate fingers back and forth to create different textures and use the notes under our fingers to explore a whole new world of broken chord possibilities.

For example, in the lesson Forest’s Edge, we use open position chords in the Key of B Major to create an ascending broken chord run. Both hands are used to create it. The right plays melody notes as well. The amazing thing about this lesson is that it sounds a lot more difficult than it actually is to play.

Of course, broken chords can be played using triads, closed position chords, and any number of infinite chord varieties. But by using the open position chord first, students can quickly create a modern broken chord sound right away!

Edward Weiss is a pianist/composer and webmaster of Quiescence Music’s online piano lessons. He has been helping students learn how to play piano in the New Age style for over 14 years and works with students in private, in groups, and now over the internet. Stop by now at http://www.quiescencemusic.com/piano_lessons.html for a FREE piano lesson!

MP3 or MPEG -1 Audio Layer is an open standard to compress audio files about one twelfth of the disk space of the original audio track and providing the nearest sound quality to an original CD. This is the reason why it has become the standard scheme to compress music on the web or internet. Since the size of music files is reduced and availability of various free mp3 player software has made it easy to distribute music and other audio recordings online.

Advantages of MP3

1. Many digital audio formats have been developed by companies such as Microsoft, Lucent, and Yamaha which have restrictions on their technology that could be used by outside developers. But as of now MP3 has all the momentum to distribute music.

2. As there are no security features with Mp3 files, millions of these files are easily posted and passed around the web each day. These files are so small that these files could be easily downloaded or attached to an email while sending to any of your friends.

3. Another reason is our listening habits that force the people to use mp3. You can collect all your favorite songs, bands or styles as per your preference and store it into your computer hard disk. Next you can put all the songs in the play list and send it to the CD burner for recording. Later you are free to listen it anywhere with the help of portable mp3 players.

4. Also an upcoming area for mp3 is web casting or audio streaming. Unlike mp3 downloads, streamed mp3 files are not stored in the computer hard disk but are broadcasted like traditional radio and receiver (mp3 player for instance).

5. These are the few reasons you would start dabbling in mp3 but there are many ethical and legal issues which you need to consider before you start making mp3 downloads.

For more information visit our recommended website freedownloadmp3song.info

Olivia Andrews, writer of freedownloadmp3song.info is a freelance journalist and has written many reviews on subjects such as finance, education, health, entertainment, music, apparels and mobile phones.

Wouldn’t it be nice if you could predict which chord would probably come next in a song?

I’ve got some good news for you.

It is possible. Not 100%, but somewhere on the order of 75% to 85% accurate.

That’s because music has FORM — like the skeleton that holds your flesh, muscles, and skin up. If you had no bones — no skeleton — your flesh and all the other parts of you would fall in a heap on the floor. Not a pretty picture. But because you DO have a skeleton, you are able to walk around and pretty accurately predict which way your next step will take you.
It’s the same in music. Music has FORM — a skeleton to hold it up, hold it together. And that skeleton is made out of chords — harmony — the tonal center of the song or piece.

In any given key you can play in, there are PRIMARY CHORDS — chords that occur way more than other chords. They are like family members of that particular key.

At your house, let’s say you have 3 people in your family — your spouse, your child, and you. On the same block, but down the street a few houses, lives your cousin and her family.
At any given moment, who are the most likely people to be in your house?

Steve Martin? John McCain? Barry Bonds?

I don’t think so.

It’s possible, of course, but not too likely. If I had to guess, I would say it would be either you, your spouse, or your child. It might be your cousin down the street — there’s a much better chance of that than, say, Mel Gibson — but my best odds would be to guess that the family members would be there.

It’s the same way with chords. In any given key, there are 3 “family members” that are residents of that key — the I chord, the IV chord, and the V chord. They are far and away the most likely chords to occur in any given key.

For example, if I am playing in the Key of C, and the first chord is the C chord and I have to guess what the next chord is, I would guess that it would be either the F chord or the G chord. Why? Because those are the other “family members”. So we have narrowed the odds a great deal just by knowing who the members of the family are.

So how could I tell whether it should be F or G?

If the melody is a “B”, then the chord is probably a G chord. Why? Because “B” is in the G chord, but is not in the F chord.
If the melody is a “A”, than I would guess that the chord is F. Why? Because “A” is in the F chord, but is not in the G chord.
Does that mean that there are always just 3 chords in a song?

No, but there are literally hundreds of songs that are made of just 3 chords.

What if there are more than 3 chords in a song? What then?

We’ll take that up in part 2 of this series of articles.

Duane Shinn is the author of over 500 music books and music educational materials such as DVD’s, CD’s, musical games for kids, chord charts, musical software, and piano lesson instructional courses for adults. His book-CD-DVD course titled “How To Play Chord Piano In Ten Days!” has sold over 100,000 copies around the world. He holds advanced degrees from Southern Oregon University and was the founder of Piano University in Southern Oregon. He is the author of the popular free 101-week online e-mail newsletter titled “Amazing Secrets Of Exciting Piano Chords & Sizzling Chord Progressions” with over 70,000 current subscribers.

Congratulations, you have just acquired a wonderful new addition for your home! This new addition will not only add beauty to your home, but will also bring musical pleasure to you and your family. Now that you have your new piano, you will want to make sure that you are caring for it properly. Caring for your piano properly will not only ensure that it plays to its maximum potential, but will also ensure that the value is maintained and, in the case of a new piano, that your warranty is maintained. In this article, I will outline some tips on caring for your piano, including how often you should have your piano tuned, how to help maintain your piano’s tuning stability, and how to safely clean and care for the exterior of your piano. I will also define piano tuning, and explain why it is necessary for your piano.

What is a piano tuning and why is it necessary?

There are over 200 strings in your piano, which are stretched at high tension across the frame of your piano. When a piano technician performs a piano tuning, he or she carefully adjusts the tension of each of the strings in the piano in order to ensure they not only sound in harmony with each other, but that they are also playing in standard pitch (when A sounds at 440 Hz).

While not having your piano tuned regularly will not in itself damage the piano, playing on a piano that is not in proper tune can be very de-motivating for anyone trying to practice on that instrument. It is common to hear children commenting to their parents that their piano at home does not sound or feel as “good” as their teacher’s piano. This is usually more due to the fact that the piano has not been regularly serviced, rather than that the piano at home is an inferior piano. Not having your piano tuned regularly also increases the risk that problems occurring in the piano due to environmental factors will go unnoticed. This could lead to more permanent and costly damage. In addition, it is more difficult to tune a piano that has not been regularly serviced.

How often should I have my piano tuned?

Generally a piano should be tuned twice per year in order to keep it in good playing condition. Please note that a piano will go out of tune whether it is played or not. A brand new piano or a piano with new strings on it will probably need to be tuned 3-4 times in the first year. This is because new strings tend to stretch as they are being worked in, causing the piano to go out of tune more often. A piano that is used quite often, such as one being used all day for piano lessons, or one being used by high level pianists who practice many hours a day, will need to be tuned every 2 - 3 months.

How can I ensure better tuning stability in my piano?

The biggest factor that causes a piano to go out of tune is the temperature and humidity in the room where the piano is located. In more hot and humid weather, the strings and moving parts on the piano will expand, causing the piano to play sharper than standard pitch. In more cold and dry weather, these parts will contract, causing the piano to play flatter than standard pitch.

Unfortunately, the parts of a piano do not all expand and contract at the same rate. This not only causes the piano to go sharp or flat, but it causes the piano to sound out of tune with itself. If the room in which the piano is located is too dry, there is the risk of getting cracks in the sound board of your piano. This can seriously hamper the sound of the instrument. If the room is too humid there is the risk of problems such as sticking piano keys, caused by the swelling of the wooden parts of the piano, as well as a greater risk of rusting strings. While temperature alone does not generally affect tuning stability of pianos, fluctuations in temperature tend to cause fluctuations in humidity. It is therefore recommended that a moderate temperature be maintained in the house throughout the year.

If the temperature and humidity in the room are kept stable, the piano will stay in tune longer. A good way to monitor the humidity in the room is to use a humidistat. This can be purchased at your local hardware store and can be mounted on the wall. The ideal humidity for a piano is between 40 - 50%. In the winter, it is a good idea to have a small humidifier in the room, to control the dryness. Central air conditioning helps to control humidity in the summer. However if you do not have central air conditioning, a dehumidifier may be used. A humidifier or a dehumidifier should be placed in the room with the piano, but not directly beside it.

Placement of the Piano in the Room

Place the piano away from heating ducts, hot air registers and radiators. These items generally dry out the air around them, and can not only affect your tuning stability, but can also cause cracks in your piano’s soundboard. Try to keep the piano out of direct sunlight. Direct sunlight can damage the finish of the piano.

Also, be aware of how other items in the room will affect your piano’s sound. Items such as carpets and draperies tend to absorb sound, while wooden items tend to amplify it or make it sound more “live”. If you feel that the piano you have is either too loud or too muted, try adjusting the items that accompany the piano in the room.

Cleaning and Polishing Your Piano

Polishing the Piano: It is generally not recommended to use furniture polish on pianos. The best way to clean a piano is to use a soft cloth which has been slightly dampened and wrung out. A micro fibre cloth is useful for cleaning dust off high-gloss finish pianos. Micro fibre cloths can usually be found in the same section as home car wash accessories in your local hardware store. Piano polishes may be purchased from your local piano store. Some of these polishes are anti-static, and help to keep the dust off your piano.

Cleaning the Piano Keys: It is recommended to use a clean damp cloth to clean the tops of the piano keys. In cases where the keys are tougher to clean, a mild soap solution may be used. Make sure to thoroughly dry the keys after cleaning and do not let any water spill down the sides of the keys. Never use any chemicals or cleaning fluids on the keys.

Cleaning the Interior of the Piano: It is generally recommended that the inside of the piano be cleaned only by a technician. As there are many breakable parts on a piano, it is best to have a professional take it apart in order to avoid any damage. Dust buildup in the piano may cause the mechanisms to stick or work more slowly.

Taking the time to care for your piano properly and having it service by a qualified piano technician will not only keep your piano in optimal playing condition, it will also maintain the re-sale value of your instrument.

Margot Hamilton is an employee of Rentpiano Inc, a piano rental and tuning centre serving Southern Ontario. For more information on piano tuning, visit Rentpiano’s website at http://wwww.rentpiano.ca

Country and Pop Music superstar Shania Twain has released a greatest hits CD appropriately titled Shania Twain Greatest Hits.

The reclusive Twain has sold more than 40 million albums over the years with-flirty, hook laden, beat-heavy, country-tinged pop tracks that have all the subtlety of a musical wet T-shirt contest.

She is one of the most successful recording artists in history. Her CD Come On Over is the biggest selling album of all time by a female artist, making it the female equivalent of Michael Jackson’s Thriller.

This long awaited and much anticipated Greatest Hits collection includes three new songs along with the predictable chart topping hits she’s had. Most of the songs are up tempo groovable tunes which is exactly what Shania Twain fans will enjoy and appreciate.

19 out of the 21 songs on this CD are pure gold, and they are so varied in style that there is a song for every music fan.

The CD launches with the classic ballad, Forever and For Always then goes on to showcase the very impressive list of gold records Twain has had over the years. Containing a whopping 21 songs in all.

Impressively Twain writes all of her own songs and melodies on guitar and of course does a great job singing them as well.

Some of my own Shania Twain favorites are track 1, Forever and For Always, track 2 I’m Gonna Getcha Good, track 5, Man! I Feel Like A Woman! and on, and on, and on. Heck they’re all good!

Release Notes:

Shania Twain originally released Greatest Hits on November 9, 2004 on the Mercury Nashville record label.

CD track list follows:

1. Forever and For Always
2. I’m Gonna Getcha Good
3. UP!
4. Come On Over
5. Man! I Feel Like A Woman!
6. That Don’t Impress Me Much
7. From This Moment
8. Honey, I’m Home
9. You’re Still The One
10. Don’t Be Stupid
11. Love Gets Me Every Time
12. No One Needs To Know
13. You Win My Love
14. I’m Outta Here
15. The Woman In Me
16. Any Man Of Mine
17. Whose Bed Have Your Boots
18. Party for Two’ (with Mark McGrath)
19. Don’t!
20. Party for Two (with Billy Currington)

To listen to samples of each song on Greatest Hits by Shania Twain go to:
Shania Twain CD - Greatest Hits MP3 Samples