A History Of Country Music

November 26th, 2009 | Posted by admin

Musicians have long been playing fiddle music in the Appalachians for years, but it wasn’t until 1927 in Bristol, Tennessee that the first recording country music recording deal was signed. In this year, Victor Records signed Jimmie Rodgers and the Carter Family.

Jimmie Rodgers was born in Meridian Mississippi, in 1897. Originally he worked on the railroads until his ill health got the better of him and it was only during this time that he followed his earlier love of entertaining. In 1927 he followed word that Victor Records were setting up a portable recording studio and made his way there. He was immediately signed and continued recording and playing music until he died in 1933.

In 1965 he was one of the very first musicians to be added to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1961 along with Hank Williams and Fred Rose. On the same day as Jimmie Rodgers signed with Victor Records, so did the Carter Family, who would become one of the most famous country music bands of all time. They remained with Victor Records until 1936. Not even divorce could separate the band though and they continued to record with Decca until 1939. Things started to hit a rough patch at this stage and despite signing for Universal and eventually Victor Records again, the band split in 1941.  Read more...

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7 Tips for Effective Musical Practice

November 16th, 2009 | Posted by admin

The quality of your practice is much more important than the quantity. The old saying “practice makes perfect” is only true if the practice itself is perfect. Here are 7 tips to help make your practice more effective and efficient.

Practice motions slowly

The muscular memory of our bodies allows us to physically carry out patterns of motion with little or no conscious involvement. Examples of muscular memory include walking, riding a bicycle, typing, and of course playing a musical instrument.

In order to develop this memory, the muscles require training in the form of repeated conscious guidance from the mind. First the mind must learn the pattern. Then the mind must “teach” the pattern to the muscles.

The mind initially must control all the motions of the muscles. The more controlled and precise the motions, the more quickly the muscles will develop muscle memory.

Slow practice also allows the mind to teach “antagonistic muscles” to relax. Antagonistic muscles are those that move in opposite directions. By relaxing antagonistic muscles you can reduce tension and facilitate faster and easier performance and avoid potential injury.

Practice in small cells

A “practice cell” is simply a finite series of motions. Musical cells can correspond to anything from a few notes to an entire work. When practicing, it is important to practice small cells of just a few notes. Practicing small cells limits the amount of information the muscles have to learn at one time. It also facilitates the mind’s focus and concentration.

Link the end of one cell to the beginning of the next

To help the muscles develop a sense of continuum throughout the piece of music, the last motion in a cell should be the first motion of the following cell.  Read more...

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3 Steps to Playing Comfortably for a Crowd

November 15th, 2009 | Posted by admin

Most people are not comfortable performing in front people. When I say of performing, such as an instrument, or singing, or acting, I mean more than just knowing how to do well at your chosen craft, I mean doing it well and in front of people. It’s the “in front of people” part that gets us every time. How many of us sing like a bird in the shower but then when people are watching we can’t carry a note. Here are three steps to start you on the road to comfort (never complete) when called on to shine.

1. Don’t neglect to practice. Whether you sing or play an instrument practice is the key to being relaxed. The more familiar you are with what you are performing, the less anxiety you will have about messing up.

2. Don’t back up. Piano teaches pass this on all the time. If you mess up in the middle, or any place in your piece, don’t back up and repeat the offending passage. Keep going. Chances are your audience didn’t even notice.

3. Try not to be critical of your technical skill. Focus more on your overall performance. How does it sound as a whole? If you’re a pianist and you worry during your piece about your fingering then you’re ignoring the song and how it sounds. Worry about technicalities when you practice. Which should be often.  Read more...

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Musical Instrument Competition: 25 New Instruments Created

November 9th, 2009 | Posted by admin

There has something new happened for the music lovers. They’ll be now able to hear some more good music produced by 25 new innovative musical instruments that competed against each other at the first annual Guthman Musical Instrument Competition.

The ‘Silent Drum’ invented by Jaime Oliver won the first prize. The winning drum has a flexible drum head which forms black shapes in front of a white background when pressed by fingers. The shapes are recorded by a video camera and sent to a laptop where Max/MSP software turns the shapes into sound in real time.

The Second prize was won by ‘GuitarBot’ devised by Eric Singer. The instrument not only performs guitar parts for Lemur (League of Electronic Musical Urban Robots), but can also perform complex solo compositions.

The third prize went to David Wessel, a Berkeley University professor and an electronic music veteran, who performed on the ‘Slabs’. Slabs is an interface for the Max/MSP audio program having touchpads sensitive to fingertip pressures.

There were many other innovative musical instruments. One of them made drum and bass sounds by running fabric through lasers. Yet another mounted a keyboard on a motorcycle engine while another contestant made an instrument inspired by solving a Sodoku puzzle using wooden blocks.

The contest for discovering the best ideas for innovative musical instruments was organized by Georgia Tech Center for Music Technology and Harmonix, the company that gave the popular video games ‘Guitar Hero’ and ‘Rock Band’. More than 60 musicians, inventors and hobbyists applied for the competition. 25 applicants were given an opportunity to show off musical instruments devised by them. The prizes included $5,000 for first place; $3,000 for second place; and $2,000 for third place. Apart from the three top prizes, a copy of Rock Band video game was awarded to the winners of fourth, fifth and sixth places.  Read more...

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A great recording and rehearsal experience with Resident Studios

November 6th, 2009 | Posted by admin

Resident are a suite of recording and rehearsal facilities based in Willesden, North West London. We have three recording control rooms and four rehearsal rooms, sonically isolated and acoustically treated to give the very best creative environment in a purpose built studio block. Clients range from mainstream indie/rock bands to classical and specialist dance projects. We can provide specialist voiceover facilities and post production solutions – jazz musicians and international artists are frequent visitors. Resident’s producers can also offer full production assistance with your project, from arrangement to session musician organisation and we are one of the few music studios in London that offer commissioned music of any style.

We take the recording process very seriously, and are experts in drum and guitar tracking and microphone placement. The mix can be routed through analog or digital desks via our state-of-the art Digidesign Pro Tools HD3 Accel system, whilst our mastering studios can provide the final polish to your song, finalized onto DAT, CD or DVD media or now streamed directly though our broadband internet link. This attention to detail is the difference between your project shining as a commercial success, or just another dull demo. This can make a hit or drown a potentially good song. Of course our producers and engineers are highly skilled, which will make the recording experience all the more positive and productive. We also have facilities to record karaoke and backing tracks for solo singers and artists, and can offer gift vouchers of recording studio time. Our larger rehearsal rooms have both wooden floors and mirrors and can also be put to use for choreography and dancing rehearsal.

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