Voice Training And Protection – Essential For The Aspiring Singer

May 28th, 2008 by admin

At a very early stage in Joanne’s life, her mother and father became aware of the fact that their little girl had a passion for singing. The discovery happened during a Church service and resulted in Joanne becoming a member of the choir.

We all know that as a child enters into puberty, along with many other changes the voice also alters, making those high notes a little less easy to reach. This is the point where voice training comes into play.

In Joanne’s case, her parents searched the web and found that one of the best ever coaches within the singing business was Renee Grant-Williams, who has such well known stars as Christina Aguilera, Faith Hill, Linda Ronstadt and Bo Bice, (the season four runner up of American Idol) as part of her distinguished success list of performers.

This coach clearly sees voice training as a way to instruct people how to master any obstacles experienced and to sing in perfect tune.

Breathing, support and resonance are the three components of singing. These can all be performed properly by making a point of not straining at the neck, and allowing the lower muscles of the body to let the pitch come out freely. You may remember this technique was used by Elvis Presley, who whilst keeping the chest free to resonate, allowed himself to smoothly carry out his stage act.

Of course, feeling empathy towards the song being sung will also encourage the singer to sing it well. If, for example, the song was all about love, this emotion needs to be put over by the singer and this will allow communication with the audience in an extremely powerful way.

Voice protection is essential in order to always sound good and there are some simple steps which can be taken to achieve this.

First of all, a singer should drink at least eight glasses of water each day as this stops dehydration of the throat. Alcohol should be reduced to a minimum, along with caffeine intake, as this causes water loss in the body.

Spicy food should also be avoided by those wishing to become stage celebrities. Food of this kind encourages acids to play up in the stomach and this will eventually cause harm to the throat and esophagus areas.

A well balanced diet of the right amount of fruit, vegetables and grains will keep the mucus membranes in the throat in a continually healthy state.

Although it is often said that practice makes perfect, if a singer follows the above tips gets good quality rest, and keeps on with those scales, the voice is sure to be strong, healthy and sound great.

Tags:
Music General,
Musical Performance,
Practice,
Singing

Source: Music General

Where can I find free software to create music scores?

May 27th, 2008 by admin

I’m looking for software to create music score. You had answered a question previously how to insert musical symbols into Word, but I’m really after preparing a proper score. Can you recommend any software for this?


I got this question from someone responding to the post about musical characters in Word. There are a number of packages on the market that can help you do this, but most of them can carry quite a hefty price tag. Pizzicato for example, can cost anything between $20 and $500 depending on which version you decide to go for. Finale, an excellent product costs $600. However, there’s also a free version of Finale called Finale Notepad. It doesn’t have the same functionality, but it’s perfect to create your own scores with, and they look excellent when you print them out.

Here’s a quick tour showing how it works. You can either dive straight into it, or use the wizard that helps you get on your way even quicker. Step 1 involves giving a title to your composition and specifying what print size the score is going to be.

Step 2 is where you specify exactly what instruments your score is for. You can select just one instrument, or different orchestra sections. I told you it’s quite comprehensive.

The next step consists of specifying you key signature and time signature for the score. The wizard is pretty simple to use and walks you through all your options.

And voila’, you score is ready for you to populate:

The software then lets you add your own music to the score, and then print it out. There are a number of toolbars that lets you annotate the music, add notes, rests and whatever else you might want to add to it.

If you’re into music, just go ahead and download it, load it on your computer or laptop and have a play.

Related Questions

Source: free

On this day May 22nd

May 26th, 2008 by admin

1961 – The Beatles perform at the Top Ten Club, Reeperbahn, Hamburg, West Germany.

1962 – The Beatles perform at the Star-Club, Hamburg, West Germany.

1963 – The Beatles, on tour with Roy Orbison, perform at the Gaumont Cinema, Ispwich, Suffolk.

1992 – Ringo Starr's album "Time Takes Time" (Private Music 01005-82097-2) is released in the U.S. Tracks: "Weight of the World," "Don't Know a Thing About Love," "Don't Go Where the Road Don't Go," "Golden Blunders," "All in the Name of Love," "After All These Years," "I Don't Believe You," "Runaways," "In a Heartbeat," and "What Goes Around.

Spread the Word!

Source: On This Day

How to Choose the Best Computer Speakers for You

May 26th, 2008 by admin

As the owner of an electronics store specializing in audio equipment, I get asked all the time what the best computer speakers are. People are often surprised at my reply. I succeed in my business by trying to give honest answers and not automatically directing people to the most high-tech and sophisticated audio there is. As an honest salesman, I have to say there is no simple answer.

If you are an ordinary user, the best computer speakers for you might just be the ones your computer came with. Most laptops come with computer speakers that have a pretty high level of fidelity. What they don't have, however, is much bass. If you are only using your speakers for casually putting music on in the background, a little bit of gaming, or voice over IP, what you have is probably just about perfect. If you want a little bit more body, you can add a woofer to fill out the sound a little bit, but there's no need to spend a lot of money on a sophisticated audio setup.

Then again, different people have different tastes. In gamer magazines, the best multimedia computer speakers reviews consistently go to speakers with a lot of bass. It seems that gamers really like low-end power – no doubt to stimulate the sonic jar of explosions hitting nearby, or the growl of monsters in some underground dungeon. If you find big bass to be thrilling, by all means go out to your local audio store and invest in some bass. Don't make the mistake that most people do, however, of assuming that more powerful speakers are necessarily better. Having too much bass without enough mid and high range can actually distort the sound of music.

Of course, if you are a serious music listener, the way to find the best computer speakers is to look them up in consumer reports. You can spend as much as you want on high quality audio components, and you are generally rewarded for the money you invest. Nonetheless, even if it is supposed to be the best computer speaker out there, don't buy it without listening to it first. Some speakers, for example, have too warm a sound for some users. Others feel a little bit tinny. Different audio speakers are geared towards different listeners, so there really is no one best choice. The best computer speakers, like the best music, is a matter of opinion.

Source: computer speakers

Where to Get a New Experience to Download Korean Movies

May 26th, 2008 by admin

The way to download Korean movies has been made easiest with the help of new technology. While searching through the internet you could find sites that could offer download services. These sites require you to pay a one-time registration fee. After then, you will be allowed to take your pick from their databases. You are free from any pay-per-view charges which often go with downloading a movie via other means.

Download Korean Movies

The emerging trend is to switch to download Korean movies right in ones PC. More and more software are also made available for you to download. If at present you are pressured by the regular monthly fees that you have to pay, these software save you from this problem.

Some recent studies and surveys have been conducted on how often Koreans download movies. Some of the results showed that almost one half of the respondents use file sharing as their means of obtaining their movies. Most Korean households have already super fast internet connections that make downloading faster. This has resulted to more number of downloads and the figures show that South Koreans have an average of one movie download per week.

If you are familiar with other download means, there is a great similarity between those and downloading movies. Simple steps have to be followed, and these could be done in minutes. It is a lot easier to download Korean movies today because of the user-friendly qualities of most software.

You have to undergo the registration phase. Once you register, you will be given access to the website. It is sometimes a requirement to install some other programs that would facilitate downloading. If this is the case, do so and find out how it would help you to download.

After you have downloaded the Download Manager, you can now choose your movies. There are some websites that offer some freebies after your registration. You may find out if there are any.

Next, you are all set to download the movie. If your internet connection is fast enough, it will not take you very long to download Korean movies. At this stage, your Download Manager does much of the task. Once you complete your download, your time to enjoy has come. Right in the comfort of your home, you have the chance of watching your dream movie.

Take a little time to look for a website and take the chance to download Korean movies. Why settle for low quality movies when you can take hold of the best qualities in the internet?

Source: General

ShareAPost Beta Testers Needed

May 23rd, 2008 by admin

I received this email yesterday and signed up for ShareAPost.  I think it’s a great service and wanted to share the Beta Tester opportunity with you: 

Ranking well in Google comes down to two things:  

Content + Links = Rankings

You know this already, so why am I repeating it? Because I’ve created a service that allows you to get both in a SNAP: great content and lots of links (links to inner pages, too, not just the home page).

The service is called ShareAPost.com, and it serves two purposes depending on your needs:

1) You can submit your WordPress blogs and allow other users to post the content of your posts to their own blogs (while also linking back to your original blog post).

This is GREAT for getting tons of links to each quality blog post on your blog. Simply submit your feed and add ShareAPost to your Ping list in WordPress, and before you know it you’ll have a swarm of folks linking back to your blog posts.

Now, you KNOW what that will do to the ranking of your posts, right?

Of course you do! They’ll go through the roof!

You get to pick the keywords that the other blogs link back to you with as well. Simply use Technorati-style tags in your blog posts and ShareAPost will automatically pick those keywords up make sure the blogs that republish your posts link back to you.

How does it make sure that those blogs link back to you? Because ShareAPost DOES THE POSTING! Yes, using WordPress’ built-in XMLRPC technology, ShareAPost creates the post and submits it to the other blogs in seconds.

That brings us to point #2:

2) ShareAPost gives you access to a WEALTH of content to post on your own WordPress blogs, and lets you add that content in SECONDS.

All you do is setup the blogs in your ShareAPost account, and then browse/search the directory looking for posts that you think are a good match for your own blog.

Once you’ve found one, you click the Publish link and select which of your blogs you want to send the post to, and whether or not you want to post the full text or just a summary. You also have the option to have the post added to your blog in Draft mode so you can go in and post-date it, etc.

It only takes a few seconds per post! In one hour you could really fill up some blogs with great content.

BETA TESTERS WANTED

===================

This service is now up and running, and I’m looking for beta testers to create f.ree accounts and try it out. I need folks with blogs who want to syndicate their content to super-charge their link building, and I need folks who need top-notch content to post to their own blogs.

As a beta tester, your account will always be 100% f.ree.

Syndicating other folks content will always be f.ree anyway, but I’m working on a business model that MAY charge a monthly fee for being able to have your content syndicated in this way. Or it may stay f.ree for everyone, I haven’t decided. :)

At any rate, as a beta tester, you’ll never pay a dime for the service.

So why not go give it a try right now? 

http://shareapost.com/I will be setting up a beta discussion forum in the next day or so, and will send out another mailer when that’s ready so that you can report bugs or make feature requests, etc. 

Jonathan Leger
www.AskJonLeger.com

Source: AGCommunications