Music Teaching Resources: Setting a Good Studio Policy
Posted by cleansearching in Musics on May 30, 2009 | no responses
Music Teacher asked:
Good music teaching resources and studio policies are indeed necessary as they intend to create a conducive and healthy learning environment. Music teachers must set good and strict business principles and classroom practices so as to eliminate confusion, inconsistency and misunderstanding among studio clients, students, parents as well as the entire teaching personnel.
Certainly, as you decide to put up your own music studio, your studio policies and resources must also be ready for posting and dissemination. Therefore, you have to devise, update and implement them consistently and reliably.
Studio Policy: Basics, Advantages and Benefits
A studio policy is a set of written rules and regulations that has to be strictly observed and implemented. Private music studio owners as well as music teachers must specify and define all points and items in the studio policy itself so as to have everything clearly explained and discussed. Studio policy also lessens the risks and circumstances where a problem or a conflict may likely arise.
Though some studio policies differ in concept and context, they must include citations on various areas like fees, payment schemes, work and class schedules, class requirements, lesson preparations, service arrangements and other relevant issues necessary in managing your own music studio.
Music Teaching Resources
As studio policy is made as specific as music teaching resources are, tips on how to make and construct such are certainly essential. Setting a good studio policy is as good as generating music teaching resources. Since these two have to be both up-to-date, concise, concrete and complete, music teachers must keep in mind that rigid research really plays a vital role in coming up with effective and efficient resources and policies in music teaching. Such research can be done in just few clicks – using the power of technology and innovation.
Using informational documents and tools, citing insights and experiences, writing studio policy, motivating social and classroom participation as well as giving tips and advices are all great teaching techniques in driving your way to academic success through music education.
These professional and business means: music teaching resources and studio policies are both important in meeting the goal of the institution. Therefore, you have to be sure that they are truly focused and relevant in teaching and learning music.
Stick to Your Music Teaching Resources and Studio Policies
Music teachers have to be consistent and prompt both in their teaching and managerial strategies. This is to establish reliability and credibility not just for their profession but also for their relationship among students and studio clients. As they stick to their rules, policies, resources and techniques, people around them would be used to those concepts and would be able to apply such in daily activities and endeavors.
Remember that your policies and resources in music education are as important and as beneficial as your motivation and willingness to disseminate and employ to the learners and the clients as well as to implement in their future dealings and ventures.
Still searching for more relevant music teaching resources and tips? Visit this music teachers website.
Innovations and Services
Good music teaching resources and studio policies are indeed necessary as they intend to create a conducive and healthy learning environment. Music teachers must set good and strict business principles and classroom practices so as to eliminate confusion, inconsistency and misunderstanding among studio clients, students, parents as well as the entire teaching personnel.
Certainly, as you decide to put up your own music studio, your studio policies and resources must also be ready for posting and dissemination. Therefore, you have to devise, update and implement them consistently and reliably.
Studio Policy: Basics, Advantages and Benefits
A studio policy is a set of written rules and regulations that has to be strictly observed and implemented. Private music studio owners as well as music teachers must specify and define all points and items in the studio policy itself so as to have everything clearly explained and discussed. Studio policy also lessens the risks and circumstances where a problem or a conflict may likely arise.
Though some studio policies differ in concept and context, they must include citations on various areas like fees, payment schemes, work and class schedules, class requirements, lesson preparations, service arrangements and other relevant issues necessary in managing your own music studio.
Music Teaching Resources
As studio policy is made as specific as music teaching resources are, tips on how to make and construct such are certainly essential. Setting a good studio policy is as good as generating music teaching resources. Since these two have to be both up-to-date, concise, concrete and complete, music teachers must keep in mind that rigid research really plays a vital role in coming up with effective and efficient resources and policies in music teaching. Such research can be done in just few clicks – using the power of technology and innovation.
Using informational documents and tools, citing insights and experiences, writing studio policy, motivating social and classroom participation as well as giving tips and advices are all great teaching techniques in driving your way to academic success through music education.
These professional and business means: music teaching resources and studio policies are both important in meeting the goal of the institution. Therefore, you have to be sure that they are truly focused and relevant in teaching and learning music.
Stick to Your Music Teaching Resources and Studio Policies
Music teachers have to be consistent and prompt both in their teaching and managerial strategies. This is to establish reliability and credibility not just for their profession but also for their relationship among students and studio clients. As they stick to their rules, policies, resources and techniques, people around them would be used to those concepts and would be able to apply such in daily activities and endeavors.
Remember that your policies and resources in music education are as important and as beneficial as your motivation and willingness to disseminate and employ to the learners and the clients as well as to implement in their future dealings and ventures.
Still searching for more relevant music teaching resources and tips? Visit this music teachers website.
Innovations and Services
Vicissitude of Japan’s Culture
Posted by cleansearching in Musics on May 21, 2009 | no responses
Nancy Eben asked:
Culture of different countries is different. One can easily notice the difference either by the visit, i.e. through experience or through learning their history and customs. Likewise, Japan culture also has its own specialties and features. Regular changes have been noticed in Japan’s culture, over the years. Modern Japan came into existence from the ancient traditional Japan and the birth of samurais. No doubt, influenced by culture of many neighboring countries, the modern culture of Japan has its own importance. This distinct culture of Japan is resulted from combination of different cultures. It manifests the creativity, independence and strength of humility of Japanese.
Japan culture is rich in the field of music, literature, art and architecture. The art of Japan is well renowned, from its traditional time to modern era. Japan’s animation is known for its artists all throughout the world. Video games, entertainment shows and music play a great contribution in cyber industry. Japan was famous for its music, samurai, geisha and many more. The other uniqueness is in their language, which plays a great role in the Japanese culture. Spoken mainly within the country and leant by many westerners, the language is written in three scripts: – Katakana, hiragana, and kanji. Katakana contains Chinese character while Kanji is imported from China.
Calligraphy, a way of writing characters in a very artistic way, is also a part of Japanese culture. Ink painting or Sumi-e is an art of painting an object. Ikebana is also well known in Japan. It is the art of flower arrangement that is also used many other countries. Japanese culture is also remarkable with regard to theatre arts, as you can still come across traditional theaters in the country. Generally four types of theaters are recognized in Japan- kyogen, bunraku, noh and kabuki. Masks are generally used by performers to depict the characters. Action and dialogues to express emotions are commonly used. A puppet theater highlighting historical plays, known as Bunraku, was a part of Japanese culture during Heian period.
With regards to attire in Japan, kimono is their traditional dress, which is available in variety of designs and colors. It is generally dark color dress, preferably worn by males and at the same time, yukuta, the lighter color dress, is the choice of females. Though these dresses are easily available at several places, but these are generally worn now-a-days on some special occasion. The above stated dresses, theaters, arts and language show diversity in Japanese culture and express their distinct characteristics, which make it one of the best cultures in the world.
Culture of different countries is different. One can easily notice the difference either by the visit, i.e. through experience or through learning their history and customs. Likewise, Japan culture also has its own specialties and features. Regular changes have been noticed in Japan’s culture, over the years. Modern Japan came into existence from the ancient traditional Japan and the birth of samurais. No doubt, influenced by culture of many neighboring countries, the modern culture of Japan has its own importance. This distinct culture of Japan is resulted from combination of different cultures. It manifests the creativity, independence and strength of humility of Japanese.
Japan culture is rich in the field of music, literature, art and architecture. The art of Japan is well renowned, from its traditional time to modern era. Japan’s animation is known for its artists all throughout the world. Video games, entertainment shows and music play a great contribution in cyber industry. Japan was famous for its music, samurai, geisha and many more. The other uniqueness is in their language, which plays a great role in the Japanese culture. Spoken mainly within the country and leant by many westerners, the language is written in three scripts: – Katakana, hiragana, and kanji. Katakana contains Chinese character while Kanji is imported from China.
Calligraphy, a way of writing characters in a very artistic way, is also a part of Japanese culture. Ink painting or Sumi-e is an art of painting an object. Ikebana is also well known in Japan. It is the art of flower arrangement that is also used many other countries. Japanese culture is also remarkable with regard to theatre arts, as you can still come across traditional theaters in the country. Generally four types of theaters are recognized in Japan- kyogen, bunraku, noh and kabuki. Masks are generally used by performers to depict the characters. Action and dialogues to express emotions are commonly used. A puppet theater highlighting historical plays, known as Bunraku, was a part of Japanese culture during Heian period.
With regards to attire in Japan, kimono is their traditional dress, which is available in variety of designs and colors. It is generally dark color dress, preferably worn by males and at the same time, yukuta, the lighter color dress, is the choice of females. Though these dresses are easily available at several places, but these are generally worn now-a-days on some special occasion. The above stated dresses, theaters, arts and language show diversity in Japanese culture and express their distinct characteristics, which make it one of the best cultures in the world.
Classifying Music And Musicians: What Genre Is That?
Posted by cleansearching in Musics on May 20, 2009 | no responses
Brad Moon asked:
Bands come and go, but the classification and re-classification of their music is an exercise that never grows old. There are no hard and fast rules, no universally accepted methodology or definitions to fall back on. Music geeks are faced with bands that change their sound and/or appearance from release to release and a classification system that is completely open to interpretation.
As a starting point, how about nailing down some basic definitions and examples of musical genres? It sounds straightforward, but even that can be a challenge. There is no set number of agreed upon genres, names for the genres (or what is even considered to be a standalone genre) and the definitions themselves are frequently the subject of argument. But with the help of Canadian uber-music geek Allan Cross, along with far too many hours of trolling through music industry publications like Rolling Stone and Spin, here’s an attempt at some basic definitions. By the way, we’re sticking to the general rock world for this exercise, so for the purposes of this article only, country and/or western, jazz, adult contemporary and all sorts of other music do not exist; they’re off limits.
Emo: A style of music that’s part punk in its sound, but leaning heavily toward the emotional, melodramatic and angst-ridden end of that spectrum. In other words, melodic and moody punks. Jimmy Eat World is often lumped under the Emo banner and many people would consider Panic! At The Disco and AFI to be current occupants as well. The Smiths are another possible Emo contender.
Goth: An offshoot of the punk movement, Goth appealed to the gloomier music fan. Proper attire was built almost entirely around black and frequently extended to black-dyed hair, black lipstick, heavy use of mascara and black nail polish. In general, the look was spooky; the music could range from moody to sinister. Classic examples: Siouxsie and the Banshees, Bauhaus and Sisters of Mercy.
New Romantics: Appearing as part of the post-punk music scene in the early 1980′s, New Romantics favoured frilly shirts, skinny ties and make-up. Classic bands in this vein included Duran Duran, Visage, Japan and Roxy Music.
Synthpop: A sound that became popular in the late 1970′s and early 80′s, Synthpop was, as the name suggests, pop-oriented music that relied heavily on the use of keyboards, drum machines and synthesisers, and tended to avoid guitars or at least relegate them to supporting instruments. Classic examples: Depeche Mode, Human League and OMD.
Heavy Metal: Gaining prominence in the late 60′s and 70′s, Heavy Metal was a “heavy” blend of rock and blues with an emphasis on guitar and drums. Bands tended to adopt a look that included long hair, T-shirts, tight jeans and leather – you’d never mistake them for New Romantics. Classic Heavy Metal bands include Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, and Metallica. Spinal Tap is the definitive Heavy Metal spoof band.
Heavy Metal spawned all sorts of offspring genres, of which some were, or are, popular enough to deserve their own definitions.
Hair Metal: Heavy Metal with more of a Pop or Rock flair; nothing too deep but trying to appeal to a wider audience. Hair Metal is all about appearance; a variation on the 70′s glam look featuring lipstick, tight leather, frills, bandanas, and long, spiked, teased, or tinted hair. The look tended to undermine their credibility among their more serious metal peers. Poison, Ratt and Cinderella all went for this niche. Hair Metal bands tend to suffer on the reunion circuit because, although they can maybe still play, all too often their hair has failed over the years and without that…
Nu Metal: An attempt to update Heavy Metal for the 90′s. Elements of other genres were blended in, sometimes with Rap, sometimes Grunge, perhaps a bit of Industrial or even Goth. It still relies heavily on guitar and drums, but bands veered from the classic Heavy Metal look and fancied themselves up a bit. Classic examples: Korn, **** and Linkin Park.
Speed Metal: Think Heavy Metal, but faster. Because Heavy Metal became too ponderous and lumbering for some, Speed Metal developed. The Heavy Metal guitar solo became more dominant within the songs and the tempos were greatly increased. Early practitioners of the style included Judas Priest and more contemporary bands such as Primal Fear have kept the tradition alive.
Progressive Rock (also known as Prog-Rock): This is what happens when a Rock band decides to get intellectual and explore concepts and musical virtuosity rather than aiming for the classic three minute pop single. Synthesizers and string instruments were often employed to fill out the sound and make things more elaborate. Drummers abandoned their drum kits for complex percussion stands. Rush, Pink Floyd and Genesis (at least early Genesis) are among the better known Prog-Rock bands.
Industrial: Just as the name suggests, Industrial music sounds big, noisy and mechanical. Not known for being particularly radio-friendly because of the unusual sounds, aggressiveness and frequent use of uncomfortable or socially-risqué subject material. Classic examples include: Nine Inch Nails, Skinny Puppy and Ministry.
Hip Hop: Employing elements of a strong beat, sampling, rap and often the use of a turntable, Hip Hop rose from the inner cities to commercial success through the 80′s. Run DMC, Beastie Boys and OutKast are just a few examples of the vast catalogue of successful Hip Hop groups.
Punk: A style of music that became prominent in the mid to late 70′s, punk was built around the premise that anyone could and should make music, regardless of their musical skill. Punk became a sounding board for a generation of angry youth whose songs were about social statements with musical accompaniment tending toward the loud, fast and simple. Classic examples: *** Pistols, The Clash, Stiff Little Fingers and The Ramones.
Electronic: A distinctive sound that developed in the mid to late 70′s as synthesiser technology became more widely available. Unlike Synthpop, Electronic artists seemed more interested in exploring soundscapes and stringing together interesting noises than producing singles. Kraftwerk was one of the pioneers of the Electronic movement.
Grunge: A sound that grew out of, and became synonymous with, the Seattle music scene in the late 1980′s and early 1990′s; a heavy punk meets metal kind of affair. The typical grunge uniform consisted of jeans and a short-sleeve T-shirt worn over top of a long-sleeved T-Shirt, sometimes with an ubiquitous goatee beard on the chin of male practitioners. Bonus points were awarded for wearing a red and black check lumber jacket. Examples: Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Alice in Chains.
Psychedelic Rock: For those who liked Rock and Heavy Metal, but found them too restrictive, Psychedelic Rock added all sorts of guitar fuzz, distortion and occasionally disjointed lyrics to create a distinct sound. Classic examples include The Jesus and Mary Chain and The Brian Jonestown Massacre, with its roots going back to the 1960′s with the Strawberry Alarm Clock and even The Beatles.
Rockabilly: When rock got just too damned complicated, some bands apparently had a hankering for the old-school, 50′s style roots rock pioneered by Elvis Presley and others. They donned rolled up jeans, white T-shirts and black leather motorcycle jackets, slicked back their hair, and pumped out the rockabilly. You won’t find a better example than The Stray Cats.
Ska: A combination of Jamaican music and rock that reached the height of its popularity in the late 70′s and early 80′s with British bands like Madness, The English Beat and The Specials. Ska was danceable, and the bands tended to be larger than typical rock outfits, employing the standard guitar/drum/bass combo but usually augmenting this with horns, an organ and keyboards, and sometimes a designated stage dancer.
Next up in the classification of music is a series of more general terms used to encompass a wider swath of music, frequently for the purpose of describing a radio station’s music format.
Alt-Rock: Starting off simply enough as an alternative to the rock music being played on mainstream radio, this used to be a somewhat rare classification, dominated by bands that could be heard on alternative or college radio stations: R.E.M., for example. But by the 1990′s, “rock” as it had been known was being left behind on radio and what was known as Alt-Rock actually began to dominate the play lists.
Rock: Once upon a time this used to be straightforward. The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and other bands like them, were considered Rock bands. As time passed though, these bands tended to be lumped under Classic Rock. Today there are Rock bands – Foo Fighters being a good example – but they are frequently referred to as Alt-Rock. In other words, Alt-Rock has, for a large part, usurped Rock as “rock” these days. Confused? You and me both…
Indie: Bands that are not directly affiliated with any of the major record labels, typically giving the artists greater artistic control over their music, at the cost of personally shouldering a greater percentage of the production, promotion and distribution costs of their music. College radio stations are big proponents of Indie bands, but some, like Arcade Fire, have made the jump to mainstream.
Pop: The least frightening (at least on the surface), most melodic and radio-friendly of them all, Pop artists aim to sell vast quantities of records and do so by appealing to the widest audience possible. Pop music itself changes over time, but pop stations are where you’ll hear the likes of Michael Jackson, Britney Spears, Spice Girls and Girls Aloud.
Classic Rock: Now that Alt-Rock is known as Rock, and former Rock bands are sounding a little quaint to many listeners, where does that leave the 60′s, 70′s and 80′s Rock bands? They are now conveniently packed under the term Classic Rock, a massive category that can include anything from The Beatles to Van Halen.
New Wave: A marketing-derived term originally used by record companies to describe many of the Synthpop and New Romantic post-punk British bands of the late 1970′s and early 1980′s. This is a very broad label and was eventually used to describe anything from Depeche Mode to A-Ha.
So it turns out that genres and classifications are constantly evolving, bands are moving between genres and even the definitions themselves are subject to interpretation.
An artist like Neil Young is a good example of the way in which musicians vex the music geeks. At the beginning of his career, Young played with Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Still, Nash and Young. He would have been typically classified as a Rock musician, with a leaning toward Folk.
Then Neil went through a phase where he moved toward a Country sound, again with a touch of Folk. Harvest is pretty representative of this period, but then came Rock again with songs such as Like A Hurricane. From out of nowhere, he veered into Electronic with an album that was so unexpected, he ended up in a fight with his record label over whether the release satisfied his contractual obligation – they basically argued that Re-Ac-Tor was so out there, it “shouldn’t count as a Neil Young record.”
Young went through a bit of a Rockabilly phase, then eventually sashayed into Grunge, with his Rockin’ In The Free World single being adopted by Grunge converts as an anthem. From there, Harvest Moon swayed dangerously close to Adult Contemporary, and now he appears to be back to his Folk roots.
So how on earth do you classify Neil Young? Well, you could choose to break his career into phases and classify each of those individually, or do the safe thing and file him under Classic Rock. There’s a good weekend worth of arguing over this one, and don’t think it won’t happen.
And of course, you can combine any of the categories and classifications in an attempt to define a band. The Police, for example, defy a straightforward definition and so become a compound categorization: reggae-influenced, new wave, post-punk, power-pop trio.
Simple, isn’t it?
Bands come and go, but the classification and re-classification of their music is an exercise that never grows old. There are no hard and fast rules, no universally accepted methodology or definitions to fall back on. Music geeks are faced with bands that change their sound and/or appearance from release to release and a classification system that is completely open to interpretation.
As a starting point, how about nailing down some basic definitions and examples of musical genres? It sounds straightforward, but even that can be a challenge. There is no set number of agreed upon genres, names for the genres (or what is even considered to be a standalone genre) and the definitions themselves are frequently the subject of argument. But with the help of Canadian uber-music geek Allan Cross, along with far too many hours of trolling through music industry publications like Rolling Stone and Spin, here’s an attempt at some basic definitions. By the way, we’re sticking to the general rock world for this exercise, so for the purposes of this article only, country and/or western, jazz, adult contemporary and all sorts of other music do not exist; they’re off limits.
Emo: A style of music that’s part punk in its sound, but leaning heavily toward the emotional, melodramatic and angst-ridden end of that spectrum. In other words, melodic and moody punks. Jimmy Eat World is often lumped under the Emo banner and many people would consider Panic! At The Disco and AFI to be current occupants as well. The Smiths are another possible Emo contender.
Goth: An offshoot of the punk movement, Goth appealed to the gloomier music fan. Proper attire was built almost entirely around black and frequently extended to black-dyed hair, black lipstick, heavy use of mascara and black nail polish. In general, the look was spooky; the music could range from moody to sinister. Classic examples: Siouxsie and the Banshees, Bauhaus and Sisters of Mercy.
New Romantics: Appearing as part of the post-punk music scene in the early 1980′s, New Romantics favoured frilly shirts, skinny ties and make-up. Classic bands in this vein included Duran Duran, Visage, Japan and Roxy Music.
Synthpop: A sound that became popular in the late 1970′s and early 80′s, Synthpop was, as the name suggests, pop-oriented music that relied heavily on the use of keyboards, drum machines and synthesisers, and tended to avoid guitars or at least relegate them to supporting instruments. Classic examples: Depeche Mode, Human League and OMD.
Heavy Metal: Gaining prominence in the late 60′s and 70′s, Heavy Metal was a “heavy” blend of rock and blues with an emphasis on guitar and drums. Bands tended to adopt a look that included long hair, T-shirts, tight jeans and leather – you’d never mistake them for New Romantics. Classic Heavy Metal bands include Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, and Metallica. Spinal Tap is the definitive Heavy Metal spoof band.
Heavy Metal spawned all sorts of offspring genres, of which some were, or are, popular enough to deserve their own definitions.
Hair Metal: Heavy Metal with more of a Pop or Rock flair; nothing too deep but trying to appeal to a wider audience. Hair Metal is all about appearance; a variation on the 70′s glam look featuring lipstick, tight leather, frills, bandanas, and long, spiked, teased, or tinted hair. The look tended to undermine their credibility among their more serious metal peers. Poison, Ratt and Cinderella all went for this niche. Hair Metal bands tend to suffer on the reunion circuit because, although they can maybe still play, all too often their hair has failed over the years and without that…
Nu Metal: An attempt to update Heavy Metal for the 90′s. Elements of other genres were blended in, sometimes with Rap, sometimes Grunge, perhaps a bit of Industrial or even Goth. It still relies heavily on guitar and drums, but bands veered from the classic Heavy Metal look and fancied themselves up a bit. Classic examples: Korn, **** and Linkin Park.
Speed Metal: Think Heavy Metal, but faster. Because Heavy Metal became too ponderous and lumbering for some, Speed Metal developed. The Heavy Metal guitar solo became more dominant within the songs and the tempos were greatly increased. Early practitioners of the style included Judas Priest and more contemporary bands such as Primal Fear have kept the tradition alive.
Progressive Rock (also known as Prog-Rock): This is what happens when a Rock band decides to get intellectual and explore concepts and musical virtuosity rather than aiming for the classic three minute pop single. Synthesizers and string instruments were often employed to fill out the sound and make things more elaborate. Drummers abandoned their drum kits for complex percussion stands. Rush, Pink Floyd and Genesis (at least early Genesis) are among the better known Prog-Rock bands.
Industrial: Just as the name suggests, Industrial music sounds big, noisy and mechanical. Not known for being particularly radio-friendly because of the unusual sounds, aggressiveness and frequent use of uncomfortable or socially-risqué subject material. Classic examples include: Nine Inch Nails, Skinny Puppy and Ministry.
Hip Hop: Employing elements of a strong beat, sampling, rap and often the use of a turntable, Hip Hop rose from the inner cities to commercial success through the 80′s. Run DMC, Beastie Boys and OutKast are just a few examples of the vast catalogue of successful Hip Hop groups.
Punk: A style of music that became prominent in the mid to late 70′s, punk was built around the premise that anyone could and should make music, regardless of their musical skill. Punk became a sounding board for a generation of angry youth whose songs were about social statements with musical accompaniment tending toward the loud, fast and simple. Classic examples: *** Pistols, The Clash, Stiff Little Fingers and The Ramones.
Electronic: A distinctive sound that developed in the mid to late 70′s as synthesiser technology became more widely available. Unlike Synthpop, Electronic artists seemed more interested in exploring soundscapes and stringing together interesting noises than producing singles. Kraftwerk was one of the pioneers of the Electronic movement.
Grunge: A sound that grew out of, and became synonymous with, the Seattle music scene in the late 1980′s and early 1990′s; a heavy punk meets metal kind of affair. The typical grunge uniform consisted of jeans and a short-sleeve T-shirt worn over top of a long-sleeved T-Shirt, sometimes with an ubiquitous goatee beard on the chin of male practitioners. Bonus points were awarded for wearing a red and black check lumber jacket. Examples: Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Alice in Chains.
Psychedelic Rock: For those who liked Rock and Heavy Metal, but found them too restrictive, Psychedelic Rock added all sorts of guitar fuzz, distortion and occasionally disjointed lyrics to create a distinct sound. Classic examples include The Jesus and Mary Chain and The Brian Jonestown Massacre, with its roots going back to the 1960′s with the Strawberry Alarm Clock and even The Beatles.
Rockabilly: When rock got just too damned complicated, some bands apparently had a hankering for the old-school, 50′s style roots rock pioneered by Elvis Presley and others. They donned rolled up jeans, white T-shirts and black leather motorcycle jackets, slicked back their hair, and pumped out the rockabilly. You won’t find a better example than The Stray Cats.
Ska: A combination of Jamaican music and rock that reached the height of its popularity in the late 70′s and early 80′s with British bands like Madness, The English Beat and The Specials. Ska was danceable, and the bands tended to be larger than typical rock outfits, employing the standard guitar/drum/bass combo but usually augmenting this with horns, an organ and keyboards, and sometimes a designated stage dancer.
Next up in the classification of music is a series of more general terms used to encompass a wider swath of music, frequently for the purpose of describing a radio station’s music format.
Alt-Rock: Starting off simply enough as an alternative to the rock music being played on mainstream radio, this used to be a somewhat rare classification, dominated by bands that could be heard on alternative or college radio stations: R.E.M., for example. But by the 1990′s, “rock” as it had been known was being left behind on radio and what was known as Alt-Rock actually began to dominate the play lists.
Rock: Once upon a time this used to be straightforward. The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and other bands like them, were considered Rock bands. As time passed though, these bands tended to be lumped under Classic Rock. Today there are Rock bands – Foo Fighters being a good example – but they are frequently referred to as Alt-Rock. In other words, Alt-Rock has, for a large part, usurped Rock as “rock” these days. Confused? You and me both…
Indie: Bands that are not directly affiliated with any of the major record labels, typically giving the artists greater artistic control over their music, at the cost of personally shouldering a greater percentage of the production, promotion and distribution costs of their music. College radio stations are big proponents of Indie bands, but some, like Arcade Fire, have made the jump to mainstream.
Pop: The least frightening (at least on the surface), most melodic and radio-friendly of them all, Pop artists aim to sell vast quantities of records and do so by appealing to the widest audience possible. Pop music itself changes over time, but pop stations are where you’ll hear the likes of Michael Jackson, Britney Spears, Spice Girls and Girls Aloud.
Classic Rock: Now that Alt-Rock is known as Rock, and former Rock bands are sounding a little quaint to many listeners, where does that leave the 60′s, 70′s and 80′s Rock bands? They are now conveniently packed under the term Classic Rock, a massive category that can include anything from The Beatles to Van Halen.
New Wave: A marketing-derived term originally used by record companies to describe many of the Synthpop and New Romantic post-punk British bands of the late 1970′s and early 1980′s. This is a very broad label and was eventually used to describe anything from Depeche Mode to A-Ha.
So it turns out that genres and classifications are constantly evolving, bands are moving between genres and even the definitions themselves are subject to interpretation.
An artist like Neil Young is a good example of the way in which musicians vex the music geeks. At the beginning of his career, Young played with Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Still, Nash and Young. He would have been typically classified as a Rock musician, with a leaning toward Folk.
Then Neil went through a phase where he moved toward a Country sound, again with a touch of Folk. Harvest is pretty representative of this period, but then came Rock again with songs such as Like A Hurricane. From out of nowhere, he veered into Electronic with an album that was so unexpected, he ended up in a fight with his record label over whether the release satisfied his contractual obligation – they basically argued that Re-Ac-Tor was so out there, it “shouldn’t count as a Neil Young record.”
Young went through a bit of a Rockabilly phase, then eventually sashayed into Grunge, with his Rockin’ In The Free World single being adopted by Grunge converts as an anthem. From there, Harvest Moon swayed dangerously close to Adult Contemporary, and now he appears to be back to his Folk roots.
So how on earth do you classify Neil Young? Well, you could choose to break his career into phases and classify each of those individually, or do the safe thing and file him under Classic Rock. There’s a good weekend worth of arguing over this one, and don’t think it won’t happen.
And of course, you can combine any of the categories and classifications in an attempt to define a band. The Police, for example, defy a straightforward definition and so become a compound categorization: reggae-influenced, new wave, post-punk, power-pop trio.
Simple, isn’t it?
Resources and Tips for Music Teachers With Special Learners
Posted by cleansearching in Musics on May 13, 2009 | no responses
Music Teacher asked:
Music lovers and enthusiasts have all the rights to learn their chosen musical instrument despite of their impairment, as long as such will not completely forbid them to play such. Various tips and instructional guides are available on the internet and some libraries that will give music teachers the resources to be effective in handling special learners.
Let us say in the case of Andrea Boccelli, a great tenor and musician who was diagnosed with glaucoma and lost his sight at an early age of fourteen; if not for his music teacher, we might not hear his tranquil and heart warming voice. More so, he reached success in music because he had such self-motivation and certain love for music. And these had made it all possible.
Generally speaking, special learners are regarded as those students, who either have cognitive, physical, mental or social abilities and disabilities. These groups of special individuals are faced with different learning challenges. However, through the professional assistance of music teachers and enthusiasts as well as effective and efficient music teachers’ resources, they are able to comprehend, adopt and adjust to such learning situations. Also, acquisition of skills and knowledge has been possible through these resources for music teachers.
Great examples of music teachers’ resources are those from the Internet such as tips and inputs from various music teacher sites, personal experiences of the music lovers and experts themselves, other extensive techniques and methods of music teachers, and some findings from different music researches. When music teachers are in need of such reliable and effective resources, they may adopt any of those mentioned sources and make each a part of their music teaching strategies.
Music teachers’ resources truly come in variation. You may actually choose from different available resources nowadays. However, you have to bear in mind that it takes a lot of analysis and discernment to find out which among those resources would be appropriate and effective for each special learner. Remember that as a music teacher, your role does not end in mere teaching music but most of all, in making them discover their talents and feel that they are treated as typical and average students.
Though it may be quite difficult to deal with special learners, music teachers will then feel and realize that teaching them can be very rewarding. Your time, efforts and hard works will soon pay off especially if you have seen your learners succeed and unleash their music talents and inclinations.
Furthermore, when these special learners tend to appreciate their music teachers, have made them their real mentors, and have considered them as their source of motivation and inspiration, these music educators can proudly say that being one has been a blessing, thus gives them such feelings of fulfillment and self-worth.
For more tips and music teachers’ resources, visit this music teaching website.
Music lovers and enthusiasts have all the rights to learn their chosen musical instrument despite of their impairment, as long as such will not completely forbid them to play such. Various tips and instructional guides are available on the internet and some libraries that will give music teachers the resources to be effective in handling special learners.
Let us say in the case of Andrea Boccelli, a great tenor and musician who was diagnosed with glaucoma and lost his sight at an early age of fourteen; if not for his music teacher, we might not hear his tranquil and heart warming voice. More so, he reached success in music because he had such self-motivation and certain love for music. And these had made it all possible.
Generally speaking, special learners are regarded as those students, who either have cognitive, physical, mental or social abilities and disabilities. These groups of special individuals are faced with different learning challenges. However, through the professional assistance of music teachers and enthusiasts as well as effective and efficient music teachers’ resources, they are able to comprehend, adopt and adjust to such learning situations. Also, acquisition of skills and knowledge has been possible through these resources for music teachers.
Great examples of music teachers’ resources are those from the Internet such as tips and inputs from various music teacher sites, personal experiences of the music lovers and experts themselves, other extensive techniques and methods of music teachers, and some findings from different music researches. When music teachers are in need of such reliable and effective resources, they may adopt any of those mentioned sources and make each a part of their music teaching strategies.
Music teachers’ resources truly come in variation. You may actually choose from different available resources nowadays. However, you have to bear in mind that it takes a lot of analysis and discernment to find out which among those resources would be appropriate and effective for each special learner. Remember that as a music teacher, your role does not end in mere teaching music but most of all, in making them discover their talents and feel that they are treated as typical and average students.
Though it may be quite difficult to deal with special learners, music teachers will then feel and realize that teaching them can be very rewarding. Your time, efforts and hard works will soon pay off especially if you have seen your learners succeed and unleash their music talents and inclinations.
Furthermore, when these special learners tend to appreciate their music teachers, have made them their real mentors, and have considered them as their source of motivation and inspiration, these music educators can proudly say that being one has been a blessing, thus gives them such feelings of fulfillment and self-worth.
For more tips and music teachers’ resources, visit this music teaching website.
Live Music Radio Stations Connect With Many Others Who Share This Pleasure
Posted by cleansearching in Musics on May 12, 2009 | no responses
Muna wa Wanjiru asked:
The advances of technology have given us many new ways of listening to music. These range from the radio stations to the use of the internet. With all of these forms of music you can hear music from different parts of the world. Of all of these methods the most popular one today is still the live radio stations. The music that you can hear from these stations is a mixture of old time favorites and contemporary.
You will find that these live music radio stations can be found in different countries around the world. They provide a range of music that caters for a vast range of audiences. Besides music these radio stations also provide people with the opportunity of hearing the latest news. This is helpful in the times when you are traveling and you can’t get to a television in time.
There are some live radio stations where the listeners have the ability of listening to an ongoing soap opera type of show. These kinds of broadcasts are very popular with the listeners of these radio stations. While this may seem to be old fashioned with the advent of television there are still places in the world where stories unfold before the listeners as they hear the story form the words of different radio actors and actresses.
While the majority of us love to watch TV to see what happens in our favorite game of sports, this is still possible with live radio stations. These stations will have commentators who are at the games themselves. Since they are right where the action is you will hear what is occurring as the game progresses. Now while hearing a game is not as exciting as watching it there are advantages to this.
While you need to watch TV in order to see your programme live radio stations provide this service to you. And the best thing about the use of these programs is that once you have set the radio to your channel you can continue with other activities. By listening to live radio stations you will never need to miss either the activity that is happening or the work that you have at hand.
Since each neighborhood has many different live radio stations located in their area you should find a couple that will provide you with many different options for listening. When you use a live radio station for your music or news or even the sports you are connecting with many others who all share this pleasure.
The advances of technology have given us many new ways of listening to music. These range from the radio stations to the use of the internet. With all of these forms of music you can hear music from different parts of the world. Of all of these methods the most popular one today is still the live radio stations. The music that you can hear from these stations is a mixture of old time favorites and contemporary.
You will find that these live music radio stations can be found in different countries around the world. They provide a range of music that caters for a vast range of audiences. Besides music these radio stations also provide people with the opportunity of hearing the latest news. This is helpful in the times when you are traveling and you can’t get to a television in time.
There are some live radio stations where the listeners have the ability of listening to an ongoing soap opera type of show. These kinds of broadcasts are very popular with the listeners of these radio stations. While this may seem to be old fashioned with the advent of television there are still places in the world where stories unfold before the listeners as they hear the story form the words of different radio actors and actresses.
While the majority of us love to watch TV to see what happens in our favorite game of sports, this is still possible with live radio stations. These stations will have commentators who are at the games themselves. Since they are right where the action is you will hear what is occurring as the game progresses. Now while hearing a game is not as exciting as watching it there are advantages to this.
While you need to watch TV in order to see your programme live radio stations provide this service to you. And the best thing about the use of these programs is that once you have set the radio to your channel you can continue with other activities. By listening to live radio stations you will never need to miss either the activity that is happening or the work that you have at hand.
Since each neighborhood has many different live radio stations located in their area you should find a couple that will provide you with many different options for listening. When you use a live radio station for your music or news or even the sports you are connecting with many others who all share this pleasure.
The Benefits Of Learning Music Theory
Posted by cleansearching in Musics on May 11, 2009 | no responses
Kevin Sinclair asked:
That’s music to my ear is a common phrase used to express a person’s emotional response to how a particular tune can make them feel. Some people listen to music all the time. Some study the art of playing an instrument. It’s therapeutic; it’s enriching; it’s a way of creating moods in any environmental setting. If you are interested in music for more than the pure enjoyment people get out of listening to it, then learning about music theory is an ideal mode for you.
Music theory can be an important attribute in a person’s life, for many reasons. People often ask, “Is music theory necessary?” “Why do we need it?”
First of all, even though you don’t have to understand how to read sheet music to perform as a musician, you will need an understanding of music theory. It opens so many other doors for you in the world of music. Music theory will not show you how to understand music, but with music theory you will be able to communicate musical ideas, explore music in whole new ways, and redefine the tremendous scope that entails the magical world of music.
Music theory allows you to voice your opinion with others in the field, expand your musical horizon. Give a little input to a fellow musician and you’ll get something in return.
Notations And Communicating With Other Musicians
Music lovers all develop a keen sense of awareness, musically speaking. Sometimes, musicians explain that if they study music theory, then it’ll stunt their creativity. Wrong! The world’s greatest composers were all masters of music theory: Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, J.S. Bach. These experts composed a keen understanding of the theoretical concepts. Years were spent studying the concept, down to some of the smallest details.
Music can be played by ear, picking out tunes without the aid of written music. Your ears can be your guide. The reason this is brought to light is that some musicians with strong theoretical training often disregard the art of playing by ear.
Think of playing music by ear this way: We’re all born as non-verbal creations. Communication begins with crying, making sounds, displaying body language. Parents quickly become experts on baby talk. It’s an innate sense. Over time, language develops by mimicking sounds. Toddlers don’t learn nouns and verbs; they learn to speak by example. Music can be the same way. Hence, the reason so many people pay top dollar for live performances. It’s invigorating, magical.
Understanding Harmony And Chord Progression
Chord progression and harmony, two features of music theory, help broaden any musician, regardless of their genre of study. Chord progression is a series of chords that are used to harmonize music. All compositions use chord progression. Those that improvise – which, as already mentioned, adds charm and magic to the environment of music – invent brand new melodies that blend in with an existing chord. It’s a musical transition, something that must be practiced, repeatedly. The great composers and musicians develop chord progressions and transitions until it becomes natural, a second-natured maneuver.
If a musician improvises in a more interconnected manner, these new melodies show the musician the progression as one whole unit, and not a series of bumpy transitions. The more practice that goes into this aspect of music learning theory, the more interesting substitutions they will develop along the way. Once the concept of chord progression and its structure is understood, it will be easier to remember. Jazz musicians, therefore, show a keen interest in the study and analysis of chord progression.
The study of music theory will show musicians and musical scholars that the objective, initially, is not to consider an entire composition in one sitting. Instead, musicians, students and teachers alike, view a chord progression in segments, or units. These units correspond to musical sections known as stanzas.
A stanza is the complete statement and development of a single musical idea. It’s a fairly simple act of dividing pieces into small manageable sections, with the melody itself forming, or suggesting the boundaries for sound.
Tonality, another element of chord progression, means different things to different people. Some would consider it to be this: any piece of music with a well-defined key center. Others envision any music that uses the conventional chords as tonal.
Music without the use of chords in a functional manner to reinforce a tonal center is not tonal. It is referred to as non-tonal music. The names of these styles are not always agreed upon between musical connoisseurs. But expressing difference is one key element that makes music such a beautiful art form, with countless possibilities.
So, if you are considering studying music, be it to play an instrument, teach music, or simply hone in on personal curiosity, learning music theory is a must for you.
That’s music to my ear is a common phrase used to express a person’s emotional response to how a particular tune can make them feel. Some people listen to music all the time. Some study the art of playing an instrument. It’s therapeutic; it’s enriching; it’s a way of creating moods in any environmental setting. If you are interested in music for more than the pure enjoyment people get out of listening to it, then learning about music theory is an ideal mode for you.
Music theory can be an important attribute in a person’s life, for many reasons. People often ask, “Is music theory necessary?” “Why do we need it?”
First of all, even though you don’t have to understand how to read sheet music to perform as a musician, you will need an understanding of music theory. It opens so many other doors for you in the world of music. Music theory will not show you how to understand music, but with music theory you will be able to communicate musical ideas, explore music in whole new ways, and redefine the tremendous scope that entails the magical world of music.
Music theory allows you to voice your opinion with others in the field, expand your musical horizon. Give a little input to a fellow musician and you’ll get something in return.
Notations And Communicating With Other Musicians
Music lovers all develop a keen sense of awareness, musically speaking. Sometimes, musicians explain that if they study music theory, then it’ll stunt their creativity. Wrong! The world’s greatest composers were all masters of music theory: Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, J.S. Bach. These experts composed a keen understanding of the theoretical concepts. Years were spent studying the concept, down to some of the smallest details.
Music can be played by ear, picking out tunes without the aid of written music. Your ears can be your guide. The reason this is brought to light is that some musicians with strong theoretical training often disregard the art of playing by ear.
Think of playing music by ear this way: We’re all born as non-verbal creations. Communication begins with crying, making sounds, displaying body language. Parents quickly become experts on baby talk. It’s an innate sense. Over time, language develops by mimicking sounds. Toddlers don’t learn nouns and verbs; they learn to speak by example. Music can be the same way. Hence, the reason so many people pay top dollar for live performances. It’s invigorating, magical.
Understanding Harmony And Chord Progression
Chord progression and harmony, two features of music theory, help broaden any musician, regardless of their genre of study. Chord progression is a series of chords that are used to harmonize music. All compositions use chord progression. Those that improvise – which, as already mentioned, adds charm and magic to the environment of music – invent brand new melodies that blend in with an existing chord. It’s a musical transition, something that must be practiced, repeatedly. The great composers and musicians develop chord progressions and transitions until it becomes natural, a second-natured maneuver.
If a musician improvises in a more interconnected manner, these new melodies show the musician the progression as one whole unit, and not a series of bumpy transitions. The more practice that goes into this aspect of music learning theory, the more interesting substitutions they will develop along the way. Once the concept of chord progression and its structure is understood, it will be easier to remember. Jazz musicians, therefore, show a keen interest in the study and analysis of chord progression.
The study of music theory will show musicians and musical scholars that the objective, initially, is not to consider an entire composition in one sitting. Instead, musicians, students and teachers alike, view a chord progression in segments, or units. These units correspond to musical sections known as stanzas.
A stanza is the complete statement and development of a single musical idea. It’s a fairly simple act of dividing pieces into small manageable sections, with the melody itself forming, or suggesting the boundaries for sound.
Tonality, another element of chord progression, means different things to different people. Some would consider it to be this: any piece of music with a well-defined key center. Others envision any music that uses the conventional chords as tonal.
Music without the use of chords in a functional manner to reinforce a tonal center is not tonal. It is referred to as non-tonal music. The names of these styles are not always agreed upon between musical connoisseurs. But expressing difference is one key element that makes music such a beautiful art form, with countless possibilities.
So, if you are considering studying music, be it to play an instrument, teach music, or simply hone in on personal curiosity, learning music theory is a must for you.
Top 25 Transfer Music From Ipod To Computer Links
Posted by cleansearching in Musics on May 4, 2009 | no responses
Sydney Nelson asked:
Transferring music from your iPod to your computer is easy to do if you have the tools. Unfortunately, the iPod is designed to prevent us from sharing our music. Which is understandable, because the music industry is reeling from the technology which allows us to copy music CDs, and reducing their profits.
But the problem is longstanding, ever since the old cassette tape players were used to record music, straight from the radio.
So, what should you do if your computer with all your iTunes goes on the bum, or even worse, just breaks. You’re stuck, without any way to transfer your tunes to your new computer.
Until now!
As technology goes, there are always folks who will find a way to beat the system, and this article will outline 25 options for transferring your tunes from your beloved iPod to your computer. Some are either freeware or shareware and the others of course, come with a nominal price tag.
A couple of the links are actually for transferring photos from your iPod to your computer so I included the link below as an extra. It allows you to transfer tunes and videos between iPods. Lots of folks have more than one iPod and would like to simply copy thier favorites from one iPod to the other or thier friend’s iPod.
iPod 2 iPod
http://www.topshareware.com/iPod-2-iPod-download-39933.htm
Many people own more than one iPod. iPod 2 iPod is an application that allows you to transfer your music and video between them.
Macintosh Operating System
iLinkPod
http://www.ilinkpod.com/
iLinkPod is first of all a unique tool that creates a permanent and direct access from your Desktop (and your iPod or wherever you want) to the hidden folders in which iPod stores your audio files. So you don’t need iLinkPod or any other utility to access your hidden audio files on the iPod, you’ll have access to them through a common folder on your Desktop (and iPod too).
iPod Viewer 3.0.1
http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/15864
Transfer songs to and from your iPod.
Expod0.3
http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/30994
With Expod you can copy any or all of your songs (or videos) off your iPod, using whatever file naming convention you like.
PodView 1.5
http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/29287
Play music, movies, photos at full screen and import content from your iPod.
iPodDisk
http://ipoddisk.ourbiti.com/index.php/download/
iPodDisk is a tool designed to make it easy and intuitive to copy music from your iPod. You copy music off your iPod in the Finder, like a regular disk drive.
Senuti
http://www.fadingred.org/senuti/
Get music off of your iPod onto any computer.
PodUp 1.0.0
http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/31475
PodUp is an application which copies all your music files from your iPod to a folder of your choosing, without having anything to do with iTunes.
Mac and Windows Operating System
iPodRip
http://www.thelittleappfactory.com/application.php?app=iPodRip
iPodRip supports recovering your songs and playlists, playback of audio files and much more. iPodRip is compatible with Mac OS X 10.2 and later, and Windows XP and 2000. Trial version available.
Music Rescue (Upgrade to the previously called PodUtil)
http://www.kennettnet.co.uk/software/podutil.php
Music Rescue is a shareware utility for copying songs from your iPod to your computer. PodUtil is compatible with Mac OS X and 9.x, and Windows XP and 2000.
iPod Music Liberator
http://www.zeleksoftware.com/products.htm
The iPod Music Liberator allows you to copy music, playlists, and ratings from your iPod to any computer, filling in a missing feature of iTunes. It supports Mac OS X and Windows XP, 2000, NT and 98.
TuneRanger 0.9.5 Build 270
http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/32865
TuneRanger connects iTunes-running computers over a network, allowing music, video, and playlists to be merged from one iTunes library to another seamlessly.
iPod Access Photo 1.2
http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/32383
iPod Access Photo allows you to select individual photos and albums to be moved back onto your Mac computer or an external hard drive.
iPod Access
http://www.ipodaccess.com/ipodaccess/upgradeofferWin.html
The premier application for copying music, videos and playlists from your iPod back to your Windows PC.
Microsoft Windows PC
Microsoft Windows PC
iPodCopy
http://www.topshareware.com/iPodCopy-download-42821.htm
iPodCopy allows you to copy music, video, podcasts and photos from your iPod back into iTunes or onto your PC hard disk. Also can copy playlists, artwork, ratings and play counts from your iPod into iTunes.
xPort
http://www.topshareware.com/xPort-transfer-19893.htm
xPort is the ultimate backup tool for your iPod. It enables you to easily transfer your all your songs from your iPod to your PC and it enables you to download lyrics, list your songs, create m3p playlists%u2026
CopyTrans (formerly CopyPod)
http://www.copytrans.net/
CopyTransTM is the ultimate backup and recovery tool for your iPod songs. It requires Windows XP or 2000.
CopyTrans Photo
http://www.topshareware.com/CopyPod-Photo-download-39841.htm
CopyTrans Photo allows you to transfer, backup, copy or download your photos from your iPod to your PC effortlessly.
xPodClone
http://www.topshareware.com/xPodClone-download-37702.htm
xPodClone is the ultimate backup tool for all your devices, it clone easily folders, dvds, cds, directories, ipod. You only have to drag and drop your files into the xPodclone window.
Xplay 2
http://www.mediafour.com/products/xplay/
XPlay makes it possible to not only add music to your iPod but copy music back off the iPod. With XPlay you can use both Mac and PC formatted iPods.
iGadget (formerly iPod Agent)
http://www.ipodsoft.com/index.php?/software/ipodagent
You’ll be able to transfer all kinds of data to your iPod, including driving directions, contacts, appointments, email, notes, tasks, podcasts, RSS news feeds, weather forecasts, daily horoscopes, movie show times, gas prices and more! You will have the tools necessary to copy songs off your iPod and back onto your computer.
Tansee iPod to PC Transfer
http://www.topshareware.com/Tansee-iPod-to-PC-Transfer-download-45653.htm
Transfer music from iPod to computer.
Tansee iPod Photo Transfer
http://www.topshareware.com/Tansee-iPod-Photo-Transfer-download-45654.htm
Backup/transfer photos from iPod to computer.
Tansee iPod video to PC Transfer
http://www.topshareware.com/Tansee-iPod-video-to-PC-Transfer-download-45655.htm
Transfer video audio from iPod to computer.
iBack
http://www.topshareware.com/iBack-download-49338.htm
Copy your songs & videos from your iPod to any computer.
Kandalu X Cube
http://tc.versiontracker.com/product/redir/lid/1007753/sendform.php3
Kandalu X Cube is a user friendly utility that quickly and easily allows the transfer of music files from your iPod to the computer.
In Summary
There you have it, all the resources you need to get your tunes and pictures off your iPod. There are other more expensive options available, but these are a very good starting point, especially since most are either free or have a very nominal fee attached.
If I had to pick only one, I’d pick the iGadget because it’s a full featured utility with so many other useful functions in addition to the file transfer function.
Transferring music from your iPod to your computer is easy to do if you have the tools. Unfortunately, the iPod is designed to prevent us from sharing our music. Which is understandable, because the music industry is reeling from the technology which allows us to copy music CDs, and reducing their profits.
But the problem is longstanding, ever since the old cassette tape players were used to record music, straight from the radio.
So, what should you do if your computer with all your iTunes goes on the bum, or even worse, just breaks. You’re stuck, without any way to transfer your tunes to your new computer.
Until now!
As technology goes, there are always folks who will find a way to beat the system, and this article will outline 25 options for transferring your tunes from your beloved iPod to your computer. Some are either freeware or shareware and the others of course, come with a nominal price tag.
A couple of the links are actually for transferring photos from your iPod to your computer so I included the link below as an extra. It allows you to transfer tunes and videos between iPods. Lots of folks have more than one iPod and would like to simply copy thier favorites from one iPod to the other or thier friend’s iPod.
iPod 2 iPod
http://www.topshareware.com/iPod-2-iPod-download-39933.htm
Many people own more than one iPod. iPod 2 iPod is an application that allows you to transfer your music and video between them.
Macintosh Operating System
iLinkPod
http://www.ilinkpod.com/
iLinkPod is first of all a unique tool that creates a permanent and direct access from your Desktop (and your iPod or wherever you want) to the hidden folders in which iPod stores your audio files. So you don’t need iLinkPod or any other utility to access your hidden audio files on the iPod, you’ll have access to them through a common folder on your Desktop (and iPod too).
iPod Viewer 3.0.1
http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/15864
Transfer songs to and from your iPod.
Expod0.3
http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/30994
With Expod you can copy any or all of your songs (or videos) off your iPod, using whatever file naming convention you like.
PodView 1.5
http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/29287
Play music, movies, photos at full screen and import content from your iPod.
iPodDisk
http://ipoddisk.ourbiti.com/index.php/download/
iPodDisk is a tool designed to make it easy and intuitive to copy music from your iPod. You copy music off your iPod in the Finder, like a regular disk drive.
Senuti
http://www.fadingred.org/senuti/
Get music off of your iPod onto any computer.
PodUp 1.0.0
http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/31475
PodUp is an application which copies all your music files from your iPod to a folder of your choosing, without having anything to do with iTunes.
Mac and Windows Operating System
iPodRip
http://www.thelittleappfactory.com/application.php?app=iPodRip
iPodRip supports recovering your songs and playlists, playback of audio files and much more. iPodRip is compatible with Mac OS X 10.2 and later, and Windows XP and 2000. Trial version available.
Music Rescue (Upgrade to the previously called PodUtil)
http://www.kennettnet.co.uk/software/podutil.php
Music Rescue is a shareware utility for copying songs from your iPod to your computer. PodUtil is compatible with Mac OS X and 9.x, and Windows XP and 2000.
iPod Music Liberator
http://www.zeleksoftware.com/products.htm
The iPod Music Liberator allows you to copy music, playlists, and ratings from your iPod to any computer, filling in a missing feature of iTunes. It supports Mac OS X and Windows XP, 2000, NT and 98.
TuneRanger 0.9.5 Build 270
http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/32865
TuneRanger connects iTunes-running computers over a network, allowing music, video, and playlists to be merged from one iTunes library to another seamlessly.
iPod Access Photo 1.2
http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/32383
iPod Access Photo allows you to select individual photos and albums to be moved back onto your Mac computer or an external hard drive.
iPod Access
http://www.ipodaccess.com/ipodaccess/upgradeofferWin.html
The premier application for copying music, videos and playlists from your iPod back to your Windows PC.
Microsoft Windows PC
Microsoft Windows PC
iPodCopy
http://www.topshareware.com/iPodCopy-download-42821.htm
iPodCopy allows you to copy music, video, podcasts and photos from your iPod back into iTunes or onto your PC hard disk. Also can copy playlists, artwork, ratings and play counts from your iPod into iTunes.
xPort
http://www.topshareware.com/xPort-transfer-19893.htm
xPort is the ultimate backup tool for your iPod. It enables you to easily transfer your all your songs from your iPod to your PC and it enables you to download lyrics, list your songs, create m3p playlists%u2026
CopyTrans (formerly CopyPod)
http://www.copytrans.net/
CopyTransTM is the ultimate backup and recovery tool for your iPod songs. It requires Windows XP or 2000.
CopyTrans Photo
http://www.topshareware.com/CopyPod-Photo-download-39841.htm
CopyTrans Photo allows you to transfer, backup, copy or download your photos from your iPod to your PC effortlessly.
xPodClone
http://www.topshareware.com/xPodClone-download-37702.htm
xPodClone is the ultimate backup tool for all your devices, it clone easily folders, dvds, cds, directories, ipod. You only have to drag and drop your files into the xPodclone window.
Xplay 2
http://www.mediafour.com/products/xplay/
XPlay makes it possible to not only add music to your iPod but copy music back off the iPod. With XPlay you can use both Mac and PC formatted iPods.
iGadget (formerly iPod Agent)
http://www.ipodsoft.com/index.php?/software/ipodagent
You’ll be able to transfer all kinds of data to your iPod, including driving directions, contacts, appointments, email, notes, tasks, podcasts, RSS news feeds, weather forecasts, daily horoscopes, movie show times, gas prices and more! You will have the tools necessary to copy songs off your iPod and back onto your computer.
Tansee iPod to PC Transfer
http://www.topshareware.com/Tansee-iPod-to-PC-Transfer-download-45653.htm
Transfer music from iPod to computer.
Tansee iPod Photo Transfer
http://www.topshareware.com/Tansee-iPod-Photo-Transfer-download-45654.htm
Backup/transfer photos from iPod to computer.
Tansee iPod video to PC Transfer
http://www.topshareware.com/Tansee-iPod-video-to-PC-Transfer-download-45655.htm
Transfer video audio from iPod to computer.
iBack
http://www.topshareware.com/iBack-download-49338.htm
Copy your songs & videos from your iPod to any computer.
Kandalu X Cube
http://tc.versiontracker.com/product/redir/lid/1007753/sendform.php3
Kandalu X Cube is a user friendly utility that quickly and easily allows the transfer of music files from your iPod to the computer.
In Summary
There you have it, all the resources you need to get your tunes and pictures off your iPod. There are other more expensive options available, but these are a very good starting point, especially since most are either free or have a very nominal fee attached.
If I had to pick only one, I’d pick the iGadget because it’s a full featured utility with so many other useful functions in addition to the file transfer function.
Music & Emotions: Can Music Really Make You a Happier Person?
Posted by cleansearching in Musics on May 2, 2009 | no responses
Duane Shinn asked:
How many times have you turned to music to uplift you even further in happy times, or sought the comfort of music when melancholy strikes?
Music affects us all. But only in recent times have scientists sought to explain and quantify the way music impacts us at an emotional level. Researching the links between melody and the mind indicates that listening to and playing music actually can alter how our brains, and therefore our bodies, function.
It seems that the healing power of music, over body and spirit, is only just starting to be understood, even though music therapy is not new. For many years therapists have been advocating the use of music in both listening and study for the reduction of anxiety and stress, the relief of pain. And music has also been recommended as an aid for positive change in mood and emotional states.
Michael DeBakey, who in 1966 became the first surgeon to successfully implant an artificial heart, is on record saying: “Creating and performing music promotes self-expression and provides self-gratification while giving pleasure to others. In medicine, increasing published reports demonstrate that music has a healing effect on patients.”
Doctors now believe using music therapy in hospitals and nursing homes not only makes people feel better, but also makes them heal faster. And across the nation, medical experts are beginning to apply the new revelations about music’s impact on the brain to treating patients.
In one study, researcher Michael Thaut and his team detailed how victims of stroke, cerebral palsy and Parkinson’s disease who worked to music took bigger, more balanced strides than those whose therapy had no accompaniment.
Other researchers have found the sound of drums may influence how bodies work. Quoted in a 2001 article in USA Today, Suzanne Hasner, chairwoman of the music therapy department at Berklee College of Music in Boston, says even those with dementia or head injuries retain musical ability.
The article reported results of an experiment in which researchers from the Mind-Body Wellness Center in Meadville, Pa., tracked 111 cancer patients who played drums for 30 minutes a day. They found strengthened immune systems and increased levels of cancer-fighting cells in many of the patients.
“Deep in our long-term memory is this rehearsed music,” Hasner says. “It is processed in the emotional part of the brain, the amygdala. Here is where you remember the music played at your wedding, the music of your first love, that first dance. Such things can still be remembered even in people with progressive diseases. It can be a window, a way to reach them.”
The American Music Therapy Organization claims music therapy may allow for “emotional intimacy with families and caregivers, relaxation for the entire family, and meaningful time spent together in a positive, creative way”.
Scientists have been making progress in its exploration into why music should have this effect. In 2001 Dr. Anne Blood and Robert Zatorre of McGill University in Montreal, used positron emission tomography, or PET scans, to find out if particular brain structures were stimulated by music.
In their study, Blood and Zatorre asked 10 musicians, five men and five women, to choose stirring music. The subjects were then given PET scans as they listened to four types of audio stimuli – the selected music, other music, general noise or silence. Each sequence was repeated three times in random order.
Blood said when the subjects heard the music that gave them “chills,” the PET scans detected activity in the portions of the brain that are also stimulated by food and ***.
Just why humans developed such a biologically based appreciation of music is still not clear. The appreciation of food and the drive for *** evolved to help the survival of the species, but “music did not develop strictly for survival purposes,” Blood told Associated Press at the time.
She also believes that because music activates the parts of the brain that make us happy, this suggests it can benefit our physical and mental well being.
This is good news for patients undergoing surgical operations who experience anxiety in anticipation of those procedures.
Polish researcher, Zbigniew Kucharski, at the Medical Academy of Warsaw, studied the effect of acoustic therapy for fear management in dental patients. During the period from October 2001 to May 2002, 38 dental patients aged between 16 and 60 years were observed. The patients received variations of acoustic therapy, a practice where music is received via headphones and also vibrators.
Dr Kucharski discovered the negative feelings decreased five-fold for patients who received 30 minutes of acoustic therapy both before and after their dental procedure. For the group that heard and felt music only prior to the operation, the fearful feelings reduced by a factor of 1.6 only.
For the last group (the control), which received acoustic therapy only during the operation, there was no change in the degree of fear felt.
A 1992 study identified music listening and relaxation instruction as an effective way to reduce pain and anxiety in women undergoing painful gynecological procedures. And other studies have proved music can reduce other ‘negative’ human emotions like fear, distress and depression.
Sheri Robb and a team of researchers published a report in the Journal of Music Therapy in 1992, outlining their findings that music assisted relaxation procedures (music listening, deep breathing and other exercises) effectively reduced anxiety in pediatric surgical patients on a burn unit.
“Music,” says Esther Mok in the AORN Journal in February 2003, “is an easily administered, non-threatening, non-invasive, and inexpensive tool to calm preoperative anxiety.”
So far, according to the same report, researchers cannot be certain why music has a calming affect on many medical patients. One school of thought believes music may reduce stress because it can help patients to relax and also lower blood pressure. Another researcher claims music allows the body’s vibrations to synchronize with the rhythms of those around it. For instance, if an anxious patient with a racing heartbeat listens to slow music, his heart rate will slow down and synchronize with the music’s rhythm.
Such results are still something of a mystery. The incredible ability that music has to affect and manipulate emotions and the brain is undeniable, and yet still largely inexplicable.
Aside from brain activity, the affect of music on hormone levels in the human body can also be quantified, and there is definite evidence that music can lower levels of cortisol in the body (associated with arousal and stress), and raise levels of melatonin (which can induce sleep). It can also precipitate the release of endorphins, the body’s natural painkiller.
But how does music succeed in prompting emotions within us? And why are these emotions often so powerful? The simple answer is that no one knows yet. So far we can quantify some of the emotional responses caused by music, but we cannot yet explain them. But that’s OK. I don’t have to understand electricity to benefit from light when I switch on a lamp when I come into a room, and I don’t have to understand why music can make me feel better emotionally. It just does – our Creator made us that way.
How many times have you turned to music to uplift you even further in happy times, or sought the comfort of music when melancholy strikes?
Music affects us all. But only in recent times have scientists sought to explain and quantify the way music impacts us at an emotional level. Researching the links between melody and the mind indicates that listening to and playing music actually can alter how our brains, and therefore our bodies, function.
It seems that the healing power of music, over body and spirit, is only just starting to be understood, even though music therapy is not new. For many years therapists have been advocating the use of music in both listening and study for the reduction of anxiety and stress, the relief of pain. And music has also been recommended as an aid for positive change in mood and emotional states.
Michael DeBakey, who in 1966 became the first surgeon to successfully implant an artificial heart, is on record saying: “Creating and performing music promotes self-expression and provides self-gratification while giving pleasure to others. In medicine, increasing published reports demonstrate that music has a healing effect on patients.”
Doctors now believe using music therapy in hospitals and nursing homes not only makes people feel better, but also makes them heal faster. And across the nation, medical experts are beginning to apply the new revelations about music’s impact on the brain to treating patients.
In one study, researcher Michael Thaut and his team detailed how victims of stroke, cerebral palsy and Parkinson’s disease who worked to music took bigger, more balanced strides than those whose therapy had no accompaniment.
Other researchers have found the sound of drums may influence how bodies work. Quoted in a 2001 article in USA Today, Suzanne Hasner, chairwoman of the music therapy department at Berklee College of Music in Boston, says even those with dementia or head injuries retain musical ability.
The article reported results of an experiment in which researchers from the Mind-Body Wellness Center in Meadville, Pa., tracked 111 cancer patients who played drums for 30 minutes a day. They found strengthened immune systems and increased levels of cancer-fighting cells in many of the patients.
“Deep in our long-term memory is this rehearsed music,” Hasner says. “It is processed in the emotional part of the brain, the amygdala. Here is where you remember the music played at your wedding, the music of your first love, that first dance. Such things can still be remembered even in people with progressive diseases. It can be a window, a way to reach them.”
The American Music Therapy Organization claims music therapy may allow for “emotional intimacy with families and caregivers, relaxation for the entire family, and meaningful time spent together in a positive, creative way”.
Scientists have been making progress in its exploration into why music should have this effect. In 2001 Dr. Anne Blood and Robert Zatorre of McGill University in Montreal, used positron emission tomography, or PET scans, to find out if particular brain structures were stimulated by music.
In their study, Blood and Zatorre asked 10 musicians, five men and five women, to choose stirring music. The subjects were then given PET scans as they listened to four types of audio stimuli – the selected music, other music, general noise or silence. Each sequence was repeated three times in random order.
Blood said when the subjects heard the music that gave them “chills,” the PET scans detected activity in the portions of the brain that are also stimulated by food and ***.
Just why humans developed such a biologically based appreciation of music is still not clear. The appreciation of food and the drive for *** evolved to help the survival of the species, but “music did not develop strictly for survival purposes,” Blood told Associated Press at the time.
She also believes that because music activates the parts of the brain that make us happy, this suggests it can benefit our physical and mental well being.
This is good news for patients undergoing surgical operations who experience anxiety in anticipation of those procedures.
Polish researcher, Zbigniew Kucharski, at the Medical Academy of Warsaw, studied the effect of acoustic therapy for fear management in dental patients. During the period from October 2001 to May 2002, 38 dental patients aged between 16 and 60 years were observed. The patients received variations of acoustic therapy, a practice where music is received via headphones and also vibrators.
Dr Kucharski discovered the negative feelings decreased five-fold for patients who received 30 minutes of acoustic therapy both before and after their dental procedure. For the group that heard and felt music only prior to the operation, the fearful feelings reduced by a factor of 1.6 only.
For the last group (the control), which received acoustic therapy only during the operation, there was no change in the degree of fear felt.
A 1992 study identified music listening and relaxation instruction as an effective way to reduce pain and anxiety in women undergoing painful gynecological procedures. And other studies have proved music can reduce other ‘negative’ human emotions like fear, distress and depression.
Sheri Robb and a team of researchers published a report in the Journal of Music Therapy in 1992, outlining their findings that music assisted relaxation procedures (music listening, deep breathing and other exercises) effectively reduced anxiety in pediatric surgical patients on a burn unit.
“Music,” says Esther Mok in the AORN Journal in February 2003, “is an easily administered, non-threatening, non-invasive, and inexpensive tool to calm preoperative anxiety.”
So far, according to the same report, researchers cannot be certain why music has a calming affect on many medical patients. One school of thought believes music may reduce stress because it can help patients to relax and also lower blood pressure. Another researcher claims music allows the body’s vibrations to synchronize with the rhythms of those around it. For instance, if an anxious patient with a racing heartbeat listens to slow music, his heart rate will slow down and synchronize with the music’s rhythm.
Such results are still something of a mystery. The incredible ability that music has to affect and manipulate emotions and the brain is undeniable, and yet still largely inexplicable.
Aside from brain activity, the affect of music on hormone levels in the human body can also be quantified, and there is definite evidence that music can lower levels of cortisol in the body (associated with arousal and stress), and raise levels of melatonin (which can induce sleep). It can also precipitate the release of endorphins, the body’s natural painkiller.
But how does music succeed in prompting emotions within us? And why are these emotions often so powerful? The simple answer is that no one knows yet. So far we can quantify some of the emotional responses caused by music, but we cannot yet explain them. But that’s OK. I don’t have to understand electricity to benefit from light when I switch on a lamp when I come into a room, and I don’t have to understand why music can make me feel better emotionally. It just does – our Creator made us that way.
Top 3 Reasons For Using Royalty Free Music Backgrounds
Posted by cleansearching in Musics on May 1, 2009 | no responses
Ray Barthell asked:
Tired of the same old music tracks? Or are you running out of ideas on the kind of music tracks that you wish to embed into your website background? Well, fret not because help is now at hand. There are plenty of reasons for you to smile now because thanks to the help of royalty free music tracks, you will no longer have to worry about lack of ideas on choosing the best songs to embed into your websites. Time to get real and discover the top 3 reasons for using royalty free music backgrounds for websites, blogs, videos and even your myspace profile.
Before we get the ball rolling, let’s get the meaning of royalty free music straight. Royalty free music tracks are songs that can be downloaded and used over and over again without having to worry about getting in trouble with the law. Unlike copyrighted tracks, royalty free music are tracks that can be used and embedded into your blogs and websites. You as the purchaser are entitled to tweak and edit the tracks however you wish. Do you think that the track is too long? Then shorten it. Do you think that the track is too short? Then loop it. Either way, you are just tweaking the songs such that it suits your taste. The best thing about royalty free music is that you do not need to worry if you are infringing the law. The royalty free music track is rightfully yours upon purchase!
Check out these top 3 reasons for using royalty free music as background music:
#1 – As aforementioned, these kinds of tracks are reusable tracks. As such, you can edit as many times as you want and use it on websites and blogs. Since these tracks are not copyrighted, you are able to edit it to your hearts content. This is definitely not the case for copyrighted tracks like Justin Timberlake’s latest hits. Even if you have downloaded his tracks from iTunes, you are not supposed to distribute it or use it on other media. If you download songs illegally, it just makes matters worse. Hence, for the same price as copyrighted tracks, you are able to create your own songs using royalty free music tracks.
#2 – Fear that these royalty free tracks might lack the ‘oomph’ and quality? Well, you can believe me when I say that you will be surprised that there are pretty good tracks out there that sounds as good as those songs you might have liked from the radio. In fact, they might be twice as good! This is simply because these tracks are actually composed by well-known music composers and directors. Hence, you will no longer need to doubt the quality of these royalty free music tracks.
#3 – There is an abundance of royalty free music tracks for you to choose from. This would mean that you will no longer need to worry if you are running out of ideas on what to embed as your website background music. If you are not satisfied with the track that you have, do a thorough rsearch and grab the ones that you like. Edit them and make your own masterpiece. With over thousands of sound tracks to choose from, there is no way you are going to bump on another person’s website with the same background music as yours.
Using royalty free music tracks makes your website look and sound unique. Being the odd one out does not always have to hurt.
Tired of the same old music tracks? Or are you running out of ideas on the kind of music tracks that you wish to embed into your website background? Well, fret not because help is now at hand. There are plenty of reasons for you to smile now because thanks to the help of royalty free music tracks, you will no longer have to worry about lack of ideas on choosing the best songs to embed into your websites. Time to get real and discover the top 3 reasons for using royalty free music backgrounds for websites, blogs, videos and even your myspace profile.
Before we get the ball rolling, let’s get the meaning of royalty free music straight. Royalty free music tracks are songs that can be downloaded and used over and over again without having to worry about getting in trouble with the law. Unlike copyrighted tracks, royalty free music are tracks that can be used and embedded into your blogs and websites. You as the purchaser are entitled to tweak and edit the tracks however you wish. Do you think that the track is too long? Then shorten it. Do you think that the track is too short? Then loop it. Either way, you are just tweaking the songs such that it suits your taste. The best thing about royalty free music is that you do not need to worry if you are infringing the law. The royalty free music track is rightfully yours upon purchase!
Check out these top 3 reasons for using royalty free music as background music:
#1 – As aforementioned, these kinds of tracks are reusable tracks. As such, you can edit as many times as you want and use it on websites and blogs. Since these tracks are not copyrighted, you are able to edit it to your hearts content. This is definitely not the case for copyrighted tracks like Justin Timberlake’s latest hits. Even if you have downloaded his tracks from iTunes, you are not supposed to distribute it or use it on other media. If you download songs illegally, it just makes matters worse. Hence, for the same price as copyrighted tracks, you are able to create your own songs using royalty free music tracks.
#2 – Fear that these royalty free tracks might lack the ‘oomph’ and quality? Well, you can believe me when I say that you will be surprised that there are pretty good tracks out there that sounds as good as those songs you might have liked from the radio. In fact, they might be twice as good! This is simply because these tracks are actually composed by well-known music composers and directors. Hence, you will no longer need to doubt the quality of these royalty free music tracks.
#3 – There is an abundance of royalty free music tracks for you to choose from. This would mean that you will no longer need to worry if you are running out of ideas on what to embed as your website background music. If you are not satisfied with the track that you have, do a thorough rsearch and grab the ones that you like. Edit them and make your own masterpiece. With over thousands of sound tracks to choose from, there is no way you are going to bump on another person’s website with the same background music as yours.
Using royalty free music tracks makes your website look and sound unique. Being the odd one out does not always have to hurt.
