Natalie Cox Harp Music

For too long, classical music has been regarded as the domain of instrumentalists, composers, academic musicologists and, typically, anyone over 40 years old. But while the majority of today’s youth would rather listen to Britney Spears’ greatest hits or watch My Chemical Romance on MTV, the view that young people are completely uninterested in classical music is not just erroneous – it’s simply not grounded in historical reality.

Mozart, widely regarded as one of the greatest classical composers of all time, wrote his first symphony at age eight and was dead by the age of 35. Schubert also died when he was 31, while Chopin famously didn’t live past the age of 39. Moreover, the phenomenon of the castrato in classical music in the 1700s shows that young people haven’t just been interested in classical music throughout the years – they’ve practically been canonised as part of a classical music tradition that, although lost, is not forgotten.

Today’s orchestras, choirs and opera houses are packed with young singers and musicians, many of whom are still in their twenties. Moreover, almost all modern, successful classical musicians will have undergone training from a very young age. Charlotte Church may have made headlines when she released her debut album “Voice of an Angel” in 1998 aged just thirteen, but while her phenomenal mainstream success was not typical, the fact that she was such a young musician in the classical industry was.

In the twenty-first century, the likes of Katherine Jenkins and “male soprano” Michael Maniaci, 28 and 29 years of age respectively, are making headlines the world over for their innovative approach to classical music and their stunning vocal range. Edward Gardner, the new Music Director of Glyndebourne on Tour (one of the UK’s premier operatic fixtures), is also only 28, proving that there is certainly no dearth of young people performing classical music, although there may be fewer youths than OAPs listening to it.

But as classical music institutions and performing arts organisations try their best to reduce their median audience age, classical music isn’t just becoming more accessible to young people – it’s also becoming more affordable. Scottish Opera, for instance, offer special ticket deals for people under 26, while many music-specialist booksellers are making classical music books and guides that will help younger classical listeners learn more about the craft. So while many may lament the loss or decline of youth interest in classical music in today’s world, they need only look towards the country’s concert halls to see where the future lies.

By: Adam Singleton

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Have you listened to an endless amount of gymnastics floor music demos just trying to find the perfect piece for you floor exercise routine? Are you looking for the perfect song that will display your personality, tumbling, gymnastics dance, and character to its fullest potential? If you have listened to song after song and have not found one you can connect with emotionally and physically or have not found gymnastics floor music that will accentuate your routine and make it stand out from others, don’t give up hope! If you have a great idea for a one of a kind gymnastics floor routine, then you should have your gymnastics music customized. Customized floor music is choreographed and designed just for you and is intended to fit your floor routine perfectly!

Customized gymnastics floor routine music can consist of any type of music as long as there are no words or lyrics. Gymnastics floor music consists of all genres, such as: hip-hop, techno, folk, classical, rap, country, India rock, R and B, etc. that come from from around the world from great places like England, Europe, Germany, Italy, china, Greece, etc. You can also pick your favorite songs, have them strip of all their lyrics, and add extra instrumental parts making it into a remix. They can also cut and splice many different songs and combine them together to make one exclusive gymnastics floor routine music piece!

You don’t have to be an Olympic gymnast to get customized music for gymnastics. Customized gymnastics floor music is available to gymnasts of all ages and levels. All you need is a great idea to start with! One of the great things about customized music is you can have it designed just for your likes, needs, and wants. Plus you will be the only gymnast in the whole world to have this unique, one of a kind piece.

By: Jessie Kimmel

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DJ’s that like to perform tricks are always on the look out for new tricks and techniques to
perform. If done correctly, DJ tricks can be look and sound very impressive indeed! In this
article we will talk about 3 DJ tricks you can learn and implement at your own will.

DJ trick 1 – How to play a record backwards.

This trick is more suited to a vestax PDX-A2. What you need to do is take an ashtray a little thicker than the cartridge on your turntable or deck and position it upside down & centered on the slipmat of the turntable. Take a piece of sticky gum and stick a record centered on top of the ashtray, what the gum does is it helps hold it in place. Flip the cartridge upside down and then screw it back onto the tonal arm. You need to also weight the tonal arm so that it has the tendency to spring upward instead of down. When you have that done, start the record and slide the tonal arm underneath the record as far as you can towards the ashtray and it will play your record backwards. Its a pretty cool trick when you get it working.

DJ trick 2 – Add your own drum record

The second trick you need to do is have a record playing on one deck and set the tonal arm on the beginning or the end of the record where no music is written. Then have the record
stopped and tap on the record with your finger. What happens is the vibration from your
tapping on the record will sound like a base beat. Just tap in beat with the other record to
fatten up the base or add your own percussive touch. Its tough to get it first off but with
practice you’ll be good at it eventually!

DJ Trick 3 – Use two of the same records to achieve a reverb or delay effect.

This trick is pretty popular and I’ve seen lots of DJ’s work this off to a “T”. What you need
to do for this trick is take two records of the same song and get them in beat with each
other. You want to make sure that the songs are literally over laid exactly on top of each
other. So… assuming that you have that in order, take the base out of the record that you
are about to mix in and bring the track in. Once this is done, slowly blend the pitch very
delicately and you will start to hear a reverb effect! For the delay effect all you need to
do repeat the procedure except slip the record out of beat and then fade in and out for a
delay effect.

There you have it. 3 cool DJ tricks for you to get cracking on! You may not get these at
first, but practice makes perfect. Now go get em DJ!

By: Shane Burn

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This article has a soundtrack. You can’t hear it right now, but I can. As I sit here typing, Dvorak’s Slavonic Dance, Op. 72 No. 6, fills the air here in my home office. I’m streaming it from a Web radio station that is situated in Chula Vista, Mexico.

XLNC has a regular broadcast station on 90.7 FM, serving the Tijuana-San Diego area. The reason I’m able to enjoy it here in North Carolina is because of XLNC’s Internet stream. (In an unusual turn of events, XLNC was actually started as a Web radio station, only later adding an over-the-air component.)

XLNC’s sound is gorgeous. The audio stream coming through my PC speakers is as good and possibly a bit better than the local classical music station that I can listen to on my home stereo system.

Classical music broadcasting has made something of a comeback in recent years, thanks in part to satellite radio (XM and Sirius), and thanks in part to the Internet. Classical music has always had a devoted following, but one that was relatively small. As a consequence, it was in danger of disappearing from radio altogether.

At one time, you could be certain of hearing classical music on almost any public radio station you tuned to. But over time, even these stations began shifting away from classical to more popular music forms such as folk, bluegrass, Celtic, blues, etc. Or, they became more talk-oriented.

Nowadays, though, classical music fans can breathe easier. As long as they are connected to the Internet (or have a satellite radio subscription), they can find an abundant choice of classical music stations to enjoy. I found the XLNC link through a Web site that listed and described 100 Internet radio stations whose programming is wholly or in large part devoted to classical music.

Classical music is not dead. It is alive and healthy–on Internet radio. Why not give it a listen and hear it for yourself?

By: Stefan Smith

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The plethora of medications offered on-line should come with a snap shot of Annette Bening as Deirdre Burroughs, Augusten Burroughs hopelessly addicted narcissistic mother in his searing and tragic memoir of a life interrupted.

This tale matches Mommy Dearest one for one and possibly surpasses it as a venomous portrayal of a mother once held in awe. Certainly Annette Bening tops Faye Dunaway in her disintegration onscreen. There is nothing over the top here. Bening owns Deirdre throughout. And Deirdre as a mother is a nightmare of epic proportions. As a feminist, she leaves nothing to be desired and gives the word a bad name.

The film’s introduction to a young Augusten’s Family life leaves no doubt that there is trouble in paradise. The story quickly introduces the audience to a fractured family fueled by alcohol and emotional abuse. Could it get worse? Oh yes, and then some.

Father Norman (Alec Baldwin) has enough and walks when Deirdre elicits the help of Dr. Finch (Brian Cox) and embraces his bizarre therapy with complete abandon. In the process, Deirdre loses her husband, loses her son and loses her soul.

The story is equal parts Augusten’s journey to survive the pain of watching his mother’s disintegration and his journey to survive being thrust into life in the mad house of Dr. Finch.

It is a home inhabited by two strangely psychotic daughters and an achingly repressed housewife. Jill Clayburgh embodies the role of Agnes Finch with such brilliant neurosis that she ultimately appears the only sane one in the bunch. Hers is a finely tuned performance of the dichotomy of brilliance bordering on insanity. There is Hope (Gwyneth Paltrow) – the light, and there is Natalie (Evan Rachel Wood) – the dark, as sisters far from normal in a household that is equally so. Adopted brother Neil Bookman (Joseph Fiennes), appears in full-blown schizophrenia to relieve Augusten of his virginity and add a little more chaos to the mix. All characters border on insanity not surprisingly due to the apparent madness of the man of the house, sketchy Dr. Finch, whose ideas about self-discovery are largely encouraged through the use of pharmaceuticals.

All of them have a story and Augusten ultimately finds hope where there appears none, strength, where none appears to exist. In the end, he comes to terms with the fact that life, as he would like it to be, is best left in his own hands.

By: Devorah Macdonald

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