Natalie Cox Harp Music

Have you heard about Rock Band Video Game? No matter what your age, anyone who has ever imagined themselves playing in a band is about to be able to retire that “air guitar” they’ve been playing. Rock Band video game is the brand new gaming sensation that is set to “rock your world”!

MTV’s Harmonix has come up with the ultimate in music and rhythm gaming. All wrapped up for the holidays in their latest release for PS2, PS3 and Xbox360, Rock Band. You can play the game by yourself or get others to join in and play lead guitar, bass, drums or do lead vocals with you. The best part is that you can have up to four players “jam” with you and play at the same time. There are many different levels, so cudos to Rock Band’s creators for coming up with such an innovative, multi-layered game. No more sitting on the sidelines for you parents. Now you can play along with your kids as part of the same band!

Create your own band logo and then create your own character, complete with multiple avatars that can be set up to play a wide variety of musical instruments. Score high enough and the Rock Band game will advance you to it’s “live” performance level on each instrument or the vocals. This is where you can actually perform your own live solos! Who needs karaoke when you can do it “for real”?

Judging from the pre-release “buzz”, if you plan to wow your friends and family with the Rock Band game, you need to jump on getting a copy as soon as it is released. Pre-order sales have already been limited by the manufacturer to only one per household, so be prepared. This awesome game will probably sell out in record time.

Harmonix has plans to eventually set up an international, online Rock Band video game community where you can go to find new bandmembers or just compare “notes”. While they are working on that, get your coworkers to play Rock Band with you. The conversation at the water cooler will definitely change. Who needs to talk about football scores when you got more points for adding that cool new rift last night!

By: Jim Hodges

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The title “Spanish guitar” is a reference to the instrument’s origin rather than the music played on it. It is also called the “nylon string guitar,” “classical guitar,” or “gut string guitar.” It is certainly one of the most recognizable instruments in the world today, and its history can be traced back for approximately four centuries. Thanks to ancient carvings and statues, we know that instruments similar to the modern guitar have existed for at least 5,000 years. However, the Spanish guitar is believed to have evolved under the combined influences of the Renaissance five string guitar, the baroque guitar, the lute, and the vihuela.

The latter half of the Middle Ages was a very good time for the guitar. Thanks to the resurgence of human innovation, a variety of instruments were invented or improved upon. The Renaissance five string guitar, for example. This musical instrument, sometimes called a gittern, resembled a small lute and was carved from a single piece of wood with a curved peg box. The vihuela, another instrument of the period, was developed in Spain during the early sixteenth century. This instrument had six double strings made of gut and was tuned almost exactly like the modern Spanish guitar. Finally the baroque guitar, or early romantic guitar, was developed in Italy in the late sixteenth century. It, too, was a six-stringed instrument. In looking at the attributes of each, it is evident that all of these instruments eventually combined and evolved into the Spanish guitar. Our modern instrument, like several of its predecessors, has six strings (usually) and is an acoustic instrument that utilizes a soundboard as a resonator. It uses nylon strings, which are similar to the earlier gut strings in that they are fairly low tension, especially in comparison to their steel cousins.

As previously stated, the reference to Spain in the term “Spanish guitar” is a nod to the instrument’s repertoire. Not surprisingly, given its family history, music for the Spanish guitar includes not only that written specifically for the instrument but that written for the vihuela, lute, baroque guitar, and Renaissance guitar as well. It is even possible to use the Spanish guitar to play music originally written for the violin and cello, as is sometimes done with the compositions of Johann Sebastian Bach.

The earliest music written specifically for the Spanish guitar dates from the late eighteenth century and corresponds to addition of the instrument’s sixth string. However, it was not until the middle of the nineteenth century that the Spanish guitar began to establish its own unique genre. Francisco Tarrega was central to this movement and is credited with incorporating some aspects of flamenco into his composition. It was at this time that Spain was establishing itself as a force in music, and the guitar was central to the country’s reputation in Europe.

Today, the Spanish guitar remains a popular instrument all over the Western world. It has become widely used in popular music and rock and roll, a trend sometimes credited to Mason Williams’ ever popular 1968 hit, Classic Gas.

By: Victor Epand

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Violins are one of the most beautiful instruments anyone can own or play. A little history behind the violin; The violin is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest and highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which also includes the viola and cello. A violin is sometimes informally referred to as a “fiddle.” The word violin comes from the Romance Languages from the Middle Latin word “Vitual” which means “stringed instrument.” The word Vitual is also believed to be the Germanic source of “fiddle.”

Did you know that you can actually take lessons online through video programs to learn how to play the violin? Pretty amazing if you ask me! From way back when, the one instrument I have always wanted to play was a violin. So, why didn’t I ever get into it? Well my main problem was it always looked so confusing to play. If you have had someof the same feelings as me, then these online lessons just may be the answer for you!

There are several different sites you can visit as well as different packages you can buy to learn how to play some of your very own masterpieces on the violin. This sites allow you to buy and download these packages which include hundreds of videos. These packages also include other things besides videos such as jam tracks, exercises, scales and cards, and step by step instructions.

If you are searching around on the Internet for violin lessons online, then you are in luck! A few good places you could look if your searching for these professional video lessons or packages are listed below:

- eBay

- Amazon

- ViolinOnline

- TheViolinSite

Or you can do a search online and look for things that pertain to Violin Lessons Online, or Violin Lesson Packages Online! I wish you luck in finding the perfect package, I have no doubt that you are going to have an extreme amount of fun learning how to play your violin! Have fun!

You can also search for these online video lesson packages below to get an idea of what these are! These are all free so they don’t include a lot of things the paid one above does, but at least you get a little taste of what you are in store for!

Violin Master Class
Violinmasterclass was created for violin professionals, teachers, parents, and students at all levels to enhance the study of playing the violin. This site provides information that was until now available only to those able to audition into the world’s foremost violin studios, such as the classes of Dorothy DeLay, Ivan Galamian, and Carl Flesch.

Dan Mans Music
You can learn music and learn how to play your instrument by watching my Video Lessons online. Learn songs, theory, technique, how to read music, how to write music, how to play by ear, by chords, by cheat sheets, by teacher methods… so many ways to learn music… it’s all here.

Learning Violin
Here you can view 6 free video lessons that they have written and produced. These lessons will help you get familiar with the basics needed to get started on the violin.

By: Kristi Ambrose

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Almost every age group we have, has karaoke lovers, and they all seem to enjoy the karaoke songs no matter what age group they are most applicable to. Having said that, every age group pretty much has its favorites though. If you are a Karaoke Disc Jockey it might be beneficial for you to know what songs would fit in best or be most popular with the general age group of your audience. Here are just a few examples of how you could categorize your music according to audience age group.

Suppose you are doing a birthday party for pre schoolers or entertaining a family group. Here is where your job is really going to get challenging, trying to please such a wide diversity of age groups. Perhaps at one time the little ones would have run off to play while the adults did their little sing along. Not anymore these little ones want in on the action. Most likely if they have learned how to talk then they are ready to sink karaoke songs.
Often these songs that are favored on the nursery rhyme or kindergarten songs such as, Baa Baa Black sheep, Oh Susanna, or old MacDonald had a farm. Think back and you’ll remember how much you enjoyed them as a kid.

Ok, so now you have tired out the little ones lets move onto the preteens. These are so hard to please. They pretty well choose their karaoke songs based on what the older ones will like. Only problem here is if parents are present then they might not be too happy at their pre teeners belting out some heavy metal music. Try and find a happy medium here. You just might convince the kids to sing out some Daddy A Go Go karaoke songs. They may or may not be their favorites but they do find them amusing.

For all the in-betweens now is going to be your easiest part. For the teens you are going to need a selection of the most current karaoke songs, in rock, heavy rock and rap. Then for the parents you’re looking at songs from the 50’s up to the 80’s. Oh yes there’s a bit more that has got to be included here. For each of these eras you need a selection of rock and roll, country western, jazz, and perhaps some blues.

For the senior there something sad about their music, and that’s becomes it comes from a time when so many of their loved ones were killed in the wars. So the music they seem to play and love the most is what is called the old war songs. To your best to have a selection of Karaoke songs to fit this age group. Such as the white cliffs of Dover, or I’ll take you home again Kathleen. One only needs to look at the face of one of the seniors singing these songs and you will see a flood of memories pass across their face.

So doing a karaoke party for a mixed group can be pretty challenging when it comes to the music. After all you do want to be popular amongst all age groups. If you have a tight budget however, you might want to stick to entertaining the age group that you have the most music for.

By: Rachel Patterson

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