Almost everyone has heard about the massive crack down on Internet music piracy that has been occurring over the past few years. Napster was taken down (although it has now returned as a pay service), other file sharing programs now require users to pay for a license and the RIAA and other similar organizations are doing their best to hunt down copyright offenders and put an end to their crime sprees. The consumers on the other hand argue that their actions hurt nobody, that there is no damage done to anyone by their not buying an album. Furthermore, they claim, MP3s allow them to sample a CD before purchasing it, thus actually helping sales.

I’m not here to argue the pros and cons. Basically it’s not worth it, as neither side of the argument will ever see the opposition’s point of view. What I’d like to do is take a look at the completely free and legal alternative to ’stealing’ music. Those wonderfully talented musicians who are willing to put their creations online to download for free, solely for the joy of spreading their creations to the masses.

Free music is surprisingly easy to come by, even music by famous bands. Sometimes it needs to be ’streamed’ from the Internet, meaning that you can only listen to a song while you’re online, but with the ever-growing popularity of broadband Internet this is really no longer a problem. Sites such as MP3.com and purevolume.com provide free music by almost any band you can think of, although there is a large amount of it that has to be streamed and not downloaded. A search for ‘free legal MP3 downloads’ will reveal a huge number of pages to visit.

For something specific, try visiting the artist’s website, or the site of their record label. These will often offer a few sample tracks to download for free. It’s not quite as convenient as having access to every song that you want, but it’s not a bad alternative.

But how about we forget about the mainstream for just a while and move towards the alternative? Towards the hopefuls, the talented bands that have yet to be ‘noticed’. There are a huge number of these smaller bands out there that are sticking their stuff online for any and all to listen to, just so that they can be heard. These can be easier to find, because most MP3 sites will be filled with these smaller acts. A great place to start is http://www.garageband.com/ or the aforementioned http://purevolume.com

The great thing about smaller bands is that you can often find bands that come from your local area and then go and see them play live. Being able to see a favourite band live more than once a year (or lifetime) without expending huge amounts of money and time is pretty cool. Many music search engines will let you search for bands of a particular genre in a particular area, which makes it all quite easy.

A fairly major contributor to the online music scene is the remixer. These people take other tunes and redo them, often in a techno style because one person can do this competently. Chief among the tunes selected to be remixed are those old ditties that used to play through the simplest of sound chips on now aging consoles: the video game theme songs. People now go and grab the main tune line from an old favourite and fill it out, making real the work our imaginations used to do for us to turn the single tone melodies into orchestral masterpieces. A few good places to start are http://remix.kwed.org and http://remix.overclocked.org as well as a personal favourite band http://machinaesupremacy.com

I hope this has given you something to think about. It’s not hard to come across illegal MP3 rips, in fact it’s often hard to avoid them, but if you give the free music scene a look you may find something completely different and new that will really do it for you. With web hosts already being penalized hugely for illegal content being stored on their servers (having an entire server taken down because of one inconsiderate user is damaging and irritating beyond belief) and moves being made to charge ISPs for the content being accessed by their users, it makes more sense than ever to get out there and grab yourself an awesomely original and completely legal music collection.

By: Daniel Punch

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Is this possible? Yes most certainly, but like most things, you need to have the right conditions. Mozart for example, wrote symphonies at the age of nine. Sure, he was undoubtedly born with some predisposed talent for music, but that is not the issue under discussion. What we want to look at is how therapeutic his music is, as our first example. Much research has been done, suggesting a possible improvement in emotions such as depression and relaxation. Also, some speculation and testing to show temporary improvement in mental spatial skills, has given more therapeutic benefits for his music. Then of course, is also the state of Mozart’s mind, which we can only speculate must have been well balanced to produce such incredible music masterpieces. This “Mozart effect” still has many people convinced that his music has useful health benefits.

In the seventies, and even today, there are still people and companies espousing the ultimate virtues of Alpha level music. This is certainly mildly relaxing, but that’s about it, for science has progressed considerably, especially in the area of electronic monitoring. It is amazing how many people think they are relaxed, when skin resistance, brainwave monitoring, and blood pressure readings will indicate otherwise. Just a half hour drive to work in peak hour traffic, will raise your blood pressure and your G.P.’s eyebrows. We are living in a stimuli saturated environment, all chipping away at our balanced mental and emotional state.

Most living organisms love music, even plants. Some research, using four different sound stimuli, were conducted to see the effect on plant growth. Three were music pieces — rock, classical, and heavy metal. They all gave similar plant growths, in their respective glass houses. The fourth sound stimuli was a recording of angry talking. This produced significantly less plant growth than the music ones. We would assume that the plants did not have any music preference, or needed any placebo testing.

Is there any way of knowing which type of music is beneficial for motivation? It can’t be just relaxation music, because we can be lying around relaxed for hours, but totally unmotivated. There is an enormous range of music CD’s on the market that claim many specific benefits. Some are for relaxation, some for mental alertness, others for many other individual applications. Most have little or no scientific proof, apart from mentioning names of people or institutions. A very few do actually give print outs of brainwave recordings, to indicate the effect for example of a particular music on say, stress.

I have yet to see a music CD ( apart from our own ), being marketed specifically to “balance” a person. This can only be scientifically verified, by showing brainwave patterns on a monitor, balancing out as you start listening to the “balancing” music. What does this mean?

It means that you don’t have extremely high Beta brainwaves, while the others are low, indicating a high stress level. Or very high Delta brainwaves, and Beta ones low, indicating high sensitivity and lateral thinking, but presenting as ADHD. Or very low Alpha and Theta brainwaves, possibly indicating poor memory retention, because there is little connection between Beta and Delta.

So without scientific brainwave monitoring of what the music is doing, there can not be any proof of its balancing effects, if there are any. True balancing music will neutralise dyslexia, and reverse ADHD, as soon as you start hearing it.

As far as motivation goes, seeing balanced brainwaves from listening to balancing music, is a start. Then it becomes more subjective, because it is up to the individual to decide if they are then more motivated.

If, however, you listen to true balancing music for an extended time of say, two hours – then you will find extremely high and equal levels of Delta and Beta. This indicates a profound lateral thinking state, at the same time as a very high state of mental processing abilities. This is an extremely rare condition, except in elite professionals, such as in sports, science, performing arts, and of course, healing gurus.

To be in such a heightened balanced state, ( whether it occurs in five minutes, or a couple of hours ), must certainly be conducive to being motivated. The reason being, that you are in a heightened state of deep relaxation, lateral thinking, and mental arousal, and will automatically be stimulated to think and act. You are motivated.

By: Tom Reschow

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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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Every guitar player that has ever been born lives for the day when he/she can pick up a vintage guitar. Vintage guitars are available in all major manufacturers and brands. But it’s not only musicians and guitar enthusiasts that are attracted to these masterpieces. Vintage guitars can also be viewed as an investment.

You’re probably saying to yourself right now “How can a guitar be an investment?”, “Is buying a vintage guitar really a good investment?” Allow me to enlighten you a little. To the untrained eye, a guitar is a guitar. Now we aren’t talking about the walls of instruments you see at Guitar Center or Sam Ash. We are talking about those special few extraordinary guitars that just scream to be torn into.

Guitars are a great investment for a few reasons. First, they are beautiful and command a room where they are displayed. Second, vintage guitars don’t depreciate or lose value with time. On the contrary, these babies appreciate and gain value as they age, especially if they are kept up nicely. Third, they have superior tonality and action when played due to the quality workmanship that went into their construction.

Undoubtedly, the most popular is the Les Paul by Gibson. This guitar carries the name of the man who invented the solid body electric guitar. In the 1960’s, the Les Paul was just about THE choice of instrument. These are still made today, but the older ones were made of superior materials like mahogany and oak. Some even had gold frets and mother of pearl inlays on the fret board.

Fender also has a stranglehold on a couple of highly sought after guitars, especially the Stratocaster, the Telecaster and the Thunderbird. These were favorites among blues and rock players alike. Again, the ones everybody wants were made in the 1950’s and 1960’s.

Certainly among the reigning Kings of vintage guitars are those made by the CF Martin company. Martin emigrated here from Europe in the late 19th century and set up shop in New York. The craftsmanship he imparted is not only extraordinary. It is absolutely earth shattering. Martin pioneered the X-bracing system for acoustic guitars adding years to the longevity of the instruments he made. Many Martin’s are still in use at nearly 100 years old!

Guild is another vintage guitar that is vastly overlooked these days. Guild was only in operation for about 25 years and was bought by Fender in the 1990’s. Some of the older Guild guitars are extremely rare and sought after as they exhibited the same quality as the Martin instruments of the same time period.

Every one of these guitar manufacturers has made an exceptional line of guitars. Players like Stevie Ray Vaughn, Jimi Hendrix, Chet Atkins, Roy Clark and Les Paul have chosen them time and time again as their guitar of choice.

When bought as an investment, the vintage ones hold the possibility of giving a fantastic ROI (return on investment).

To see a collection of vintage guitars that are available right now, get on over to Vintage Guitar Zone and see what you can get your fingers around for a great price.

By: Michael G McNaughton

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The legacy that famous Austrian composer-musician Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart has handed down to present-day generation of organists and composers remains to be strong in the music scene. The influence of symphonies and operatic tunes is still apparent in elite circles and themed concerts in Europe and reserved states of the United States. To discover the uniqueness and passion of one of Europe’s household names in entertainment business, you can download free Mozart music online.

Music is a gift to our ears, a blessing to our life. Classics and nostalgic tunes are timeless pieces that people still remain loyal even up to the millennium era. Those songs composed in the 14th to 18th centuries are of course traces of how music has evolved through the years. Free Mozart Music takes you to a trip down memory lane when symphonies were strongly followed by music aficionados.

Mozart may have died at early age of 35 in December 5, 1791, but he never wasted any of his time to provide the world with great Free Mozart music downloadable on the web. His music line-ups include clarinet concerto, string quartets, piano concerti from 20 onwards, symphonies 36 to 41 and the most famous Requiem. Among all the European musical conductors, Mozart has sustained his popularity the most because his pieces led to the emergence of standard concert repertoire. His genius outputs in music have placed Europe to the global map in entertainment history.

Free Mozart Music takes you to a sweet and classical taste of musical compositions. Danish Broadcasting Corporation, for instance, is providing free access to nine Mozart Symphonies in MP3 mode. The music files can be obtained on the web regardless of where you are downloading it from. As you encounter the privilege to get yourself a free copy of Mozart’s songs, do not linger to pass it up. In getting your MP3 songs, you won’t be required to extend fees. In this way, you will be from risk-free and secured.

Songs from the 16th century can be heard without any charges or prices. They surely don’t have DVD or VCD available anymore. At anytime of the day, you can freely and legally download free Mozart music that is reflective of Mozart’s endless dedication to music. Austria’s pride has his musical scores posted online, say on International Mozart Foundation for one. More of his pieces are Moonlight Sonata, Rondo, The Marriage of Figaro, Andante, Adagio and Allegro.

The trend of downloading music online is making it easier for you to get hold of free Mozart music. After 250 years since Mozart’s memorial, his masterpieces are playing over and over again in the minds of his fanatics. Just like Beethoven, he’s been recognized as the most influential icons in music industry.

By: Ian Pennington

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Sony Ericsson, a joint venture company, was established in the year 2001 by converging two major giants named Sony and Ericsson. In the year 2007, they have surpassed Nokia and became the most profitable mobile communication company in the world. They have launched various mobile phones series by the names of C Series, D Series, F Series, J Series, K Series, S Series, T Series and W Series. Each of these series had been launched to serve almost each segment of mobile phone users. These series are consisting of various types of mobile handsets like candybar, flip, swivel, slider and clamshell.

Each of these phone series were very successful, but the W Series mobile phones, also known as Walkman Series Mobile Phones, were an instant hit in the mobile market. These music centered mobile devices are still appreciated by their users worldwide. The Walkman series phones were first revealed in the year 2006 and the W300 was the first one. These devices are built with various features and applications like TrackID, PlayNow, M-BUZZ, SensME , and others; all of these applications are the registered trademarks of Sony Ericsson. Though these phones do not support Sony’s proprietary format ATRAC, they can play almost every available musical format.

Sony Walkman phones hold various other capabilities like High-End Cameras with Autofocus, Video Calling, 3G capabilities, higher capacity of internal and external memories, high-quality application software and many more. Some of the brilliant handsets from this series are – W300, W550, W600, W700, W810, W850, W900, W910 and the W950. The Sony Ericsson W900, also known as the successor of the S700, which had all the capabilities of the W800 mobile, also featured the power of 3G video calling and streaming, better video recording, a larger display and the internal memory of 470MB. This was really one of the best handsets from Sony Ericsson. There is a huge list of mobile models that come under the Walkman series. These mobiles are quite alluring and magnificent and they really fulfil your requirement of owning a great mobile.

By: Raina Kelsey

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You have always loved the sound of the piano and you remember tinkering on it as a child. You never had the money to afford formal lessons and you can’t read sheet music. But you want to play. You want to be able to finger those black and white keys and play a song. There’s that says you can’t. You just need to learn how to play piano by ear.

Playing any instrument by ear requires patience and the ability to match the sounds you hear with the sounds you play. With the piano, you cannot be afraid to test this out. The keys give you an instant result just by pressing them. If you were to play them in order, you would hear a pattern. Sometimes it won’t sound right. When that happens, try pressing some of the black keys. What you playing is a scale.

Place your hands on the keys and get ready to play piano by ear. Start with something simply, like ‘Mary Had A Little Lamb’. Hum the tune in your head and then try to match it with the keys beneath your fingers. It may take you a few times, but have patience. It is not that difficult and you will feel very rewarded once you have done it. Know that learning to play any instrument by ear is a process of trial and error.

Some people teach themselves how to play piano by ear by chording. A chord is a group of three notes that sound good together. It sounds right. There are times when chording is all that is needed. It’s more of an accompaniment than the actual melody of the song. If you are patient enough, you can learn to chord the right notes with your left hands and play the melody with your right hand.

As you play piano by ear you will discover that hitting the key with different intensity makes the note soft or loud. Also, the pedal at your feet can sustain a note for a longer length of time. These are common techniques used by composers to give their music flavor. Listen to a piano concerto one day and notice the way the music rolls, loud to soft, long notes to short. These elements are in almost every form of music and they do have proper names.

Whatever happens with your piano playing, remember that the primary goal is to enjoy your music. If you’re not enjoying the music you might as well do something else. But if you’re enjoying the music, don’t quit just because you’re not playing masterpieces yet. Remember that most good pianists have spent more than a decade getting to where they’re at playing the piano, whether they are playing the piano by sight or playing the piano by ear.

By: Terje Brooks Ellingsen

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Samsung mobile company is presenting an impressive mobile experience to its valuable customers. You ask for smart phones, music phones or camera phone, Samsung will provide you different models of mobile handsets. Integrated with sophisticated features and distinct designs, the Samsung mobile handset company has extensive range of exclusive cell phones in its portfolio. Greatly known for its ultra slim phones, it caters to all segments and fulfills the requirements of mobile users. Go for the Samsung mobile phones and choose the finest and advanced technology mobile phone.

If you are thinking of buying one of the latest mobile handsets available, then simply go for Samsung phone. Each passing day, Samsung are upgrading new innovative features in mobile phones. Designing slim and sleek handsets, the mobiles are more technologically sound compared to other mobile players in the market. Featuring multimedia functionalities, media players, camera and other business related features, Samsung offers contemporary lifestyle with modern outlook.

Samsung provides exciting handsets with enormous imaging and entertainment features. Its latest offer is an elegant SamsungU600, presenting remarkable mobile experience. With this mobile you can share or store beautiful moments with friends and family together with capture photographs and videos. The mobile gives crystal clear images with the 3.2 mega pixel digital camera. Supporting digital zoom, in-built flash and auto focus, you can now take photos and record videos anytime or place. The mobile comes with 60MB on in-built memory and can be extended through MicroSD, a type of memory card slot. You can update yourself with wireless connectivity, as Bluetooth helps you to transfer file and download objects with other PCs or compatible device. If you talk about its music player, it stands at par with other music players supporting all music formats. Easy in operation, it delivers awesome sound output. Visit online mobile phone shops and download as many songs and videos you like with utmost simplicity. Not only this, you can now arrange music files in different folders and sort tracks in different ways. It’s one amongst the most appealing and attractive mobiles from Samsung.

Samsung proves that do not compromise in delivering quality and this can be proved on looking to Samsung G600, an amazing headset with brilliant features. This Korean giant has left no boundaries unturned in offering the best. This is evident when you see Samsung G600 in classic slider format. It comes with flat sliding mechanism with both opening and closing options. Easily operational with single push, the phone is quite handy. Absence of touch screen is not felt by its user as it makes operation easier. Its 2.2 inch screen supporting 16 million colours with high resolution of 240X 320 pixels is a impressive element. The 5 mega pixel camera accompanied with LED flash and 4 X digital zoom gives you an opportunity to click photos and videos. Two camera modes in the camera namely panorama mode for landscapes and macro mode for closer shots are great. It also includes in-built picture editor, and direct printing support to Pictbridge-compatible printer. The phone also features video recording at 640 X 480 pixels. With a FM and dedicated music library, its music player supports all audio formats such as MP3, AAC, WMA, 3-AAC and AAC+.

The last but not the least Samsung J600 Blue & Silver has a combination of style and function. This high-end mobile is curvy and comes in classy metallic blue, subtle silver and trendy pink. This new slider phone has stunning appearance. Functionalities that you find on this mobile are touch sensitive keys, full colour screen, customize menu settings, USB port, Bluetooth, 1.3 mega pixel camera, phone book and calendar. You can also identify pictures through recorded videos, which certainly makes it a top end mobile.

By: Day Kevi

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I as both an opera fanatic and author of the book “New York’s Opera Society” naturally am an ardent admirer of Wagner. It being this man who in the 19th century revolutionized not only opera but music through his works which included masterpieces the likes of “Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung), “Tristan And Isolde”, “The Flying Dutchman”, “The Meister Singer From Nuremburg”, “Lohengrin”, “Tannhäuser” and “Parsifal”. Wagner’s influence however to a large extent took opera beyond what it had been up till his time; as he expanded it from merely putting poetry in to music to creating what could be hailed as “musical dramas”.

Regarding Wagner, the composer he for the most part like his contemporary; Verdi (also born in 1813) limited himself to writing operas however Wagner unlike Verdi wrote his own librettos. This that which set him apart from many others; as Wagner was able to truly create an entire opera on his own in what he; himself dubbed “total art”.

Wagner apart from music led a very interesting life; which is the real reason for my decision to write a book about him. Wagner being one who perhaps was not a man who many would ever refer to as a saint. This given his habit of running in to debt and almost always escaping his creditors, whom he tended not to pay. It was in fact often that the sponsors of his operas would bail him out; thus preventing his going to debtors prison.

Wagner’s political views were also something which managed to get him in trouble, specifically after supporting a failed revolution in Dresden. This being what led to his fleeing to Zurich; in order to prevent himself from going to prison as was the case with Röckel and Bakunin, who were amongst the organizers of the revolution.

Regarding Wagner’s romantic life; it for the most part was occupied by two women, both of whom he wed. The first of which being the one he would divorce after a union which would not produce much in the way of happiness. Wagner however would go on to remarry; a woman by the name of Cosima, who apart from being the daughter of Hungarian pianist Liszt would be the one to provide him with joy as well as three children.

All of which born before the couple officially married, this given the fact that both were already in relationships that included marital ties at the time. Cosima’s being with Hans von Bülow, (piano virtuoso, teacher and orchestral conductor) while Wagner’s with German actress Minna Planer. Regarding their progeny it was the names of Isolde, Eva and Siegfried which were given to them.

It can be said that Wagner in many ways was “new age” as his music for its time was considered very loud (a factor mentioned in Oscar Wilde’s book “Picture Of Dorian Grey”), perhaps even more so than heavy metal was in the late 70’s yet it was also in his personal habits that he was such. This the case since he was a vegetarian, who historians believe to have influenced Hitler in following his example of the same.

Many in Wagner’s time; as they still do today regarded the maestro as a megalomaniac; them referring to his need to make everything bombastic, such as his operas, most of which extended close to if not over four hours in length along with the opera house he had constructed in the Bavarian town of Bayreuth. This being a place which in present day dedicates itself to the exclusive performance of Wagner’s operas.

As for Wagner’s influence on me, I can in earnest state that it is his music and its use of heavy brass and percussion that provides me with a lot of the passion; many have claimed to find in my work. This being more so the case in the winter months in which I require more energy; simply so I might make it through the day as well as my written works.

Wagner like most greats had his rival; one who could also create grand works to motivate him to deliver his best. In Wagner’s case this individual was undoubtedly Verdi; who even admitted after Wagner’s death how he had been influenced by the German maestro’s music.

By: Gianni Truvianni

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