Month: February 2018

Musical Instruments Of Colombia

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Everybody deeply appreciate the great treasure that is Colombian musical instruments, such as Colombian tiple, made in coral wood, with clear lines and awesome authentic color, with twelve metal strings arranged in four courses. Any professional or student guitarist will find it easy to use in Colombian folk music, and in many Latin American songs. Musicians can use it in Latin American folk jazz music, but also in original songs as well. Tiple’s ethereal and clear sound is also used in classic guitar music creations.

Colombian Cuatro is concert grade guitar; it is made of slices and blocks from curly maple. It has a violin shape and has a great pitch accuracy and finish. The ‘seis’ is a hybrid of the cuatro and a supplementary sixth course tunes a fourth below the usual fifth bottom course. It is also a very popular Colombian musical instrument. This feature allows an expanded bass range. It can be used also for guitar intervals as well, and it makes a awesome music, It sounds as a guitar, but sweeter, faster and louder.

Original Colombian music instruments
Spanish and African traditions are strongly represented in Colombian music. Traditional quena, a king of flute, and Spanish guitar are very popular. Colombian bandolina has fifteen strings and its sound is beautiful, sweet and clear. It is usually made by hand, of unexcelled quality. The marimba is another Colombian musical instrument; it looks like a xylophone and its keys are made in wood. The arpa is a local version of the harp, the guassa is a rattle. The songs from the Pacific coast are using drums and are tinged with Spanish influence. Due to the Spanish influence, piano music is also very popular in Colombia. The newest music style in Colombia is “valenato”, based on the European accordion.

Many Colombian musical instruments are beautifully crafted, from the ancient times until our century. The charango, a kind of guitar made in wood, the vessel whistle, the erkencho, a kind of clarinet, the chirimia, an oboe, are carefully made and original Colombian folk music sounds great with them. There are six ethnic zones in Colombia; the music is a hybrid between Indian roots and Spanish traditions. In some regions, there is also a strong Negro influence. Guitars, flutes and drums are always necessary; in the Caribbean zone the most important Colombian musical instrument is gaita, a kind of oboe. In Colombia, music is a tradition. There is a habit to pass folk songs from one generation to the other.

Music Has Power More Than Entertainment In Emotion And Mind

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Music is powerful. If you have ever watched movie The Shawshank Redemption, you may remember the scene that when Andy turned up the volume, every people in the Shawshank just stood and listened. It is not only a song from an unknown woman singer, but, well, maybe a sense of freedom or hope, no matter he was a music lover or not.

Undeniable, music is a kind of entertainment to people. While we are enjoying different kinds of music, it is all of one purpose- to entertain. We have music business and the entertainment business. If we dont listen to music to entertain, then what for?

Music has power. The initial and most obvious power of music is the ability to evoke emotions. Some will try to find the peace in music. Some likes dancing with rhythmic music. And some people even consider it as a way of showing the amorphous collection of suppressed emotions, feelings, pastexperiences, and other flotsam and jetsam.

Some types of music can relax us. After having a stressful work day, you may like to listen to some classic music, certain types of jazz, or songs from our favorite singers can physically relax our bodies and distract our minds from the day- at least for a while. I like light music and rhythmic songs, and I also like rap music. But I listen to them in different situation. I know you can understand why I wont listen to the rap music or most mournful music when Im terribly distracted.

You may notice that music in movie can have emotional effect while we are watching them. While you are watching a horror movie, the music can signal us when something scary, threatening or ominous is about to happen. But to a romance, the producer may spend a large amount of money on music that can shift the audiences emotions from moment to moment, from the first time the two leading role meet, to the end, happy ending or tragedy.

Through some experiment and convey, people find that music can open a kind of inner space in which certain experience can happen. Different kinds of music may lead listeners to experience a mental and emotional excursion or trip that seem quite real to them. Its like a dream, but closer. Thats why the film scenes with appropriate music track can influence your mood so much when you know it is only a movie.

Music has the power to heal your body, mind and spirit. The American Music Therapy in a recent research conducted regarding the use of music therapy find significance on how it can cure. Cancer patients instead of taking painkillers listened to Broadway tunes. Those with Alzheimer’s sing along with classical songs. Even pregnant women use music to help them breath and relax during labor. Crying babies listen to lullaby. It benefits not just these ailments but other aging related conditions, substance abuse problems, brain injuries, physical disabilities, acute and chronic pain, psychological disorders as Down syndrome and autism, and people suffering from hypertension as well. Since music affects blood pressure so much.

When someone listens to hard music normally blood pressure raises and if one listens soft and classical music blood pressure lowers down. Interestingly, in the research, all showed positive results.

Amazing Grace Music – New Version

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The Story Behind Amazing Grace Music

Ever heard of the song “Amazing Grace”? Sure you have.

Love the tune and melody of it’s music? Sure you do.

Amazing grace music has been first linked to the variant of the tune “New Britain” of which the composer is unknown and which is in William Walker’s shape-note tunebook Southern Harmony,1935. In addition to that, New Britain first appeared in a shape note hymnal from 1829 called Columbian Harmony.

Furthermore, the melody is Scottish or Irish origin since it is pentatonic and suggests a bagpipe tune. When we talk about Scottish or Irish music the Great Highland Bagpipe indeed has a large role in it since it has long played an important part of Scottish music. Although this particular form of bagpipe developed exclusively in Scotland, it is not the only Scottish bagpipe, and other bagpiping traditions remain across Europe.

The earliest mention of bagpipes in Scotland dates to the 1400s although they could have been introduced to Scotland as early as the sixth century.On the other hand, when we talk about Irish music, the harp, reels, hornpipes, jigs, mazurka, the flute, the fiddle and the uilleann pipes are the musical instruments which are commonly used in this type of music.

Amazing grace music has an origin which is a mixture of both Scottish and Irish music. It has been mentioned earlier that bagpipes in this type of music. What are bagpipes anyway? Bagpipes are a class of musical instrument, aerophones using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag.

Even though the Scottish Great Highland Bagpipe and Irish uilleann pipes have the greatest international visibility, bagpipes of several varieties can be found in use throughout Europe, Northern America, the Persian Gulf and the Caucasus. Amazing grace music indeed has a very interesting origin which is why it has a very unique and wonderful sound.

Classical Music Reviews from The Arts Desk

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As the New Year gets going, The Arts Desk’s classical music reviewers are starting to glance ahead at what we can look forward to this year, but not forgetting, of course, to tell us what there is to enjoy right now. Taking the long view this week is Ismene Brown, who provides her comprehensive season’s listing of what’s on at the Barbican throughout 2012. And it promises to be a bumper season, what with the centre celebrating its 30th birthday this year and all eyes turning to London for the Olympics in the summer. Among the theatre, dance and new music on offer, the classical highlights at the Barbican in 2012 include appearances by Nico Muhly and Sufjan Stevens, an evening commemorating the sinking of the Titanic a century ago, a series of concerts by the visiting New York Philharmonic, an artist profile evening focused on Anne-Sophie Mutter, and Robert Wilson and Philip Glass’s groundbreaking 1976 opera Einstein on the Beach. Graham Rickson gives us his weekly summation of the latest classical CD releases. First up is a disc of Bach’s keyboard concertos with Alexandre Theraud playing piano alongside the Les Violons du Roy chamber orchestra. Together they produce a unique sound, and the technical skill and energy on display here often dazzles and delights. The flaw for Rickson was the rather emotionally cold feel of the recording.

Next is the BBC Symphony Orchestra’s disc of pieces by oft-overlooked composer Elizabeth Maconchy. Though a pupil of Vaughan Williams, Maconchy’s style is edgy, gritty and surprisingly un-English, and although she can occasionally be a bit too dour, there is still some fascinating and impressive stuff on this beautifully produced disc.

And finally Vaughan Williams himself gets a look in as Sir Mark Elder and the Hall Orchestra tackle his London Symphony. Rickson was of the opinion that this symphony shouldn’t really work – it’s episodic, unfashionable for the time and in parts is rather too indebted to Debussy – and yet it truly does, especially when played as well as it is here. The live performance is polished yet emotive, affectionate but never over-indulgent. The studio recording of the Oboe Concerto accompanying it is also beautifully played, with Stphane Rancourt bringing out its melancholy atmosphere and raising it above mere pastoral sentimentalism.

And finally Stephan Walsh flags up a modest yearly classical festival tucked away in Monmouthshire. In St Briavel’s Castle every January young professional musicians gather for the Wye Valley Chamber Music Festival. It’s the brainchild of pianist Daniel Tong and violinist Fiona McNaught, and began life as a pleasurable retreat from busy concert schedules for those who love playing chamber music. It soon developed into a fully-fledged festival and this year it runs from 14-22 January and includes talks, events and workshops as well as concerts, and will feature music by Schubert, Mendelssohn, Jancek and Thomas Ads. As always, says Walsh, it will be a warm and welcoming haven characterised by serious musical integrity. And even on the rare occasion when performances are not 100 per cent polished, there is always a freshness to the playing, and an admirable emphasis on reappraising both familiar and unfamiliar pieces. Though admitting a degree of partiality as a trustee of the festival, Walsh was also keen to emphasise his primary role as an appreciative punter just like everyone else.

Contributions Of R&b Music Artists

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Rhythm and Blues, popularly known as R&B music is a genre of music which has its roots in Afro-American culture. It is widely accepted as a fusion between two genres of music jazz and blues. It came into existence in 1940s, but was formally accepted by music enthusiasts in later part of twentieth century. R&B music exploded in the 1970s with bands such as the Jackson 5, Earth Wind & Fire and Stevie Wonder and the popular Motown sound becoming the defining sound of popular urban culture. Later we would witness R&B superstars such as Michael Jackson, Mariah Carey, Usher Raymond and Chris Brown becoming genuine global superstars selling millions of albums and generating billions of dollars in revenue.

The introduction of music video channels such as MTV and BET Television saw the popularity of R&B music and R&B music videos grow even further. Where for the first time the public could watch live and recorded Hip hop music videos and R&B music videos of all of their favorite artists from the comfort of their own home. The King Of Pop Michael Jackson was just one of the R&B singers to benefit from the growth and popularity of R&B music videos. Other stars such as Chris Brown and Justin Timberlake would become global icons because of this exposure.

The advent of the internet increased the popularity of both Hip hop music videos and R&B music videos still further as it has seen dedicated urban music websites such as Urban-Natio.com showcasing some of the hottest Hip hop music videos and some of the best R&B music videos from the hottest artists around.
Of the modern day R&B artists many critics include R&B superstar Chris Brown as one of the biggest global R&B music icons. From his delicious debut single Run It with its amazing Chris Brown music video which became his first number one single to his current hit Deuces R&B superstar Chris Brown continues to dazzle his fans with incredible stage performances, stunning R&B music videos and incredible multi platinum selling albums.

R&B star Beyonce Knowles is another R&B artist who can claim to be a genuine global R&B music superstar. The talented R&B singer famous for her incredible stage performances; her infectious R&B songs and stunning R&B music videos has also had three platinum selling albums. Beyonce`s music videos for songs such as Crazy In Love have also dominated MTV`s playlists in recent years and with a new album planned in 2011 many critics are already suggesting that R&B superstar Beyonce Knowles will continue her reign on her throne as the true Queen Of R&B music.

R&B star Akon is another R&B artist who has achieved huge success over the last few years. Akon made his debut with his excellent Trouble album in 2004. He rose to prominence with the single Locked Up with its stunning Akon music video. His second album Konvicted was also a huge hit and it would appear that another global R&B superstar was born. Further R&B singles were released including the delicious Smack That which was also nominated for a Grammy Award and with Akon all set to release his brand new album in 2011 it seems that this talented R&B artist is all set to top the charts all over again.
There are many other prominent artists such as Brandy, Monica, Omarion, Usher, Justin Timberlake, and Mario who have achieved incredible success in the R&B music field and have continued the incredible popularity of this genre of music. And with more R&B artists appearing each year such as R&B star Ne-Yo, Ciara and Trey Songz this trend is set to continue well into the next decade.