As we all know, the piano is an elegant musical instrument that may look a wee bit intimidating to learn how to play it yourself. But if you want to save on expensive tuition fees, then you can teach yourself how to play piano as it can be done. This article will show you how to do it.

First of all, you need to decide what style or what kind of pianist you want to be. If you aspire to be a concert pianist, then you need to learn the classical styles of great composers such as Beethoven or Mozart. To learn classical piano, you must be able to read notes and thus this form may be more difficult to teach yourself.

But if you only want to learn the piano so that you can accompany a singer or play songs that you have written yourself, then you can start by just learning how to play piano chords and add in the frills and thrills later as you get more proficient as a piano player. Of course, learning this way is much easier.

Also there are many musical genre and you have to decide which genre you want to start with although as you get better, you can dabble with all the various genre whether they are jazz, classical, blues, new age, country or whatever style you like.

Of course, in order to learn how to play piano, you must have access to one. Yes, pianos are more expensive when compared to most other musical instruments. It is a good idea to buy one if you can afford it, if not there are many other ways you can practice on the piano such as in your school, church or approach friend and neighbors to allow you to practice on their pianos.

If you are a little embarrassed about letting people hear you practicing, then you need to invest in an electronic keyboard that you can plug in a pair of earphone so that nobody can hear you practicing but yourself. If you want to do that, just make sure you buy one with full sized keys because the there are cheaper versions with smaller sized keys. This is because if you are used to playing with smaller keys, then you may have problems when playing on real pianos with bigger keys later.

Once you are ready, you should look for piano lessons to start with. There are multitudes of beginner’s books, DVDs, CDs and online lessons which can help you to teach yourself to play piano easily. As everybody learn differently, do be mindful that you find the teaching format you are most comfortable with.

When teaching yourself, of course there will be times when you may be stumped on a lesson simply because you don’t understand it or are not using the right technique. However, if you choose to learn online, many of these teachers allow you to email them with your questions or you can also find different resources for references or simply ask someone you know who is already rather proficient in playing the piano.

Just like in learning everything else, consistency and determination is the key to success. Therefore you must practice regularly whenever you have the chance. Overtime, sooner than later, you too can become a good self taught pianist.

About the Author: Chris Chew is the resident author at Learn How To Play Piano Lessons and Learn How To Play Jazz Piano

Source: iSnare.com Permanent Link: http://www.isnare.com/?aid=576200&ca=Entertainment

There are three major different types of condenser microphone used for music recording (at major label studios, indie studios, & home studios alike) and they are as follows:

(1) Dynamic microphones.

(2) Large diaphragm condenser microphones.

(3) Small diaphragm condenser microphones.

No Single “Best” Microphone

The first important thing to understand is that there is no “one mic fits all” solution. Each microphone is best suited to a certain type of recording. The first thing you need to know is what you are recording.

Once you know that then you can select the best type of microphone (and from there you can choose the specific brand of microphone that you can afford.)

Dynamic Microphones

These are generally the cheapest type of microphone and they are also the most durable. They don’t require “phantom power” like condenser mics do (more on that in the condenser mic section of this article.) What are they best suited for? They are used for recording amplified sounds such as an electric guitar’s amp.

You may think that you should record your electric guitar directly into your recording device but this is not true. You will never capture the same sort of sound by going directly in as you will when recording an amp. They are also used for recording drums (bass drums, snares, & toms.)

Large Diaphragm Condenser Microphones

These are used for recording vocals and “deep” sounding acoustic instruments such as a cello or an upright bass. These tend to be more expensive and in fact they can get to be extremely expensive in some cases (like the famous Neumann U87 which retails for over $4000.)

Small Diaphragm Condenser Microphones

These are used for recording most acoustic instruments (acoustic guitars, violins, etc) and for recording cymbals and hi-hats on a live drum set.

Which Brand?

Now that you know which type of microphone to use, the next decision is which brand should you buy? For the most part the more expensive the microphone, the higher quality it is. This isn’t simply a situation where the same products are being stamped with different brands (see: clothing) it’s a situation where there are vast differences in the quality.

You will notice a significant improvement in sound quality when using a more expensive mic. Thus the answer to this question is: Buy the most expensive microphones you can afford.

Most professional microphones pick up sound waves and convert those waves into an electrical signal to be used by audio equipment in one of two ways.

Dynamic Microphones

A dynamic (or moving coil) microphone operates by using a wire coil and a magnet to create the audio signal. The interaction of the wire coil and magnet is called electromagnetic induction and is responsible for generating an output signal voltage. A diaphragm is attached to the coil, and is mounted within the mic so that it can move in response to a sound wave.

When the diaphragm vibrates, the attached coil moves back and forth within the magnetic field. This motion within the field generates an electric current (induction), which can be converted by audio equipment into sound waves. The strength of the electrical current is directly related to the motion of the coil.

Advantages

Dynamic mics are great general-purpose microphones. They have less moving parts than condenser mics, and as a result they’re typically more rugged and durable. In addition, since they generate their own current, no external power source is required.

Disadvantages

The physics behind the moving coil can contribute to limitations in frequency response. Generally speaking, dynamic microphones are less sensitive than condenser mics.

Condenser Microphones

In a condenser microphone a voltage charge is applied to the diaphragm by either a battery or phantom power. The diaphragm is mounted very close to a stationary back plate. Sound waves hitting the diaphragm causes it to move closer and farther away from the back plate which causes electrical charge fluctuations to occur.

The interaction between the diaphragm and back plate creates an electrical component called a capacitor (or condenser), and the resulting variations in voltage can be reinterpreted as sound waves by the receiving audio equipment.

Advantages

Condenser microphones are very responsive and create a much stronger signal than dynamic mics. This makes them an ideal choice for professional settings such as studio work, where it’s important to pick up vocal subtleties.

Disadvantages

Typically condenser mics have more moving parts than their dynamic counterparts and are less durable. Also, since they do not generate their own current they require an external power supply. (Battery or phantom power)

What is phantom power? Phantom power is a direct current (typically between 12 and 48 volts) that supplies condenser microphone with power through audio cables. 48 volt phantom power is the most common and is often supplied by microphone preamps and audio mixers.

Ningbo Tongxin Microphones offers the best variety of quality Condenser Microphone for Studio, Podcast, USB, Instrumen, Conference, Broadcast and Field Recording.

Article Source: ArticleRich.com

One thing is for certain: you need traffic (people) coming to your site in order to grow revenue or downloads. I would like to share two simple, successful methods to bring people to your internet site.

What I’m writing to share is not a little magic wand that’s going to zap your site and people will suddenly emerge. No, these actions are straightforward and will assist you to get a quick start with your  site promotion.

Step 1

Optimize your web site for the search engines

Use words on your web site pages that are relevant to what kind of music you sell. If you’re a hip hop or rap group, make certain your page headers have hip hop and rap group written in the meta tags.

This will let the search engines like Google, Bing, AOL,Yahoo and plenty of others be aware of where you are by filing your url or web page address. Also it sends meta crawlers called spiders or bots to search and identify what you’re selling and writing about.

Step 2

Submit your web site address along with a brief depiction of your web site to as many related web directories as you can. Many marketers use this strategy as a link construction tool.

While it is true that it builds links, I think it’s most essential job is boosting your meta tags and key phrases on your music web site.

In others words by sending your website link to music directories (if you have a music web site) google and other search engines grants you authority for the reason that you are linked to other music related internet sites and their directory of your link matches the meta tags and keywords used on your website.

When you get your content web pages established to the keywords you’re marketing, replicate step two frequently to skyrocket rocket your page rank.

In this way you will get highly targeted people to visit your music web site.

Article Source: ArticleSnatch Free Article Directory

Would you like to make your music vibrate with the pulse of life? In order to move the soul, music must reflect life itself, celebrating life’s joys and mourning life’s sorrows.

Vibrato, a method of slightly varying the pitch of your guitar, brings your music to life by employing specialized left-hand techniques to cause a string or strings to vibrate at a varied pitch.

There are two main kinds of vibrato on the guitar. The standard (also called longitudinal) type, also used by violinists and other string players, utilizes the friction created by the musician’s fingertip as it moves. This causes the string move back and forth along its length.

This motion makes the string alternatively shorter and longer, causing the pitch to waver above and below the note being vibrated.

The pull-release vibrato, on the other hand, produces its distinctive sound by first pulling the string toward the palm of the hand with one of the fingers, keeping that finger lightly on the string, then returning it to its normal position. In pull-release, the pitch also fluctuates, but only above the note that vibrates.

The vibrato can yield a delightful effect on the guitar’s sound, depending on the particular piece of music. The finest players use vibratos selectively. Never would you use it on every note. Otherwise, vibrato would lose its ornamental effect. It heightens the intensity of certain notes, giving them a vigorous singing quality.

Guitarists utilize vibrato to intensify the climactic note of a phrase or, as an alternative, to emphasize the melody notes while playing a melody and accompaniment piece. Guitarists also use vibrato to help sustain notes.

Vibrato opens up an extensive and expressive range of sound available for a guitarist to utilize. It truly makes a guitar express the full range of human emotion.

In the vibrato, the variety that constitutes that full range comes from two essential components: the fluctuation of the pitch and the speed of the vibration. The guitarist should be aware of the magnitude to which the pitch fluctuates, because the effects change according to the amount of fluctuation.

Employ only minor divergences from the main pitch; otherwise, the effect will be overdone. One could say, with respect to vibrato, that a little goes a long way! Normally, the tone should not deviate much more than a quarter-tone on either side of the main pitch.

The speed of the vibrato should vary with respect to the speed and the emotional character of the music you are playing. The speed should also match the register. Generally, the quicker or more intense the music, the faster the vibrato.

Furthermore, the upper register of the guitar’s range also calls for a faster vibrato, due to the greater intensity of the higher pitches. The speed of the vibrato usually falls within a narrow range of four to ten cycles per second. Pay attention in order to avoid extremes.

The vibrato must sound natural, flowing from the music’s own character. A vibrato that is too slow for the musical passage being played is unwieldy, awkward-sounding, as is one that is too fast. An extremely slow vibrato may be fine for special effects, but not for most of the standard repertoire.

If your vibrato sounds too fast for the passage, then your playing sounds nerve-wracking, rather than intense, as you intended. A truly artistic vibrato should have a measured rhythm, never descending into random chaos. It should, rather, reflect the humanity of both the player and of the music itself.

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com

About the Author: Among their many other course offerings, Los Angeles Guitar Academy Online has a new series of free online guitar lessons, designed to introduce a wide variety of people to the classical guitar. LAGA Online has more free lessons and articles on their teaching blog.

Kulak’s Woodshed (KulaksWoodshed.com), is an LA music venue that is a center of the LA singer/songwriter scene, live streams performances worldwide via the worldwide web.

One of LA’s best kept secrets is now making it known throughout the US and the world that live performances of seasoned players and new artists can be viewed for free on the Kulak’s Woodshed website.

Kulak’s Woodshed was started by Paul Kulak who had a dream about having a music club that streamed video on the web in 1997, and he actually opened the Woodshed in 1999. It became so popular with musicians and artists that it became its own self fulfilling prophecy.

The only problem Paul had was keeping the Woodshed open financially, when it became so popular with musicians, which led to how it operates today; completely with audience donations and the dedication of volunteers as a labor of love.

“Our shows are constantly praised by high ranking entertainment industry people here in L.A. and around the world who believe that live webcasting is the next big thing and artists from beginners to Grammy winners perform here because they want to be a part of it.” says Kulak, adding “I’m very hopeful that the timing is right for this to resonate with online audiences.”

Kulak’s Woodshed is like a television studio with props and a set that feels like a living room where friends can play to friends and seats 49 people. It has 6 cameras and a professional sound system which have all been donated.

The intimacy translates well via live streaming to help the online viewers feel part of the experience; and viewers can even email performers and get a response during the shows.

On Monday nights, the Woodshed broadcasts its very popular “Open Mike” Night where 35-40 mostly regular performers play their music to a full capacity crowd and many online viewers.

Some of the notable Woodshed “Featured Artists” include Jackson Browne, Paula Cole, Peter Case, and Delaney Bramlett. Other “Featured Artists” at the Woodshed have included Jack Tempchin, Guitar Shorty and Deacon Jones.

Tempchin was songwriter for “Peaceful Easy Feeling” and “The Girl From Yesterday” recorded by the Eagles. Guitar Shorty played with Ray Charles, Willie Dixon, Guitar Slim Big Joe Turner, and Little Richard. Jones was band leader for John Lee Hooker for 18 years.

A full list of Woodshed artists can be viewed at KulaksWoodshed.com/artists.

Current “Featured Artists” range from well known artists like Wendy Waldman who performed on July 8th, to emerging artists like T. J. Doyle and Allan Frank performing at the Woodshed on August 20th.

The Woodshed broadcasts from 7:30pm to 10:00pm on Mondays for the Open Mike Night show, and Featured Artist performances are broadcast from 8:00pm to 10:00pm PST on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights.

Paul Kulak refers to the Woodshed as a “labor of love.” Now people anywhere in the world can be part of his “labor of love”!

Paul Kulak can be reached at paulkulak@earthlink.net.

Article Source: Amazines.com

Please note: The below article is meant to be a humorous essay on the all too frequent use of various incorrect vocal techniques. As the disclaimer often goes: Do not take it directly and do not try this at home!

I thought that in this article I would vent a little of my frustration and have some fun while sharing some of the insights I’ve gained over the years regarding myths about learning to sing.

Since everyone knows it takes years of arduous work to become even a moderately good singer (myth #1), for once I’ll go with the status quo and add what I know to it, so as to assist people in working harder at taking even longer at it.

Most people have this under control, so this article is to keep it that way and is also for those few who may be breaking this long tradition (like myself) and doing it faster, easier and more naturally.

The first point is to be sure and drop your jaw while singing (a little is good but more is better) because it traps the sound in the throat preventing it from being lifted off the larynx to the upper palate, through the four main vocal chambers or cavities and outward with anything close to your maximum power.

The second, and equally important point, is to sing from your diaphragm and push your stomach out. This prevents the upper diaphragm from expanding fully, therefore limiting your air supply and increasing the likelihood that you’ll run out of air depending on the length of the note or phrase you’re singing.

An excellent way to train yourself for this is to lay on the floor and find yourself a nice thick book to place on your abdomen (the phone book works great) and “pump paper” up and down until you can stick that stomach out so that even a punch won’t phase you. Then you’ll be sure that the upper diaphragm will never open fully.

Next you should sing with your speaking voice i.e. sing each syllable of your lyrics using your vocal cords with your chin down and without any support or structure to it (“closing” each syllable) which characteristically produces a “pear” shaped opening inside the mouth and cuts the sound short making it less than truly singable.

This will help avoid lifting the sound off of the vocal cords, bouncing the sound off the upper palate (“opening” the syllable) and projecting the properly structured sound outward which produces a round “apple” shaped sound inside the mouth and making the sound, unfortunately, more singable. (This is also, by the way, why people with accents tend to lose them while singing. )

While we’re on the subject of the shape of things, be sure and breath only through the nose because it tends to make the shape inside the mouth more elongated or banana shaped and the sound more nasal. Great eh!

Another way to make more work for yourself singing (and have less as a singer) is to make certain that as far as your head goes, you sing only with your jaw and mouth including your tongue and lips.

This excludes the use of your facial muscles and reduces the likelihood that any resonance in those nasty head cavities I mentioned earlier will take place causing your sound to be amplified (God forbid) and unavoidably reflected off the upper palate and projected outward to the audience.

Tilting the head back is very important since it directs the trajectory of the sound away from the audience.

This is particularly useful in bands because it not only means that you will have to put more energy into getting the sound out to the audience but it also means that you will be directing some of the sound back behind you to set a proper example for any of your band members that might be developing a “natural” singing voice.

Bending your knees is a great technique for limiting your power as a singer. Since sound is a physical thing, bending your knees changes the ratios relating to your height and the arc of the trajectory for the sound will cover much less distance, which is what you want right?

Another very relevant issue that I would like to cover in detail in the future and that I’ll just touch on here is diet. One of the single most important causes of throat problems with singing is mucous. Sound can’t lift off of thin air, it lifts off the vocal chords.

Dancers don’t dance on carpet, they dance on hardwood floors. This is so they can get a proper lift. In the same way, you can prevent a really sharp “lift” with each and every note you’re singing if you have lots of mucous and phlegm on your cords and in your system.

The best foods to eat to get this way are animal products especially beef, pork, milk, eggs and cheese, although all dairy products will do a really great job of getting you there. Foods to avoid would be mucous burning foods and herbs (cayenne tops the list) or fresh fruits and vegetables, grains, legumes and anything else whole and unprocessed that doesn’t have a face.

One of the best ways to practice not becoming a singer that I personally know of is to sing scales. If you look even superficially at the songs you’re singing, you’ll see that they are composed of a certain finite number of specific combinations of sounds, durations and pitch.

Singing scales has nothing whatsoever to do with developing yourself to be able to vocally anticipate these in any song. So sing lots of scales and don’t worry, no one either in Russia (my teachers were the best available) or here in the west has ever made any connection between scales and training the voice to do what’s needed to sing properly to me ever.

So there’s no danger of you becoming accomplished fast with this approach. (Personally, I developed my own set of exercises based on this subset of sounds, durations and pitch that train the voice to anticipate any part of any song of any style easily but you don’t want to hear about it.)

Finally, be sure and spend time working each of these exercises individually and never collectively because even the thought of integrating or harmonizing the various aspects of your singing might slow you down in your efforts to slow down your singing progress, and that would never do.

So, until next time, work long and hard, and whatever you do, if you want to avoid rapid easy vocal development at any level, stay as far away as you can from me and the Royans Vocal School.  Article Source: ArticlesBase.com

About the Author: Diana Yampolsky B.M. Ed. – Master Live Performance Vocal Coach/In-studio Vocal Producer/Non-surgical Voice Repair Specialist. Specializing in Talent Scouting, Accelerated Artist Development and Artist Management
RPVS division of: 4 A.M. Talent Development and Artist Management Group Inc.
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And there are a lot of guitar players who just shrug off the learning of chord inversions just because they think that it is difficult to learn and that they will be able to become really successful guitar players without even learning these inversions.

What you might not know is that the chord inversions could be something that you really need to learn for you to be able to get the exact chord that would fit the song.

Chord inversions are chords made in the same bass chord. The lowest note of the chord is the tonic. When you execute the chord, you will maintain that lowest chord. Every time you execute a chord in the root or the tonic, this means the chord is an inversion.

In the case of a C chord for example, any chord executed with C as the bass is an inversion of the C chord.

Most of the time, chords are played with about three or four notes fingered on the guitar. This means that you might be fingering two or three notes on the bass position.

In a C chord for example, you need to finger C, E and G. On a Cmaj7, you have a C, E, G, B.

There are three types of chord inversions. They are respectively and aptly called first, second and third inversions. The first inversion calls for the 3rd of the chord on the bass note. This gives the term for it.

The first inversion of the chord requires the 3rd of the chord be the first note after the root. The second inversion, now, has the 5th of the chord on a bass position.

The terminology is derived from the idea of the 5th of the chord being the second tone after the tonic or the bass. And as you may have realized by now, the third inversion requires having its 7th as the bass. You get the drift, don’t you?

Let’s take for example a Cmaj7. The chord is played with a C, E, G and B. On the first inversion, you will be getting an E, G, B and C. Of course that would be too difficult to perform in the exact order.

So you would have to rearrange the notes in such a ways that your fingers will be able to accommodate the notes. This process is known as the drop-two voicing. The new arrangement will be E, B, C and G.

When you actually think about it, it’s not really that difficult. Here is a list of the steps you need to take in order to create the inversions:

1. Take note of all the notes used in the chord according to the root positions.

2. Take the first note and place it in the last position or at the back of the line of chords.

3. The second note follows suit, taking the last place.

4. Finger the new chord out on the fret board.

5. Repeat the steps this time using the notes from the first inversion.

It’s not too difficult after all, isn’t it?

About The Author: Harvey Mosley started developing his passion for music at age of 10. He learned to play guitar songs at age of 13 and pursued his love of music since then. He owns now a music studio and inspires many students to learn to play guitar songs. Visit BandJammer.com for more guitar song lessons.

Article Source: Chord Inversions

This week we’re going to look into some tips on how to improve your technical agility. One of the main abilities a musician must have is to have command of the technical aspects of his/her instrument.

Tip #1: Play everything slowly

“Slow is the same as fast”. Maybe you’ve heard of that phrase. I’d like to interpret it as understanding that all movements that you make while playing rapid passages must have the same relaxed feeling as though you were playing slowly. What better way to do that than practicing slowly?

You’ll have to practice slowly and do NOT increase the tempo at any time! Breathe relaxed, concentrate but don’t let your muscles stressed or tight in any way. Practicing slowly give you a chance to hear the music exactly, listen intensively and therefore make your brain learn it “inside-out”.

Tip #2: Concentrate on problem areas

Learn to isolate difficult passages. Listen into them. Figure them out harmonically, mechanically and rhythmically. After your practiced the difficult passage, connect it back to the music a few measure before and after. This way you are “de-isolating” the passage back into the music.

Tip #3: Remember, it’s about making music

Once a new student came to me for lessons and played a few things for me that he’d been practicing up to that point. He commenced to play an exercise in a very technical, non-emotional fashion. I stopped him and asked why he has played like that. He answered, “Well, it’s just a technical exercise. It has nothing to do with music.”

So, I said, “OK, so throw it in the trash!” The point here is that we have to understand something. We play a musical instrument. We do it to play/perform music with it. In order to get the best performances out of ourselves on a consistent basis, we have to “practice performing”. So it is imperative that every time we practice, we should make music.

If something has NOTHING to do with music, we shouldn’t practice it. Think about it. When you practice your major scales, why do you do it? Possible answer are “To better my technique”, “To gain mastery of my instrument”, “to learn to hear the major key”, “to improve my intonation” , etc.

Such answer as “because it’s my homework” or “because my teacher said so” are weak answers and they are NOT going to inspire us to make good music. We need better answers. If an exercise is boring you, ask yourself “Why am I practicing this?”

Look for an answer that is going to motivate you! If you don’t come up with one, LOOK for one! Call a friend, ask your teacher, send ME an email! Do something! Give yourself good reasons and the HOW will take care of itself.

Tip #4: Practice with rhythmic variations

If you’re practicing even scale material, instead of repeating an exercise over and over again the same way (and possibly boring yourself), try playing it with different rhythms.

For example, I’m playing:

1. C – D – E – F – G – F – E – D – C. All eights. Play it 3 times.
2. Then play it as a dotted eighth and sixteenth rhythm. (Or swing eighths) 3 times
3. Then play it as a sixteenth and a dotted eight rhythm (reverse swing) 3 times
4. Then play one group of eight note triplets and a quarter note. 3 times
5. Then the opposite – a quarter note then a group of eighth-note triplets. 3 times
6. Then mix this set – 1 group eighth-note triplet, quarter, quarter, eighth-note triplets. 3 times
7. Then the opposite mix – quarter, eighth-note triplets, eighth-note triplets, quarter. 3 times
8. Then play the original rhythm from the beginning. 3 times.

What does this do? You’ve played the same exercise 24 times without it getting boring. You’ve learned to hear this combination of notes in different rhythms, which aids you to hear deeper into the notes. The speed of the fingers between the notes has varied, eventually strengthening your technique.

I guarantee that if you practice your technical exercises with this method, you’ll reach desired results faster than you have had in the past. You’ll accomplish a lot more in less time.

Tip #5: Learn how to take a break

Practicing 6 hours a day, 7 days a week can be great if you have time to afford yourself this luxury. If you do, my advice is DON’T DO IT! After spending so much time to learn new techniques, new repertoire, new whatever, you can destroy it all by practicing too much!

The brain can only take in some much information at a time and it does it best “piece by piece”, in small relaxed dosages. Even then, the brain needs a rest. Saxophonist Phil Woods has been said the he always plans a day NOT to practice. This day for him is Sunday. He goes fishing. He even stays away from music on this day.

It’s good advice to follow. Plan a day right now that you will NOT practice. Learn to relax. Do something else on that day.

Evan Tate is a Faculty member at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich, a Julius Keilwerth saxophones endorser, podcaster and author of the book “250 Jazz Patterns” and more. You can contact Mr. Tate at EvanTateMusic.com.

Article Source: ArticleAlley.com

If you fail to look after your body, you will not perform to the best of your ability and you may not be offered the opportunities you deserve. Here are three top tips to help you maintain your vocal stretch and stamina on stage:

#1 No Shouting:

It’s the most obvious solution to maintaining your vocal health, but you’d be amazed at the number of performers who forget that screaming and shouting will seriously damage your voice.

There will be times when you’re not thinking about the development of your performance skills and ‘looking after your instrument’ but if you’re serious about success on the stage, you will need to constantly remind yourself that screaming, shouting or straining the voice in anyway will be detrimental to your performance.

A voice can be stretched but not pushed and quite often you will need to stretch muscles involved with the vocal process as part of your training. This is just like an athlete stretching before running a race. However, we know that if the athlete feels like he’s pulling a muscle, he will stop to prevent any damage being caused.

The same is true for singers and actors. We must stretch muscles as part of our training in order to improve our vocal performance. However, as soon as we feel we are pushing or straining the voice we must stop.

#2 Warming Up:

Carrying out a full vocal warm-up is crucial before going on stage for both singers and actors. Think about our athlete again. Have you ever seen an athlete arrive at the race track and immediately run the race? No, neither have I!

They always look like they’ve been stretching, jogging and exercising a long time before the race and they’re always bouncing up and down to keep their muscles warm just before the race begins. Again, the same is true for singers and actors before going on stage.

For our best vocal performance, our voices need to be warmed-up with an effective sequence of vocal exercises. So, get into the habit of doing vocal warm-ups before going on stage and your performance will benefit greatly.

#3 Lifestyle:

Singers and actors worldwide talk about weird and wonderful concoctions and lifestyle rules which help them look after their voices. Whilst some of these may help you to maintain vocal health, a few solid rules are sure to make a difference:

1. Avoid extremely hot and extremely cold drinks
2. Be aware that excessive dairy products like milk, cream and chocolate are not good for the voice
3. Eat well and get plenty of vitamins and minerals to stay healthy
4. If you’ve strained your voice, mixtures such as milk and honey will help you feel better but not necessary prepare you to sing
5. If you’re preparing to sing, drink plenty of water or other drinks such as lemon and ginger to clean and lubricate the vocal tract

Author: Achieve performing arts success with MyStageDoor.co.uk – the global community of aspiring performers. Join the performing arts platform at MyStageDoor.co.uk and get free access to training tips, career advice, showbiz news and the opportunity to meet thousands of other like-minded performers.
Article source: ArticleDepot.co.uk

It is a curious paradox of the music industry: guitarists, particularly rock guitarists, are often thought of as trendsetters when it comes to fashion and culture; but when it comes to their instruments, they are notoriously conservative.

Innovations such as active electronics, guitar synthesizers and Steinberger’s intrepid steps into the field of headless instruments in the 80′s have failed to make much of a dent in the market. Gibson and Fender continue to dominate the electric guitar market much as they did in the 1950′s and 60′s.

Even with the entry of new competitors into the market over the years such as Ibanez, Paul Reed Smith and Charvel/Jackson, the electric guitar has remained essentially unchanged with one to three magnetic pickups and a mess of wires connecting them to the controls. But things may be about to change!

In the last couple of years a few innovations have come along that have totally turned conventional wisdom – or at least conventional guitar electronics on its head. The first is the nylon string solid body electric guitar.

I first saw one of these in the hands of metal ace Yngwie Malmsteen and was blown away by the sound. For any artist who is trying to incorporate elements of classical guitar in his or her repertoire, this instrument provides the mellow classical tone of a nylon stringed guitar with the comfortable feel and action of a traditional solid body axe.

This has been made possible through the tremendous advances made in recent years in the field of Piezo pickup technology.

Without going into too much technical detail, the Piezo differs from a traditional magnetic pickup in that the Piezo element vibrates with the string, sending an electrical signal of that vibration to a preamp within the guitar for processing, rather than capturing an electromagnetic representation of that vibration which can then be sent directly to an amplifier, or to an onboard preamp if further shaping of the signal is desired.

The Piezo eliminates the need for steel strings, which would otherwise interact with the magnetic pickup, and also produces more satisfactory results for players with a lighter fingerstyle technique.

Lest you think this is just another passing fancy, Parker has produced a nylon string version of their famous “Fly” model and another up-and-comer, Sadowski Guitars, is producing a Telecaster style model employing the same technology.

Another intriguing development is in the area of computer-guitar interface. This has been long time coming, and if you consider the explosion in the popularity of digital recording with Pro Tools and similar software, it’s surprising it took as long as it did. Far and away, the leader in this field is Line 6′s Variax model.

Now, I will be the first person to admit that I know just enough about computer technology to be dangerous, but I’ll try to tell you what I know from what I’ve read and from friends and acquaintances who have played the Variax. I should also state that I am in no way affiliated with Line 6 or any of their subsidiaries or partners.

The Variax is, according to the Line 6 brochure a “digital modeling” guitar that allows the musician to switch between a huge array of potential sounds on one instrument.

The sounds of a 12-string acoustic, Fender Stratocaster style single coils, Les Paul humbuckers, banjo, chimes and dozens of others are all available at the flick of a switch. The best part about it is that all of these tonal variations are available completely hum free.

For the working musician, this means not having to lug around five to seven separate guitars to provide him with the all of the sounds he requires.

The true test, however, is hearing one of these fine instruments in action, so if you’d like to check one out, a list of authorized dealers is available from the Line 6 website.

At an MSRP of around $1000 for the mid-line Variax 600 – it’s also available in the 300 and 700 – it’s not cheap, but for the professional or amateur with money to burn, it may be a worthwhile investment.

There is so much more to be developed in the near future with the improvements in computer technology and miniaturization. Whole racks of effects can now be had in a box the size of a cigarette packet.

This is certainly a boon for the musician in terms of both price and the effort necessary to move the equipment.

I foresee a day when an entire guitarist rig, with the exception of the instrument itself will be contained within the body of the guitar itself.

And while that may not be a comfort to the guitarist who finds himself at home amongst his racks of effects processors, time waits for no man, and he will eventually find himself at a crossroads in musical instrument development, much as those men did back in 1930′s and 40′s when the acoustic guitar was forced to make way for the first electric guitars.

Author Bio: Kenny Auyoung is the webmaster at GetMeABand.com – Online musician search network with thousands of musician & band profiles. Find musicians, start a band, and play music.

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