music and everything about it

Avenged Sevenfold Biography

2009-08-12T08:53:00.000-07:00

It’s not always recognized in today’s “I want it all now” world, but patience is a virtue. And Huntington Beach, California rockers Avenged Sevenfold are being rewarded for remembering that golden rule. After releasing two highly successful albums on an indie label (Sounding The Seventh Trumpet and Waking The Fallen), the quintet is set to unleash its major label debut, City Of Evil, on Warner Bros. Records. City Of Evil, co-produced by Avenged Sevenfold, reunites the group with producer Mudrock (Waking The Fall).

“We’re at the point now where we’ve come into our own,” vocalist M. Shadows says of the ambitious City Of Evil, an 11-song collection that gives a middle finger to the idea of categorization, bridging the sonic guitar assault of Iron Maiden with the frenetic pace of Bad Religion and the musicianship of Dream Theater. “In Southern California you’re really brought up in the whole punk world. At the same time, we were growing up listening to Pantera, Megadeath, Metallica and Slayer records,” Shadows recalls. “So then you think, ‘I want to play in that kind of band, but I want to play in this kind of band.’ Then you pass that point and all of a sudden you’re just writing music and it comes out naturally. But that’s what happens cause of all the different influences we have. And we’re definitely not afraid to put anything in our songs if we think it calls for it.”

Yes, Avenged Sevenfold can rock, as the band recently did at a sold-out show at Hollywood’s Music Box Theater, where they turned the intensity of the new tunes up from 11 to about a 20, but these are musicians as well. However, as the group evidenced during the orchestral interlude in “The Wicked End,” a perfect metal moment live complemented by a boys choir and 14-piece string section, Avenged Sevenfold, in the tradition of Zeppelin, Queen, and Guns ‘N’ Roses’ “November Rain,” meld their intensity with a musical daring their hard rock forefathers would be proud of.

Those looking primarily for a cathartic release live, as so many of the kids moshing their brains out at the Music Box were, need only turn to the ferocious energy of “Bat Country,” a song written for Hunter S. Thompson about the band’s own adventures in Vegas, and the Maiden-esque guitar and Shadows’ perfect caterwaul of the line “city of evil” (where the album’s title stems from) in the opening “Beast & The Harlot.”

And while Avenged, whose influences range from Maiden, Pantera, and Guns ‘N’ Roses (Shadows calls Use Your Illusions 1 and 2 his favorite albums of all time) to Billy Joel, Queen, and Elvis Costello, may not be your typical hard rock band musically, they can hang with the best of them. Epic nights of late night fun have followed this band around the country, and it’s something all of the members freely acknowledge. They like to party, and they like to drink: and plenty. Additionally, and fitting with their chosen lifestyle, the members of Avenged could write the A7X equivalent of the Zagut guide to strip clubs in America.

“Strippers and bands have this bond,” Vengeance says. “They totally do. The band walks in and it’s like special treatment,” Shadows adds. So, what makes a good strip club? “I like strip clubs that are out of control,” he says, citing Vegas, New York and New Orleans (“It’s fucking Bourbon Street. It better be crazy,” he says) as home to some of the better establishments they’ve frequented.

Reflecting the complex personalities though that can lead a hard rock band to throw in a beautiful Flamenco guitar solo near the end of the new album’s savage “Sidewinder,” Avenged Sevenfold is far from just a party band, and it shows on City Of Evil. The album is bursting with displays of their virtuoso musicianship, from the intricate tempo changes of “Burn It Down” to the tender acoustic intro into a Spaghetti Western mixed with classical melody that provides the calm before the storm in the savage “Strength Of The World.”

The group has learned a great deal having spent the last three summers as part of the Warped tour. Shadows got some valuable advice from Fat Mike of NOFX, besides how to play Texas Hold ‘Em. “He’s like, ‘You know what, if you do this stuff long enough, you gotta fucking have fun. If you can’t have fun on tour then you’ll never last,’” Shadows recalls. “I think that’s a really important thing.”

Additionally, the quintet, which started on a Warped side stage, graduated to the second stage, and then made the move last year to main stage, a spot they’ll be returning to this year, learned a lot by the gradual progression. “We’ve seen bands that we started out with that got a little bit of a head start or an early break and they’re done. We’ve learned so much more doing it from the ground up. We’ve got so many more stories than other bands will have; so many more good times, bad times. It has made us stronger as a band too,” Vengeance says.

Hard work is what also accounts for the band’s fiercely loyal following, according to Shadows. “It’s rewarding ‘cause you know you have this really solid core fan base that has been through a lot and they believe in the band now as more than a band, it’s like a lifestyle,” he says. “If anything happens we don’t ever fall, it’s like they’re holding us up. We’re not on the radio, but everywhere we go we always have this rabid group of fans. We would’ve never had that if we had some lucky break and just jumped to the point we’re at now. I hope it gradually keeps going up. The slower you go the more I think it builds underneath you and we’re grateful for that. They can’t just get pulled out from underneath us. There’s nothing you can grab to pull; it’s fans that love that band. So, it’s very gratifying to be at this place now.”

Source: http://www.avengedsevenfold.com

Pussycat Doll asks Barlow to pen song

2009-08-12T07:50:00.000-07:00

Nicole Scherzinger is desperate for Gary Barlow to write her some songs.

The Pussycat Dolls star is keen to relaunch her solo career and thinks the Take That frontman is the perfect person to pen her some tracks.

A source said: 'Nicole believes that everything Gary puts his hand to is amazing. She is convinced he can provide the hit she needs.'

Nicole – who is dating Formula One racing driver Lewis Hamilton – has had varying success with her attempts to launch a solo career in the past but is convinced working with Gary will give her the edge she needs.

Nicole, who is also working on the Pussycat Dolls’ third album, is not the only singer who has tried to enlist the help of Gary.

It was recently reported Cheryl Cole is hoping he will pen her a hit ballad for her debut solo album.

The Girls Aloud beauty asked Gary, 38, to write her a song during their charity hike up Mount Kilimanjaro for Comic Relief earlier this year.

Gary has previously said of the 26-year-old star: "Cheryl is great. She's fun, feisty and knows her stuff!"

2009-07-24T22:09:00.000-07:00

Linkin Park's Biography

Chester Bennington – Vocals
Mike Shinoda – Vocals / Emcee
Rob Bourdon – Drums
Brad Delson – Guitar / Bass
Phoenix Farrell – Bass
Joseph Hahn – DJ / Samples

Sophomore albums are famously tricky affairs. Musicians have their entire lives to pen their debut album, the theory goes, and a relatively short time to follow it up. But what if the debut in question is the biggest selling album in recent memory? And what if the music industry has Hollywood-like expectations for another instant blockbuster? That was the scenario Linkin Park faced when they entered the studio to record Meteora, the follow-up to their multi-platinum debut Hybrid Theory.

That album, which Rolling Stone called "twelve songs of compact fire indivisibly blending alternative metal, hip-hop, and turntable art", has shipped 14 million units worldwide to date. It was the Number One selling album of 2001. It launched three chart-topping singles including "In The End." And in 2002 it received a Grammy® for Best Hard Rock Performance for "Crawling," as well as nominations for Best Rock Album and Best New Artist. After diligently pursuing their craft since the band's humble origins in Southern California circa the mid-'90s, Linkin Park now had the world's ear.

To those outside the band, the pressure to follow up that success might have seemed insurmountable. But within Linkin Park, vocalists Chester Bennington and Mike Shinoda, guitarist Brad Delson, turntablist Joseph Hahn, drummer Rob Bourdon, and bassist Phoenix weren't sweating it in ways you might expect. Instead of dwelling on outside expectations, they set to work, meticulously crafting each moment of each song to their own exacting standards. The bigger picture developed accordingly.

"We don't ever want to have the mindset where we need to sell 10 million albums each time out. That's ridiculous," says Bennington. "It's a blessing to sell that many albums; it doesn't happen very often in this business--even once in your career is an achievement. Our obligation is to our fans. We're not going to get too comfortable and say it's a given that people will run out and buy our albums." "And if you know us, you know the biggest pressure came from within the band," says Shinoda.

"We just wanted to make another great album that we're proud of," says Bourdon. "We focused on that, and worked hard to create songs we love. We're our own harshest critics." If you doubt that, consider this: Shinoda and Bennington wrote 40 unique choruses for Meteora's poignant first single, "Somewhere I Belong," before arriving at the best possible version.

"We knew we needed to fix a couple things on that song," says Shinoda with a shrug. "So we'd write a new chorus, record it, mix it. Then we'd listen to it the next day, and Chester and I would look at each other and say, 'I don't know... I think it could be better.' And then we'd start again from scratch. It was a lot of work. We probably wrote and scrapped our sophomore jinx album somewhere in the mix. But we took our time, remained critical, and wrote songs we knew were good. Some people might have expected us to write a weaker version of Hybrid Theory -water it down, stagnate. But that's not what we're about."

The winning results of that painstaking approach are instantly apparent on Meteora. The twelve lean tracks display immense growth from the road-honed band, while still showcasing the rare chemistry that's been in place since Bennington completed the line-up in 1999. Working once again with Hybrid Theory co-producer Don Gilmore, the album came to life in a variety of studios, including the band's beloved tour-bus facility and each member's respective home set-up. This time Linkin Park had the opportunity to experiment with a wider palette sound, and an even more diverse array of styles.

They married wildly distressed samples to heavy guitars on songs such as "Somewhere I Belong." They arranged live strings and piano for "Breaking The Habit" and "Faint." They experimented with complex beats on songs such as "Easier To Run." They even added a Japanese flute called a shakuhachi to the hip-hop-driven "Nobody's Listening." Throughout, the rich textures and dynamic arrangements serve to enhance the moods created by Bennington's and Shinoda's powerful vocals - and vice versa. The synergy invites repeat listens.

The guiding vision for the 18-month recording process was evoked by the album's title, Meteora. During a European tour in 2002, the band stumbled upon a travel magazine featuring destinations in Greece. On the cover, the word "Meteora " and the accompanying photo caught their eye, and subsequently fired their imaginations.

Meteora is a group of six monasteries perched atop rock pinnacles rising 1500 feet above the plains of central Greece. As Bennington puts it, "they don't seem of this planet." And it's true. (To see for yourself, rent the Bond flick For Your Eyes Only, in which Roger Moore kicks ass at one of the mountain fortresses.) The Greek word literally translates as "hovering in the air." It's a fitting term for the otherworldly region, as well as for the album Linkin Park created with the image in mind. "We wanted to write songs that lived up to the energy that name exudes," says Bennington.

"It's really epic and beautiful. It totally embodies the sense of timelessness and expansiveness we wanted the album to have," says Shinoda. "We've since met people who've visited Meteora," adds Hahn. "People go there for solitude now - to find themselves. And that's what the album is about - finding yourself. Each song is about looking within and letting out emotions."

This time out, Bennington and Shinoda expanded the emotional range heard on Hybrid Theory. That album dealt with frustration, anger, fear and confusion from a younger person's perspective, according to Shinoda. The goal: catharsis. By contrast, Meteora reflects the accelerated lives the band members have led since recording their debut. "We toured the world for two years. That alone makes you step back and take a look at the bigger picture," says Shinoda. "We've always been interested in universal feelings, and that's what we focused on with this album. But Meteora is different in the sense that we're dealing with more facets of the human condition." "It's still a very dark album, but there's definitely more optimism," says Bennington. "We're still the same people, but now there's a light at the end of the tunnel."

On "Somewhere I Belong," for example, the verses describe fear and confusion, but the chorus takes that crucial first step toward arriving at a solution. Bennington sings, "I want to heal. I want to feel like I'm close to something real. I want to find something I've wanted all along, somewhere I belong."

And on "Breaking The Habit," he sings, "I don't know what's worth fighting for. Or why I have to scream. I don't know why I instigate and say what I don't mean. I don't know how I got this way. I know it's not alright. So I'm breaking the habit tonight."

Once again, the vocalists worked closely together to deliver a broad spectrum of emotions as a unified front. Now, however, Bennington and Shinoda draw upon a longer shared history. Their voices and sentiments are practically indivisible. "Mike is a computer whiz, and a formally trained musician," says Hahn, distinguishing the difference between the two vocalists. "Chester brings the rawness - the emotion that needs to come out. They complement each other that way. It's a true yin-yang thing."

The entire band, in fact, sounds more fully realized on Meteora. It's a rare achievement: A full integration of six members that still retains the unique qualities of each individual. The end result is the thumbprint style known as Linkin Park. "We don't really analyze the chemistry," says Bourdon. "We're just lucky and grateful that we found each other and that we work so well together."

"The collaborations are more seamless now," agrees Bennington. "Mike, for instance, knows more about me as a person, and I know more about him, so it's easier to write lyrics together. It's not possible to have secrecy in our relationship. You have to open up, because you want the other person to be on the same page. We're all that way with each other."

And with collaborators like these, who needs a therapist?

"Exactly," says Bennington with a laugh. "That's why I joined a band in the first place."

Disorderly Conduct For avenged Sevenfold

2009-07-22T14:35:00.000-07:00

Avenged Sevenfold are flag-waving, former high school delinquents looking for the good life

He swears it's in check now, but Avenged Sevenfold frontman M. Shadows had such serious anger-management problems as a kid that he was kicked out of two different Huntington Beach, California, schools. The first time was for smashing a woman's car windows after a sixth-grade pizza party. The second, in seventh grade, ended with the mysterious death of the school principal.

As Shadows (real name Matt Sanders) tells the story, he'd been slammed by the principal for leaning on a newly planted tree on school grounds. What really lit his fuse, though, was when the principal called Shadows a "punk" -- and not as in "punk rocker." That night, Shadows returned to the campus and ripped up every new tree. Someone ratted him out, but before he could be punished, the principal keeled over from heart failure. "He'd been a big steroid user, but they blamed me and kicked me out," says Shadows. "After that, everyone said I was 'the kid that killed the principal.' "

Six feet two and all muscle, Shadows cuts an intimidating figure, but these days he's found a less destructive, and more profitable, outlet for his rage. Avenged Sevenfold -- the goth-metal band Shadows leads, along with guitarists Zacky Vengeance and Synyster Gates, bassist Johnny Christ and drummer the Reverend -- were the hottest act on last summer's Warped Tour. Their major-label debut, City of Evil, is tunefully pummeling thrash, full of songs about demons and harlots, as if Metallica were starring in a cartoony horror movie.

A7X thrive on their contradictions: Their name is biblical (it comes from the promise that Cain's slaying of Abel will be avenged seven times over), yet their breakthrough video for "Bat Country" is a bacchanalian romp inspired by Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Their politics are pretty conservative, but they are just as staunch in their belief that "the good life" includes access to large supplies of strippers, sports cars and controlled substances. In fact, they are bent on reviving the metal excess of their beloved Guns n' Roses.

The band members -- who range in age from twenty-one to twenty-four and have known each other since childhood -- grew up middle-class in Huntington Beach. For years, they were downwardly mobile -- not long ago they were touring in a van and eating ramen noodles without water, "just for a change of texture," says Gates. But things have turned around in the past year, and the guys are unapologetically gleeful. "We enjoy the finer things in life," says Gates. "We want money. We want nice cars. We want beautiful women."

"Only difference is," adds Vengeance, "we're not afraid to admit it."

That's not the only difference between Avenged Sevenfold and their Warped Tour peers. There's also their politics. Among the T-shirts they sell on tour is one with the A7X skull-and-bat-wings logo in front of an American flag, above which reads LOVE IT OR DIE. Gates is a gun collector who spends some of his downtime at a shooting range. "We're an American band, and we take pride in that," says Shadows. "A lot of kids are anti-America for no reason, and they live in the best country in the world."

Like the group's two previous indie releases, City of Evil incorporates epic guitar solos, a bowel-rumbling bottom end and the gloomy imagery of vintage British metal like Judas Priest and Iron Maiden. The songs clock in, on average, upwards of six minutes.

"We're bringing back long songs," says Shadows, noting that Alice in Chains had six-minute songs too. And that's not all the bands share: Shadows works with Ron Anderson, vocal coach for the late Alice frontman Layne Staley, one of his idols. Following A7X's last album, Waking the Fallen, Shadows required surgery on his vocal cords for a broken blood vessel. Once he recovered, he started vocal training with Anderson.

"At first, I was like, 'Whatever,'" says Shadows. "But then I find out he's done Axl [Rose] and Chris Cornell and Kylie [Minogue] and Enrique Iglesias." Shadows worked with Anderson six days a week leading up to the recording of City of Evil. "I started using all my money from my advance," Shadows says. "He saved my life, vocally." Even on tour, the singer connects with Anderson for online or phone lessons every couple of days.

His bandmates may enjoy their indulgences, but Shadows has only one addiction: self-discipline. Between his vocal exercises and his regular workout, he follows a strict throat-friendly diet that excludes dairy, caffeine, spicy foods and even -- gasp! -- alcohol. "As soon as I start gaining any weight or looking different, I flip out," he says. "I'm just really competitive. I hate losing more than anything. So I definitely stick to my regimen, which is good because it keeps me on the straight and narrow. The other guys are pretty much out of their minds."

Though things are fairly tame in San Diego on the first night of their current headlining tour, Avenged Sevenfold claim that the "Bat Country" clip is simply a glamorized version of their real lives. "Going crazy in Vegas, parties, gambling, strip clubs -- we do all those things," says Gates.

"If a girl wants to show a band her tits," Vengeance chimes in, "she's having a good time. She's in the moment."

"Yeah, we're not gonna say, 'Stop! Don't do that!'" says Shadows, his diamond-encrusted fake teeth catching the light as he smiles. "That stuff has become so taboo. It didn't used to be that way. We love rock & roll from the late Eighties and early Nineties. We love the rock stars, and all the shit that goes with it. We're trying to take what we know from that era, bypass this whole anti-rock-star era and take people into the next one."

Why I Gave Up On Hip-Hop

2009-07-22T14:21:00.000-07:00

by Lonnae O'Neal Parker

Sunday, October 15, 2006; Page B01

My 12-year-old daughter, Sydney, and I were in the car not long ago when she turned the radio to a popular urban contemporary station. An unapproved station. A station that might play rap music. "No way, Syd, you know better," I said, so Sydney changed the station, then pouted.

"Mommy, can I just say something?" she asked. "You think every time you hear a black guy's voice it's automatically going to be something bad. Are you against hip-hop?"

Her words slapped me in the face. In a sense, she was right. I haven't listened to radio hip-hop for years. I have no clue who is topping the charts and I can't name a single rap song in play.

But I swear it hasn't always been that way.

My daughter can't know that hip-hop and I have loved harder and fallen out further than I have with any man I've ever known.

That my decision to end our love affair had come only after years of disappointment and punishing abuse. After I could no longer nod my head to the misogyny or keep time to the vapid materialism of another rap song. After I could no longer sacrifice my self-esteem or that of my two daughters on an altar of dope beats and tight rhymes.

No, darling, I'm not anti-hip-hop, I told her. And it's true, I still love hip-hop. It's just that our relationship has gotten very complicated.

When those of us who grew up with rap saw signs that it was turning ugly, we turned away. We premised our denial on a sort of good-black-girl exceptionalism: They came for the skeezers but I didn't speak up because I'm no skeezer, they came for the freaks, but I said nothing because I'm not a freak. They came for the bitches and the hos and the tricks. And by the time we realized they were talking about bitches from 8 to 80, our daughters and our mommas and their own damn mommas, rap music had earned the imprimatur of MTV and Martha Stewart and even the Pillsbury Doughboy.

And sometimes it can seem like now, there is nobody left who is willing to speak up.

I remember the day hip-hop found me. The year was 1979 and although "Rapper's Delight" wasn't the first rap song, it was the first rap song to make it all the way from the South Bronx to Hazel Crest, Ill.

I was 12, the same age my oldest daughter is now, when hip-hop began to shape my politics and perceptions and aesthetics. It gave me a meter for my thoughts and bent my mind toward metaphor and rhyme. I couldn't sing a lick, but didn't hip-hop give me the beginnings of a voice. About the time that rap music hit Hazel Crest, all the black kids sat in the front of my school bus, all the white kids sat in back, and the loudest of each often argued about what we were going to listen to on the bus radio or boombox. Music was code for turf and race in the middle-class, mostly-white-but-heading-black suburbs south of Chicago.

The Influence Of Indie Rock

2009-07-22T14:00:00.001-07:00

Indie music, or Indie rock, is a term used to refer to artists who are unsigned or are signed with independent labels. In the beginning, Indie music was not a term used to reference to a specific genre of music. As years have passed, it has become the generic term for a sound of a particular band or bands that they have influenced. The styles associated with Indie rock is similar to regular rock music, but it is connected to a variety of underground culture. The genres and subgenres that are usually associated with Indie rock include post-rock, C86, math rock, sad core, and lo-fi. Shoegazing and Indie pop are also genres associated with Indie rock.

Artists who practice Indie rock are in complete control of their music, by releasing their own albums and often starting their own record labels. They rely on spreading the word of their music with touring around different areas, word of mouth, and airplay time on college radio stations or independent radio stations. After time, they eventually move to larger labels, but it takes a strong amount of determination and patience.

In the UK, ‘The Smiths’ are regarded as the most successful Indie artists of the 1980s, while the ‘Pixies’ were one of the main influences in the US. During this time period, Indie rock was referred to as a broad variety of musical styles, especially experimental. As we entered into the 1990s, Indie rock became more mainstream into the musical culture, as more Indie bands began to be successful with larger record labels. The US was slightly different, with Indie rock being a generic term for “underground” music.

In our world today, Indie rock attracts mostly college students. Many of the Indie bands have started their careers by offering free concerts at universities and colleges. Arts Councils have been large contributors to some of the independent bands, but the UK has benefits from the fact that the term “mainstream” and “Indie” have overlapped genres. There are many Indie bands, both in the US and in the UK, that continue to make experimental music without trying to achieve mainstream success.

Online companies, such as CFTA, or “CDs-From-The-Artist.Com” helps promote artists that specialize in Indie rock. The company’s mission is to help independent artists accomplish their own promoting website, list audio clips of their music, and sell their CDs. Companies such as CFTA are beneficial to Indie artists to help promote their work. Many of these sites were created by artists and music lovers alike with the mission to provide the latest and greatest web technology. The services are usually free, and often they are supplied by college students who are wanting to practice in their particular field of study.

If you are an Indie rock artist who is trying to get your name out there, the best advice that could be given is to immerse yourself into your local scene. Be involved in any music aspect that you can find, especially the college scene. This is where true success lies. Look for music parties in your area where all different types of artists come together and practice their music. These are often companies that host the music parties and help to promote your music in the process.

Finding The Right Music Distribution Service

2009-07-22T13:56:00.001-07:00

Don't give up or get discouraged when searching for music distributors. According to the Indie Music Distribution site, even if you can't find a distributor after months of searching. Distributors get a lot of packages on their desks every week, so it's imperative that you contact them first before you send a package. When calling a distributor, you may get them on the first try, or it may take you weeks before you get a live person to talk to.

You can go to college for music if you are interested in music jobs, but you should know that most people don’t find this type of job as a result of going to college. Though you can indeed do so by getting special training, many people with jobs in the music industry start out by helping friends and local bands, and they work their way up to good jobs with experience.

This is one industry where live experience and learning the ropes the hard way pays off in the end.Music jobs can be anything. You can get involved with promotions, management, bookings, or even perhaps record companies. You might also want to do something like be a roadie, instrument tech, or you can do live sound or lights. Many people who have good music jobs in any of these areas often started out with a band when they were new and playing in their hometown clubs. As the band moved up and spread out, they gave the music jobs to those who had been with them from the beginning. This is not only a reward for loyalty and for working with little to no pay, it is also practical. Someone who has been working with a band knows what they need and how they like things without having to learn.

Music jobs can sometimes be high paying, but you should know that not everyone who starts out as a roadie ends up as one. It depends on the band and how far they go. If you start with someone who ends up touring the world, you are going to make a lot of money, and you get to see the world with them. If you pick a band that doesn’t go very far, you might want to let them go and find someone else if you really want to find the good and high paying music jobs.

If you want to be a sound or light technician, you might want to learn what you are doing by helping someone who does it for a living. You may not get paid to help, but the free education you are getting is worth it, and you may find that this is the best way to learn anything, and you will learn all aspects of the music business this way. Remember that not all music jobs are glamorous, and not all of them will take you around the world. However, if you love what you do, and you find that it keeps you busy and you can make a living from doing it, you will probably be happy anyway.

The Beauty Of Intermezzo

2009-07-22T13:55:00.001-07:00

Many regard Heinrich Heine as the last Romantic and the first modern. Schumann composer was sensitive to Heine's poetic method especially the adroit use of the old Romantic iconography, subtly interlaced with a self-ironic awareness.

Schumann, had his own copy of the 1827 first edition of Heine's Lyrisches Intermezzo.. In these opening verses Heine recounts the story of a knight-poet who is abruptly confronted by a vision of his destiny. In Heine's series of sixty-six poems the protagonist is the object of his own scathing wit. The protoganist is confronted with his bitter fate that refuses him the fulfillment of his love and passion.The German title of the Twenty Songs is Zwanzig Lieder und Gesänge aus dem Lyrischen Intermezzo.Schumann selected twenty odd songs that he intended to designate as Opus 29, the composer created a cycle which, cloaked complex feelings with seeming naivetè of expression. As it stands in its original manuscript version, the 20 Lieder are as much a cycle about the poet's unrequited love as they are an exploration of the poet's fateful failure in love.

Schumann – Other Works

During 1838-1839, Schumann created a brilliant piano work for Clara to perform, the delightful Arabesque in C Major, Op. 18. This work is a good example of Schumann’s style. It abounds in fragmentary repetitions. Schumann also composed at this time 140 lieder (art songs), including many of his finest works in this genre. Among the resulting songs s were Liederkreis based on the words of Eichendorff, Frauenliebe und Leben and Dichterliebe (A Poet's Love).

Unlike his contemporaries, Schumann tended to work in only one genre at a time. In 1841, he turned his attentions from lieder to orchestral music. Schumann composed a beautiful, poetic piece for piano and orchestra for his belovedClara. He later modified it as the first movement of his Piano Concerto in A minor. In 1842, while Clara was away on a concert tour , he turned to chamber music, and wrote his three string quartets and three works with piano, of which the Piano Quintet remains the most popular because of its evergreen Romantic appeal.

Schumann suffered from depressions – with alternating happy and sad spells and it can be seen in his music. His depressions hampered his creativity. In 1846-1848 he was again productive as a composer, writing chamber music, songs, and his opera Genoveva which was first performed in Leipzig in 1850 with very modest success.. Schumann's Concert Overtures include Die Braut von Messina (The Bride from Messina), based on Schiller's play of that name, Julius Cäsar, based on Shakespeare, and Hermann und Dorothea, based on Goethe.In 1850 Schumann wrote the eloquent Cello Concerto and the Rhenish Symphony.

Schumann’s Life – A Brief Note

Schumann had a life long struggle with syphilis. He was administered mercury for the same. He also suffered from bipolar depression. The alternating happy and sad moods can be found in many of his compositions. He tried to commit suicide in February 1854 and was admitted to an asylum. He passed away on 29 July 1856.

The Life And Times Of Robert Schumann

2009-07-22T13:54:00.002-07:00

Robert Schumann was one of the greatest German composers.He was born in Zwickau, Germany on June 8, 1810 to Friedrich August Schumann and Johanna Christiane Schnabel.. Robert was his fifth and youngest child. He began to compose when he was seven. At school, Schumann showed a keen interest in music and literature .

At Schumann’s pleading, his mother arranged for piano lessons from Friedrich Wieck. Wieck agreed to take Schumann under his wings. With time Schumann was able to develop his piano technique to a virtuoso standards. He also fell in love with Wieck’s daughter Clara.

Schumann started to compose short piano pieces and songs. He often practised the piano for seven hours a day. However, he started to have problems with his fingers. It has often been said that he hurt his hands because he made something to stretch his fingers, but it is possible that this was due to mercury poisoning as he was under treatmet for syphilis. The permanent disability to his right hand virtually snuffed out his career as a concert pianist. Schumann spent the rest of his life composing and writing about music.He started a journal called Neue Zeitschrift für Musik (New Journal for Music).

During 1838-1839, Schumann created a brilliant piano work for Clara to perform, the delightful Arabesque in C Major, Op. 18. This work is a good example of Schumann’s style. It abounds in fragmentary repetitions. Schumann also composed at this time 140 lieder (art songs), including many of his finest works in this genre. Among the resulting songs s were Liederkreis based on the words of Eichendorff, Frauenliebe und Leben and Dichterliebe (A Poet's Love).

Unlike his contemporaries, Schumann tended to work in only one genre at a time. In 1841, he turned his attentions from lieder to orchestral music. Schumann composed a beautiful, poetic piece for piano and orchestra for his belovedClara. He later modified it as the first movement of his Piano Concerto in A minor. In 1842, while Clara was away on a concert tour , he turned to chamber music, and wrote his three string quartets and three works with piano, of which the Piano Quintet remains the most popular because of its evergreen Romantic appeal.

In 1844, while on a concert tour with Clara to Russia, Schumann suffered a nervous breakdown. Schumann suffered from depressions – with alternating happy and sad spells and it can be seen in his music. His depressions hampered his creativity. In 1846-1848 he was again productive as a composer, writing chamber music, songs, and his opera Genoveva which was first performed in Leipzig in 1850 with very modest success.. Schumann's Concert Overtures include Die Braut von Messina (The Bride from Messina), based on Schiller's play of that name, Julius Cäsar, based on Shakespeare, and Hermann und Dorothea, based on Goethe.

In 1850 he took up a post in Düsseldorf as town musical director.This marked a prolific phase in Schumann career and he wrote the eloquent Cello Concerto and the Rhenish Symphony

Robert Schumann's breakdown in February 1854 had a complex background: a hypomanic state, some marital problems, and a stressful journey with musical appearances. Schumann had often thought of trying to kill himself. Later that month he threw himself into the river Rhine. He was rescued and admittted to an asylum where he spent the last two years of his life. He died on 29 July 1856.

Green Day Originals

2009-07-22T13:54:00.001-07:00

Many of today’s garage bands want to get Green Day sheet music in order to perform covers of the popular songs. Of course, many of us like to hear a band play original music but the occasion cover song is welcomed every so often. Other audience members are really just interested in hearing the Green Day songs rather than the originals.

As long as people come to see the shows, it really doesn’t matter. The band figures that people like things that are familiar. Using Green Day sheet music to learn the tunes that are heard on the radio is a great way to get the audience’s attention. The listeners will be more likely to listen to the originals a little better if the hear a familiar tune first.

If you are going to do cover music, why not choose a band that has achieved great success? Green Day has been making great tunes for over a decade and the band is gaining popularity. You will be able to tell this when you look for Green Day sheet music on the Web.

I was doing a little research for our band and I found musicnotes.com. The band I play bass for is not really a cover band but we just couldn’t find an audience. We figured that we would choose a popular group that still has a little edge for our cover songs. We settled on Green Day in a minute.

Anyone who has ever been in a music group knows that we never agree on anything. Choosing this band was a no-brainer and there is a lot of Green Day sheet music available through musicnotes.com for free. This is another great thing about the generous music group.

I found a couple songs from the Dookie CD that was released a long time ago. I decided to choose one or two songs from the list of Green Day sheet music for us to learn. Next, I found some great tunes from the Warning album. I downloaded all of these. Some of the songs brought back great memories, too.

The most choices in Green Day sheet music on musicnotes.com come from American Idiot. I had a hard time choosing which songs to download from this list because I like them all. I decided to download all of the songs available from American Idiot for the band.

All is not peaceful at the home front. Now we are arguing about which songs we are going to cover for our next gig. Maybe I downloaded too much Green Day sheet music.

Converting Mp3

2009-07-22T13:53:00.001-07:00

Mp3 digital music is one of the most popular forms for music to take these days. Digital music just seems to make sense, and is a natural step forward in the music world today. Everything else is digital these days, why wouldn’t our music be?

While music is still purchased in the form of CDs, it is very often converted into mp3 digital music for use on a computer or mp3 player. Indeed, sometimes it seems like CD players are all but obsolete now, and I almost never use mine anymore. However, it is nice to have music backed up on CDs, and I try to keep my CD collection current even if I’m not listening to them directly very much. I have a sort of inherent distrust of computers and all things purely digital, and I’m just waitng for my digital music players to explode one day.

Mp3 players have a lot of nice advantages to them over CDs. First of all, they are of course much smaller. Most mp3 players can easily fit into your pocket, unlike bulky CD players. Even the smallest portable CD player is enormous compared to the average mp3 player. Also, mp3 digital music can be stored on a hard drive of an mp3 player or computer, and so no CDs are needed. You can load up all the mp3 digital music you want on your computer, and never have to worry about losing or scratching any of it.

One of the most popular portable digital music players today is Apple’s iPod, and since it’s made by Apple it just has to be different. Therefore it does not use the mp3 digital music files other players use, and instead uses its own spiffy Apple format exclusive to iPods. As an owner of both an mp3 player and an iPod, this fact continuously frustrates me, as it is nothing short of a pain in the ass to transfer music from one player to the other.

Mp3 digital music is also of a fairly small file size, which is handy. My laptop has a 120 GB hard drive on it, and I can fit my entire music collection on it in the mp3 digital music format without making a dent in the overall space available. The mp3 digital music format poses some serious threats to the music industry, as it is so easy to share and pass around.

A Well Rounded Musical Education Includes Theory

2009-07-22T13:52:00.002-07:00

Within the musical community, there is a debate about the value of music theory that will probably never ends. Is it important to study music theory scales, or is it much better to just dive into the music and experience it viscerally. The proponents of learning the theory regarded it as an essential part of knowing how to play music. You can learn by trial and error, they say, but you would do much better to benefit from the knowledge of other people. Not learning music theory when you play music is like refusing to learn arithmetic when you are studying math.

The other side, however, has just a strong of an argument. They claim that music theory worksheets are stifling. The point of music, they argue, is creativity. You should dive into it and experience it viscerally. Learning the theory of music too early on can stifle the imagination. Although it is alright to learn music theory chords later on, it is much less important than having some experience actually playing music.

I used to be on the latter site, but I have recently switched opinions. You see, I learned music without music theory. I didn't even know music colors theory, much less the more formal and rigorous stuff. To me, you see, playing music was almost a physical experience. I could feel the sounds and textures around me. I didn't really need someone telling me what the structures meant. I could tell what they meant with my entire soul.

As I have matured as a musician, however, I have seen the use and the need for music theory. I have even begun to use music theory worksheets, and I hope to understand it pretty thoroughly within the next couple years. You see, the most important thing about theory is that it gives you a good vocabulary to talk about music.

I believe that you can learn to play anything without music theory. What you can not do, however, is to talk to other people about it. If you don't know the names of the chords, the different scales and progressions, and the rhythmic patterns that define various forms of music, how can you tell other musicians what you want? Learning about music is almost as important as learning language if you really want to collaborate with other people. Without it, it is very difficult to express yourself and ask people for what you want. Why make life difficult?

How To Compose Music - Creative Ideas

2009-07-22T13:52:00.001-07:00

Starting a composition is a difficult task. Getting your inspirations, thinking creatively, applying your creative thoughts to your music and supplementing your ideas with additional composition are all difficult tasks to accomplish.

For starters, your current state of mind will greatly affect the music you write – whether you feel angry, joyful or sad chances are your musical composition will in some way reflect this mood.

Different times of day and different seasons affect your composing as well as current affairs and any stress’s you might have.

The variety of factors that can influence your composition periods are immense and hopefully these few pointers will demonstrate some methods of breaking out of the psychological restraints placed on you.

• Colours – If you are looking to compose a piece of music based around a certain mood find a relevant colour that matches for instance orange gives the impression of energy and drive. Eventually you will learn to bias your mood to suit the composition you are aiming for.
• Character – it is well known for actors to really get inside the character they are portraying through their acting. Understanding key emotions and various behaviours help the actors ‘ live ‘ as their proposed character. If you are creating a theme for a character (think darth vaders theme tune) you need to be demonstrating and describing that character through sound. If you follow the same process as an actor would you will eventually unravel hidden details that will help refine your composition, make it more realist and detailed and allow for it to be much more creative and expressive.
• Nature – a lot of creativity and inspiration can be got by observing nature. From birds communicating through a song like speech to the rustle of leaves in a summer breeze. Trying to emulate nature is an excellent way to begin a sound-scope – or incorporating nature into a character theme for example to express an angelic quality, singing like the birds (fast trills on piccolo or glissandos on the violin)
• Memories – another great source to tap into is your memories. A lot of emotion will go into compositions that are personal in some way to yourself. Spend a few minutes reflecting on your past – try to imagine the memory in great detail – sounds, smells, colours the weather – anything that will give you a good image and story to compose about.

These are just a few sources for inspiration – use your imagination – it has never ending possibilities!

With so many possibilities to compose about and now that your creativity is running, the next area to discuss is music theory.
The last thing that you want to happen is to have all these wonderfully creative ideas for your composition but being held back by the lack of musical knowledge.

A rugby player could develop his passing techniques and his scrum techniques but if he doesn’t know the rules of the game he won’t be able to perform during a game.

Although music composition and as a whole is not bound by any rules you still need the knowledge of writing music – in the same way as a poet needs a knowledge of his language to write a poem.

Some of the key areas you should know about and be constantly revising are:

• The Staff, Bar Lines, Clefs, Time Signatures.
• Note Values, Rests, Phrasing, Rhythm
• Articulation, Instrument Specific Techniques (pizz, con sord)
• Key Signatures, Circle of Fifths, Accidentals, Cadences
• Major, Minor, Diminished, Pentatonic, Diatonic Scales
• Modes
• Chords, Extensions, Inversions, Sequences, Arpeggios
• Instrument Ranges, Timbres of Each Instrument, Difficult Areas of an Instrument (The break on clarinet for instance or seventh position for trombones)

Of course it is not absolutely essential you know about all of this but it will mean that your creativity is weakened due to lack of a means to fully communicate.

Use music theory books – go through them and notate comments on the pages, take notes on to blank flash cards to memorize scales and extended chords, use past music theory exam papers to test and analyze your knowledge and then act on your weak areas, purchase a aural perception CD to recognize different cadences and the general sounds achieved from different combinations of notes and chords – there are many ways to learn all of this but find the way that you are comfortable with and stick to it.

Finally the last piece of advice in this article is to keep your composing active.

Aim to compose a short piece of music each day, maybe before you go to bed you can reflect on your day through a composition. Mix it up – compose for different orchestrations and different abilities.

Composing is challenging but by keeping active like this will greatly benefit you and your compositions – and you never know – you may accidentally stumble upon your masterpiece!

The Care And Maintenance Of Your Guitar Strings

2009-07-22T13:51:00.001-07:00

Metal guitar strings are subjected to many conditions that shorten their life. The life of guitar strings can be extended with care and proper maintenance. This article will help you extend the life of your guitar strings.

Guitar strings can lose their tonal quality prematurely due to factors that include:

*Stretching

*Wear

*Corrosion

Stretching: Guitar strings naturally stretch during tuning and while playing the guitar. Over time strings slowly lose their elasticity and their tone quality. Guitar strings that are stretched no longer produce rich tone or harmonic overtones. As a result, the guitar becomes difficult to tune and the sound of the strings become dull and lifeless.

Wear: Guitar strings wear during the process of playing. This process comes from moving the metal strings against the metal frets on the fretboard. Of the two most common types of strings, wound and plain steel, wound strings are more susceptible to fret wear. Wound guitar strings tend to "flat-spot" more rapidly than plain steel strings. If left unchecked, the flat spots can create breaks in the windings of the strings. Flat spots and broken windings will decrease tonal quality and can also cause the strings to "buzz".

Corrosion: Metal guitar strings are subject to tarnish, rust and corrosion. Metal guitar strings are also subject to the body chemistry of the individual guitar player. Individuals with higher acid levels in their pH will get less life from their guitar strings due to an accelerated rate of string corrosion.

There are several things guitar players can do to get extended life from their guitar strings. Taking the time to follow these simple steps will ensure that you get the most from your strings and reduce the cost associated with premature string failure.

*Do not over-stretch your strings during the tuning process.

*Be careful not to crimp the strings at the tuner peg when replacing the guitar strings.

*Periodically, check the condition of the guitar bridge and bridge saddle to avoid breaking a string during the replacement process.

*Monitor the condition of your guitar frets and replace any frets that develop excessive wear or sharp edges.

*Always clean your guitar strings when you finish playing the guitar.

It is impossible to say how long a new set of guitar strings should last. The life of guitar strings depend on many factors and variables. It is possible to extend the life of guitar strings through proper care and maintenance. Be sure to take the time to care for your guitar strings and you will get the longest life from each set.

When the time comes to replace the strings, choose quality replacements and change the strings carefully.

The Life And Times Of The Great Wolfgang

2009-07-22T13:50:00.000-07:00

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in the sovereign archbishopric of Salzberg, now in Austria in January 1756. His father was one of Europe’s foremost music teachers, who, in the year of Mozart’s birth published a highly influential textbook for the violin. The Mozart biography is unusual.

By the time he was three Mozart’s genius was already in evidence and his proud father was already giving him intensive music lessons in the violin, clavier and organ. By the age of four he could play several pieces and by five he even composed a few. His piano playing was extraordinary as a six year old and he could even play blindfolded.

Mozart had a very unusual childhood, as he accompanied his father all over Europe for several years, beginning with a trip to Bavaria for the 1762 exhibition; on to the Imperial Court in Vienna; then to Prague. During the next three and a half years concert tours took them to many courts all over Europe, including London, Paris and The Hague. After returning home they went on to Vienna in 1767, remaining there for almost a year.

Another year in Salzberg followed then three long trips to Italy. Two particular highlights of this time included Mozart being accepted as a member of the acclaimed Academia Filarmonica; and the occasion when he heard Allegri’s Miserere for the first time in the Sistine Chapel and was able to write it out in full from memory. An astonishing feat.

In 1778 Mozart embarked on a concert tour accompanied by his mother who died in Paris.

By this time of his life Mozart had met many great composers and was a superb concert pianist and composer. He used the style of many of the composers he respected in his earlier music whilst at the same time developing his own.

By 1781 he had become Konzertmaister to the archbishop in Salzberg but after a visit to Vienna he became disenchanted with the strictures of his employer, and was keen to take his music further. Whether he was actually sacked or not is a matter of conjecture, however he moved and settled into Vienna life, and indeed got married to Constanze Weber in 1782, against his father’s wishes.

The year of 1782 was a great one for Mozart; he had success after success with his piano concertos as director and soloist and with his opera “The Abduction from Seraglio”. During this period he became familiar with and studied the Baroque composers, particularly J.S.Bach and G.F.Handel the result of which is very evident in his music of these and subsequent years.

The Mass in B minor, partially written to bring his father and wife together, for she was the soloist in the premier in Salzberg, whilst being a popular success did not bring the two together.

Mozart met and was friendly with Hayden in Vienna, and Hayden was very aware of Mozart’s extraordinary talents. Meanwhile he appeared as a soloist until 1785 enjoying financial success, but by this time he is suspected of having hand injuries, and his composition decreased.

Whilst his lifestyle and suite of 7 rooms were somewhat lavish during this time, entailing his occasional borrowings, he was by no means a pauper. His compositions and commissions from the rich earning him a very good living, and his frequent visits to Prague earned him fame and considerable financial considerations.

There is no doubt that Mozart died at about 1.00am on 5th December 1791. However there is some conjecture as to how long his illness had lasted. It is generally understood that he was pretty healthy until soon before his death, and so the Requiem he did not manage to finish was written during the time when he was healthy.

His family and friends were shocked by his sudden death at such a young age. Mozart was buried, as was the tradition at the time, in a regular communal grave pursuant to he 1784 laws of burial. Memorials were later set up.

This brilliant composer is certainly amongst the Great Composers and despite living only 35 years managed to complete an enormous number of works, most of which we still listen to and enjoy today.

The Life And Heartaches Of Ludwig Van Beethoven

2009-07-22T13:49:00.000-07:00

If you turn on the TV in any country in the world, and listen for a while, you will hear a bit of Beethoven played. OK it may be a parody of it in a soap opera but the tunes written 200 years ago are still good today.

If you get Classic music from the UK on FM and the net you will know that every Easter a poll is taken of the 2 million or so listeners who decide which are the ‘top’ 300 classical pieces of music that people want to listen to. Ludwig van Beethoven came second this year, with Mozart first. He would have been pleased if he was still alive, of course, because Mozart was his original inspiration. Mozart, despite the fact that he died at a much younger age, was a prodigious composer. Rather like Bach he could knock out a sonata before dinner-time or a whole quartet in a few days (when pressed). Beethoven, on the other hand really grafted hard to put together something new in the musical community. He would often, particularly in more complex music, have many draft ideas written down before finalising orchestration, which could take months.

Beethoven, once he was able to get away from his family, went about things in a different way from his mentors. (Haydn, his teacher, helped him to be one of the foremost pianists of his time, the forte-piano being a newly invented instrument whose refinements lead to the pianoforte we know today).

Ludwig van Beethoven became a known name in music at the time. He was one of the first ‘independent’ composers, making his money from concerts, music and conducting, rather than from the patronage that many previous successful composers enjoyed (or worked very hard to keep). However his music inspired several people over his life to sponsor him both before and after his deafness created new problems. Money was difficult at times purely because he would spend whatever he had and either hope for more or have to work very hard for it. During his several depressive periods a shortage of money could not have helped.

After a spell of, perhaps understandable, depression at his deafness he studied hard to be able to keep composing. He was familiar with Bach’s keyboard works, and having studied composition and counterpoint with Handel, he went ahead to change music, in its classical form, into new music for the 19th Century.

His music is generally thought by music critics nowadays to be the transition between the ‘classical’ and ‘romantic’ genres, but of course these apparently sacrosanct terms belie the truth. Beethoven gave to other composers the ability to develop music for the new century whilst giving his audience something to really enjoy. Some of his later works could not really be called ‘romantic’ perhaps? Different though.

Early works, if not known by the listener, could be confused with Hayden and Mozart, but his ‘middle’ period showed a vast development of the symphony as well as his technique on the piano (an instrument still in its comparative infancy), whilst at the same time taking music for small ensembles such as quartets and sonatas to new heights.

By 1811 he had stopped performing, his deafness being too severe, but his genius and musically technical brilliance did not in any way prevent his composing ability. He was able to ‘hear’ the music in his head and his mind. He even went on in his ‘late’ period to compose new styles of music which were greeted with great accolade by contemporary composers, although initially less so by some of his audiences, perhaps because they did not appreciate the subtleties of these new forms. This would come later.

This great composer, and indeed Ludwig van Beethoven was one of the truly ‘Great’ composers of all time, died at the age of 57 after a lifetime of illness and during a thunderstorm. If you listen to his music you may consider this an appropriate finale to a somewhat tempestuous life.

20,000 people turned up for his funeral in Vienna, his home of choice.

Introducing Music For Little Mozarts

2009-07-22T13:46:00.000-07:00

Music for Little Mozarts is a program designed to help your little ones develop a love of music. Learning music at an early age helps develop little minds and expands their cognitive ability. While listing to music can certainly help your youngster pick up songs, actually learning to play the piano can expand areas of the mind that are responsible for fueling later leaps in the childes education development.
This program was developed for the little ones attention spans in mind. It focuses on little creatures that both entertain and teach. By grasping the attention of a young child's mind and engaging them with stories along with hands on experience, you can provide them with a positive experience that just may fuel a little Mozart in later years.

What Does This Program Offer?

Within this multi-book and multi-year lesson plan there are ten little characters that help draw the child into the lesson plan. These little creatures actually can be used to help the child grasp basic concepts n music. The series starts out in the preschool years and provides day by day lessons that can aid the child or a classroom of children right through early adolescence.

The series is a designed for both classroom and preschool use and for those at home with homeschoolers. It contains a series of books along with audio CD's, flash cards, and other visual aids that can help very young children develop an ear and an eye for music.

Developing a Love of Music Quickly

It can be hard to hold the attention spans of children for very long. However, with the right creativity and the proper attention along with simple, easy to master daily lessons, most children will not only grasp music rather quickly, they will also develop a love of real music, not just banging on a piano keyboard and making sounds.

The short, daily lessons are planned out so that children learn to play music by ear. They focus on short, easy to master songs or song parts and gradually add more song elements in a quick progression. Children find that they learn to play real songs and master real passages quickly and easily. This element keeps them involved. They also master playing by ear and then later by reading rather quickly.

We all know how in wonder children's minds are, and we know that if they feel they have accomplished something then they quickly learn to love performing that task again and again. This sense of accomplishment with easy to learn lessons helps children to develop a love and desire to play music. Music for Little Mozarts is designed to engage the child through the use of play and quick accomplishments while repetition and small victories over time help the child maintain the interest.

Adapting the Program for Home or Preschool

• If you are homeschooling your youngsters or have preschool age children whom are not attending preschool you can still use the lesson plans. The books are designed for home or classroom use. You may find that your children at home can easily handle a few minutes every morning while their minds are still fresh, to learn music.

• If you own a preschool or day care you may find that adding a few minutes into your daily routine to stop and go over the lessons with your charges will prove very rewarding. You can easily fit in these short and fund lesson plans right into your daily activities.

Music for Little Mozarts was developed and designed by a team of expert pianist who have experience teaching young children and classrooms of students. It is designed for children ages 4 to 6 years old. The books not only teach piano, but also singing and a general love of music. They help develop listing skills and impart an appreciation for many different musical styles. If you decide to use the system in a preschool, day care, or at home you will be delighted to find how much fun your children find in playing music.