|
|
Learning how to play a guitar can be a life changing experience. As you practice and improve your guitar skills, you will start to get more out of all types of musical experiences. You start to appreciate the guitar and before you know it, you find yourself wanting a new guitar! 
0 Comments
Music is everywhere and we hear it almost every day. In fact, for every relevant situation in our lives, there seems to be music that perfectly fits your feelings. Yes, music can trigger emotional responses even if you don’t want to admit it. For example, there is a song that can remind you about your bad breakup in the past or a song that reminds you how happy you were during your first dance with your husband or wife. Music can transport you to places and events in your not so distant past.  
Do you love films? What are your favorite films up to these days? If you are a film lover, you can never ignore the popularity of Walt Disney. Probably the most influential person in the film industry there is. Who doesn’t know Walt Disney? However, did you know that there is also another person that shares the same spotlight as Walt Disney? The name is John Williams. In more than 6 decades, John Williams has made a name in the film industry.  People love listening to music all the time. They tend to listen when they are sad, happy or when in love. Whatever emotions you have, there seems to be the perfect music to accompany your feelings. Listening to music makes you feel good because it releases endorphins in the brain – the happy chemicals known as neurotransmitters that give you a feeling of excitement. Music is good for you and your health.
 You probably have heard about the word “opera”. It is a common term used especially for people who love music and shows. Ever heard “The Phantom of the Opera”? Ever since its first release, it has become popular. In fact, it has been made into a movie and its music becomes a big hit. Since then, many people are actually asking one thing
 If you love music, you are probably familiar with various musical instruments like the violin. It is a wooden instrument with four strings and is played using a bow and is one of the most popular musical instruments nowadays. The violin has the smallest and highest pitch and is usually used in western music. Violins are considered as the leader of an orchestra.
 A career in music seems to be a very passionate, adoring and loving career. No wonder why lots of people are wishing to join the music industry where they can not only show their passion for music but their talent as well. However, the music industry is not that easy to penetrate because this industry is known for being a competitive job market and it can be difficult to know what kind of opportunities are available. More so, launching into a career in the music industry today seems to be more complicated because of the internet and social media. Therefore, before thinking of joining the music industry, get to know the 5 categories in music which are:
 Sound is all around us. Sometimes, we love it but there are also times when we get annoyed with it. Sound is an important means of communication. For us, sounds allow us to hear and speak, when to be alert and to protect ourselves. One of the greatest joys comes from the sounds of music.
The Importance of Sounds People tend to disregard sounds because we hear it every day – even when we sleep. Sounds, though a common occurrence, is considered to be one of the most important things that are essential for our wellbeing and survival. Apart from sounds paving way for communication; it is also used to create music. We enjoy listening to music all the time. For thousands of years, it has been used to entertain and convey messages. While music relies on frequencies and pitches, the sound is the basic component of music. When there is no sound, there is no music at all. Therefore, music is made up of sounds. Types of sounds Generally, there are 2 types of sounds that create music – natural sounds and synthesized sound. How do these two complement each other? What are their differences? Which is better? Here is an introduction to natural sound vs. synthesized sound. Natural Sound Natural sound is the sound that surrounds you. Natural sounds can come from different sources. Example of natural sounds includes clapping, ringing of a bell, the sound of a person breathing, sounds made by animals, and many others. When natural sound is used in music, it isn’t just a single sound but a combination of every sound necessary to create richness and texture to the music. A natural sound becomes a noise when you don’t want to hear it. Noise is described as a sound that interferes with an individual’s listening experience. Synthesized sound A synthesized sound is a sound produced using electronic hardware or software. Called as sound synthesis, this process is typically used for creating music where a synthesizer is used during the performance and when recording the music. Synthesized sound is an artificial sound, but it can mimic any type of sound – it can be both familiar sound or otherworldly. Thanks to synthesizers, it can create something new by manipulating and combining sounds. There is no competition between natural sound and synthesized sound because both are important in creating music. Knowing the difference between these two sounds is also important as it can help you understand sounds and music better, especially if you are trying to make music from scratch.  From it's ancient history to today's modern fusions folk music in modern music. To try and make some sense of this deceptively simple-sounding term we've thrown together a brief outline of, largely Western, folk history and its evolution.
What is folk music? By definition, folk music is a style of music that represents a community and sung by people using the instruments available in their community. It is the music of the people and so, it is expected of them to be familiar and be able to play it. Traditionally, people learn folk music from others and not from the performance in the studio or on stage. The songs are passed down from one generation to another. Folk music tells the story of how the people live, their daily activities, as well as their daily struggles in life. While most of these songs are not performed on stage or recorded in the studio, people get to learn the songs by singing them with others. A good example of folk songs is the jamboree songs and children songs like “Happy Birthday To You”. History of Folk Music Different countries have different folk music. While Europe and Asia have their own sets of folk music, America also has her own folk music. American folk music was born as early as the first settlers of America. Americans expressed their protest, delights, and desire through songs. American folk music is also known as roots music since it led to the development of many other forms of music nowadays such as jazz, pop, rock n’ roll, blues, and many more. American folk music rose to popularity around the 1950s and even became a phenomenon in the 1960s. During this time, the songs of famous folk musicians, Woody Guthrie, were everywhere and all Americans can sing folk songs. It was at the end of the 1960s when people became more comfortable with folk music and musicians personalized folk songs by adding philosophies and belief in them. Folk musicians have included the stories of war, their political point of view, as well as their stand on many political issues; then its popularity died out in the mid-70s. Folk Music and Its Influence Folk music plays a big role in society then and now. It was the people’s way of telling their fellow how they struggle with life or how fun and wonderful their life is. It also serves as their voice when their own voices aren’t loud enough to reach the government. Folk music wasn’t just used as a propaganda tool, but it was also the force that unites people and teaches them that it is alright to express their own opinions. And today, folk music has evolved according to how people or the community would benefit from it. At present, folk music provides hope and inspires listeners all over the world.  A Brief History Of The Guitar
Few instruments capture the imagination of instrumentalists from around the world as much as the guitar. It is remarkable how the guitar has come, from a humble acoustic stringed instrument to the heavily-amplified and affected electric of today that can rock stadiums full of people. Guitar's earliest surviving ancestors include the tanbur, which is believed to have originated from Mesopotamia, Central or Southern Asia, and the cithara, an ancient greek instrument . After making their journey to Europe, these instruments began to change over time. Throughout the centuries, the tanbur went from three sets (or courses) of strings, to five, and eventually settled at six single strings in the 18th century. These were smaller than what we are accustomed to today. The first guitars that look like the acoustic guitars of now were developed by Antonio de Torres Jurado. He introduced mechanical tuning pegs, fan bracing, and a wider body with a more pronounced waist. The design proved so popular that it was copied by many. When Jurado's design made it over to the United States, it was developed further. Christian Frederick Martin created the first flat-top guitar and designed it to have X-bracing inside in order to accommodate steel strings. This became the most popular guitar style in the West. With the large music ensembles of the day, the intricacies of what was playable on the instrument were getting lost. This led to jazz players putting pickups on their arch-tops. The first commercially available electrified guitar was by Rickenbacker and was called the 'Frying Pan'. It was marketed primarily for lap steel. The first electric guitars to take off in popularity were created by Leo Fender and Les Paul (their designs were put out by Fender and Gibson, respectively) in the 1950s. These models have become iconic and are still used today. The main change in recent decades is not so much the design of electric guitars (most electric designs tend to be variations on designs popularized by Fender & Gibson), but the modifications that are made to their sound through effects. The first effect happened when players turned up their amps so loud that it would overdrive, creating an exciting new sound. The first effects unit was a tremolo that sat on top of an amp in 1946. In the 1950s, a bar was added to the body of a guitar that you could use to artificially create vibrato. In 1961, Leo Fender created the first reverb unit, still one of the most popular effects in all of music. On guitar, its popularity is second only to distortion/fuzz, which was introduced in pedal form in the beginning of the 60s and hit big once it was used by The Rolling Stones in their song 'Satisfaction'. Those are the basics of guitar's past, be sure to check out Create More Music to see how you can fit into its future. |
Archives
September 2021
Categories |
RSS Feed