The reality of depression and suicide has inspired artists to take part in the PICK UP THE PHONE TOUR, a music tour committed to reducing the stigma associated with mental health as well as making the access to help and hope for all safe and without fear.

Houston-based art rockers Blue October will headline the inaugural PICK UP THE PHONE TOUR–where impassioned artists join together to raise awareness and funds for depression and suicide prevention–and Atlanta-based hip-hop artist and producer B.o.B will open on the trek.

The PICK UP THE PHONE TOUR marks the first-ever tour solely benefiting suicide prevention in history. The month-long trek will launch Thursday, October 22nd at the Music Farm in Charleston, SC and wrap up with a two-night stand at Stubbs in Austin, TX November 20 and 21. See the full PUTP tour itinerary below; tickets are on sale now. To purchase, visit: http://www.putp.org and http://www.blueoctoberfan.com/pickupthephone/.

The PICK UP THE PHONE TOUR will launch with a press conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC Wednesday, October 21 at 10:00 AM. Justin Furstenfeld, the lead singer of Blue October, will be on hand to speak and perform an acoustic set before members of Congress as well as supporters of the tour partners 1-800 SUICIDE, PostSecret and TWLOHA.

Justin–who has struggled with bi-polar disorder most of his life–will be calling on Congress to fund both creative writing and art therapy programs as alternative options for mental health. The press conference will also urge Congress to fully fund the Garrett Lee Smith Memorial Act which provides the funding behind the majority of the suicide prevention programs in the United States today. The press conference is open to all on a first-come first-served basis, to RSVP, email TWLOHA: PUTP@TWLOHA.com.

The PICK UP THE PHONE TOUR is created through a partnership between the non-profit organization To Write Love on Her Arms (TWLOHA), the largest charity on MySpace and Facebook: Postsecret.com; Synclive.com; and 1-800 SUICIDE The National Hopeline Network.

Through 1-800 SUICIDE–which provides a life-saving service that is private and confidential for people in need–callers are routed directly to the closest crisis center in their immediate area so that quick referrals to behavioral health services and other supports can be offered. Since 1998, 1-800-SUICIDE has received over 3.6 million calls and rescued more than 4,000 individuals who had already initiated suicide plans.

The spokesperson for the PICK UP THE PHONE TOUR 2009, Justin Furstenfeld personally understands the struggles those who are affected by mental health issues face on a daily basis. “It has taken 20 years to have the chance to do a tour focusing on mental health issues which have been a daily battle for me for most of my life,” explains Justin.

“It’s great to finally be a part of a positive, progressive-thinking tour for an important cause which will make a direct impact and help people in desperate situations that need it the most.” In a strange turn of events in his own life, Justin worked at a mental hospital one day and, after suffering a breakdown, became a patient in a hospital the next.

Justin–who has taken medication for the condition since he was a teenager–now teaches creative writing at a mental hospital to young adults affected by mental health issues, self-abuse issues and sexual abuse. Through personal experiences and music, Justin challenges young minds to channel their emotions and anger into creative writing and art versus taking their frustrations out on themselves or the world around them.

He performs his art around the world, sending a message of hope to thousands who know and trust his message because he fights the same battles they fight every day. Justin is living proof that if you reach out and allow yourself to be helped you can lead a beautiful life filled with love, family and career.

“In moments of bravery and confusion and honesty, people turn to 1-800-SUICIDE–over three million of them,” points out Jamie Tworkowski, founder of To Write Love on Her Arms (TWLOHA).

“The folks at the Hopeline Centers have been answering those calls for ten years, picking up the phone when it’s mattered most. Now to help those who will not pick up the phone, together with 1-800-SUICIDE we are launching the first 24×7 online emotional support network called AliveIM!, which will soon be available at www.suicide.net.”

To Write Love on Her Arms (TWLOHA)–a non-profit movement dedicated to presenting hope and finding help for people struggling with depression, addiction, self-injury and suicide–exists to encourage, inform and inspire and also to invest directly into treatment and recovery.

Since 2006, TWLOHA has responded to over 100,000 messages from people in over 40 different countries and have invested over half a million dollars directly into treatment and recovery, including $50,000 to help fund the AliveIM! support network.

In another innovative move, the tour has partnered with Synclive.com to air live performances from the artists via the Internet as well as provide an immediate online confidential connection for fans in need. Synclive.com will create an essential connection for concertgoers in crisis who are unable to approach a booth at the show in-person either for direct help or to volunteer for the online counseling program.

Formed in Houston in 1995, the rock five–piece Blue October have released five studio albums and sold over 2 million albums. The group released their fifth studio album Approaching Normal (Universal Motown), the follow-up to their 1.3 million-selling Foiled album; it spawned the hit “Hate Me,” which reached #2 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart, followed by “Into the Ocean,” a # 1 video on VH1 about a the metaphorical contemplation of suicide itself.

Approaching Normal debuted at # 13 on the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart in March 2009 and produced two top singles: “Dirt Room,” which rocketed to #6 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart marking the group’s third Top Ten singl, and “Say It.”

Blue October is Justin Furstenfeld (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Jeremy Furstenfeld (drums, percussion), Ryan Delahoussaye (violin/viola, mandolin, piano, backing vocals), C.B. Hudson (lead guitar, backing vocals) and Matt Noveskey (bass guitar, backing vocals). Due to their hard-won and loyal fanbase, the group now tours all over the world. Check out www.blueoctober.com and www.myspace.com/blueoctober.

Hailing from Atlanta, B.o.B. also known as Bobby Ray is a hotly-tipped hip-hop artist and producer who will release his debut album The Adventures of Bobby Ray via T.I.’s label Grand Hustle (Atlantic Records) in 2009. B.o.B. appeared on the covers of XXL and Vibe magazines as was hailed as part of “Hip-Hop’s class of ‘09” (XXL, 12/08). B.o.B describes his music as a fusion of influences ranging from 80’s, techno, rock, funk and du-wop. Check out www.bobatl.com and www.myspace.com/bobatl.

Recently, acclaimed actor James Earl Jones recorded a Public Service announcement for the PICK UP THE PHONE TOUR; click here to view: http://www.preventsuicide.us/hopeline-new/index.html.

Following are the confirmed dates for the PICK UP THE PHONE TOUR 2009:

DATE CITY VENUE

10/21 Washington, DC Capitol Hill – PUTP Press Conference

10/22 Charleston, SC Music Farm (no B.o.B.)

10/23 Charlotte, NC Fillmore

10/24 Hilton Head, SC Shoreline Ballroom

10/25 Atlanta, GA 99X (Blue October radio show)

10/27 Jacksonville, FL Freebird Live

10/28 Ft. Lauderdale, FL Revolution

10/30 Orlando, FL House of Blues

10/31 Tampa, FL The Ritz (Ybor City)

11/01 Columbia, SC Headliners

11/02 WASHINGTON, DC 9:30 Club

11/05 Rochester, NY Water Street

11/06 Boston , MA Reason to Live Tenth Anniversary Concert

11/07 Napa, CA Hot AC (Blue October radio show)

11/10 Columbus, OH LC Pavilion

11/12 Chicago, IL House of Blues

11/13 Detroit, MI Royal Oak

11/14 Kalamazoo, MI State Theater

11/15 Cleveland, OH House of Blues

11/17 COLUMBIA, MO Blue Note

11/18 Tulsa, OK Cain’s

11/20 Austin, TX Stubb’s

11/21 Austin, TX Stubb’s

Partners for the first-ever PICK UP THE PHONE TOUR 2009 include:

1-800-SUICIDE – National Hopeline Network

About the National Hopeline Network 1-800 SUICIDE (784-2433) and the Kristin Brooks Hope Center (KBHC):
After losing his wife, Kristin Brooks to suicide in 1998, Reese Butler founded the Kristin Brooks Hope Center (KBHC), which created the National Hopeline Network 1-800 SUICIDE.

In 2000, Reese gained the support of the late Senator Paul Wellstone (D-MN), Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA) and Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) and obtained more than seven million dollars to expand and support the National Hopeline Network which is comprised of 200 community crisis centers in 48 states.

Callers in crisis to 1800-SUICIDE are routed to the closest crisis center in their immediate area so that quick referrals to behavioral health services and other supports can be offered. Since 1998, 1-800-SUICIDE has received more than 3 million calls and rescued more than 4,000 individuals who had already initiated suicide plans. www.hopeline.com

About To Write Love On Her Arms (TWLOHA):

In 2006, Jamie Tworkowski wrote a story, a glimpse into a friend’s life and her first steps to recovery from drug addiction, self-injury, and depression. The story, titled To Write Love On Her Arms (TWLOHA), and t-shirts Tworkowski printed to help pay for his friend’s recovery, started a movement, not only within his local Orlando, FL community, but one that was swiftly embraced by people everywhere.

Realizing a strong need to bring these mental health issues to light, Jamie created TWLOHA–a non-profit movement dedicated to presenting hope and finding help for people struggling with depression, addiction, self-injury and suicide–and enlisted bands such as Paramore, Thrice, Anberlin, Switchfoot, Bayside, The Almost to spread TWLOHA’s message.

Jamie and TWLOHA joined national and international touring bands spreading their message of hope before bands took the stage each night. In August 2007, MySpace awarded TWLOHA the winner of their “Impact Award” for “Community Building,” TWLOHA garnered the most votes in the history of the Impact Awards.

To Write Love on Her Arms began with one broken girl, one painful night; addiction, depression, self-injury. It is the realization of what life can be when people commit to meeting a need. “A friend of mine told me there is no such thing as suicide prevention. This is an attempt to prove him wrong, to say that love can change a life. We can hold back the darkness. Rescue is possible,” says Tworkowski. www.twloha.com

About Synclive.Com:

Synclive.com is a highly interactive music and entertainment Internet community that allows users to broadcast their live performances, as they happen, over the Internet to a worldwide audience. Synclive.com is currently reaching 127 countries with over 1 million video views a month. Shows can be broadcast from anywhere, at anytime. Synclive.com offers artists a tremendous promotional platform for worldwide exposure.

It is a great way to promote new music, a new tour, new merchandise, and stay intimately connected with your fans. Shows are streamed live, recorded and stored at the artist’s discretion for future on demand viewing. Our most used tool is the embedded player which allows an artist’s live and on demand shows to be placed on all of their websites so fans can watch the show in the artist’s environment. Synclive.com is free for artists, fans, and venues to use and is open to all genres of music and live entertainment. www.synclive.com

About PostSecret.com:

Called “the most trusted stranger in America,” Frank Warren is the sole founder and curator of the PostSecret Project: A collection of nearly 500,000 highly personal and artfully decorated postcards mailed anonymously from around the world, displaying the soulful secrets we never voice.

The PostSecret.com site now receives more than 1,000,000 visitors every week. In 2005, the All-American Rejects approached Warren about using images of actual PostSecret images in their “Dirty Little Secret” music video. They offered Warren $1,000, but Warren instead asked them to donate $2,000 to 1800-SUICIDE where Warren is a volunteer.

The donation was made and the music video became one of the most requested on MTV. The National Mental Health Association presented Warren with an award for his work in raising public awareness of Suicide. The PostSecret project has now raised over $210,000 for 1800-SUICIDE. PostSecret was awarded the December 2008 “Myspace Impact Award” and donated 100% of the proceeds to 1-800 SUICIDE. Look for the new PostScret book titled Confessions on Life, Death and God due out October 6. www.postsecret.com

For more information about the PUTP tour, visit:

• www.putp.org
• www.hopeline.com
• ww.twloha.com
• www.synclive.com
• www.postsecret.com

Music is the art of arranging sounds in periodic time so as to create a continuous, unified, and evocative composition, as through melody, harmony, rhythm, and timbre.

It’s also the vocal or instrumental sounds possessing a degree of melody, harmony, or rhythm. Music can also be when an aesthetically pleasing or harmonious sound or mixture of sounds are produced example the music of the water falling from a tap in a vessel.

Most of the time music is kept in memory and gig only. If handed down orally, this music may be considered “traditional” or not considered composed by individuals. Different musical traditions have disparate attitudes towards how and where to make changes to the original source. If the music is written down, it is generally in some manner which attempts to gain both what should be heard by fans, and what the artist should do to perform the music.

In most of the parts of the world music is a part of everyday life. Chanting and singing during religious rites and festivals are wonderfully common. Music as a performing art is wonderfully usual among Indians. It has been also among the seventeenth-century New England settlers who used music during their religious observances by chanting psalms in the meeting house as an important communal activity.

By the end of the century psalm singing had become dissonant since worshipers might no longer read the musical patterns in the religious book. The right rendering of tunes was of lesser importance than religious passion so a lot of ministers and musical refreshers, observed the teaching of musical notation to restore order in the community. Regular singing soon gave rise to the development of singing schools and the creation of music for secular entertainment.

The revolutionary war saw a flowering of musical creativity. Supporters of the American cause quite often differ d the words of British songs, such as “Yankee Doodle,” to taunt their adversaries. The immediate post revolutionary cultural climate was one of optimism that Americans might create their personal culture free of English influence.

In the 1850s, the call for an independent American music has been heard again, this time from a composer whose New York(NY) lectures in the early fifties inspired an interest in the development of an American musical language. But the drive for cultural independence fell short.

With the wars came the marches and sentimental tunes that spoke of home, wives, mothers and kids became popular. Composers and entrepreneurs printed a lot of of these. In the second half of the century, a lot of successful American composers had studied in Europe and adopted the romantic style despite the ongoing arguments for an American music.  A lot of men who earned their livelihoods as professors achieved respectability with works that bore considerable resemblance to similar pieces being composed in Europe at the time.

In the end of the century, major orchestras came up in New York. Smaller communities observed performances by Local/Regional bands, which reflected the popular taste for dances, marches, and synchronizing excerpts. The troupes moving throughout the country, performed combined comedic episodes, scenes from Shakespeare’s plays, dancing, and minstrel songs performed in black face.

Who knew Thriller would end up being the perfect selling album of all time. There was no way to prepare for its success because nobody saw what was coming. Yet, Michael has not been able to duplicate studio magic he and Quincy had; the artistic “roll” he was on; the total awe and submission of the media; the overwhelming force of his presence or the mesmerizing control he’d over millions of listeners globally. Therefore, even though more convincing than any other entertainer, he never repeated the success of Thriller.

But he might have. Even without all of the magical ingredients that help ed him make musical history, he might have used the momentum created by Thriller to sale another 40 million albums. All he’d to do was have knowledge of who he sold those 40 million records to. Get it? If Epic Records were smart, they would have gotten the address and phone number of every person who purchased the Thriller album. Do you understand what that might have meant? That means that they would have had the ability to “pre-market” and “pre-sale” Michael’s next few albums to 40 million, already satisfied customers!

Whoa! That means they may have sold 40 million plus albums of the next record. The profits would have been bigger too. Why? Since you’re not spend ing dollars on “mass-marketing”, you’re able to cut your budget in half! You’re direct marketing to people who already want your product. likewise, if Epic were smart, and they weren’t, they may have sold Michael Jackson Merchandise directly to those already addicted fans.

They really screwed up. But you may learn from this example. You may quickly “eat well” off your music by doing what Epic, Michael, and every other label has failed to do. Capture the name and email address of every fan that visits your website /page. I understand that it sounds too easy. I understand some of you are doing this already. But are you doing it correctly? Every musician on MySpace should have a bare minimum of 1000 audiences that will buy their music. Not MySpace “friends”. I am talking about straight-up audiences, the kind that spend money. If you have been on MySpace for two years, you should have 10,000-20,000 real audiences. Once you reach 100,000 audiences that are willing, at some point, to give you money you will be performance ! Your focus will be to make music for your fan base, selling to the same audiences over & over. It is backwards to start your marketing resolutions over every time you get ready to release a project. Why keep looking for new buyers when you may sell to satisfied customers. As a natural effect, your fan base will grow with little resolution on your part.

The compact disc – the artists dream.

I have always wondered about this one. If I take out a CD, took away its plastic packaging, took away the paper and actually took away the CD  what do I have?

If an individual said just music, wonderful you would be right.

If you look at things understandably and just sell the music rather than the compact disc, you would reduce the amount of time spent to reproduce the thing, reduce the hours and wages that take to establish one, reduce the amount of money on shipping/ storage/ marketing/ selling to shops.

So the biggest wonder of my time at present is this:

Why do we charge $12 for an album download?

As a side note- my own little gripe Why do we buy ebooks that are double the fee of print books and take less time and effort to produce and procure?

So with all what we know, is it a wonder then why individuals pirate stuff (especially when compact discs degrade/ scratch over time)?

I think the decent folk out there will buy something for what they thought the album is worth. The most famous example is Radiohead who said their fans may buy and download their new album at any price they wish.

It averaged out at $5.

I had respect for Radiohead. They done something diverse, at least they tried to fix a problem that the music business isn’t prepared to tackle properly.

Unfortunately they released the album in the shops as well, fleece your listeners…nice style Radiohead…[growl]

But instead of thinking, wow, this is great, all of us have figured out what individuals are willing to pay, so lets do something about this. Downloading web sites are still provide ing downloads at over $10.

I went over to CD Baby, good basic web site… the majority downloads $12.

And if you want to buy a CD…$12.

Still, I believe that the CD  is going to die.. It has to.

compact disc Baby additionally realise that, and have released HostBaby for artists.

But artists haven’t realised the fact yet.

And neither have record organizations. Assuming that they did then all of their music would be up for download at $5 a shot ( CD  presses, artists, shipping- all gone and prices decrease d). It would not put an end to stealing fully, but it would heavily dent it.

likewise add something else to the download- a bonus pdf, a picture session, a discount for other downloads, a free private members website ( like the ebook industry does).

Nonetheless it would furthermore dent the record shops, and put people out of work in compact disc  presses. But unfortunately it is change. I think people would still buy music compact disc s, but as time passes- this lower s.

On the other hand- how cool would it be to go into a record shop with a flash drive and download an album?

Nonetheless change is needed.

And it is the record organizations fault that we haven’t done anything about this mess yet. Unfortunately they will panic and fully try downloads in the future, but by then it will be too late. Most musicians would have found out about downloading and the record organizations will downsize. Would they be required in the future? I doubt it, can be to organize large concert and tours…but why else would you need one?

Bleak picture, but true…we live in a “now” society that utilises downloads. Only a few years ago all of us never had any real film footage website s. A few years ago there has been no iTunes. A few years ago there has been no Blogs or Podcasts.

Offer compact discs and downloads. But when the time comes, kill the compact disc  and just offer downloads. You’ll be ahead of that compact disc  goal by a mile.

Simple solutions to get yourself known for free…

I read an article in a well known magazine the other day and found that they were advising performers to invest out 100’s in advertising costs to get themselves known. True.

Is there another way?

Well yes, there is. What we have useful to us all is the Web. This excellent medium is so underrated it is unbelieveable.

The key to getting yourself known is to spread yourself all over the Internet. Pretend that the Internet is a slice of bread, a bagel….hmm…yum.

Sorry, stay with me, you need to follow this one. If you bought some really wonderful spread, costing $100 and you only spread one quarter of the bagel (this expensive food does not go far). Now you have only one bite, only one and a random one at that, so you randomly bite into the bagel, more than like ly you will have much less opportunity of being found than if you spent less resources on a similar spread and used all of it, all over the bagel.

Now this is what happens everytime a person logs onto the Web. You have one shot, you’re being targeted roughly by random and too much resources spent in one area is a substantially bad idea. So what do you do?

Well, the primary thing is not to invest any resources if possible. If you have music to distribute then do that. Sign up to all the MP3 hosting websites that you might find, there are so many now on the Internet that they’re free and provide some cool incentives ( prefer unlimited bandwidth, hardrive space and such prefer ). The more you apply to, the more prefer ly that you’re not going to be missed by anyone.

This technique additionally lowers the possibility of your paid web site being shut down, having any failures in the future, or being ranked less in the search engines (with so much competition this is a high possibility).

Phase two, make sure that you have your own web site. On each paid web site put a link back to your own web site, this then stimulates your Public Relations (PR) rate with the search engines and stimulates your link status (roughly: more links in the higher you rate). also you secure free traffic for many years from these web site s.

Make your homepage appealing, provide ing blogs and newsletters, even “guides and DIY articles”. Why? Well once an individual comes to your website and goes away the like lihood of them returning is incredibly low, and then you’ve lost them. This is why the newsletters and blogs are so important, they keep the one-time visitor coming back for check-ups to YOUR website, without them trying to find you again (very unlikly).

One thing that I may never understand when I am searching through MP3 hosting web sites is “why do people give a range of their work on one page?” All fair and well, and much kudos for doing so, but I think that this is a was te of Internet real-estate. Your web site ought to be targeted, your name ought to be targeted. I am into Techno etc, so it’s rare that I will hunt out jazz songs. But this is what I find when I go onto a techno artists web site. My tip would be to call yourself something divergent for each type of that you do. For instance : deejay Harsh for your electronic music, Earthly for your New Age music, The Fields for your Country and Western music…you get the idea.

Having a separate name for each of your styles will then target 2-3 (or however a lot of genres you do) times more visitors- a possible 100-200 % increase in visitor downloads. But again, you would link each web site to each other just in case. You would even make up separate web sites for each genre anyway. Many people in the artist world do this. For instance : Les Rythmes Digitales who made “Jacques your body (make me sweat)”- a cool techno song, and Stuart Price are one of the same. Who is Stuart Price? Madonnas new producer under his real name. The KLF, The Physicians in the Tardis, and The Justified Acients of MuMu (no joke) are all one of the same.

Diversify yourself to get yourself known, apply to all over the place that you could and keep on adding amazing music.

Contemporary media perpetuates all the old styles so that what’s popular now is what was popular 30 years ago. If you are old enough and were around in the 60’s, you’d recall that the 30’s seemed to be an era where the music and styles contrasted greatly with the 60’s. Today in 2008 we hear much of the same that was around in the 70’s as well as all the other eras including now’s contemporary music. This is thanks to the modern day varieties of music media that we have now. might be this surplus of variety is what prompts the “search for meaning in modern music”.

Electronic amplification has made the contemporary sound of electric guitars and drums dominate the sounds of today. PC recording with its click tracks and loops has likewise played a large part in the contemporary sound. The PC software “Band in a Box” and the like lets you build a song with pre-recorded loops and then copyright it as something original. individual ly, as a classically trained pianist and working musician, I don’t like these facets of modern day music.

If you’re a musician, what’s most important is to be creative as an individual whatever it’s you do. Create. Then share what you create. If you make a living at it, this influences how you create, but create just the same. If you just listen to music, you will apparent ly listen to what you want to, and you may find a greater variety to choose from than ever before.

Personally, I have produced 3 CD’s. The 1st one has been original songs produced in a studio. My original premise for it has been to win a lover back to me. Then it became an endeavor to make wonderful recordings of my non-commercial styled songs that likewise involved the new (and married) love in my life. I have made living in music, mostly in academia (community college) and community theater concert and get togethers and marriage s. My other two CD’s are piano solo. One is classical and one is Christmas songs. None are commercial successes, but I make some money from the recordings from downloads all over the world.

Therefore I am trying to make money in other ways. And so I am writing this article!

You may find my recordings at davidstahl.com and cdbaby.com/davidstahl

As I sit here writing, I could hear in the background my kids humming and singing while they play. My four year old son is trying to make up his own rhyming lyrics to a melody he’s made up on the piano and my six year old daughter is reading the lyrics for a song she is practicing for a performance.

Music has had such an impact on our lives. And I know it comes mostly from the simple task of playing children’s music during our day. Together we listen, sing along, dance and even read the lyrics.

For babies and young children music is a wonderful way to learn language and new vocabulary. And they love it. I have never met a young child that does not love music.

Listening to music with your kids could establish a stimulating atmosphere for your home. Different music can be used to evoke diverse moods and can be used to establish diverse environments in your home.

When my children were babies, I used to play calm classical music before bedtime. Even now all of us play classical music when they do art (or when I need a some peace and quiet). At other times all of us use livelier music to  promote  creative movement, development of rhythm, dancing and singing along with. I don’t think all of us could survive a long car ride in the absence of one of our preferred cds.

I’ve also found music unusually beneficial for their education. Through music, children (and adults a prefer ) are able to more quickly memorize facts. songs may be used to learn phonics rules, math facts, lifestyle skills and so much more. we now try to find music that teaches about topics the children are interested in. And I find myself having the occasion to relearn many subjects including Spanish.

Early exposure to a variety of musical styles may advocate develop a life long appreciation of music. When your children are young, you as the parent have the occasion to influence positively the music that the family members purchases. You may introduce a lot of varying styles and topics before their peers take over in later years.

The greatest worth of music is that it allows us as a family to invest quality time together. Music is an entertaining alternative to TV. With music playing in the background all of us can still have conversations, read or do other activities. For some strange reason my kids seem to quarrel less when their music is playing. We’ll oftentimes sing along to lively songs while all of us fold the laundry and tidy up. Music may be played while all of us bake cookies or craft. Un prefer excessive TV which can on occasion distract from our time together, music is something that all of us can all share together, improves our home life and encourages family time.

Nowadays there are so a lot of excellent children’s performers and variety of albums to select from. It may al the majority be overwhelming. Fortunately, the Web now allows us the luxury of being able to easily search for music, learn about the artist, read reviews and listen to samples of their work. The following select web sites listed below will give you a excellent start. Good luck, have fun together and allow your child to grow up loving music!

Music is major part of our everyday life. Music also has a long, complex and captivating history. It can predate language, and most certainly predates the written word. It’s found in every known human culture, both past and present, varying wildly between certain periods and locations on the globe. The music of every culture is influenced by all other aspect of that culture, such as social and economic organization, climate, and access to technology.

The development of human music occurred against the backdrop of natural sounds prefer the lapping of ocean waves, the rippling of river water, the singing of birds and sounds created by other animals. Prehistoric music, more commonly referred to as primitive music, is the name given to all music produced by preliterate cultures, beginning somewhere in  profoundly late geological history.

The prehistoric period is considered to have ended with the creation of writing, and with it, by definition, prehistoric music. “Ancient music” is the term given to the music that followed. This music has been produced by numerous early cultures, particularly Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, Mesopotamians and citizens of the Muslim world, as well as Asiatic cultures.

Following ancient music, came “early” music which is a exceedingly general term referring to music in the European classical tradition from the fall of the Roman Empire in 476, until the end of the Baroque period in the 18th Century. Music within this enormous time span has been extremely diverse, encompassing multiple cultural traditions throughout a expansive  geographic region. What unified these many cultures in the Middle Ages has been the Roman Catholic Church, and its music served as a focal point for music development for the 1st centuries of this period.

The Medieval period (from the 9th to the 14th Centuries) was rich in musical history as attested by the artistic renditions of instruments, writings about music, and other historical references. The only collection of music which has survived from pre-900 AD to the present is the liturgical music of the Catholic Church, the largest part of which is called the Gregorian chants.

Renaissance music followed the medieval era, but the beginning of Renaissance music is not as obvious ly marked as the start of the Renaissance in the other arts, and began, not in Italy, but in northern Europe specifically central France, the Netherlands, and Belgium. The invention of the printing press had an immense influence on the dissemination of musical styles and by the 15th century, composers and singers from these Low Countries begin to spread over all of Europe.

Baroque music became quite popular following 1600, and instrumental music became dominant. Although strong religious musical traditions continued, secular music came to the forefront with the development of the sonata, the concert o and concert o grosso. In Baroque music the keyboard, particularly the harpsichord, is the dominant instrument. The three most outstanding composers of this period are J.S. Bach, G. F. Handel and A. Vivaldi.

The early Classical period has been ushered in by the Mannheim School which exerted a profound influence on Joseph Haydn, and through him, on nearly all subsequent European music. Wolfgang Mozart has been the central figure of this period and his phenomenal and varied output defines our perception of the Classical era.

Ludwig van Beethoven and Franz Schubert were transitional composers who led Europe into the Romantic period with their expansion of the current type of s, forms and even uses of music. During this Romantic period, music became more expressive and emotional. By the late 19th century, there was a dramatic expansion in the size of the orchestras, and in the role of concert as part of a rapidly increasing urban society. Strauss, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Verdi and Wagner comprised a compelling group of Romantic composers. A prominent feature of late 19th century music is its nationalistic fervor, as exemplified by figures prefer Dvorak, and Sibelius.

The 20th Century saw a music revolution as radio gained popularity world wide and new media and technologies were created to record, capture, reproduce and hand out music. Because music has been no longer limited to performance clubs and club s, it became possible for music performers to gain fame and fortune quite promptly.

And music became more mobile with the use of headsets, CD  players, and iPods. Music of the 20th Century brought a new freedom and wide  experimentation with styles and forms that challenged the accepted rules of earlier musical periods. Heavy metal music and rap entered the picture and joined hip-hop, jazz, country/western, ballads, folk, acid rock, Christian rock and a variety of other genres to create now’s fascinating world of music.

(For the purpose of this article I am going to make a couple of assumptions before I go any further. They are that you’ve a little bit of vocal or musical instrument knowledge and that you likewise have a fledgling network of friends and contacts)

Starting up a band is a unusually exciting time in a performers life. There’s a fine balance of nervous anticipation and the fear of the unknown that follows the whole process.

A performer has a diverse dynamic than working as a solo artist. There are other individuals involved, other individual ities, other strengths and weaknesses in character and abilities and because of this it is really necessary that you’ve a few things worked out before you start looking for performer members.

1. Have a good idea of your own strengths and weaknesses

The performer members that you want to get will need to be around the same level of competence as you are. The main reason for this is that you can all grow together rather than have one or two musicians carrying any person else. This type of player imbalance causes doubt in the group and doubt is one of the major killers of bands.

2. Know beforehand how the performer is going to be run

Is the band going to be run by you or the whole group? The individual ity types of the performers that you select will need to be agreeable to the way the band is going to be run.

3. What instrumentation is the performer having in its lineup?

This is mainly determined by the type(s) of music that you want to play but having an idea of what musicians you are looking for will be of exceptional endorse.

It is now time to hunt down some band members

4. Ask your network of companions and/or contacts

This is always a good place to start. Ask anybody that you know or come into contact with. If you don’t have much of a circle of friends and/or contacts this will be a exceptional opening  to expansive n it. This is one of the reasons why networking in the industry is so important, for opening s such as this.

Having a artist referred to you has a much better opportunity of working than one that comes from an advertisement. This leads me onto my next point.

5. Post an advertisement

Having said that I’ve had made some excellent contacts from artists enquiring from a ‘muso wanted’ ad. The key to effective ads is that they need to be concise, to the point, not too lengthy and put in places where artists are exceedingly like ly to see it and read it like in a music shop, a Local music magazine or a music classifieds website.

A sample ‘ performer wanted’ advertisement may read something like this:

BASS PLAYER WANTED

To join folk/rock band

Influences include

Ben Harper, Jack Johnson, Counting Crows

Some experience prefer red

Own gear and transport essential

Interested?? Give me a call

Corey – (put home and/or mobile telephone  number here)

As you may see, the ad is obvious in its intention.

It apparent ly states the artist wanted, the kind of music the band is playing, what the music might sound like and that the band has some experience behind it. Make sure you have a apparent contact name and phone numbers (if you want to include an email address as well that’s cool).

Do not put in stuff like ‘work waiting’ or ‘no time was ters please’. You might judge those sort of things yourself when an interested artist contacts you.

Once you’ve done that the waiting game begins.

It’s a safe bet that, since the arrival of cognitive human beings on this earth, music has, in some form had a significant effect on their lives. The first sounds, other than speech, were might produced by hitting something; wood, stone or hide; and ancient peoples must have appreciated the sounds of the world around them; of water, weather and animals; and were the sounds of a rippling stream or a gushing waterfall music to their ears? And when they stood at the seashore did the crashing waves and the suck of the tides move them in some way?

There is something deep within our psyche, which reacts and ‘ remember s’ music. It’s more than probable that sounds relating to music and rhythm came long before sounds relating to communication and speech. Today, this theory may be tested by noting a baby’s reaction to a lullaby as compared to speech. If you are lucky, humming can soothe the most fractious child and even send them to sleep! Music, in the form of rhythm was used by many peoples as a way of sending messages to out of sight recipients; think about the jungle drums of Africa or the Alpine horn, the Aboriginal didgeridoo or the use of bells as a warning of attack.

The days of learning our lessons by rote have, mostly, disappeared. This is because it has, rightly, been recognised that all of us don’t necessarily absorb the content of what all of us repeat over and over again. But, as an guide to memory, music still has its uses. tunes all of us have learnt in childhood may be recalled far later in life than mere words. Music is a well known and much used therapy in illnesses that involve memory loss; Stroke, Alzheimers etc; and not only as a recall guide but furthermore as a re-learning tool. Speech therapists use music extensively when trying to educate stroke victims how to speak again. The rhythm and melody of a familiar tune will a lot of the time ‘trigger’ a positive response, when no amount of visual stimuli has an effect.

And then there is the cohesive quality of music; from the singing of a country’s National Anthem to a football crowds chant; from carol singers to brass bands. Musical participation has been used in every walk of life. The chain gangs of America’s Deep South would use music to get through the day and produce a rhythm to mundane physical labour. Sailors would pull a hawser or’sheet’ in unison while singing a familiar ‘hornpipe’ or reel; The exceptional gospel sounds that poured from the wooden churches of the Southern states black population were a potent community tool to  promote  and celebrate their culture; a lucky offshoot was the inspiration of much of our modern rhythm and blues. Nowadays factories all over the world use ‘piped’ music to soothe the workers; if you’re doing a humdrum task music can make the time go faster.

When we think about it music isn’t just a pleasant pastime that is either passively listened to or actively produced. It has a much deeper, more fundamental purpose. Our reactions to outside events may be completely altered by music. It can make us happy, sad, frightened, elated, thoughtful . . . the list of emotions it engenders are as long as their number. And words are not vital to establish this ambience; for instance, how would silent movies have worked in the absence of the music? Those Keystone Cops in the absence of the frenetic piano plinkity plonk; the doe eyed heroines in the absence of the sobbing strings; the large sweeping epics in the absence of full orchestral back up? They just wouldn’t have worked. Nowadays, with the proliferation of world music, we listen to and enjoy music in many varying languages, in the absence of necessarily understanding a word the singers say; much as opera was once listened to as the fashionable ‘world’ music of its day; just another example of the emotive power of music.

Now,it’s fair to say that music has an innate basis in our evolutionary makeup. all of us have could used it since homo sapiens first walked the earth. Other animals do use sounds in their day to day living (frogs croak, dogs howl, sheep bleat etc.) but, with the possible exception of birds, all of us are the only species to find pleasure in making melody out of sound. We’ve utilised every viable tool, from the human voice to electronic tones, to create ever more varied compositions. Wouldn’t it be intriguing to discover how soon into our evolution the power and beauty of the human voice has been appreciated? As the centuries have passed performers have been, rightly, feted for their skill to move us with song, melody and rhythm. Once performers were revered as priests, interpreting the sounds of the gods. Nowadays all of us are more pragmatic; but all of us still need that harmony in our lives; even if it’s only our mobile phone  ringtone!