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Quick and Easy Violin Mute
One of the reasons I picked up the violin was because it was easier to travel with than a guitar (not that I haven't found some nice travel guitars, but that's another story). It fits in an airplane overhead and is easy to carry! However, I want to be considerate of the folks in the rooms around me when I'm playing in my hotel room. I decided I needed a mute -- there are a lot of gizmos you can attach easily (and not so easily) to your violin to reduce the sound. I wanted something simple and effective -- it had to be easy to slip on and off and it had to work! Turns out it was really easy to find, too! Head to your laundry basket and grab a spring clothespin. Okay, go ahead and grab two -- just in case. Slip the first clothespin onto the treble side of your violin bridge. Angle the pin downwards so it won't interfere with your bow. That's it! Give it a try and you'll be amazed at how the sound is muted. If you want even more muting, put the second pin on the bass side of the bridge. (When you do this, it looks like your violin is wearing a mustache!) Doesn't get much easier than this -- plus there's probably room in your case for the two clothespins. Simple, cheap, and effective (although it does look a little goofy). Joey Robichaux maintains Free Sheet Music at http://www.freesheetmusic .net.
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Play Too Loud And Well Cut The Power! "Turn it down!" Home Run Gigs Are you still playing your heart out to small audiences on gigs at unappreciative dives (excuse me, I meant to say nightclubs) that feel paying you a couple of hundred dollars for a 3-4 hour gig is also paying you about $150 too much? The Time Machine Exist! We call it music, ever noticed how vividly music triggers memory? Music Licensing Music licensing can be a very confusing subject. My intent with this article is to give you enough details on what music licensing is and what are your rights to use music in advertising and / or video productions. A few months ago I was contacted by a company that was celebrating 20 years in business. They wanted to put together a radio commercial that highlighted their celebration. Their request was to use Kool and the Gangs song Celebration in their radio spot. I explained to them in order to do this they would have to obtain a licensing which would cost them quite a bit of money. This was not an option for them due to their limited budget and ultimately they told me that they "went another direction" with their advertising. If I had agreed to use this song without obtaining a licensing I would have put both of our companies at risk. It was not worth the risk just to make a sale. Beware that there are unscrupulous production companies that will do this type of illegal activity so the best protection you have is knowledge. The copyright law protects writers of music by giving them exclusive right to their music. Once a piece of music is under copyright protection it is illegal to use it without getting permission to the owner of the copyright. There are actually two types of copyrights in the United States. One is the actual copyright which is denoted with the familiar C with a circle around it. This protection is for the actual melody, lyrics and arrangement of the music. The copyright is usually owned by the actual artist that wrote the piece or their publishing company. The second form of copyright is the actual recording itself. This is denoted by a P with a circle around it. This protection covers the performance of the song caught on tape or digital media and released on CD or other media. Many times a record or production company will own this performance right. If you want to use a song in a production, you need obtain a Master Use license from the owner of the copyright and a Synchronization license (often called a sync license) from the owner of the performance of the song. The fees for synchronization licenses vary greatly. Low-end TV usage (music is playing from car radio in a scene) can cost up to $2,000. In a film, the fee may be as high as $10,000. A popular song is worth more, possibly $3,000 for TV and $25,000 for film. A song used as the theme song for a film might get $50,000 to $75,000. Commercials can get even more money. Fees for a popular song can range from $25,000 to $500,000 plus per year. The typical range for a well-known song is $75,000 to $200,000 for a one year national usage in the United States on television and radio. I think you will agree with me that that is allot of money and usually way over budget for many video and radio productions. To get around these outrageous fees, music production companies sell buyout music. When you purchase a buyout CD you do not need to obtain a licensing to use the music. You can use the music hassle free and at a much lower cost. Buyout music or royalty-free, as it applies to my products, means that for your one-time purchase price, you can legally use the music in your productions for life of ownership. All copyrights of the music remain with Zebra Music LLC. My jingle licensing agreement allows a protected area of 200 miles. By doing this no other companies in a local market will have the same jingle. Many other production companies offer a similar buy out music licensing. I would advise you to read the licensing agreements with other production companies and ask questions if you have concerns. Network broadcast and international broadcast of buyout production music is cleared through a performance organization (like BMI or ASCAP). The revenue that these songs produce when they are aired is paid directly from broadcast station licensing, NOT from you as a producer. These performance organizations then in turn pay each artist based on the amount their song or songs were aired on the radio or TV. I hope this article has cleared up any confusion or questions that you have had about copyright and music licensing. Story of 50 Cent G-Units 50 Cent , was born 6th of July 1976 is a New York State rapper that uprose to spectacular grandness inside the entertainment collective in 2003... Curtis Jackson incarcerated and much more. Quite easily, 50cent has become the greatest artist since Slim, as well 50 Cent's album also has Dr.Dre. 50 Cent and G-unit have a clothing company Gunit Clothing and 50 cents music producing, Curtis Jackson will be around for a long time. G-Units 50 Cent released his first major album Get Rich Or Die Tryin in december 2003; it sported the single PIMP. Naturally produced by Marshall Mathers and Dr. Dre. watch disco inferno 50 cent could not gain mainstream exposure till he was discovered by Slim. How Piano Lessons Benefit Young Children Piano lessons provide a wide range of benefits to young children. Here are my "Top Five." 6 Tips for Organizing Your Music Files If you're a digital music fan, you probably have problems organizing your music file collection. For me, I used to have hundreds of MP3 files lumped in one folder in my hard drive. Can you imagine the pain I had to go through to find one specific tune to listen to? 10 Top Reasons You Should Learn to Play Chord Piano There are roughly umpteen zillion reasons why you should learn enough chords to be able to "chord a song" at the piano. By "chord a song", I mean the ability to play 3 or 4 chords on the piano in some sort of rhythm while you or someone else sings the tune. To do this, you don't need to be a Van Cliburn; all you need to do is learn a few basic chords and be able to more back and forth between them in some organized rhythmic pattern. For example, did you realize that all of these songs (and hundreds more) can be sung or played with just 3 chords? Buying A Guitar - Do You Know What To Look For? Buying a guitar is an important decision that my students have often asked me about. They want to know what they should be looking for. This is an important question because no two are ever exactly alike. There is a wide variety of types, styles, colors, makes, and models to choose from. The question is, which one is right for you? If you don't know what to look for when you're buying a guitar, you could end up spending a lot more money than you really need to. On the other hand, getting a "deal" may also get you a lemon. Following are some important questions to consider. Ouch, It Hurts When I Sing! When I first set out to write this article about voice problems in singers, I was looking for two experts from contrasting fields of medicine ? "medical" and "holistic". What I found, instead, in the first practitioner that I interviewed, was a delightful mixture of the two. Creating Caverns - an Improvisation Exercise In a recent post to my Yahoo group, I mentioned that I created the piece "Caverns" using one chord. I'd like to explain how I accomplished this. How Has Eminem Risen to the Top? How is it that a little white boy from Kansas City has become the most well known rapper in the world? Starting from nothing and eventually moving up to a multi-millionaire, Eminem over the past seven years has been in the eye of the public everywhere you look. He has essentially entered a black man's business and gone to the top over the course of a few years, but how? How I Compose a Piece of Music A number of people have asked about my own methodology for creating a complete piece of music at the piano. At the risk of oversimplification, the steps are as follows: Jealous Again - Jealousy Among Musicians Jealousy ? do you feel it? Do you sense it in others? Does it hinder your relationships with other musicians? Does it sap your confidence? Does it block your creativity? Here are some questions to help you get clearer about the jealousy in your life. How to Stop Thinking and Start Playing Learning how to improvise is confusing for most. The sheer number of choices becomes a burden. Should I play this note? What chord next? Where do I go from here? All valid questions newbies (and oldbies) at improvisation sometimes ask themselves. Learning to Play the Piano with Chords Part 2 Do you want to learn how to play chords on the piano? Can you already read sheet music or basic notes on the treble and or bass clef? These MIDI Tools Are Music To My Ears Curious about MIDI? Want to find out what tools are out there and what they do? Here are a few pointers. Learning the Piano and Playing the Piano Many piano students spend much time learning how to play the piano. Years upon years of study time devoted to perfecting technique, tone, dynamics, etc. All the while, many of these same students have never really played the piano. That is, they have spent their time practicing in preparation for the moment when they can "perform" for others. Music Mini Course: Learn The Basics Of Reading Music On A Keyboard Instrument Welcome to the wonderful world of music. As you begin reading this Music Mini Course it is fun to realize that you are also participating in a very important cultural aspect from around the world which has been going on for centuries. Did you know that pianos in some form have been around for over 500 years? Some of the first instruments of this kind were created in the late Medieval Period and were called clavichords. They had a very light, metallic sound because the small hand-pounded 'hammers' were made of very light weight metal-like material. These hammers struck strings of varying lengths to create different tones or pitches. The next cousin to the clavichord was the harpsichord invented by Cristofori in Italy around 1450 A.D. This keyboard instrument had a mechanism in it called the plecktrum which 'plucked' the strings and produced a slightly stronger sound than its predecessor. Whether you are playing an acoustic instrument, which is the closest relative to the history just mentioned, or an electronic keyboard, you are now participating in a centuries old musical art form. Creating Stark Atmospheres One of the things New Age pianist George Winston is known for is what he can do with just a few notes. In fact, in his piece Colors/Dance from the CD "Autumn" he uses an ostinato pattern in his left hand to create a wonderful stark mood.
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