For a better understanding of the importance of Classic Records, you will have to first understand the difference between classical music and popular music. This distinction is made on the basis of the choice of instrumentation. The instruments used in Classic Records were invented much before the 19th century. In the recent times you can get a feel of the Classic Music in some contemporary compositions.

However, they cannot be claimed to be Classic Records on that ground. While you hear the classical records attentively, you will notice amazing use of certain technicalities. The wonderful use of modulation, polyphony, sophisticated harmonies; subtle variation rather than exact repetition make the tunes of the legends and other Classic Music fabulous and unique. You will feel like hearing those records over and over again. Every time you hear, you can discover newer and attractive reasons for your liking of those Classic Records. Though classic music often reflects certain complications by itself, yet it will remain unforgettable forever.

It has been noticed that the craze for classic music has dropped to a considerable extent. Yet; there is a growing demand of Classic Records from the parents. Parents today try their level best to make their children hear classical music exclusively.

For too long, classical music has been regarded as the domain of instrumentalists, composers, and academic musicologists and typically, anyone over 40 years old. But while the majority of today’s youth would rather listen to Britney Spears’ greatest hits or watch F TV, the view that young people are completely uninterested in classical music is not just erroneous – it’s simply not grounded in historical reality.

Mozart, widely regarded as one of the greatest classical composers of all time, wrote his first symphony at age eight and was dead by the age of 35. Today’s orchestras and choirs are packed with young singers and musicians, many of whom are still in their twenties. Moreover, almost all modern, successful classical musicians will have undergone training from a very young age.

But as classical music institutions and performing arts organizations try their best to reduce their median audience age, classical music isn’t just becoming more accessible to young people – it’s also becoming more affordable. Many music-specialist booksellers are making classical music books and guides that will help younger classical listeners learn more about the craft. So while many may lament the loss or decline of youth interest in classical music in today’s world, they need only look towards the country’s concert halls to see where the future lies.

Rock, Pop and Hip-Hop are the different styles of Music that are mostly liked by the youth of this Century. Rock music is usually classified as music driven by electric guitar and all the various sub-genres of rock are usually identified with electric guitar driven music. Rock usually has a certain anguish or message to it and many in the rock music industry take their music and their message very seriously.

Pop music is usually a little more encompassing than rock music. Pop music is used to identify music that seems to be universally popular with a large audience and can cross over from genre to genre. Pop is usually accepted as being short for popular, so what we are really dealing with here is what the music industry considers to be popular music which translates into music that has greater potential to sell a lot of records. Pop music is music that is designed to be catchy to the ear and grab a large audience right away. Many newer country artists are starting to write songs that are country but are also being classified as pop because of their universally catchy hooks. Sometimes pop can create other genres of music due to the growing popularity of the music within the pop genre. Disco was pop music until it evolved into its own music genre and became very popular in the 1970’s.

Hip Hop is a mixing of rap and pop music that has become an extremely popular sub-genre of pop and stands today as one of the most popular genres of music in the industry.

It seems that there is a large audience within the music industry that likes to jump from one genre to the next and that audience is the one that creates the pop music crazes that rule from year to year and that audience also dictates when rock music is at its peak and when rock music seems to be in decline.

Rock & Pop has always had its critics and those that wish that rock and pop music would just go away. But over the years, they have proven to be pretty resilient and have withstood the test of time.

Carnatic Music is one of the best forms of music in the World. The kriti are those musical compositions that still remain the chief vehicle for expressing the beauty and structure of a raga, and has become an indispensable part of Carnatic music. For most of us lay listeners, no amount of ragalaapana (conveying the bhava of a raga using the a, ta, da, ri and na syllables) can match a well-rendered kriti. What is more, even the basic format of a kriti comprising pallavi-anupallavi-charanam has remained unchanged to this day.

Kriti is of different format such as pallavi-samashti charanam, pallavi-multiple charanam, swarajati and so on. The kritis of Dikshitar are replete with references to mythology, astrology and the esoteric science of Sri Vidya. His kritis, especially the major ones such as Kamalambam Bhajare in Kalyani, Sri Krishnam Bhaja Manasa in Todi or Balagopala in Bhairavi encapsulate the raga bhava so well that they are considered by many to be the benchmarks by which other compositions in the same ragas are judged. His kritis are considered as references regarding the usage of rare prayogas. Tyagaraja’s kritis overflow with bhakti towards Sri Rama, and are characterized by a multitude of sangatis (lively cascades of musical variations on a single line of the song). Syama Sastry’s outpourings of devotion towards the Goddess Kamakshi of Kanchi are finely chiseled masterpieces revealing his tremendous grip over tala.

People still render Tyagaraja’s Enduko Peddala in Sankarabharanam, Dikshitar’s Sri Krishnam Bhaja Manasa in Todi and Syama Sastry’s Sankari Sankuru in Saveri. The kritis are presented these days more or less the same way the great saints had composed them. Of course, there are variations and these can be attributed to patanthara (style of singing). There have been attempts by some celebrities in filmdom to pass off kritis of the trinity in ragas other than the ones in which they were composed. Fortunately these experiments remain exactly what they are – experiments, nothing more.

The beauty of Carnatic music is that the kritis have been preserved almost intact from the mid 18th century till the present time, thus validating the idea that classical music is not for an age, but for all time.

Carnatic and Hindustani music are forms of Indian music which have been practiced in the areas to the south and north respectively for the last six centuries or so. Carnatic music is formal, more structured and therefore more rigorous in its methods than Hindustani music. It has a well-defined grammar, and a veritable treasure house of kritis (musical compositions). The bulk of Carnatic music as we know it today comprises the dedication of the venerable Trinity namely Tyagaraja, Muthuswamy Dikshitar and Syama Sastry to Carnatic Music. The swaroopa (form or structure) and bhava (defining characteristics) of almost any raga that is heard today is due substantially to the seminal works of these great saints. For them, music was a way of attaining Godhead, and not a source of livelihood. Their kritis are a combination of bhakti (devotion), Gnana (knowledge) and an unmatched felicity of musical expression.

Hindustani music on the other hand is much more informal and freewheeling. There is no body of work which can serve to act as a touchstone by means of which others may be tested or compared. There is no logical classification of ragas, such as the one developed in Carnatic music. The greatest strength of Hindustani music, which has perhaps contributed to its overall popularity vis-a-vis Carnatic music world wide, is the stress that it lays on voice culture and melody. When one hears even an average Hindustani musician, one cannot help noticing his total alignment with the sruti (pitch or basic tonic note).

Carnatic music does not have anything quite like the taan in Hindustani music. The taan, which is a fast paced torrent of musical ideas, expressed using only the akaaram is perhaps the most important edifice on which the entire structure of Hindustani music rests. When taans are properly rendered, both the artiste and the listener are transported to a different plane of consciousness. Perhaps the only Carnatic vocalist who could have matched the Hindustani giant’s taan for taan is Dr. M. Balamuralikrishna. However the art of kalpana swaram singing i.e., improvising combinations of allowable notes and phrases while maintaining the tala is something where Carnatic music can justifiably hold its head high.
The equivalent in Hindustani music is sargam, which is something that all artistes merely make a motion of going through. The raga-talam-pallavi represents the apotheosis of Carnatic music. The raga and talam correspond to alaap3 with and without rhythm in Hindustani music.

To sum up, whether it is Carnatic or Hindustani, the tradition was always devotedly preserved by a long line of dedicated performing musicians to this Century.

For too long, classical music has been regarded as the domain of instrumentalists, composers, and academic musicologists and typically, anyone over 40 years old. But while the majority of today’s youth would rather listen to Britney Spears’ greatest hits or watch F TV, the view that young people are completely uninterested in classical music is not just erroneous – it’s simply not grounded in historical reality.

Mozart, widely regarded as one of the greatest classical composers of all time, wrote his first symphony at age eight and was dead by the age of 35. Today’s orchestras and choirs are packed with young singers and musicians, many of whom are still in their twenties. Moreover, almost all modern, successful classical musicians will have undergone training from a very young age.

But as classical music institutions and performing arts organizations try their best to reduce their median audience age, classical music isn’t just becoming more accessible to young people – it’s also becoming more affordable. Many music-specialist booksellers are making classical music books and guides that will help younger classical listeners learn more about the craft. So while many may lament the loss or decline of youth interest in classical music in today’s world, they need only look towards the country’s concert halls to see where the future lies.

Singing a song is not as easy as it involves much hard work and dedication towards Music. For a singing student one of the best things to do when practicing is find a way to record your self. A hand held recorder is highly recommended as its portable, easy to use and convenient for unprepared singing sessions.

The reason you want to record yourself is because what you hear when you are listening to yourself sing is not what an independent listener is hearing. When you are singing you’re hearing sound come in from your ears but also sound coming from inside your body. Listening to a recording of yourself gives you a more accurate idea as to what you actually sound like, in fact frequently you’ll find that your voice is higher than you think it is. Also, while singing you’re concentrating on a lot of different things, like keeping time or getting the right notes, so that you don’t get an overall sense as to what you sound like.

Listening to a recording means you can take a step back and listen to the overall picture while not having to concentrate on specific elements and also be able to critique yourself. Recording is also good as a long term goal. Try to make recordings of yourself at regular intervals to see how you’ve progressed over the months and years. For these recordings try to do something of a little higher quality, so you can clearly hear yourself. A hand held recorder is great for practice but for progress tracking try getting your teacher or the school recording technician to make a couple tracks.

]]> http://www.almabegins.com/budding-singers-%e2%80%93-a-must-to-read/feed/ 0 http://www.almabegins.com/its-all-about-folk-music/ http://www.almabegins.com/its-all-about-folk-music/#comments Mon, 13 Jul 2009 11:02:32 +0000 jeyasree http://almabegins.com/?p=139

Folk music is now commercially available in music stores, though you may have to ask around a bit as everyone may not be keeping it. A little more research, and you would definitely find folk music relating to your own community, and you can relate to it all the more. Play it on your car audio to perk up your spirits when you are feeling down. The extremely simple lyrics and tunes that are easy to hum along make them interesting companions that have the potential of making you feel lighter as well.

So what is this folk music all about? While you may have heard about Carnatic, Western, jazz, and of course rock and pop, no serious music buff can afford to ignore this form of music. Most folk music reflects the times in which it was composed. Thus you are sure to find music talking about slave culture, the civil war, the great depression, and so on.

Folk music doesn’t restrict itself to only struggles, but touches other aspects of life as well such as the intricate human family relationships, love etc, and way of living, various seasons and human emotions. So go ahead and widen your horizons about your perceptions of music.

Sound is the oldest form of healing and of that, it is the sound of the mother’s voice that is the most important. Sony conducted research in the 80’s that showed sounds played to babies while in the womb influenced their behaviour. It has been proven that like animals, human babies can detect their mother’s voice from other females and there is evidence that they can do this in the womb too. It all happens by Rhythm.

Rhythm is what gets or primal energies and instincts going, it stimulates the heart and flow of blood that may account for the expression rhythm of life. Ancient peoples have not only used the drum and dance to wind themselves up before battle but also as a form of healing to stimulate the base chakra. Using rhythm for healing can be a group activity as there are what is known as drum circles which is simply a group of people making rhythmic music. Drum circles are becoming a popular form of complimentary healing in America and scientific research has proven that participating in drum circles increases the number of “killer cells” in the body. These cells are those responsible for seeking out and destroying specific disease organisms including AIDS.

Next are those Melodies that can soothe emotional and mental distress for when the normal vibration activity of certain body parts is disrupted or disease sets in. Research suggests music seems to override the disharmony in the brain that causes depression and other forms of emotional disorders and puts it back to where it should be. It helps discharge negative feelings, facilitates communication and increases socialization with other people. This results in greater personal expression with resulting boost in self-esteem. The medical benefits include use for the pain relief of cancer patients and behaviour problems, reduction in blood pressure, improved immune system functioning and faster healing resulting in a shorter stay in hospital. Melody is helpful for doing repetitive bodily functions where timing is important.

We all have a natural sound frequency. Let’s bring it out and hear music – the best way to healthy life.

The 20th century music world has seen the entry of light and easy listening music with African-American jazz music. It puts together the use of blue notes, improvisation, syncopation and swing notes. The realm of jazz music was and still is predominantly associated with the American black community. These black musicians transitioning from banjos and tambourines learned to play European instruments such as the violin. Black slaves from early America used to sing and play music as a form of spiritual or ritualistic hymns.

After emancipation, employment opportunities for black slaves were very limited as segregation laws were still in force. Most of these black slaves found themselves in the entertainment industry as piano players and instrumentalists. They became low-cost entertainers as piano bar players and marching band members. Soon, this kind of jazz music called Ragtime Jazz spread from the southern USA to other areas in the western and northern cities in USA. Ragtime jazz became very popular in the early part of the century. Musician Jelly Roll Morton published the first ever jazz arrangement in print in 1915 with the title Jelly Roll Blues. This printed arrangement brought forth a new breed of musicians playing ragtime. Ragtime music moved on from red-light district bars and variety shows to major concert locations.

The first jazz record was recorded in 1913 by Society Orchestra, the first black group to come out with a record. Throughout the years jazz music has always been preferred music genre among those who enjoy light and easy listening. There are radio stations that play only jazz music. Jazz music can be heard most everywhere in hotel lounges, salons, concert halls and wedding receptions.

To conclude, Jazz music is perhaps also the most unique form of music as there are no two jazz music performances are ever the same.