Ballet Music Through The Ages

Right from the beginning, ballet and music have been uniquely intertwined. Without music ballet is nothing more than the empty motions of a ritual. Without the movement and rhythm of dance, music looses all vitality. And so, ballet as a doorway to human expression hinges on both music and dance.

Jean Baptiste Lully (1632-1687), the Italian-born French composer who founded the national French opera was not just a court composer to Louis XIV, but also a choreographer who produced court ballets for Molière's plays. This probably explains why his productions never lacked an accompaniment. However, theatre productions of the eighteenth century turned composers away from ballet and toward the music of ballroom dancing.

This phase sustained its self straight through the nineteenth century with the exception of pieces by Russian classical composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) which include the Nutcracker, Swan Lake, and Sleeping Beauty.

In the twentieth century however, ballet came back to the spotlight. Once again considered a respectable art form, choreographers looked to the works of classical composers such as Mozart, Bach, Vivaldi, Chopin, Brahms, and Handel to perform the art of ballet dancing too.

Many agree that ballet owes its very existence to the likes of those who are both composers and choreographers. Because being musicians in nature, they naturally pay close attention to ballet following the rhythmic structure of its accompaniment precisely. One who does not understand music can easily create ballet that looks good that in of itself, yet at the mercy of a great classical piece the novice falls short of expressing the true nature of the piece. Instead, they turn the production into a form of movement that is devoid of both art and beauty. The experts instead know when it is appropriate to go against the grain of the accompaniment to heighten those dramatic periods which capture their audience’s attention and leaves them breathless.

As we dawn a new era of music and dance, it’s undeniable that ballet will continue to change. However, just as music and dance have always been the best of friends, ballet will continue to find its new identity in the constantly changing music of today.

Info On Sheet Music

Sheet music is an important tool for established musicians and those who want to learn. If you do not know how to read sheet music, don’t worry. There are many online tutorials that will take you step by step on learning how to read sheet music. Sheet music can speed the time in learning new songs. Sheet music can also help you capture your own original compositions to paper which will help in publishing and copyright issues.

Finding sheet music is relatively easy given the popularity of sheet music download sites. You can find sheet music for every genre of music and to suit every instrument. Whether you are a beginner or an advanced musician, sheet music can be found for your experience level. Searching the Internet will bring up a variety of sites where you can choose the sheet music most desirable for you.

When downloading sheet music, please be aware of copyright laws. The musician or composer usually holds the copyright to their sheet music. Some copyright owners will allow the download of their sheet music only under certain conditions. Others do not allow the download of their sheet music for free or at all. Be aware of the applicable copyrights so you do not have a problem.

Many artists who compose original works will provide sheet music to get their songs out to the public. Composers will use sheet music to try to sell their song to a band that can perform it with the hopes of getting a record deal. Whatever the motivation behind allowing public access to original sheet music, it is readily available for download at a variety of sites. Downloading sheet music is a great way to learn songs and increase your play set.

Musicians who are just starting out may not have a vast repertoire of songs. Downloading sheet music to learn can increase this much faster. Having a wide variety of available songs to perform will increase the likelihood of getting paid for performances. Sheet music can also help you during a performance. Sometimes a play set is so vast that no matter how many times you practice, it’s difficult to remember all the words and chord changes. Using sheet music as a guide can help you build confidence during a performance.

Sheet music can be found for download at a number of sites. Sometimes sheet music is available for free, others a small fee is required. Please be aware of any copyright issues, especially if downloading free sheet music. Do not steal sheet music or otherwise violate copyright as it harms the artist. If you are a composer, allowing others to view or download your sheet music is a great way to expose your art to the public. Use sheet music to learn, write and perform original works and songs by your favorite artists.

7 Great Tips For Music Practice

The quality of your practice is much more important than the quantity. The old saying "practice makes perfect" is only true if the practice itself is perfect. So once you start learning how to play violin, here are 7 tips to help make your violin practice more effective and efficient.

Practice motions slowly

The muscular memory of our bodies allows us to physically carry out patterns of motion with little or no conscious involvement. Examples of muscular memory include walking, riding a bicycle, typing, and of course playing a musical instrument.

In order to develop this memory, the muscles require training in the form of repeated conscious guidance from the mind. First the mind must learn the pattern. Then the mind must "teach" the pattern to the muscles.

The mind initially must control all the motions of the muscles. The more controlled and precise the motions, the more quickly the muscles will develop muscle memory.

Slow practice also allows the mind to teach "antagonistic muscles" to relax. Antagonistic muscles are those that move in opposite directions. By relaxing antagonistic muscles you can reduce tension and facilitate faster and easier performance and avoid potential injury.

Practice in small cells

A "practice cell" is simply a finite series of motions. Musical cells can correspond to anything from a few notes to an entire work. When practicing, it is important to practice small cells of just a few notes. Practicing small cells limits the amount of information the muscles have to learn at one time. It also facilitates the mind's focus and concentration.

Link the end of one cell to the beginning of the next

To help the muscles develop a sense of continuum throughout the piece of music, the last motion in a cell should be the first motion of the following cell.

Practice each cell in bursts

Once the muscles have learned a pattern, they will be capable of executing it without conscious control. Initiate the pattern through a conscious command and allow the muscles to execute it in a burst.

Don't practice mistakes

For every repetition required to learn a pattern of motion, it takes 7 times the number of repetitions to change the pattern. If in the course of your practice you make an error, stop. Review in your mind the pattern. And further reduce the speed of your motions.

Pause between repetitions

When dealing with repetitive activities, the mind is better able to focus when the repetitions are broken up by short pauses. After two or three repetitions, pause for about 30 seconds to regain focus.

Take frequent breaks and don't "over-practice"

B.F. Skinner and other experts have found that the mind's ability to learn drops significantly after prolonged intense concentration. Research shows that studying too long (i.e. more than four hours) can deplete chemicals in the brain necessary for learning. Therefore, it is best to take frequent breaks (a 5 minute break about every 20-25 minutes) and practice no more than 4 hours consecutively.

By applying these techniques, you can dramatically improve the quality of your practice. You'll be able to use your time more efficiently and increase the effectiveness of your practice.

Reasons To Learn Music Theory

If you thought music theory was a waste of time and not necessary to further your musical goals, then read these following 5 reasons why this is not true.

1.Read sheet music: Being able to play from any piece of sheet music. Well it may be hard to play BUT you can read it!

2.Be able to transpose: Say you are playing a piece from the sheet music you can now read but you think it sounds too high or too low, or just not right. Well now you can move it into a new key and play at a better singing.

3.Be able to modulate: You will be able to, with a few quick moves of the fingers, move your music into a new key with a succession of notes so pleasing to the ear it will bring a smile to your listeners faces.

4.It will increase your skill in improvising: Enough said.

5.Knowing music theory will help you recreate the sounds you enjoy in your favorite songs. Those fabulous chord progressions. The parts that give a song that certain sound. Gospel, Contemporary etc.

To learn music theory you don’t have to become a scholar on the subject. Just at least learn the basics. Getting a good music theory book and spending a few minutes a day reading from it and doing any included exercises can jump start your music playing.

Getting The Most Out Of Your Music Lessons (3 Ways)

If you are thinking of learning how to play violin, keep these pointers in mind in order to get the most out our your studies.

1. Complete and master each section before moving on to the next: As you work through your studies make sure you have each new technique or idea conquered before moving on to the next. Lessons are planned to build upon each other and trying to rush through without fully understanding one will just lead to frustration and wasted efforts.

2. Study as if you were in school. Do some homework every night. If all you have is 15 minutes then use those 15 minutes. If you don’t have time to read/watch and apply then do the application of your last lesson or drills such as scales and chords. Reading/watching and not having the opportunity to apply immediately will usually mean you have to relearn your lesson. Take notes. Especially if you’re watching a video or working with a human. Also don’t be afraid to write all over your workbooks and sheet music.

3. Apply what you’ve learned: Play for others. Your church, your family, that spare piano sitting in your favorite department store (ask first). Nothing drives a music lesson home better than a recital. It will also magnify what you need to work on.

These tips work whether your a child or an adult. Learning to play an instrument is a wonderful activity.

The Path To Self-Destruction With Music

Rock Stars...we are fascinated by them as much as we idolize Hollywood celebrities. We listen to their music, buy the CDs, hang their posters on every wall of our room, watch them at MTV, and go to their concerts. We idolized them so much that we often see them as demi-gods. But beneath all that fame and fortune that the world of rock and roll had given them, many of these rock stars are on the path to self-destruction.

Often, being a rock star would also mean that they are associated with substance abuse and drug overdose such as the case of Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, among others. It is a merry-go-round of money, adulation, traveling, and being in the media. Like other human beings, these demi-gods of rock music are also susceptible to pain and depression. Drugs and alcohol --- two things that get them going, two substances that were supposed to ease their pains and worries... are the same poisons that would ruin their lives.

Perhaps, we tend to forget that they just like the rest of us --- real people with real problems. Despite having multiple sexual partners, enormous amounts of money, and popularity... deep down they all want just to be loved. Even famous people suffer from loneliness and crave for love in the truest sense of the word. They want to be loved for who they really are and not for the famous persona they have created as rock artists.

Like Joplin and Morrison, there are other music legends who have been immortalized through their songs. Kurt Cobain and Ian Curtis, both young and musically gifted, were in the peak of their careers when they decided to end their lives. Cobain and his band Nirvana were known for introducing the “grunge sound.” For his part, Curtis and the rest of Joy Division had left a legacy through the song “Love will Tear Us Apart.” Despite the appearance of “having it all”, these artists were unhappy and tortured psychologically and emotionally. Even with all their external success and public acclaim, Cobain shot himself and Curtis committed suicide by hanging.

What made them that way? Self-destructive people are aware of their faults. They can be self-critical of their work and often think that they are not good enough, creative enough, or smart enough. They can be displeased with their personality or can be burdened by their own perfectionism. In many cases, self-destruction leads to suicide or having suicidal tendencies.

Most who struggle with thoughts of suicide and other forms of self-destruction usually exhibit some or all of the following behavior:

Too much smoking
Being stress out always
Drinking a lot
Having a lot of casual sex
Not getting enough rest and sleep
Not seeing a doctor or ignoring the doctor's orders

Self-destructive people are more focused on the “outer universe and have lost sight of the need to have a sense of internal peace and self-worth. Unfortunately, for many rock stars like Cobain, their legacy will be more about their tragic end rather than about their music.

Broadway Musicals History (Early)

Broadway as a symbol

Broadway is the street in New York that has come to symbolize live theater entertainment and musicals throughout the world. Today the area, known to tourists and theater-goers, stretches from W.41st Street, where the Netherlander Theater is located, up to W. 53rd Street's Broadway Theater. Only four theaters are located physically on Broadway, the Marquis at 46th Street, the Palace at 47th Street, the Winter Garden at 50th Street and the Broadway at 53rd. All the other legitimate houses are located east or west of this twelve block stretch.

Broadway Stars.

By the 1830's America was exporting stars to Europe. The first notable American actor to make a successful tour was Edwin Forrest, who at nineteen, had played Iago to Edmond Kean's Othello. Forrest's second tour of Great Britain, in the following decade didn't fare as well. He was hissed off stage. Though the disruption of his tour was a personal feud with a British actor, its results were well publicized in the American Press and his return to the American stage was received with populist fervor. This "personal feud" became an international incident and demonstration of class struggle in 1849, when the British actor in question was scheduled to perform at the Astor Place Opera House in New York. A riot ensued on the night of May 10th which was put down with troops and cannon.

Broadways first marquis.

In 1891, the first electric marquis was lit on Broadway. The theater was on Madison Square at the intersection of Broadway and Fifth Avenue at W. 23rd Street. The Flatiron Building now occupies the site. By midway through the following decade, the street blazed with electric signs as each theater announced its shows and stars in white lights. By the turn of the 20th Century the street had an entirely different look, with as many as sixteen theaters on Broadway itself and many others located on the side streets or other avenues. Broadway was much more than a mere twelve blocks. It started at 13th Street and wound its way a mile and a half up the Avenue to 45th Street, ending in the heart of Long acre Square. This first decade of the century also saw the construction of many theaters, most notably the New Amsterdam on 42nd Street in 1903, along with four others in that same year, that are still standing today.

Our Broadway.

The first decade of the 20th Century was both boring and transformational in the history of our Broadway Musicals. The seeds of that transformation go back to 1882, and the construction of The Madison Square Theater at 24th Street. The Mallory’s, who had built the theater, had employed a young actor-manager from San Francisco along with two brothers from the lower Eastside to help manage the theater. David Belasco, who had the distinction of appearing on stage with another unknown child, Maude Adams, in San Francisco in 1877, was soon to become a playwright, theater owner and builder. The two brothers from the lower Eastside were, of course, Charles and Daniel Frohman. The first sign of the transformation occurred when producer Rudolf Aronson decided to build a theatre of his own. At the time, theatres were concentrated between Union Square and 24th Street.