Hello, I’m Ginny Moe, this is Adam Sullivan's Music Theory Blog and you're listening to an episode of The Pipe Organ: its development and design.
Last month's episode was on the basic two types of pipes: how they work and how they sound. You can access again it online anytime. This month's episode is on how the organist controls which pipes actually sound at any given moment.
Pipe organs makes sound when air goes to pipes, so we start with the blower, which sends air to a windchest which is attached to every pipe, with most pipes actually sitting right on top. When one pipe is played it doesn't take much air but when many pipes are played at once it takes a lot of air, reducing the air pressure. So the blower sends air to the windchest through a reservoir, which keeps the air at a constant pressure whether one or 100 pipes are sounding. If you look down on the top of the windchest, you can tell it's not just a big balloon with a lot of pipes sticking out haphazardly. The pipes are arranged in rows and columns, with the toe of any pipe fitting into a hole on the windchest through which wind enters the pipe.
Each column on the chest holds a rank, which is a set of pipes of matching design and sound. Each rank has one pipe for each note, and ranks are usually arranged in order on the chest from the lowest and longest pipes at one end to the shortest and highest at the other end. Two ranks of pipes require two columns and two pipes for each note, three ranks require three columns and three pipes, and so on. The rows on the chest correspond to the notes. Each row holds all the pipes which sound a certain note.
On the sides and ends of the windchest are several kinds of machinery controlling tubes of air inside the chest which allow routing of air to various pipes. These controllers are adjusted through linkages to the console, where the organist sits directing air traffic in the windchest.
Modern consoles normally have one pedalboard and several manual keyboards. The pedalboard has 32 keys, arranged like piano keys but bigger, for your feet, the lowest key being two octaves below middle C, the highest the G above middle C. Each manual keyboard has five octaves, starting at the C two octaves below middle C and going up 61 notes to the C three octaves above middle C. In addition, the console has stops, usually on the sides of the manuals, but sometimes above the top manual. And most organs have pistons, which are little buttons below the keyboard and knobs down by the pedals for the feet to play.
Now how does this console give signals to the windchest?
Stops control a channel of air under a rank of pipes. When a stop is engaged, or pulled, by the organist, air flows into the channel and is available for all the pipes in the rank above the channel. If two stops are pulled, air flows into two channels, three stops pulled and air flows into three channels. If many stops are connected to a keyboard, the channels will be dispersed in columns over several windchests for ease maintenance.
Keys control the rows of the windchest, and every pipe designed to sound the note corresponding to a key is in the the entire row controlled by that key. When a key is pressed, pouches under the pipes in the row open, and if air is in a channel under any pipe, the air is released into a pipe sounding a note.
So, for example, a windchest with eight ranks has eight columns corresponding to eight stops on the console, and on manual windchests, it has sixty-one rows corresponding to the sixty-one keys on the manual keyboard, for a total of 488 pipes. When one stop is pulled, and the organist plays one key, the windchest is signaled to send wind to one rank, and one row. Wind is released to the pipe at the intersection of that column and row, and the one pipe sounds. When two keys are played, two pipes get wind, three keys winds three pipes. If another stop is pulled, another channel of air is available, and one key sounds two pipes, one in each rank, the same note, but different in tone quality. Playing two keys sounds two pipes in each rank, playing three keys sounds three pipes in each rank, for a total of six pipes.
The third main control type on the console, ubiquitous in modern pipe organs, is combination action. Most often it is entirely at the console, for it signals several stops to engage (or disengage) simultaneously. Combinations are activated by pressing the pistons underneath the manuals or near the pedals.
To summarize, in a pipe organ, the blower sends air through a reservoir to the windchest. Pipes sit on the chest arranged in columns of ranks and rows of notes. Organists control which pipes sound by sending signals from a console to the windchest. The majority of these signals are of three types: Keys, controlling rows of notes; Stops, controlling columns of ranks, and Pistons, controlling combinations of stops.
That’s all for this episode, I'm Ginny Moe, and this is Adam Sullivan's Music Theory Blog. Thanks to Adam for hosting this series, The Pipe Organ: its development and design. I hope you’ll check in again next month, when we’ll begin looking at how the sound and design of the pipe organ developed throughout history.
That’s all for this episode. I hope you’ll check in again next month, when we’ll begin looking at how the sound and design of the pipe organ developed throughout history. I'm Ginny Moe, and this is Adam Sullivan's Music Theory Blog (sulliadm.blogspot.com). Thanks to Adam for hosting this series, The Pipe Organ: its development and design.
Showing posts with label thoery. Show all posts
Showing posts with label thoery. Show all posts
Monday, February 23, 2015
Saturday, January 17, 2015
The Pipe Organ: Development and Design
Written by: Ginny Moe
The design and music of the pipe organ are a result of its history as builders responded to changing societal needs but more importantly as organists, composers, and organ builders learned to take advantage of developments in science and industrial techniques. This session is on the two main types of pipes and how they speak, or make sound.
At its most basic the pipe organ is a set of pipes similar to flutes or clarinets through which wind blows to make sound usually musical sound and which, in the modern organ, is controlled by an organist who plays a keyboard shaped like a piano keyboard.
Almost all pipes on the modern organ are of two types. Flue pipes comprise the majority of the pipes, and they are almost always made of either metal or wood with a foot through which air flows into the pipe. Most organs also use reeds (sometimes called reed pipes) in which the speaking mechanism is covered by a boot into which air flows, vibrating a tongue. As an example, I currently play a pipe organ which has 17 sets (ranks) of flue pipes and 4 ranks of reeds, plus some extras which combine several ranks of flue stops.
Now the sounding mechanism of these two types pipes is very different. In the flue pipe air enters the foot of the pipe through a toe and is directed toward the mouth of the pipe by a languid. Air goes outside the pipe at the mouth, and the the speedy air outside the pipe reduces air pressure inside the pipe, drawing the airstream into the pipe. This is the Bernoulli effect in practice; the same reason jets can fly. IT IS THE AIR ITSELF WHICH VIBRATES, setting up sound waves.
By contrast, in the reed pipe a shallot extends into the boot. An aperture in the shallot is covered by a tongue. The boot surrounds this mechanism, and air enters the boot through a toe in the bottom. The wind presses the tongue against the shallot, and the tongues bends to cover the the aperture. The tongue springs back, allowing the wind to enter the shallot, and again the Bernoulli effect is observed, and sound is produced by the vibrating tongue. Here, IT IS THE TONGUE, OR REED ITSELF, WHICH VIBRATES.
Since the wind itself makes the sound in flue pipes, the pipe, which shapes the trajectory of the wind, directly affects the sound, and the most noticeable difference is made by the width of the pipe. Very narrow pipes generally produce more overtones, like bowed string instruments, and are called string pipes. Very fat pipes generally produce fewer overtones, like flutes, and are called flute pipes. And the most important pipes in any organ are the medium width flue pipes, called diapasons or principals. Various modifications around the mouth of the pipe also change the sound. The number of strings, diapasons, and flutes varies, but as an example, my current instrument has three independent string ranks, six independent flute ranks, and seven independent diapason ranks.
The reeds make a very distinctive sound, but most of them sound more like each other than they sound like any flue pipe. Usually they are louder, and the variation in sound is mostly caused by different shaped and length tongues and apertures in the shallot. What are often called reed pipes are properly referred to as resonators, and they amplify and change the sound. They are designed in many inventive and sometimes bizarre shapes, some of which make a difference in the sound quality, or timbre.
To summarize, organ pipes are normally either flue or reed pipes. In flue pipes, the air vibrates, and in reeds, the tongue vibrates. Most organ pipes are flues, and the length and shape of the pipe make changes in timbre, or sound quality. The most important pipes are the principals, or diapasons, and if you think of the sound of a pipe organ, you are probably thinking of the sound of the diapasons. They are of medium width, and the narrow pipes are called string pipes, while the fatter pipes are called flute pipes. A few reeds are usually part of a pipe organ, providing distinctive solo stops and fiery color. In them the sounding mechanism is covered by a boot, inside of which a tongue vibrates against a shallot to produce sound, which is then shaped modified by a resonator.
Check in again next month, when the subject will be organ keys, and various ways the keys control the pipework. I am Ginny Moe, and this is a series on The Pipe Organ, and how its design developed throughout history.
Twitter: @GinnyMoeRHSCwebsite: GinnyMoe.net
The design and music of the pipe organ are a result of its history as builders responded to changing societal needs but more importantly as organists, composers, and organ builders learned to take advantage of developments in science and industrial techniques. This session is on the two main types of pipes and how they speak, or make sound.
At its most basic the pipe organ is a set of pipes similar to flutes or clarinets through which wind blows to make sound usually musical sound and which, in the modern organ, is controlled by an organist who plays a keyboard shaped like a piano keyboard.
Almost all pipes on the modern organ are of two types. Flue pipes comprise the majority of the pipes, and they are almost always made of either metal or wood with a foot through which air flows into the pipe. Most organs also use reeds (sometimes called reed pipes) in which the speaking mechanism is covered by a boot into which air flows, vibrating a tongue. As an example, I currently play a pipe organ which has 17 sets (ranks) of flue pipes and 4 ranks of reeds, plus some extras which combine several ranks of flue stops.
Now the sounding mechanism of these two types pipes is very different. In the flue pipe air enters the foot of the pipe through a toe and is directed toward the mouth of the pipe by a languid. Air goes outside the pipe at the mouth, and the the speedy air outside the pipe reduces air pressure inside the pipe, drawing the airstream into the pipe. This is the Bernoulli effect in practice; the same reason jets can fly. IT IS THE AIR ITSELF WHICH VIBRATES, setting up sound waves.
By contrast, in the reed pipe a shallot extends into the boot. An aperture in the shallot is covered by a tongue. The boot surrounds this mechanism, and air enters the boot through a toe in the bottom. The wind presses the tongue against the shallot, and the tongues bends to cover the the aperture. The tongue springs back, allowing the wind to enter the shallot, and again the Bernoulli effect is observed, and sound is produced by the vibrating tongue. Here, IT IS THE TONGUE, OR REED ITSELF, WHICH VIBRATES.
Since the wind itself makes the sound in flue pipes, the pipe, which shapes the trajectory of the wind, directly affects the sound, and the most noticeable difference is made by the width of the pipe. Very narrow pipes generally produce more overtones, like bowed string instruments, and are called string pipes. Very fat pipes generally produce fewer overtones, like flutes, and are called flute pipes. And the most important pipes in any organ are the medium width flue pipes, called diapasons or principals. Various modifications around the mouth of the pipe also change the sound. The number of strings, diapasons, and flutes varies, but as an example, my current instrument has three independent string ranks, six independent flute ranks, and seven independent diapason ranks.
The reeds make a very distinctive sound, but most of them sound more like each other than they sound like any flue pipe. Usually they are louder, and the variation in sound is mostly caused by different shaped and length tongues and apertures in the shallot. What are often called reed pipes are properly referred to as resonators, and they amplify and change the sound. They are designed in many inventive and sometimes bizarre shapes, some of which make a difference in the sound quality, or timbre.
To summarize, organ pipes are normally either flue or reed pipes. In flue pipes, the air vibrates, and in reeds, the tongue vibrates. Most organ pipes are flues, and the length and shape of the pipe make changes in timbre, or sound quality. The most important pipes are the principals, or diapasons, and if you think of the sound of a pipe organ, you are probably thinking of the sound of the diapasons. They are of medium width, and the narrow pipes are called string pipes, while the fatter pipes are called flute pipes. A few reeds are usually part of a pipe organ, providing distinctive solo stops and fiery color. In them the sounding mechanism is covered by a boot, inside of which a tongue vibrates against a shallot to produce sound, which is then shaped modified by a resonator.
Check in again next month, when the subject will be organ keys, and various ways the keys control the pipework. I am Ginny Moe, and this is a series on The Pipe Organ, and how its design developed throughout history.
Twitter: @GinnyMoeRHSCwebsite: GinnyMoe.net
Monday, December 8, 2014
Review: World of Bow
Hello and welcome back to my review series. I know that it is unusual for me to post multiple times in a month but to make up from the dry spell, I'm posting this review on top of the previous. I have one more but I need a little more time for get it ready to be posted so stay tuned. For now, please enjoy this review and don't forget to subscribe or follow us on social media if you have not done so already!
For
those whom may not be aware, World of Bow is a bow warehouse site. From first
glance of the site, this site looks like it was stuck in 2003 when it started. However
first glances are simply that because the quality of their products outweighs
the exterior. It is a clean, slick look but it doesn't seem very enticing or
helps make me want to buy from them. If it wasn't for the recommendation I had
from multiple trusted friends and teachers, I would have overlooked this gem. I
recently needed to order a bow to complete some local gigs, not to mention my
student bow looks like I’m using dental floss on a stick. After being pushed to
try them, I went and ordered two bows: A carbon fiber bow and a Brazil wood
bow.
Their selection of bows has some variety. They range from
professional to amateur bows, various types such as a Snakewood,
Pernambuco, Brazilwood and carbon fiber. They also offer a variety of sizes,
though the smaller bows do not have as much to choose from. Something also
great about them is they offer baroque bows alongside modern bows, which caught
me off guard! While I feel there should be more selection for the smaller bows,
the selection is one of the best I’ve ever seen. There is a lot to look and
choose from the site.
The prices of the bows are also reasonable too. I will come
back to the quality of the two I ordered, but they are definitely worth the
money I paid for them. They all ship 2 day express for $10! The packaging was wrapped
in 3 layers of cardboard and the bows themselves were compressed together. They
were made to handle the extremes of rush shipping! They came in one piece, and
no damage to the bow.
Now the most important question of all: Are they worth the money? In short, the ones I ordered are well worth the money. Here are the links to the two I ordered: The Brazil wood bow and the carbon fiber bow. I opened the large triangle package like a little boy opening his large Christmas present, full of hopes and anticipations. As I previously stated, the care in the shipment was beyond what I expected but the bows were something different. I will review them independently but a quick summery from my first impressions was wow. Granted, I had been using a low quality student bow for the past 3-4 years (the last year being pretty bald) but they did do a good job of showing me what to look forward to later down the road. My only complaint so far is with the carbon fiber feeling very off putting. In comparison to the other bow, it is balanced roughly the same but it feels like it is too frog heavy. *Edit* After playing it for a full 3 days, the carbon fiber is a lot better but it keeps losing hairs. Not sure why, but I update once I have found a solution.
Now the most important question of all: Are they worth the money? In short, the ones I ordered are well worth the money. Here are the links to the two I ordered: The Brazil wood bow and the carbon fiber bow. I opened the large triangle package like a little boy opening his large Christmas present, full of hopes and anticipations. As I previously stated, the care in the shipment was beyond what I expected but the bows were something different. I will review them independently but a quick summery from my first impressions was wow. Granted, I had been using a low quality student bow for the past 3-4 years (the last year being pretty bald) but they did do a good job of showing me what to look forward to later down the road. My only complaint so far is with the carbon fiber feeling very off putting. In comparison to the other bow, it is balanced roughly the same but it feels like it is too frog heavy. *Edit* After playing it for a full 3 days, the carbon fiber is a lot better but it keeps losing hairs. Not sure why, but I update once I have found a solution.
Before I end this review, I just wanted to say
that the reason I’m not reviewing the bows themselves is not only are they too
new and I haven’t quite gotten use to them, but I actually ordered the wrong
bow. It is nothing to do with World of Bow, but rather I clicked the wrong
carbon fiber bow. I’m happy with it but in order to review it from the proper
competitors instead of comparing it to expectations from other bows, I will
need some more time. I will go into a detailed review of them once I’ve had
time to adjust. It is still a great bow, but my expectations have to shift in
order to review it more accurately. However, this issue does lead me to my
final thoughts.
The biggest thing I can say from this is consider expectations and then throw them out the window. There are a lot of great businesses that simply do not have the means to be over the top in terms of visual pleasure or customer convenience but that should not stop you from trying something new. World of Bow would fit into this sort of site. The site looks a little outdated and can be clunky at times but the service and customer service is beyond anything that one could imagine. The bows, while suspiciously cheap are well worth the money. I believe that the prices of similarly priced bows would be 3-5 times as expensive. Keep an eye out for my World of Bow because if I can save up enough money, I will be back for that Baroque bow! I give World of Bow a 4 great bows out of 5!
The biggest thing I can say from this is consider expectations and then throw them out the window. There are a lot of great businesses that simply do not have the means to be over the top in terms of visual pleasure or customer convenience but that should not stop you from trying something new. World of Bow would fit into this sort of site. The site looks a little outdated and can be clunky at times but the service and customer service is beyond anything that one could imagine. The bows, while suspiciously cheap are well worth the money. I believe that the prices of similarly priced bows would be 3-5 times as expensive. Keep an eye out for my World of Bow because if I can save up enough money, I will be back for that Baroque bow! I give World of Bow a 4 great bows out of 5!
Monday, October 20, 2014
Music Theory 101 #7: The Basic Skills of Music; Timbre
Ok, no more playing around! I will finish this post today. I've been busy with the convention, and being sick but today is the day I finish this post and get to finishing the series for the new one I have planned!
Continuing on from where we left off way too long ago, we shall talk about timbre, or more commonly called tone color. Timbre (pronouced tam-ber) is basically the characteristics that make any instrument sound the way it does. Think about it as if this would be the instrument's accent. Every language we speak has an accent to where it was created, and there is no difference with musical instruments. The major difference here is the science behind why it happens.
Looking on to why this happens, we have to get some what technical about how it works. The basic explanation is the sound wave itself has changed shapes, which then changes how we hear it. Think about the differences between the four basic sound waves: Sine/Cosine, Square, Triangle and Sawtooth. Each one has their own definite shape and sound very different. There is A LOT that is involved into explaining that, and if you are interested then click here to read what HyperPhysics.Edu have done on the topic. For those whom don't want all the details, there are two basics things to consider. The first way to analyze a sound wave is by analyzing the harmonic content of the sound, or how the overtones and harmonics are heard in relation to the primary sound wave. An organic sound wave (that being by a live instrument) is created by playing a primary frequency or fundamental pitch. That then triggers all the overtones, harmonics, and in the case of instruments with strings, similarly divided strings to play simultaneously. Sometimes these overtones and harmonics can be directly heard while other times aren't even recognizable. The second way is how the sound wave envelope is created. Every instruments has a certain way to make sound. For example, a cello normally has to bow a string. The energy to get started with the bow moving across the string helps define strings musicians because of the "lag" from the energy transfer. Compare to guitarist and pianist whom strike the string with their fingers, pick or by a hammer. The energy is transferred differently, and is creates a different sound. In case you are interested in hearing so, then check out this piece. It has played piano and bowed piano.
After all the scientific gibberish followed by a crazy videos, what does this all mean for a simple composer? Why should timbre matter this much in my piece?
Because it can change to context of your piece extremely. The best example I think I've ever seen are these two videos: Both of a song called "Raining Blood" by Slayer. This first one is the studio version of the song by Slayer (in case the video doesn't do this automatically, skip to around 0:30 to avoid the intro)
Now let's show what happens when you go from electric guitar to another guitar-like instrument and play the same song:
The differences are really staggering here. This is a bit of an extreme juxtaposition of the song but it does show what is possible. Another example I like to share (that is a little more socially accepted) is orchestrated version of Stairway to Heaven. This one is by Triple Door Cello Quartet
Finally, let's look at one from a classical example. While this isn't the best example I can think of, this one combines the past topics to express itself.
If you would like another example, listen to Stravinsky's Rite of Spring. He does a lot of things in terms of building timbres up and pushing the limits of the instruments and musicians. I hope this was worth the wait! I am really sorry about the delay on this one but between the convention (which I will share the videos once they're available to me) and being sick, I was loaded down. However, once we finish this series and then go into our next series: Explaining how all these topics and more convert into composing. Perhaps even some workshop like episodes and analysis. Also, if anyone is interested in listening to me break down music books and explain them differently then let me know! Thanks for reading!
Continuing on from where we left off way too long ago, we shall talk about timbre, or more commonly called tone color. Timbre (pronouced tam-ber) is basically the characteristics that make any instrument sound the way it does. Think about it as if this would be the instrument's accent. Every language we speak has an accent to where it was created, and there is no difference with musical instruments. The major difference here is the science behind why it happens.
Looking on to why this happens, we have to get some what technical about how it works. The basic explanation is the sound wave itself has changed shapes, which then changes how we hear it. Think about the differences between the four basic sound waves: Sine/Cosine, Square, Triangle and Sawtooth. Each one has their own definite shape and sound very different. There is A LOT that is involved into explaining that, and if you are interested then click here to read what HyperPhysics.Edu have done on the topic. For those whom don't want all the details, there are two basics things to consider. The first way to analyze a sound wave is by analyzing the harmonic content of the sound, or how the overtones and harmonics are heard in relation to the primary sound wave. An organic sound wave (that being by a live instrument) is created by playing a primary frequency or fundamental pitch. That then triggers all the overtones, harmonics, and in the case of instruments with strings, similarly divided strings to play simultaneously. Sometimes these overtones and harmonics can be directly heard while other times aren't even recognizable. The second way is how the sound wave envelope is created. Every instruments has a certain way to make sound. For example, a cello normally has to bow a string. The energy to get started with the bow moving across the string helps define strings musicians because of the "lag" from the energy transfer. Compare to guitarist and pianist whom strike the string with their fingers, pick or by a hammer. The energy is transferred differently, and is creates a different sound. In case you are interested in hearing so, then check out this piece. It has played piano and bowed piano.
After all the scientific gibberish followed by a crazy videos, what does this all mean for a simple composer? Why should timbre matter this much in my piece?
Because it can change to context of your piece extremely. The best example I think I've ever seen are these two videos: Both of a song called "Raining Blood" by Slayer. This first one is the studio version of the song by Slayer (in case the video doesn't do this automatically, skip to around 0:30 to avoid the intro)
Now let's show what happens when you go from electric guitar to another guitar-like instrument and play the same song:
The differences are really staggering here. This is a bit of an extreme juxtaposition of the song but it does show what is possible. Another example I like to share (that is a little more socially accepted) is orchestrated version of Stairway to Heaven. This one is by Triple Door Cello Quartet
Finally, let's look at one from a classical example. While this isn't the best example I can think of, this one combines the past topics to express itself.
If you would like another example, listen to Stravinsky's Rite of Spring. He does a lot of things in terms of building timbres up and pushing the limits of the instruments and musicians. I hope this was worth the wait! I am really sorry about the delay on this one but between the convention (which I will share the videos once they're available to me) and being sick, I was loaded down. However, once we finish this series and then go into our next series: Explaining how all these topics and more convert into composing. Perhaps even some workshop like episodes and analysis. Also, if anyone is interested in listening to me break down music books and explain them differently then let me know! Thanks for reading!
Monday, June 23, 2014
Major Announcement and Interview with @Kidstruments
Hello everyone! Sorry about the lack of posts lately but between Faith's getting married in the next couple of weeks and I've been setting up for a new series plus running Team Young Spark as we head towards our first couple of major events... Life's been a little overwhelming. But seeing there has been 90+ views on the "Music Theory 101" series thus far, I think it's safe to assume that I will finish this season of it. The next series I'm going to do is a tutorial series on using and making the most out of Audacity. While it isn't the best program to do a lot of complicated audio manipulation, people underestimate its potential. By the time the series begins to trickle out, I should have released an animation project I've been working on with my friend Benjamin and everything audio related has been mixed and mastered in Audacity. Also, I want to revisit the Finale Tutorials but teach over 2014 this time.The original series had such a positive reception that I wouldn't imagine not doing it but I need to save up for 2014. Leave a comment if you would like to see more of them (and they will be actual lessons this time, not randomly teaching tools!)
The first major announcement is that I've been accepted as a panelist for Derpy Con South as my alias Harmonic Inferno, and I will be giving 2 lectures: One on the series I've been working on here (Music Theory 101) and the other an open discussion on arts activism. I wanted to make sure that if anyone here was interested in coming out to the convention and hearing them that you were aware in advance. The other thing I wanted to announce was Faith will be getting married in the near future. I mentioned it briefly before, but I wanted to make sure I gave her a major congratulations for her milestone with her fiance but for all the help she's done in building this site back up. Now without further ado, let's get onto the interview!
Adam: Explain what Kidstruments Fund is? How was it started and how long has
it been around?
The first major announcement is that I've been accepted as a panelist for Derpy Con South as my alias Harmonic Inferno, and I will be giving 2 lectures: One on the series I've been working on here (Music Theory 101) and the other an open discussion on arts activism. I wanted to make sure that if anyone here was interested in coming out to the convention and hearing them that you were aware in advance. The other thing I wanted to announce was Faith will be getting married in the near future. I mentioned it briefly before, but I wanted to make sure I gave her a major congratulations for her milestone with her fiance but for all the help she's done in building this site back up. Now without further ado, let's get onto the interview!
Adam: Explain what Kidstruments Fund is? How was it started and how long has
it been around?
Kidstruments: Kidstruments Fund is an organization that helps kids play instruments in school band or orchestra. It was started when my 6th grade orchestra teacher's violin broke. It was very sentimental to her and I raised money to try to fix it. She did not take the money but in the process I learned that there are kids without the sufficient funds to rent an instrument. I had this money and nothing to do with it, so I used it to start Kidstruments. Kidstruments has been around for 3 months now [as of the time of this interview].
A: What all does Kidstruments Fund do to help/ benefit the music community?
K: Kidstruments helps the music community by helping others playing music, by expanding the community (in the future hopefully greatly) and making more people to play the music that other people write. Now, as for the normal community, it shows people that little people (grammar for the win) can make big impacts. It also helps more people enjoy music. It also helps kids in school, because for some, a love of music might be the thing that makes them like school and be a better student.
A: What goals does your group have towards helping the music community at
large?
K: Our goal to the music community at large is to help more and more people not just play music, but write it, understand it, and enjoy it. We try to grow it and expand it. Kidstruments is trying greatly to expand music all over the world.
A: How can someone help your cause?
K: People can help by donating online at [http://kidstrumentsfund.org/
Kidstruments Fund Inc.9425 N. Meridian #201IndianapolisIN 46260They can also follow us on Twitter [@Kidstruments] or Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/Monday, December 23, 2013
Thoughts, Opinions, Rethinking and Proposals #3: The Arts and Public Education
Hello everyone. After a crazy set of set backs in my personal life (one being the loss of this original article from a hard drive failure), I am attempting to retype the post from how I initially planned on presenting it. Should it come off a little more complicated or not flow as easily as the articles on here normally write for the site, I apologize in advance. Moving back to topic, there has been a lot of debate over the past few years over removing the arts from our public education. Sources such as Americans for the Arts and Center for Artistic Activism have been making stands for defending the arts for some time now but they are known for working with the public system. In my opinion and the opinion of many others, one of the greatest assets to saving the arts is making sure they thrive in public education. We as artists need to make sure that these programs are kept alive and thriving for the future of the arts. The benefits are not only beneficial for the artistic part of the mind, but also for the arithmetic portion. The benefits are also known to benefit students with special needs or a physical disability.
Learning to play an instrument at any level of education is also like learning a new language; having to not only understand it, but translate it with perfect diction and precise pronunciations can be a tall order. The thought process behind seeing the "dots" compared to the closest line of the staff is thought in our minds as if you are understanding "the" starts with the letter "t" and it is the 20th letter of the English alphabet. Understanding how a note with multiple flags eventually line up to equal a full measure is processed just like adding 1/16, 2/8 and 3/16 to equals 1/2. This is not even going into the process behind developing an artistic style, or following a periodic style such as making baroque music sound detached or It all relies on expanding the mind in several dimensions. This has led into research into the possibility of using music as a form of medical treatment for people who were either born with a physical or mental disability or have acquired one. There are pages upon pages of information into the field of music therapy that I wish I could explain to everyone (maybe one day!) but if this interests you then head to the American Music Therapy Association website and look into it. It ranges from helping students with an Autism Spectrum Disorder to develop emotional stability to assiting in building motor control. It is also able to help release emotions that may be left inside from complicated situations revolving around themselves that they may not be able to express otherwise.
It plays a key role in students who want to belong somewhere. It has been reported that artist of any kind are more likely to gain crucial vocal and communication skills from their art. The Atlantic reported about the benefits to using music as a stimulate for students with ASD who lack in communication skills. The article goes into details of technique called "regulation" or changing the tempo or even the feel of the music to make sure the student grows outside cues and repetition. This is merely scratching the surface of this field and it's implications but there is a pattern I'm attempting to create.
Drawing this article back towards a well rounded education, we should look towards research into SAT students. Research posted by Americans for the Arts in 2010 shows arts students scored 91.6 points higher on their SAT compared to non-arts related students between 1999 and 2009. The same group has publicized more information showing that studying an art for four or more years can increase scores by 100 points.
Before I leave this conversation to the comments section of this post, the Facebook page or the Twitter page let me leave you with these 11 facts about the arts as posted by Do Something .Org that I found interesting in my research. Next week will be the last of this series followed by a summary. There will be a surprised with this one, so stay tuned! Also for New Years Day, I will release a special post for those whom want to know the plans of the blog. I have a few announcements I am ready to publicize that I think will bring a new chapter to ASMTB.
Learning to play an instrument at any level of education is also like learning a new language; having to not only understand it, but translate it with perfect diction and precise pronunciations can be a tall order. The thought process behind seeing the "dots" compared to the closest line of the staff is thought in our minds as if you are understanding "the" starts with the letter "t" and it is the 20th letter of the English alphabet. Understanding how a note with multiple flags eventually line up to equal a full measure is processed just like adding 1/16, 2/8 and 3/16 to equals 1/2. This is not even going into the process behind developing an artistic style, or following a periodic style such as making baroque music sound detached or It all relies on expanding the mind in several dimensions. This has led into research into the possibility of using music as a form of medical treatment for people who were either born with a physical or mental disability or have acquired one. There are pages upon pages of information into the field of music therapy that I wish I could explain to everyone (maybe one day!) but if this interests you then head to the American Music Therapy Association website and look into it. It ranges from helping students with an Autism Spectrum Disorder to develop emotional stability to assiting in building motor control. It is also able to help release emotions that may be left inside from complicated situations revolving around themselves that they may not be able to express otherwise.
It plays a key role in students who want to belong somewhere. It has been reported that artist of any kind are more likely to gain crucial vocal and communication skills from their art. The Atlantic reported about the benefits to using music as a stimulate for students with ASD who lack in communication skills. The article goes into details of technique called "regulation" or changing the tempo or even the feel of the music to make sure the student grows outside cues and repetition. This is merely scratching the surface of this field and it's implications but there is a pattern I'm attempting to create.
Drawing this article back towards a well rounded education, we should look towards research into SAT students. Research posted by Americans for the Arts in 2010 shows arts students scored 91.6 points higher on their SAT compared to non-arts related students between 1999 and 2009. The same group has publicized more information showing that studying an art for four or more years can increase scores by 100 points.
Before I leave this conversation to the comments section of this post, the Facebook page or the Twitter page let me leave you with these 11 facts about the arts as posted by Do Something .Org that I found interesting in my research. Next week will be the last of this series followed by a summary. There will be a surprised with this one, so stay tuned! Also for New Years Day, I will release a special post for those whom want to know the plans of the blog. I have a few announcements I am ready to publicize that I think will bring a new chapter to ASMTB.
Wednesday, July 3, 2013
Question of the week #1: Who was more influential pt. 1
Hey everyone, Sulli here from the ASMusicTheoryBlog and I have a new series I'm going to start today and post it ever Wed. First, however I want to wish everyone in the states (or anyone who wishes to celebrate) a happy 4th of July from myself and the blog staff.
Back to the topic at hand, I am starting a series here which is Question of the Week or probably after this one ASQuestionOTW or some acronym similarly. Also, I'll vary the questions from week to week or maybe keep a genre a month sort of thing. If you have any suggestions, then let us know.
Today's question of the day is from Marlon Taylor who asks: "Who is the most influential band in British history; The Beatles or Led Zeppelin?". Leave a comment below what you think about this. You can leave your name or be anonymous, but the only rule isNO TROLLING/HATE. Remember, these are opinion and everyone's entitled to an opinion. If it happens, then I will block the comment. Otherwise, happy commenting!
Back to the topic at hand, I am starting a series here which is Question of the Week or probably after this one ASQuestionOTW or some acronym similarly. Also, I'll vary the questions from week to week or maybe keep a genre a month sort of thing. If you have any suggestions, then let us know.
Today's question of the day is from Marlon Taylor who asks: "Who is the most influential band in British history; The Beatles or Led Zeppelin?". Leave a comment below what you think about this. You can leave your name or be anonymous, but the only rule is
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
Practice Tips #2: Practice Slowly
Hey everyone, Sulli here and I'm back with episode 2 of the Practice Tips series. Today, I'm bringing back an older topic from the previous series and mixing it up a little bit. As the title says, one of the best things to do is practice slowly. If you want to read the original article(and it's worth a look over, but nothing great): http://sulliadm.blogspot.com/2012/05/how-to-practice-episode-1-start-slow.html
Back to the topic, one of the more common problems in musicians is the desire to keep things fast, especially while practicing. While that is not a bad idea if you know what you're playing, the better option is to play slower than you think. The overall objective of practicing is to know what the music you are learning is, not just recognize it through finger motion. Learning it involves not only being able to play it, but to be able to play it starting from anywhere. In order to get that deep of learning something, one must practice slowly.
Another thing to remember when practicing slowly is everything that goes in behind the music, such as bowings/breath marks, articulations, the style of the piece, etc. Run through the piece multiple times at that tempo and do the following: 1st focus on the note accuracy; make sure you can play every note at that tempo and the pitch is correct. 2nd focus on the articulations and bowing/breath markings and enforce those because they are there to make the piece easier or to sound a certain way that the composer likes. Finally focus on the stylistics if there is a style listed.
The way to tell if you're starting off too slow is if you can follow the checklist above and not have any errors. Usually when I'm deciding where to start the tempo at, I usually start with the tempo as written, then dial it back 20. If that's too fast, then I go back in intervals of 5 or as close to that as you can get. After you have completed the song or section several times and feel comfortable speeding up, then do so slowly. Only make tempo jumps in increments of no more than 5 BPM (beats per minute). This insures you are sure you know what you are playing. This process is a long way, however the payoff is you are creating beautiful music. There will be times this will be cumbersome, annoying, and possibly time consuming but I promise this is the way professional musicians like to practice.
So, as you have hopefully seen this thought can be used as a good mentality to practice with whenever one may need it. If you like what you have read then don’t forget to Subscribe to the blog via email (to the right), YouTube, Facebook, Twitter or SoundCloud. As always, thanks for reading and remember to fear the cellos!
Back to the topic, one of the more common problems in musicians is the desire to keep things fast, especially while practicing. While that is not a bad idea if you know what you're playing, the better option is to play slower than you think. The overall objective of practicing is to know what the music you are learning is, not just recognize it through finger motion. Learning it involves not only being able to play it, but to be able to play it starting from anywhere. In order to get that deep of learning something, one must practice slowly.
Another thing to remember when practicing slowly is everything that goes in behind the music, such as bowings/breath marks, articulations, the style of the piece, etc. Run through the piece multiple times at that tempo and do the following: 1st focus on the note accuracy; make sure you can play every note at that tempo and the pitch is correct. 2nd focus on the articulations and bowing/breath markings and enforce those because they are there to make the piece easier or to sound a certain way that the composer likes. Finally focus on the stylistics if there is a style listed.
The way to tell if you're starting off too slow is if you can follow the checklist above and not have any errors. Usually when I'm deciding where to start the tempo at, I usually start with the tempo as written, then dial it back 20. If that's too fast, then I go back in intervals of 5 or as close to that as you can get. After you have completed the song or section several times and feel comfortable speeding up, then do so slowly. Only make tempo jumps in increments of no more than 5 BPM (beats per minute). This insures you are sure you know what you are playing. This process is a long way, however the payoff is you are creating beautiful music. There will be times this will be cumbersome, annoying, and possibly time consuming but I promise this is the way professional musicians like to practice.
So, as you have hopefully seen this thought can be used as a good mentality to practice with whenever one may need it. If you like what you have read then don’t forget to Subscribe to the blog via email (to the right), YouTube, Facebook, Twitter or SoundCloud. As always, thanks for reading and remember to fear the cellos!
Friday, June 14, 2013
Composer's Vlog Ep. 4: Let's start wrapping things up... Or are we??
Hey everyone, Sulli here with the 4th installment of The Composer's Vlog. This episode is about finishing as much as we could get this time. Also I introduced Tevarus, a friend of mine who has helped me with this composition. Don't forget to leave a like and a comment if you enjoyed this! Don't forget to subscribe if you haven't already! Subscribe via email (to the right) or through YouTube. Thanks for watching!
Saturday, June 1, 2013
Composer's Vlog Ep. 3: Time to Take a Step Back for a Brief Moment
Welcome back to the 3rd installment of the Composer's Vlog. Sorry about the delay but this one was a bit of a tough one to edit this week because of a few bugs I had to deal with. Today's episode started out as a test for recording audio a new way, but wound up not working so sorry for the technical difficulties. However, I left the first full "rendering" of the song for you to enjoy at the end. Take a look at the video and let us know what you think. For those who actually read this, I'm starting season 2 soon without any more screw ups like I have in this season, so stay tuned for at least one more season of this show ;)
If you like what you've seen then leave a comment below and subscribe for more Composer's Vlog episodes.
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Monday, May 20, 2013
Adam Sullivan Music Theory Podcast Ep. 2: Meeting the Composers Pt. 1
Hello, and welcome to the next episode of the Adam Sullivan Music Theory Podcast. This is the first episode of the series called "Meeting the Composers" where you are taking a look at the authors of the Blog. This episode is an interview with "Sulli", the creator of the blog. If you have any questions that were not covered, then leave a comment or send question(s) to any of the following places:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/sulliadm
Twitter: www.twitter.com/sulliadm
YouTube: www.youtube.com/ASMusicTheoryBlog
Don't forget to submit something for the Sulli's Song of the Week because we had no entries last week! Thanks for listening!
Saturday, May 11, 2013
Sulli's Song of the Week #7: "By Your Side" covered by Sadie Urrestta
http://www.youtube.com/user/oliv3u
Hey everyone and welcome to the Adam Sullivan Music Theory Blog! I know I've been delaying the videos and such for a while now (Sorry, College comes first... Especially crazy exams!) however I am back with the next episode in the Song of the Week series!
Today we have Sadie Urrestta (pronounced You-Rest-Ah) recorded a cover of "By Your Side" by Tenth Avenue North that sounds marvelous! She is from Oregon but moved around a lot when she was younger to wind up in South Carolina. She plays Guitar, Flute, Ukulele and sings. She started out playing guitar when she was little after listening to Avril Lavigne and wanting to be like her. This cover, however, was inspired by something else. "ive (SIC) had a lot of changes lately and a few conflicts arose and I felt that those who needed assurance that I wasn't planning on abandoning their side would recognize that I was communicating it with them through this song.". Well, I hope those who you weren't abandoning didn't feel abandoned because this cover is amazing!
If you would like to be featured on this segment then let us know! Message us a clip of you playing something original or a cover at YouTube, Twitter (message or at #ASMusicTheoryBlog or #SulliSongOfTheWeek), Facebook or in the comments below! Thanks for reading!
Friday, May 10, 2013
The Composer's Vlog Episode 1: Basic Introductions
Hey everyone, it's Sulli and not only am I back, but I'm back with some exciting news! I am revamping the blog by making a new series I'm calling "The Composer's Vlog". Now, in this 1st season of the series (of hopefully many more) I am going to go over working with the themes from "Void". Void is a roleplaying game played in the style of Dungeons and Dragons however is set into the future. The protagonist (can't really call them heros from as far as I've gotten with it) are a group of people from all over the US "... so far in the future from our own timeline on earth that we humans, as a race, are incapable of putting a number to the years.". The objective of the game, like many others is to go through and defeat the antagonist (the Void) from taking over our universe. If you love RPG's or have always wanted to give one a try, then head on over to their site (https://www.facebook.com/groups/564393450248783/) and follow along. This is a really simple one and as of now is a great one to start out with if you've never played one before.
As for this series, however, I am writing some music to go along with the story of the game. This series is intended as a tool to not only demonstrate methods towards composing music, but it also going to be used as a way to help show many other ideas towards achieving sounds and effects that you may want to use for your own compositions. However, for the first few episodes I will be recording on my desktop like I have been with my tutorials.
Anyways, I hope everyone likes this new series! Let me know what you think in the comments here, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube ! Also, if you have any suggestions for this piece, then you are allowed to leave a comment about how you think it should be changed and if I like it and enough people agree with making the change then I will go it. Just remember that this will be a piece online for us to share and learn from! I hope you enjoy the series and I will be back posting something almost daily, and I will share with you the calender for the posts but that is for another day! I now have to leave to go grab something to eat but I will be back.
Always Remember...
Fear the cellos!
~Sulli
Sunday, April 14, 2013
Sulli's Song of the Week #6: "Rocky Top Tennessee" performed by The Hinson Girls
http://www.youtube.com/user/huskydigital
Hey guys, sorry for the delay on this one, but I'm back with another episode on the Song of the Week Series! This time I have The Hinson Girls and their edition of "Rocky Top Tennessee". The Hinson Girls are from Van Wyck, SC. Kristin plays the Guitar and Fiddle, Melissa plays Bass and Guitar, Katelyn plays Mandolin and Guitar, and Allison plays Banjo, Guitar and Dobro. They started out playing from their father playing guitar. They then started learning guitar from him to spend quality time with their father and their family. The reason they learned this song is because their grandmother's favorite song. "It was our granny's favorite song, and when we first started playing together as a band, she was always asking for us to learn to play Rocky Top Mountain.".
If you would like to be featured on this segment then let us know! Message us a clip of you playing something original or a cover at YouTube, Twitter, Facebook or in the comments below! Thanks for reading!
Thursday, April 11, 2013
Episode 1: What is Music? (based off the original episode "Musical Alphabet and Note Values")
http://sulliadm.blogspot.com/2012/03/episode-1-musical-alphabet-and-note.html
Don't forget to follow the blog on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube!
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/sulliadm
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Saturday, April 6, 2013
Sulli's Song of the Week #5: "Fallout" by Joel Rivera
https://soundcloud.com/solidsound98
Hello everyone, Sulli here with this week's Song of the Week. Today we have Joel Rivera and his song "Fallout". Joel is from Mechanicville, NY, and plays guitar and keyboard. He started out playing trombone because he wanted to play in band and his middle school needed a trombone player. The idea for the song came from when he was messing around one day with his keyboard. "I was fooling around with another idea tried it against those chords and it fit perfectly. Then I just expanded on it from there adding the different sound elements."
If you would like to be featured on this segment then let us know! Message us a clip of you playing something original or a cover at YouTube, Twitter, Facebook or in the comments below! Thanks for reading!
Thursday, April 4, 2013
The World Music Experiment: Introduction
Hello to all of you out there to all of you who subscribe to this blog. Allow me to more formally introduce myself. My name is Lester St. Louis, I also for other creative purposes go by the pseudonym Distonal. I am a 19 year old multi - instrumentalist, (primarily cellist and bassist), and composer based in New York city. I like to believe that I have accumulated a considerable amount of knowledge on various styles, forms, types of music, and sound art from the world. With said information I hope to help you all become better acquainted with world music and other topics in music ranging from style and form, to history, theory and everything in between. For this to be thoroughly interesting, I will need a lot of user feedback letting me know if they want more or if something is hard to follow and so on. You can do so via the Facebook page, or leave a comment on the articles. Now that we are all better acquainted lets start off lightly. I believe that we shall start with the music of Latin America. Latin American music is music that originates from the regions of Central America to South America (Mexico downward connected land). Latin America has had a very substantial amount of genres and styles to come out; such as the Samba, Forro, and Bossa Novas of Brasil, The tango, and Chacarera's of Argentina, as well as the Salsa, Merengue, Bolero, raggaeton, and many other forms from these regions. In the coming time we will cover all the different forms of Latin American music as well as enjoying a lot of it along the way. Don't worry we will also cover every other region of the world and their native music styling, as well as their contemporary scenes. I hope this doesn't sound too over ambitious, but we have all the time in the world. I will (try my very best) to post a new volume every Wednesday here, so look out for it. In the mean time enjoy one of my favorite tunes from Brasil. This is a Bossa Nova by Joao Gilberto called ''O sapo''. The language is Portuguese for all of you wondering.
Side note- Joao Gilberto played a seminal part in establishing the form known as Bossa Nova.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7C2ZJDbFGmQ
Side note- Joao Gilberto played a seminal part in establishing the form known as Bossa Nova.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7C2ZJDbFGmQ
Saturday, March 30, 2013
A Series of Announcements! If you are subscribed, please read!
Hey guys, I'm here with an few announcements for you guys.
First off let's start by saying thank you guys! We've finally hit the 4,000 viewer mark! It's been a few days, and now we're closing in on the 5,000 viewer mark. Also, this is the first time the blog has had 1,000 views in a month! I am going to upload a video that the people on the Facebook page requested. For those who have been following me on Facebook or Twitter you also know of an upcoming contest. This is the official announcement of the 5,000 page viewer contest along with a few other things so keep reading!
The second announcement is I am adding a new author to the blog. Introducing Lester (also known as Distonal), a music education major at Long Island Univ. and a man who I've known for a long time. He will be the main author to the World Music Experiment, and will contribute a lot more to world music than I ever think of. He will also be sitting in on other topics that I will be talking about. I am also working on some cross overs in the near future as well from some other YouTube musicians, so stay tuned! I'm also taking in offers for the "song of the week" series. If you want to have something you've made posted on here, then submit it via the Facebook page, Twitter, or leave me a comment below with your name and the URL. I will consider anything you show me as long as it is music!
The next thing on my agenda of announcements is the fact that I've messed up rather badly. I read over some of the practice episodes and the theory lessons (before the suddenly vanished) and I know of the lack of quality versus the way they started out as. I would rather put a series on hold than give you wrong or very hard to understand topics so I am giving both of those series a temporary halt. Once I get through my end of the year stuff, I will start the series back up and clarify anything that you have to know. If you want me to answer a question before then, then send me a message to either Facebook(http://www.facebook.com/sulliadm) or Twitter(http://www.twitter.com/sulliadm).
As usual, don't forget to subscribe to Facebook or Twitter if you prefer! Between the admins (Yuki, Kyte and soon to be Lester) and myself, we try to keep fresh material on there daily. Also, if you have ever had something you want to ask Lester, to the other admins or to me directly, then I will be taking questions for an admin interview once the Facebook Page hits 100 likes! We are almost at 60, so if you want this to speed up then click the link above! And another note on communication; don't be afraid to comment on the articles themselves. I don't know a lot about your past when it comes to bloggers but I love interacting with the community I'm working hard to establish. If you want to say something, as long as it isn't offensive or spam I don't mind it. I love feedback, because it helps me get an idea on where my audience is and if something isn't to your liking, I want to improve on it. That's why it took so long to catch the problems with the episodes, I didn't know about it until one of my professors start pointing stuff out to me.
And finally, the moment you've been waiting for... the contest! I am offering a package consisting of a poster out of any 1 of the 3 pictures I've created in Photoshop and a black/red para cord bracelet to one lucky viewer. The bracelet was graciously donated by a fan, and is considering making them to sell as a way to show support for the blog. That leads me to a discussion for you guys later on, but for now it's just a thought for everyone to think about. The poster will be around a medium sized poster; I'm thinking about a 16in X 12in... but I'm not 100% sure on the dimensions yet. If you want the poster autographed, I will happily do so but if not then I understand. I will cover shipping in the US and possibly international shipping. I may need a little help shipping them internationally, but I will let you know what I've worked out once I completely announce it and get the bugs worked out. I will let you know what the contest rules are once we hit the 5,000 viewer mark so keep sharing if you want it to happen sooner. The reason I'm telling you guys now is so you get ready for this instead of just dropping it out of nowhere! Here is what is for the give-a-way:
First off let's start by saying thank you guys! We've finally hit the 4,000 viewer mark! It's been a few days, and now we're closing in on the 5,000 viewer mark. Also, this is the first time the blog has had 1,000 views in a month! I am going to upload a video that the people on the Facebook page requested. For those who have been following me on Facebook or Twitter you also know of an upcoming contest. This is the official announcement of the 5,000 page viewer contest along with a few other things so keep reading!
The second announcement is I am adding a new author to the blog. Introducing Lester (also known as Distonal), a music education major at Long Island Univ. and a man who I've known for a long time. He will be the main author to the World Music Experiment, and will contribute a lot more to world music than I ever think of. He will also be sitting in on other topics that I will be talking about. I am also working on some cross overs in the near future as well from some other YouTube musicians, so stay tuned! I'm also taking in offers for the "song of the week" series. If you want to have something you've made posted on here, then submit it via the Facebook page, Twitter, or leave me a comment below with your name and the URL. I will consider anything you show me as long as it is music!
The next thing on my agenda of announcements is the fact that I've messed up rather badly. I read over some of the practice episodes and the theory lessons (before the suddenly vanished) and I know of the lack of quality versus the way they started out as. I would rather put a series on hold than give you wrong or very hard to understand topics so I am giving both of those series a temporary halt. Once I get through my end of the year stuff, I will start the series back up and clarify anything that you have to know. If you want me to answer a question before then, then send me a message to either Facebook(http://www.facebook.com/sulliadm) or Twitter(http://www.twitter.com/sulliadm).
As usual, don't forget to subscribe to Facebook or Twitter if you prefer! Between the admins (Yuki, Kyte and soon to be Lester) and myself, we try to keep fresh material on there daily. Also, if you have ever had something you want to ask Lester, to the other admins or to me directly, then I will be taking questions for an admin interview once the Facebook Page hits 100 likes! We are almost at 60, so if you want this to speed up then click the link above! And another note on communication; don't be afraid to comment on the articles themselves. I don't know a lot about your past when it comes to bloggers but I love interacting with the community I'm working hard to establish. If you want to say something, as long as it isn't offensive or spam I don't mind it. I love feedback, because it helps me get an idea on where my audience is and if something isn't to your liking, I want to improve on it. That's why it took so long to catch the problems with the episodes, I didn't know about it until one of my professors start pointing stuff out to me.
And finally, the moment you've been waiting for... the contest! I am offering a package consisting of a poster out of any 1 of the 3 pictures I've created in Photoshop and a black/red para cord bracelet to one lucky viewer. The bracelet was graciously donated by a fan, and is considering making them to sell as a way to show support for the blog. That leads me to a discussion for you guys later on, but for now it's just a thought for everyone to think about. The poster will be around a medium sized poster; I'm thinking about a 16in X 12in... but I'm not 100% sure on the dimensions yet. If you want the poster autographed, I will happily do so but if not then I understand. I will cover shipping in the US and possibly international shipping. I may need a little help shipping them internationally, but I will let you know what I've worked out once I completely announce it and get the bugs worked out. I will let you know what the contest rules are once we hit the 5,000 viewer mark so keep sharing if you want it to happen sooner. The reason I'm telling you guys now is so you get ready for this instead of just dropping it out of nowhere! Here is what is for the give-a-way:
Picture 1:
Picture 2:
Picture 3:
Bracelet:
Friday, March 29, 2013
Sulli's Song of the Week #4: "Build Me Up Buttercup" covered by Amanda DeCarlo
http://www.youtube.com/user/AmandaDeCarloMusic
Hey everyone, I'm back with another Song of the Week! Today we have Amanda DeCarlo, a friend of mine. She was born in NY but since has moved to SC. Amanda plays Ukulele, Guitar, Voice, Violin, Piano, Clarinet, Recorder and Banjo. She started out playing recorder, but has spread out since. She is inspired by her father, who was in a band in NY but then settled down to start a family. "He never stopped playing though, which inspired my sisters and I to do something with music.". She also has an urge to do something useful with her life. This is her version of "Build Me Up Buttercup" by The Foundations.
If you would like to be featured on this segment then let us know! Message us a clip of you playing something original or a cover at YouTube, Twitter, Facebook or in the comments below! Thanks for reading!
Sunday, March 24, 2013
Finale 2012 Tutorial Episode 2 Pt. 1 & Announcements!
For those who haven't checked out the YouTube page, here's the tutorial series I'm working on now. It's on Finale 2012, and this is the first of the next episode (more up throughout the rest of the month). Don't forget to subscribe and please give me some feedback! I tried to mix up the editing this time, and if you click the annotation, you'll see what it was like on the last tutorial. If you have any questions or ideas for future episodes, then don't be afraid to let me know. I will do my best to help if you need help or talk out an idea for more videos.
Also, I am here to announce the blog has finally hit 4000 views today! I am so happy to see that there are regulars that are continuously reading these articles, and give me more chances than I deserve when I screw up! I am announcing that when we hit 5000 views mark I am hosting a give a way of something really cool (and isn't from 80's pop culture!). I will post more about what I will be giving away once we hit around 4500. Along with that, I am having another thing for the Facebook Fan Page and the Twitter Page. Once we hit 100 likes on Facebook, I will start taking questions for all the admin on the page over Facebook and Twitter. In case you don't know the admin here's what we have:
Sulli (myself): Manager of the blog, blog related posting and general posting of anything.
Yuki: Posts about Asian Pop music. She keeps us up to date on music trends in the Asian music community.
Kyte: Posts general music memes.
(*Undisclosed*): The newest member to be added in the next few days. He will be posting series on the blog and will cover European music trends.
Facebook Fan Page: www.facebook.com/sulliadm
Twitter Fan Page: www.twitter.com/sulliadm
YouTube Page: www.youtube.com/sulli00700
If you stay savvy on Latin music trends, want to take the place for North American music trends or have something unique that you want to put on the table then let us know! I'm looking for more admins for the page! I know I have a large Russian audience (about half my international views come from Russia), so if any of you guys would love to talk then I know everyone else would love to hear! Nothing will be denied an offer. The same also goes for my fan series. If you have something you have written or covered then send it in and I'll take a listen to see if I will post it. Have a good day guys, and again thank you for all the support!
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