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African American music has, since I can remember, been a deep source of fascination for me. Growing up white, somewhere other than America, well before pay TV and online distractions, my greatest teacher and conduit to the outside world was television, and inevitably American culture. I would go so far as to say that in those formative years, in that short period when a child’s soul is at its most absorbent, I fully expected life outside my modest suburban front door would be nothing less than what I saw on television, and nothing could compete with the ever popular kids show Sesame Street. 

The sidewalk. Trash cans. Fire escapes hanging from brick tenements. Jim Henson’s mesmerising frenetic characters. I knew they weren’t real, but I suppose the beauty of this stage of life is that you’re open to all possibly. There were real characters however that appealed above all. Black people. They fascinated me. Exactly why wouldn’t be realised until much later on, but I knew I had a stumbled across something magical when jazz trumpeter Wynton Marsalis made a guest appearance. In a classic Sesame Street ‘down on the corner’ setting, Wynton, surrounded by adoringly engrossed Muppets, made his trumpet  literally talk, pronounce the neigh of a horse, the blare of a elephant, just truly magnificent sounds out of this bent piece of brass tubing. Who are these amazing looking people that make these magical sounds and can do all these wonderful things?

My love of black America has since those days slowly compounded. Jazz, blues, soul music dominated my listening hours. Then when music video came about – Stevie Wonder on the Soul Train programme. The dance floor moved as one to ‘Superstition” in the most wonderful exhibition of effortless rhythm I have ever seen to this day. It was like a religious vision, like a glimpse of a heaven, a most splendid afterlife where the dance floor never empties, the music plays on and the deepest sense of soul is endlessly expressed. The music, the dancing, the smiles on their faces, all just pure soul. Captivating to say the least. 

 I’ve since read greedily about the evolution of black music in early 20th century America. I’ve read of the ordeal over half a million newly enslaved Africans endured in their sea journey to the new world. Even in the midst of what must have seemed a living hell with chronic disease, unending physical abuse and heartless cruelty, there survived an ember of the African soul or spirit in their song. It echoed through the transport ships, the plantations. It migrated from its roots as a mutation of Gospel and Rhythm and Blues from the rich plains of the Mississippi delta to Chicago, Memphis and beyond. It bent and shifted at the whim of whoever strummed and hollered it, galvanising an almost primal connection to those who most needed it most. In later years Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Little Richard all lent their hand to its formation. Mohammad Ali even bought an entourage of soul musicians with him for internal strength in his epic clash with George Forman in Africa.

What element of this soul power do I identify with? I’ve a general knowledge of its Christian interpretation. I’ve attempted Aristotle and theories like Animism. I like some Buddhist ideas like there being no permanent self, but its all a bit fashionable now. Are we merely clutching at ephemeral concepts in denial of the fact that human life is void of meaning? Is that which we celebrate as the positive aspects in life all just artifice and mindless escapism? One explanation has recently appealed however. There’s article on the World Transformation Movements website about Soul by Australian Biologist Jeremy Griffith. He says we have an instinctive memory of our soul from a time when we were cooperative loving and selfless, and indeed it was a real and wonderful state, but we’ve since lost our way. In summary, he states that once we can understand our dark side, defend our neglect and destruction of the world of our soul, can we return to it with understanding, and bring love to earth. This explanation, the more I digest it, has offered infinite expansion to my much loved idea of the soul of man, and that’s just the beginning it seems! 

The djembe drum is fast becoming one of the most popular percussion instruments around. This hand held drum originates from West Africa, and is the ideal drum for both expert and novice musicians.
But playing the djembe isn’t as simple as slapping the head with a stick and hoping for the best. On the contrary, this is a drum you play with your hands. In this post, we will teach you how to develop your djembe drumming technique, and learn to play like a pro:
The basic playing technique
The djembe drum can be played when seated or stood up, and is played by striking the head of the drum with your hand.
For beginners, we would recommend sitting down and placing the drum between your knees. Tilt the drum off the floor slightly, and away from you. The hole at the bass of the drum should be off the floor to let the sound escape. Make sure you can reach the whole of the drum head comfortably.
While fibreglass and traditional wooden djembes have slight differences in their sound and tone, over all you should expect to hear open and unmuffled notes. The basic technique you need to learn before mastering the individual notes, is letting your hand rebound after striking.
There are three main notes that make up a djembe technique. These are:
•    Bass
•    Tone
•    Slap
Whichever note you’re playing, you want them to have the same tone and pitch. This means you should practice with both hands in equal measure to ensure every note sounds the same. So how do you play these notes?
Bass
The bass is the lowest-pitched note, and is the easiest to play.
Make sure you’re in the seated position described above, and simply drop your hand down onto the middle of the drum and pull away. Your hand should be flat, and you should hit the drum with the palm of your hand. You fingers and thumb should be together, and should hit the head of the drum at the same time.
To make sure you’re hitting the drum in the right place; place your hand on the drum head so the bottom of your palm and thumb sit on the edge of the djembe head. The bass is played by hitting the drum in this position.
Tone
The tone is sometimes referred to as the ‘natural’ sound of the djembe.
The drumming technique itself is fairly straightforward; the tone is played with the underside of your fingers. The joint where you hand and fingers join should sit on the rim of the drum when you play. To hit the tone correctly, you hand should be kept flat and all your fingers should hit the drum at the same time.
You can play a variation of this note by leaving your hand on the drum after striking. This note is called the muffled tone.
Slap
The slap is the highest pitched djembe note, and generally the most difficult part of the drumming technique to master. Hold your arm in the same position you did to play the tone, but keep your arm much more relaxed.
As the name suggests, you hit the drum in a slapping motion. Your fingers should be the only thing hitting the drum starting with your little finger, and should rebound. It is playing at this slight angle that creates the slap note. Make sure you hit the very rim of the drum and keep your arm relaxed.
By following these tips and getting a lot of practice, you’ll be able to master the djembe drumming technique with ease.
Djembe Drum Shop sells a range of djembe drums of all sizes, for all levels of player. To see which djembe is right for you, and learn more about this African instrument, visit the website today.

Music is a complex art from that requires talent, self-discipline, determination and diligent practice habits. Many people start a musical instrument in elementary school and learn the basics of their instrument. Proficiency develops over the years through weekly lessons and performances. Students usually know whether or not they want to continue studying their instrument after high school. Participation in church choirs and folk groups or local community groups is the most popular way non professionals use their musical skills. Many of these groups often do not require exceptional skills and often no audition is required.

Conversely, someone aspiring to achieve a higher level with their skills and who has a desire to participate in professional ensembles, often attains a music degree at a university or takes classes in music theory, solfeggio and eurhythmics through a local college. Without a doubt, a student must work daily to attain and sustain their skills and goals.

Different genres of music have different levels of flexibility when it comes to performance. With regards to baroque, classical and romantic music, the type of repertoire performed by most traditional symphonic choirs, expectations for auditions and performances are very high and much more rigid. So how would someone aspiring to attain a position in a symphonic choir go about achieving that dream? A quick internet search is certain to provide information about audition opportunities all over the world. Checking the local newspaper and library bulletin boards are also good places to check for local audition opportunities and requirements. Always wear semi-formal attire to the audition. Let’s explore the most common and basic audition requirements for professional choirs. Bear in mind, music directors frequently re-audition current members.

Prior choral experience is often a pre-requisite followed by exceptional vocal ability. A busy rehearsal and performance schedule can tire the vocal cords. Healthy habits and daily vocalization will maintain a healthy, strong voice. This can only be accomplished through regular vocal lessons.

A classical solo piece is usually first on the requirement list so that the music director may be able to assess overall vocal sound and range. One must choose a repertoire that is appropriate for their vocal range, for example, soprano, alto, tenor or bass. An additional piece in a foreign language is a common requirement as well. A private voice teacher can offer invaluable advice when it comes to choosing the best audition piece.

An a cappella or unaccompanied demonstration of scales is also part of an audition. Major, minor, chromatic and whole-tone scales are the four most commonly used to test agility, vocal control and a person’s ability to stay on pitch.

Thirdly, a series of pitch and interval drills assess the singer’s ability to hear and reproduce pitches and the spatial relationships between pitches. A basic understanding of harmony and theory will be invaluable here. An aspiring student can ask their private teacher to drill them regularly during their vocal lessons.

The ability to sight-read a piece of unfamiliar music is essential. A little background in solfeggio helps a singer obtain this ability. Again, sight- reading exercises can be done during vocal lessons to help prepare for the audition.

In conclusion, many members of professional choirs hold music degrees or have some form of formal music education. However, a formal music education is not a requirement. People from all walks of life and professions have a passion for music and are capable of achieving their musical goals. Once more, talent, self-discipline, determination and diligent practice habits make becoming a member of a symphonic choir a very attainable goal.

You may believe that hearing loss is only caused by extreme noise and in old age but this isn’t the case. Sounds don’t have to be as loud as you think to cause deafness. Although hearing loss is common in old age, many people will be be suffering from noise induced hearing loss and confuse the two.

Sounds only have to be 85dB or above to have the potential to damage your hearing and sometimes permanently. To put this in perspective a vacuum cleaner is of this decibel level so as you can imagine, it is very easy to be exposed to noise of this volume frequently, especially at work. Your employer has to protect you from loud noise or they are breaking the law and would be subject to hearing loss claims for compensation. The growing issue is that people are exposing them selves to dangerous noises through music.

Personal music players have been around for over 20 years with walkmans and CD players but Mp3 players have increased the number of people developing hearing loss. This is due to a number of major factors

Volume – Mp3 players can reach up to 105dB in volume which is easily loud enough to cause hearing loss. Older personal players would have reached similar levels though so this has always been a risk.

Capacity – You are now able to store your whole CD collection on one device so you can play hours of music without repeat. This will temp people to listen to their music for longer.

Size – Mp3 players are very small and don’t require additional tapes or CDs

Battery life – Players of old needed to replace batteries regularly for continuous play. This again encourages long exposure to the music.

Three of the factors above encouraged listening to music for longer and this is a major reason why noise induced hearing loss from listening to music is on the increase. Although volume is a major element in causing hearing loss, so is the length of exposure. The longer the exposure, the more chance of hearing loss.

It is possible to cause hearing loss after eight hours of exposure to 85dB but with every 5dB increase the time period halves. This means that listening to music at 105dB, hearing loss could be caused after only 30 minutes. Although this might be the extreme example, there will be many people everyday listening to music at a level of 95dB for 2 hours or more. This could be through an Mp3 player on the commute to work, at a rock concert or by playing in an band or orchestra.

You may play in an orchestra as part of your wok or for fun. Either way there is a risk but dependent on which will change who the responsibility to protect you from hearing loss lies. This is a dilemma as hearing protection isn’t really appropriate as you need to be able to hear other instruments to play along. In theory you could use earplugs that allow a certain amount of music in but this may be hard to use and not the perfect amount of sound will be heard.

The best prevention would be to make sure there are regular breaks. As explained above, time-scale has a large factor. An orchestra at 95dB would take 2 hours to cause hearing loss so I would suggest breaks every 30 minutes to be safe. This will significantly reduce the risk of noise induced hearing loss.

One worrying part of this problem is that the issues discussed above are regularly occurring to young people. They can be exposed to loud noise listening to music or playing it. As the more you are exposed, the more likely you are to develop hearing loss, the younger you start being exposed to loud noises, the more will develop hearing loss. If we are not careful we could be at risk of each generation developing hearing loss at a younger age.

Author Bio; Chris Evans – Atrium Legal

We run a workers health blog, giving advice to people whose job has effected their health. At Atrium we help people everyday who are suffering from hearing loss and help them claim hearing loss compensation.

The tonal quality of a stringed instrument is delicate yet dynamic and must be recorded with an ear for capturing the truest form of the performance while avoiding over processing. One must develop an understanding of how the instrument works:

How does the sound radiate and from what part of the instrument, one must also understand the frequency spectrum of the instrument and how it complements the rest of the section.

Every engineer has different tastes while choosing microphones, but more often than not condensers are the first choice, due to their ability to pick up a wide frequency range. At the budget end of things a rode NT1 or an se Z3300 are a regular choice. For professional studios C12’s and  U47’s tend to be used on instruments occupying the lower part of the frequency spectrum, such as a Cello.

My personal favorites for recording violins and violas are DPA 4011’s. This microphone is extremely transparent and captures the instrument in its truest form. Their cardioid polar pattern means they are ideally suited to situations that require ample separation. While recording violin, the microphone must be placed above the players head pointing towards the sound hole. Care must be taken to avoid contact between the players bow and the microphone.

The most important factor of any string recording is the room in which it is recorded. A room with stone walls may sound overly bright and reverberant. Usually strings are recorded in rooms with wooden floors to allow for a warmer sound which complements the wooden body of the instrument.

To capture the sound of a room, microphones must be placed at a distance. For this job most engineers will use a spaced pair of omni directional microphones around 1 feet away from the players. This will give a pleasing stereo image without sounding too distant .

Alternatively a pair of figure of 8 microphones in a blumlein configuration can be placed in the center of the string section about a meter away. This will produce a solid stereo image with less phase issues. Popular choices of microphone include 4038’s, made by a company called STC and the SF12 stereo ribbon microphone made by an American company called Royer. Both are an excellent choice for this application as they are ribbon microphones and tend to produce a warmer tone.

It’s important to note that string sections tend to cost a great deal of money due to the musicians union, which ensures the player is paid for every minute they work. This means there is very little room for error. Microphone stands must be checked constantly to make sure they are not falling down, as this could ruin the recording and there may be no time to undo the error. Hiring an assistant engineer can prove invaluable to help avoid this.

My final piece of advice to you is this…always use your ears. If it sounds good it probably is, so don’t be afraid to experiment.

I hope this article has been helpful. Don’t forget to check out my blog recording-mixing.com to learn how to record vocals among other great music production tips.

When you decide that you want to learn to play a musical instrument – any instrument – you open the door to a whole new world of expression and exploration.
And many, many questions.
Quite frankly, many people who learn an instrument get so focused on being the “best” and mastering scales quickly, etc. that they miss out entirely on the joy of learning and the journey itself.  Are you focused on your destination or are you focused on the joy of the journey?  The zen of learning a musical instrument goes back to the ideal that if you have one eye focused on your destination, that leaves you only one eye with which to find your way there.  Both eyes should be focused on the journey.

The Cello

The cello is an amazing and expressive instrument.  The very act of playing it is an act of embracing.  You actually embrace your instrument when you play the cello.  This is a major factor with the cello arguably connecting the life approach of the musician with the sounds created more than any other instrument.
A sense of calm, relaxation and awareness in your day-to-day life has an extremely positive affect both practice and performance with the cello.  It’s an instrument that sits nicely between the double bass and the viola and, therefore, has the versatility to transition from melody lines to bass lines and back seamlessly.  While this takes a degree of concentration, it’s your approach that determines if it is technical concentration or expressive concentration.
If you’re learning the cello, thinking of learning the cello or have been playing and feel like you’ve hit an unpassable plateau, keep in mind your approach to the instrument during practice.  Where is your focus?  On the end result or the learning process?

Focus

Your focus should be on the learning process.
Don’t think about how long it may take to master the cello.  This can make practice feel like a burden as opposed to a joy.  Don’t think about how long it may take to master a scale or a particular piece of music.  This can also make practice feel tedious and like a burden.  Think instead of letting your own feelings show with each note you play.  Think about taking that scale or piece of music or the process of learning the cello itself one step at a time…and enjoy each step.

Time

Learning the cello takes everyone a different amount of time, which renders time irrelevant in the process.  There’s much to be gained from making efficient use of your learning time through efficient learning practices, but to focus on time itself can have a crippling effect.  Keep both eyes focused on each progressive step of the journey and your end result will not only be the mastering of each step, but also true enjoyment of the process which will make you both technically proficient and spiritually expressive.

Byron Duckwall is a professional cellist who teaches cello through his website masterthecello.com.  He writes, teaches cello using the Dounis method and was one of the very first string players to teach online.