Barrie Dance Studio

When studying the piano, a student encounters a myriad piano styles. To master the instrument, at least several of these styles must be learned, and all if at all possible. Knowledge of various playing styles enables a pianist to enjoy and play in any genre and to cross-polinate styles to create a fusion he or she can call their own.

Many modern piano styles are based on the blues. The blues involve an emphasis on the major and minor pentatonic scales, with an additional note included. The flatted fifth is added to the minor pentatonic to create the blues scale. Many blues songs are based on a simple chord progression, known as 12-bar blues. This uses the I, IV and V chords of a scale to create a foundation for melodies and solos.

For example, rock piano was born out of the blues and then took on a life of it’s own in the stylings of Jerry Lee Lewis, Michael McDonald, Elton John, Billy Joel, and many others.

Cocktail piano is a style generally connected with Liberace, Eddy Duchin, Roger Williams, and others who play popular tunes with lots of great technique — lots of notes, runs, flourishes, and so on. But I hate to catagorize and of these great pianists, as many of them play in other styles as well.

Boogie-woogie is a piano style based on the blues. It started as a solo piano style, but has expanded into other genres, such as county-western and gospel. It differs from the blues in that it is considered dance music, while blues music traditionally expresses sadness and frustration.

Rhythm and blues piano is based on blues, jazz, and gospel styles. As the name suggests, the emphasis is on the rhythm of the song. Most R&B has a particular swing to it, with a strong feel of syncopation in the rhythm. Syncopation involves placing the stress on a normally unstressed beat. This often results in an almost off-time feel to the untrained ear.

Ragtime piano also incorporates syncopation. Ragtime uses syncopation in its melodies by placing melodic notes between the stressed beats of the rhythm. Ragtime is often considered the first completely American genre, even predating jazz.

Jazz piano encompasses such a broad palate of styles that it is impossible to describe. Many piano styles incorporate ideas borrowed from jazz, such as improvisation. An emphasis on extended chord forms and chord re-harmonization also stems from jazz piano.

New age piano often involves less chord changes than other styles, instead relying on simpler progressions and polychords. It often imitates the sound of nature -babling brooks, wind, rain, and so on. A polychord occurs when two different chords are played at once. This technique is taken from earlier classical works by composers such as Stravinsky.

Gospel piano is often similar to the blues, jazz and R&B. It emphasizes certain extended chords, such as the 11th, and usually has the swinging feel associated with jazz and R&B. The apparent simplicity of gospel songs often hides the fact that they are, indeed, quite musically complex. Syncopation is highly stressed in gospel music, as it contributes to the overall spiritual feel of the music.

Country and western piano has similar roots as blues piano. Both styles stem from earlier folk styles, often developed by the less fortunate people of the era. Many early country songs stem from Appalachian folk songs. Country and western piano is highlighted by very bright playing, with simple chord progressions underneath the melody. One of the greats in this styles is Floyd Cramer.

Traditional sacred piano styles involve the playing of liturgical songs and hymns. These can range from the harmonically and rhythmically complex to simple two and three chord songs. Many hymns stem from folk songs of centuries past. The variety of sacred piano styles is as numerous as the liturgical songs themselves. These piano styles often involve a strict reading of notation, with less of an emphasis on personal interpretation than other styles.

The classical piano style is probably the most varied of all the styles. Classical music is older than other styles, and is considered to the proper grounds for musical instruction. Many elements of other piano styles come from classical music, and nearly all forms of musical theory are used in classical music. Andre Previn is the classic example of a well-trained classical pianist crossing over into the world of jazz, and with great success. Classical music usually requires intense training to master, though there many simpler pieces designed with the novice player in mind.

Though classical is often considered the high point of music, this “ain’t necessarily so.” For instance, many players who are “classically trained” have trouble adapting to the feel and sincerity of the blues. For this reason, a well-rounded player should be adaptable and learn as much about each of these piano styles as possible. In this way, a pianist is ready for any musical challenge. And besides, who knows where the future of music lies?

You could have the most sophisticated recording studio in the world at your fingertips but if you don’t have the inspiration to make great music then it’s all worthless. The real musicians and beat-makers that have the spark and creativity to move people have something that they tap into that sets them apart from the rest.

Click to Make Music Online Starting From Jazz To Rap

I’m going to show you how easy it is to make hip hop beats instantly using something you already have right now. Worry about the drum machines, beat-making programs and synthesizers in a minute, but for now just hear me out.

Hip hop and rap music are deeply rhythm based music styles. All of the great hip hop and rap songs are driven by the beat. The drum beat is absolutely the most important part of the hip hop song. If the beats are good enough they will tap into that invisible, powerful thing that makes everyone who hears them start to do the same thing – MOVE! If you can’t help but at least bob your head, clap your hands or move around a little when you hear a song you know you’ve got a great beat to work with. That’s my standard to make great hip hop beats to. It must move people.

Need proof of this? Try putting on a great song at a party full of people having fun – they will all react. Everybody will scream out, sing along and dance instantly. But if you put on some dry song with uninspiring, limp beats, you can literally watch the energy evaporate from the room. Bummer dude. Your song sucks.

Click to Make Music Online Starting From Jazz To Rap

So how do you make a great hip hop beat instantly? It’s even easier than trying to come up with an amazing rhythm idea out of thin air. Here’s how you do it: you have to stand up, imagine yourself at a party or crowded club, and start dancing FIRST. It will only take about one or two seconds of moving your body before your brain starts to create something for your hips to react to. It’s almost impossible to dance to absolutely no music at all without instantly hearing something great in your head that your body really wants to dance to. Try it and you’ll see that it’s true. But don’t be lazy about it – you really have to move and get into it.

To make it even easier, stand up, start moving and dancing a little and sing the beats and melody out loud while you get into it. You might feel stupid at first but who cares? I’d much rather be a great musician who does a corny warm up than a really cool tough guy who makes crappy, boring beats that nobody wants to dance to.

the reason this works is that your mind and body are connected and what you do with one affects the other. Don’t sit in a chair at your computer or drum machine and try make great beats by staring at the buttons and lights, that’s not going to get you anywhere. Get your booty up and stroll around the floor like you would at a bangin party and your mind will fill in the music that your body is moving to. THEN go over to the drum machine and bang out the beat – but don’t sit down until you’re done.

Click to Make Music Online Starting From Jazz To Rap

If you’re looking to go on a cruise, then look for one that’s going to give you the most fun ever. Call it a carnival cruise!

Some cruises dedicate themselves to helping people get the most joyous trip of their lives aboard their cruise liners. Many of the modern SuperLiner cruise ships are renowned for their fun, action packed, informal cruising, giving people the chance to get active or relax, and all the time with a smile on their face.

Accommodation is important on a cruise liner so make sure you choose wisely. Very often connecting rooms are available to give you close access to family and friends.

Dining on a carnival cruise is always an event to savour. Dinners, large buffets, café food, seafood, healthy eating and poolside buffets are all part of the choice to make eating an experience to remember.

Above all the pleasures of a carnival cruise are the activities that you can get involved in. Cruise ships are like floating leisure centres, but with the sun and sea right where you want them! You will find swimming pools, whirlpools, waterslides, fitness centres, volleyball, golf, rock climbing … all within easy reach. For the evening you can be entertained at dance clubs, jazz clubs, karaoke bars, comedy bars, piano bars, discos and even a casino.

If you need activities for younger members of the family, then professionally trained staff are available to offer activities for five age groups within the overall 2 to 17 age range.

Carnival cruises should fit the bill! They have 22 ships are cruise mainly in the Caribbean and Mexican Riviera, but also visit Alaska, Canada, New England and Hawaii for special seasonal departures.

Many programmers would not disagree that programming is not the most physically active vocation or past time. Despite all of the Occupational Health and Safety standards and policies delineating proper posture when typing and the correct height of the computer screen, a majority of us could care less, preferring to slouch, lean forward, put our monitors wherever we want and type regardless of where our keyboards are placed.

Programming is a creative pursuit and rigid rules over how we code does not work for all of us.

Our bodies on the other hand are evolution-locked in a past where we needed to climb, run, lift heavy objects and spend a good deal of our day in other kinds of physical activity. To keep coding at our optimum we need to introduce some kind of physical activity into our sedentary programming lives; activity that is either short and intensive or is complementary to our daily routines.

Activities that are complementary to our daily routine are those that we can quite easily incorporate into our travelling to work, sitting at work and lunch breaks. Here are some examples:

- Running or jogging to and from work.
- Skating (skateboards, scooters or rollerblades) to and from work.
- Isometric contractions whilst working at our desk or during a quick break.

Activities that provide short intensive workouts or just plain workouts are:

- Isometric contractions in sets or exercises at 30 seconds each or until muscle failure.
- Power lifting.
- Surfing.
- Martial arts like capoeira.
- Modern dance like hip-hop, break-dancing or jazz ballet.
- Aerobics.

My personal routine consists of sets of isometric exercise after or before work and I have a JDBug flexboard scooter, which I use to travel to and from work, as well as travelling between buildings to carry out support calls. A good group for isometric training is the Isometrics group at YahooGroups where you will find a lot of old books printed to the internet for download and a good many links. For fun I even incorporated my scooter into my isometric routines, using it as a tool for muscle resistance.

Exercise will increase the effectiveness of our brains to process information and make expedient decisions. For information on the wonderful effects of exercise upon our brain see Steven Gillman’s article Brain Power Brain-Power-Through-Exercise&id=64370.

With intensive exercise you will discover that the punishment you put yourself through during your exercise routine far outweighs any IT problems you experience throughout the day and that has got to be an incentive!

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In July, 2006 I attended the International Dance and Exercise Association (IDEA) conference in Las Vegas. As someone who started my coaching career by helping people create and achieve their fitness goals, I have attended this 4-day event for nearly a decade.

Over time, I worked out a preference for my favorite presenters and topics and generally stayed with the tried and true.

This year, maybe because it was in Vegas, I decided to gamble and take some risks. By this I mean, I signed up for classes that put me far outside my comfort zone. What would normally cause me to run screaming from the room in a cold sweat? I can sum it up in one word…

Dance.

Despite working in group exercise, I never had any dance training, and actually have a lousy sense of rhythm. Whenever I went “dancing”, I sat on the sidelines and watched my friends spin around the floor. If a guy asked me to dance, I’d give a strained smile, shake my head, and utter the words, “I don’t dance.”

For years I avoided diving into dance classes at IDEA because, c’mon there’s no way I’m going to put myself next to classically trained instructors who started taking tap at the age of 2. And I knew my incredibly talented dancer friends would have no problem pointing fingers at me and laughing outright at my attempts to look hip or graceful. (Yes, you know who you are.)

But this year I survived classes rooted in jazz, hip-hop, and afro-Cuban styles.

Did I look graceful? Not always. Did I look ridiculous? You have no idea.

Why am I telling you this?

Stay with me. I do have a point.

On the first morning of the conference at 6am, while I stood in line in for coffee near the hotel lobby, I stared as a trio of partiers strolled past with their Heinekens still in hand. I had probably gone to bed the night before around 11pm and these people were just calling it a night well after dawn. This blew me away.

That night I stayed up until midnight. The next until 2am. And the final night I pulled the covers over myself at 5:30 in the morning.

What did I do to occupy myself all night long? Play roulette? A late night with Celine Dion?

My friends and I went dancing.

And I had a fantastic time on the dance floor.

Amazing.

In the past, dancing until dawn was not even a remote possibility.

I hid behind those words, “I don’t dance.”

But by smashing that notion and taking some risks, by being willing to look ridiculous, I experienced some amazing things that I wouldn’t have seen had I stuck to my usual regimen of early to bed, early to rise.

What limitations do you put on yourself either in your business or in your life?

What notions are you hiding behind?

How does an unwillingness to look ridiculous hold you back?

Food for thought.