René Lacoste is above all, a legend. A star on the courts of Wimbledon, Forest Hills and Roland Garros, René was one of the famous Four Musketeers (Jean Borot, Jacques Brugno, Henri Cochet and René Lacoste) who dominated the game of tennis in the late ‘20s and early ‘30s. They eventually led France to six straight wins (1927 through 1932) in the Davis Cup, and Rene became the world number one tennis player from 1926-1927. Nicknamed the ‘Crocodile’ and ‘Alligator’ for his tenacious attitude on the court, Rene is now better known for being the namesake and creator of the iconic 12.12 Lacoste Tennis shirt, which debuted in 1933.

Fast forward 75 years and the brand are celebrating this momentous occasion by launching a series of monotone shoes inspired by their tennis and yachting heritage. Unique to the 75 year collection is the use of the original crocodile which originated in 1933 and is embossed onto the uppers of each shoe. Tastefully executed in a consistent black and white scheme, the pack is a fitting tribute to the original purveyor of cool. July Release...

 

Some consider melody the most important aspect of music making. Of course, there's harmony and rhythm, but melody is the one part that listeners hold to memory more than any other, and, it's also the easiest part to create!

For example, in the lesson Oriental Sunrise, we have two chords. Now if we just play these chords, if we just fool around with them, we get textures and whiffs of sound that drift away and do not hold. But, as soon as we add in melody, the whole piece becomes alive and discernable.

To create a melody really requires nothing more than playing around with the right-hand. The left has the chords and creates the harmonic background - an aural canvas if you will. Now, we can add in highlights to our sound painting using melody.

We improvise and are amazed at the fact that just a few notes is enough to create a wonderful sound - especially since you use the pentatonic scale. You can't go wrong by playing on the black keys. Every note you produce will sound "good." We let go and allow our intuitive mind to come up with the melody and the music pours out of us.

Once you know the scale you'll be playing in, (in this case, minor pentatonic) you are free to play any note you want from it to create your melody. The focus is now on making music and not on choosing melody notes - a very freeing experience!

Edward Weiss is a pianist/composer and webmaster of Quiescence Music's online piano lessons. He has been helping students learn how to play piano in the New Age style for over 14 years and works with students in private, in groups, and now over the internet. Visit http://www.quiescencemusic.com now and get a FREE piano lesson!

Reigniting our popular bootleg feature with a great MMJ set... My Morning Jacket 10-23-2005 Murat Theater Indianapolis, IN Disc 1 01 - Intro 02 - Wordless Chorus 03 - It Beats 4 U 04 - Gideon 05 -… (in post Bootleg Justice - My Morning Jacket Live @ Murat Theater in Indianapolis, IN (10.23.2005) from Musical Justice. Download this at Amazon iTunes More by this artist at eMusic)

Many people ask themselves 'how can I teach myself to sing?' as the cost and time associated with learning from a professional instructor is horrendous not to mention the scrutiny you must learn under. How then can you teach yourself such a complex skill to a degree that can make people sit up and listen when you break out in song? Well with the wealth of resources on the internet and a few tips you can easily better your voice.

Firstly there are a few things you can do yourself that will help you develop a good singing voice and expend your range.

• Breathing
  
  If you learn to breath correctly while singing you will go a long way to improving your voice. One issue many people have is that they hold their breath while singing rather than letting the air flow through them. If you do not have enough breath to sing long notes then you need to develop a better breathing. To do this you must draw breath into your diaphragm down at the bottom of your lungs instead of what is called belly breathing or chest breathing it is called diaphragmatic breathing. An exercise you can do for this is to place a hand on your diaphragm and a hand on your chest and breath in and out steadily, while doing this make sure the hand on your chest does not move much at all while the pother hand should be moving with your expanding and retracting diaphragm. Once you can breathe properly and learn how to sing without holding back you can really start to get into it.
  


• Emote
  
  While technical skills are vital if you cannot move people with your voice you are not much of a singer. When singing even practicing be emotive, use your whole body and face and limbs to show the emotions you are feeling when you are singing the song. A singer who cannot bring emotion into their voice is like a flame without any heat, it fulfils one criteria but it is not complete.
  


• Practice
  
  As simple and clichd as it sounds practice is vital, it may not make perfect but it does make much, much better! Do not over do it and get a sore throat but sing whenever you can! Sing in the car! Sing in the shower! Sing when making a meal! Make music and singing an every day part of your life and experiment while you do it. You will learn a lot this way and you will become more comfortable with your voice and breathing. Also while practicing if you can use a mirror to sing in front of you can see how you body reacts when you sing, changing slight things with your posture and face when using a mirror can give you remarkable changes in your voice you may not be able to get if you cannot see yourself.
  

While there are a great many things more than this you can do to learn singing by yourself these is a good start. Then comes the hard bit, the technical skills and training yourself to find the correct pitch and tone and many other detailed and complicated aspects of singing. To teach yourself to sing you now need resources and lucky for you the internet is a great place for these things. How can I teach myself to sing online you ask? Well you could trawl through youtube and various websites but there are an abundance of professional courses out there you can download that give you an amazing wealth of skills that you can use from your own home. Using teach yourself singing software is the only way to get past a certain level of singing you can learn yourself without these resources.

Convinced you can learn to sing without forking over stacks of money and time to an instructor?Want an amazing singing voice that will make people really sit up and listen? If so you need a self learning resource to teach yourself to sing click here to see which product on the market is best for you! http://www.squidoo.com/learn_to_sing_software_product_review

The newly launched Nike 1World project has been created in conjunction with select cool kids in the “sports, music, art and design fields”, presumably hand-picked for their innate panache on a global scale. The scope of 1World has been defined as 18 original shoes, which will be launched month by month via Nike's awesome AF-1 website.

Today the first three have now been revealed – from the rainbow excess of Busy P to the refelective digital camo of Gore-Texer (Nitro Microphone Underground) and finally Rasheed’s hightop with ‘Max Air’, you couldn’t find three more different AF-1s if you tried. Definitely a bright start to this project...
Just go to http://www.nikeairforce1.com and hit the 1World button - all will be revealed in due course!

 

When you're picking rap instrumental beats for your hip-hop or R&B album, there are a couple of things you need to carefully consider and listen for, if you want a clean and consistent sound without over-spending.

1. Find Beats That Are Properly Equalized (Or E.Q.'d)

I hate to be the one to tell you this but if you're using rap instrumental beats that your buddy made on fruity loops, they're probably not hitting hard enough. If you really want your beats to "Crack" as they say, you need beats that have been "e.q.'d" or "equalized" properly. It's really important because it determines how good your song sounds in any stereo system or on any mp3 player. Ever played one of your tracks in the car, and it sounded way different than when you played it on your computer, or in your friend's car? That's because the beat hasn't been equalized properly, and if you're serious about putting out a good album that can play on the radio or in the clubs, you absolutely have to use beats that have been e.q.'d properly. Equalizing is no easy task and takes a long time to learn. And if you want to pay someone to do it, be ready to spend a couple hundred dollars.

2. Find Beats That Are Properly "Panned"

If you can't hear your vocals very well because they're getting washed out by the beat (or vise-versa), then your beat isn't stereo-panned properly. This can be a problem! Knowing which instruments to stereo, and how much to pan them, can take quite a while to figure out. No matter how many instruments are being used in the beat, you should NEVER have a problem hearing the vocals. And no, it's not your mic or your software. The beat is messed up. Find rap instrumental beats that are stereo-panned correctly and have a nice even sound, with no one instrument blaring over the top of the others.

3. Find Beats That You Can "Lease"

This one can be tough just because we all want to "own" our music and can't stand the thought of someone else out there having the same beat as us. Don't let your ego cost you a lot of money.

Remember, when you're putting together your album, if you do it right, you're probably only going to end up using a small percentage of the songs you've recorded. For example, you should probably have at least 30 songs recorded before you find the 12-17 tracks that you really feel good about putting on your album. The bottom line here, is don't spend a bunch of money on exclusive rights to songs that you may never put on your album. Now if you find one that you know is going to be your radio single or your "banger," then it may be worth buying the exclusive rights to that beat. There are a few production companies that offer "leased" rap instrumental beats for a very low cost and you have almost all of the same rights to those beats that you would if you bought them exclusively. You can simply go to their website, find the beat/beats that you like, purchase with paypal, and download your beat instantly, in a high-quality mp3 file format. This is a cost-effective way to get high-quality beats for your project, in a short amount of time!

Get Instant Access To Rap Instrumental Beats That Are Panned, E.Q.'d, and Ready For Your Album, And Claim Your Free Beat Today, At: http://www.ittybittybeatclub.com/subscription

I saw this Shitdisco Vs. Beetroots track at La New Shit , one of the dopest blogs ever, some time ago and i just felt like I should share it with you folks as well. Also, seeing as… (in post La New Shitdisco from Hot Biscuits. More by this artist at eMusic Amazont iTunes)

Strange jobs? How do we define that? Years ago I stole cars as a repo-man, had some adventures as an investigative process-server, and even handed out samples in grocery stores. Here are some other unusual jobs you can aspire to:

Wrinkle Chaser

This is the person that irons wrinkles from shoes as they are being made to ensure they are perfectly smooth when you buy them.

Chicken Sexer

This is a real job title. A chicken sexer sorts through baby chicks to determine if they are male or female, and then segregate them.

Citrus Fruit Colorer

A Citrus Fruit Colorer, with the help of steam and chemicals, gives citrus fruit a more natural coloring, because fruit is usually picked before it is fully ripe.

Celluloid Trimmer

A Celluloid Trimmer shaves down a golf club and then adds celluloid bands onto the golf clubs to make the leather grip stay in place.

Odor Judgers

Want to smell armpits all day to help make effective deodorants? I'm not sure why somebody other than some strange fetishist would want this job.

Furniture Tester

Now here's a good one. The La-z-Boy Company (and probably others) employs furniture testers to check out their recliners. Want to relax for a living?

Cowpuncher

You can herd, castrate and brand cattle. Then, when you get bored castrating cattle, you can repair fences, watering troughs and do other maintenance work on the ranch.

Alligator Wrangler

This is more of a dangerous job than a strange one, and probably not worth the pay, unless you get a T.V. show like the The Crocodile Hunter.

This is just a small sampling of the weird jobs out there. I understand that sumo-wrestlers need helpers in the bathroom, for example, and a friend of mine once had a job painting "Brake Release" on those little handles all day. Then there are the strange businesses you can start, but that's another story.

Steve Gillman has had an interest in all the many ways to make money since childhood. You can read about more strange businesses and jobs at his website: http://www.UnusualWaysToMakeMoney.com

Its distinctive beat gives it away. There is nothing in the world that sounds like reggae music. The expected chops and the back beat by the rhythm guitar and the distinctive sound of the bass drum marks reggae as a genre by its own right. Reggae music originated from several other Jamaican music types just as great as it is like ska, rocksteady, RandB, Jazz, Calypso, and Mento.

Jamaican music is as rich as its history. The soul of each and every Jamaican song traces its roots to the black people herded onto ships, clinging to their most priceless possessionsclothing, food, and for many, their drums. These drums that traveled as far as their owners have are what brought the world priceless gifts and that are the gifts of music. The slaves used their music to fill-up their lives and sang about everything. They have songs of praise, songs of love, songs of loneliness, and songs of inspiration. It is not surprising therefore, that reggae music has been used by the likes of Bob Marley and The Wailers to promote certain political issues like poverty and injustice.

From the characteristic drumbeats, Jamaican folk music has embraced innovation and has added a whole range of flavor to their indigenous music. Combining the drumbeats to a lot of different musical instruments, like the rhythm guitar, and the trumpet, produced ska, rocksteady and eventually reggae.

Reggae music swooped Jamaica just when it was about to proclaim its independence and the masses were clamoring for a beat, a sound that could articulate their emotions. Reggae rose up to the challenge and succeeded. A few years later, when the assurance of an improved quality of life and the promise of a bright tomorrow for a liberated nation came up empty reggae was still being played. But it started to serve a much higher purpose than entertainment. For the first time in its history, roots reggae took on its rebellious and defiant form. Reggae music told of stories of suffering in the shanties of Trenchtown, it told of stories of violence and corruption but most of all it told the people of Jamaica to get up and stand up for their rights.

As the country grew from bad to worse, the people started to look for a moral guidance that would give sense to the life of wretchedness they were living in. Rastafarianism answered the call of a people desperately seeking an alternative leader with convincing values of love and peace. The Rastafarian movement boomed, gained a huge following in Jamaica and reggae was the movements music. Eventually, roots reggae would be identified with Rastafarianism and vice versa. Dreadlocks, khakis, and kaftans became the symbol of reggae attitude.

Just when it seems that the evolution of reggae has gone through so much, it began to take on another controversial form with the arrival of dancehall reggae. This new type of reggae music is so called because its raunchy lyrics only allowed it to be played in dancehalls. Dancehall reggae is a form of rebellion against roots reggae because many artists believe that reggae music has gone too mainstream that it catered more to the demands of the audience than to reggaes real spirit. Infused with a lot of techno beats and computer generated riffs, dancehall departed from old school reggae musics slow and lulling beat and enveloped a more upbeat and fast rhythm.

And then there was ragga. Ragga music could be gangsta raps ancestor as it boldly came out with songs on violence, guns, and gangs. Many ragga songs were evidently masochistic with harsh lyrics demeaning women and praising male supremacy.

Over the course of history, raggas forerunners saw reason and tamed down their music. A couple prominent ragga figures went back to embrace Rastafarianism and sought a live of uprightness and peace.

Reggae music has come and changed in so many ways over the years. Yet it still makes the same sound as it did several decades ago. Reggae still sings the songs that make hearts beat faster, songs that make the feet dance harder, and songs that reflect the rhythm of the soul.

Contibuted ByRasBinghi.com Reggae Music

Another re-issue from Lacoste's stable of early '80s performance tennis shoes, the Eclair features an outsole designed for hard court use and a chunky as hell midsole that is reminiscent of the Puma GV. If you squint hard enough, it might even tempt AF-1 lovers looking for a spring fling. The upper features suede overlays linked into the lacing for support and the tongue branding is an authentic replication of the Lacoste Crocodile from this era. As part of a triple pack, this jaffa is only a hint of what's to come – if it had a cream centre and choc icing, we'd be in heaven. Smash!

 

Ah!! Theres not much like the thrill of seeing the latest Hollywood blockbuster on the big screen! Excitement fills the air as the house lights dim. The low murmur from the speakers begins to rise and surround you as the sounds permeate the theater from back to front, left to right- adding a bit of vibrating excitement from the tips of your toes up to top of your head. Every hair on your body stands up on end. This experience can be recreated in your very own home, as long as you have the right home theater equipment.

A DVD player is mandatory, as the output of such a device is over 500 horizontal lines of resolution compared to just 200 lines on a VHS tape for a VCR. Prices for these players can run from $30 to $250 or more depending on the amount of extra doodads you want to have. DVD players can also play the majority of music CDs, therefore alleviating the need for a separate system.

The television in most home theaters is one of the widescreen models, as the majority of DVDs are created in this particular format to imitate the theaters, but you can play DVDs on any type of screen. Most new televisions larger than 27 diagonally are made only as widescreen sets, including those in the three main types of sets sold for home theaters: flat-panel, rear-projection and front-projection in plasma, LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) and HDTV (High Definition Television).

Some useful information for picking out the perfect television: Flat-panel TVs come in nearly every size and run between $700 and $10,000; rear-projections are typically 42 and up to about 70, and will cost between $1,000 and $5,000. Front-projections with High Definition start at $1,500 and head upward, but require a very dark room for a decent picture. LCD is best for a light room, while Plasma TVs have darker darks and richer tones to create a better overall experience.

There are ideally 5 speakers in a home theater- a large one to place above or on top of the television, one smaller one to each side of the TV, and one at each rear corner of the room. Basically, the four smaller speakers should be in the corners of a square or rectangle that creates your home theater room. If you have high, slanted or cathedral ceilings, or arent thrilled with the idea of drilling holes to suspend the speakers from the ceiling, speaker stands will work just fine. If the stands are chosen properly, as well as the speakers, they can either stand out or blend nicely into your rooms dcor. And dont forget the subwoofer to create the rumbling bass-sound for the echoes of explosions and/or the oncoming entourage of airplanes, as what would a home theater be without those.

John Griese recommends that you visit http://www.audio-discounters.com/ for more information on Home Theater Equipment.

PETER GABRIEL 's HOME .[ MP3 ] [ VID ] "Shock the Monkey" [1982] [MP3 ] [ VID ] "In Your Eyes" [1986] [MP3 ] [ VID ] "Digging in the Dirt" [1992] [MP3 ] "San Jacinto" [1982]… (in post PETER GABRIEL - PART 2 from a PLAGUE of ANGELS. Download this at Amazon iTunes)

As far as instruments go, the bass guitar is one of the newest on the scene. It's a completely original component of today's bands and modern music and has not even been in existence for a century. Don't let the name "bass guitar" fool you either, the bass guitar is not actually derived from the guitar.

While electrical guitars were developed from acoustic guitars, bass guitars were developed from the double bass instrument. They were originally known (and are still sometimes called) electrical bass instruments or the electric bass.

The original double bass, or simply the bass, are the massive, classical instruments that have been around for several hundred years. They are played with the instrument resting on the ground, using a bow across the strings.

The bass guitar is of course held with a strap on a musician's body and is played using one's fingers. As opposed to the back and forth of the bow on its predecessor and the strumming with a pick of an electrical guitar, the bass guitar is typically played with either plucking or slapping movements of the fingers.

The bass guitar is tuned to sound the same as an original bass with of course the added benefit of being able to be amplified. In the early part of the 20th century, as music was getting louder, the bass was being drowned out and was unable to be heard. And so the quest for an electrical bass began.

Leo Fender and the Creation of the Bass Guitar

Leo Fender was an amazing man, a visionary and is one of the single most influential people in modern music history. All of these things and many more is Leo Fender. However, one thing he is not is the inventor of the bass guitar.

In 1935, it was Paul Tutmarc who developed the first incarnation of the electric bass. It was to be played horizontally and held like a guitar and could be plugged in for amplification. However, his instrument never truly caught on. It was in 1951 that the bass began earning its spot in modern music.

Leo Fender created his Fender Precision Bass, which was mass produced and skyrocketed in popularity. Gibson followed shortly there after and the bass guitar became an important component of jazz ensembles and today, nearly all musical styles and bands.

Just as with the electric guitar, Leo Fender capitalized on previous inventions, tweaked them to his own specifications and mass produced them to extreme success. While he should be remembered fondly for his contributions, let's not forget the original inventor of the electric bass, Paul Tutmarc.

Jay Villaverde is the owner of http://www.VintageGuitarShop.net A site dedicated to preserving the beauty and sound of vintage acoustic, electric and bass guitars. He offers great deals on vintage guitars from Gibson and Fender plus many other manufacturers. If you love music and love the guitar, this is a must see site.

Sneaker Freaker Magazine - Global sneaker news, info & exclusive updates - everything sneakers.

The fact you have a music CD released to your name, means that you now own your very own record label, even if you don't handle the financial and administrative side of things. This is so because the job of a record label is to release records and that is how you have a company to your name. It is actually that easy if you have the zeal! Just formally set-up what you are doing, a few extra things need to be taken into account.

Opening this company under an original brand name, a name that would look professional and one that is serious in what it is doing would be of great help in publicity. Having a brand name also helps from the financial side as you accept checks under your brand name and not under your own or the musician's name, which adds to the professionalism. And if other musicians opt to release their music with you, you can always give your own brand name.

A brand name can take a lot of time to choose but the whole activity is fun to do too. It is so because your initial and best efforts show in the name you choose. It proves how serious and how creative you are regarding your work, moreover, the field itself asks for creativity. Choose a name that fits the type of music you want to create and convey it to the public. As acceptable by law, you can use a brand name used by some other company in a different field but it shouldn't just be directly recognizable by the businesses in your area. Choosing a brand name similar to the one used by people in the same business is not feasible.

For setting up a company solely won't prove to be a good idea, but seeking advice from a lawyer or from someone who is experienced as well as trustworthy in the field would be a smart thing to do. This is helpful because solely, being an amateur, you may not know the ups and downs of the business and seeking the advice of a learned in the field can help you get to know the pros and cons in the business, as well as polish your dealings with professionals and amateurs in the field alike.

Just publicize the fact that there is this record label by so and so brand name by the help of newspapers, internet, banners, posters, etc. Designing a logo for the company will help people to identify your company even before looking at its name. Just make it familiar to the public and just a glance at your logo is enough to make your company famous. To increase your company's status, you can release music by other people under your record label so that at the times when your own music isn't doing good business, that can lift up your score. Remember, the main responsibility is on you to produce the best music and good music at that, for the public to listen to and enjoy!

http://www.getputon.com

The world was ripe after weeks of waiting, so we ushered in the solstice with a trip to the U-Pick farm just up the hill. One hour and seventeen pounds of sweet, deep red berries later, we staggered… (in post Strawberry Sunday: Berry Coversongs from Michelle Shocked, Bruce Cockburn, Sarah Harmer & more! from Cover Lay Down. Download this at Amazon iTunes)

One of the first challenges faced by the advancing guitar player is learning a core group of basic guitar chords. Why is it so important to learn these basic chords? Chords form the backbone of most rock and pop songs, and provide the harmonic accompaniment to the melody and instrumental solos.

Rhythm guitar based on basic chords provides many of the most memorable rock riffs think AC/DCs Back in Black or The Whos Wont Get Fooled Again. Whats really amazing is that by learning no more than 10 to 15 basic guitar chords, you will be equipped to play thousands of rock and pop songs!

First lets establish the definition of a chord. A chord is three or more different musical notes played together. In the case of the guitar, this means that at least three strings are strummed or plucked simultaneously to sound three or more notes. Since the guitar has six strings, the maximum numbers of notes in a guitar chord is six. All chords can be placed in one of three groups based on the musical structure of the chord: Major, Minor, or Seventh. Each of these chord groups has its own sound or feel. Major chords sound stable and complete. Minor chords can evoke a more somber or pensive mood, and Seventh chords are jazzy and somewhat incomplete sounding.

There is no standard list of basic guitar chords that every one agrees to. However, there is general agreement that there is a list of somewhere between 8 and 18 basic guitar chords (open string) that every guitarist must know cold. These chords are used in all musical styles from rock and pop to country, jazz, and classical. No matter where you are on your guitar-playing path, you should take the time to learn and master the basic chords. Getting these right will ensure you have the basic tools and skills to learn many songs and increase your playing enjoyment.

So what are the basic guitar chords? Our basic stable includes the major and minor chords from four common musical keys, A,G,C, and D. They are played as open chords, that is at least one string in the chord is not fretted (pressed down with a finger). Open chords are easier to learn and play than more advanced chords such as Barre chords, or complex chords further up the guitar neck. Our list of basic major and minor chords is:

A Major (or A), A Minor (or Am), C, D, Dm, E, Em, F, G

These chords can be best learned as chord families (by key) that can be combined into great-sounding chord sequences that make up lots of popular songs. Using this chord family approach is much more interesting and useful than just memorizing a bunch of chords in random order!

These chords grouped by chord family (key) are as follows:

A Family (Key of A): A, D, E

D Family (Key of D): D, Em, G, A

G Family (Key of G): G, Am, C, D, Em

C Family (Key of C): C, Dm, Em, F, G

Tips for Learning the Basic Chords:

1. Pick a Chord Family and master it. This will give you quick success and let you play great sounding progressions right away.

2. Use a Guitar Chord Chart as a reference tool. A chord chart shows each chord as an easy to read chord diagram with exact finger positions. See this example of a chart of basic guitar chords.

3. Find the chords and lyrics for an easy song that is based on the chord family so you can apply your skills. Many great songs are based on only three chords!

4. Ensure each string sounds right. Take care to make sure that each string is sounding clearly, and that only the strings that should be played are played.

5. Practice, practice, practice! Every day, practice continually change from one chord to another until you can do it rapidly. Learn the chord families one at a time.

6. Master all the basic chords first. Only then move on to Barre chords and other more complex chords. First things first!

7. Expand with 7th chords. As a next step you can easily expand on your basic chord knowledge by adding 7th and minor 7th chords based on the nine basic major and minor chords.

8. Have fun using your new skills! Enjoy your musical ability by applying it to learning a small set of 5-10 songs you know really well and can confidently play at any time.

Copyright 2005 Peter Bussey of www.guitar-players-toolbox.com

This article can be reprinted freely online, as long as the entire article and the resource box are included.

Peter Bussey has been an avid guitar player for over 10 years. In 2004 he became Editor of The Guitar Players Toolbox, a website dedicated to helping advancing guitar players improve with practical tools, tips, and information. Visit http://www.guitar-players-toolbox.com for a variety of free, practical resources such as guitar chords, guitar chord charts, song chords, and more.

Those Zune owners, who download music off the Internet, become more and more aware of legal Zune music downloads. Obviously, downloading copyright-protected music from unauthorized websites is no better than stealing. The reason why quite a lot of people are still doing that is free stuff, and this sounds too tempting to ignore. Yet, there are definite benefits of legal Zune music downloads, in spite of the fact that they do not come for free.

Full Protection for Your PC and Zune

This is, probably, the biggest advantage of legal music. The files you download from trusted sources are 100% malware and virus free. You do not need to worry for your PC or Zune getting harmed. On the other hand, illegal music sources are never clean - you get spyware through file sharing application, adware through annoying pop-ups, and viruses through downloaded files.

Greater Quality

Legal Zune music downloads are always of the highest quality and, needless to say, they are in the right format. Illegal music often comes in degraded quality, and songs might be incomplete.

Better Organization and Easy Navigation

Authorized sites for Zune downloads are well-organized and make it very easy to search for a particular track. There is no chance for a wrongly labeled track in their music libraries. Shady music sharing networks and other suspicious music sources can be highly disorganized and confusing, making the navigation complicated and misleading for the user.

Professional Customer Support

Should you have any problem downloading the songs or using the site, professional support is always available and ready to help. It makes getting legal Zune music downloads completely hassle-free. Do not count on any technical assistance on free illegal websites - even if it is there formally, on practice it is always unavailable.

No Fear of Getting Fined

Downloading music legally, you can relax: you are not violating any law, so there is no reason to face a lawsuit. Illegal activity on music sites (even if you only download the music and do not share) can lead to huge fines as some cases showed.

In case you are under the impression that legal music downloads are always too expensive, you will be happy to know that you are wrong. Go to my blog and learn where you can get legal Zune music downloads at the lowest price on the Web.

Learn how you can get unlimited Zune downloads - music, movies, games and software for your player instantly.

Today's free and legal mp3 downloads:Gourds : 2004-11-12, Thomasville [mp3,ogg,flac]"Blue Eyes Cryin' in the Rain (Willie Nelson cover)" [mp3]Gourds : 2004-11-10, Baton Rouge [mp3,ogg,flac]"Steeple Full of Swallows" [mp3]Gourds : 2004-10-27, KUT [mp (in post Daily Downloads (My Morning Jacket at Bonnaroo and more) from Largehearted Boy. More by this artist at eMusic Amazont iTunes)

Johann Sebastian Bach was unique among the great composers in many ways.

Not only did he teach his family music and harpsichord, but several of his sons became famous composers in their own right.

Bach's teaching method for the keyboard was valuable in that it gives us insight into a great master's view of children at the piano.

Most of Bach's great teaching pieces, the most famous of which is the Minuet in G (remember the Diana Ross version?) were written expressly for his children and appear in a volume called Anna Magdalena's Notebook.

Since his children became famed composers, perhaps Bach had some great ideas on teaching children the piano. Of course, since musical talent is often inherited, perhaps he was also just starting with good material!

The first thing one notes when looking at Bach's teaching pieces is that they are all good music. By that I mean that the music itself, regardless of the fact that it was written for a child's capabilities, is of the highest musical quality.

I mention this only because so many piano methods today consist of utterly boring exercise pieces that kids are forced to play. Bach, in the wisdom of a great master, knew that to interest children the music must be enjoyable and tuneful.

Next, we see that the pieces are cleverly arranged such that the child is immediately using all five fingers of the right hand, spread in a row. Not only that, this five-finger position is used everywhere, so that the child is constantly asked to put their hand and fingers in this position, instilling the habit of good fingering immediately and automatically.

The child's hand is rarely asked to make advanced finger moves, such as turning the thumb under the index finger. And the complexities of this type of fingering are gradually introduced, starting with the Minuet wherein the index finger occasionally is turned over the thumb.

And once again, Bach is clever in his design of the curriculum, for the further one goes in the Anna Magdalena Songbook, the more complex the fingering problems becomes. But at the beginning of the book, he avoids the more difficult positions until the child has had a chance to gain familiarity with easier positions.

In a line of piano teachers that reaches from Bach to the great Franz Liszt, from the late 18th century to the early 20th, Bach's works for children are unique in their longevity, quality and understanding of both teaching and children's psychology.

Like any intelligent piano teacher, Bach understood the value of starting with something very easy to understand and then building slowly to more complex levels.

His children benefited from this easy approach, and your children can too.

By John Aschenbrenner Copyright 2000 Walden Pond Press. Visit http://www.pianoiseasy.com to see the fun PIANO BY NUMBER method for kids.

John Aschenbrenner is a leading children's music educator and book publisher, and the author of numerous fun piano method books in the series PIANO BY NUMBER for kids. You can see the PIANO BY NUMBER series of books at http://www.pianoiseasy.com

I went wireless with the internet last week! Should have done it ages ago! Became my inspiration for today's loosely themed tunes! Enjoy! Athlete - Wires [Live from Glastonbury] MP3 MySpace The Envy Corps - Wires & Wool… (in post Sunday's 7 degrees of Separation from Mixtape 4 Melfi. More by this artist at eMusic Amazont iTunes)

Building a fan base is an important step for any band interested in elevating their recording and performing career. With attention and planning, even a modest following can become a powerful tool to support an artist's work and expand their popularity.

People are attracted to bands on musical, cultural, social, sensory and spiritual levels. While fitting in to current trends may result in a rush of flavor-of-the-month fans, the artists who pursue and stay true to their own musical vision appear to have a greater chance at creating a broad, dedicated fan base. Rolling Stone contributed Kentucky-based band My Morning Jacket's broad success to their unique musical vision, noting "The band's ecstatic, spacey records and improv-heavy live shows are as popular with Bonnaroo hippies as they are with New York hipsters." Frontman Jim James told the magazine, "We love that...Looking in the audience and seeing frat boys, indie rockers and maybe some sixty-year-old women."

In the digital age, artists shouldn't be afraid to give music away in order to reach more people. Andrew Dubber of NewMusicStrategies.com wrote an article titled "The 20 Things You MUST Know About Music Online" which counsels musicians to "forget product--sell relationship." In a recent interview, Dubber told HomeTracked.com: "I recommend (musicians) recognize that their recordings are not the totality of their economic value. Recordings are idealized performances that show musicians in their best light. These are the best promotional tools available...And if records are the way you want to make your money, just think of it this way: it used to be that youd press 1000 copies, give away 200 promos, and hope to sell the other 800. Now you can press 1000 copies, give away a million copies and sell the thousand."

Once a band has earned a few fans by playing shows and giving away music, it's important to retain their interest and encourage networking by keeping them up to date with current songs, concerts and a steady flow of appealing merchandise. The digital age presents a number of ways to accomplish this, with maintaining a web site, posting profiles on social music sites like Echoboost.com, email, internet radio, podcasts and social video sites. Performing Songwriter suggests networking through cell phones using fan club text messaging services like Broadtexter, which "enables North America-based musicians to create free Mobile Fan Clubs which easily allow them to use regionalized text messaging to stay connected with fans."

At the end of the day, it's vital for bands to take their relationships with fans as seriously as their music. The acts who consistently provide people with appealing music, quality live performances and a steady stream of positive interaction will undoubtedly increase their chances of long-term loyalty.

To read other music-related articles visit http://www.echoboost.blogspot.com and http://www.echoboost.com