Harmony and Unison

The other day at choir practice, our director was trying to decide if she would prefer a certain hymn in our Christmas program to be sung in parts or in unison. In a sort of offhanded way, she asked, "I wonder if the heavenly choirs will be sung in parts or in unison?"

I responded to the effect that I didn't dare open that particular can of philosophical worms in a choir practice...

I mean, there's all kinds of levels here. On the musical side of it, there's plenty of fodder for both sides. Parts bring lush and rich harmonies, counterpoint, and fullness to a piece. There's a depth to it that you simply don't get with one single melody line.

But there's a power to unity, too. For example, when I was in high school, as a cellist in our orchestra, we played a piece, an arrangement of "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God". I don't even remember who did the arrangement. After the exposition, it went into so polyphonic explorations, typical of a good development section, but the recap was absolutely amazing. The entire orchestra, including the winds, all played the entire thing. Loud, slow, and in unison. Maybe it was the contrast that made it feel so big and powerful.

Another example. Many years ago, when I was still living in Indiana, my friends and I took a roadtrip to see Yes in concert in Champaign, Illinois. It was a great show, but one part stuck with me as a monumental moment in my life's ongoing musical experience. That was Chris Squire's bass solo. Now, typical bass solos are a time when the bassist really gets to show off his chops. Hands are dizzy and notes fly like snowflakes in a blizzard. And Chris Squire was certainly no slouch. He could match fury with the best of them.

But he comes out, and with a single light on him from above, plays "Amazing Grace". He plays it easily, slowly, and I might add, very loud and low. The house shook. No flashy embellishments. Nothing but the song.

And it was INCREDIBLE.

But then look how often a pop singer sings without accompaniment, or how often true unison orchestral performances happen. Look at great inspired works like "The Messiah", which expertly flips from monophony to homophony and polyphony at the drop of a baton.

So, the big philosophical question that is the extension of all this is: Does God want us lockstepping together or does he want us individually adding to the whole?

Personally, I feel that if he wanted us lockstepped, he would have backed Lucifer's plan in the first place. I like the thought of many different voices combining together harmoniously to add to the whole. But it seems that there are a lot of us Mormons who don't take to kindly to differences. To our credit, there are a lot of us who do, too.

And I also admit that, in music, there are times when a single melody can communicate very strongly.

Just a thought... or two...

Read More..

Free Christmas Music Download

Christmas music is some of the most fun choral music out there, both to sing and simply to drink in. Some of my favorites are more contemporary, but several have quickly become standards in our home. Yuletide celebrations are always incomplete without carols and Christmas music is always special. For some people who have sense of religious, they must be looking for free Christmas music. I know the place where you can get any kind of Christmas music at CarAngel.com. They provides free Christmas music download or Christmas Rock download which you will surely grab for free.

To prepare the best song for Christmas is very important. There are some Christmas Songs that are hymns as well. If you choose to attend a Christmas Eve service, you're likely to hear song like "O Holy Night," and "What Child is This?" Just thinking of these wonderful songs might be enough to get you in the holiday spirit! Standing there with your family while you sing these familiar tunes might be just the thing you need to take all of your worries away. Christmas songs and songs in general have a powerful effect on people. They have the ability to bring back memories and create new ones. Share your favorites with your family, or even create your own new Christmas songs. The fun you have will live in your memory forever.

Visit CarAngel.com to get more Christmas song for free.

Read More..

Is It Hard Or Easy To Write A Song?

Do you feel that it is easy to write songs? Can anyone be creative? A song is the end product produced by stimulating your song writing powers in many different ways. Let's take a look!

Here are some tips on how to stimulate and develop your song writing abilities:

Listen

An obvious tips of course! You have to listen to songs to find and develop your taste. But don't just listen to the music you usually listen to. Listen to things you don't normally hear on the radio. It will help your unconscious to create more interesting songs.

I recall that John or Paul in the Beatles talked about the music they heard on the radio when they were young. The radio channels in those days played many different types of music and they were inspired by the melodies heard on the radio like evergreens, jazz, folk music and classical music and so on.

On commercial radio channels nowadays you'll often find very niched music but I think it is important to find music that differs a lot from your normal taste. All these musical ideas will hopefully mold into interesting new melody lines. A form of fusion music.

Chord progressions

Sit down with your guitar or at your piano just playing chords that loosely seem to fit together. Don't worry about the quality of your progressions. It is important to have moments when you play without evaluating things, otherwise you will not dare to take the step into the unknown.

Song melodies

Humming melodies as you play chords on your guitar or piano in a relaxed manner will stimulate your creative powers. If you find it hard to improvise melodies, it might comfort you to know that it is a talent but also a skill that can be dveloped by practice. It can become a form of meditation that will clear your mind, stimulate your imagination and improvisational skills.

Lyrics

Well, what do you expect me to write here? Right, humming melodies with nonsense lyrics is a great way to stimulate and actually write a song. Nonsense lyrics might not be the apropriate term as every word you sing can trigger ideas that will lead you to a phrase that might be the beginning of a great song.

Documentation

A very boring and bureaucratic word indeed but somehow you have to find a way to remember all nice words and melodies. A recording device like an mp3-player, mobile, digital recorder or tape recorder might do. The simpler the better. You can of course do as I do, write sheet music and lyrics on scrap paper. However, this requires you to know sheet music notation unless you have invented your own notational system.

Using a computer

Personally I have discovered the advantage of using a word processor at this final stage of creating the song lyrics. I usually write down the text with a font size that will fill a printed page. This makes it easy to see the text on the screen and taste the lyrics with my heart.

This might sound a little weird but I guess that you want the listener to feel the same as you feel when you sing the song. You have to be touched by you own song first.

When you have the lyrics on your computer you can change a word here, a word there and and read the words over and over. One day you will realize that the song is complete and you can relax and be proud over your creation.

A song is not a song until it is sung

Well, this means that you have to give your song a chance to shine by singing it, working on your way to perform it and learning it by heart. By singing a song often, even in front of other people, it will most likely mature and the performance will develop and convey the message of the song better and better.

Read More..

Choosing a Piano For Your Home

A piano graces a house like no other piece of furniture. Much like a television it provides a focal point for a room. A piano provides an extra dimension while entertaining, or simply in entertainment. It is a place to express one's creativity, to relax and unwind, a kind of modern-day medication. The purchase of a piano is not something to be taken lightly. Due to its expense and size, the piano really becomes a part of the family. The piano can spend many generations with one single family, so getting the initial choice right is vital. In this article I aim to tackle the issue of buying a piano and examine the number of variables that one has to take into account.

The initial consideration when one comes to purchase a piano is that of space. In modern houses space is something of a commodity. The piano is going to be with you a long time so it's important that it sounds and plays exactly as you would like it to. There are a number of types of piano on offer, these include:
# Grand pianos

# Baby grand pianos

# Upright pianos

# Digital pianos

The best piano in any specific situation is wholly dependent on the variables already mentioned. If one has space in which to put it, a grand piano is a great option providing a true air of sophistication. It is true to say however that there are not many homes that could accompany such a large piece of furniture. In which case one might consider a baby grand piano. Like the traditional grand piano, a baby grand piano has the same action and sound but can take up considerably less space in the house. The baby grand piano can fit quite comfortably into a modern home. Then we have perhaps the most common of all home pianos, that of the upright piano. The upright piano sits snugly up against the wall and has a much smaller profile than a grand or baby grand piano. This type of piano however produces a different sound from that of a grand piano and provides less of an impressive focal point for a room. Lastly we have digital pianos. These pianos come in the grand, baby grand and upright varieties. They run on electricity and therefore require less maintenance than traditional pianos. Where as a traditional piano will require tuning, a digital piano will always sound just as great as the day it was bought. It's fair to say however that the digital piano lacks something in the style department. Many people consider buying pianos not simply for their sound quality, but also for their beauty; a digital piano doesn't provide this to the same degree.

The Difference Between a Grand and an Upright Piano

Generally speaking, the way we interact with both types of piano is identical. They both have standard keyboards. The main difference comes internally in the way the piano translates the key stroke into a physical sound. The piano is effectively a hybrid between a stringed and percussion instrument. When you press the key on the piano, a small hammer inside the piano is released and then hits the corresponding string. The string then vibrates and is left to do so allowing the sound to resonate. For this to happen, when the hammer hits the string it must immediately bounce back giving the string the ability to vibrate. The way a piano does this is quite interesting and varies between the styles of a piano. The upright piano relies wholly on gravity for this action. The strings in the upright piano run vertically meaning that when the hammer hits a string, the piano relies on gravity to take the hammer away again. In a grand piano however, the strings are laid horizontally, this creates an interesting engineering problem. In a grand piano the hammers hit the strings from the side and so cannot rely on gravity to take them back to the starting position. Because grand pianos rely not on gravity but on the quality of their internal mechanism, the build quality of a grand piano is very important.

New or Used Pianos?

With some products it's always better to buy new, with pianos however this isn't necessarily the case. Many people agree that older pianos resonate a richer and more mature sound than their newer counterparts. For people on a budget, the used piano may well be the option. So whether it be digital, traditional, grand, baby grand or upright, I hope I've given you all something to consider.

Read More..