Want to be the Beethoven or Mozart of your generation? These days, thanks to wonderful innovations in technology, you can learn to play the piano without having to pay for expensive piano lessons. You can play piano online.
There are a lot of websites that allows you to learn to play a variety of musical instruments online, the most popular ones being the guitar, the drums, and the piano.
There´s one easy way to play piano online. Some learn piano websites are fully interactive. Basically, an image of the piano will appear and you´ll use the mouse to click on the keys. Hit the right keys and make fine music online.
If you think you´re good enough, you can even record your playing. This kind of program is written in Java and may take a while to download. These are usually free or you only need to pay a small fee.
You can also download software. This option may cost you a few bucks. Most piano software packages available online include songs and video files, interactive games, and piano lesson books about all kinds of piano playing – from classical to jazz.
Another creative piano lesson online involves teaching people to play the piano by ear. Using one technique, which involves teaching piano patterns one by one and mixing them as the lessons progress, you can play the piano without using written music sheets.
One advantage of learning piano online is it allows flexibility in your time schedule. You can learn to play piano online anytime and anywhere in the world as long as you have your laptop and an internet connection.
Learn how to play piano online. Check out Rocket Piano if you want to learn how to play piano chords. Ashleigh Southam will teach you how to play piano easily online.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Learn To Play Piano Online – Using Online Piano Tools To Help You Learn Piano
Saturday, November 15, 2008
3 Tips on How to Sing Better
Want to be the next Carrie Underwood or David Cook? In this age of technological advances, almost nothing is impossible. If you have secret dreams of being the next American Idol, there are tips on how to sing that can help you reach your star.
These tips are readily available online. You only have to type the right words on the search engine and choose from the sites that match your search.
Here are a few tips to help you sing better
1. Know your voice capabilities
Picking the right songs can help you sing better. You need to under your vocal capabilities and the tone of your voice. Some people are suited for deep, melancholia type of songs as they have a low voice.
Some people will sing better when the tempo is faster. There are also ways to fake your voice so that you can give a loud, screaming performance without straining your voice or a mellow performance without sounding weak.
2. Practice
Even the most singers in the world with the most beautiful voices needs to practice as well. Today, with modern technology and the karaoke, anyone can learn to sing and be as good as their idol.
3. Open Your Vocal Chords.
Before singing a song, there are some practice vocal chords you can try to basically "warm up" your vocals. This allows you to hit the higher and lower notes easily without sounding like a wrecked train.
There are also many singing software and courses that can help you sing better. These are suitable for people who have not much time and can practice their singing anytime they want.
If you want to learn more tips on how to sing better, I recommend Singorama. Check out my Singorama review. Learn how Emily Mander can help you learn how to sing better online.
Monday, November 10, 2008
Beijing Opera
Theater Arts - Beijing Opera
It was during the 18th-19th century Peking opera or more commonly referred to as the ’Beijing Opera’, flourished in the Qing Dynasty. It had attained such levels that it was specifically being performed in the royal court and later was opened to public. Native to the Anhui and Hubei province this art later became the cultural jewel of Beijing, Tianjin and Shanghai. Over the period of time its fame crossed the Great Wall of China and spread to countries like Japan, Taiwan and eventually America.
The movements of the beautiful dancers are very elegant and graceful. Dialogues, music, song, dance and combat are used to the fullest extent to illustrate a storyline which majorly revolves around Chinese age old folklore and history. The Beijing opera performers wear bright colored outfits to be the center of attraction on sparingly decorated stage. The type of dialogue presented and used is archaic dialect. Because of it tremendous historical value the actors work tirelessly to respect and carry on the tradition. Actors often begin training for the opera, at a very early age and it can lasts for several years, the age they began was totally depending on the permission from the parents. The teacher expect their students to eventually pay them back by the future performances. The extensive routines they followed each day, consisted of getting up early to begin training in acting, acrobatics, and combat. The senior students were allowed to perform during the evening theaters shows. If an unfortunate student made a mistake, then the group of students associated with them were punished with bamboo cane but methods in training became less painful during the 1900s. These schools were shut down during the Japanese invasion in 1931 but again reestablished in 1952. The renowned schools popular in this art are the Ma Lianliang school, the Qi Lintong school and the Cheng Yanqiu school.
The Four Anhui Troupes was responsible for the birth of Beijing opera in the late 1700s. They were joined by the Hubei tropes in the early 1800s and came to its complete form in mid 1800s. This form of art is actually a mixture of various dance forms and music with a unique twist. There are four leading characters in Beijing opera. Sheng, plays the main male role along with his subtype Laosheng, old and wise version, Xiaosheng, the younger version and Wusheng, the warrior version. He is gentle and sophisticated and the costumes they were are decorated in a subtle fashion. The Laosheng character is further categorized as Guan Gong, God of War and Zhao Kuang-yin, the first emperor of the Song Dynasty. Xiaosheng sings in a loud and shrill voice.
In the later years, the male actors began painting their faces. Along with this new tradition, the characters began being known as Jing. Because they were often the supporting characters to the lead male role, they had to have strong, heavy voice and had to use over exaggerated expressions as they performed. The female lead is played by ’Dan’ and can be divided into five types. Laodan was played by aged ladies, Wudan was played by middle aged women depicting married women, Daomadan were brave female warriors, Qingyi were righteous women and Huadan were young and innocent girls. Huashan is the role Qingyi and Huadan play together.
Chou is the male clown role played. He has a minor role but adds some humor relief during some of the more somber scenes. The character of Chou hardly got a chance to sing when compared to the Kunqu opera which was its inspiration. Overall, this type of amazing and entertaining art form, basically down played the amount of singing for certain characters and acrobatics came to its full form in Beijing opera. Therefore the actors that did not do much singing and were highly talented in acrobatics, were eagerly welcomed into the performing troupe.
Each play scene is always accompanied with music. They use two very distinct styles of music, which are; the Xipi, formed by the Anhui tropes and also Erhuang, formed by the Hubei tropes. Because of the type of music used, research shows that the earliest name of Beijing opera was Pihuang which changed according to geographical location and time. The melodies can be classified as arias, fixed and percussion. In Taiwan, it carries the name of: Guoju.
The Anhui troupe became more wide-spread in popularity after the forming Beijing opera and received invitations to perform in various kingdoms. One of the earliest great admirers of this form of opera was, Empress Dowager Cixi and she encouraged and supported it. Qianlong Emperor had banned female actors, so the performing troupes consisted of only males at first. However, it was in the 1870s, that Li Maoer, a former Beijing opera performer, began a troupe of female actresses in the art, which persuaded others to take the lead and finally the ban was lifted in 1912.
Beijing opera productions today, are basically identical to those performed by troupes prior to the establishment of the People’s Republic in 1949.
It was during the Cultural Revolution that the Beijing operas was used as a main forced used to provide information, teachings, and political beliefs; today it is predominantly a form of entertainment, as it was in the past.
It was during the 18th-19th century Peking opera or more commonly referred to as the ’Beijing Opera’, flourished in the Qing Dynasty. It had attained such levels that it was specifically being performed in the royal court and later was opened to public. Native to the Anhui and Hubei province this art later became the cultural jewel of Beijing, Tianjin and Shanghai. Over the period of time its fame crossed the Great Wall of China and spread to countries like Japan, Taiwan and eventually America.
The movements of the beautiful dancers are very elegant and graceful. Dialogues, music, song, dance and combat are used to the fullest extent to illustrate a storyline which majorly revolves around Chinese age old folklore and history. The Beijing opera performers wear bright colored outfits to be the center of attraction on sparingly decorated stage. The type of dialogue presented and used is archaic dialect. Because of it tremendous historical value the actors work tirelessly to respect and carry on the tradition. Actors often begin training for the opera, at a very early age and it can lasts for several years, the age they began was totally depending on the permission from the parents. The teacher expect their students to eventually pay them back by the future performances. The extensive routines they followed each day, consisted of getting up early to begin training in acting, acrobatics, and combat. The senior students were allowed to perform during the evening theaters shows. If an unfortunate student made a mistake, then the group of students associated with them were punished with bamboo cane but methods in training became less painful during the 1900s. These schools were shut down during the Japanese invasion in 1931 but again reestablished in 1952. The renowned schools popular in this art are the Ma Lianliang school, the Qi Lintong school and the Cheng Yanqiu school.
The Four Anhui Troupes was responsible for the birth of Beijing opera in the late 1700s. They were joined by the Hubei tropes in the early 1800s and came to its complete form in mid 1800s. This form of art is actually a mixture of various dance forms and music with a unique twist. There are four leading characters in Beijing opera. Sheng, plays the main male role along with his subtype Laosheng, old and wise version, Xiaosheng, the younger version and Wusheng, the warrior version. He is gentle and sophisticated and the costumes they were are decorated in a subtle fashion. The Laosheng character is further categorized as Guan Gong, God of War and Zhao Kuang-yin, the first emperor of the Song Dynasty. Xiaosheng sings in a loud and shrill voice.
In the later years, the male actors began painting their faces. Along with this new tradition, the characters began being known as Jing. Because they were often the supporting characters to the lead male role, they had to have strong, heavy voice and had to use over exaggerated expressions as they performed. The female lead is played by ’Dan’ and can be divided into five types. Laodan was played by aged ladies, Wudan was played by middle aged women depicting married women, Daomadan were brave female warriors, Qingyi were righteous women and Huadan were young and innocent girls. Huashan is the role Qingyi and Huadan play together.
Chou is the male clown role played. He has a minor role but adds some humor relief during some of the more somber scenes. The character of Chou hardly got a chance to sing when compared to the Kunqu opera which was its inspiration. Overall, this type of amazing and entertaining art form, basically down played the amount of singing for certain characters and acrobatics came to its full form in Beijing opera. Therefore the actors that did not do much singing and were highly talented in acrobatics, were eagerly welcomed into the performing troupe.
Each play scene is always accompanied with music. They use two very distinct styles of music, which are; the Xipi, formed by the Anhui tropes and also Erhuang, formed by the Hubei tropes. Because of the type of music used, research shows that the earliest name of Beijing opera was Pihuang which changed according to geographical location and time. The melodies can be classified as arias, fixed and percussion. In Taiwan, it carries the name of: Guoju.
The Anhui troupe became more wide-spread in popularity after the forming Beijing opera and received invitations to perform in various kingdoms. One of the earliest great admirers of this form of opera was, Empress Dowager Cixi and she encouraged and supported it. Qianlong Emperor had banned female actors, so the performing troupes consisted of only males at first. However, it was in the 1870s, that Li Maoer, a former Beijing opera performer, began a troupe of female actresses in the art, which persuaded others to take the lead and finally the ban was lifted in 1912.
Beijing opera productions today, are basically identical to those performed by troupes prior to the establishment of the People’s Republic in 1949.
It was during the Cultural Revolution that the Beijing operas was used as a main forced used to provide information, teachings, and political beliefs; today it is predominantly a form of entertainment, as it was in the past.
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