Music Choice Cable Channels; What You Don't Know

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One way to avoid spending money online and buying "iTunes downloads" or even the slightly almost out of style CD purchase - is to tune into the channels that you usually skip over on your Cable TV. 


(I so wanna sing that part in "Money For Nothing" by the Dire Straits - HAHA!)


Being a great DJ for your party can be super easy. Granted, you COULD go with that 67 year old accordionist for 20 bucks an hour for the first 5 hours, but we know how that would end. Well, the party probably wouldn't even get started. 


SO! Here's an alternative that works. Turn on your TV and see if you have the "Music Choice" service with your local cable provider. It's usually the channels you normally skip through! :o)


These select channels GIVE you your time back to actually enjoy your own party. Also, you can concentrate on being the host that everyone knows you are. When you have to "juggle" talking to each guest at your party, it helps to ICE BREAK as well about favorite types of music first. Or even what people "DON'T" like...i.e. the newest release by Britney Spears. Honestly, i can't think of the name, so i guess that's a good thing. Usually the radio stations ingrain our already information-overloaded minds with overplayed singles.


Moving onto the performer's reality: in the past, private parties that I've played for have saved by voice by having Music Choice service as a filler for the songs that weren't in my songbook. After the end of each set of songs, I'd take a break - the coversation would thicken and enrich and, some "chill music" would "volume up" in everyone's background. 


Another reason why MC is awesome is that guests will ask for requests or different songs by artists/bands playing currently on the MC play-list and you can utilize that to book more gigs and personalized set-lists for the requester. Usually people are pretty agreeable once someone chimes in with a song name the love. It's like lightning around the room. Volumes get louder, smiles stretch beyond happy and laughing commences. It's a cool sight for my eyes - to know that I'm helping people connect and have a good time.   

SIGN UP HERE FOR A MUSIC CHOICE ACCOUNT!: 


http://www.musicchoice.com/UserRegistrationConsolidation.aspx

 

Find the Melodies in Your Life.

Simply put, a melody is something musical that is beautiful to YOUR ears; it's a series of notes on any instrument (including the voice) that is arranged in such a way that it produces a pattern. This definition is the best one i can come up with from what i know. The dictionary is such a black and white world. To me, musical terms should have a label that says, "See real life and for personal experience to edify yourself and others with sound".



It should sound as pleasant to your ears as this Harp might. And by the way, this is a children's harp but I'm thinking about investing in one to learn the intervals of the notes.

We all listen to our favorite songs daily. Whether it's on the radio at work or from a friend that hands you some speakers or ear buds for a quick listen of a new band, there are melodies that are ingrained into the structure of each song. Guitarists sometimes call melodies "RIFFS" or "LICKS". Riff is more descriptive of rock songs and lick is more to do with blues and jazz.

Finding melody is easy. It's changing the scales that we play on our guitars in such a way that it makes a lasting semi-permanent impression. For instance, have you ever caught yourself humming a song and you don't know the words, but.... YOU REMEMBER THE PART YOUR HUMMING?

THAT, is what I'm taking about!!!!!!


That's what songwriters are after. The next unforgettable melody. Think Queen's -"Bohemian Rhapsody", Taylor Swift's - "Teardrops on My Guitar", Judy Garland's "Over the Rainbow", think of The Temptations - "My Girl", and think... No Doubt - "Don't Speak".

Imagine the classic Walt Disney movies - the sing-along ones but without the annoying bouncing ball on the words in perfect timing. Your melody should be something that you can sing. And if you're not singing, then you need to be, if you're can't sing at work because you're in a certain customer service type job where it might be considered weird or school, where it might be distracting to others...you can always whistle!!!!

Seriously, if you want to succeed with music and more specifically, with guitar, you NEED to be at least whistling. Or kind of like you read the words of my blog silently in your own mind, you need to be doing the same with melodies constantly.

This is actually what i do to prepare before I sing the first note. Try this: audibly sing the lowest note your voice can hit. Don't worry if it sounds "rumble-like" or you can't keep a "clean solid note" at that point. The purpose of this exercise is to find the bottom of your vocal chords. In the future, you'll be able to "STRETCH" this "CUSHION" area a few notes/tones/pitches lower. And now do this at the top part of your natural voice. Think about this trick like your mimicking a police siren or more specifically (if you need the mental picture) an old World War 2 - air raid siren.

Next blog, we'll be discussing the Falsetto region of your vocal chords and enabling your singing to use this vital area of notes. The same concept that we used to "find" your "lower cushion" and Chest Voice - we'll be using to find your UPPER CUSHION!

Keep internalizing and digesting this info! I know it seems like you're trying to drink out of a fire hydrant, LOL, but soon it'll be like riding a bike. Just common knowledge you can grab out of your brain anytime you need it. :o)

Should Music, Just Be Listened to...OR...Should We Try to Categorize it as Much as Possible?

It’s interesting! As humans & music lovers, we feel the need to try & categorize so much of what we hear.

"Oh, ::pshhhhhh:: that's straight-up Post-Grunge dude"...or "Flight of the Concords are doing what Adam Sandler has done for years!!! It's Comedy Rock! I can't believe you called it ad-lib humoristic musings from the minds of stand-up artistry!!!!"

It's like we want a place for our favorite songs & artists to belong. I wonder sometimes if in our hearts & memory are not enough?


It’s been said that the thing people fear aside from public speaking, is silence itself. I agree with that. Sometimes even us musicians have a tough time not filling every possible measure with a note; the rests or pauses in music are necessary and I think that they build positive tension and have climactic elements that are the building blocks of theoretically perfect songs like the Fibonacci Sequence eludes to.

Our constant struggle with "good enough", "having it better", "constant improvement" - we say that if you have something great, soon... something else will come and take its place. I think this causation is all the best reason to write songs that last more than a decade, era, or period in the fad. It's all the more vital today to write songs from the heart. Songs that are pure; people will unmistakable recognize.

All in all, I understand the need for classification but some songs and melodies can't be held by that process. Some bands & artists transcend all of the labeling and become their own genre, a sound in and of itself. People begin to describe a band by another well known band.