Music Factory

This is a common question for the individual or parent of a bassoonist.  By calling a local University or community band would be the best first step.  A beginning bassoon player can fall prey to the local music store scams with having to sometimes deal with a general music teacher who is not a specialist.  By far the best of all choices is finding the local bassoon teacher who has a large teaching schedule and is truly dedicated to the art. They are used to teaching all levels – beginner, intermediate, step-up and professional bassoon players.  A great choice in bassoons are the ones made by Wurzbach – great sound, pitch and construction.

One of the first tasks for rock bands upon arrival at a new venue involves adjusting to the sonic properties of the space. A room’s dimensions and surfaces play a dramatic part in determining the quality of sound, but this effect can be manipulated to a point by the musicians themselves. Bigger bands have roadies and technicians to handle such tedious chores, but the onus might fall to you if you’re playing in a small-time rock band.

After plugging an electric ax into a guitar amp, you’ll need to adjust the equalizer settings. Start by turning the bass, mid and treble levels to zero. Starting with bass, strum a power chord on the lowest two strings of the instrument. Crank up the bass knob until you hear a “wave” or “swell” sound – that’s how you know you’ve found the proper sound level for the given venue. The process should be repeated for the mid and treble levels, strumming power chords on the other four strings in a similar fashion.

Rock fans everywhere would readily admit that the lead guitarist gets most of the critical and popular accolades. In many cases, this is the same individual who handles lead vocals, and the popularity and acclaim increase accordingly. Even drummers are tossed an occasional bone as they are allowed a solo or two on rare occasions. But the true backbone of any traditional rock band is ineffably the bass player.

While guitarists go off on their boundless sonic tangents, noodling aimlessly, bass guitars are left with the task of keeping the rest of the band grounded in a discernable rhythm. Without this guiding presence, the band would be lost in a sea of incongruous racket. Certain jam bands might be able to survive without an outspoken bassist, jazz and rock bands simply cannot.

It’s a tale that’s all too familiar. A group of friends forms a rock band during college and plays local bars and performance venues, building a dedicated fan base along the way. A few personnel changes take place – due to conflicting schedules or changing priorities. At a certain point, the band plays a showcase in front of record company A & R reps and other industry insiders. And then… nothing.

Even the most talented musicians find themselves treading water because their music doesn’t get the exposure it deserves. The only fail-safe way of getting such exposure is to take the bull by the horns and record some demos. Demo recordings don’t have to feature inferior quality sound. It’s actually quite easy to track down a studio microphone that captures crystal-clear vocal takes. Armed with the right equipment, the sky is the limit for a truly talented band.

These days, distortion is considered a fundamental part of rock music, basically the complement to a catchy pop hook. But in rock’s formative years, people considered dissonance to be a sign of musical weakness. It was all about the purity of pop songs and the technical virtuosity of jazz standards. Before long, however, musicians discovered that they could make a whole new range of interesting noises with the help of a guitar amplifier.

More than just a way to amplify sound, the amp can be used for creative purposes as well. In the late 1980s and early ’90s, the Irish shoegaze band My Bloody Valentine pushed the boundaries of what rock music could sound like. By implementing effects pedals, amplifier feedback and offbeat tunings, they cranked out sounds that might have originated in a whole different universe.

Who said all video games were just entertainment? While music video games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band might be all that close to the real thing (with the exception of the drums), these video games have inspired kids to learn to play the real instruments. Sales of electric guitars have seen a huge spike since the release of the popular Rock Band franchise, which features both electric guitars and bass guitars as two of the instruments. These video games, in of themselves, can help kids to appreciate the complexities, and inspire them to learn more about music through experimentation with the actual instruments.

Guitar Hero and Rock Band are becoming more popular by the day, and it just might be these two video games that inspire more and more kids to start garage bands and pursue a career in music. While just playing the video games doesn’t accomplish much, one has to appreciate what video games can do to inspire and educate kids and teens!

For a long period of time back in the 1950s, joining the school band was a lot more common. In fact, most kids were either involved in school sports, cheer team, or band. In modern times, fewer and fewer kids are becoming involved in after school activities. There’s no real culprit, except for the fact that kids just seem to have so much more to do these days, with video games, television, and all the various forms of entertainment. In addition, back in the 1950s, there was a lot more pressure for kids to join in after school activities because all their peers were doing it.

While there will always be at least a few jocks and cheerleaders on the school campus, band is one after school activity that has made a resurgence in recent years. Music has always been a popular theme amongst teenagers, but with it becoming easier than ever for musicians to get their music heard (through the internet, digital recordings, and social medial websites), a lot of kids have a renewed interest in band. There are dozens of different fun band instruments kids can learn to play, and finding the right one is all about trial and error. Encourage kids to play a band instrument, and nurture their problem solving, creativity, and artistic senses!

The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The name derives from adding the suffix -et meaning little to the Italian word clarino meaning a particular type of trumpet, as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed.

Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches. It is the largest such instrument family, with more than a dozen types. Of these many are rare or obsolete, and music written for them is usually played on one of the more common size instruments. The unmodified word clarinet usually refers to the B-flat soprano clarinet, by far the most common clarinet.

A person who plays the clarinet is called a clarinetist or clarinettist.

If your pickup is not performing like it used to, or you want to modify your guitar to get a richer sound, you need to install a new electric guitar pickup. Pickups are an essential part of your guitars performance and replacing or adding one can change the sound significantly, especially if it’s done incorrectly. Here’s how to install an electric guitar pickup and get the sound you’re looking for.

• Assess which pickup is giving you trouble, unless you are looking to modify your pickup configuration. On a Strat, it’s easy to tell which one needs replaced by the toggle switch on the board. With others you may have to guess which one is the culprit.

• Acquire a wiring diagram for your electric guitar and take the time to learn how to read it. Pickups are fairly simple to wire, but if they are wired incorrectly, you may fry your whole system. If you have any doubts about your ability to wire the new pickup in place, take your guitar to the shop and let them do it.

• Select your new pickup. Expect to pay about 60 or 70 dollars for a single pickup, or about 110 dollars for a double pickup. Make sure you check compatibility, especially if you are doing modifications to your guitar’s wiring. Get a shops opinion on the brand and style selection for your electric guitar.

• Unplug and remove any battery power source before proceeding.

• Remove the old pickup and modify the body of the guitar, if necessary to accept the new pickup. Unscrew the pickup from the pick guard and gently pull it from the body. Read your wiring diagram and remove the wires from the pickup, being careful not to damage them. Gently open up the body to accept the new pickup, if needed.

• Rewire the new pickup and screw into place. If you have modified the body, you may need to fill and re-drill the holes to screw the guitar pickup in place.

• Plug it in and give it a try. If you’re experiencing any buzzing or other undesirable effects, ask a professional to look at it.

MIDI or Musical Instrument Digital Interface, is the most common way to record music on a computer. Midi allows you to change effects on instruments at will no differently than you’d highlight a piece of text and change the font. MIDI is core to the computer-recording revolution.

Things You’ll Need:
A DAW (Digital Audio Workstation)
Midi Controller 

• Check to see if your PC’s soundcard has MIDI compatibility. Some will, some won’t.

• Get yourself a MIDI adaptor. Older components, such as non-Midi compatible keyboards will need a midi interface so you can plug the component directly into the computer.

• Get a MIDI controller. This is the number one way to use midi. A standard keyboard can play guitar, drums, strings, and most any other instrument. You will need a software program that contains musical instruments—a Midi controller just triggers sounds, it doesn’t make sounds on its own. There are other Midi instruments as well, such as Midi guitars.

• Use a sequencer. This is more complicated than using a single controller. A sequencer lets you set Midi controls on several channels at once—sort of like a multi-track recorder. However, hardware sequencers are not as necessary now that computer software can act as the sequencer, and house virtually unlimited tracks. In addition, you need to ensure that a sequencer and keyboard are compatible before sending info back and forth between the Midi In and Out ports.