Thursday, June 28, 2007

8 Easy Musical Instruments That You Can Learn To Play Quickly

There is really nothing in the world like music. There have been studies to show the amazing effect that is has on the human brain, such as the link between music and spatial intelligence. The only thing that can compare with listening to music is the ability to make our own music.

Not everyone is as gifted as the rest when it comes to playing music. Not all of us have the time, or want to invest the time in learning to play a complicated instrument such as the piano. That does not mean that we don't all want to be able to play an instrument. There are easy musical instruments that you can learn to play quickly. Here are eight:

1. Drums. If you have a pretty good sense of rhythm, drums are a fairly easy musical instrument that you can learn to play quickly. You won't be great, but you can sure have fun. There are many kinds of drums, from the congo drum to the high hat to the bass drum to the snare drum. Drums, along with the tambourine, belong to the percussion family. Which means the hitting of one body against another; the drum is also played with the hands or a person can use one to two sticks. It is just a matter of counting beats as you play, either mechanically or by feeling the beat.

2. Tambourines. This easy musical instrument is made up of a shallow hand held drum, usually made from a circular piece of wood and calf skin or plastic that is stretched across the top. You play it with your hands, stroking or shaking the jingle or rubbing, shaking or striking the drum head with your knuckles. Play what feels good.

3. Bongos. Another percussion instrument that is easy to learn to play are the bongos. Bongos are a type of drum made up of two sections, one of which is larger then the other. The drums are attached to one another. Played by placing the bongos between the knees, they produce a high pitched sound. When the bongos are placed between the knees correctly, the larger drum will be to the right. Traditionally, they are played by striking the tops with your fingers and palms. There are times when the bongos are played with sticks and brushes. It is possible to alter the sound from the bongos by placing one hand on the top of the drum and then beat it with the other hand.

4. Comb buzzer. We can look at a couple wind instruments that are also easy musical instruments that you can learn to play quickly. One of my favorites would be the comb buzzer. This instrument is truly one anyone that can breathe can play. It is not only easy; you can make it at home. You take a pocket comb and tissue paper. Hold the tissue paper against the comb and hum through the tissue paper. This produces a buzzing sound and it tickles the lips.

5. Kazoo. If you are having fun with the comb buzzer, then try the kazoo. The kazoo is also a fun instrument that is played by humming. The kazoo adds a humming noise. People play the kazoo by closing your lips around the kazoo and singing into it. Most people that try to hum into the kazoo are not very successful. But if you sing into it, for example, repeating the word do, do, do, do in to the kazoo you get that wonderful humming sound.

6. Recorder. The next step up from the kazoo, is the recorder. It is a fun and easy to learn instrument that you can learn to play quickly. To play the recorder, you hold it outward from your lips, unlike the traditional flute that is held sideways. You then blow or breath, really, into the recorder, and the pitch or note that is played varies by the open finger holes. You can use all parts of your mouth to manipulate the sound from the recorder. In particular, use the tongue and the diaphragm to help control air flow, hence lengthening the time a note is held and how many different notes are played on a breath. Quality recorders come in many sizes and are made of wood. There are also plastic recorders, used widely in schools, and sometimes also known as a "tonette". Tin whistles and ocarinas are similar types of recorders.

7. Xylophone. Often used in the orchestra as a serious instrument, the xylophone is a like a piano keyboard that you strike with mallets. With the larger, lower-sounding bars on the left, the notes of the xylophone are laid out much like a piano keyboard. Striking the bars with hard mallets produces a bright, sharp sound. Xylophones made of wood can be very expensive, but for fun and quick learning, a small xylophone made of metal or metal and plastic is ideal, and are used in many schools.

8. Autoharp. The autoharp is a musical instrument having a series of chord bars attached to dampers which, when depressed, mute all the strings other than those that form the chord you want to play. The autoharp is not really a harp at all, but in reality is a zither.

As you can see, just because you are limited on time or possibly ability does not mean that you can not play an instrument for your own enjoyment. There are easy musical instruments that you can learn to play quickly. Percussion instruments and wind instruments make for easy learning and quick fun. Enjoy the benefits of making music and find a new talent or at least a new hobby.

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Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Top Five Web Writing Techniques that Will Take Your Site to New Heights of Popularity

When a web surfer comes across a website that speaks a language he will never understand in a hundred years, that web surfer will immediately head for a familiar site that he will be able to gather all the information he needs on that certain subject. So you have to write for that one guy who might not be as literate as you or me. You would never consider talking like a law professor to somebody you just met on the street one day, so why would you write your blog that way?

A friendly, laid-back manner of writing is always going to snag you more potential web viewers than a tone that is condescending or otherwise harsh in its nature. That form of writing also makes it easier for a casual web visitor to your site to read. Just remember how difficult it was in high school to get through that Math book called "Equations of quantum physics 101" and you will be able to visualize how that kind of writing would make you feel if you ventured onto a site that used that exact phraseology! I imagine that you would not stay any more than two minutes at the most, so whatever you do, always write your blog or content articles like you are talking to a close friend.

BE SPECIFIC WITH YOUR INFORMATION
This would include using hyper links to other articles on your site or somebody else's where the web reader can go to acquire even more information on any given subject. A good way to be very specific with your content information would be to list every step of what you are describing in numerical order. These are some of the most popular kinds of articles on the internet today.

Hyper links should only be used sporadically throughout your entire website, not used primarily in all of your articles. You should give your reader all the vital information about the subject you are describing in full detail at all times. Write about your subject so thoroughly that they will not need to go anywhere else unless they are doing a thesis on the subject matter.

DESCRIBE EXACTLY WHAT YOUR WEBSITE OR BLOG WILL DO FOR YOUR WEB VISITORS
Many websites today exist in an internet vacuum. Take it upon yourself to visit every website that deals with animal rights, for instance. I'll bet that a good 40 percent of all those sites that you found in Google will not do a good job in describing exactly what their site exactly is. If you just stumbled upon those sites by accident, you will never be able to figure out how they are helping educate people on this issue or any other issue.

Don't make their mistake. At the very top of your web page, put a perfect description of what it is your website is all about. That way, web viewers to your main home page will not even have to scroll down to determine if they like your site content or not. The casual readers will definitely scroll down to the bottom of your page to examine all of your article categories ONLY if you have made them fully aware of your exact slant on topics and issues that led them to your site in the first place.

GET PERSONAL
When a web visitor reads your articles, they are expecting your own personal slant on subjects and topics that interest them. If you write like a disembodied voice on NBC's Weekly News, you will never get that reader back to your site because he has no interest in reading articles that could have been written by a robot.

You need to put your own personality into all of your content writing to bring that individual flair that only you possess, and put it on display for all of your potential readership. If you are shy about this, you need to visualize that you are just writing for yourself at first. After you have received some positive feedback from your fellow article writers on various internet posting boards, that initial shyness you had will evaporate quickly. You will then be able to bring all of your personality into every aspect of your future articles which will help you to snag and keep hundreds of web readers glued to your every word.

BRING TRUE CONTENT TO YOUR WEBSITE BY GIVING YOUR READERS REAL VALUE
Just because you happen to know everything there is to know about web programming, that doesn't mean that everybody that comes to your blog that deals with that subject knows as much about it as you do. You need to remember the reason that most people go to websites these days is to get useful information about a subject that they cannot find enough details about anywhere else but your site or blog.

By giving your web readers pertinent and detailed information about web programming, you are ensuring your future internet success by fulfilling a much needed goal that every web content writer needs to go after each day. That goal is to bring real value to every web visitor to your site on a daily basis, no matter what subject or topic you happen to be writing about. Once you achieve this goal on a regular basis, huge internet success will follow

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Wednesday, June 13, 2007

How About Learning Simple Ways Of Burning Your Audio CD?

Are you a music buff (which most of us are)? Is music your passion and life without music seems like a nightmare? Do you feel the need to convert songs in your PC into different formats such as CD, MP3, WMA and so on? Of course, you would have thought about making your own CDs by using music software. The software allows you to cut CDs, edit music and add ripple and other effects as per your liking. Listening to your favorite songs having your personal touch is simply a great feeling.

There are numerous CD burning software available on the internet. Most of them allow you to freely download music software on a trial basis, which you can use to your advantage. You need to have a PC and internet connection preferably with broadband connectivity for easy and fast download. Even if you have a laptop with a good configuration, it should suffice for the job at hand.

Let us have a look at a few of the most popular CD burner programs available over the internet. Ultra MP3 to CD Burner, Advanced MP3 CD Burner, Eastsea MP3 CD Burner, Super DVD CD Burner, Acoustica MP3 CD Burner, Ace CD Burner, Ease MP3 CD Burner, Adensoft Audio/Data CD Burner and Okoker Mp3 to CD Burner are few of the music software which you can download for burning a CD. A trial version of most of these programs is also available, which allows you to try and test the software before buying the full version. A great way to start and no burden on the pocket as well.

The high quality CD burner allows you to burn the audio files into a CD directly without any distortion in the sound output. Most of the software is equipped with technology for burning songs recorded in various formats such as MP3, WAV or WMA files as CD audio. The CD so burnt can be played on your computer, car audio system, walkman, personal stereo and other players. You can also label your CD. Give names to your songs so as to display the same while playing. The CD burning software allows you to save music stored in one format into a portable CD which can be gifted too, showing your personal touch. This has much more meaning attached to it than simply buying one from a music store.

If you have a CD writer software such as Nero you can directly make audio CDs from MP3 songs stored in your PC. It is a simple mouse click procedure. No need to be an expert in the technology or systems. Just click on the Nero startsmart icon, click the audio icon picture, choose 'Make MP3 CD' and select a single or multiple MP3 files which you want to copy. Bingo - you are done. Isn't it a great way to play and fiddle with your songs? In fact you can also play like a disc jockey copying your favorite song. You will love it, your friends will love it and life will be great… We all want that. Don't we?

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Monday, June 11, 2007

Improve Your Blog's Page Rank With Z-List

Basic concerns for start-up blogs are about increasing traffic to their blog and also to improve page ranks for their webpages with search engines like Google, Technorati, etc. An effective solution to counter these concerns is Z-list.

What is Z-List?


The Z-List is a concept started in December 2006 by Mack Collier, from A Viral Garden, as a meme. A meme is a "unit of cultural information" which can propagate from one mind to another in a manner analogous to genes. The Z list is a blog meme, which has bloggers creating and sharing a list of many links to blogs in a single post. This list is known as Z-List since this is a list of blogs which have less exposure as compared to A-List Blogs.

How Can Z-List help?


Search engines like Google, Technorati, etc. have a democratic system of ranking your blog / website. The number of other sites / blogs that link to your blog / site is taken into consideration while assigning a page rank to your site / blog. Therefore, when link of your blog / site, listed in a Z-list is posted on a number of other sites, the number of blogs / sites linking to your blog goes up and helps to improve the page rank of your blog. Secondly, the webmasters of the blogs which are included in the Z-list, on your site, may want to see who is linking to their blog and may visit your site, request a backlink, leave a comment and even may subscribe your RSS feed if they get interested in your content. This also helps in increasing the traffic to your site.

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