Piano1

Most of the adult population can play enough of a musical instrument to rattle out a tune of some sort, even if it is just a TV theme or a few bars of an old classic. Furthermore, playing an instrument well is something most of us long for, but for whatever reason, we choose not to fulfill our desire. There are a range of excuses: you’re too old, you’ve no time, you can’t learn at your age. They are all just excuses, and by overcoming these unnecessary barriers, you too can take up an instrument and improve your skills beyond the very basics.

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If ever there were two things made for each other, it would have to be New Age piano music and nature sounds. After all, New Age piano gets much of its inspiration from the natural world. There are many CDs available that have this classic combination. Let’s look at a few of them.

1. Forest Piano by John Herberman
This CD is in my opinion the best New Age piano CD one can buy. And it has nature sounds too! John Herberman is a very talented pianist/composer who’s music seeps into your stressed out psyche and gently massages you. Each piece is a unique composition. Sometimes melodic, sometimes textural, but always beautiful. You’ll wear your CD player out with this

one.

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One word describes the CD Just Enough from Roger Smith… AWESOME!

Refreshingly, this was one of those CDs I was able to just pop in and comfortably listen to from beginning to end. Every track is enjoyable and was pretty easy for me to listen to from start to finish.

One of the nicer things about a CD like this is when the talent is this rich even if Jazz isn t your favorite style you still can t help but appreciate the greatness of the artist.

If you re a Roger Smith fan this is a CD your collection flat cannot be without. In fact, this is one of those CDs that you don t even have to be a fan of

Smith, or even Jazz to know is good. It s just good music. Period.

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For the last couple of months, I have been listening to Classic FM in the UK. Besides the great music they play, their presenters are across the board great to listen to as well. What I have noticed though have been some trends in the classical music that have been quite surprising. Of course, they are just personal observations!

The first amazing thing that I noticed was how many top notch orchestras are now playing in the UK such as Liverpool and Birmingham. And listening to the radio, other countries certainly seem to have a similar growth when one listens to excellent recordings from across the European Union countries. Years ago, if one country supported one first class orchestra it

was quite something. What this means is that the uptake of music as a career has grown hugely. The level of skills required to play in an orchestra are not far removed from taking up a solo career. With other words, skills levels have to be extremely high and huge amounts of work and dedication are required to achieve that.

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Country music made its mark in the early twentieth century. It was initially popular amongst the people in rural areas of the west and the south. This genre of music has developed from ballads and famous folk tunes. From the days of Hillbilly music, country music is now simply referred to as country, western or country and western. Classic country music is an assortment of tunes from diverse cultures and music patterns.

Each style is different and unique in style. The use of rhythms, chord structures and musical intonations vary. Though modern country music may use contemporary beats, they are adaptations of classic versions. Classic country music has an individualistic character that was developed to suit the artist’s voice modulation capacity

and style. These classics are unique and offer inimitable singing styles. This includes the styles of music legends Jimmy Rodgers and Hank Williams.

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