The Value of Antique Violins
Tuesday, May 25th, 2010
Musicians and collectors alike can enjoy antique violins. These violins can be hundreds of years old and can sell for thousands, if not millions of dollars. Antique violins are artifacts of the past as well as beautifully made musical instruments. There are a wide variety of antique violins available, some of them one-of-a-kind treasures.
Many early violins are extremely valuable. The original King Charles IX violin made in 1564 by Andrea Amati is priceless. Other violins made in later years of the same century can sell for millions of dollars. Violins made by such world renowned makers as Amati, Stradivari, Vuillaume, Amati, Bergonzi, Guarneri, Gasparo da Sal
Learn to Play Piano Online – Using Online Piano Tools to Help You Learn Piano
Monday, August 24th, 2009
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.
Piano Lessons – 5 Tips to Help You When You’re Looking to Hire a Piano Teacher
Saturday, May 30th, 2009
Nowadays, it isn’t that difficult to find a good piano teacher for your child or even for yourself. If you have no previous experience trying to get musical instruction, there are a few things you need to keep in mind so you know what to look for in a good piano teacher. Only a handful of people are musically gifted as to be able to teach themselves how to play the piano. With the right piano teacher, however, you or your child will be able to learn much faster. Below are 5 tips you can use when you’re looking to hire a piano teacher.
1.Word of mouth
Chances are, you have a friend or friends who is in lessons, has been, or will be soon, and you can always pick their brains. Ask them what their experiences in this area have been like and what sort of instruction that they received. You can talk with them about teaching methods, and how much time they have put into it. There is a lot of interesting material that you can find when it comes to what your friends say, and this can lead you to a great teacher.
2.Look online
Many people advertise themselves online these days, and you can take advantage of that. You can get a sense for the teacher in question, learn about rates, and also learn about their specialties and philosophies, all without leaving your home. This is a great way to filter out some of the teachers who may not mesh as well with you, and you’ll find that with just a little bit of critical thought, you are left with the cream of the crop!
3.Go to the music store
One of the best way to find piano lessons if you are starting from scratch is to head to a store that sells musical instruments. Many teachers leave a notice that they give lessons at places like this, and some of the stores will even end up letting you have a place to practice. Take some time to ask around at the store and find out who is recommended. This is a great way to move forward in your search.
4.Talk with your prospective teacher
Learn about their methods, their goals, and how far along you can expect to be with a reasonable amount of preparation and practice. This is quite important when it comes to make sure that your goals and the goals of the teacher mesh well.
5. Ask to watch them in action
It’s not unreasonable to ask a prospective piano teacher if you could watch them conduct a piano lesson. You want to see how the piano teacher treats her student and how her student appear to be around her. Auditing a lesson can be useful in that you can have a better idea if the piano teacher is the right one for you or your child.
How to Learn Violin Without a Teacher
Wednesday, April 1st, 2009
You’ll be amazed at how many people have learned musical instruments without a teacher. I’m talking awesome guitarists, pianists, and saxophonists who never went to a lesson in their lives! Violin is no different to this concept, and anyone who wants to develop a truly unique and original style of playing should consider teaching themselves. This article is about how to learn violin without a teacher.
Firstly, there are a few things to remember. Burning desire and action are the only 2 things that will make you a violin master. How many times have you told yourself that you are going to do something, but never actually act? Don’t let this happen with your violin learning ventures.
Now, to start off I want to talk about the basics. Knowing how to learn violin involves knowing the first steps to actually get a solid noise out of your instrument. Unlike the guitar or piano, violin has quite a steep initial learning curve, and takes more than just a pluck of a string to get out a noise. Consider using an online video course to get the best tone and technique in the beginning.
One major piece of advice I can offer is to constantly listen to the kind of music that you want to emulate. If you want to play a similar style to a certain artist, listen to them all day and try to learn their songs, even by ear if you can. This will help develop your ear and will constantly give you motivation to never give up.
Once you’ve got a few of the basics under your belt, and have the motivation to improve, you’ll find that the violin is great fun to learn without a teacher.



