Music Is Only Music After All

What happens when young people discover their identity is nothing short of apocalyptic and reason enough to change. Like it or not, as the spirit rises, the soul collides with the mind and all that is known is challenged. Every generation grows up with a vision of how they want their world to be. They fix what needs fixing and change what needs changing.

America was living in a bubble in the 1950's. Everyone in the world knew that : everyone, that is, except Americans. It should have come as no surprise when young people started questioning the absolute authority of adults living in an unforgiving world. No matter what people say, no one can live in a bubble anymore than an artist can create in a vacuum. We are all influenced by the work of our peers as much as by the culture around us.

I once sang in a crazy gospel, jazz and blues group called Celebration. The designated writer for the group, I'd always written inspired love songs and gospel-style messages but Celebration was different. We weren't the average rock band. Like the Grateful Dead, a group synonymous with the San Francisco acid rock scene whose music was a hybrid of improvised rock, blues and R&B, we had a cult following.

At that time, The Beatles Sergeant Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band was revolutionizing rock. Their lyrics were creative, the album concept and design were innovative, and the advanced studio technology was unheard of. They were the first rock musicians to experiment with blending orchestral instruments with unusual ones. They took chances. It all worked to produce an escapist album based on a surreal world that didn't exist. Sergeant Pepper portrayed the lives of average people whose wild fantasies broke up the monotony of their humdrum, work-a-day life. The Beatles changed rock music forever.

Sergeant Pepper was the beginning of a new era for the Beatles. It had a huge influence on my writing. Sergeant Pepper sounded like something I should be writing. So, I imagined a theatrical experience for Celebration, introduced by a song welcoming the audience we knew all too well. The song was a fantasy greeting to old friends. The lead singer acted like a master of ceremonies in a three ring circus. Like Sergeant Pepper, more songs followed and from then on our concerts were never the same. Nothing less than theater.

I had discovered a new identity. In the weeks ahead, we introduced every theatrical element imaginable, jazz dancers, multi-media, beat poetry, you name it. The circus got out of hand. We lost our focus in the midst of spectacle. The message was lost. In the end, I had a severe ego attack. On my last night with the band, I dressed in a full length robe and let loose a barrage of quasi-rock star poses. It was hard to tell where the reality ended and the fantasy began. That's when I knew it was time to go. My conscience caught me just in time. I quit the band and joined a theater company to satisfy the urge to act.

The song writers and the songs they create are the basis for the music industries existence. But, when the songs and the persona overwhelm you and the music takes over your life. It's time to stop. Music is only music after all.

Dennis Walsh progressofmusic@hotmail.com

About the author:

Publisher of Progress of Music a popular music magazine, Dennis Walsh is a music specialist in journalism and marketing. He is a media expert in advertising and retail merchandising developing music marketing campaigns for corporate entrepreneurs. Through Music Enterprise, Dennis enjoys giving emerging artists a head start in the music business.

You can read all of his articles through the Progress of Music at http://www/progressofmusic.com/articles.htm

Here Are Some Tips On Music Is Only Music After All

Let the Music Take you there

Jazz performersimprovised, classical performers didn't. The hippies grew up, graduated and got establishmentjobs. By all means, take a few ricks but if you wantto go somewhere, start at the beginning and let your music takeyou there. Rhythm andblues was born.

Bringing Music to Art

From childhood lessons to adult lessons, and after decades of musical education which included reading notes, chords, scales, music theory, and composition, you would think I'd feel like I had achieved my musical goals. In music, the rhythm can slow down and speed up, pause or sustain a tone, leap, or even freeze for an instant; but if the rhythm breaks--sadly, the moment is lost. When I used to play the piano, sometimes I would reach to fasten my seatbelt, but of course, it was not there.

George Winston and New Age Piano Playing

I didn't even play piano back then but something about this music seeped into me almost haunting me. This skill has to be practiced. The first time I heard George Winston play back in the early 1980's I was blown away. About the Author Edward Weiss is a pianist/composer and webmaster of Quiescence Music's online piano lessons. We have taken chords, put them into some kind of order (no matter how tightly or loosely) and have composed.

How 'Easy' Is Piano Playing?

We have, first of all, to read notes on two staffs - bass and treble. The writer has among his acquaintances a violinist, a man about thirty years of age, a fine player on his instrument, who had held a position in a first class orchestra for some time, who decided that he would learn piano playing. Were it not that through doing these various acts, one at a time, over and over again, until they become fixed habits, we would never succeed in playing at all, but could only stumble through, making a most unpleasant and unintelligible jumble of the music.

Music Is The Language Of Freedom

The HarlemRenaissance attacked the superstructure of White supremacy andthe practice of racism. It was one of the first instanceswhite elites and social reformers collaborated with blackintellectuals, social activists and artists. Going against the arts establishment, artistsgave themselves permission to take new risks, to envision art ina new kind of way. During the 1920s, during the Harlem Renaissance -inspired by jazz and Euro-Modernism - there was more materialpublished by African Americans than any time in Americanhistory.

Music For Self Improvement

Meanwhile, why not try classical music when you study, just to see if it helps? Hopefully there will be more research. The second group studied piano and sang daily in chorus.

Music; An Enjoyable Necessity

About The Author Jackie Gee is an offline published writer. So, it's fair to say that music has an innate basis in our evolutionary makeup. Her rates are by no means the cheapest but you get top quality article content. It can make us happy, sad, frightened, elated, thoughtful. This is because it has, rightly, been recognised that we don't necessarily absorb the content of what we repeat over and over again.

Learn Piano The Easy Way!

Edward Weiss is a pianist/composer and webmaster of Quiescence Music's online piano lessons. But that's essentially what people do when they recreate another composers work. Visit us now at http://www.quiescencemusic.com/piano_lessons.html for a FREE piano lesson!

Play Piano - There Is No Substitute for Practice

Although at first it may be a method that you use because you can't find time for the more traditional, routine-oriented practice, you may find it so successful and fun that you make it your primary approach. Here's an alternative - I call it "target bombing." You have an hour to practice.

Open Position Piano Chords - Perfect for the New Age Style

After you begin to play the OPC as a seventh chord, there's no end to the possibilities. About the Author Edward Weiss is a pianist/composer and webmaster of Quiescence Music's online piano lessons. The Open Position Chord allows you to use both hands together to create solid chords, arpeggios - pretty much anything you can imagine.