Trashy Pearls | My Music Blog

Archive for August, 2010

Most modern musicians take sheet music for granted. Sheet music abounds in printed form and can even be downloaded from the Internet. It’s a far cry from the days of oral tradition. Centuries ago, there were few ways to pass on music other than to “hum a few bars” until the listener caught on.

The available manuscripts had to be painstakingly marked out by a transcriptionist and were limited in number. In fact, while many songs were known on a wide scale, they were likely spread about by travelling minstrels and troubadours. They were certainly not available in printed form at the local music shop.

Prior to the invention of the printing press in the mid 15th century, very few private citizens owned or had access to sheet music. The ones in existence were owned by a few wealthy noblemen. Because the only way to publish written music was to copy it by hand, it’s little wonder that sheet music was scarce.

The process took long hours and careful copying skills, plus access to the right materials. Before the printing press, the only songs available in written score were sacred songs. Most of these were chants used in liturgical services. Virtually no secular music scores existed prior to the 15th century.

The invention of the printing press in 1439 changed the history of sheet music. This is in spite of the fact that the earliest methods of reproducing musical scores were almost as painstaking as copying music by hand. Italian printer Ottaviano Petrucci may be considered the “father of sheet music.”

He developed the first method for reproducing sheet music. He was also granted an exclusive patent for his work, giving him an early monopoly on the business for several years. His method involved three stages. The paper was pressed three times. First, the staff was printed. On the second impression, the words were added. The final impression laid down the notes.

The downside to the process was that it was time-consuming and expensive. This made it relatively impractical for the average citizen to own sheet music. However, technology evolved over the years. Eventually, better and more efficient methods of printing were developed.

Most of the earliest music that was published was sacred music. In fact, the printing, distribution and publication of music were largely controlled by the church for several centuries. Eventually this changed, and soon music companies found themselves in the thriving business of music publishing. The retail distribution of sheet music took off in the late 1800s and early 1900s. This was in spite of the fact that there was no means for promoting particular songs or artists, like radio or television.

The popularity of sheet music prompted many governments around the world to examine the issue of copyright and pass their own laws in that regard. With copyright becoming a worldwide issue, the Berne Convention of 1886 established a universal principle regarding copyright. Today, approximately 76 countries around the world adhere to this standard.

Of course, technology continues to evolve. Radio, television and the Internet have posed new challenges to the ability of governments to enforce copyright laws. Sheet music can now be downloaded straight from the Internet, often illegally. Notwithstanding this, the annual sale of sheet music ranges in the tens of thousands today. Music-publishing software has brought the printing of music full circle from the days when stolid monks sat writing music with a quill by candlelight.

Youtube- They aren’t the only one’s to use those videos

Youtube is a revolutionary Internet site that allows people to put movies of theirs on the web. However, apparently some people apparently thought this to mean cram as much vile content on it as possible. In fact, there is a site that uses youtube videos for what it calls “HOT-FUNNY-VIDEO”. On this site, there are: over 25 pages on the keyword strip (albeit the word leaves a lot of options, but there was more than enough smut), over 25 pages for porn, over 25 on XXX. Under the search box is a small list of recent searches, and when I looked up baseball, I found that people had searched for: girls being bad, panty panties, thick ass, lingerie, and ass. That makes you feel good, doesn’t it? The ironic thing about this site is that even though it’s called “hot-funny-video” and you would therefore be a little suspicious, it also has videos like a Backstreet-Boys music video and India vs. Pakistan cricket highlights. So what if a minor is looking for a Baskstreet-Boys music video and comes across the site, then he notices titles like: “Is this ass or boobs?” “SuperSexyStrip er” “hot girl mmmmmmmm” and “NeverWatch My ass”? Then I decided to search by categories with innocent names like comedy, news & politics, and sports. Silly me. Here are some video titles under some categories (on the all time most watched list):

Comedy: “sex”, “banned commercials-condoms”, and “HOT ASIAN SEX”

Entertainment: “sex hardcore xxx”, “sexy bikini contest”, and “naked chicks”

Film and Animation: “sex”, “XXX”, and “New Midnight Sleazy Train”

Gadgets & Games: “xxx”, “humping dog”, and “Barbie girl- aqua” (two women kissing)

Howto & DIY: “Inner thigh massage”, “Chinese sex video”, and “Carmen Electra striperobics”

News & Politics: “BRITNEY SPEARS SEX TAPE – kevin federline PRIVATE”

People & Blogs: “Britney spears topless photos”, “Blow job on the beach” (I’m not going to write the rest of the title), and “Lezberado: Revenge Fantasies”

Pets & Animals: “Cheerleaders gone wild”, “Slug sex”, and “Spanking cat again- THE ORIGINAL”

Travel and Places: “the art of dirty sex”, “GAY SEX”, and “HOT LESBIANS”

The saddest thing here is that these are just the sexual titles. There are plenty of other things unnecessary to show, like “Steve Irwin’s real death”, and “Fatal Skydiving accident caught on tape.” Now there’s a reason to microwave some popcorn and gather the family around, watching someone die. Remember now, these are videos that don’t even bother to ask if you are 18 or older, and even if it did, you just click a button and you’re in. The only ones I applaud are veoh.com and Youtube, as they require that you register to view anything that is for mature audiences. However, the downside is that these videos, as mentioned above, aren’t just to be found on the parent sites, but on others as well. So we as a people have to tackle this stuff. I don’t enjoy searching through the depths of sleaze to find things like this, but you gotta do what you gotta do. It’s time we stood up and said no more. To say that Youtube is a wonderful site for creativity, but if your idea of that word is smut then stay off of it! And that’s all there is to it.

Music is a magical gift we must cultivate and nourish. Casals says music fills him up with the wonders of life and the incredible marvel of being a human. Berstein says it is enriching and ennobling. Music teaches us to appreciate the wonders of life.

Music builds up the skills of creativity, cooperation and communication and helps us to see the world from a new prospective. We are introduced to the myriad rhythms, richness and diversity of human life. Music has a great power of bringing the world together.

In today’s busy and hectic world people young and old look for an opportunity to chase away their blues with good music. There is a variety of music available in the market these days. You can even download music from the net on to your computers and from there to your mobiles. No family function or gathering is complete without a good DJ system – everyone dances together enjoying themselves for hours. Music and a good voice are God’s gifts to humans. Even animals have now been proven to respond to music.

A disc jockey or a DJ is a person who selects and plays prerecorded music for an audience. In 1934 American commentator Waller Winchell coined the term “disc jockey” the combination of “disc” and “jockey” which is the operator of a machine.

In 1943 Jimmy Savile launched the world’s first DJ dance party playing Jazz records in England. In 1947 he became the first DJ to use twin turntables for continuous play.

In 1947 the “Whiskey-a-go-go” night club opened in Paris, France, considered to be the world’s first discotheque or disco deriving its name from the French word, meaning a nightclub where the featured entertainment is recorded music rather than an onstage band.

There are several types of disc jockeys –

Radio jockey – They introduce and play music that is broadcasted on AM, FM, shortwave or digital stations.

Club Jockey- Select and play music in a bar, club, disco or a rave.

Hip hop jockeys- They select and play music with multiple turntables with one or more backup.

MCs Reggae disc jockeys- In Reggae, the DJ is a vocalist raps, beat boxes or chats over digital music recording.

Mobile disc jockeys- They travel with a portable sound system and play at a variety of functions like birthday parties, marriages, and a variety of other events.

DJ equipments:

-The music recording is done in a DJ preferred medium eg. Vinyl records, compact discs, computer media files.

-A minimum of two devices to play sound recording for alternate back and forth to create continuous playback of music.

-A sound system for amplification of or broadcasting of the music.

-A DJ mixer, an electronic two channel mixer with a cross mixer with a crossfader to go from one song to another.

-Headphones used to play one recording while the other is being played to the audience.

-A Microphone so that the DJ can introduce songs and speak to the audience.

Several techniques are used by DJs as means to better mix prerecorded music like cueing, audio mixing of two or more sound sources. Club DJs use turntable techniques like cutting, scratching, needle drops etc. In part two of this article we will learn more about music.