A musical instrument or a music gear is a device constructed or modified with the purpose of making music. In principle anything that, produces sound, and can somehow be controlled by a person playing it, can serve as a musical gear. The expression, however, is reserved generally for items that have a specific musical purpose. The academic study of musical instruments is called organology. The different kinds of music gears include guitar, piano, drums, synthesizer, flute and the list is endless.
Bass Guitar
Bass guitar is a stringed instrument played with the fingers either by plucking, slapping, popping, tapping or using a pick. Bass guitar has a large body, long neck.
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It produces sound by striking steel strings with felt hammers that immediately rebound allowing the string to continue vibrating at its resonance frequency. These vibrations are transmitted through the bridges to the soundboard, which amplifies them. The piano is widely used in Western music for solo performance, chamber music, and accompaniment. It is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal. Although not portable and often expensive, the versatility and ubiquity of the piano have made it one of the most familiar musical instruments. It is sometimes classified as both a percussion and a string instrument.
Accordion
An accordion is a musical instrument of the handheld bellows driven free reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as squeeze boxes. The accordion is played by compression and expansion of a bellows, which generates air flow across reeds. A keyboard or buttons control, which reeds receive air flow and therefore the tones produced. Modern accordions consist of a body in two parts, each generally rectangular in shape, separated by a bellows. On each part of the body is a keyboard containing buttons, levers or piano style keys. When pressed, the buttons travel in a direction perpendicular to the motion of the bellows.
Synthesizer
A synthesizer is generally any kind of electronic musical instrument, or electronic device capable of producing or manipulating audio tones, such as musical notes, through audio signal processing. The term originates from the Greek word syntithetai. Synthesizers work by manipulating electrical signals, which appear as sound when they are used to drive audio amplifiers. These tones are generated by electrical circuits which may work by manipulating a signal through a series of oscillators and filters in an analog circuit.
Flute
The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike other woodwind instruments, a flute is a reed less wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air against an edge, instead of using a reed. In its most basic form, a flute can be an open tube which is blown like a bottle. There are several broad classes of flutes. With most flutes, the musician blows directly across the edge of the mouthpiece. However, some flutes, such as the whistle, gemshorn, flageolet, recorder, tin whistle, tonette, fujara, and ocarina have a duct that directs the air onto the edge. These are known as fipple flutes. The fipple gives the instrument a distinct timbre which is different from non fipple flutes and makes the instrument easier to play, but takes a degree of control away from the musician.
When you ask someone why he or she likes a band, performer or style of music, the usual response is either, “they’re awesome,” “they rock” or “it’s fun stuff.” People tend to say that music is simply for entertainment. And as for musicians, the reason they play music either involves “the call” to do so or the ego-driven need to stand in front of a crowd. But why do we even have music? Is it, as Shakespeare stated, “to soothe the savage beast”? It’s not like it’s life or death. Or is it? For Gera Clark and John Sarantos, who perform on Native American flutes as the NightDancers, music is that deep. Mr. Santos started with the simple desire to express himself musically, but discovered that the Native American flute, by its nature, takes one beyond pigeonholed functions, including new-age “meditation” music. Ms. Clark’s journey to music started with desperately needing something of a life line at a critical time. She states: “After a prolonged critical illness, I began to put my life back together… While on this spiritual path, I discovered the Native American flute.” In this era of art-as-diversion, or lifestyle accessory, it is a wonderfully pleasant surprise to be reminded that, as Clark and Santos reveal in the interview below, music is a powerful and healing force.
[Mark Kirby] What kind of music was played in your home when you were growing up?
[Gera Clark] My mother played classical music on the piano as an escape from her existence as an urban housewife raising four children. When I started school, my mother went back to work and I noticed her appetite for opera increased dramatically. My father fancied himself as being Bing Crosby and I would catch him now and then trying to learn the cha cha. Meanwhile, my sister would sneak in rock and roll. We aspired to write music together in the style of Carol King. We also listened to some of my relatives’ records, one being Seamus Ennis, my grand uncle who played the Uilleann pipes (an Irish type of bagpipes).
[John Sarantos] During my early years, my mother would play classical and operatic music when I was in school, but very little music was played while I was home except at Christmas.
[Mark Kirby] What kinds of music have you studied prior to the Native American flute?
[Gera Clark] As a child, my mother would bribe me with soda to take piano lessons because she wanted me to be a child prodigy. When I was able to travel on my own, I took up the traverse flute, which I carried with me for three years.
[John Sarantos] I tried learning the drums from the junior high school music teacher, but he told me I had no rhythm and would not work with me. After attending a Jethro Tull concert and being inspired by Ian Anderson’s flute playing, I tried the transverse flute, but was told by my flute instructor that I was tone deaf and she wouldn’t work with me. I tried singing, but I was told that I was tone deaf by three major Los Angeles voice coaches and they would not work with me. I tried guitar and banjo, but it was hard to play just cords as I could not sing along with myself. Then I discovered the Native American flute.
[Mark Kirby] How did you come to start playing Native American music in general, the flute in particular?
[Gera Clark] After the death of my husband and a quick rebound marriage and divorce, followed by a prolonged critical illness, I began to put my life back together. I also began searching for beauty. While on this spiritual path, I discovered the Native American flute.
One day, I found myself about a hundred miles west of New York standing outside a Tibetan Buddhist Temple, when suddenly I heard the most beautiful sound. Following the powerful, yet haunting sound, I discovered it emanating from a Native American flute, played by Ed Callshim (Ponca Sioux). After this experience, I finally found a flute of my own at the National Museum of the American Indian in New York. Later, when traveling to Niagara Falls with my teacher, Amy Lee (Iroquois), a deep desire to connect with my earlier travels in the southwest was awakened. On one particular journey, I found myself exploring the canyons along the Rio Grande. Eventually I was led to the mountains and the Taos Pueblo, where I heard that haunting sound drifting through the air. I followed it to its source, a little adobe. Looking inside, I met a kind and talented gentleman who encouraged me to play the native flute. That gentleman, unbeknownst to me at the time, is one of the finest Native American flute players in the world, John Rainer, Jr. (Taos/Creek). Leaving New Mexico with renewed faith, I was led, via The American Indian Community House in New York, to Franc Menusan (Muskogee Creek). He became my extremely patient mentor for several years.
On my birthday, I flew out to an R. Carlos Nakai (Navajo/Ute) concert with the San Francisco Symphony, where I learned about the Renaissance of the Native American Flute workshop in Montana. I came back to New York and booked myself a flight to Montana, which was where I met John Sarantos, and our musical partnership was born.
[John Sarantos] My mother, who was 84-years-old at the time, introduced me to the music of the Peter Kater and R. Carlos Nakai duo. Mr. Kater, who is of German heritage, played piano, and Mr. Nakai the native flute. I discovered that I too like the sound of the native flute. I went to a Kater and Nakai concert in Chicago, where Nakai mentioned a week-long workshop at the Feathered Pipe Ranch in Helena, Montana. I had a choice of paying about $1,200 for the flute workshop taught by Mr. Nakai and his partner and flute-maker, Ken Light, or going to Japan for two weeks, all expenses paid by the school where I was teaching. I chose Montana.
[Mark Kirby] What lead you to play this kind of meditative music?
[John Sarantos] We don’t think of it as only meditative music. We worked hard to stay away from falling into that stereotype of musical style on our CD. Although a lot of people use our record for meditation, they also use it for healing and relaxation. Several people who have cancer told me that they find inner peace while listening to ‘Montana Crossings’.
[Gera Clark] In fact, after John had his cancer surgery last year, we decided that 10% of the gross sales from ‘Montana Crossings’ would be used to buy flutes for cancer patients. So far, we have donated flutes to cancer flute circles and individuals in New York City, Chicago, Lansing, Michigan and Jefferson City, Oregon.
[Mark Kirby] Are Native American flutes more like shakuhachi flutes or transverse flutes in terms of technique?
[John Sarantos] Neither. The shakuhachi can take three months just to get one note. The transverse requires many hours of playing to learn just the basic scale. The native flute is one of the easiest instruments to play. I have taught elementary children to play the native flute, and they have started playing songs in about five minutes or less.
[Mark Kirby] Describe the flutes that you use in terms of size, number of holes, type of wood, etc.
[Gera Clark] We use flutes ranging from four to six holes and from four inches to five feet.
[John Sarantos] Traditionally, most flutes were made from soft woods; for example, cedar and pine. However, when the Europeans came, they brought with them tools that made it easier to create flutes out of harder woods; some flutes were even made from old gun barrels.
[Gera Clark] Today, flute-makers are creating flutes from all types of woods, from cedars to walnut to iron wood, to even flutes made out of one of the hardest woods: ebony.
[John Sarantos] We also have a wide assortment of clay flutes based on the Aztec and Mayan cultures made by master flute-maker Xavier Quijas Xyotol.
[Mark Kirby] How did you arrive at the name of NightDancers for your musical duo?
[Gera Clark] One day John and I were talking and discovered that we both used to walk around our individual houses in the middle of the night without any lights on. We came up with the name Night Walkers.
[John Sarantos] However, most people we talked to thought that the name sounded too much like vampires or ladies of the evening.
[Gera Clark] After discussing a variety of names, we came up with NightDancers.
[Mark Kirby] When did you decide to record ‘Montana Crossings’?
[Gera Clark] John and I had been playing together for about two years. John would travel from Milwaukee during his vacations, and we would play for our friend Bob Hegler, who encouraged us to keep playing together. We enjoyed playing so much that we used to spend hours playing over speaker phones when John was still living in Milwaukee. When we started performing in local New York venues, people would ask if we had a CD they could purchase. After about a year of doing live performances, we felt that we had created a wide variety of songs that we wanted to share with others.
[Mark Kirby] Why did you choose to record at Avatar Studios in New York City?
[John Sarantos] I had been writing record reviews for the International Native American Flute Journal for about ten years and could tell when an artist used a home computer all the way up to a professional sound studio. If we were going to put our time, effort and money into a recording, we wanted it to sound the best it could. I asked several people if they could recommend a sound studio in New York City. Avatar Studios was one of the top three studios on several people’s lists.
[Gera Clark] We were also very fortunate that Tino Passante of Avatar recommended Jim Anderson for our sound engineer. Jim understood the sound that we were striving to obtain, and he succeeded in capturing that sound.
[Mark Kirby] How are the titles connected to the songs you are playing? Are these titles indicative of what the music is supposed to evoke?
[Gera Clark] The titles are indicative of the inspiration behind the music.
[John Sarantos] Hopefully, each person will have their own emotional response to the music depending on their own journey.
[Mark Kirby] What types of events or venues do you play?
[Gera Clark] One of our goals is to help spread the beauty of the flute to others, whether it be playing our music for others to listen [to] or sharing our knowledge on how to play the flute.
[John Sarantos] herefore, we play in a variety of venues for all types of events. You can view our schedule at: http://www.nightdancersmusic.com and http://www.myspace.com/nightdancersmusic
I want to have flute music to hotel of california by the eagles. Can anyone tell me what website or post the music or website or something like that?? but dont forget its for flute!! Thank you!
Performance by Flutist Marco Granados and Bass Player Roberto Koch in Caracas, Venezuela. July 2006 at the “Teatro Teresa Carreño, Sala Rivas”. Last day of the national meeting of flute players in Venezuela, organized by Fesnojiv, the Foundation for Youth Orchestras of Venezuela.
I am trying to find a composer that wrote flute music and is from the United States and has a biography. I am doing some research.
How music can help people to get rid of their stress?
Music can do wonder and alleviate bodily pains as well as mental stress. You can feel the comfort while listening to the beautiful and soothing music. Music has a great power to heal and the charm of music itself is so soothing that people who are stressed out can get rid of all their pains by listening to some light music. Even when you are tired, you can listen to some light music to get rid of your tiredness.
Example from Bible: From the ancient times we all know how music played its role to alleviate the pains of people. For example the Bible, David played his harp in order to alleviate the pains of King Saul. Some of the best recommendations from the doctors are the following:
Play music and sing songs: Play the music and sing along with it. It works like magic in the worst of time. Even if you can’t play any instrument, you can listen to music and sing softly with it. It also works while you are stressed out.
Heartbeat of the unborn infant: Another vital thing that rejuvenates a person instantly is the heart beat of the baby who is still inside the mother’s womb. It is so pleasant to hear the heartbeat that even people suffering from worst mental disease can be rejuvenated by it.
Psychological response: According to popular research, music produces in the physiological response system and many psychological patients revived their senses after listening to the music. Music pertaining to loud drum beats was extremely soothing. So were the flute music in place of soothing Mediterranean and Celtic Music.
Biological synchronization: Whenever the proper sounds were experienced by the listener, amazing right/left brain hemisphere synchronization occurred. Thus it has been observed that the entire human energetic system is extremely influenced by sounds, the physical body and energy stores react specifically to some specific tones and frequencies.
Deep breathing; music during dental procedure: Another important stress control devise is deep breathing. In this method, the production of serotonin in the body accelerates. Music also relieves the pain which was caused during dental procedures.
Reduce heart rate and increase body temperature: Sometimes we can hear the music while we are working. This is also extremely beneficial since it helps to promote higher temperature of the body and also to reduce the heart rate.
I am in Junior Miss and need suggestions of songs and websites to find free flute music. I need help on picking a good song for junior miss that a junior in high school would be able to play.
Chinese Tratitional flute Music and Dance “Yi Zhou”
Meditation music produces measurable results. It slows our heartbeats down to about one beat per second, which can allow us to relax, let go, meditate and/or fall asleep.
There are different types of meditation however, and different types of music are appropriate for each. A relaxing meditation is intended to help you slow down and release stress, so the best music is easy to listen to and has elements that embody peace and harmony. The instruments and type of music are those that you associate with these qualities. This can differ from person to person. For example, you might associate flute music with lilting tunes and it might then invigorate you, while someone else may equate flute music with peaceful forest scenes or waterfalls.
Positive music is the best kind for meditation because it has beneficial qualities and is emotionally and spiritually uplifting, many believe even healing. Additionally, it can be relaxing, calming, or even physically and mentally stimulating. Positive music is not about lyrics, but about the music itself.
The music of the ’50s was almost all positive, so much so that there was no need to call it that, as there was no “negative” music to speak of. Today’s music is much different; heavy metal, grunge, punk rock, and other genres all contribute to a large body of negative music, music that expresses and evokes images of anger, fear, ugliness, hatred and pain. Even classical music written with a lot of discord can be considered negative. In the early 20th century, the works of Arthur Schonburg were rejected and in some instances almost caused riots amongst concert goers. Since then discordant music has been accepted and incorporated by modern music composers and music schools.
Negative music has become a part of modern tv and movies, forming the basis of music scores that evoke terror, suspense, and fear, and thereby helping to shape modern culture.
Positive music, on the other hand, has been present through all time, and thanks to modern media, people are becoming aware of positive music forms they never even knew existed before, examples of which are Gregorian chants and ancient Jewish and Arabic music. Positive music has the ability to transform and uplift, infuse people with feelings of content and wellbeing.
This is not to say that sad music is negative. I’m thinking specifically of the music of Sarah McLachlan when I say that a singer/songwriter can reach deep and then soar, and leave you with a feeling of being understood in your sadness, yet uplifted with comfort and hope. There is rock music such as the music of the Moody Blues or U2 which can evoke images of angels.
This is not a statement about any particular genre of music in its entirety, just that if you listen carefully, you will recognize whether the music you are listening to is positive or negative by the way your mind, body, emotions and psyche react. When you are practicing a relaxing meditation, you can learn to choose the right music, and positive music is a great place to start.
The Shakuhachi plays an authentic Japanese music. Learn more about the music played by a Shakuhachi in thisfree video music lesson from a master of the Japanese Shakuhachi flute. Expert: David Zasloff Bio: David Zasloff has been called “one of the great performers of our time.” He is a master of Japanese shakuhachi flute. He played shakuhachi flute on the million-selling Linkin Park CD, Meteora.” Filmmaker: Nili Nathan