You Can’t Have Good Music Without Percussion

Percussion instruments are very old and have quite a history. Often used in folk music, these instruments add variety and a rural charm to music. In India for example, two pieces of flat metal are struck to form a bell like sound. This form of instrument is used in temples and prayer places across the country. Other popular percussions instruments include the drum, piano and xylophone.

All percussion instruments can be divided into two major and broad categories. Membranophone, which add tambour to the sound of being struck like drums and idiophones, which sound of themselves like triangles. The division can also be made on tuning basis and other sub groups. For example, some instruments can be tuned while the others can not.

Percussionists are also called upon to play other instruments that may not be percussive in nature. These instruments include police sirens, glass harmonica, lion's roar and wind machines. As percussionists play such a wide variety of instruments generating so many different types of melodies, they are usually the most skilled in the music industry.

Percussive instruments are the heart of a musical performance. It is difficult to name 3 or 4 songs from the classical or pop charts, which do not use percussive instruments. Since the times of the earliest composers like Mozart, all compositions include at least one pair of timpani's playing in the background.

Some instruments like the xylophones are a pleasure to listen to. They sound like tinkling fountains in beautiful gardens. Bringing out the romantic side in us. There is another instrument where you strike at bottles filled with different levels of water that give forth delightful sounds.

If we talk of jazz, the high hats are easily associated in our minds. The ride cymbals are another percussion based instruments we look for in a jazz song. Even in military bands, soldiers can not keep time with out a bass drum.

No rock group today is complete without percussive instruments. All the bands a complete drum kit and several other percussive instruments. Pink Floyd used percussive instruments to great effect in their songs dealing with sci fi worlds and fantasy music.

Various cultures have there own percussive instruments. As I said earlier, the Indian bells are a classical example. In the west, gongs are untuned percussive instruments used in churches and other important occasions. As cultures have evolved, so has this category of instruments.

Through their diversity and wide choice, percussion instruments are the back bone of every musical ensemble. The players are brilliant and multi faceted people who can take up and play different instruments at will. The piano experts like Yanni are percussionists after all. An ensemble with full percussion is a pleasure to watch and a pleasure to hear. Chances are good that you have never heard music with out some sort of percussion accompaniment. They are the finishing touch on a great sound.

Lavinia Snider is the editor of Drums And More. A meeting place for music enthusiasts with forums, shopping guide, and reviews.

Related Information of Interest:

Guitar Lessons – Hammer-On, Pull-Offs
One of the primary legato techniques all guitarists must learn is the hammer-on, pull-off. This technique is important because it allows for nuances in tone and expression, and it allows the picking hand a “break” since it does not have to pick the notes on the hammer-on or the pull-off. This results in a faster progression of notes, sometimes called licks.

The hammer-on is accomplished when you pick a note and then using another finger hammer down on the same string. The sound of the hammered note is less pronounced than the picked note. For example place your first finger on the 5th fret of the 3rd string, and the hammer down your third finger on the 7th fret of the 3rd string. Don’t use your just quickly strike the second fret position with the tip of your 3rd finger. This would be described in guitar tab as 5h7 or 5 hammer 7. Keep your first finger on the 5th fret because you are going to pull-off of the 7th fret in the next example.

The pull-off results when you release a plucked note with enough force such that the second fretted note rings. This may require a slight side way motion to create enough friction to cause the string to ring out. The sound of the pulled-off note is less pronounced since you aren't using your pick to create it. This would be illustrated in guitar tab 7p5 or 7 pull 5.

If you combine these techniques you can create very fast note runs or licks. Imagine how this sequence of hammer-on, pull-off’s would sound when played very quickly 5h7p5h7p5. In deed the hammer-on, pull-off technique is the cornerstone for legato and most speed playing techniques.

It takes time to perfect the technique but it is worth the effort.

Bill McRea is the publisher of www.guitarwarehouse.com and www.kansasfans.com. Bill has owned and operate a highly successfull guitar business until he sold the business in 2004.

Who Wrote the Best Love Poem?
Who Wrote the Best Love Poem?

Love poems have long been a way for men and women to express their feelings for one another in a unique and romantic way. They range from structured, formal works such as those by William Shakespeare to free verse works by modern greats such as e.e. cummings. But of all the love poems ever written, who wrote the best love poem ever?

Of course this question may have a different answer depending on who you ask. But for the sake of argument, let’s say that the poet who created the poem that is most often quoted and most recognizable is the one who wrote the best love poem of all time. If these are the criteria, then the poem How Do I Love Thee? by the poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning would win hands down.

Browning wrote this poem to her husband. She and Robert Browning, also a poet, wrote countless love letters to one another over the period of several years. Today, these love letters and the poems that accompany them are treasured parts of American literature. Here is Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s finest and most recognizable work:

How Do I Love Thee?

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.

I love thee to the level of everyday's
Most quiet need, by sun and candlelight.
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.

I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints, I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life! and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.

When people think of love poems, they usually think of this one, especially of the first line. It has inspired many other poems in its time and is a great source of imitation. As the best love poem ever written, it has all the elements of a great work: elegant structure, classic rhyme scheme, and beautiful imagery.

Visit to find more of the best love poems.

Art Hill is an internet poet who operates an independant poetry publishing company.

Using Filters In Photography
Photographic filter is an attachment that will allow certain kinds of light to be able to pass through, and able to reduce or block out other unwanted light sources.In short, the term filter really means anything that modifies the incoming light in some way and includes: polarizing screens, multi-image prisms,close-up attachments, soft focus filters, neutral density (ND) filters, graduated ND filters, and color filters for black and white photography. Filters come in two main shapes: round and square.

Filters add color and a certain touch to a photo that complements the individuals style of photo taking. When you are using a black and white film with filters, you can darken or lighten the tone of the subjects color. The color filters that are used can darken the tone of an opposite color and brighten the tone of the color filter that is being used. For an example, a red filter will make the red leafs on an autumn tree look very rich and bright, while on the other hand the sky behind it that was blue, is now almost black.

Neutral density filters reduce the light entering your camera so that a slower shutter speed,or a larger aperture can be used. Graduated ND filters are used to balance out bright skies against darker foreground scenes.

A neat filter is called the star filter. This type of filter in photography is placed on the cameras lenses to create a star look effect form any source of light. This is very popular with television game shows and used for portraits to provide a soft overall diffusion. A split field lenses is really a full lenses but only half of it is close-up, it is great for taking a picture of something close-up at the bottom like a small flower or bug in focus. The top of the lenses is just blank or empty and the camera uses its lenses to background in focus, say the mountain in the distance.

Albreht Moy has many photographs for sale at his website.

Transform Your Life!
Is it time to make changes for the betterment of your health, although, you
just don't know how? Are you tired of living day by day doing the same thing
over and over and getting the same results? Well, it starts with you! In order
to make changes in your life right now, you have to be open and non-resistant
to change. Transformation is a process which most people are afraid of because
it requires them to live outside of their box. We go through our whole lives
thinking we are living because we go to work, pay the bills, eat junk food and
then expect to have excellent health.

Your body is your temple,your life source, and what we put into it is clearly
visible through your measure of health, well being and longevity. We all strive
to live a quality life and age gracefully, so why not feed it foods that will
aid us on our journey.

The first step to transforming your mind is to be open to eating healthier by
preparing these transitional recipes from the e-cookbook: Quick & Easy
Vegetarian Recipes To Heal Your Body. These recipes will allow you to have
familiar tasty healthy food, such as, Buffalo Tofu 'Wangs' and Marinated
Collards. You will not only enjoy every recipe, but you will be enticed to try
other healthy foods. This ecookbook is the bridge to the other side of EATING
HEALTHY & TRANSFORMING YOUR LIFE!

canavacafeecookbook.com

Monique Marion Sharp has been serving vegetarian food to the movers and shakers of Atlanta metropolitan for the past seven years. While serving the community, she has worked at Atlanta's most popular restaurants and hotels observing and learning everything from the kitchen to the front of the restaurant. Monique is currently working on opening a vegetarian cafe in Atlanta, Georgia. The proceeds of this book will contribute to the opening of Canava Cafe. She is available for cooking classes and personal chef services.