Jan
3
People have been attempting to merge video and music effectively for decades. They usually fail, but luckily a few have decided to go against the grain and produce something amazing. I have saved you the trouble of sifting through the detritus, and selected my top 5 artsy Music Videos. Enjoy 
Song: Star Guitar
Artist: Chemical Brothers
Director: Michael Gondry
Song: Flex
Artist: Aphex Twin
Director: Chris Cunningham
Song: Oh Mandy
Artist: Spinto Band
Director: Thomas Hughes (Bass Player for the band)
Song: Atmosphere
Artist: Joy Division
Director: Anton Corbijn
Song: No Good
Artist: Plan B
Director: Daniel Levi
HONORABLE MENTIONS:Song: Island In The Sun
Artist: Weezer
Director: Spike Jonze
Song: Closer
Artist: Nine Inch Nails
Director: Mark Romanek
Dec
16
Help With Rhyming
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Red Green once said, “Poems don’t have to rhyme and they don’t have to be dirty, but people prefer them that way.”
Here are some resources that should help you finish that Lady From Nantucket limerick:
First of all, I should mention the Free McGill English Dictionary of Rhyme 2.0
Here is the introduction:
American poet, Bryant H. McGill, has announced the release of a software rhyming dictionary derived from his award-winning McGill English Dictionary of Rhyme, which is used by over one hundred thousand writers, educators, students, aspiring poets, and songwriters from more than 100 countries, and stands as the world’s most extensive rhyming reference ever created in the history of the English language.
This essential reference, dedicated by McGill to “fellow poets everywhere,” is perfect for poets, songwriters, lyricists, copywriters, advertising agencies, pathologists, speechwriters, advertisers, teachers, students, researchers, linguists, writers, or anyone who enjoys rhyming words. The electronic reference software can even be run from a portable USB thumb/jump drive, which may be carried in the user’s pocket, making this reference perfect for students and those on the go
Features:
* Designed for Portability / Thumb Drives
* Has No Impact on System
* Requires no heavy database engines to be installed
* Does not harm Windows Performance
* Contains no hidden Spy Ware!
* Compatibility with Windows
* Is 100% FREE with no nags
This software is DEFINITELY worth a look, you can download it here: www.bryantmcgill.com/Free_Rhyming_Dictionary/
If you don’t feel like installing software, here are some good online rhyming dictionaries:
www.rhymezone.com
Easy to use and very good content
www.wikirhymer.com
Interesting approach, offers ‘phrases’ as well as rhymes.
rhyme.poetry.com
Good selection
www.rhymer.com
More difficult to use, but worth a look. Specify the TYPE of rhyme, i.e. End Rhymes, last syllable rhymes, beginning rhymes, etc…
If you decide that English isn’t the language for you, try this site:
www.alcor.com.au/rhyming_dictionary.asp
Rhyming Information:
Wikipedia’s entry of Rhyme is very informative:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhyme
web.uvic.ca/wguide/Pages/LTRhyme.html
A Brief explanation of End-Rhymes, Internal Rhymes, and Perfect Rhymes
www.wikihow.com/Rhyme
‘How to Rhyme’
Dec
13
Become a DJ
Filed Under: Articles | report broken link
A DJ (disk jockey) is a person who selects and plays prerecorded music for an audience. This, of course, covers those folks who spin tunes at the radio station, the guy who plugged in his iPod at your wedding, and the gentleman who (according to Wikipedia) raps, toasts, and chats over prerecorded tracks at various social gatherings (though in this case they prefer to be known as deejays).
Today, however, we are going to be looking at the baggy-pants, subwoofer, headphones over one ear school of DJing. The first step is to pick a name - which is almost always “DJ” followed by the name of a science-fiction novel. The second step is to visit some of the following and edjukate yourself:
www.djtutor.com
Probably the only site you will need as far as DJ advice goes. With many HUNDEDS of videos, whatever there is to say about DJing has probably been said many times here.
www.djadvantage.com
DJ Advantage features information and advice on many aspects of DJing, and is a resource worth checking out.
www.djforums.com
Great resource - tutorials, reviews and forums.
www.the-dj-equipment-guide.com
This site offers some equipment reviews and buying guides.
www.dj-tips-and-tricks.com
Like the title says, DJ tips and tricks
www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/onemusic/djing/
DJ how-to’s at the BBC.
www.djresource.eu
Mainly equipment reviews and guides.
www.famousdjs.com/resources.htm
A few good articles here
3345.com.au/cyclopedia/
Definitions and explanations of the various aspects of DJing
www.judgejules.net/index.php?page=12
DJ Related FAQs
www.internetdj.com/guides.php
A large DJing Network.
phobos.plato.nl/e-primer/
Explanation of the different electronic-music Genres and sub-Genres
www.thedjlist.com/
Little more than a worldwide listing of a few hundred thousand DJ’s, incase you start feeling like the only one.
www.spinner.com/category/dj/
A good DJ blog, read for Interviews, etc…
Dec
12
Start a Band
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“…Well we’re big rock singers
We’ve got golden fingers
And we’re loved everywhere we go
We sing about beauty and we sing about truth
For ten thousand dollars a show…”
-Dr Hook
One of the most difficult aspects of starting a band is finding the right members. This may seem surprising with all of the musicians in the world these days, but there are many things to consider when asking someone to join your band - such as; their reliability, their personality, their dedication, ability, location, and family commitments (they may not be able to leave their wife/child to rock out on a Wednesday night). While the local music store ad board, or newspaper can help you to find band members, you’re on the Internet right now, so why not save some time and check these sites out:
Band Mix is a popular site, they serve US, Canada, and the UK.
Musicians Junction is a similar site:
If that’s not enough, there’s also:
There isn’t a wealth of good advice on starting or maintaining a band, probably because a band is more like an exclusive club than anything else - but I did a fair bit of searching and here are some helpful resources which I found:
www.golistenlive.net/columns/basicsIndex.asp
A dozen or so good articles on many different aspects of the band experience.
www.blguitar.com/lesson/advanced/starting_a_band1.html
An article on the process of starting a band
www.abclearnguitar.com/band.html
Another article on starting/being in bands.
www.free-tabs.com/forum/find_a_band_or_band_member/…
The advantages and disadvantages of joining vs. starting your own band
Over at epinions.com there are a lot of articles - for some reason many of them are ‘jokes’ rather than useful content - but here are a selection of the best:
www.epinions.com/inst-review-600E-13A5F679-3999BDC4-prod1
www.epinions.com/inst-review-6FE6-771D2D8-39B8BF3F-prod1
Some sound advice from a guy who has been playing in bands for 35 years, includes the important aspects of playing in a band, and finding work.
www.epinions.com/content_2509217924
Some good tips
www.epinions.com/content_4509048964
Band thing not working out? Why share the glory if you can do it all yourself.
I hope that this is enough to get you on your way - if not, why don’t you write an article on your own experiences and email it to me?
Dec
12
Advice for Songwriters
Filed Under: Articles | report broken link
song·writ·er
According to Mirriam-Webster, a songwriter is: A person who composes words or music or both especially for popular songs
com.pos.er
They define composer as merely: A person who writers music
Isn’t is comforting to know that if you fail to achieve popular success as a songwriter, you can always fall back on being a composer?
In any case - if you would like to upgrade yourself to the exalted status of songwriter, here you will find a series of resources to help you on the way ->
www.musesmuse.com
Muses Muse offers great resources, such as articles on all aspects of sonwriting, singing and the music business. They can be found here.
Also, there is a section with interviews from popular songwriters here.
www.lyricalline.com
Lyrical Line features an impressive articles section here, a radio show here, and a section to submit your own songs here and here.
www.songwritersresourcenetwork.com
The Songwriters Resource Network provides some great tips and articles on the process of songwriting here.
www.sharemylyrics.com
Want to share you lyrics with others? Try this site.
www.songstuff.com
Song Stuff, incase you need information on any of the following: Songwriting, Lyric Writing, Music Business, Copywriting, Marketing, Promotion, Computer Recording, and Playing the drums, if that tickles your fancy. Also Interviews.
www.addicted-to-songwriting.com
Articles, tips, and interviews specifically about songwriting
www.irenejackson.com
Irene Jackson provides a number of articles on songwriting.
www.robinfrederick.com
Robin Frederick walks you through the different aspects of songwriting.
www.goodnightkiss.com
Articles? Articles.
www.bbc.co.uk
The BBC has some guides on songwriting - I recommend the ’starting out’ section.
www.craftofsongwriting.com
A handful of articles.
www.songlyricist.com
A small number of articles, but looks promising.
www.ultimatesongwriting.com
Provides some good information, though the site is somewhat difficult to navigate
www.lyricist.com
The site seems to have been dead for quite a few years, but it may be worth a look.
Well… If that doesn’t do the trick then you can always surf over to ezinearticles.com and type ’songwriting’ into the search box in the bottom left corner.
Dec
11
Overcome Stage Fright
Filed Under: Articles | report broken link
“According to most studies, people’s number one fear is public speaking. Number two is death. Death is number two. Does that sound right? This means to the average person, if you go to a funeral, you’re better off in the casket than doing the eulogy.” - Jerry Seinfeld
If you don’t suffer from stage fright, I recommend that you avoid these articles, as you’ll probably aquire it after reading the detailed descriptions of sweating hands and nausea.
www.speaking-tips.com
Many great articles on public speaking, social anxiety, and stage fright
www.stagefrighthelp.com/articles.php
Quite a few articles on different aspects of stage fright.
www.cba.uni.edu/buscomm/Presentations/stagefright.html
The causes of stagefright, and strategies to manage it
www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20631646/
A good, general article on stage fright
www.mandolinmagazine.com/articles/stagefright.html
Mandolin-related stage fright. Definitely worth a read, even if Mandolin’s not your thing
www.anxietycoach.com/social1.htm
An article with tips on overcoming stage fright
www.antion.com/articles/stagefright.htm
Several strategies to overcome stage fright
christinekane.com/blog/overcoming-stage-fright-heres-what-to-do/
Nine good tips.
www.speaking-tips.com/Stage-Fright/
Good articles on public speaking and related fear.
onstagemag.com/ar/performance_playing_scared/
Examines various strategies.
www.emusicguides.com/info/Music-Education/STAGE-FRIGHT-MANAGEMENT.html
General information and suggestions
garyguwe.wordpress.com/2007/03/06/overcoming-stage-fright/
According to this article you should more or less just suck it up and be a man (or woman)
www.jasminjahal.com/articles/art_surviving_stage_fright.html
Various unpleasant things that might happen to you on stage, especially if dancing is your thing. The avoidance of Alcohol may not be such a big issue if you’re in a Rock Band. Tells you to view each performance as a learning experience.
www.public-speaking.org/public-speaking-stagefright-article.htm
Bullet points of the unpleasant thing that happen during public-speaking, followed by by bullet points of ways to pretend they don’t exist.
www.musicbizacademy.com/articles/js_stagefright.htm
Apparently there are ‘pressure points’ which can help you with stage fright.
www.worldmusicworld.com/world-music-articles-more.php?title=Get+Rid+Of+Singing+Stage+Fright
Get rid of singing-related stage fright
phobiasanxiety.suite101.com/article.cfm/how_to_beat_stage_fright
How to beat stage fright with deep breathing and face-pulling
www.ezinearticles.com/?Breathing-out-Stage-Fright&id=17222
Several different ways to breathe, incase you forget how.
www.nytimes.com/2004/10/17/arts/music/17tind.html
Better playing through prescription-drugs. It’s from the NY Times, so it must be true!
www.professionalspeaker.com/public-speaking-stagefright-article.htm
About a hundred bullet-points that will help you achieve peak-nervousness.
