Aerobics Music

Listening to music is a great way to prepare yourself mentally for participating in any activity. The power of music to influence, cajole and inspire us as humans is a well known fact. Its use in aerobics is no less potent, as music in this form stimulates the body and energizes it for the workout at hand.

So, if you are having problems in establishing an exercise routine or perhaps are so unmotivated that you have not even started; consider incorporating some aerobics music in your routine to kick start your regimen.

Benefits of Using Aerobics Music

Motivation is definitely the main benefit to be had from using aerobics music as a part of your regular routine. Lively upbeat music will certainly get you in the frame of mind to get up and get going. Tough with respect to being motivated, different persons are motivated by different factors, so the genre of music used in this case would be highly personalized. Irrespective if the genre chosen, typically aerobics music should be one which starts of gradually eventually building into a lively rhythm, then tapers off close to the end of the workout in a cooling off session.

Adding music to your aerobics sessions may help you to increase the intensity as well as the duration of your workout as listening and moving to the music your mind will not necessarily be on the exercise in itself. Instead of just doing reps because you know you should, you will now be enjoying the entire workout without even thinking of it as a duty.

Another great, but often overlooked benefit of adding music to your exercise regimen is the distraction factor. Music will distract you from experiencing boredom, fatigue and even pain. So if you are feeling any discomfort such as excessive tiredness or if you just had a bad day, you can just allow your mind to focus on the music and the beat instead of the issues at hand.

Types of Music

While there is certainly no hard and fast rule governing which type of music has to be used in an aerobics session, you will inadvertently meant to use music that is fast and will inspire you to get moving. There are many aerobics music videos and CD's on the market that will cater for various energy levels and tastes. While the selection is definitely up to you, it is advisable that you choose something that you enjoy and which has a nice rhythm to it.

Also, try to make sure that the speed of and intensity of the music that you have chosen is in tandem with the level of aerobics activity that you will be partaking in. Whether your workout is super fast, moderate, intense or slower paced, them the music that you will eventually select should be in sync for obvious reasons.

Almost all genres can be converted into aerobic music, just remember that the music should keep you on your toes and moving at a fast pace. Once it satisfies these criteria, regardless if it is traditional aerobic music or not, it will be effective.

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Jewish Music

What Is Jewish Music?

Jewish music can be studied from many diversified points of view. Among them historical, liturgical and non-liturgical music of the Hebrews dating from the pre-Biblical times (Pharaonic Egypt); religious music at the first and second Solomon's Temples; musical activities immediately following the Exodus; the seemingly impoverished religious musical activities during the early middle ages; the emergence of the concept of Jewish Music in the mid-19th century; its nation-oriented sense as coined by the landmark book Jewish Music in its Historical Development (1929) by A. Z. Idelsohn (1882-1938) and finally as the art and popular music of Israel.

Early emergences of Jewish musical themes and of what may be called "the idea of being Jew" in European music can be first seen in the works of Salamone Rossi (1570-1630). Following that they appear somewhat shaded in the works of the grandson of the well known Jewish philosopher Moses Mendelssohn(1729-1786): Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847).

Fromental Halevy's (1799-1862) opera La Juive and its occasional use of some Jewish themes is opposed to the lack of "anything Jew" in his almost contemporary fellow composer Jacques Offenbach (1819-1880) who was actually Jew and grew up in straight Jewish tradition.

Interestingly the St. Petersburg Society for Jewish Music led by the composer-critic Joel Engel (1868-1927) reports on how they discovered their Jewish roots. They were inspired by the Nationalistic movement in the Russian Music personified by Rimsky-Korsakov, Cesar Cui and others, and records how set out to the Shtetls and meticulously recorded and transcribed thousands of Yiddish folksongs.

Ernst Bloch's (1880-1959) Schelomo for cello and orchestra and specially the Sacred Service for orchestra, choir and soloists are attempts to create a "Jewish Requiem".

Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (1895-1968)'s Sephardic upbringings and their influences on his music as they appear in his Second Violin Concerto and in many of his songs and choral works; cantatas Naomi and Ruth, Queen of Shiba and in the oratorio The Book of Jonah among others are worth noting as well.

Many scholars did not missed the Synagogue motives and melodies borrowed by George Gershwin in his Porgy and Bess. Gershwin biographer Edward Jablonski has claimed that the melody to "It Ain't Necessarily So" was taken from the Haftarah blessing and others have attributed it to the Torah blessing.

In Gershwin's some 800 songs, allusions to Jewish music have been detected by other observers as well. One musicologist detected "an uncanny resemblance" between the folk tune "Havenu Shalom Aleichem" and the spiritual "It Take a Long Pull to Get There".

Most notcied contemporary Israeli composers are Chaya Czernowin, Betty Olivera, Tsippi Fleisher, Mark Kopytman, Yitzhak Yedid.

There are also very important works by non-Jew composers in the Jewish music. Maurice Ravel with his Kaddish for violin and piano based on a traditional liturgical melody and Max Bruch's famous arrangement of the Yom Kippur prayer Kol Nidrei for cello and orchestra are among the best known.

Sergei Prokofieff's Overture sur des Themes Juives for string quartet, piano and clarinet clearly displays its inspirational sources in non-religious Jewish music. The melodic, modal, rhythmical materials and the use of the clarinet as a leading melodic instrument is a very typical sound in folk and non-religious Jewish music.

Dmitri Shostakovich was deeply influenced by Jewish music as well. This can be seen in many of his compositions, most notably in the song cycle From Jewish Folk Poetry, and in the Second Piano Trio. However his most outstanding contribution to the Jewish culture is without doubt the 13th. Symphony "Babi Yar".

How Many Jewish Musics?

The world-wide dispersion of the Jews following the Exodus and its three main communities create the basic kayout of the world-wide Jewish music. Those communities in their geographical dispersion covering all continents and their unique relations with local communities have given birth to various kinds of music as well as languages and customs.

Following the exile, according to geographical settlements, Jews formed three main branches: Ashkenazi, Sephardi and Mizrahi.

Roughly they are located as follows: Ashkenazi in Eastern and Western Europe, the Balkans, (to a lesser extend) in Turkey and Greece; Sephardi in Spain, Maroc, North Africa and later in the Ottoman Empire (Turkey); Mizrahi in Lebanon, Syria, East Asia, Iraq, Yemen, Egypt.

The music of those communities naturally entered into contact with local traditions and evolved accordingly.

Ashkenazi and the Klezmer

"Ashkenazi" refers to Jews who in the 9.th century started to settle on the banks of the Rhine.
Today the term "Ashkenazi" designate most of the European and Western Jews.

Besides the Hebrew, Yiddish is commonly used in speech and songs.

The traditional Ashkenazi music, originated in Eastern Europe, moved to all directions from there and created the main branch of Jewish Music in North America. It includes the famous Klezmer music. Klezmer means "instruments of song", from the Hebrew word klei zemer. The word come to designate the musician himself and it is somehow analogous to the European troubadour.

Klezmer is a very popular genre which can be seen in Hasidic and Ashkenazic Judaism, it is however deeply connected with the Ashkenazi tradition.

Around the 15th century, a tradition of secular Jewish music was developed by musicians called kleyzmorim or kleyzmerim. They draw on devotional traditions extending back into Biblical times, and their musical legacy of klezmer continues to evolve today. The repertoire is largely dance songs for weddings and other celebrations. Due to the Ashkenazi lineage of this music, the lyrics, terminology and song titles are typically in Yiddish.

Originally naming the musicians themselves in mid-20th Century the word started to identify a musical genre, it is also sometimes referred to as "Yiddish" music.

Sephardi

"Sephardi" literally means Spanish, and designate Jews from mainly Spain but also North Africa, Greece and Egypt.

Following the expulsion of all non-Christians, forced to convert to Christianism or to the exile in 1492, the very rich, cultivated and fruitful Jewish culture existing in Spain has migrated massively into the Ottoman Empire formed the main brach of Jews living currently in Turkey.

Their language besides the Hebrew is called Ladino. Ladino is a 15th. century of Spanish. Much of their musical repertoire is in that language. The Sephardi music mixes many elements from traditional Arab, North African, Turkish idioms.

In medieval Spain, "canciones" being performed at the royal courts constitued the basis of the Sephardic music.

Spiritual, ceremonial and entertainment songs all coexists in Sephardic music. Lyrics are generally Hebrew for religious songs and Ladino for others.

The genre in its spread to North Africa, Turkey, Greece, the Balkans and Egypt assimilated many musical elements. Including the North African high-pitched, extended ululations; Balkan rhythms, for instance in 9/8 time; and the Turkish maqam modes.

Woman voice is often preferred while the instruments included the "oud" and "qanun" which are not traditionally Jewish instruments.

Some popular Sephardic music has been released as commercial recordings in the early 20th Century. Among the first popular singers of the genre were men and included the Turks Jack Mayesh, Haim Efendi and Yitzhak Algazi. Later, a new generation of singers arose, many of whom were not themselves Sephardic. Gloria Levy, Pasharos Sefardíes and Flory Jagoda.

Mizrahi

"Mizrahi" means Eastern and refers to Jews of Eastern Mediterranean and further to the East.

The music also mixes local traditions. Actually a very "eastern flavored" musical tradition which encompasses Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq and as east as India.

Middle Eastern percussion instruments share an important part with the violin in typical Mizrahi songs. The music is usually high pitched in general.

In Israel today Mizrahi music is very popular.

A "Muzika Mizrahit" movement emerged in the 1950s. Mostly with with performers from the ethnic neighborhoods of Israel: the Yemenite "Kerem HaTemanim" neighborhood of Tel Aviv, Moroccan, Iranian and Iraqi immigrants - who played at weddings and other events.

Songs were performed in Hebrew but with a clear Arabic style on traditional Arabic instruments: the "Oud", the "Kanun", and the "darbuka".

Classic Hebrew literature, including liturgical texts and poems by medieval Hebrew poets constitued the main source of lyrics.

Music in Jewish Liturgy

There are a wide collection of, sometimes conflicting, writings on all aspects of using music in the Judaic liturgy. The most agreed-upon facts are that the women voice should be excluded from religious ceremony and the usage of musical instruments should be banned in Synagogue service.

However some Rabbinical authorities soften those straight positions but not regarding the exclusion of the female voice. In weddings, for instance, the Talmudic statement "to gladden the groom and bride with music" can be seen as a way to allow making instrumental and non-religious music at the weddings but this was probably to be done outside the Synagogue.

The very influential writings of the Spanish Rabbi, also a physician and philosopher, Maimonides (1135-1204) on one hand opposed harshly against all form of music not totally at the service of religious worship and on the other hand recommended instrumental music for its healing powers.

Healing powers and mysterious formul hidden inside musical scores was commonly sought after in music scores during middle-ages, renaissance and pre-Baroque epochs. Interestingly, in a recently published fiction novel "Imprimatur" by the musicologist Rita Monaldi and co-author Francesco Solti the whole plot is built-up around a composition of Salomone Rossi (1570-1630), an important Jewish composer.

Jewish mystical treatises, like the Kabbala, particularly since the 13th. century often deal with ethical, magical and therapeutic powers of music. The enhancement of the religious experience with music, particularly with singing is expressed in many places.

Even though there is no unified position concerning music in the Jewish thought a common main ideas seems to emerge: that the music is the authentic expression of human feelings in religious and secular life.

Mehmet Okonsar is a pianist-composer-conductor and musicologist. He is educated in the Brussels Royal Conservatory. He currently lives in Ankara, Turkey. Mehmet Okonsar is an internationally acknowned concert pianist and composer.He is offering highly eclectic concert programs but refuses all the so-called "specializations." He manages his career and runs his own publishing and CD companies.

http://www.okonsar.com

Hollywood Musicals - Review

Hollywood Musicals is a delightful book that comes accompanied by a CD. The introduction to the book starts with "In the beginning there was light. Electric light."

In that vein, starting with Edison, the book continues with the technical history of the photography, moving pictures, Kinetograph and the Nickelodeon, ten-minute shorts of Griffith, and the silent films that followed.

Among the first silent films, the book cites Edwin S. Porter's (1903) "Life of an American fireman" and "The Great Train Robbery," Griffith's (1915) "Birth of a Nation" and "Intolerance." Together with the top producer Cecil Blount De Mille, the stars of the silent era are also mentioned: Mary Pickford, Dorothy and Lillian Gish, Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, Greta Garbo, and Rudolph Valentino.

Sound to the movies came through the efforts of four Warner Brothers: Harry, Sam, Albert, and Jack. The Jazz Singer (1927), starring Al Jolson is considered to be the first talking picture, in which Jolson spoke the prophetic words: "Wait a minute...You ain't heard nothin' yet."

Talking pictures or the talkies had their birthing pains. Big stars like Pola Negri, Norma Talmadge, and John Gilbert were snuffed out because their voices did not sound good in the talkies. Yet, some actors like Greta Garbo made a spectacular transition and became etched in the history of the motion pictures.

The first real musicals were born under MGM with Broadway Melody later to be followed by The Wizard of Oz and Little Caesar. In the beginning, musicals featured similar themes, revamped versions of stage plays, and backstage tales. When the song from The Wizard of Oz won an Academy Award, it opened the doors to other more spectacular musicals with extravagant, artistic sets and expensive costumes.

Among those who followed the way to stardom in the musicals were Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, Gene Kelly, Howard Keel and Kathryn Grayson, and Gordon MacRae.

Some of the earlier musicals of note are: Show Boat, Singing in the Rain, For Me and My Gal, Ziegfeld Follies, Brigadoon, Oklahoma, The King and I, Carousel, South Pacific, Gigi, West Side Story, The Sound of Music, My Fair Lady, and The Music Man.

The CD has fifteen tracks starting with "Over the Rainbow" from The Wizard of Oz and ending with "Where Is Love?" from Oliver. The CD has been remastered with a good sound quality.

The author, Julie Koerner, has several books on music and writing. Besides Hollywood Musicals, she has written these books: Fms Remarkable Reptil, Big Bands, Love songs from stage & screen (The life, times & music series), More Scary Story Starters, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Music Books), Gifted & Talented Story Starters: Stories About Animals (Gifted & Talented), Big bands (The life, times & music series), Swing Kings (The life, times & music series),The Traveler (Literature Points the Way), More Scary Story Starters: Write Your Own Story Stories!

Hollywood Musicals (the book) has ISBN-10: 1567990436 and
ISBN-13: 978-1567990430. Hollywood Musicals (the compact disc) has ASIN: 1567993540. Both the book and the CD are very informative, entertaining, and delightful.

Joy Cagil is an author on http://www.Writing.Com/ which is a site for Writers Her portfolio can be found at http://www.Writing.Com/authors/joycag

Get Media Airplay

Book review:Get Media Airplay: A Guide to Getting Songs Exposure, Music/Product Tie-Ins, Brand Integration Discoveries, and Radio-Play Spins! By Rick Davis, Hal Leonard Corporation, 7777 Bluemound Road, Milwaukee, WI 53213, ISBN 978-1-4234-1308-0 ,1-4234-1308-3 , $12.95, 160 Pages, 2006

Rick Davis' new book contains a wealth of information for those looking to break into the music business. Mr. Davis is the master of press, public relations and music marketing. Long respected in the industry for finding airplay for independent and label artists, he cuts to the chase in his new A-Z book on going from zero to star. If you're looking to by-pass American Idol, this definitive new book is your road map. Not being in the music business myself, I found the book an easy read, chock full of sure-fire ways to learn the basics and a whole lot more.

Chapter titles include: The Price of Music, Radio Format Fundamentals, Radio Station Job Details, The Main Keys to Handling Radio Promotions, Radio Industry Tracking Services, What Every Musician Must Know!, How to Build Your Media List Doing FCC/Radio.net/Arbitron, Demo Radio/Event Plug Case Studies, Build a Fan Base Showcasing Promoter's List, The Mix Tape Phenomenon, Digital Music Programming, Obtaining Album Exposure from Satellite Radio Programmers, What About Independent and New Bands Getting Adds at Alice@97.3?, Radio Show Producers List, Planning and Being Prepared for Your Professional Development, Musician's On-Air List of Performance Opportunities, Radio Promotions Program Guide, National Reporting DJ Sheet, Directory of Professional Independent Publicists, The Hottest PR Firms and Music Web Sites, Internet Broadcasters and Resources, and Press Media Outlets. Additional features are an introduction, glossary, and an author biography.

A perfect desk reference book for those looking to make the charts or those looking to jump-start their music career. The inside skinny in this book is worth ten times the price.

Mark Nash is a Chicago based residential real estate author, broker and columnist. His advice, analysis and tips have been featured on: Bloomberg TV, CBS News, CNN, Fox News Channel, NBC News, The New York Time, The Washington Post, Business Week, Parade, and Smart Money Magazines, The Library of Congress, Washington, D. C., HGTV.com, and RealtyTimes.com. Nash's annual survey "What's In, What's Out with Homebuyers" is utilized by more than 500 news organizations in the U.S. and Canada.

Decoded by Jay-Z

Book Review: Decoded by Jay-Z

The book in question is more or less how to gain success no matter what life may throw at you. Jay-Z in fact is quite similar to the entrepreneurial master Warren Buffet and they both have similar independent thinking patterns. Both of these guys ignore what others say about them and they take your own steps in life. You may be aware that while Warren Buffet's mentor was his own father, similarly Jay-Z had a mentor in his sixth grade, known as Miss Lowden. Jay Z grew up in New York City, at the place where the J and the Z lines of the subway meet. He has defined the same thing that Warren Buffet has termed as "Discipline to not get caught up in the moment".

Since there are many who doubt Jay Z's stamina as an entrepreneur or a businessman, i advise you to take a look at the statistics. Jay-Z's record sales statistics are very impressive, 11 back to back number one albums which is in itself a world record for the most number one albums by a solo artist. In addition, he has sold over 50 million copies of his albums over the world and won 10 Grammy Awards. The numbers show that he is one of the best musicians or promoter of music that there has ever been.

If you give this book a shot, then you will enjoy the read since it brings out one of the best businessman's ideas, the way he looks at things is unique. The book is quite different from the normal day to day type biographies.

Decoded by Jay-Z looks into the mind of a truly fascinating character, if you are a fan of Jay-Z then this book delivers his career from beginning to end in a phenomenal manner.

If you would like to read a chapter of this inspiring book click here

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