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Showing posts from January, 2021

Skype Video Interview - Getting Your Own Point across

The recent surge in popularity of Skype has created a unique situation for freelance videographers: if you want to make a video presentation, no longer do you need to leave your home; you don't even need a webcam. With the rise of Skype and other internet-based video conferencing programs, making a video commercial or marketing yourself on the web using Skype's features is a cinch. The advent of broadband services like DSL has made it even easier. All you need to do is get online and make an appointment with one of your local video production companies. The Skype video interview has become firmly integrated into the job application process at many agencies. Skype use has more than doubled in the past two years, from just around 200 million total minutes used per day to over 700 million. The largest indicator of Skype's popularity? The skyrocketing number of freelancing video interviews. So how can you capitalize on this trend and create lucrative freelance videographer j

Music

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Music is an art form, and a cultural activity, whose medium is sound. General definitions of music include common elements such as pitch (which governs melody and harmony), rhythm (and its associated concepts tempo, meter, and articulation), dynamics (loudness and softness), and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture (which are sometimes termed the "color" of a musical sound). Different styles or types of music may emphasize, de-emphasize or omit some of these elements. Music is performed with a vast range of instruments and vocal techniques ranging from singing to rapping; there are solely instrumental pieces, solely vocal pieces (such as songs without instrumental accompaniment) and pieces that combine singing and instruments. The word derives from Greek μουσική ( mousike ; "art of the Muses"). See glossary of musical terminology. In its most general form, the activities describing music as an art form or cultural activity include the creation of works of mus

Etymology

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The word, 'music' is derived from Greek μουσική ( mousike ; "art of the Muses"). In Greek mythology, the nine Muses were the goddesses who inspired literature, science, and the arts and who were the source of the knowledge embodied in the poetry, song-lyrics, and myths in the Greek culture. According to the Online Etymological Dictionary , the term "music" is derived from "mid-13c., musike, from Old French musique (12c.) and directly from Latin musica "the art of music," also including poetry (also the source of Spanish música , Italian musica , Old High German mosica , German Musik , Dutch muziek , Danish musik )." This is derived from the "...Greek mousike (techne) "(art) of the Muses," from fem. of mousikos "pertaining to the Muses," from Mousa "Muse" (see muse (n.)). Modern spelling dates from the 1630s. In classical Greece, the term "music" refers to any art in which the Muses presided,

As a form of art or entertainment

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Music is composed and performed for many purposes, ranging from aesthetic pleasure, religious or ceremonial purposes, or as an entertainment product for the marketplace. When music was only available through sheet music scores, such as during the Classical and Romantic eras, music lovers would buy the sheet music of their favourite pieces and songs so that they could perform them at home on the piano. With the advent of the phonograph, records of popular songs, rather than sheet music became the dominant way that music lovers would enjoy their favourite songs. With the advent of home tape recorders in the 1980s and digital music in the 1990s, music lovers could make tapes or playlists of their favourite songs and take them with them on a portable cassette player or MP3 player. Some music lovers create mix tapes of their favourite songs, which serve as a "self-portrait, a gesture of friendship, prescription for an ideal party... and an environment consisting solely of what is most

Elements

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Music has many different fundamentals or elements. Depending on the definition of "element" being used, these can include: pitch, beat or pulse, tempo, rhythm, melody, harmony, texture, style, allocation of voices, timbre or color, dynamics, expression, articulation, form and structure. The elements of music feature prominently in the music curriculums of Australia, UK and US. All three curriculums identify pitch, dynamics, timbre and texture as elements, but the other identified elements of music are far from universally agreed. Below is a list of the three official versions of the "elements of music": Australia: pitch, timbre, texture, dynamics and expression, rhythm, form and structure. UK: pitch, timbre, texture, dynamics, duration, tempo, structure. USA: pitch, timbre, texture, dynamics, rhythm, form, harmony, style/articulation. In relation to the UK curriculum, in 2013 the term: "appropriate musical notations" was added to their list of elements a

History

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Early history Prehistoric music can only be theorized based on findings from paleolithic archaeology sites. Flutes are often discovered, carved from bones in which lateral holes have been pierced; these are thought to have been blown at one end like the Japanese shakuhachi. The Divje Babe flute, carved from a cave bear femur, is thought to be at least 40,000 years old. Instruments such as the seven-holed flute and various types of stringed instruments, such as the Ravanahatha, have been recovered from the Indus Valley Civilization archaeological sites. India has one of the oldest musical traditions in the world—references to Indian classical music ( marga ) are found in the Vedas, ancient scriptures of the Hindu tradition. The earliest and largest collection of prehistoric musical instruments was found in China and dates back to between 7000 and 6600 BC. The "Hurrian Hymn to Nikkal", found on clay tablets that date back to approximately 1400 BC, is the oldest surviving notate

Performance

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Performance is the physical expression of music, which occurs when a song is sung or when a piano piece, electric guitar melody, symphony, drum beat or other musical part is played by musicians. In classical music, a musical work is written in music notation by a composer and then it is performed once the composer is satisfied with its structure and instrumentation. However, as it gets performed, the interpretation of a song or piece can evolve and change. In classical music, instrumental performers, singers or conductors may gradually make changes to the phrasing or tempo of a piece. In popular and traditional music, the performers have a lot more freedom to make changes to the form of a song or piece. As such, in popular and traditional music styles, even when a band plays a cover song, they can make changes to it such as adding a guitar solo to or inserting an introduction. A performance can either be planned out and rehearsed (practiced)—which is the norm in classical music, with j

Philosophy and aesthetics

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Philosophy of music is a subfield of philosophy. The philosophy of music is the study of fundamental questions regarding music. The philosophical study of music has many connections with philosophical questions in metaphysics and aesthetics. Some basic questions in the philosophy of music are: What is the definition of music? (What are the necessary and sufficient conditions for classifying something as music?) What is the relationship between music and mind? What does music history reveal to us about the world? What is the connection between music and emotions? What is meaning in relation to music? In ancient times, such as with the Ancient Greeks, the aesthetics of music explored the mathematical and cosmological dimensions of rhythmic and harmonic organization. In the 18th century, focus shifted to the experience of hearing music, and thus to questions about its beauty and human enjoyment ( plaisir and jouissance ) of music. The origin of this philosophic shift is sometimes att

Psychology

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Modern music psychology aims to explain and understand musical behavior and experience. Research in this field and its subfields are primarily empirical; their knowledge tends to advance on the basis of interpretations of data collected by systematic observation of and interaction with human participants. In addition to its focus on fundamental perceptions and cognitive processes, music psychology is a field of research with practical relevance for many areas, including music performance, composition, education, criticism, and therapy, as well as investigations of human aptitude, skill, intelligence, creativity, and social behavior. Cognitive neuroscience of music Cognitive neuroscience of music is the scientific study of brain-based mechanisms involved in the cognitive processes underlying music. These behaviours include music listening, performing, composing, reading, writing, and ancillary activities. It also is increasingly concerned with the brain basis for musical aesthetics and

Sociological aspects

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Many ethnographic studies demonstrate that music is a participatory, community-based activity. Music is experienced by individuals in a range of social settings ranging from being alone to attending a large concert, forming a music community, which cannot be understood as a function of individual will or accident; it includes both commercial and non-commercial participants with a shared set of common values. Musical performances take different forms in different cultures and socioeconomic milieus. In Europe and North America, there is often a divide between what types of music are viewed as a "high culture" and "low culture." "High culture" types of music typically include Western art music such as Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and modern-era symphonies, concertos, and solo works, and are typically heard in formal concerts in concert halls and churches, with the audience sitting quietly in seats. Other types of music—including, but not limited to, jazz, bl

Media and technology

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The music that composers and songwriters make can be heard through several media; the most traditional way is to hear it live, in the presence of the musicians (or as one of the musicians), in an outdoor or indoor space such as an amphitheatre, concert hall, cabaret room, theatre, pub, or coffeehouse. Since the 20th century, live music can also be broadcast over the radio, television or the Internet, or recorded and listened to on a CD player or Mp3 player. Some musical styles focus on producing songs and pieces for a live performance, while others focus on producing a recording that mixes together sounds that were never played "live." Even in essentially live styles such as rock, recording engineers often use the ability to edit, splice and mix to produce recordings that may be considered "better" than the actual live performance. For example, some singers record themselves singing a melody and then record multiple harmony parts using overdubbing, creating a sound