Posts filed under 'House Of Music'
Dates for Leona Lewis’ first UK tour have just gone on sale; the most successful star to come out of X Factor, she will be wowing crowds next summer.
Since winning the ITV show in 2006, Leona Lewis has gone on to produce two albums (selling 6 million worldwide) and has been nominated for several awards, including 3 Grammys. It’s hard to believe that it wasn’t until earlier this month she performed her first full UK show.
Leona’s world tour will take place over 14 months, and will feature songs from both of her albums - the second of which, ‘Echo’, was released this week.
The most successful star to come out of X Factor has just announced her first full UK tour. Leona Lewis will be wowing crowds next summer and tickets for all nine UK dates are expected to be snapped up in no time. However, Europes leading ticket provider viagogo has got these fantastic events covered, and you can secure your Leona Lewis tickets right here.
Since winning the X Factor in 2006, Leona has gone on to produce two albums (of which she has sold over 6 million worldwide) and has also been nominated for several awards, including 3 Grammys. Its therefore hard to believe that it wasnt until earlier this month that she first performed her first full UK show. Leonas world tour will take place over 14 months, and will feature songs from both of her albums.
Her second album entitled Echo was released this month and if her first album Spirit is any indication, it will be another massive success.
November 27th, 2009
Kids and Adults who love music shouldn’t avoid to take guitar lessons, or any area of music to their liking, and master it. A professional piano school in Chicago probably offers qualified instructors that will teach you learn to read and play in various types of music, instruments and genres. You don’t have to ride the L all that far to find a Chicago music school with friendly and competent piano or guitar teachers.
We’ll kick off with the obvious: piano lessons. You know, the piano is a wildly common music-making tool (though I wouldn’t think twice about the xylophone). They are beloved for their flexibility. A thoughtful piano teacher might teach you a whole fresh song that’s worth the effort. Much better than old school guitar lessons, brand-new Chicago piano teachers are the trendy up-and-coming way to learn how to play guitar, or piano.
Who cares whether you just jumped in or you’ve been playing music for years–quality music lessons can help musicians learn what you believe in your heart. Consider these Chicago guitar lessons, Adult and Child guitar instruction, elementary piano lessons for children and even traditional guitar classes. Naturally, many will still tell you to perfect your music theory before moving onto popular piano songs you enjoy. But lessons are often within a waiter’s budget,
A new generation of music students and teachers are taking a radically another approach. Basically you could find heaps of new plans of attack! However, the most valuable piece of info to recall is that piano lessons, and music education of any genre should be fun. It’s hard to make a mistake creating music, due to the fact that any discordant chord you play, can be justified by the direction the song takes. Voice teachers can never be under valued.
September 15th, 2009
While there is strong competition between secondary ticket agents, we believe this is a much needed service for true fans who were unable to buy the tickets the first time around.
Continue Reading August 12th, 2009
My mother told me “Buy yourself a lot of beautiful dresses in
London!”. So I decided to patrol the Covent Garden area this
time. I wanted to see a pair of shops of which I had visited the
websites. My inspiration for shopping was not at its top walking
down Long Acre… I tried something but the size or the price
did not fit me. I finally reached “Arrogant Cat” on Monmouth
Street and I found it quite “could be my style”, but not enough
to buy something this season. In the meanwhile big drops of
water started falling on my little streetmap, which soon became
spotted and my stomach stroke noon, so I decided to stop at a
Pret a Manger on the way and think about my “what to do’s” in
front of a salad. There was a place I wanted to see. It is
called “Rare and Vintage Guitars” on a small road crossing
Charing Cross Road. When I got there I didn’t know I would have
found the place of sin. All the zone is full of music shops. I
visited them all and I finally understood why I was not inspired
by buying dresses that day. I had a malignant, obscure, sinful
idea I was nourishing inside my head during the past few days.
What could bind me to the town of London as an indissoluble
blood pact? (Apart from making love with an English boy in town
- but this didn’t happen) I bought a guitar. A small classic
guitar, 3/4 (the size fits me!), the perfect travel instrument
for busking in the tube.
Many things were told about this idea. I told everyone I wanted
to present my latest album “Gloucester Road” someday in the tube
and everyone seemed very proud for me. Some comrades of mine
wanted to call the BBC for the special event, labelling the
concert as “an Italian in London, singing a political concert,
the first extreme right-wing concert performed in the tube!”.
When I took that little guitar in my hands I suddenly remembered
why I was there. I had decided to leave alone for London to look
for myself in serene solitude… hmm, yes, why not, in a place
like London. Bringing my books about electronics with me to
study late at night or very early in the morning, away from
university classes, away from my family and my parents’
continuous quarrels, away from political martyrs and people who
count if I say the right number of words (right, according to
them), away from the phone calls of the person who first cheated
me and now persecutes me and turned my life into a nightmare.
Looking for the genuine… why not, in a place like London.
Don’t ask me who Samuel Johnson is… I know so little about
him, but I know he said “When a man is tired of London, he is
tired of life!”. Apart from donating my cd to the London
Transport Museum and visiting other museums, I wanted to follow
my instinct. I needed myself! I missed myself! During the week I
had known new incredible people, met some friends and missed
others, thought a lot when I went back to my microscopic Indian
hostel room, eaten a lot of apples and discovered the raspberry
(I did not starve - as someone insinuated. I actually spent less
than 6 pounds for food and water during the whole week!). I
didn’t want to make another “in family” political concert among
people who mostly or “mostly apparently” do think like me. I
didn’t want to make the big scandal on tv (as someone
suggested). I wanted to busk in the tube in front of the most
various people, avoiding photocameras and camcorders, avoiding
the comrades and the celtic crosses. Only me, my new guitar and
the unexpected. So I switched my telephone off, went back to my
room to try some new song before the great event, I wrote the
lyrics I didn’t remember in big letters on my light-blue
notebook and then I went out. There were only a pair of stations
where I could play that evening: Clapham Common or
Vauxhall…not so far away from the Power Station. I chose the
former… less “working zone” and more “living place” I think.
Maybe everything started because different friends of mine
showed me their houses there around Battersea, Clapham, Vauxhall
on that great invention called Google Earth. Looking carefully
recently I saw that strange shape and I asked myself about it.
The Power Station ravished me completely.
On the underground train I was worried and my heart beated so
fast and so loud. I did not remember the lyrics, but this always
happens, because I have filled my head with mathematical
formulas for my exams. I had never played with a 3/4 guitar,
it’s so small and it is harder to play than a full size
instrument. I was sure I would have done some disaster. I got
off the train at Clapham Common, stepped into one of the exit
corridors and looking around I chose to stop in the middle of
the panels “northbound - southbound”. I felt like an actress
before a show, on the stage, and the empty theatre was about to
be opened to audience soon. The long escalator was my stalls
like an ancient greek or roman theatre. Wow, it was so big! I
knew I had to sing loud to be heard. I had no amplification. I
was there “natural”. Ok, it was my time. My hair danced in the
wind. I started singing watching above. I was as I am and the
other people were true as well. There were no comrades, no flags
around me. I had no protection and no appereance “envelope”. I
sang and I saw the faces of the people. It’s really true… we
label ourselves “white power”, “hate rock” or something similar.
We close ourselves in a box and we offer a closed box. I
understood that sometimes (very often) people did not understand
my words. The movement has always blamed the external
environment as “unable to listen”, but maybe is it possible that
I’m not able to communicate? My task is not recruiting people,
but inspiring and leaving a trace of my thoughts and beliefs,
even if they are not shared. I want to talk to hearts and
hopefully convince the others with my ideas and my ideals. I
think and I hope that my ideas can be respected even if not
shared. Usually my ideas are trashed because I have always sung
in a bell of glass. For this reason I felt such a warm shiver
when a busker going back home stopped in front of me to listen
to my song. He smiled at me and he gave me 1 pound. I felt a
heart close to mine. A few minutes later the man of the security
chased me away, threatening he would have called the police. I
had no authorization, but I’m going to ask one next time. That
special moment lasted so little but the memory and the feelings
I store inside my heart are flames that will burn for ever. I
will keep Clapham Common Station, the sound of the trains and
the echo of my voice inside of me for ever… that smile and the
other smiles of the people, even the insisting invitations of a
group of boys who wanted to have a hot night with me (they
should make a revision about how to court) and the disappointed
faces! I only hope I left something of me there at that station
and I hope that when you get there you will remember me. After
that experience I understood many other things. I understood
that there are people who wanted to make me believe I had no
hope for ambitions and they had always told me I was a fragile
girl. After the concert I met my friends in Clapham and we had
some ales and I drank with satisfaction. The people who know me
certainly know I had not drunk with happiness for a too long
time. I felt like I could die that night. I could die with a
smile on my face. It was the first time I maybe realized a
dream! I played in the tube, I played my songs! I felt like I
was 11, when I started writing songs and I had dreams without
limitations and pseudomoral - dictated by others including
my-outer-self - borderlines.
April 30th, 2008
Finding a good teacher is not always easy, at any level. At the beginner level it is important to get on the right foot and as an intermediate player you need to know that your teacher really knows his or her stuff if you want to move forward. What it really comes down to is “Are you getting the right information?”.
The big problem when it comes to music instruction is that it is not necessary to have any diplomas or awards in order to set up a teaching practice. Conversely, the best teacher may not have a degree in music, just a phenomenal talent for teaching.
The first thing to understand when finding a good teacher is that the best teachers are not necessarily the best players. And it certainly goes that great players are invariably not the best teachers, possibly because they are far too wrapped up in their own playing to be concerned about anyone else. OK, a generalization but a theory with legs.
So let’s assume you are just starting out, an absolute beginner, so what do you do? Well, the first resource I would use is your own personal contacts. You may have a friend or cousin that also took lessons and he or she may be able to recommend someone. Music stores often provide instruction and you can also look in your local paper for private instructors. Even do a Google search. It’s actually very easy to find a teacher, but can you count on them to feed you all the right information?
Let’s assume you have a short list of teachers in you area. I think it is definitely in your interest to make sure that they are teaching simply because they love to teach. Not because they are waiting for their “big break”. This is why I think it is important to find a professional teacher, not an aspiring pop star. So you might ask a series of questions:
*How long have you been teaching?
*What teaching qualifications do you have?
*How many other students do you have?
*Can you give me the phone numbers of two of your students?
This may seem harsh, but I just think it is so important to get the right person from the start. Why? because as a student you have no idea whether your potential teacher actually knows what they are talking about. So don’t be shy to ask.
As an intermediate student you probably need to rely more on word of mouth to get the right teacher to take you forward. In your local neighborhood, especially if you have been playing a while, you are probably already hooked into who the teachers are so it may not be such a problem.
The other issue, aside from musical expertise, is that your teacher and you need to like each other. If you are to be successful studying together this is so important. I remember growing up that I would excel in the subjects where I actually liked my teacher. And of course I dreaded going to class with those teachers I did not like.
I am happy to say that I really liked all my guitar teachers except for one, and that person lasted just a few lessons. I got lucky with the others there is no question. But other students may not be so lucky. I have heard a number of times that students realized much later that they did not have a good teacher. So at what point do you decide to move on and find a new teacher?
If you have done the prerequisite research I mentioned then this should not be an issue. However, guitar playing is such a personal undertaking that finding the right teacher is relative to each student. What works for one, clearly does not always work for another.
Your teacher should care about you and take an interest in seeing you advance as a player. I think this would be the biggest red flag to me if I was taking lessons all over again. I would want to know that there was some nurturing involved. If you feel that there really is no connection between the two of you then I think this might be a factor you can use to determine whether you move on or not.
It’s tricky. As a student you want the best teacher for you but you may not know if there is no barometer to show you.
I also think that many times the student is to blame for being a lousy student. I remember when I used to give private lessons that a few students would come back week after week and had not done any practice at all. I found myself explaining the same things over and over because we couldn’t move on until the essential groundwork was covered. These students eventually gave up because they had no drive or ambition to improve. This can be very frustrating for a teacher. Other times extremely talented players would come for just a few lessons because all they needed was a little fuel to go off on their own and practice. They were literally sponges. These students are heaven for teachers!
So do the research, then take a lesson or two and see if that teacher is right for you. If you are serious about working at your instrument then you shouldn’t be to blame for being a bad student. At that time it’s simply a matter of finding the right person. Don’t short change yourself.
Chris Standring is an international jazz recording artist and educator. For more information about his highly acclaimed home study guitar courses please visit http://www.PlayJazzGuitar.com
April 2nd, 2008
