Slovakian viola player Lukas Kmit reacted cooly when a mobile phone interrupted his recital at the Orthodox Synagogue in Presov, in Slovakia.

Rather than losing his temper, Kmit adapted the notorious Nokia phone theme that had interrupted his performance, much to the delight of his audience.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=zoP7r3eJzSA

As piano sheet music is our best-seller, we thought we’d take a look at the issue of piano tuning, and why it is important.

If it’s only my young children who play, why would I need to have my piano tuned regularly?

As we grow older we are more able to articulate our likes and dislikes. This is not always the case in music, wether you are a proficient musician or not. Explaining why exactly something doesn’t sound right musically is very hard. It can be a very abstract and sensuous thing.

When studying piano and in particular elementary level piano, intervals such as fourths and fifths are commonly used. These are very pure and open sounding intervals giving a pleasant sensation. When a piano is tuned well, these intervals form the basis for a clear and pleasing sound over all. Once it goes out of tune the sound becomes muddy and these intervals are heard and felt less clearly, and are much less focussed.

Young children are very sensitive to sound, and in many ways are effected by it more than adults. When it comes to an untuned piano, a child may not only be unable to articulate this, but you are risking the chance he/she will become less engaged and lose interest in playing the piano altogether. By keeping your piano tuned on a regular basis you are helping your child remain focussed and to create a sound that is both pleasing for them and for yourself.

So how often should you have it tuned? The minimum would be once a year, though another good rule of thumb is twice a year, when the seasons change from cold to hot and back again. Pianos are made of very natural materials – wood, felt, leather and metal, so they expand and contract with change in temperature and also dampness. If you live in a very dry climate, it may be worth looking keeping the inside of your piano humid enough, if you live in a very damp climate, you most certainly would not want to add any extra humidity.

Avoid placing your piano against outside walls, and especially avoid placing your piano in front or near a radiator, as this will dry out the wood an make it crack.

Thanks to Dov Waterman for the extra insights into piano tuning. If you are looking for North London Piano Tuner, then please click here.

Just wanted to share a cool little music video with you.

The people from Pianoguys put this version of The Imperial March from Star Wars together, by multitracking several electric cellos -- great fun to watch:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgAlQuqzl8o

The video also features some other Star Wars themes, such as The Main Theme

Your new website look went live towards the end of 2011, and we just wanted to give you a little guide as to the new features we have introduced.

Login is now at the top right hand corner.

We have also added some new social media buttons.

The Google +1 button tells google that you like our site, so if you have a google account, and are logged in, please click on this – we’d really appreciate it. .

The facebook button allows you to like our site if you have a facebook account. We’d be thrilled if you clicked on this (as it helps us with our overall ranking).

If you want to share our homepage with your friends on facebook, then you can do that with this button:

If you want to follow our twitter feed then click on this button on our homepage:

The youtube button takes you to our youtube page.

We have also introduced some great new features on the song pages. If you really like a particular song you can now share this across facebook, twitter, via email or other social media with this button:

Lastly you can now leave your customer feedback on any songs and arrangements by clicking on the comments tab (no spam, please!). We would love to hear your comments on all our pieces, so feel free to comment as often as you want.

Hope you enjoy the new site, and feel free to send us your feedback.

Lincoln Jaeger

Are you one of those people who are hopelessly romantic about Christmas, can’t wait to get out the tinsel, decorate the tree and have loved ones over for the Christmas roast?

But then as we get closer to Dec 25th, the oldest of your offspring stills need that costume for the nativity play, his little brother has caught a nasty bug and needs taking to the GP, where you can’t get an appointment for love or money, the nursery is looking for parents to volunteer for their Christmas party and and your brother in law didn’t like his carefully selected present you choose last your, and you haven’t got the faintest idea what to get him this year.

You rush down to Oxford Street to buy those last minute in-law presents, only to find that you can’t move for the sheer mass of human bodies, and Yuletide Spirits seem to have given way to Angry Goblins, and you wonder how it always ends up this way.

If you sympathise with any of the above, then the song below, may well cheer you up .

www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHYGlg02A6w

Words and Music are by David Sharp and Luke Flynn
Vocals were sung by Daniel Bowles
The Movie was put together by Mrs Joanna Sharp

Merry Christmas!

Hi

I thought I’d share this great little video by the musical comedy band Axis OF Awesome. In a very funny way they explain how most pop tunes really share the same chord sequence.

Generally people always assume that rock/pop composers sit hunched over their manuscript paper trying to find great and original chord sequences -- this could not be further from the truth. There basically are only a limited number of chord sequences out there, which is why you cannot copyright them -- so you are perfectly entitled to take the chord sequence from Let It Be, and write your own melody over it. The net result is that many, many, many songs share the exact same chord sequence.

In the video below they are singing in the key of E major, and the chord sequence is E, B, C sharp minor, A.

So if you look at the sequence neutral of the key, the sequence is I V VI IV -- so the chords on the 1st [I], 5th [V], 6th [VI] and 4th [IV] degree/not of any major scale)

Therefore in the key of C major this would be the chords of C, G, A minor, F.
In the key of F major it would be the chords: F, C, D minor, Bb
etc…

www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pidokakU4I

The songs they sing are:

Don’t stop Believin’ -- Journey
You’re Beautiful -- James Blunt
Forever Young -- Alphaville
I’m Yours -- Jason Mraz
Happy Ending -- Mika
Amazing -- Alex Lloyd
Wherever You Will Go -- The Calling
Can You Feel The Love Tonight -- Elton John
She Will Be Loved -- Maroon 5
Pictures Of You -- The Last Goodnight
With Or Without You -- U2
Fall At Your Feet -- Crowded House
Not Pretty Enough -- Kasey Chambers
Let It Be -- The Beatles
Under The Bridge -- Red Hot Chilli Peppers
The Horses -- Daryl Braithtwaite
No Woman No Cry -- Bob Marley
Sex And Candy -- Marcy Playground
Down Under -- Men At Work
Waltzing Matilda -- Banjo Patterson
Take On Me -- A Ha
When I Come Around -- Green Day
Save Tonight -- Eagle Eye Cherry
Africa -- Toto
If I Were A Boy -- Beyonce
Self Esteem -- The Offspring
You’re Gonna Go Far Kid -- The Offspring
U & Ur Hand -- Pink
Poker Face -- Lady Gaga
Barbie Girl -- Aqua
You Found Me -- The Fray
Don’t Trust Me -- 30h!3
Kids -- MGMT
Canvas Bags -- Tim Minchin
Torn -- Natalie Imbruglia
Superman -- Five For Fighting
Birdplane -- Axis OF Awesome
Scar -- Missy Higgins

Easy -- so all you have to do now is write a catchy melody, some lyrics and you’ll be rich !

Thanks to my Godson, Jean-Pierre, for introducing me to this video.

Lincoln Jaeger

This is not a music blog at all, but just something funny I wanted to share with you. I’m quite a fan of The Muppets Show and Sesame Street, and especially the Cookie Monster. So anyway, my nephew, Pierre, sent me this hilarious little cartoon, which I’d like to share with you guys:

I recently came across a new notation music programme: Musescore. Traditionally creators of music scores have either had to use Finale or Sibelius (or a well sharpened pencil, eraser and manuscript paper).

But there is now a new player on the scene, and the big attraction is the cost of the product: It’s free!

I have been trying this out, and to be honest considering the non-existent price tag, it’s an excellent tool to get started with. Considering all the aspiring musicians and music students at colleges out there, there is a ready made market for Musescore. The brutal fact is that most people who cannot afford it will somehow source a pirated, illegal version of Finale or Sibelius, so there is now a free entry level alternative, so to speak. Whether that will stop people from downloading pirated versions of Sibelius and Finale is another question, but competition can only be a good thing for the market place.

My question would be how long the $0 pice tag can be sustained, and if there will be a price increase at some point, if the market can really support three notation programmes, as, let’s face, music notation software is a very niche market.

Here is an introductory video for Musescore:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mh6m2mbVHs

I recently had the good fortune to buy a new alto sax. Well I say buy, I was actually trading/exchanging my beloved Yanagisawa s880 soprano sax for an alto. As my soprano was in good nick (though 15 years old) the plan was to trade it (hopefully) for something equally good 2nd hand, or pay a bit extra for a brand new sax.

Why was I getting rid of my soprano though? Well, I never really had the time to play it properly, and the soprano sax, let me tell you, is not the sort of instrument you can just occasionally have a blow on: it needs serious dedication. The intonation is a pain to get right, and it is very difficult not to make a sound like a squeezed duck. Even one of my favourite saxophonists, Branford Marsalis, in my opinion has certain duck-like qualities in his soprano sound, so what chance do I have to make the instrument sound good? Unless you play it all the time, it can seriously hurt your jaw, as the pressure you have to apply to get to the high notes is quite extreme.

So anyway, should I get a new sax or a second hand one, and how much would I get for my soprano? Well, saxophones are a bit like 2nd hand cars, there is little point in buying a new one, as a well maintained second hand sax gives you much, much better value for money, and horns last a very, very long time: dents, scratches, pads: all can be fixed and repaired (unless you decided to drive over your sax with a 2nd hand car, then it will only be good for hanging on the wall .

But where to start? I stumbled across a very quirky sax repair shop just down the road from me in Hove (that’s on the English South Coast). The guy who runs it, Rupert Noble, is quite a character: deeply passiontae and highly knowledgeable about horns (here is Rupert with some off his many vintage saxes).

You won’t find a single new horn in his shop, but many vintage ones and many others that are currently being repaired. Whilst I was in his workshop a very happy succesion of musicians came and went to have a chat, a cup of tea, try out some horns, and have broken ones repaired or serviced. Someone should write a book about this place. To say it has character is an understatmenet. Anyway, moving on, I got to try out (i.e. submit poor Rupert to my very rusty sax playing) some vintage, basic Yamaha altos, an old Toneking (Keilwerth), SML (Strasser-Marigaux), vintage Yanagisawa (though they were sold under a different name in the US) and a Selmer Cigar Cutter (a.k.a. Pea Shooter, Super). The Yamahas were very easy to blow, but lacked a little character, but are highly recommended for beginners as the tone production was simple and easy. The three others were all different, each with their own personality. I was going to have to come back for a second try to decided which one I might want to purchase.

A day later I headed up to London to check out some brand new horns, just for comparison, and some nearly new ones. A Selmer Mark VII (Circia 1981), new Yanagisawa A901 and various new Yamaha Models.

The difference between the nearly new/new and vintage saxes was indescribable. The vintage saxes at Rupert’s shop had warmth, character and sheer class, whereas the new ones felt like playing a piece of plastic. Now the sax isn’t my first instrument but even I could tell these differences immediately. The contrast between the Selmer Mark VII (circa 1981) and The Selmer Cigar Cutter (circa 1930), was especially interesting to note. Here were two saxes form the same maker, one sounded like a playground toy (Mark VII), the other like a work of art (Cigar Cutter). Yet the Mark VII was substantially more expensive. The only very slight downside was that the Cigar Cutter had its lacquer coming off – in fact it looked as though it had been re-lacquered at some point in its life, and this was now coming off. But to anyone contemplating buying a vintage sax: this does not matter one bit. In fact some argue that saxes sound better with the lacquer removed. If need be you can have the whole sax stripped of its lacquer or even have it subsequently re-lacquered: but if the sound is great, don’t mess with it.

Amongst sax players it is a well known fact that Selmer seem to have stopped making good saxes some time in the 70s. The theories as to why this may be abound (just check out various internet forums on this), but logic tells me that more and more machines were used to finish the products, rather than using expensive craftsmen, corners and quality of materials were cut in production, etc, and suddenly you have a less superior horn.

So in the end it was the Selmer Cigar Cutter I went for. It seems to have layers and layers of sound in it, and suited my more soft sound on the sax very well. After all, my hero Paul Desmond played a Selmer Alto, though a Super Balanced Action (circa 1951), so a model 20 years younger. Here is my new pride and joy:

The reason why that particular version of Selmers altos were nick-named Cigar Cutters or Pea Shooter is due to the design of the octave mechanism (see picture). Their official seris name is “Super”. The Super series ran from 1931 to 1935 and was followed by the Balanced Action Series.

So anyone contemplating buying a vintage sax: go for it, as long as you can try it out first (never buy any instrument without trying it out first) and buy it from a reputable shop.

Oh and by the way, playing an alto or tenor is a million times easier than paying the soprano.

Hope that was useful .

Lincoln Jaeger

We have great news for all you Radiohead fans out there. We now offer the complete sheet music from Radiohead’s The King of Limbs. The album was recorded in Los Angeles and first released in February of 2011 to positive reviews. It scored 80 out of a possible 100 points on the Metacritic website, though it failed to reach the number one spot in any of the countries it was released in (the No.2 position in Australian charts being its top placing). The album title apparently refers to an ancient oak tree in the Savernake Forest, and the album is rumoured to have been recorded in Drew Barrymore’s house.

The tracks listing for The King of Limbs is:
Bloom
Codex
Feral
Give Up The Ghost
Little By Little
Lotus Flower
Morning Mr Magpie
Separator

To check out all our other Radiohead tracks click here. Also check out the official Video for Lotus Flower:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfOa1a8hYP8