The concept behind college bands is simple – students who are usually studying music – get together and form a band. This can be done simply for their own entertainment as a way of blowing off steam after studying all week, or as a way to earn extra money by playing small gigs at public houses or clubs. There are a great many college bands out there, many will devise their own music, however, some may do covers of popular songs as part of their repertoire. [Read more...]
Ragtime
February 21, 2011 By
The music that is considered to be the first completely American music is Ragtime. It originated in the African American communities mostly in the southern states with the amalgamation of the structured marching band tunes with the more traditional African music and dances, this lead to a broken (“ragged time”) structure from which the name came. [Read more...]
Genres in US Music
February 18, 2011 By
There are numerous genres in the music scene US. They range from R&B through Jazz to Bluegrass. They are all interesting themes to explore in a more detailed way. Bluegrass is a type of music that developed in America in the mid 1940’s. It is felt that it did not start any earlier than the era of World War II. It is an amalgam on country, jazz and ragtime music. [Read more...]
Classic Arts
February 15, 2011 By
Art music is termed by various Wikipedia entries as music that requires a greater level of concentration and understanding by the listener. This can be anything from Classical pieces, which tend to be the most common, to particular pieces of Jazz and even Rock music. There are many levels of appreciation of the classic arts and there are even deemed to be more popular pieces of classic music that are listened to by more people. These “pop classics” are not necessarily seen as fully classical pieces by those who listen to the more obscure compositions. [Read more...]
College Bands
February 12, 2011 By
There are many sites available to aid the struggling College (or University) band to make a name for itself. There is also an increase, to match the demand, for Battle of the Band type competitions, which are very popular in the US. They are becoming more common in the UK with more students getting involved in the band scene. [Read more...]
Art Music
February 6, 2011 By
Art music, or classical music, can be a tricky subject to approach. There are many composers and different styles within the all encompassing title of “Classical music”. There are composers who worked primarily at writing music for operatic performances, and ones that wrote pieces purely for entertainment. There were also more modern composers that incorporated some elements of popular music into their classical music. [Read more...]
Indie Music
February 2, 2011 By
Indie music is essentially any music that is created by a band that is not being promoted by a big label record company. Some of the first examples of these independent record producers were Phil Spector, Joe Meek and a duo Leiber & Stoller. The first independent studio was founded in 1890; however, it was not until the mid 1950’s that the independents started making a name for themselves. Since then they have gone from strength to strength, with many of their bands becoming internationally known, as opposed to being confined to just their country of origin. [Read more...]
About Indie Band Arctic Monkeys
January 27, 2011 By
Arctic Monkeys
The Arctic Monkeys are part of the indie music scene, they are a four piece band consisting of Alex Turner who does lead vocals and plays guitar, Jamie Cook, guitar and backing vocals, Nick O’Malley on bass guitar and also does backing vocals and finally Matt Helders who drums and does his part with the backing vocals. [Read more...]
US Music
January 24, 2011 By
There are many different types of music currently available in the US music scene. The genres cover a huge span of types from Country & Western to R&B. The current top 20 shows that many of the most popular songs today come from the rock and pop genres, showing a move away from the more traditional American style of music, such as Country or Jazz. There are a couple of singles which show that Blues and R&B are still doing well in America though, as shown below: [Read more...]
Traditional United States Music
January 20, 2011 By
Traditional United States music has long been seen as Country & Western and Jazz. These were the main exports that were noted to be very different from the other genres in the music scene. Country & Western still has a huge market in the US and is growing in the UK. Jazz and Blues has also become very popular, with many in the younger generations finding a new appreciation of the music. [Read more...]