Marching Mocs

Hail to the Chief is one of the most famliar patroitic marches. Learn the story behind the famous presidential song. The playing of the march typically signals that the President of the United States is about to arrive and is generally associated with the U.S. Marine Marching Band. The march is also played at the inauguration of U.S. Presidents.

The march was not originally composed for the President. It is often traced back to a poem by Sir Walter Scott’s “The Lady of the Lake” a poem first published in 1910. It was later performed in London and was adapted to James Sanderson’s “Hail To The Chief” melody.

Legend has it that Julia Tyler, wife of President John Tyler, first requested that “Hail to the Chief” be played to at official occasions. Sara Polk, wife of President Polk is credited with first using the march to announce the official arrival of the President From that point forward the tradition began.

Hail to the Chief was first played as part of an inauguration March 4, 1837 for the occasion of the inauguration of President Martin Van Buren and later as a more formal march to honor President James Polk at his inauguration in 1852.

In 1954 the U.S. Department of Defense announced that  “Hail to the Chief” would be the official music to announce the arrival of the President of the United States.

The U.S. Marine Band was formally established in 1798 by an Act of Congress. The Marine Band is the official organization that provides music for the President of the United States and is most closely associated with the song.

For a free copy of the lyrics and song visit loriferber.com

The song is not without its detractors. President Chester Arthur is said to have disliked the march so intensely that he requested that John Philip Sousa (who at the time was the conductor of the U.S. Marine Band) to compose a more dignified salute to the President called “Presidential Polonaise”.

Lori & Steve Ferber having been selling and collecting presidential memorabilia for over 35 years. They specialize in collectibles, souvenirs and memorabilia for all U.S. Presidents and operate a website at www.loriferber.com.

Music is a creative pattern of auditory communication incorporating instrumental or vocal pitch in an organized and relentless manner. How about in health? Based on the study held by Journal Heart, the researchers discovered that listening to music is healthy for your heart whether you are seeking arousal and serene or relaxation. Listening to fast and convoluted tempos of music like classical and techno will increase the degree of physiological arousal. Meanwhile, listening to slower music such as love song, raga, and etc. could create induced calmness and fall in heart-rate. These are the reasons why the researchers said that these two kinds of music are could be helpful to decrease the risk of heart disease and stroke aside for boost immunity, ease muscle tension, and more.

In music treatment this is the use of musical intervention, such as listening, making music, recital composing, or improvising with instruments in order to reach a person’s therapeutic goals. According to the data from the MD Anderson Cancer Center at the University of Texas; it occupies neurotransmitters that would otherwise be used to drive pain messages to the brain, thus decreasing your perception of pain. These are the reasons why it’s been one of the 8 natural options to relieve cancer-related pain.

Benefit for your brain

Another beneficial effect of music is that for your brain. Based on the study in year 2004 by the journal Heart & Lung even discovered proof. People who those listened to music while they workout, researchers said, it performed more than two times as well on a verbal fluency test than persons who listened to no music.

As said by the study’s lead author, Charles Emery, “… Listening to music may influence cognitive function through different pathways in the brain. The combination of music and exercise may stimulate and increase cognitive arousal while helping to organize cognitive output.”

The used of music therapy

The following are some of the used of Music therapy, the clinical and evidence-based use of music interventions to complete individualized goals within a therapeutic relationship, is a growing field. According to the American Music Therapy Association, music therapy can be used to help:

• Children, adolescents, adults and the elderly with mental health needs, developmental and learning disabilities.
• Alzheimer’s disease and other age-related conditions
• Substance abuse problems
• Brain injuries
• Physical disabilities
• Acute and chronic pain, including mothers in labor

As certified music therapists extend to burst up in psychiatric hospitals, rehabilitative facilities, medical hospitals, outpatient clinics, day care treatment centers and more all over the country, it is just clear how music therapy was a helpful tool for staying or becoming healthy.

On the internet there are many supposed “solutions” to creating professional tracks. Some of them actually have good content, and can play a role in your projects. But even the best of them seem to assume a lot. You have to “get” why things sound the way they do, and why there are do’s and don’ts that you should follow. The assumption seems to be that, since this is so much fun, and the technology does so much for you, there aren’t any real rules, and you don’t need to know much. Everything will just come out great. Some of these solutions depend on an arsenal of equipment that you probably don’t own, or you are held captive by their proprietary solution (i.e. their own product). Soon, everything starts to sound alike, and this is not really desirable if you want to be good at this.

So, after finding that the choices seem to be: 1. Go to music school, spend a lot of money, study hard, take in all you can, and then maybe you’ll know what you’re doing. or 2. Buy the right toys and the music will take care of itself. It’s all about learning the technology. Well, I’m here to tell you that, if you even remotely believe #2, you need to adjust your perspective some. However, going to music school is something that most people can not afford, neither time wise nor financially. So what’s the truth, and where can you find it?

The truth is that you need to learn enough about actual music to know when the technology is doing something that’s good, and when it’s not. Your own judgment and understanding of the “rules” of music have to play a role. Yes there are shortcuts, and I plan on writing many articles to help. However, to get good at music production means to know why something IS “musical”. What does that word mean? Some notes go well together. Others do not. Can you tell the difference? If your idea of a musical track is: “a beat” and other than the drums and vocals, the music seems less important, guess what? That’s not how the big guys think. Every note and every sound is carefully planned out. Don’t get me wrong. I know I might be making this seem like a ton of work, but the bottom line still is: Music is the best thing you can do on so many levels, that the work part becomes truly a pleasure. If you have the passion to do this, it will come. You just need to understand the truth about it first.

As I write more articles, our mission together is to get you to master a balance between efficient, technological solutions, and what, for the sake of brevity, we’ll call “music theory”. We need to do away with the idea that music is detached from its creator; that it somehow exists on its own. This is a mistake consumers make all too frequently. Once the production is completed, of course, a piece of music does exist on its own, but as a “consumable”, or something to be enjoyed. When you are producing original music, it is the process of production that is enjoyed by the producer, and he or she should be thoroughly involved in all aspects, even when software is making your life easier. In other words, know enough about the music side, so that you avoid simply following the orders of the software developers. If you take what they give you and use it without a lot of musical judgment and input from you, you aren’t being an artist. You’re being a technician, or worse, a robot. We know that’s not going to happen, though, because you’ve already figured that out, and among others things, you’re reading this!
When you decided to take up music production, you entered a world that is all of the following: huge fun, a creative outlet, a potential way to make money, a potential way to make new friends (or if you prefer, a way to spend more time alone), one of the best hobbies you can imagine, one of humankind’s great achievements, and a great way to spend some of your spare time. The truth is, though, that there is another side to it. That side is the honing of your various skills that go into music production.

Today there are products available that greatly simplify the music production process. They do this using various approaches, but the main approach is what I like to call “higher order solutions”. This is a fancy mathematical term that you don’t need to know. It’s just quicker for me to say more using fewer words. “Higher order” here simply means that the software has developed to a level where fewer decisions have to be made by the producer, since many of the more mundane, detail-oriented decisions involved in music production are made by the software itself. It’s programmers–working with music experts–have created real shortcuts for you, so much more can be done in a much less time. So yes, as you may already know, most popular music styles do follow predictable patterns in certain areas. Timing, instrument choices, trendy sounds, audio processing, and even performance patterns, are areas where the software can provide ready-made solutions.

The “ready-made solution” might be how to decide what speed the song should be playing at, and how to keep all instruments playing at that speed (proper terms: “tempo”, “bpm” {beats per minute}, and “synchronization”). The “solution” could be a kick and snare drum pattern that is widely used in the style you’re working on. This pattern is used to “trigger” the kick (bass) drum and snare drum sounds through a special music communications system called “midi”. In a techno or house song, one typical drum pattern is nicknamed “four on the floor” because of the constant hits of the big kick drum on all four quarter note beats in a 4/4 time signature. OK….We won’t get into the details of midi and music theory here, but this should give you an idea of what to expect as we get into them.

I’ll cover music theory, midi, and many other topics in upcoming articles, e-books, and in the exclusive member content area on my website, Music Production at Home. Also, though, I plan on making this a more well rounded experience for you than just the mechanics. Mechanics are necessary, but expressing yourself means expressing life’s experiences through your music. What emotions are you trying to convey? What energy level feels right? Should the music be simple or complex? Traditional sounding or ground breaking? Commercial (i.e. “pop”) or more outside-the-mainstream? These are questions you should ask yourself as you listen to more and more music, and see what fits. Listen creatively. Listen critically. Listen closely. Make some decisions about who you are, and who you want to be as a musician.

Choosing your “ready-made solutions” should be guided by this self-examination. The way each one of them is programmed suits certain styles more than others, and picking the right one can be done by actually growing as an artist. The self examination helps you grow as an artist, and makes your purchase choices clearer.
So you see, all of this is related. Your deepest emotions,……and midi,…..are connected. So let’s start connecting the dots….

Step 1? Start listening more carefully!

Looking forward to writing to you again.

Marc

Marc L Soucy composer, producer, studio engineer/programmer http://www.MusicProductionAtHome.com

In the military of the United States and other militaries, the Color guard carries the National Color and other flags appropriate to its position in the chain of command. Typically these include a unit flag and a departmental flag (Army, Navy, or Air Force). In addition to the flag bearers, who are positioned in the center of the color guard, there are two individuals who carry rifles.

Colorguards can be found in most colleges, universities, high schools, middle schools, and independent drum corps. Members of colorguard teams march along with their fellow marching band members. Today the guard uses choreography and equipment for added visual appeal during a marching band show.

There are several types of color guards. The two most popular are:

* Military color guards.
* Marching band color guards.

Being assigned to the Color guard is considered an honor due to the fact that these individuals present and carry the symbols of their unit and country. Depending on the circumstance and subject to the orders of their commander, members may wear full dress or less formal uniforms. The Color guard is formed and marched in one rank at close interval (shoulder-to-shoulder). Since the National Colors must always be in the position of honor on the right, he Color guard must execute a special movement to reverse direction. It does not execute rear march, nor does it execute about face. Rather, it performs a maneuver derived from the standard countercolumn command, generally known as counter march or colors reverse march. Other drill movements performed by the Color guard include presenting arms, left and right wheel marches, eyes right (upon passing the reviewing stand during a parade), casing/uncasing the Colors, and fixing/unfixing bayonets (by the arms bearers).

The Color guard renders honors when the national anthem is played or sung, when passing in review during a parade, or in certain other circumstances. In these cases, the unit and departmental flags salute by dipping (leaning the flag forward). However, with the exception of a response to a naval salute, the United States national flag renders no salute.

It is usual for any guy to suffer from tension these days as everybody feels some form of tension or others. Modernization, financial stress, marital stress, children stress and work stress might make a normal individual to feel confused and frustrated. This is the cause why many people look for relieving stress studies.

There are more books, classes and sites which specialize in stress relieving studies. Typical stress relieving studies would teach you to the control and regulates stress through every day. The very best stress releasing techniques practiced nowadays are yoga, exercise and meditation.

Yoga is the integral share of stress relieving studies. It’s a form of workout which teaches you to stretch the various muscles of the body, and shows you the correct breathing techniques for relieving the stress in the body. With meditations, you may learn to concentrate over things than the objects of your tension. While you meditate, the mind is forced to forget about the stress and it would help you to relax and refresh yourself.

Laughter is a thing which is emphasized on stress relieving studies. While you laugh, you’ll learn to see very funnier things in our life, and hence, you’ll forget about problems which are causes stress in you. Truly, if you have a laugh heartily, your heart should also get exercise and the brain would get external stimulus needed to make you see at things possessing positive attitude.

Stress relieving studies also tell that diet and music should be given huge consideration if you would to get rid of the tension. Music would refresh our mind. However, everyone would feel relaxed and revitalized with some music. Some enjoy while listening to classical while others would feel relaxed when they would listen to some sentimental music. You’ve to decide which music suits you and helps you, relaxes you and makes you forget about the stress which you are undergoing.

Though it might not be so obvious, diet does play a very important share in stress relieving too. This is as the body digests only lighter food while it becomes stressed. Filling the stomach with oily and heavy junk food adds more stress our body. So take it as a point for maintaining a light and very healthy diet when you’re in stress.

Once you’ve gone through stress relieving studies, you would have a very different approach in life. As you start spending more time for practicing different stress relief types, you’ll feel less stressed and you’ll happier every other day.

There are more music careers available to you than you may realize. Here just a few highlighted music careers to consider pursuing or looking into if you have any interest these types of things.

Music Careers in Education

Do you have a love of music and would love to teach it to others? There are quite a few different avenues that you can take with music careers in education. Just some of them are an elementary school music teacher, choir or band director, high school music teacher, a private music school teacher, an independent music instructor, and a college music professor or educator. Some people like working with large classes of people such as a choir director, while other people may like the intimacy of working one on one with others such as a private instructor.

Tour and Road Work Music Careers

Would you love to travel around with your favorite singer on her world tour? If you love to travel and would like to work in a fast-paced environment, then a job in the touring and road work field may be for you. Some careers to consider are a touring manager, a tour publicist, a sound technician, backup singer, a road manager, and a stage crew member. Starting as a stage crew member may be a great way to break into the music business and work your way up. You can easily learn some of the basics of the music industry, and it can give you related experience in music to help you pursue a higher level career in music.

These are just a very small sampling of the many different music careers that are available today. As new technology comes out and music starts evolving, there are going to be even more careers in the music industry.

The influence of music has given new dimensions to lives of many individuals. But, many children lose interest in music classes because they are not included in basic curriculum of schools. Considering the numerous benefits of music education for children, increasing number of parents is looking for different methods of upgrading their kids’ interest in music education. Although personalized kids music is helping out many parents in the matter of developing their kids interest in music, it is basically up to you to decide the right and most beneficial ways of introducing your child to music.

Selecting the Right Age to Start with Teaching Music

Although experts say that children have a natural tendency of responding to music, there is a right age to start music lessons for successful implementation of art in their lives. Starting lessons too early or too late may lead a child lack interest. The best way to increase your child’s interest in music is to start his lessons when the child is in his/her right age to understand various musical instruments. Generally, children between 5 to 8 years of age are ready to grab the lessons easily.

However, before you literally train your child to learn playing music, you can develop your kids interest in music by playing kids personalized CDs in which you child can find some of the customized songs with his/her name repeated in it. Start with this process in an early age and you can find your child progress faster with a genuine desire to learn and play music.

Finding the Right Way to Teach Musical Lessons to Your Kids

Every lesson has a right way to learn. There is no hard and fast rule to learn music lessons. But, it is important that the foundation of basic principles should be laid strategically by parents. For instance, if your preschooler develops an interest in playing musical instrument at an early age, you can send him to preschool classes that teach playing music in a game-oriented setting. The personalized kids music has played a great role in molding children’s interest towards songs and musical instruments.

Find a school that has a properly planned music teaching pattern for children. Group lessons are often better options for it can also enhance social activity of the students with their peers. You can also start the music learning process of your kid at home. You don’t need to be an expert in music for that. Playing kids personalized CDs is another way of stimulating your child’s interest for learning and playing music.

Giving your Child the Environment to Develop Interest in Music

It is rightly said that any kind of education begins at home. If a child gets proper environment and exposure to learn playing music, chances are greater of her getting inclined toward playing and listening to music. Listen to different genre of music with your child during leisure. Basically, you can start with playing songs and rhymes that capture your child’s interest. Take help of the personalized kids music to draw his attention toward various kinds of songs that are customized in a way to make it more appealing for children.

These days, even the educational institutions have prioritized teaching with kids personalized CDs to attract the attention of small children towards education. Encouraging musical interest in your child and nurturing his/her musical talents in different ways can help your child improve his/her taste for playing music.