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Keyboard

The keyboard is a set of adjacent keys on a musical instrument that can be depressed. This is mostly in the case of a piano. Keyboards consists of keys that are required to play the twelve notes found in the western scale of music with some longer keys and some shorter keys that gets repeated at an interval of an octave. If you depress a key on a piano keyboard, it produces sound.

The sound is produced either mechanically or electronically in case of electronic keyboards. The keyboard is also found on a synthesizer and the pattern is almost the same as the piano. The history of the musical keyboard layout can be traced back to the first century. Since then the keyboard has gone through a lot of changes.

Most of the latest types of keyboards play some compositions automatically. And these compositions can also be recorded in the storage of these keyboards. In certain keyboards, one can also save new music compositions. Artist uses such keyboards when creating and recording their music.

Keyboards can produce sounds of a certain musical instrument, however, some may be able to produce sounds of various musical instruments.

Keyboards are very popular as gift items. They come in various sizes. Portable keyboards, specially designed for children, are also available. The price of a musical keyboard varies according to the sound quality and the number of functions it can perform.

Compared to traditional musical instruments, keyboards often prove to be more cost-effective and timesaving. Many top electronics manufacturers provide a wide range of keyboards at affordable prices.

Summary

Keyboards are popular as gifts and they can be accessed in a wide range of sizes as well as prices. You will also buy portable keyboards, which are purposely designed to be used by the children. The price varies according to the quality of the instrument.

Keep reading: “Interesting Facts About The Piano That You May Not Know”>>

Read on: “Inspiration from the Life of Ludwig van Beethoven”>>

For more questions, contact us at info@willanacademy.com or 646-838-3990. Willan Academy of Music offers violin lessons, guitar lessons, and more in NYC, including Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens.

Home > Flute Lessons > Blog

Interesting Facts About The Flute:

The flute is the oldest of all musical instruments originally made from stone, wood, clay, or hollow reeds such as the bamboo. Flutes dating as 43,000 to 35,000 years ago have been found in Swabian Juri, which is the present day Germany. The presence of these flutes indicates the existence of music tradition in Europe at that time. Additionally, the flute, and especially the Bansuri, has been an integral part of the Indian classic music since 1500 BC with the major Hinduism Krishna being associated with the instrument.

Most Important Figures of the Early Days Were Flute Players

People who play the flute are referred by different names including flutists or simply flute players. Some of the most important flutists in the past included Leonardo da Vinci, President George Washington, and President James Madison. If such significant people in the society enjoyed playing the flute, you too could learn and enjoy playing it too.

It Can Be Made Of Various Materials

Since its beginning, the flute has been made of wood, ivory, rock, gold, nickel, bone, and glass. Different flutes produce different sounds with the contrabass producing lowest pitch and the piccolo the highest pitch. Some cultures have been inspired so much by the flute existence that they have decided to make it their personal music instrument such as the “Shakuhachi” that belong to the Japanese. Life is all about variety. You should encourage a bit of diversity in your life. Remember, flutes made of different substances still produce great music. Similarly, diversity in society is a good thing and it leads to positive results.

The Flute Is Woodwind Instrument

The flute produces sound when the air flows over the edge rather than through the hollow of the instrument. As steady air vibrates through the edges of the flute, it produces a sound that you can change by using your fingers to close or open the respective holes. You can also control the amount of air you blow. The flute gives you freedom to choose the kind of sound you want it to produce. In life, you have to learn about control. It helps you develop positive outcomes. Learning how to control the amount of air you blow into a flute should encourage discipline in you.

Keep reading: “Interesting Facts About The Piano That You May Not Know”>>

Read on: “Inspiration from the Life of Ludwig van Beethoven”>>

For more questions, contact us at info@willanacademy.com or 646-838-3990. Willan Academy of Music offers violin lessons, guitar lessons, and more in NYC, including Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens.

Home > Flute Lessons > Blog

Fun Facts About Flutes

What is a woodwind instrument? The woodwind instruments are instruments that produce sound as a result of air flowing through them. Instruments that belong to this family include the oboe, clarinet, saxophone, bassoon, and flute. While all of the other instruments mentioned are classified as reed instruments because that is the way that the air flows through them, the flute is an instrument that makes its sound from air being blown across an opening. The openings are closed or kept open depending on the notes that the flute player would like to produce. The flute is easily one of the most difficult instruments to master, but it is also one of the most beautiful sounding instruments as it is often used to signify light and joy in music. Here are fun facts about flutes!

Fun Facts

There are many things that you should know about the flute before you start playing, not least the myriad of fun facts that surround the instrument itself.

1. A flute player is most commonly referred to as a flutist or a flutist. The less common version of that is a fluter, but that is an old English term that is seldom used anymore.

2. The flute family has got five types of flute that you can choose from regarding playing. There is the piccolo, alto, tenor, bass and contrabass flute. The piccolo generates the highest pitched sounds and the contrabass flute, the lowest pitched sound.

3. The most popular concert flute is pitched to play in the key of C as that is the universal key, and it has a range of about three octaves.

4. The flute is among the most common instruments throughout history. The earliest example of it was found in Germany (c.35, 000 BCE), but other cultures such as the Chinese and Japanese are famous for their flutes as well.

5. Throughout history, the flute has been made of several different types of materials including resin, brass, bone, wood and sliver. Silver is the most popular material that the flute is made from today.

6. Lots of famous people throughout history have taken up the flute as a hobby, one of the most famous being Leonardo Da Vinci who believed that the pursuit of music made man a smarter being.

Pitched Beauty of the Flute

The air that musician puts into the flute could also determine the different pitches. By varying the amount of air the musician blows into the flute, they can create various pitches without necessarily to worry about opening or closing the holes in the flute.

Changing how loud a flute can require a change in the size of the flute. More particularly, the flute may need to have bigger holes, a larger resonator and even or more air. It is possibly for these purposes that the flute has been used and changed so much throughout the history.

Today, there are just few kinds of flutes. Some flutes have keys; some are with keys, others are open-ended, while some are closed-ended and are known as fipple flutes. Some flutes make deeper, richer sounds and are usually larger flutes. Then, some flutes make lighter, higher sounds and are usually smaller flutes.

If you are interested in playing the flute, you should start right away. It is a beautiful and very rewarding instrument to learn, and you can enjoy many happy years with your flute.

Keep reading: “Interesting Facts About The Piano That You May Not Know”>>

Read on: “Inspiration from the Life of Ludwig van Beethoven”>>

For more questions, contact us at info@willanacademy.com or 646-838-3990. Willan Academy of Music offers violin lessons, guitar lessons, and more in NYC, including Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens.

Home > Singing Lessons > Blog

Do You Know That Singers Are Like Athletes?

Do You Know That Singers Are Like Athletes? This may sound like advice for a professional athlete, but that is because singing is very much a highly athletic pursuit. So make sure you are training regularly and appropriately to develop your singing muscles. Get good rest and eat healthily. All of this will contribute to developing your singing muscles to be the best they can be. Your voice comes from a variety of muscles constantly contracting and expanding. It is easy for them to become fatigued quickly when you neglect your vocal training.

Good Posture

Have you ever seen a great vocal performance given by someone hunched over with an arched back? No. The reason is that you must have good posture to achieve peak performance singing. Good posture allows you to use your diaphragm properly to support your air supply. As a result, good posture adds a good deal of tone, depth and control to your voice as you sing. Every vocal coach worth their weight will likely be constantly reminding you to stand up straight. That’s because singing is an athletic endeavor and you need to have a good athletic stance to be at your best.

Alcohol, Drugs, and Smoking

Some vices are bad for you in general, but they are particularly bad for singing. Things like alcohol, drugs, and smoking can all be very detrimental to your singing. They all impede your vocal cords from working properly, and long term can damage your vocal cords. So try to avoid these.

Eating and Drinking

Remember the old axiom about not swimming for an hour after eating? The same may be true for not singing for an hour after eating. Eating tends to slow us down. Also part of digestion is the production of more mucus in our mouths to aide in digestion. This mucus can impact how your vocal cords vibrate. Some people like to think warm tea helps their singing. The warm liquid may feel like its soothing your throat and possibly relax your neck muscles, but liquids do not typically reach the vocal cords so therefore have little or no direct impact on their performance.

Imitation

Singers need to stay in balance just like athletes. They need to do things over and over again that they are capable of. We can all see the results when an athlete tries to do something outside of their abilities. The results are usually ugly unless luck intervenes. The same is true with singing. On a given night you may get lucky and sing a song in a key that is really out of your range. But for some reason the air that night is thinner or whatever you pull it off. The problem is just that you pulled it off, you don’t own it. So learn to sing within yourself. Find your athletic singing balance where you are relaxed and performing at your highest level. This is what will entertain people the most, not imitating other famous performances.

Keep reading: “3 Famous Musicians You’ve Got To Know: Classical Singers”>>

Read on: “Inspiration from the Life of Ludwig van Beethoven”>>

For more questions, contact us at info@willanacademy.com or 646-838-3990. Willan Academy of Music offers violin lessons, guitar lessons, and more in NYC, including Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens.

Home > Flute Lessons > Blog

Fun facts about flutes

A flute can be defined as a musical instrument which produces sound when a person directs a stream of air against the edge of a hole, this causes the air that is in the instrument’s body to vibrate. A good number of flutes are tubular in shape but there are also globular-shaped ones. There are flutes that are played by the blowing of air into the mouthpiece which in turn directs the air against the edge of a hole, there are known as whistle flutes e.g. the globular ocarina and the tubular recorder. The panpipes and the Japanese bamboo flutes are usually held vertically, they are played by blowing some air against the edge of a hole that is located at the end of the flute. Lastly, transverse flutes are held horizontally and played by blowing some air against the edge of a hole that is located at the side of the flute.

Fun facts

Below are some fun and interesting facts about flutes that most people are not aware of:

Raw materials

Modern flutes are made from wood material that is effective in producing various sounds from metal flutes. Wooden flutes basically have mechanisms and metal keys. A majority of flutes are made using metal material. Flutes that are less expensive are made from nickel alloys as well as other materials. Flutes that are more expensive are plated with silver. The pads that are attached to keys surface in order to cover the holes are made from felt and cork.

Gold, bronze or steel are used in making the springs which provide tension so as to firmly hold the keys against the holes. The screws and pins are made of steel material. The mouthpiece may be made of the flute’s parent material or even platinum.

Design

Each and very flute is a unique work of art that is individually crafted. This is because the flute-maker first takes the needs of the musician that will play the flute into consideration. Special changes may be made to the keys so as to accommodate special needs, this is normally the case with professional musicians.

The future

Since the middle of the 19th Century, there have been very few changes that have been made to the basic design of the modern transverse flute. However, flute-makers will definitely continue to look for ways to make some small but critical changes to individual instruments so as suit the needs of the individual musicians.

Conclusion

The above insightful information is far from exhaustive as there are many fun facts about flutes.

Keep reading: “Stories of Instruments – Flute”>>

Read on: “How to Utilize the Learning Style of a Child to Your Favor”>>

For more questions, contact us at info@willanacademy.com or 646-838-3990. Willan Academy of Music offers piano lessons, singing lessons, and more in NYC, including Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens.