Category: Music

At the turn of 18th Century, pianoforte was invented. This gave a new ‘face’ to music culture in Europe. The organ, the oldest keyboard instrument has been played for several centuries.

It is likely the use of the keys to produce music, was popularized by the organ. Compelling the invention of different types of keyboard instruments, the organ, however, is a wind keyboard, and is almost entirely unrelated to the piano.

The first keyboard instrument that used strings is the clavichord in the late Middle Ages. (the time in European history between classical antiquity and the Italian Renaissance from about 500 a.d. to about 1350). Its action is similar to that of the piano but its tone is soft and too quiet to be played in the concert. It was smaller and simpler than its relative the Harpsichord; hence it was regarded as a mere household instrument. After the clavichord, the harpsichord came into the limelight, though it could not also be used to perform in large room.

Clavichord
Harpsichord
Spinet

In 1709, BARTOLOMEO CRISTOFORI, an Italian curator of musical instruments for the Medici family invented the first piano. He called this gravicembalo col piano e forte, a keyboard instrument that can be played soft and loud. Hence the name pianoforte…(soft-loud). Eventually it was called just Piano today.

• Cristofori built this early piano in 1726.
• Italian Terms
• Piano-Soft
• Forte-Loud

Did You Know?

Have you ever wondered why the piano has the same name as the word for soft? Originally pianos were called clavicembalo col piano e forte. These Italian words mean harpsichord with soft and loud. They described what the instrument was like. The harpsichord was a popular keyboard instrument before the piano, but it did not play loud and soft easily. When the piano was invented, it had the marvelous new feature of changing dynamics by pressing the keys lighter or harder.

Clavicembalo col piano e forte was too much to say so soon people started calling the instrument the pianoforte or fortepiano. Then it just became the piano.

One reason why the piano spread slowly at first was that it was quite expensive to make, and thus was purchased only by royalty and a few wealthy private individuals. The ultimate success of Cristofori’s invention occurred only in the 1760s, when the invention of cheaper square pianos, along with generally greater prosperity, made it possible for many people to acquire one.

Like the state of Texas, where they come from, ZZ Top combines rural primitivism and urban image in a way that has led to a perfect synthesis between provincial rock’n’roll and high technology.

When, in the late 1980s, Forbes magazine published the list of celebrities in the entertainment world with the highest profits worldwide, only one rock group, U2, ranked above ZZ Top among those who had amassed greater fortunes. However, they have managed to stay curiously away from the rock’n’roll high society circus, and remain immune to the “rock messiah” syndrome that generally haunts other artists of their stature. In almost thirty years they have traveled the whole planet with their tours, although they have never been away for a long time from their base in southern North America, and the description someone made of them when they started, “that little old band from Texas”, even today they fit like a glove.

Billy Gibbons, who was a graphic arts student, began playing the guitar in The Moving Sidewalks, a psychedelic “garage” band from the 1960s whose debut single, “99th Floor,” ranked highest on the charts. Texas lists for five weeks in 1967. Dusty Hill and Frank Beard, meanwhile, graduated from The American Blues, a Dallas band best known for the fact that its members wore their hair dyed blue than anything else. The three met in 1970 and the pact they then sealed has withstood the test of time with an overwhelming solidity. Except for the brief contribution of a guitar accompaniment on the part of a stranger on one of his first albums, the three men have self-supplied up to the last note and the last rhythm of those that have been included in their albums, even if they have had even that to learn to play the saxophone or to execute a section of three metals, as is the case in some songs of their album Degüello. They have never enriched their live performances with extra musicians, nor have they recorded or played with other bands.

Their manager and producer since the first day has been Bill Ham, a non-conformist Texan with a management style very similar to Led Zeppelin’s first manager, Peter Grant. Ham categorically separated ZZ Top from television throughout the 1970s, preferring the band’s live performances to other procedures that guaranteed easier success. Although such principles had to be hard by force, the truth is that the foundations of the band were already unbreakable towards 1976, when it took place the tour Taking Texas to the People, an ambitious production that had them a lot of time on the road along with all their outdoor life equipment and a large fauna (an ox, a buffalo weighing 2,000 pounds, half a dozen vultures, two rattlesnakes six feet each, a pig and a wolf). Their aversion to TV was softened in the eighties, when they became peculiar stars of MTV thanks to a trilogy of videos directed by Tim Newman for the tracks “Gimme All Your Lovin”, “Sharp Dressed Man” and “Legs”, all of them included in his successful 1983 album, Eliminator.

Presenting themselves since the eighties as the “rock mausoleums”, ZZ Top is the only group that has seriously faced the commitment to age in a market, the rock’n’roll, which always trades with the currency of youth. To such capacity of permanence has contributed, without a doubt, the image that Gibbons and Hill conceived for the group when their members barely reached the thirty years of age, an image in which the most outstanding note are long beards that were not fashionable since the times of the Old Testament. This strategy freed them of concerns from then on, since, unless they dramatically increase in weight, they will not look older in twenty years than they appear now.

Given the enormous amount of works published by this band throughout its history, only those that have been most relevant are mentioned. The first is a LP of 1973 entitled Tres hombres, which made number three of its production at that time. Some people think that this has been the best album of his career. The tracks that open the album, “Waitin ‘for the Bus” and “Jesus Just Left Chicago,” are two of the great opening salvoes of all time, along with “Route 66,” from the Rolling Stones’ first album, and “Whole Lotta Love” by Led Zeppelin II. In fact, the two inseparable songs continued being an essential component in the set of the subjects that touched in direct on the occasion of the tour of 1991, Recycler.Another interesting cut is “La Grange”, a lascivious tale set in a brothel that was a minor success in the United States, as well as “Precious and Grace” and the surrealist “Master of Sparks”, whose unconventional lyrics are adorned with a somewhat questionable Texan folklore. Although Tres Hombres reached number eight in the American charts, it was never recorded in the British, and is one of the most ignored great albums in the history of rock.

Another of the great works of ZZ Top is Degüello, published in 1979. It is a new collection of apparently casual brilliance, which illuminates, among other things, the consummate control of the textures of Gibbons guitar. It oscillates between the perfect Fender sound of “A Fool for Your Stockings” and the Marshall sound of “Cheap Sunglasses”. Half a decade before Michael Jackson and LL Cool J entered the scene, the ZZ Top demonstrated a perfect familiarity with the street language in “I’m Bad, I’m Nationwide.” The band’s fascination with car racing is also revealed through another of those surreal fantasy lyrics, “Manic Mechanic,” sung by Gibbons as if he were speaking through a broken megaphone. Dazzling versions of “I Thank You”, by Isaac Hayes, and “Dust My Broom”, by Elmore James, culminate a spectacularly rich composition.

When someone asked Gibbons what a guitarist could do to improve his technique, his response was to go out and buy an album called The Sound of the Drags (a recording that picked up the peculiar sound of car racing), and I absorbed all the warm feeling it emitted. The success of Eliminator, album released in 1983, is based precisely on having managed to capture that “warm feeling”; So much so, that the LP has become part of the legendary history of rock’n’roll, along with the car, the girls, the videos and the ten million copies that were sold of it. The trick they discovered was simple, but surprisingly effective. They trumpeted the guitar sound, made the choirs more dynamic and banished any kind of rhythmic overcrowding. Contrary to what is common in a heavy rock album, “Gimme All Your Lovin,” “Got Me Under Pressure,” “Sharp Dressed Man,” “Legs,” “Dirty Dog,” and “If I Could Only Flag Her Down “are held exclusively on a basic battery pulse.

In addition to Afterburner (1985), which was number two in the United Kingdom, two compilation albums of the band must also be mentioned: The Best of ZZ Top (1977) and Greatest Hits (1992), compilations that only share two themes, ” Tush”and” La Grange “, which gives a good account of the group’s creativity. The Best of ZZ Top collects an acceptable selection of the band’s work until 1977, paying special attention to Tres Hombres (which contributes four songs out of a total of ten). Greatest Hits, which was catapulted to singles charts for its version of the song “Viva Las Vegas”, shows the most modern and commercial face of ZZ Top.However, there are several notable omissions (“TV Dinners”, “Velcro Fly”, “Stages”) and other rather questionable inclusions (“Gun Love”, “Give It Up”) that make this, according to some, a summary of little confidence.

Amos Lee Is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist whose musical style encompasses folk, rock and soul. He has released four albums on Blue Note Records. Lee’s “folksy, bluesy sound” had been compared to Bill Withers, John Prine and Norah Jones. A New York Times music critic described him as having a “honeyed singing voice – light amber, mildly sweet, a touch of grain” which he features “squarely, without much fuss or undue strain” in his “1970s folk rock and rustic soul” musical song craft.

I really like his style as a musician and every time I hear him I hear his sound changing slightly and his songwriting also is constantly evolving. As a singer songwriter, every time I hear his music it gets better and better. Lee is an artist that gets me inspired to push myself as a songwriter and keep pushing hard to make great music. His songwriting is awesome and he’s really evolving and I can’t wait to hear more. I’ve compiled a list of 5 great Amos Lee songs and what they mean or the best I can decipher. Sometimes interpretation can be different then what the songwriter meant, but that happens all the time.

1. Street Corner Preacher – Last Days at the Lodge Album

A great story telling song about a man trying to overcome his past issues and sins and make it in the world today (at least that’s what I think this song is about). It’s funny, but the song can be something totally different. The best version I heard of this song is from the “Live from Bonnaroo 2011” video. Lee is accompanied by a slew of artists and backup singers. The song never sounded better.

“He got a new mercy, a new grace

Street corner preacher with the angry face

He got two years off for good behavior

Back in the neighborhood workin’ for the savior”

2. In the Arms of a Woman – Amos Lee (self-titled) Album

An amazing love song. That’s it. That’s all I have to say. When you hear this song it makes you feel romantic and loved and just all around good feelings. When I read the lyrics, sometimes it makes me think that it’s not a romantic song at all because he has this one line that says “Although now most of my days are spent alone”. Does he mean he’s no longer with her or is he always away from home because of being on tour? Not sure, but the song is an instant classic.

“I am at ease

In the arms of a woman

Although now most of my days are spent alone

A thousand miles from the place I was born

When she wakes me

She takes me back home”

3. Colors – Amos Lee (self-titled) Album

This duet with Norah Jones shows his range as a vocalist when he hits those falsetto notes. A song about how the world is different when his love is not around. Things don’t seem to be the same and time just drags on.

“When you’re gone

All the colors fade

When you’re gone

No the years they parade

When you’re gone

Colors seem to fade”

4. Windows Rolled Down – Mission Bell Album

An upbeat song that makes you want to get in the car and just drive till you run out of gas. This is a great song for a road trip or on a beautiful drive.

“Windows are rolled down

Moon is hanging low

Windows are rolled down

Think it’s time for me to go hey-ay-ay-a…-ay”

5. Keep It Loose, Keep It Tight – Amos Lee (self-titled) Album

This is one of those songs that I talked about that is so open to interpretation. I think this song has to do with him dealing with his growing fame and learning to cope with the fame and still be humble about life. “Keep It Loose” means don’t get too stuffy about being famous and getting money and have fun with the process and “Keep It Tight” means to also not get TOO loose and still learn that you have to keep a discipline in your life and still work hard to keep the music career going. Also, keep it loose and tight not only in music, but also in life and love (referencing the 2nd verse).

“and sometimes we forget what we got

who we are,

and who we are not

I think we got a chance to make it right

keep it loose

keep it tight

keep it tight”

As a side note with these songs, I had to pick 5 GREAT songs. These are not the top 5 Amos Lee songs. I believe he has so many great songs that could all be top songs. I didn’t want to force myself to choose, so I copped out and said 5 great songs. I’m looking forward to more Amos Lee music because it gives me inspiration as a songwriter and also he seems like a really cool dude.

A member of the percussion family, tambourines historically have been made by mounting a single drum head (often of thin animal hide) onto a ring that has pairs of metal jingles laced around the drum sides. It should be noted, however, that not all tambourines use a drum head of leather or animal hide. In some instances, there are jingles strung across the center of the tambourine frame instead. The instrument was then used by either striking the drum head, shaking the jingles, or banging the instrument against a part of the body to get both a drum tone and jingles simultaneous.

Historically the tambourine has been identified in many forms of music including Persian, classical, gospel and pop music. The tambourine can be traced back to most ancient civilizations including India, China, Rome, Egypt and Greece where it was usually used during periods of celebration. Frame drums such as the tambourine as some of the most ancient percussion instruments identified. They originated in the ancient Middle East and ultimately reached medieval Europe. In fact, the tambourine began appearing in operas, ballets, and compositions more and more often throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. Used as an accompaniment to other musical instruments, or dancers, the tambourine has developed a huge following for use in spiritual or ritual activities even now.

Different countries have small differences in the construction of the instrument, but the basics remain generally the same. For example, the tambourine is related closely to the Riq used in countries including Egypt, Iraq, Syria, and other Arab countries. In Russia, the Ukraine, Slovia, Czechoslovakia, and Poland, it is referred to as a Buben. In the Balkans, Persia and Central Asian countries, the instrument is referred to as a Dajre. In South Indian societies the instrument is referred to as a Kanjira. All are equally accepted as an acoustic percussion instrument which has the primary use of maintaining rhythm and timbre within the musical piece during which it is being played.

In the early 1950’s, four Detroit high school students played at a local birthday party. After that, these four students stayed together as one of R&B’s biggest groups for over four decades.

Levi Stubbs (brother of The Falcon’s Joe Stubbs and cousin of Jackie Wilson), Abdul “Duke” Fakir, Renaldo “Obie” Benson and Lawrence Payton called themselves The Four Aims.

The Four Aims signed with Chess Records in 1956 and changed their name to The Four Tops, so they wouldn’t be confused with the pop family group, The Ames Brothers.

Recording with four different record labels and no hits, The Four Tops came to the attention of Motown Records executive, Berry Gordy Jr. In 1963, they signed with Motown and initially did backup work for other Motown artists. They can be heard on The Supremes’ “Run, Run, Run.”

In 1964, songwriting team, Holland-Dozier-Holland came up with a tune perfectly fitted for the quartet. “Baby I Need Your Loving” became their first of many Billboard top 20 hits.

On the charts, The Four Tops had twenty-five Top 40 hits, two went to number one. Here’s a look at The Four Tops twenty biggest hits, according to Billboard’s Top 40 charts:

1. I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch) – 1965 – Their biggest single went to number one for two weeks and has been covered by The Supremes, Donnie Elbert (who took it to #22) and Dolly Parton. It was also used in Kellogg’s Honey Smacks and Duncan Hines brownie mix commercials.

2. Reach Out, I’ll Be There – 1966 – Their only other number one song was also the #3 song for the year of 1966.

3. Ain’t No Woman (Like the One I’ve Got) – 1973 – In 1972, The Four Tops left Motown, when the label moved to L.A., and signed with the ABC/Dunhill label. This song, originally recorded by Hamilton, Joe Frank and Reynolds, would be the Four Tops biggest single after leaving Motown. It was included in their “Keeper of the Castle” album.

4. Bernadette – 1967 – From the album “Reach Out” this song was included in the soundtrack of “Zodiac.” On the CBS-TV sitcom, “The Big Bang Theory,” character Howard Wolowitz uses the song as his ringtone for his girlfriend.

5. It’s The Same Old Song – 1965 – The follow up to “I Can’t Help Myself” features the same chords. It has been covered by Jonathan King, KC and the Sunshine Band and the Tops appeared in a Velveeta commercial singing “It’s The Same Old Side.”

6. Standing In The Shadows Of Love – 1967 – Also from the “Reach Out” album. In 1990, Aerosmith used a riff in their single “The Other Side” that sounded similar to this song. Aerosmith’s lawyers, in an attempt to avoid a lawsuit, gave Holland-Dozier-Holland credit for the Aerosmith single.

7. Keeper of the Castle – 1972 – Their first single after leaving Motown went to #10 on the weekly charts. It’s from the album of the same name.

8. When She Was My Girl – 1981 – It had been eight years since the group had a top 40 hit and after signing with Casablanca Records they did just that. It would also be their last top 40 hit for seven more years.

9. Baby I Need Your Loving – 1964 – Their very first hit went to #11 on the weekly charts. Cover versions have been many, including those by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell, Gene Pitney and Johnny Rivers, who took his version to #3 on the weekly charts.

10. Still Water (Love) – 1970 – Written by Smokey Robinson and Frank Wilson, this silky tune is a departure from the hard rocking songs the Tops had been doing. From the “Still Waters Run Deep” album, this single featured Marv Tarplin, of the Miracles, on guitar.

11. River Deep – Mountain High – 1971 – Written by Phil Spector for Ike & Tina Turner in 1966, it was later covered by Eric Burdon and the Animals in 1968. The most successful cover version was by The Four Tops, when they teamed up with The Supremes, sans Diana Ross, and took it Top 20.

12. 7 Rooms Of Gloom – 1967 – Also covered by Blondie and Pat Benetar, the Four Tops did not like this song and never performed it in concert. The B-side, “I’ll Turn to Stone” was also released, but only made it to #76 on the charts.

13. Walk Away Renee – 1968 – Originally recorded by The Left Banke in 1966 going to #5, The Four Tops have the most successful cover version of this song. Renee was an infatuation of Left Banke keyboardist, Michael Brown, who wrote the song about bassist Tom Finn’s girlfriend.

14. Are You Man Enough? – 1973 – This song was featured on the album soundtrack and in the film, “Shaft In Africa” starring Richard Roundtree.

15. Shake Me, Wake Me (When It’s Over) – 1966 – Poor Levi Stubbs can’t believe his woman is leaving him for another man. But she does, in this top 20 hit that has also been covered by Barbra Streisand, The Supremes and Shaun Cassidy.

16. Something About You – 1965 – Their follow up to “It’s The Same Old Song” this song barely cracked the top 20. It is not to be confused with the Level 42 song of the same name.

17. You Keep Running Away – 1967 – From their “Greatest Hits” album, this song, like most of their singles, had backup vocals by The Adantes, who did backup work for many Motown artists.

18. If I Were A Carpenter – 1968 – Written by Tim Hardin and originally recorded by Bobby Darin in 1966, The Four Tops covered it in 1968 and went top 20 with it.

19. It’s All In The Game – 1970 – Another cover version of a great standard, originally recorded by Tommy Edwards in 1958, the Four Tops soulful sound stands out in this top 30 hit for them.

20. Ask The Lonely – 1965 – Their third single for Motown was written by longtime staffer, Mickey Stevenson and Ivy Joe Hunter.

The Four Tops last Top 40 hit was “Indestructible” in 1988.

The quartet also did some movie work singing a song in the 1982 film, “Grease 2.” Levi Stubbs provided the voice of the voracious vegetation, Audrey II, in the 1986 film musical, “Little Shop of Horrors.”

Running late from a recording session in December 1988, the group missed their flight home from their European tour. It turned out to be Pan Am flight 103, which crashed in Lockerbie, Scotland, when a terrorist bomb was detonated onboard.

In 1997, after 44 years without ever changing personnel, Lawrence Payton died of lung cancer. “Obie” Benson also died of lung cancer eight years later. Lead singer, Levi Stubbs, died in his home in Detroit in 2008. “Duke” Fakir is the only surviving original member, who still performs with three other members as The Four Tops.

The Four Tops were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990.

In 2009, they received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

Their song, “Reach Out, I’ll Be There” was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998.

“Hey you, don’t make it bad” was unnecessary advice for aspiring musicians, but record companies also once insisted, “Don’t make it longer than three minutes.” If it exceeded much beyond that length, a song had no chance of becoming a hit.

Fortunately, The Beatles shattered that theory exactly fifty years ago, when they scored a huge hit with a song that ran twice that long. “Hey Jude” had a running time of over seven minutes, yet it still managed to reach number one and stay there for a record eight weeks.

In the fifty years since Paul McCartney wrote that long chart topper, many songs running well over that traditional three minute mark have become big hits. In fact, one that ran longer than eight minutes even hit number one a few years after “Hey Jude.”

Not only does “American Pie” by Don McLean have the longest running time ever for a number one hit, but it contains a record number 980 words in its lyrics. That total is more than three times than that found in “Hey Jude.”

Here are seven of the other best tunes that play longer than that now fifty year old classic by The Beatles.

Cowgirl In the Sand by Neil Young

Checking in at over ten minutes, this track from Everyone Knows This Is Nowhere is highlighted by several guitar jams.

Stairway To Heaven by Led Zeppelin

Even though this standard from Led Zeppelin IV never made it to number one, it has become more well-known than either “American Pie” or “Hey Jude.”

Desolation Row by Bob Dylan

Robert Zimmerman always had a lot to say through his songwriting, and he uses over eleven minutes to make his point on this closer from Highway 61 Revisited.

I Just Sit There by Sonny Bono

His only solo album opens with this fourteen minute track, which criticizes everyone from politicians to movie stars to The Beatles.

Danse With Me George by Ambrosia

Chopin and his romance with author George Sand was the inspiration for this criminally underrated epic from the group’s second album, Somewhere I’ve Never Travelled.

Us And Them by Pink Floyd

Anyone looking for the dark side of the moon could wait for it while listening to this psychedelic single, which runs nearly eight minutes.

Deacon Blues by Steely Dan

When Donald Fagin says “Sue me if I play too long” in the last verse, he falsely assumes that someone would find this Aja hit’s length unacceptable. Most fans wish it went on even longer.

In India, the origin of music, indeed sound itself is traced back to the origin of the universe. According to Indian mythology, the first ever sound is the Naadbrahma (Brhma as Sound), which pervades the entire universe. It is the purest sound in the universe and is believed to be unstuck. Another myth associates the origin of sound (and dance) with the Tandava of Shiva and Onkar. It is said that sage Narada then introduced the art of music to the earth from heaven. Like dance, origin of the music in India was in devotional songs and was restricted to religious and ritualistic purposes and was mainly used in temples only. This then developed in association with folk music and other musical forms of India and gradually derived its own musical characteristics.

The history of music in India can be traced back to the Vedic times. The concept of Naadbrahma was prevalent in the Vedic ages. All organised music traces its origins back to the Sam Veda which contains the earliest known form of organised music. The earliest raga owes its origin to the Sam Ved. The first reference to music was made by Panini in 500 BC and the first reference to musical theory is found in Rikpratisakhya in 400 BC. Bharata’s Natyashastra (4th century AD) contains several chapters on music, which was probably the first clear written work on music that has divided music into octaves and twenty-two keys. The next important work on music is Dathilan that also mentions the existence of twenty-two srutis per octave. According to ancient notion, only these twenty-two srutis can be made by the human beings. Other works written during this period include Brihaddesi written by Matanga in 9th century AD, which attempts to define Raga; Sangeeta Makaranda, written by Narada in 11th century AD, which enumerates ninety-three Raagas and classifies them into masculine and feminine species; Swaramela Kalanidhi written by Ramamatya in the 16th century AD and Chaturdandi Prakssika written by Venkata Makhhi in the 17th century AD

During the late Vedic Period i.e. from three thousand to twelve hundred B.C., music prevailed in the form called Samgana, which was purely a chanting of the verses in musical patterns. After that music changed its course a little bit. The epics were narrated in musical tones called Jatigan. Between the second to the seventh century AD, a form of music called Prabandh Sangeet, written in Sanskrit became very popular. This form gave rise to a simpler form called Dhruvapad, which used Hindi as the medium. The Gupta period is considered as the golden era in the development of Indian Music.

Time for distributing your music eh? Awesome and congrats on creating worthwhile art for your fans! There are two distributors I recommend including TuneCore, the other being CD Baby.

*Article updated for 2015*

TuneCore Review 2015 – The Good Stuff

First, artists receive 100% of net gain on all sales. If you’re selling a lot of music, this is definitely a lucrative aspect for you.

Second, you get a TuneCore Media player for the specific purpose of promoting your single/album release. This means you can share it on social media sites, your website, blog, etc.

Third, you’ll receive weekly trend reports from iTunes plus official music sales reports from all stores selling your songs. This is critical if you want to have an effective marketing plan.

Fourth, lacking cover art? No problem – TuneCore will make it for you.

Fifth, TuneCore is partnered with all the big digital companies like iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, Amazon MP3, Simfy & Deezer.

Sixth, TuneCore will collect publishing royalties for you, including mechanicals and public performance rights for a one-time payment of $75.00. (TuneCore’s cut of your publishing royalties is 10%, but you keep sole ownership of your songs).

Important Extras: Ringtone Distribution and something that is absolutely critical – 24 hour Customer Service Response because inevitably something will go wrong.

TuneCore Review 2015 – The Not-so Good Stuff

First, they don’t provide UPC barcodes for your tunes; this means you won’t be able to rank on “top” sales charts by Billboard and other music news publishers.

Second, TuceCore charges a yearly fee as long as you sell your music through them. For example, you pay $49.99 per album for every year TuneCore distributes it.

Third, TuneCore will only distribute your music digitally – no physical sales. This may not be such a big deal depending on how your fans consume music.

Fourth, there aren’t many extras compared to CD Baby.

TuneCore Review – Pricing

Type of Sale (All Digital): Single Album
You Get: 100% Net Sales*
TuneCore’s Cut: $29.99 first year; $49.99 every year thereafter (this is for every album you upload)

Type of Sale: Single Song
You Get: 100% Net Sales*
TuneCore’s Cut: $9.99 first year and every year thereafter

Type of Sale: Single Ringtone
You Get: 100% Net Sales*
TuneCore’s Cut: $19.99 first year and every year thereafter

Extra: Publishing Administration
You Get: 90% of Royalties**
TuneCore’s cut: $75 one-time fee; TuneCore takes 10% of all publishing license fees, including mechanical and public performance royalties

*Keep in mind, you receive 100% of Net Sales. The digital distributors that TuneCore is partnered with take their cut first. For example, iTunes gets roughly 30¢ per $1.00 song sold. This means your take would be 70¢. Note that this rule applies to all music distributors.

**TuneCore provides some perks in addition to your 90%. If you have music being distributed by other companies like Ditto Music, you can still register your copyright through TuneCore. The one-time service fee covers all songs you may compose in the future. Also, TuneCore collects royalties worldwide.

Another year has passed us by so it’s a good time to review the year and see what songs top the sales for the year 2011. As mentioned in our review last year, there are similar reviews. Ours is different in that it shows what people wanted to sing last year and not just what they wanted to listen to. No review can be completely accurate but we feel the following lists give a good review of the best music that came out in 2011 and that karaoke singers were requesting.

2011 Top Karaoke Pop Songs

#1 – Rolling In The Deep – Adele (Many people assume Adele to be a black singer because of the sound of her voice but she’s not. What you hear from her are powerful vocals with the feel of emotion behind every note. That is exactly what a good singer wants from a song. The challenge for any singer with ‘Rolling In The Deep’ is matching the emotion and feeling that Adele puts in her original version. Of course you can get away with not being able to match Adele’s vocal quality and still please your audience if you’re a six year old girl singing this song with all your heart, as did Alexa Narvaez on YouTube with currently over 13 million views.)

#2 – Someone Like You – Adele (Yes, Adele comes in with the top two Pop songs for 2011. ‘Someone Like You’ speaks of a person coming to terms with the fact that her past lover has moved on. She wishes him the best and sings that she will find ‘someone like you’, claiming to have come to terms with the status of their break-up but obviously revealing otherwise. Perhaps this song became so popular because most of us have had our hearts broken in the same way that this song relates.)

#3 – Party Rock Anthem – LMFAO with Lauren Bennett & Goonrock (Well I thought LMFAO must be a band, with possibly each letter of this group’s name representing one of their members. Man, am I ever out of the loop. LMFAO is an acronym for Laughing My Freaking Ass Off. LMFAO is actually a duo composed of Motown founder’s Berry Gordy’s youngest son Stefan aka Redfoo and his grandson Skyler aka SkyBlu. The song was one of the most popular dance songs of the year. If it’s fun to dance to then it must be fun to sing.)

#4 – On The Floor – Jennifer Lopez & Pitbull (If anybody remembers the Lambada from 1989 then you’ll no doubt notice the borrowed beat for the main riff. What can we expect for J-Lo’s next big single? Maybe a reworking use of the main riff from ‘Islands In The Stream’ or ‘Afternoon Delight’.)

#5 – You And I – Lady Gaga (Unlike most of Lady Gaga’s tunes and maybe just a shade less successful as some of Gaga’s dance songs, this tune was highly requested as a karaoke song. ‘You And I’ is a bluesy, rock and country inspired ballad that mildly samples the classic Queen song ‘We Will Rock You’.)

#6 – Moves Like Jagger – Maroon 5 with Christina Aguilera (This song has a catchy hook and was popular among the karaoke crowd, and what has made it more appealing is that it is a female/male duet.)

#7 – Mr. Know It All – Kelly Clarkson (The original American Idol is still going strong five studio albums later. This song once again capitalizes on strong vocals and the hook ‘you don’t know a thing about me’ will stay in your head long after the last note of the song is played.)

#8 – Lighters – Bad Meets Evil & Bruno Mars (Bad Meets Evil is a duo consisting of rappers Royce da 5’9″ and Eminem. This duo actually was formed before Eminem gained his mainstream popularity in 1999, they broke up and now have since reunited. The song ‘Lighters’ is an alternative hip-hop song, different from hard core rap, especially with the added vocals of Bruno Mars.)

#9 – We Found Love – Rihanna (Rihanna once again hits the top of the charts with a catchy dance song. Many versions of this song also list Calvin Harris in the credits but we have not heard a duet version or any version that feature vocals other than Rihanna’s.)

#10 – I Do – Colbie Caillat (Like Colbie Caillat’s first single Bubbly, this song is a feel good, happy-go-lucky sunny day song that speaks of taking relationships to the next level. A perfect tune for the optimistic romantic.)

Honorable Mention:

Mistletoe – Justin Bieber (Some people may wonder why Justin Bieber is once again not on the top 10. He also didn’t make the top ten with any of his songs in 2010, possibly because although his songs have a broad appeal, when it comes to singing them there will be a much smaller audience. Collectively karaoke versions of his songs sold more than any other artist in 2011; Justin Bieber was the best selling Karaoke artist of 2011. The late season release of ‘Mistletoe’ nearly made the top 10. It was highly requested in late November and December. Many long for a fresh, new holiday song and this song filled that need precisely.)

Top 2011 Karaoke Country Songs

#1 – Dirt Road Anthem – Jason Aldean (This song talks about country life but adds a little ‘country rap’ in the mix. Very popular tune and choice for karaoke singers.)

#2 – Just Fishin’ – Trace Adkins (This song is about a father and daughter fishing together. Another feel good country song that pulls on your heart strings.”)

#3 – Country Girl (Shake It For Me) – Luke Bryan (This song is quite different from the earlier hit by Luke Bryan ‘Rain Is A Good Thing’. The title should be a dead giveaway that this song is not a ballad or a story song. It is a coming-right-at-you dance tune that caught on and became one of the most requested country songs to sing.)

#4 – Hell On Heels – Pistol Annies (There are some songs that are country cross overs; songs that can be played on both the Pop Charts and the Country Charts. Not this song, it’s definitely country. The Pistol Annies make a statement of a woman’s wrath, singing ‘sugar daddy I’m comin’ for you’. )

#5 – You Lie – The Band Perry (Another country tune about an unhappy relationship. You lie like a Persian rug, like a coon dog basking in the sun, like a penny in the parking lot. It seems many a country song is about that bitter feeling that one gets when they find out that their significant other isn’t so significant and people just love to sing about it.)

#6 – Honey Bee – Blake Shelton (This catchy tune did well on the Billboard 100 as well as going Number 1 on the country charts. The broad appeal of the song (and the fact that people were singing it) helped put it into the top ten of our list.)

#7 – Barefoot Blue Jean Night – Jake Owen (This song reminisces about the fun one had on his southern summer barefoot blue jean night. His buddy Frankie got hooked up with a Cadillac with horns on the hood! )

#8 – Story Of Us – Taylor Swift (an upbeat tempo song that by it’s title might indicate the song would be about a happy relationship. Unfortunately the chorus is ‘the story of us is a tragedy now.’)

#9 – This Is Country Music – Brad Paisley (Though not as commercially successful as some of Brad Paisley’s earlier hits, ‘This Is Country Music’ epitomizes what many feel a country song is all about. Country music fans can take pride in that their music often has some substance in it’s lyrics or message, which is not the norm with a pop tune.)

#10 – Just A Kiss – Lady Antebellum (Lady Antebellum songs are very popular in the karaoke world because of their duet capability. The way that Charles Kelley and Hillary Scott effortlessly switch lead vocals in their original renditions make many singers want to do the same in the karaoke versions. The challenge is finding two singers with the same vocal abilities of Lady Antebellum’s lead singers.)

So, once again, another year has given us a slew of new music. So you, the karaoke singer, need to stop singing the same old tune. You don’t want to subject the crowd to one more time of singing the same song that you sing week after week, no matter how good you sing that song. There is plenty of new karaoke music to choose from. Sometimes it may seemed that there is no good new music out there. However it may seem that way because you’ve gotten into the habit of listening to your ‘iPod’ with your pre-selected choices in music. Start making it a habit of listening to radio or turning on a music channel more often, then you’re going to find plenty of new selections to choose from.

Harmony and Jazz Theory

Music scholars view jazz as a style of Western Art Music (read classical music–classical, however, is really the style of a given a period). All jazz harmony comes from that tradition, while the rhythms come from Africa. The vast bulk of the jazz repertoire employs European harmonic progressions and forms. What is unique about jazz is the marriage of these European characteristics with African rhythm, and a unique Afro-American style of inflections, articulations and vibratos. The only pitch collection used in jazz that is unique to Western Art Music is the blues scale (on C it would be as follows: C, D#, F, F#, G, Bb, C), which is the result of African Americans fusing of slurs and sliding pitches (a characteristic also of African music) onto the tempered major/minor European tonal system.

Since jazz has traditionally been characterized by the fusion of the salient characteristics of the two cultures, and the harmony comes from Europe, it is therefore misleading to describe anything as jazz theory or jazz harmony. Even the 12 bar blues is comprised of a tonal European chord progression (I, IV, and V, however it may be dressed up with other European harmonies. Call it what you like, it’s still all European harmony.

Jazz texts merely codify what jazz composers stylistically choose to use from the entirety of the European pallet–and much has unfortunately been left out, or rather not yet assimilated, such as most of the music of the Twentieth century.

Therefore, you are better off going to the source, which is to classical harmony texts. French composer and theorist Jean-Philippe Rameau published the first definitive text on harmony in 1722. Books will only, by the way, prepare you for the real business of score analysis, which is where you will find the real pertinent information: in practice, where it is the most revealing.

As stated above, the blues scale is the only pitch collection unique to Western Art Music. While it is true, for example, that the added minor seventh to the tonic chord in a 12-bar blues constitutes a harmonic inclusion of a blue note, it nonetheless does not change the function of that chord in the progression, or change the fact that it is a European progression. While jazz is unique from European music due to its use of African rhythm, the rhythm does not alter how progressions behave.

In the Twentieth century, many European composers began to write chord successions that did not necessarily have a primary key (atonality), but this has not been incorporated into the jazz style very much as yet. Jazz musicians and their audiences are unfortunately mired in old European harmonic practices and forms. Indeed, most have not even fully digested the music of French Impressionist composers Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel.

It is helpful to understand a little music history in order to better understand the various styles that emerged. In a nutshell, it goes like this: In the West, the music was modal until the late Sixteenth century, at which time the music became tonal (based on chord progressions aimed at culminating in a cadence to the tonic chord). The tonal system prevailed until the Twentieth century, when much of the music tended towards atonalism (no primary key). In atonalism, chords are arranged in successions that have no functionality in a tonal sense, but are used for their color and interest alone. Jazz, however, is basically still rooted in the harmonic practices of the classical and romantic periods (18th and 19th century harmony).

Mark Levine’s popular book, Jazz Theory, is a good illustration of jazz pedagogists’ very limited understanding of music history. It basically runs down the Berklee College system of applying chord scales and modes to chord progressions. This makes it necessary to theorize in order to arrive at which of these (arbitrary at best) scales are to be applied. In this way, Greek modal names are applied to a tonal chord system that is in no way modal. Indeed, the European composers, whom jazz musicians emulate, did not employ modes in tonal music: they used non-harmonic tones to propel their lines forward.

This is, I hope, an interesting tidbit of history: A few years ago, while writing my doctoral dissertation, I interviewed Jerry Coker, who was one of the very first to hold a full-time positon as Jazz Professor in a college or university. He admitted to me that he used this modal system–with its Greek names–to impress the classical administrators that dominated the music department–so that they might take jazz education seriously. (They have been in the colleges for well over 100 years, while jazz education was only begrudgedly admitted fewer than 50 years ago.)

Coker explained that had he taught a more direct, common sense traditional approach to this extemporaneous art form, it would have gone right over their heads. They don’t like us. The only reason jazz exists in higher education is because of enrollment: Students demand jazz courses.