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Sheet music is hand written or printed form of musical notations. In other words, sheet music is the written representation of music. It is also known as score and is used as a guide or means to perform a piece of music. It is very helpful for a musician who is preparing for his upcoming performances.

Except in the case of solo performers who need to memorize the music notes, classical musicians usually have this sheet music in their hands while they are performing. It is used to give basic indications of melodies, chord changes and arrangements in jazz music. It is a platform where a new musician can write the music down and serves as a visual record of music. Different types of sheet music includes full score, miniature score, piano score, vocal score, short score and lead sheet.

In the 15th century, western music was mostly hand written and preserved as manuscripts. Later, in the 18th century, music was being printed. By 19th century and later, sheet music was available in computer readable format. Then Music OCR, software to read sheet music that could be manipulated made the process even simpler.

A music notation program or score writer software is used to automate the task of writing and engraving sheet music. Such score writer allows you to input, edit or print music notes to different specifications. These score writers range from programs that can write simple programs to programs that handle complexities of orchestral music and music engraving.  Read more...

One word describes the CD Back In New York from Scott Hamilton… AWESOME!

Scott Hamilton has been a super star in the Jazz genre for quite a while now and Back In New York is an excellent illustration as to why.

Back In New York is a pleasantly varied, mix of 1 tracks that are very well written songs by this clearly superb artist. With many of the songs displaying a lot of the kind emotion that makes for a really great listen. Seemingly drawing from what I can only imagine are him own real life experiences. At different points touching on the most real emotions like love, and the pain of failed relationships can certainly be heard.

Overall Back In New York is an outstanding release. What I call must have music. I give it two thumbs up and is most definitely a worthy addition to any Jazz collection. Truly an outstanding Jazz CD. One of those that is completely void of any wasted time, as each track is simply superb.

While this entire CD is really very good some of my favorites are track 4 – I’ve Grown Accustomed To Her Face, track 7 – Bouncing With Bud, and track 10 – I’ve Just Seen Her

My Bonus Pick, and the one that got Sore [...as in "Stuck On REpeat"] is track 1 – What Is This Thing Called Love. This is a great track!  Read more...

Today there are mainstream retailers who are giving vinyl a new spin. It’s pretty nostalgic and vinyl music makes all memories coming back from our respective eras. So far the best response right now is that customers have just been that they like it, they feel like it has a better sound quality and can withstand the test of times.

Analog recordings on most LPs are continuous, which produces a truer sound but; there are some new LP releases that are being recorded and mixed digitally but delivered analog format. Some purists also argue that the compression required to allow loudness in some digital formats weakens the quality as well.

But it’s not just about the sound; it’s more on the affinity of the whole experience of playing music on this kind of format. The crispiness of the format alone sensing the side A and side B puts a push on the finer notes. We could describe the phenomenon as a music that puts emphasis on more than just music. The renewed love and interest seems to be catching fire.

The interest seems to be good news. Turntable sales are picking up and digital versions in vinyl recordings are attracting hype.  According to the Recording Industry Association of America, manufacturers’ shipments of LPs increased 36 per cent from 2006 to 2007. That number is expected to rise another 30 per cent by the end of 2008.  Read more...

A team of experts have developed a digital computer model of the ancient city in 320AD, bring the past a little closer to the present.

Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither was the technology that has scientists, archaeologists, historians and computer game fans excited all at once. An international team of experts has unveiled a ‘virtual Rome’ program, the worlds biggest and most complex computer simulation of what the ancient city was like in 320 AD, under the rule of Constantine. An era considered to be the most powerful peak Rome experienced during ancient times.

The project, a culmination of ten years of work and a collaberation of experts in architecture, archaeology and computer programmers from the United States, Italy, Germany and the United Kingdom, was introduced in June this year under the title of ‘Rome Reborn’. It’s a digital, interractive model of the city that features more than 7,000 buildings and structures, which the viewer can enter and explore in real-time 3D animation.

At the unveiling, Bernard Frischer, project deveoper said ‘This is the first step in the creation of a virtual time machine, which our children and grandchildren will use to study the history of Rome and many other great cities around the world.’

The mayor of Rome, Walter Veltroni has also praised the project, saying ‘It’s a fascinating experience, re-created with all the necessary historical and philological care. In other words, it will allow us to to be in the Roman Forum and understand the context we are in.’  Read more...