Independent Music Promotion on the Web: 3 Steps to Success

Let's face it, the wildfire spread of web-based portals designed to introduce independent music to the world has created a bewildering array of opportunities and costs. So where do they all balance out? When does the cost of signing up to yet another music promotion service yield results? What results are we looking for anyway?

The key is to make your web promotion targeted, systematic and rich.

What is the main drive for independent artists promote their music on the web? The fundamental incentive for web promotion is the opportunity to get your music heard by people who might otherwise never know that you exist! If people know you exist they can become fans and repeat-listeners. Which of those fans buy CD's and downloads? Targeted listeners.

The most important goal of web promotion is to attract targeted listeners.

Any independent artist who says they use the web to sell their music has missed the primary target - attracting targeted listeners. Attracting targeted listeners should be every independent artist's first priority. Remember, you don't sell your music - listeners BUY your music. It's a buyers market. The more targeted listeners you have, the more sales you make - provided you are systematic in getting your targeted listeners.

The best way to get targeted listeners is to be systematic.

Many artists tend to approach their web promotion thinking that since they have a website and have signed up to a couple of artist showcase sites, that the listeners will just come pouring in. Yes you have managed to target some potential listeners, but you still have to shout, "Hey, over here...you'll like the sound of this!" A systematic approach to getting listeners to hear your music will attract and maintain their interest. But remember to make sure you have the content ready for the listener to enjoy.

Sites rich in content will retain your targeted listener.

In the independent artist's case, the rich content is the music. This may seem like old news, but look at the amount of independent artist websites that give the visitor loads of info about the band but very little (or hidden) ear candy. Music should be the first thing a visitor gets. At the very least they need an obvious link to where they can listen to your music. And not just one or two tracks but a variety of your music. Independent artists have to remember they have not had the radio exposure to model the presentation of their music after more well established acts. Listeners need to be convinced they like your independent music before they will buy it.

So the question is how to make your web promotion targeted, systematic and rich?

Tips for Targeting.

The best targeted listeners on the web will be those that make it to your website. Find a way to know who they are. Setup a newsletter and make it easy to sign up to it. People interested enough to want to receive news about you are your hardcore web fans, keep them happy.

The next best group of targeted listeners are those that hear your music on other sites. Try to pick sites that allow listeners to link to your site. If they like your music they might click on that link to visit your site. You can then find out where these visitors are coming from. Find a good web statistics package that lets you know which sites your visitors are being referred from. Take note of those sites and focus your efforts with them accordingly.

When choosing sites on which to promote your music, check to see if they offer any individual stats relating to your music. Like how many track plays or page views you and your music receive on their site. This way you can check in periodically and monitor your performance with these sites.

Systematic Steps.

The key to being systematic is organization. Keep a note of all the sites you use to promote your music, a brief description of what they do and how much it costs. Try to get into the practice of monitoring all of them regularly. Take note of which sites are getting better results than others and focus your efforts accordingly. You might pay for minimal promotion on one website, while another gets you loads of listeners for free. Naturally you'll want to put more effort into updating the sites that are getting better results.

Provide a link on your website and newsletters to all of the sites you use to promote your music. Remember your website visitors are your hardcore web fans and are the most likely to check out and spread the word about your spot on other websites. So encourage them to visit your profile on other websites. At the very least it raises your stats on those websites - making your music look more popular!

Try to create a ring of sites that link to each other though the content you supply. For example, you might have your music on your own website and two other showcase sites - Site A and Site B. Your site should without a doubt link with Site A and Site B. Site A should link with your site and Site B, Site B should link with your site and Site A and so on. What if these sites don't allow you to setup links to other sites? Put a web address in the areas where they do allow you to supply content. Like biogs or descriptions.

The ultimate aim of linking all your sites is to provide your listeners with a variety of access points to your music, as well as access to the different ways various sites may deliver your music. Remember to link to your specific page on the site and not just the site itself. Your site linked with a site that play your tracks on Internet radio, linked with a site that sells your downloads, linked with a site that sells your CD's provides for a powerful combination of exposure.

Be Rich

Without money! That is the challenge that most independent artists face. The conventional approach to selling music is that it should not be too readily available to listen to, should the incentive for listeners to actually buy albums be undermined. This has persuaded independent artists that they should limit web listeners to low-quality snippets of streaming audio.

Independent artists have to remember they don't have the resources and finances to support the "shotgun approach" of spraying their music across radio and music television. Big artists have big companies behind them that need to recoup the costs of mass media exposure, and therefore try to limit the extent to which listeners can sample their music on the web. Listeners have already heard the music and are trying to find a copy of their own.

Conversely, listeners haven't had a chance to listen to independent artist through conventional media. Therefore independent artists can't assume that people will buy their music off of a website if they don't get a chance to really listen to it. If people have already heard an artist's music, and like it, the value they pay for is in owning a copy they can play whenever they like. If people have not already heard an artist's music, the value is in being able to sample as much of the music as possible.

So being rich is providing your listeners with as much of your music as they want to listen to before they buy it. Now you don't have to make all your tracks available for free download, but you can provide good quality, full-length streams that impress the listener and enhance your sound. Not tight-fisted snippets that lose the listener because they are lo-fi and over before they attract the listener's interest.

Being rich is also making your music available in a variety of formats for different audiences. Telling fans that your music can be heard via Internet radio, on-demand streams, mp3 downloads and mail order CD means you can appeal to listeners who prefer more than one type of media. You can also use your web promotion to go beyond simply plays and sales - consider licensing.

Licensing your music for use with television, film, advertising, websites, video games and other multimedia will open up your listening audience, provide revenue and introduce a degree of professionalism to your career that attracts the notice of industry reps and A&R. Adding this depth to your web promotion helps to enrich the presentation of your music and retain targeted listeners.

So remember: a) maximise your targeted listeners, b) be systematic in obtaining them, and c) retain them by making sure your own site and other sites are rich in content.

Nick Hooper has helped to create Tunetrader, an online platform for the promotion of independent music at [http://www.tunetrader.com]

Win Friends & Influence People Through Music -- Is It Possible?

The idea that studying music improves the social development of a child is not a new one, but at last there is incontrovertible evidence from a study conducted out of the University of Toronto.

The study, published in the August issue of Psychological Science was led by Dr. E. Glenn Schellenberg, and examined the effect of extra-curricular activities on the intellectual and social development of six-year-old children. A group of 144 children were recruited through an ad in a local newspaper and assigned randomly to one of four activities: piano lessons, voice lessons, drama lessons, or no lessons.

Two types of music lessons were offered in order to be able to generalize the results, while the groups receiving drama lessons or no lessons were considered control groups in order to test the effect of music lessons over other art lessons requiring similar skill sets and nothing at all. The activities were provided for one year.

The participating children were given IQ tests before and after the lessons. The results of this study revealed that increases in IQ from pre- to post-test were larger in the music groups than in the two others. Generally these increases occurred across IQ subtests, index scores, and academic achievement.

While music teachers across the country greeted the new research enthusiastically, in fact, many other studies have previously shown a correlation between music study and academic achievement.

In 1997, well known music researchers Frances Rauscher, Gordon Shaw and their team at the University of California (Irvine) reported that music training is far superior to computer instruction in dramatically enhancing children's abstract reasoning skills, the skills necessary for learning math and science. A group led by the same two scientists had earlier showed that after eight months of piano lessons, preschoolers showed a 46 percent boost in their spatial reasoning IQ.

The March 1999 issue of Neurological Research published a report by another group of researchers, also at the University of California (Irvine), who found that second-grade students given four months of piano keyboard training, as well as time playing newly designed computer software, scored 27% higher on proportional math and fractions tests than other children.

Students with coursework and experience in music performance and music appreciation scored higher on the SAT, according to a Profile of Program Test Takers released by the Princeton, NJ, College Entrance Examination Board in 2001. This report stated that students in music performance scored 57 points higher on the verbal and 41 points higher on the math, and students in music appreciation scored 63 points higher on verbal and 44 points higher on the math, than did students with no arts participation.

Another part of this same study shows that longer music study means higher SAT scores. For example, students participating in the arts for two years averaged 29 points higher on the verbal portion and 18 points higher on the math portion of the SAT than students with no coursework or experience in the arts. Students with four or more years in the arts scored 57 points higher and 39 points higher on the verbal and math portions respectively than students with no arts coursework.

Another study also found support for a relationship between math achievement and participation in instrumental music instruction. The researchers found that students who participated in instrumental music instruction in high school took on the average 2.9 more advanced math courses then did students who did not participate.

In fact, various studies over the last 10 years suggest teaching kids music can heighten their aptitude for math, reading, and engineering. (One explanation for improved ability in mathematics is that music theory is based on mathematical truths. Rhythms are divided into fractions - half notes, quarter notes and eighth notes. Scales have eight tones, and the steps between them follow an equation.)

A McGill University study in 1998 found that pattern recognition and mental representation scores improved significantly for students given piano instruction over a three-year period. The researchers also found that self-esteem and musical skills measures improved for the students given piano instruction.

And data from the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 revealed music participants received more academic honors and awards than non-music students, and that the percentage of music participants receiving As, As/Bs, and Bs was higher than the percentage of non- participants receiving those grades.

In 1994, a report entitled "The Case For Music Study In Schools" was printed in Phi Delta Kappan, the professional print journal for education. It included details of research conducted by physician and biologist Lewis Thomas, who studied the undergraduate majors of medical school applicants. Thomas found that 66 percent of music majors who applied to medical school were admitted, the highest percentage of any group.

The same report asserted that the very best engineers and technical designers in the Silicon Valley industry were, almost without exception, practicing musicians.

The world's top academic countries also place a high value on music education. In a study of the ability of fourteen year-old science students in seventeen countries, the top three countries were Hungary, the Netherlands, and Japan. All three include music throughout the curriculum from kindergarten through high school.

St. Augustine Bronx elementary school, about to fail in 1984, implemented an intensive music program, and today 90 percent of the school's students are reading at or above grade level. And a ten-year study at UCLA tracked more than 25,000 students, and showed that music making improves test scores. Regardless of socio-economic background, music-making students get higher marks in standardized tests than those who had no music involvement. The test scores studied were not only standardized tests, such as the SAT, but also in reading proficiency exams.

Music training helps under-achievers as well, according to research published in Nature magazine in May 1996. In Rhode Island, researchers studied eight public school first grade classes. Half of the classes became "test arts" groups, receiving ongoing music and visual arts training. In kindergarten, this group had lagged behind in scholastic performance. After seven months, the students were given a standardized test. The "test arts" group had caught up to their fellow students in reading and surpassed their classmates in math by 22 percent. In the second year of the project, the arts students widened this margin even further. Students were also evaluated on attitude and behavior. Classroom teachers noted improvement in these areas also.

In 2005, it appears the pace of scientific research into music making has never been greater. The most recent evidence from the University of Toronto confirms what many other researchers have already detected - that music boosts brainpower, academic achievement,socialization skills, and emotional health.

It's logical, when you think about it. People who learn to play an instruments are in groups -- bands, choirs, orchestras, combos, worship teams, etc. And working and making music with others is bound to help relateabilty with people and foster close bonds with fellow musicians.

So it appears that learning to play music, whether guitar, piano, or some other instrument, actually does contribute to your ability to "win friends and influence people."

Duane Shinn is the author of over 500 music books and products such as DVD's, CD's, musical games for kids, chord charts, musical software, and piano lesson instructional courses for adults. He holds an advanced degree from Southern Oregon University and was the founder of Piano University in Southern Oregon. He can be reached at http://www.pianolessonsbyvideo.com He is the author of the popular free 101-week e-mail newsletter titled "Amazing Secrets Of Piano Chords & Sizzling Chord Progressions" with over 55,000 current subscribers. Those interested may obtain a free two-year subscription by going to http://www.playpiano.com/

Legal Music Downloads

On July 28, 2004, French Internet access providers and music copyright owners signed a joint national charter aimed at cracking down on illegal downloads and expanding the amount of legal music tracks available online (AFP). This is the latest in a series of moves taken across the world to combat music piracy as production labels see more and more of their profits being lost to illegal downloads of music files.

The music industry has been saying the same thing for several years now: peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing networks are exponentially distributing pirated music across the world through the Internet, and this constitutes a copyright infringement. In English, this means that the fact that I downloaded a Tori Amos track through Kazaa yesterday and am listening to it right now makes me a criminal. So far, so good. Quite true as well.

But the real problem is not that people do not want to pay for music. Often I sample new music off the Internet before buying the CDs. Chances are that if I like most of the album, I'm going to buy it. On the surface this is what radio stations do when they play music. The difference, however, is that it has become insanely easy for me to acquire almost-as-good-as-original quality mp3s of any track that I want to listen to, and even if I don't pay a dime, no one is there to catch me.

The principle of accountability has vanished. When one sees that there are two ways to acquire the same product, but by sacrificing a 'little' bit of quality you can get it for free without being penalized for it, what would most rational people do? P2P networks have made finding music off the Internet ridiculously easy, and most of us tend to 'forget' our social responsibility when it comes to such 'trivial' matters. To contribute to this, copy-protection techniques used on CDs by major production houses are always a step behind the latest cracking algorithms, and steps taken to prevent 'ripping' of CDs and DVDs have proven fruitless so far.

Enter music downloads of the legal kind. Disregarding the small number of 'free' legal music available for promotional purposes, more and more artists and labels have begun to provide a pay-per-download music service. In essence, you can purchase individual tracks or complete albums through a secure online transaction and then download your 'purchase' and, with variable limits to personal use, pretty much do whatever you want to do with it (Several providers digitally encode the files to prevent them from being played on other computers, or to be burned onto CD-Rs)

This is both a move to encourage free-riders such as me to start acquiring 'legal' music and an economic adjustment to the digital music revolution. Developing technologies are changing the way people perceive and use music. The advent of iPod and other mp3 players has meant that more and more people are becoming accustomed to carrying around their complete music collections with the latest players offering space for around 10,000 songs. This holds frightening possibilities for record companies. There is a very real concern within the industry that the CD format is fast going out of style, and as technology evolves, consumer demands for the best 'medium' will change as well. Till a few years ago audio CDs offered unparalleled music quality, a factor record companies used to encourage people to 'buy instead of steal (download)'. However, today's high-quality digital formats mean that audio quality is comparable, and in some cases equal to, CDs. Some experts are even starting to predict that within a decade CDs will become history as digital music will evolve to a point where we will be have access to our entire music collection (hopefully paid for) wherever we want it: in our car, at work, anywhere in the house, even on the beach. Matched with promises (and the reality) of audio quality, this is a serious threat to traditional business.

Thus, providing legal music online is a means of the industry trying to position itself to take advantage of the rising trend of portable music collections. A quick glance across major online music stores tells us exactly so. While offering free-riders affordable music (allowing them to purchase only the tracks they like instead of forcing them to buy the complete album) to ensure that they do not turn to music piracy, sites like eMusic and Apple's iTunes are backing the new trend. iTunes, Apple's online music store, has the added distinction of being supported by perhaps the best mp3 player in the business, the iPod. In this combination, Apple has found a very secure marketing brand and ensured that it takes full advantage of this cross between technology and music.

Legal music downloads appear to be the perfect answer to stopping music piracy, at least the downloading kind. Therefore there is no surprise when one sees major record labels pushing to expand such services. However, recent developments tend to make us question what the overall agenda really is. After a period of consolidation of the digital music market in the last two years, albums available for download online are being priced higher than they would normally be in retail stores. It used to be that you could download a song for $0.99 and a complete album for $9.99, but now stores are setting higher prices, with tracks going for $1.50 or even $2.49 and $11.50 albums being sold for $12.50 and $13.00 online. What is going on?

In positioning themselves to take advantage of changing market forces, the music industry has also hit upon another major factor in determining sales: consumer behavior. Legal music downloads offer people like me the comfort of never having to waste time in retail stores looking for my favorite track from high-school days or wondering when the latest album of Nickelback would hit the shelves. Instead, all the hassles are removed with everything easily searchable, previewable and downloadable from the comfort of my computer chair (and this baby is very, very, comfortable). Consumers may not be usually rational, but they are always looking to save the effort when it comes to making any sort of purchases. Online stores (or is it the major recording labels? Who knows...) are now cashing into this very aspect of human psychology and are beginning to charge extra for a service they are portraying now as a privilege. Having already consolidated their core target market, the time has now come to increase revenues.

Would this drive people back towards music piracy? Highly unlikely. People are not evil, or criminal, by nature. Appeals to their better nature usually work, and that is the strategy adopted by agencies like the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) who are actively involved in putting a stop to illegal music sharing. Media campaigns encouraging music lovers to pay a dollar or two for tracks instead of 'committing a crime' by downloading them for free are actually working as slowly but surely, more and more people flock to online music stores. And with existing customers sticking to this more 'comfortable' way of buying music, the industry is finally starting to win back ground it lost due to music piracy.

For more information about this topic please visit http://www.Every.ca

admin@every.ca

Mike Ber is the owner of the Canadian Domain Name Portal called http://www.Every.ca. He is also a contributing author to Canadian Computer Magazine [http://www.computermagazine.ca] and http://www.Developer.ca website.

Massage Magic - Music & Touch

What Massage Therapists Do!

Have you ever thought what massage therapists actually do? Ideally, they provide a safe, warm and comfortable environment. There are soft clean linens, warm aromatic oils, background music, their knowledge of how the body works, warm hands and a sincerely caring touch that guides you into relaxation of those tired and stressed muscles.

Why Do We Need Massage?

It is difficult to imagine the overwhelming scope of what just living day to day can do to our health and well being when we make the trained reactive acceptance to be in stress. We have been educated to deal with negative stressful events in many ways, but our first inclination is to react. Research indicates that the negative health effects of stress may be due to what has been called Accumulated Emotionally Reactive Stress Syndrome (AERSS). This means that the more emotionally negative issues that we are faced with and react too, the more we retain and accumulate stress in our physiology. Stress has been linked to a growing number of illnesses. Attached to all negative events there remains a direct connection to the emotions that either occurred at the moment of the event or shortly thereafter. Each emotional event can present us with an opportunity to make a choice of how we perceive that event. When we react we begin our walk down the path to being stressed. When under stress, we may exhibit a variety of indications that we are under stress, such as anger, frustration, increased anxiety, physical discomfort, higher blood pressure, shallow or hesitant breathing, insomnia, depression and much more. The important thing to remember is that our society has been raised in an environment that bombards us with things that have negative tastes, smells, images, sounds, music, violence, corruption and news etc. All of these touch us emotionally and place our physiology into a sympathetic nervous reactive state. Our Fight and Flight reactions release the stress hormones and the body goes into a defensive posture. Blood goes to the extremities and muscles tense up and as long as we retain the emotion connected to that which initiated the stress, our muscles will remain tensed up and our immune system's ability will begin to decline. We might choose to do things that we normally would not do, such as make attempts to hide or escape from the cause of our stress. On the other hand we could choose to do things that lead to a happier outcome, such as listening to uplifting music, accepting the situation as an opportunity to learn and even receiving regular massages. According to internationally known trauma recovery therapist, David Bercili, "the body is a living organism designed to resolve even the tragic of life's experiences". What if we accepted the root cause of our stress as an opportunity to learn and revise our method of dealing with it?

Can Massage Really Help?

Research from a large number of sources compiled over the last 50 years indicates that receiving a massage on a regular basis can assist in the release of the physically retained symptoms of stress. There are many styles or application techniques of massage. Some, like Sports Massage, are specifically designed to deal with physical trauma. Others provide for a very spiritual outcome and some are very emotionally relaxing. The important thing to remember is that from birth to death we all crave touch. Sincere and unconditionally given touch promotes and enhances our general sense of well-being. It returns our bodies to a natural state wherein the Spirit / Mind / Body connection can begin the process of healing from within.

The Power of Music

There are a large number of studies that indicate that music has power. Music has been used as a background element in massage since massage was performed on the participants of the first Olympic games. You may wonder why music is being used more and more in the medical and mental health community. The answer is, "because music has a direct impact on our emotional state and our emotional state has an impact on our physical state. It has the power to initiate changes in behavioral patterns. It can manipulate the way we express our patriotism, Love, joy, sadness or anger. It can soothe or excite us. Today most Massage Therapists play some sort of relaxing music while giving a massage. Many of our nations hospitals and nursing homes retain the services of Certified Music Therapists. Doctors often play music in the operating room during surgery. It has the power to calm and inspire us at the same time or create a negative effect on our emotions. Research has shown that Music/Sounds that expresses fear, anger, violence and profound sadness negatively effect our stress levels, our learning abilities and then our sense of health and well being experience a decline. On the opposite side of the spectrum, music that is enjoyed, joyful and uplifting has the opposite effect. That brings us to a question. Is it the vibrational qualities in music that interacts with the our emotional vibrations that gives us the opportunity to experience some level of emotional healing which will facilitate an improvement in our general health and well being?

The Vibration of Music & Our Health

Like everything else in the universe, we are in vibration. Within our bodies the movement of fluids, the bio-electrical-chemical impulses from our brains activate movement internal and externally. Hence, we are always in a state of vibration. We create musical vibration by exerting a force that is applied to an instrument designed by nature or man to produce a sound that when arranged a certain way creates music. Be it a stick hitting a hide drum or the stroking the strings of a harp, the sounds of music are simply vibrations traveling through air and contacting our bodies. Most of us have been to concerts or been stuck in traffic beside a car with what seems like a 100 speakers. We literally feel the vibrations of the music that is blasting out at us. Our car and even the ground vibrate. It can be very annoying and that is a negative emotion which can trigger a stressful reaction. What if those vibrations were coming from music that we enjoyed listening to and it was also uplifting? Uplifting usually means different things to different people. There are many factors that can determine what is uplifting. When the subject is musical preferences in our modern society, our entire individual cultural history, which would include our patriotic persuasion, age, religious beliefs, geographic location, parental and peer influences can have a huge impact on what we see as uplifting. What remains is the simple fact that a variety of studies show that uplifting musical vibrations trigger a parasympathetic response in the nervous system and music that is not uplifting can trigger a sympathetic reaction in the nervous system. Many of us would not even shop the way we do without the influence of the background music we hear in the super market or mall. Have you ever noticed that many commercial advertisements have a piece of music that is usually geared towards giving us a feeling of just how "happy or healthier" we would be if we bought that product. It is our natural desire to be emotionally happy and healthy. This "positive emotional input" facilitates the activation of our desire to be happy and healthy and the result is that we may buy the product or service. Our physiology wants be well and to receive relief from the ravages of Accumulated Emotionally Reactive Stress Syndrome (AERSS). Listening too or feeling the vibrations of carefully selected music can enhance the ability of the immune system's energy to facilitate better health and well being.

The Magical Combination - Musical Vibration & Touch

Although usually played in the background, music provides us with a wonderfully joyful method of providing massage. Just listening to it lifts us up emotionally and therefore physically. Imagine what it would be like to actually feel the vibrations of music during a massage! We would become totally immersed in it as we willingly surrender to the power that will allow us to begin the healing process from within. This process can be initiated by combining of the vibrations of Music, which is provided by utilizing the Acoustical Touch System (ATS) (Patent Pending) and the synchronistic application of a massage technique that is called Vibrational Attunement Massage(TM) (VAM). The ATS transmits the vibrations of the music through the massage furnishing and applies it directly to the physiology. This induction of music that is uplifting and enjoyed by the recipient creates a strong desire to enter a deep state of relaxation while retaining the ability to be aware. Depending on the musical selection, which could be very active or very sublime, the recipient could express great joy or fall asleep. It has been noted that drooling and smiling are common responses when playing lively music. After the music begins to send out the vibrations, the Massage Therapist who has been certified and trained to utilize VAM begins to apply the synchronistic touch in concert with the music. In a way the recipient becomes the orchestra and the therapist becomes the conductor. The exchange of energy actually benefits each of them. The recipient goes into a state of deep relaxation and the therapist uses less energy during the session. Both are happy and re-energized at the end of the session and the therapist, because they used less energy to perform the work, are really ready for the next recipient. When one works within music there is a very different perspective. Most who have received only 15 minutes of VAM have used only one phrase to describe the session, "WOW that was amazing".

©Dustin Fox 2005 All Rights Reserved

Dustin is a Professional Member of the ABMP, graduate of the School of Holistic Management, inventor of the Acoustical Touch System and innovator of the Vibrational Attunement Massage technique. For information about VAM Certification and Training seminars or the Acoustical Touch System, contact Dustin at: Cell: 800-304-9197 or E-Mail: amt@wispwest.net

Jammin' with Your Kids: The Wonderful World of Music

Does music need to be "dumbed-down" for kids? The answer became quite clear to me and my husband as we observed how our own child responded to complex melodies and varied musical styles in the first months of her life.

When I embarked on the recording of my children's music CD ("Wake Up & Go To Sleep", Artsong Music) shortly after my daughter was born, it didn't occur to me to create a happy little watered down collection of songs made just for young listeners. The songs simply evolved as the experiential narrative of a new mom.

My husband, jazz guitarist and composer Pat Kelley, arranged and produced the CD bringing his rich diverse musical experience into play and giving the CD a broad stylistic range. Our daughter Katie seemed delighted by the whole project, which took four years to complete. She even contributed song writing and vocal performances.

It was only later, when the CD was released and people began to listen, that we discovered how much parents were moved by it. We have received many thanks for creating music that is a pleasure to listen to alone and with children.

Children have a more innate ability to absorb music than most adults. At a young age they have minds that are open to everything rather than filled with influences telling them what they should and should not like. Our daughter feels joy listening to Mozart, Hawaiian music, The Beatles, or Glenn Miller. Music only requires an open mind to find enjoyment in its beauty.

The earliest experience of music is in a child's first cry. Crying has tone and is the earliest sound that expresses emotion. For many infants, the next experience of music is the intimate songs a mother sings as she rocks and soothes her baby to sleep. Indeed this is a mother's own sound language that is completely unique to her and her baby. These may be some of the most meaningful and bonding moments of the mother/infant relationship.

But where do you go from here? If you begin to expose babies to myriad musical styles, you can witness early responses. Even in the early weeks of life, a baby will respond to complex classical works. Our daughter at three weeks old reacted to a Rachmaninoff piano concerto, eyes searching, facial changes pronounced. Clearly these sounds had a dramatic and positive effect. After having been very active kicking and fussing, she became still, seemingly enthralled in the music.

By exposing kids to a variety of musical styles, they begin to develop their response to what moves them to sing and dance, or be calmed, and even what turns them off. Critical listening can start early. And by exposing them to varied music they will develop the ability to appreciate many different styles. Your kids are completely open and ready to absorb anything new. There is no reason to limit what they hear just because you might think they are too young to understand it. Great music does not require understanding to be enjoyed and absorbed on the most organic level.

Sometimes music helps children express what they aren't able to articulate. In the earliest days, it is often simply the sheer joy of singing and using the voice that enables a child to begin to develop a love of music. Singing just feels good, both emotionally and physically to a child. Dancing or moving to music is a natural expression of rhythm, which is part of life. Encourage your children to sing and dance and they will be more free and expressive.

As you explore the world of children's music, also introduce the music you like to your kids. This can be a time for both of you to explore new musical styles such as jazz, classical, bluegrass, blues, funk, and a variety of world and ethnic music. If you aren't sure what to buy, visit your local library. Most libraries have a very good section of CDs in a broad range of styles. Ask the librarian for suggestions. Try checking out a different style CD each week. Of course you can browse the Internet and visit your favorite on-line music stores. Many sites offer downloadable music samples.

Music is at the heart of a child's spirit. In our CD "Wake Up & Go To Sleep" we celebrate that spirit and the preciousness of childhood. We make music for fun and for interaction. Music should inspire little souls to think outside the box!

As your children develop a musical vocabulary, let them take you along for the ride.

Attend outdoor concerts where kids can dance and run around to the music. Many venues offer free concerts in the summer, in a variety of styles. Get Jammin' with your kids. It's a blast!

Let music fill your children's hearts with joy, and in return it will do the same for you.

Music for Cross Cultural Accelerated Learning

The Search for the Right Music

Ever since Georgi Lozonav, the noted Bulgarian physicist and accelerated learning pioneer, conducted his ground breaking studies about the impact of music on learning, trainers around the globe have been trying to find the perfect musical formula to help them connect participants and produce desired results.

When Executive Oasis International formed a strategic alliance with Kuala Lumpur based FIK International to offer seminars throughout Asia, we wanted to ensure that our approach would be relevant to the various cultures in which we would be working. We weren't sure what to expect. Acceptance was a lot easier than we anticipated. Asian audiences responded enthusiastically to accelerated learning with its emphasis on session starters, energizers, colourful visuals, and in-depth practice. Along the way, there were a number of pleasant surprises and unexpected discoveries about the importance of music in training. For the first time, we will reveal a couple of these secrets to you.

Asian Memories: My Musical Journey

In Januray, 2000, I got off the plane at KLIA, loaded my accelerated learning paraphanalia onto a cart and wheeled it out to meet FIK's Mr. T. Saravanan. I immediately realized that I'd be right at home. You see I am Jamaican. The windshield of the car in which Sam Selvaj was waiting for us had a HUGE Bob Marley and the Wailers sticker.

On the way to the hotel we even passed a club called Marleys with a statue of Bob Marley in the front yard. These were the first clues that it was important for us to include some reggae on our accelerated learning playlist. (Little did I know that, 2 years later, I would be chatting with Malaysian Rastafarians selling Bob Marley tee shirts at the night market and sipping sodas until 2 am on the patio of the Reggae Club along Penang's fashionable Batu Ferringghi.) More discoveries lay ahead.

At our first session, attended by 65 delegates at Kuala Lumpur's Regent Hotel, we realized that tucked away in our boxes, we had packed the perfect ingredient to "spice up" our training. We'll give you a hint. It was music by a particular artist. (Before we were introduced to this music, we had experimented with some royalty free music, produced by a training company. While it was well received in the US, reception from our audiences in Canada had been lukewarm. So, we searched until we found music to which Canadian audiences responded enthusiastically.)

Music by this artist, would also make a valuable contribution to our warm reception in Asia. From Bangkok to Bombay (Mumbai) from Kuching to Kuala Lumpur, the results were the same. In fact, 7 trips and over 1000 participants later, this music has continued to generate excitement wherever we have conducted sessions in Asia. The artist is Ron Korb.

Music by Ron Korb: Ideal for Accelerated Learning

Whether we are in Toronto, Singapore or Penang, participants in our sessions always BEG us for more of Ron Korb's music. Music is a universal language. The right music can greatly enhance your training sessions. It can create a warm and inviting environment and build participant enthusiasm. The key is to find the right music and add it carefully to the accelerated learning mix.

A Toronto based and internationally acclaimed, Japanese-Canadian flute virtuoso, composer and music producer, Ron Korb has released 9 CDs including "Japanese Mysteries", "Flute Traveller", and "Celtic Heartland" the newly released "Ron Korb Live" CD and DVD. Ron's music transcends boundaries, representing world music at its best. A tapestry of Japanese, Chinese, Spanish, Celtic, and Caribbean influences, blended seamlessly together with jazz, Ron has created a truly original sound. Ron has performed on dozens of CDs, TV shows, movie soundtracks (including Being Julia).

Ron has travelled around the globe studying and collecting over 100 indigenous flutes. In Japan, Ron studied the bamboo flute and Gagaku court music. An award-winning song writer, major artists (including Hong Kong's Alan Tam, Stephanie Lai and Yvonne Lau) have had hits with Ron's music. Ron and his band regularly tour Asia, North America and Europe.

Preparing to use Music for Accelerated Learning

Based on our experience, here are a few tips for trainers and speakers seeking to ensure that their sessions are well received by multi-cultural audiences both at home and abroad. The first should be obvious:

1. Use music,

Music can cross cultural boundaries and linguistic barriers.

2. Always provide a participant profile or learning styles survey for the meeting planner to distribute and collect from participants prior to your session.

Include questions about musical preferences on this survey. Season to Taste: Catering to Diverse Learning Styles from the Spice of the Month Accelerarted Learning ezine describes how to gauge musical and other participant preferences.

3. Let the seminar organizer, client or meeting planner know that you plan to use music during your session. Provide them with direction about obtaining the appropriate license for legal use of music.

Musical Moments: Music for Accelerated Learning goes into detail about how to legally use copyrighted music and how to obtain royalty free music.

4. Create a musical score for your training or presentation and integrate music into various aspects of your sessions.

There are many opportunities for using music during training. Ron Korb's repertoire includes selections for every phase of training, for example:

PURPOSE SELECTION CD

GUIDED IMAGERY Flute Traveller Flute Traveller

BREAKS The Great East Temple Japanese Mysteries

STRECHING Caravan Ron Korb Live

ENERGIZER Genji Ron Korb Live

5. If your audience is conservative, modify the manner in which you use music during your training sessions.

For example, during the early stages of your seminar, confine your use of music to breaks.

Check out Conservative Corner: Accelerated Learning for Analytical Learners in the Spice of the Month Accelerated Learning Ezine for details.

6. Before you play, a selection of music, briefly identify the composer, the artist and the title of the selection.

7. Involve your audience.

Even if it's just a 1 day session, you can give the group a chance to select their favourite selections towards the end of the day. We sometimes give the opportunity to select the music for the next break as a reward for a mildly competitive exercise or trivia questions.

8. Add a personal touch to your training by sharing your own culture with participants through your musical selections.

For example, drawing on my Jamaican heritage, I have reggae breaks. I have taught delegates as far way as Kuching (Malaysian Borneo) to dance. Draw on music from your own cultural heritage, incorporate it into you presentations and seminars and it will help you cross cultures as you travel around the globe.

© 2005 Executive Oasis International - All Rights Reserved

Reprint Rights: Ezine publishers may reprint this article, as long as the following information is included:

- the summary about the author and her company (see below)

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This permission does NOT extend to trainers, speakers or consultants with competitive services or companies that want to place articles on their intranet. Contact us directly for permission.

Anne Thornley-Brown is the President and founder of Executive Oasis International and their sister company The Training Oasis, Inc., accelerated learning and team building experts and publishers of the Spice of the Month Accelerated Learning Ezine. Through a strategic alliance with Kuala Lumpur based FIK International, Anne has toured Asia 7 times and offered seminars to over 1000 executives, managers and HR professionals in Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and India. Petronas, Malaysian Airlines, Digi, Mobil/Exxon, and Dell Computers are among the organizations that have sent delegates to her sessions in Asia.

For more accelerated learning tips, check out: Spice of the Month Accelerated Learning Ezine - http://www.thetrainingoasis.com/ezine.html

For More Information about Ron Korb and his music: Ron Korb, Flutist and Composer, Jazz and World Music (Celtic, Latin, Japanese Music) - http://www.ronkorb.com

FIK International, Seminars and Conferences in Asia - http://www.fikintl.com

Whitney Houston's hometown remembers her fondly

NEWARK, New Jersey (Reuters) - The New Hope Baptist Church, where pop star Whitney Houston first sang and family and friends will gather on Saturday to pay her a final tribute, sits in a hardscrabble corner of Newark, New Jersey. Its well-maintained red-brick facade seems at odds with the dusty parking lot and derelict housing projects around it.

But to hear the gospel choir sing on Sundays, which once featured teenager Houston and her mom Cissy, was to be briefly transported to a faraway, trouble-free world, its patrons say.

"You ain't never heard anything so beautiful in your whole life," Adgelean Thomas, 75, said on Friday after looking at some of the flowers, balloons and other tributes left in Houston's memory at one corner of the church.

Houston died late last week at age 48 in a Beverly Hills hotel room on the eve of the music industry's Grammy Awards. She was found underwater and unconscious in the room's bathtub, but a cause of death has yet to be determined pending toxicology tests that could take weeks.

The shocking news of her demise led to an outpouring of grief by family, friends and fans, and earlier this week, her body was returned to Newark from Los Angeles for Saturday's memorial service and burial.

Stephannie Miller, 54, was a little older than Houston when she first joined the New Hope choir as a teenager, but she knew from the start her own voice could not compete with Houston, who would go on to claim pop superstar status with hits such as "I Will Always Love You."

Miller said that, on special occasions, Charles Thomas, then the church's pastor, would ask Houston to lead the choir in one of his favorite songs: "He Would Not Come Down From the Cross."

"She would do the solo," recalled Miller, who now lives in South Carolina. "Every time she hit that special note the church would be knocked out, the spirit was so heavy, so strong."

POLITE, DOWN-TO-EARTH KID

Besides her exceptional voice and looks that would earn her teenage modeling gigs in New York City, Houston was remembered as a polite, down-to-earth kid.

"She was not a teenager that hung out. She was very conservative," Miller said, adding that the Houston family was fairly low-key and private.

The old, Houston family home is situated in East Orange, New Jersey, a quiet suburb outside Newark that became a magnet for a wave of middle-class families, including the Houstons, who left the city in the wake of 1967's six-day riots.

The white clapboard house is one of the smaller properties along the street, with a small front yard and no sign that its most celebrated resident ever lived there.

"It was a good city then, the cleanest city in the country," said William Nicholas, who has worked at a diner only a short walk from the Houston home for more than 50 years. He said the Houston family frequently ate there during the 1970s and 1980s.

"It was always a neighborhood that was family oriented and very safe," Diamond Walker, 37, said outside Houston's old elementary school, now a performing arts school known as the Whitney E. Houston Academy, a short walk down a tree-lined street past neat clapboard houses and handsome stone churches.

Although Walker was a neighbor of Houston for awhile, they only met after she was cast as a dancer for one of Houston's music videos. She went on to perform with Houston on several other occasions, she said.

"She was very down to earth," Walker said about Houston. "If she slept in a hotel, she made sure her dancers slept in the same hotel she was in. She made sure everyone was fed. She never made herself seem separate."

The Houstons left their East Orange home in 1986, according to Lewis Hogans, whose family moved into the property afterward and has lived there since.

Not long before that, Williams, Houston's former choir-mate, recalls watching television and seeing the debut music video from a then young, unknown singer.

"Oh my god," she remembers screaming out to her husband, "that's Whitney!"

(Reporting By Bob Tourtellotte)

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