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The evolution from analog to digital recording has made it extremely easy to trivialize the impact and importance of music. Cutting vinyl never really caught on, although my dad did find just such a recording device. It records by melting blank platters rather than by cutting as a master recording would be cut on metal, and we didn’t have a personal stereo, the walkman, until 1979.

After that, recording our own tapes, and later CD’s, MP3’s, AAC’s (essentially MP4’s), and lossless compression for audiophiles, is one of the many joys of our day. Although MP3 players have replaced tapes and CD’s for most of us, we still call our compilations mixtapes. Whichever musicians and genres we enjoy, we can always make new mixtapes of whatever we want, be it Hip Hop, Rock, Jazz, Classical, or whatever.

It is all too possible to have too much of a good thing, not to mention of mediocre things or things we’ve grown out of. I like to imagine back to when all music was live, to before music was recorded–before the MP3 player, the CD player, the walkman, the portable radio. A time when the only way to hear music was in person, when the greedy tentacles of record companies didn’t control this form of expression and creativity that we so enjoy.

Hard to fathom? There really was a time when music wasn’t everywhere; when every store, lobby, elevator, and car didn’t crank out tunes, and when it was unheard of for movies, phones, and video games to have music. Different phases of audio recording and amplification advancement occurred during the late 1800’s and the early 1900’s.

Atmosphere is created through architecture, decoration, art, lighting, but without sound, without music, the impact is incomplete. The ease of playing songs in public and in private can create opportunities not possible with live performers. As much as I would love to effectively concert hop when at the mall and elsewhere, I think it would be too much, too distracting for customers, for better or worse.

I’m all for giving musicians venues for more consistent employment, but the space and personnel required for staging, sound, and lighting equipment would be too much for most businesses to handle. Because we can listen to what we want to through our own mixtapes, we have increased power over what we allow to influence us. Our mood can be affected; we can be calmed, inspired, or pumped, depending on the music. There are many benefits from seeking out and enjoying good music.

Growing up in a family of musically inclined people meant that the piano was a major focal point in our home.  Holidays were spent gathered around the piano singing holiday songs with a group of siblings, splitting off into three and four part harmony.  Each kid in the family took music lessons on some kind of musical instrument of their choice, but everyone was required to start learning the piano, everyone but me.  Instead I started on the violin, which I played for several years before quitting and switching to another instrument.  But to this day when the family gathers around the piano, I wish I would have chosen to take piano lessons instead.  Learning piano is a great foundation for any kind of music and any other kind of instrument.  It gives a music student the opportunity to develop a strong knowledge of music theory.  For someone wishing to get into music or to get kids into music, the piano is a great place to start.

If you are a parent in New Jersey looking for the right musical instrument for your kid, perhaps you should consider the piano.  It will be the foundation of any music theory or knowledge they gain in the future.  However, learning how to play piano obviously requires the use of  piano.  Freehold Music Center is a music store specializing in wide variety of pianos in NJ.  Whether you’re looking for a small upright piano, a baby grand, or a full grand, Freehold Music Center has a wide selection to choose from. 

I grew up in a neighborhood that was pretty traditional.  The men had their roles, and the women had their roles.  The men worked, and the women stayed at home with the kids.  There were no business owners, only employees.  If there was one thing that men did not do, it was certainly dancing.  The thought never crossed my mind.

A couple semesters into my university studies, a good friend of mine and I went on a double date together.  We ended up going to a dance, but in my naivety I just figured we would watch or waddle around.  As it happened, my friend and his date knew how to swing dance and they taught my date and I some moves.  The best part about it was that we had a blast. 

The next semester I enrolled in a social dance class taught at the university. I was not very good at the beginning but I got better.  The next semester I took another dance class, followed by another, and another.  In total, I think I took seven dance classes until I graduated.  My favorite is Latin dance, although my hips do not quite move like they are supposed to.  When I got married, my wife and I enrolled in dancing lessons in Ashburn VA and have had a lot of fun.

For those guys like me who thought dancing is sissy stuff, I will agree and disagree.  There is still a lot of dancing that is sissy stuff, however, the type of dancing where you get to dance with a partner is a heck of a lot of fun, and nothing sissy about it.