Friday, December 24, 2010

The Prayer (Celine Dion & Josh Groban)













O Holy Night (Celine Dion)

Celine Dion
O Holy Night Lyrics

O Holy night, the stars are brightly shining,
It is the night of our dear Savior's birth.
Long lay the world in sin and error pining,
Til He appeared and the soul felt it's worth.
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.

Fall on your knees,
O hear the angel voices,
O night divine,
O night when Christ was born,
O night divine,
O night, O night divine!

And in His Name, all oppression shall cease.
Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,
Let all within us praise his holy name.

Christ is the Lord,
Their name forever praise we,
Noel, Noel, O night, O night Divine.
Noel, Noel, O night, O night Divine.
Noel, Noel, O night, O holy Night!

Merry Christmas From Starbound Studios


Thank you to very special clientele who make music even more special and business so enjoyable.  We have made some beautiful music together this past year.  Thank you for your business.

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas & A Happy New Year.

Please feel free to relax here for a few moments during your busy schedule to enjoy these fabulous Holdman animated Christmas music videos.  They are definitely worth the time investment to watch.


MERRY CHRISTMAS
Starbound Music Studios

Sunday, December 19, 2010

How Do You Choose To Shine?

WOW!  The story of a deaf and mute girl who learns to play the violin against all odds. Thai Pantene television commercial. Its simply brilliant. One of the most touching advertisements Ive seen in a long, long time.  Check it out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Um9KsrH377A&feature=player_embedded

Susan Boyle ~ The Gift


The Gift Track Listing
1. Perfect Day
2. Hallelujah
3. Do You Hear What I Hear (Duet with Amber Stassi)
4. Don't Dream It's Over
5. The First Noel
6. O Holy Night
7. Away in A Manger
8. Make Me A Channel Of Your Peace
9. Auld Lang Syne
10. O Come All Ye Faithful

http://www.nestentertainment.com/gift-cd_p262171.aspx?gclid=CIjjmbnq-KUCFQS7KgodwHZOpQ

A Very Happy "Musical" Christmas



Check out these unique musically animated Christmas lighting displays by Holdman Lighting
~ They're Fabulous ~
~  E N J O Y  ~

http://www.holdman.com/christmas/video.asp
http://www.holdman.com/christmas/glasstree.asp

Friday, December 17, 2010

Music Education For Children

Studies have shown that music and music training provide a wealth of educational benefits to children. Early exposure to music has been proven to help develop areas of the brain responsible for language and reasoning skills. Music education also increases the spatial and temporal reasoning necessary for advanced mathematics. Children who study music typically score better on standardized testing as well.

Music education not only provides children with a terrific healthy outlet for self-expression, it enhances creativity and boosts self-esteem. There are a number of ways for parents to help their child receive quality education in music, starting as young as birth. The most important thing is to expose your child to a variety of music, including several different genres, not just classical or kid’s music...

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Music And The Brain


Picture By Lumosity
Scientific American Magazine
Search Finds518 Scientific Results
Proving Music A Necessary And
Essential Element In Our Well Being.

Music And The Brain, Music In Your Head, The Music Of Amino Acids, Making Music For Monkey Minds, Heavenly Music In Your Hand...  and many more - Your choice - You pick.

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Canada's Piano Superstore

New and used upright and grand piano inventory. Brands like Yamaha, Kawai, Mason& Hamlin, Steinway, Niemeyer, Bechstein always in stock. Located in Burlington, Ontario, Canada.

Although I, have not personally been in, am in no way affiliated with, do not endorse this particular instrument store, their website seems very impressive visually in terms of instrumental selection, quality, and pricing and may very well be worth investigating in the event you are researching an instrument purchase in the near future.

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Lumosity Brain Games

Lumosity -- Reclaim Your Brain!  Lumosity trains smart brains. Designed by neuroscientists and enjoyed by millions, this web-based training program has been clinically proven to enhance memory, attention and other cognitive functions. People of all ages agree: Lumosity.com is a fun, easy-to-use tool for improving brain health and performance.  Give it a try!

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Music Vocation For Life

"A career in music is something all music lovers desire. In order to be able to pursue this however, a lot of hard work and practice is required. This is why, music education is considered crucial for all such students. It should be started at an early age, so that the students will be able to grasp the basics sooner, and have more time to understand and practice music."

Monday, December 6, 2010

Hearing The Music, Honing The Mind

Hearing the Music, Honing the Mind

Music produces profound and lasting changes in the brain. Schools should add classes, not cut them.
October 26, 2010 12

Image: Wendy McMurdo

Nearly 20 years ago a small study advanced the notion that listening to Mozart’s Sonata for Two Pianos in D Major could boost mental functioning. It was not long before trademarked “Mozart effect” products appealed to neurotic parents aiming to put toddlers on the fast track to the Ivy League. Georgia’s governor even proposed giving every newborn there a classical CD or cassette.

The evidence for Mozart therapy turned out to be flimsy, perhaps nonexistent, although the original study never claimed anything more than a temporary and limited effect. In recent years, however, neuroscientists have examined the benefits of a concerted effort to study and practice music, as opposed to playing a Mozart CD or a computer-based “brain fitness” game once in a while. Advanced monitoring techniques have enabled scientists to see what happens inside your head when you listen to your mother and actually practice the violin (or piano) for an hour every afternoon. And they have found that music lessons can produce profound and lasting changes that enhance the general ability to learn. These results should disabuse public officials of the idea that music classes are a mere frill, ripe for discarding in the budget crises that constantly beset public schools.

Studies have shown that assiduous instrument training from an early age can help the brain to process sounds better, making it easier to stay focused when absorbing other subjects, from literature to tensor calculus. The musically adept are better able to concentrate on a biology lesson despite the racket in the classroom or, a few years later, to finish a call with a client when a colleague in the next cubicle starts screaming at an underling. They can attend to several things at once in the mental scratch pad called working memory, an essential skill in this era of multitasking.

Discerning subtleties in pitch and timing can also help children or adults in learning a new language. The current craze for high school Mandarin classes furnishes an ideal example. The difference between m¯a (a high, level tone) and mà (falling tone) represents the difference between “mother” and “scold.” Musicians, studies show, are better than nonmusicians at picking out easily when your m¯a is màing you to practice. These skills may also help the learning disabled improve speech comprehension.

Sadly, fewer schools are giving students an opportunity to learn an instrument. In Nature Reviews Neuroscience this summer, Nina Kraus of Northwestern University and Bha­rath Chandrasekaran of the University of Texas at Austin, who research how music affects the brain, point to a disturbing trend of a decline of music education as part of the standard curriculum. A report by the advocacy organization Music for All Foundation found that from 1999 to 2004 the number of students taking music programs in California public schools dropped by 50 percent.

Research of our brains on music leads to the conclusion that music education needs to be preserved—and revamped, as needed, when further insights demonstrate, say, how the concentration mustered to play the clarinet or the oboe can help a problem student focus better in math class. The main reason for playing an instrument, of course, will always be the sheer joy of blowing a horn or banging out chords. But we should also be working to incorporate into the curriculum our new knowledge of music’s beneficial effect on the developing brain. Sustained involvement with an instrument from an early age is an achievable goal even with tight budgets. Music is not just an “extra".

Saturday, December 4, 2010

The Benefits Of Music Education

"Do you ever wonder what advantages are achieved through learning music Read on to discover the many benefits of music education."  Self Esteem, Increased Memory, Self Expression, Bringing People Together, Increased Academic Performance, Teamwork, Structure, Organization, Discipline and Enjoyment!

The Value Of Music Education

"Music has everything to do with math, science and education. To substantiate this premise, we can quote statistics and studies that show how a large portion of scientists, mathematicians and doctors are amateur musicians with a solid background and training in music."