Going back to school is as appealing as the scent of rotten banana peels, and, combined with the spring weather, studying for finals seems nearly impossible. But earning your degree is one of the most important and best decisions you can do now in order to secure your future. Just ask the A-list celebrities and athletes who’ve continued their education.

Many of Hollywood’s most athletic and most talented have prepared for the day when their playing/acting/singing careers end, and real life begins. Though some celebrities earned their degrees the traditional methoda”through attending university and college campuses, more and more celebs are opting for online distance learning courses as well.

Stars on the Field, in the Online Classroom

a Left-handed MLB pitcher, Al Leiter, knows more than just how to pitch a perfect game. In addition to being the only major leaguer to defeat all 30 teams, Leiter, a retired Marlin, also earned his associate’s degree through Penn State University’s World Campus program.

a What’s 7 feet tall, wears purple and appeared in 1994′s aBlue Chipsa? You guessed it: Shaquille O’Neal. In addition to a NBA Championship, O’Neal also holds a bachelor’s degree from Lousianna State University. But the Shaq-Attack’s education doesn’t end there; O’Neal continued his education, earning an online MBA through University of Phoenix in 2005. Upon earning his MBA, O’Neal, A Miami Beach reserve officer, announced his desire to pursue a degree in criminal justice.

a Retired Phoenix Suns forward, Jalen Rose, is a paradigm athlete-scholar. Rose, who was recruited to the NBA from University of Michigan during his junior year of college, was determined to earn his degree. He enrolled in online classes from the University of Maryland University College (UMUC). There, Rose earned his Bachelor’s in Management Studies. Now retired, Rose continues to support education through the Jalen Rose Foundation, which offers five $10,000 scholarships to Michigan-area public school students each year.
a On the ice, she popularized the aIa spin position and wows crowds with her difficult jump sequences. As a competitive athletic and professional ice skater, Sasha Cohen understands the importance of nutrition, exercise, and a balance of the two. That’s why this young Olympic medalist is focusing on earning her undergraduate degree in Nutrition to Pennsylvania State University’s distance learning program.

a Former University of Nebraska football star and wide receiver Bobby Newcombe enrolled in an online master’s in business administration program through University of Phoenix. While enrolled in the online program, Newcome played for both the Indianapolis Colts as well as the Baltimore Ravens. After his two-year career in NFL, Newcombe returned to the education field. Currently, Newcombe serves as an enrollment manager for his alma mater, the University of Phoenix.

Beauty, Fame and Brains

a You’ve seen her in Lizzie Maguire, and your kid sister probably adores her line of clothing, Stuff by Duff. But what you probably don’t know is that Hillary Duff, Disney channel actress-turned-pop-singer-turned-entrepreneur, is currently pursuing her college education. Between recording pop hits, rehearsing for an upcoming film and designing products for her clothing line, Duff chooses from classes in liberal arts, computer science and management through Harvard’s Distance Extension program.

Celebrities on Campus

a He’s famous for his commitment to body building, and most frequently associated with the quote, aI’ll be backa but Mr. Olympia/actor/Governor of California also dedicated himself to his studies. Arnold Schwarzenegger earned a degree in International Fitness Marketing and Business Administration from University of Wisconsin.

a If the words Griffyndor, Hufflepuff, Slytherin and Ravenclaw mean anything to you, then you’ll know Harry Potter series author J.K. Rowling captivates audiences young and old with her imaginative writing. Before Rowling’s wizarding series developed, she earned a Bachelor’s degree in French from Exeter University.

a Oscar winner Jennifer Connolly has been in critically acclaimed films including Requiem for a Dream, A Beautiful Mind and, most recently, Blood Diamond. Connolly began her undergraduate studies at Yale, but later transferred to equally prestigious Stanford University where she earned her BA in English. Additionally, Connolly is fluent in both Italian and French.

a He’s most often playing opposite fellow actor, Rob Schneider in comedic films such as The Hot Chick, Big Daddy and The Waterboy. But actor Adam Sandler started and honed his comedic capabilities at his alma mater, New York University. While there, Sandler pursued his degree in Fine Arts, and regularly performed at local comedy clubs.

a Tommy Lee Jones is not only an Academy Award-winning actor, director and Broadway star, but he is also a cum laude graduate of Harvard’s class of 1969. While earning his degree in English, Jones played offensive tackle on Harvard’s undefeated football team and was hallmates with future Vice President Al Gore.

a Most famous for her stunning Barbie doll physique, The Girls Next Door star Bridget Marquardt is no dumb blonde. This Playboy Playmate graduated from CSU Sacramento with a B.A. in Communications, with a concentration in Public Relations. In 2001, Marquardt received her Master’s in Communications from University of Pacific in Stockton, CA. Arguably one of Hugh Hefner’s most educated girlfriends, Marquardt continued her education even further by enrolling in a graduate level broadcast communications program through UCLA’s Extension program.

You go to the doctor because you have a blister on your arm. “How do I get this to go away?” you ask as you rub furiously on the blister. He says “Why don’t you stop rubbing it?” You say: “Duh. Why didn’t I think of that?”

Vocal nodules are little blisters which grow on the vocal cords when you rub them too much. So how do you rub the vocal cords? (You can’t get your hand in there) Every time you strain to hit high notes, or force too much volume, or growl excessively, or sing too far down in your throat (the Yogi Bear or Rocky Balboa sound)…or otherwise abuse your voice by incorrect singing, you are forming, rubbing and irritating the blisters.

Let”s start by setting your mind at ease. Nodules (nodes) and polyps on the vocal cords are not some sort of death sentence for a singing career. Way too much false information and rumors are bouncing around scaring singers into either quitting singing altogether or having unneeded surgery. Let’s look at the actual facts, and hopfully set your mind at ease if you have been diagnosed with vocal cord nodules or other growths.

If you experience hoarseness for a period of two weeks or more get your vocal cords checked by a specialist. Prolonged hoarseness is a sign of nodules growing on your cords. The problem could be something else, but either way you need a checkup.

Many doctors are all too anxious to remove your little blisters (nodules) by surgery, when that usually doesn’t have to be done at all. (Get a second opinion) So what do you do when your doctor tells you you have nodules? Stop rubbing them and they will go away. It takes a whole lot of wrong singing to “rub” your nodule so much that it requires surgery. A blister has to calcify before it requires surgery to remove it. Calcification takes time, and a whole lot of “rubbing”.

So what do you do? First, stop singing for a while to let the swelling go down. This doesn’t take long. When your hoarseness goes away your nodule is probably going down. Then find a good singing teacher. Often doctors will recommend your seeing a speech therapist, but a qualified singing teacher can usually achieve the same results at much less cost.

The thing is, you have been “rubbing” a blister or two on your vocal cords, and you must stop doing that by building new habits. Correct breathing techniques, practice in thinning the sound as you move higher, learning to support the sound with other muscles, getting your sound out of the throat and into the mouth and head; these are all things which can be learned from a good singing teacher.

Learning to sing vocal harmony will take time and effort, but with these five tips you can be well on your way to excellence in singing backup.

1. Get Basic Knowledge of Chord structure
What exactly is vocal harmony? All basic chords are built on three notes played together. If you take a root or tonic chord, the first chord in any given scale, it is built on the first, third, and fifth notes in that scale. If you consider four part vocal harmony, you could add the seventh note of the scale for even more variety. There is also the fourth and sixth note to consider.

Singing vocal harmonies requires ear training and a basic knowledge of how chords are structured. Some seem to have a natural ability, but it is really just a matter of being able to separate different vocal phrases that are sung together. When you pay attention to the notes that ride above or below the melody, usually in intervals of thirds and fifths, you are listening to the harmonies. Consider taking a class on the theory of music.

2. Learn Basic Piano
If you have access to a piano or can sight-read music, it becomes easier to identify the notes on the keyboard and then build harmonies to match. If you can plunk out the melody of a song, you can eventually learn to hear and sing a third, fourth or fifth interval above or below the main melody, it is a good place to start. The piano will help you all of your life with the visualization of music theory, so enjoy it.

3. Learn to listen to the other voices
How do you develop an ear for vocal harmony? Listen, experiment, and learn. One of the best ways to study harmonies is to listen to popular music that use vocals and try to pick out the other vocal lines being sung around the melody. The choruses of songs often add vocal harmonies to broaden the sound.

You will be able to hear when you are singing in tune with a harmonized phrase, it will sound pleasing to your ears. Most singers have learned basic music theory, so they may be able to do this naturally.

4. Find a partner to sing vocal harmony with.
It does help if you have at least one other person to sing vocal harmony with, so that you can play off each others voices, or switch off between the melody and a harmony that you practice together.

It is worth noting that certain voices blend better than others do, and that it is important to be comfortable in the range you intend to sing for a harmony part. If some of the notes required in your vocal harmony are beyond you, you can either transpose the music to a different key, or make alterations to the places you have difficulty.

The more you sing harmony, the more you instill good pitch and your ability to pick up the different lines being sung improves. There are few other requirements for learning to sing vocal harmony, as they say, practice makes perfect.

As you become more familiar with what sounds good, you will develop a vocal harmony line that flows naturally within your vocal range. If you are in a vocal group, you can always ask your group leader or a private vocal coach to emphasize vocal harmony in your training, until it becomes second nature to you.

5. Join a singing group
If you enjoy singing vocal harmony, you can find other singers to join in an acapella group, chorus, barbershop quartet, or similar group of voices to experiment with and develop your harmonizing skills. All colleges have community choirs and it is really fun too. Do not worry about being inexperienced, most people are like you too, they just love to sing. Bluegrass, spiritual, folk, and country music are all good choices for creating beautiful harmonies that you can practice either alone or together with your musical friends.

If you have been searching for the best music production software available that is easy to use, packed with recording studio quality features yet staying affordable, this guide will hopefully help you to finally find what you have been looking for.

There is no doubt that there is beat makers and music studio software by the thousands out there so how do you chose one that will not make you go broke while at the same time give you poor quality sound with useless software that is limited in features and dissapoints conciderably.

After many years of creating my own beats and dance music remixes, I finally found what any music nut professional would concider to be the best music production software you will ever find.

Let me go into a bit more detail so you can understand the power of having a good beat maker that can help you make broadcast quality sounds right from your computer.

First and foremost to achieve the level of quality beats that you hear at clubs or on the top of the charts, the music production software you chose must have the ability to export your beats as 44.1-Stereo-16BIT.WAV Files.

Secondly your beat maker should have a 16 channel mixer that allows you to edit channel volume and mute solo tracks. Computer keyboard triggers to allow you to use your keyboard to record and play drum beats and music notes.

To have the best music production software out there, it should have on the fly editing for your Master export volumes, Metronome/Quant. and Bar count. No less than four bars and have the ability to draw in bars easily, open drum and key editors, record on the fly and be able to drag and copy bars.

Look for a well crafted drum sequencer and editor. It should allow you to draw in or tap in your sound beats, edit/create kits and the ability to chose your drum kit easily.

A quality beat maker will offer an effective pad technology that allows you to edit the volume and sounds of each pad and the ability to play pads that have triggers.

Any good quality music production software will have a Key editor that produces Hits, Instruments, Stabs, Quality Banks, FX and many more. Imagine having a 4 Octave Smart Keyboard and a custom sample library which includes thousands of different genre sounds, easy categories to choose from and will update automatically every month at no additional costs.

Now I know your thinking that finding a beat maker program that has this many features is not possible. Let’s say there is such an animal, what can you do with all these amazing features?

How about Selling the beats you created, place vocal tracks over your beats or share them with others?

No matter what you chose to do with the beats you create, from the best music production software I have found to date, they come royalty free for life and are yours to do whatever you want with them.

Music can be used as a fundraiser or to promote a cause. This has been proven a number of times by artists and musicians who crea ted music and wrote lyrics based on their corresponding causes and sold them as singles, with the proceeds going to charity. For a charity effort, this type of fundraiser is actually very effective. After all, who can resist the urge of being able to help by buying a single by one (or some) of the best artists, singing songs that promote their causes and their charities. These singles, especially when they are done properly and impeccably, are sure to hit the charts by storm. Although they may not reach the number one spot all the time, they are surely hits that can at least reach the top 50 of the Billboard charts, for instance.

Take, for example, the recent song done during the Stand Up To Cancer telethon in America. Titled “Just Stand Up!,” this song was performed by some of the most popular and the best female artists in America, including Beyonce Knowles, Mary J. Blige, Mariah Carey, Fergie, Natasha Bedingfield, Leona Lewis, and Miley Cyrus, among others. This song reached the 11th spot of the Billboard Top 100a”a feat for a charity effort. But while it is a charity song, this does not mean that the song isn’t any good. With music and lyrics created by Antonio Reid and Kenneth Edmonds, this song is just as good as any song on the airwaves today.

The lyrics of the song speak of resilence and strength during a time of hard times and problems; while the lyrics did not directly mention cancer, it alludes to it. Notice the kind of hope the lyrics what to instill, aptly fitting the intentions of the fundraiser: “I’m tellin’ you things get better through whatever / If you fall, dust if off, don’t let up / Don’t you know you can go be your own miracle / You need to know!” The lyrics pertain to how the charity of other people can help fund cancer research, although the general sense of the lyrics can also stand on its own.

Another similar song is “What’s Going On,” recorded in 2001 by a number of artists billed using the name “Artists Against AIDS Worldwide.” The song was originally recorded by Martin Gaye in the 1970s, so its AIDS advocacy was not intentional. Yet, the lyrics of the song have a theme that can work for the cause. For instance, this part of the lyrics is general, but it can have additional depth when placed in the context of AIDS: “You see war is not the answer / For only love can conquer hate / You know we’ve got to find a way / To bring some lovin’ here today.”

An earlier attempt of this is the song “Voices That Care,” featuring some of the hottest artists during that time, including Will Smith, Luther Vandross, Celine Dion, Michael Bolton, Kenny G, and others. With lyrics aiming to boost the spirits of the troops during the Gulf War, this reached top spots in various charts in the countrya”and the world. This goes to show that a sincere song with sincere lyrics and admirable intentions can go a long way.

Broadcasters depend heavily upon their voice. Whether in radio or television, mastery of the voice is an absolute necessity. Voice coaching is an important tool that is used to develop skills that will ensure that broadcaster can perform to the best of their abilities. When giving a presentation, it is important to ensure that you are prepared, have practiced, and know your speech or material fully. However, if you don’t have complete mastery over your voice then you might find that you lose the ability to make the connection that you need with your audience to be successful. Voice coaching will provide you with the tools to control your voice and ensure that you are completely equipped for your presentation.

One of the most important tools that must be addressed through vocal coaching is controlling the sound and tone of the voice. Voice coaching will also help you to recognize how your emotions are affecting your voice. Many speakers make the mistake of portraying wrong emotions in their tone and this can have a negative impact on the delivery of your message. You must learn how to control your emotions and identify if you sound tired, bored, angry, upset, or frustrated. Any of these emotions can end your presentation long before you have concluded your speech. Not only will voice coaching help you control your tone and inflection, but it will also teach you how to control your vocal patterns so that you can use those inflections when needed.

Your voice is a muscle and is comprised of many different nerves, tendons, and ligaments. Voice coaching will also help teach you the best methods and strategies for caring for and preserving your voice. Public speakers rely heavily upon their voice and they must understand how to properly care for their voice and avoid straining. The worst thing that could happen to anyone who relies upon his or her voice for work is to suffer from hoarseness.

Your vocal coach will instruct you on the best foods to eat as well as avoid. Some foods cause the body to produce more mucous and these have a negative impact on the voice. Drinking plenty of water will help ensure that the voice stays supple and will prevent hoarseness. It’s also important to avoid any foods or beverages that contain caffeine as these causes the body to dehydrate and will increase soreness and fatigue in the vocal cords.

Once you begin voice coaching sessions, your instructor will provide you with many tips that will ensure that you understand the mechanics behind your voice and will maximize your speaking potential. In addition to tips that preserve your voice, he or she will also work with you regarding the way you interact with the audience. Making proper eye contact, controlling your inflection, and understanding proper breathing techniques will greatly enhance your speaking presentations. Being trained by a professional vocal coach is one of the most important steps that you can take to ensure that you are operating with the full potential of your voice.

Learning guitar music theory, mastering the pentatonic scale forms and understanding your guitar like your favorite guitar hero knows it, is rewarding. The possibilities for greater musical expression become more open and your limitations begin to melt away the more you feel confident with how you understand the guitar. As you really begin to study your instrument you will find that you are much more satisfied and motivated to keep playing the guitar instead of putting it in the closet for another day.

Playing your guitar better and focusing more on music and what you would like to play is important. Writing music for example comes from a natural creativity and often simply by your ear without any thought as to what is being played or put forth on the instrument at all. However, many times music writing is done is a manner that consciously uses the principals of music specifically. Not only that, but even when a guitar player may play or create a great piece of inspired music, he or she will often use the conscious knowledge of music to complete the piece or to put it together as a whole from fragments of pure creativity. The specific sounds of certain chord tones or different fingerings for example plays an important role in how the music sounds.

Playing a great guitar solo in the fretboard with a pentatonic scale for example can take place all in one position or across the entire fretboard. A guitar player may know nothing about either what this scale is, nor how it is laid out upon the fretboard, and yet still come up with an amazing solo simply from playing by ear and feel. Most often though an understanding of the notes that make up this scale and various ways it can be played on the guitar neck is more realistically how many guitar players that you admire approach the instrument. Today’s musicians of all types including guitar players often use a combination of pure non-linear thinking in their playing and composing, as well as very specific, directed use of musical rules and theories.

The point that you want to carry away from this reading is that there is a real way to be able to understand how to play like a guitar hero and how to approach getting there. It is through a great teaching system that will save you time and effort by giving you what you need to get there as fast and easy as you can with a professional body of knowledge to learn from.

Are you embarrassed of the lisp when you speak to others? Would like to learn the simplest and fastest method to quit speaking having a lisp? Have you wasted numerous hours and funds on speech lessons or tried using “will power”?

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How Can I Improve My Singing Voice – Use My Computer to Improve My Vocals?

Your computer – is it the solution to your issue “how can I improve my singing voice”? The response may amaze you. Have your own at home singing trainer with an incredible software that can be downloaded onto your personal computer.

It is just not needed to use the accepted way of going to numerous singing lessons for those who ask “how can I improve my singing voice”. To those on a tight budget or who have a hectic schedule, this option is not incredibly practical despite its benefits. Also you may spend a lot of time and money with a trainer sorting out very petty issues with your voice instead of going right to what you wish for at once, which is actually improving your vocal sound.

Additionally, there is more to finding the appropriate vocal coach than just selecting someone out of the yellow pages. You may get lucky and the first person you pick is a wonderful fit for you. A coach may be really remarkable but if you do not have a good connection with them your results will not be nearly as fantastic. Finding an instructor whose teaching style is a match to your learning style can be especially difficult. To find the best vocal coach can be an extremely expensive, time consuming and exasperating process.

By using software designed to help you improve your singing voice, you can cut right to the heart of the matter. The software can truly pinpoint what the strengths and weaknesses are for your singing voice. It can advise you what works for you and thus what you should keep doing and what you need to work on and change. This software can help you realize all your singing voice improvement goals and be the complete package for you. Or you can utilize the software to give you a superior foundation prior to taking one on one singing coaching. It’s a wonderful way to deal with negligible concerns you can work out on your own rather than with an instructor to save you time and cash. The option is up to you.

In getting the remedy to “how can I improve my singing voice“, this software has been the solution for a lot of folks. The solution to becoming a better singer at last for many people has come thanks to this software and the ability to utilize it whenever it fits their schedule and for a much lower cost than singing lessons.

Dealing with the percussion section can be the biggest challenge for a band director, particularly in the elementary band situation. It can be very tough to get them all engaged and enjoying the rehearsals, particulary if the director themselves is not a percussion specialist.

Don’t let them be “drummers” only – be “percussionists” instead

This is the most important thing to realize – that band students are often attracted to percussion so that they can play the drum set. The drum set (or drum kit) is often used in the school band, and often is very important, so students feel that if they are not playing it they have to sit there and wait.

The band director has to find a way around this situation – if you only have one drummer, then great! They can play the drum kit and away you go.

The issue can happen when you have multiple drummers in the band, sometimes two, four, eight or ten! One way that works very effectively and has been used for many years is to have one player playing snare drum, one playing bass drum, and one cymbal player, even if you have a “drum kit” part written out. If you have this type of band I recommend having this setup at all times, and making the students stand up to play the snare drum. You then have the cymbals and concert bass drum, and its designed to be played by three players all the time.

Have an Auxilliary Percussion Table – and make them stand up to play at all times

There is nothing worse than vaguely hearing a shaker or tambourine in a school band, and struggling to see the person sitting on a chair behind the drummer!
When playing tambourine, triangle or shaker – these instruments are often more critical to the sound of the band than the snare drum or drum set, so therefore they must be taken really seriously.. by the band director as well as by the players.

So always have a “traps” table with everything in easy reach. Its not expensive to set one up or buy one of the available professional models.

The players must always stand up to play, and have their music stand set up so that they can look immediately over it at the band conductor.

Warming up – please don’t ignore us!

I’ve been a percussionist in a school band… there is nothing more frustrating that spending your time sitting in the school band room while you wait for the wind players to tune up and warm up. Often the band director will spend up to half an hour warming the players up – and expect the percussionists to remain quiet during that time.

How to deal with it?

– If youre going to warm up for half an hour…. Tell the percussion section to arrive later than the rest! – it makes no difference to you and its better than them being a distraction!

– Why not send them into a different room for their own section rehearsal during this time? Get a specialist teacher or assistant to work with them on their parts

– Use predefined warm-up routines that go along with what you are doing with the wind players. (doesn’t always work, but can do depending on the materials you have)

Be prepared to supplement the band book

When I helped out with beginner bands I found it necessary to supplement the band books that the students were using with additional materials – often the materials are not interesting or they don’t have enough variety to keep the students engaged in the materials.

They’ll need lots of work on basic rudiments and rolls – often the band books don’t address those things early enough. So therefore you may be able to supplement it with other material which is available online and in books.

Everyone playing mallets?

I’m going to leave this up to you – it depends on the different personalities in each of the bands you have. One popular series of band books the “standard of excellence” has snare drum/bass drum on the left hand pages of the book, and mallet percussion on the right. Another type the “essential elements” has one snare drum and one mallet percussion book.

I think that percussionists should rotate and do as much as possible, and if that means that they each need two books, whereas every other member of the band needs only one.. then that’s the way it should be!

There are no quick fixes to make percussion better in the beginner band, but hopefully this article can give you one or two ideas that will help!