The Early Years
Michael Joseph Jackson was born to Joseph Walter Jackson and Katherine Esther on August 29th, 1958 in Gary, Indiana. Michael was child number 7 of 9 with an upbringing in a strict home with the musical influence of his father who was a member of an R&B band named the Falcons, which was also comprised of his uncle, Luther Jackson.
At a very early age, Michael had memories of being physically and emotionally abused by his father and did not speak out about that abuse until the early 90’s when he was interviewed by Oprah Winfrey. Later, Michael’s brother Marlon substantiated the claims of abuse by their father. Michael was often physically abused by his father in ways of long hours in the studio rehearsing to beatings and emotional abuse by being called names. In addition to his claims of abuse, Michael told accounts of a time where his father crawled into the open bedroom window in the middle of the night wearing a mask to scare his children and he screamed and ranted. Joe later stated that he did this to show his kids how unsafe it is to leave your bedroom window open at night making it possible for a predator to come in and kidnap the children. This would later prove to be a very traumatic experience for Michael as he recounted years of sleepless nights due to constant nightmares and claims that the mere sight of his father would make him vomit on several occasions. In later interviews, Michael stated that his father was so strict about their rehearsals and performance that he would sit in a chair with a belt in-hand and if they messed up, he would tear them up really bad.
One week on from the death of Michael Jackson, and the world’s media is still in a frenzy. And as Jackson was arguably the most famous man on the planet, it’s understandable.
But what’s going to happen next?
Here’s everything you need to know about the craziest week in Michael Jackson history.
“Michael Jackson is alive!”
It was inevitable, really. Just as some believe Elvis is currently in a 7-11 somewhere buying muffins, it took only a few days for some weird websites to claim Jackson isn’t actually dead at all and everything is a big ruse.
MichaelJacksonSightings.com claim to have a picture of the singer taken 27 June – three days after his ‘death’ – while blogger Derek Clontz is convinced Michael Jackson faked his death ahead of the “biggest comeback tour in history”. At the time of writing, 39% of visitors to Clontz’s blog agree with him.
And according to Elvis Presley and Jackson expert William Stern: “I’ll make you a bet. If it takes six months, if it takes a year, if it takes two years, it doesn’t matter: When Jackson’s rested and ready, and pulls the curtain up on his faked death, the world is going to stand still.”
Really?
The fact that Jackson is ‘alive’ didn’t stop OK Magazine printing a picture of the singer – close to death or actually dead – on their front cover.
Friday at LIMS 2009 saw the biggest concert of the entire show: Music For Youth’s The BiG GiG. The event featured hundreds of young musicians, who hooked up to form a rock orchestra of epic proportions.
Over 50 singers, four drummers, 50 string players, a full samba band, guitarists, bassists, percussionists, keyboard players and more made up the ensemble.
Amplification in the form of Laney AH50 and RBs was supplied by Headstock Distribution and ensured the gig was a loud affair.
However, far from being a cacophony (as we may fear when over a hundred children get together to do, well… anything), the sound was awesome – as documented in the video below.
So a big pat on the back to Music For Youth (and the performers, of course) for pulling the whole thing off. Next year, though, we want it even bigger!
The guitar is definitely one of the most appealing musical instruments we want to learn. We have seen it from rock bands, from solo artist, young and old, from centuries ago until now, the guitar is one good instrument you can bring around and play your favorite music with.
If you just started with your guitar playing, or you may have started to learn a song or two and you want to progress to mastering the guitar and being a guitar master, here are some tips you may want to add to your learning process to master your skills with the guitar.
There is no denying the fact that learning to play a new musical instrument is not an easy job. One has to invest in a lot of time and effort to play an instrument in the right way. Same thing holds true for piano.
Lots of people love to play piano but many of them don’t become able o fulfill their dream as it is quite complicated to learn when to press a right key. But, if you committed to the task and want to learn piano with full dedication, to play piano will never be a difficult thing for you.
Although there are different things that you can try while learning piano but few of the most important points are mentioned below. Using this tips while learning to play piano will help enhancing your speed. So, do keep them in mind and try to make a right use of them when learning to play piano.
• When start learning piano, you need to move on by setting a goal. You must keep in mind that your goal should to play a specific peace. You must also practice for it, instead of practice playing arpeggios and scales. Learning to play piano is difficult but you will find it getting easier when using a specific plan.
• For people learning piano, improving rhythm is of immense importance. If you know something about piano but don’t know how to improve rhythm, you will better off practicing in a band. Playing in a band is the best option to see an improvement in your rhythm.
• While learning to play, you must pay attention to flow. If you will keep playing in a flow, you will surely be able to learn soon. When learning to play piano, many people start paying a lot of attention to their mistakes and end up getting nothing.
• Learning to piano is not easy for all but it can become easy for you if you start by learning to play chords. Don’t use classical pieces right in the beginning as it is better to use modern pieces that are based on simple and basic chords.
• Finally, learning to play will remain an issue for you if you don’t come with right mental approach and attitude. Don’t get bothered by the mistakes you make in the beginning and always stay optimistic as there is no other way of learning piano than making mistakes.
These are few of the most important things to keep in mind when learning to play piano. Keeping an eye on these points will always help you to become a better piano player in the shortest possible time. But, do keep in mind that there are many other tricks and tips to improve your piano playing skills.