If you have and Italian American background, chances are that your ancestors came from South Italy. If you remember hearing your grandparents or great grandparents talk you know that they did not “speak” Italian, they “sang” it. Italian phrases that I remember from childhood are not distinguishable as individual words. They were a flow of indistinguishable sounds, some highly musical, others peppery expletives. I recall the phrase, “mah’lay-bonz” which I think meant; “you’re a pain in the stomach. ” Similar to this phrase was “doo-zee-pots,” which now, as an adult who speaks Italian, I have come to know is a corruption of “Tu sei pozzo,” “You are crazy.” There was also the phrase spoken to babies, “Doo – zee – pee-zhad,” which meant, “You wet your diaper.” There was also the call “Aye… why-yoh,” that was addressed to any young man. I still have no idea what that means. One of the most curious aspects of the Southern Italian dialect is the way it doubles consonants at the beginning of words. This consonant doubling is not just a question of spelling.

The double consonant is characteristic of how Southern Italians sing their language. (Wikipedia offers a very interesting look at the Neapolitan dialect.) And here is a word and a food from the Amalfi area that offers a perfect example of the Neapolitan dialect and food: “ndunderi.” I came across the recipe for ndunderi (doon-der-ee) when I was researching gnocchi and cavatelli. “Ndunderi” were not something I had ever heard of. Even though these gnocchi like pasta come from the Naples region, I don’t think this variety of dumpling ever came to America. I have never heard the word among Italian American friends nor have I ever seen it on the menus of any Italian American restaurant. In fact, I have never even heard of them in Italy.

According to most Italian sites, ndunderi are a most ancient form of pasta and are even recognized as such by UNESCO. In Roman times, they were made from ground faro or other grains. The liquid was originally sour milk. nduderi as they are known today are, at least in most recipes, are made from a combination of semolina and regular white flour. For the liquid, today’s ndunderi use ricotta cheese and eggs. According to one Italian site, “Virtual Sorrento,” the pre-columbian version of ndunderi were rather large dumplings. They were garnished with various spices and olive oil. With the discovery of America and the introduction of the tomato, the dumpling became smaller and tomato sauce came into play.

In the curious way things happen simultaneously, I happened to see an episode of David Rocco’s Amalfi Getaway, and what the featured item but ndunderi? The significant variation in the recipe he presented was the sauce. David Rocco’s recipe featured a sauce of lemon flavored cream. At first this confused me, since it seemed that the lemon juice would curdle the cream. But I figured that if I added the lemon juice first to the melted butter and then slowly added the cream it might work. And it did. What’s more, as my daughter pointed out, this lemon sauce would be a delight on baked fish and also on asparagus. The recipe for ndunderi are at http://www.thefoodtable.com/ndunderi.html

Railroads have often been the subjects of popular songs, most notably The City of New Orleans by Arlo Guthrie and the Midnight Special by Creedence Clearwater Revival. While those particular hits were written about actual railroads, many other songs have been given titles of metaphorical trains.

Bob Dylan, who won a Noble Prize for his writings, once compared judgment day to a slow train coming. Here are ten other songs that have names employing that outdated romantic mode of transportation as a metaphor.

Love Train by the O Jays

Recording in the anti war era of the post-Vietnam Seventies, the R & B hit makers sang about a railroad car filled with love.

Peace Train by Cat Stevens

War was in the headlines when this folk rock hit owned the radio, offering a vision of a world without violence.

Ghost Train by Elvis Costello

Maureen and Stan are a couple no one ever notices, as if they were intangible spirits. The tune has that typical Costello word play, such as “He got a black eye from a waitress, she’s not seeing any stars.”

Slow Train To Dawn by The

Matt Johnson used the concept to emphasize a long night he suffered through, and it ended up being one of the highlights on his sophomore album Infected.

Phantom Train by the Bongos

This title track came from an album the alt rockers recorded in 1986, only to be placed on hold for only about thirty years.

Little Black Train by Woody Guthrie

Like it or not, says the folk legend here, this metaphor for death is coming for everyone at some point.

Silver Train by the Rolling Stones

Here we have the rail vehicle representing a prostitute with whom the singer was involved during the recording of Sticky Fingers, but the song did not appear until the Goatshead Soup album.

Crazy Train by Ozzy Osborn

When the former lead singer of Black Sabbath confesses that he is going off the rails of the title subject, most fans had already assumed that idea years before.

Lonesome Train by Johnny Burnette

This country classic is told from the perspective of an obviously lonely man hoping for a conductor to bring him someone to love.

Mystery Train by Bob Welch

“Ebony Eyes” and “Sentimental Lady” we’re the big hits from French Kiss record, but this track describes a woman who is hard to figure out.

Going out to the Orchestra, Opera, Musical Theatre or Mass is a past time which many people enjoy. Music plays a great part in many peoples lives, whether it is to listen to or take part in. These groups mentioned earlier all consist of an orchestra. So, what is an orchestra?

The word Orchestra comes from ancient Greek. It originally meant the semi-circular space in front of the stage in a theatre where the chorus in a Greek play danced or sang. Later, at the beginning of the seventeenth century when the first Italian Operas were performed, a small group of musicians accompanied the singers and were seated in a similar space in front of the stage. And so the word Orchestra came to mean a body of musicians.

There are various types of orchestras. The group size may be large or small and a conductor usually directs them.

Large orchestras of around one hundred musicians, are seen in most large cities and perform in a variety of settings. They are often called:

1. Symphony Orchestra because of the symphonies they play which require a large number of musicians. They also play a wide range of other music.

2. Philharmonic Orchestra which means ‘loving harmony of music”

Smaller Orchestras come in varying types and styles and include the following:

1. Chamber Orchestra: This orchestra usually consists of about twenty players who can comfortably perform in a large room of a mansion, hence the name. music performed consists of works from the eighteenth century eg from Bach and Mozart, and also more modern works.

2. Small Orchestra: This orchestra is slightly larger than the chamber orchestra and plays more modern works.

3. Theatre Orchestras: These orchestras accompany musical theatre, opera, ballets and can consist of up to sixty players.

4. String Orchestra: This orchestra consists of around twenty string instrumentalists only. Music played is classical and modern.

5. Jazz and Concert Orchestras which play and record light music.

It is interesting to note that a group of wind instrumentalists playing together are usually called a Band eg Symphonic Band

So what are the instruments of a typical Symphony Orchestra?

There are four main groups of instruments which play in a symphony orchestra.

String Instruments take up about two thirds or three quarters of the entire orchestra. They consist of around 32 violins ( first and second ), 12 violas, 10 cellos and 8 double basses plus one or two harps.

Woodwind Instruments consist of flutes, clarinets, oboes and bassoons. There are usually around 2 to 4 players of each of these instruments. One player from each instrument type may double up on a higher or lower version of that instrument eg flute players double up with a piccolo which is a shorter, higher flute.

Brass Instruments consist of trumpets, horns, trombones, tuba(s) and sometimes a cornet. The numbers vary depending on the work performed. Some modern works can use 6 trumpets, 8 horns, 4 trombones and 2or 3 tubas.

Percussion Instruments consist of 4 to 5 players. The instruments are varied and are shaken, rubbed or struck Examples used in a symphony orchestra are the timpani, tam-tam, cymbals, triangle, tambourines and various kinds of drums.

Where do these instrumentalists sit?

A typical symphony orchestra has a seating plan in the shape of a semi-circle ( from the original meaning of Orchestra ) with a conductor in the middle front on a raised stand. The layout can vary according to conductor used.

The violins sit to the left of the conductor in order of first violins near stage edge and second violins next to the firsts. the cellos (stage edge ) and violas sit to the right of the conductor, with the double basses behind. The woodwinds sit in the middle with the flutes ( front ) and clarinets ( back ) to the left and oboes ( front ) and bassoons ( back ) to the right. The brass sit behind the woodwinds. And the percussion sit at the back of the orchestra

What does the Conductor do?

The conductor directs the orchestra with use of a baton and their arms. They indicate to the musicians all sorts of things like music speed, rhythm, expression like loud and soft playing and bringing in the instrumentalists at the correct place. In rehearsal they correct musicians on these aspects. The principal violin, who is the leader of the orchestra, is responsible for the discipline of musicians during rehearsal.

First things first, I always find music as a way to relieve stress. So having to hear good music is one thing that is best for our daily life.

Once we heard of a good song we usually first try to find out what is the title of the song before the artist who sang the song. Before we just allow ourselves to listen via the radio or luckily via the television set. But with the technology we have we can hear our favorite song almost every second of the day. How is it? Because of the internet, the internet provides us so many things through information, music, movies, games, or any updates around the globe.

Let us go back to our main topic, How to download MP3 music, or any music forms such as WMV, WMA, MIDI etc.

Let first answer this question, how do we look for an MP3 Song of our favorite artist? Using the internet we search our favorite song to the music related sites if you are familiar with the internet, or simply by using Google, Yahoo or MSN Search Engines. Upon browsing these search engines we tend to type in the usual text “Download Song Title – Artist” then the search engines will provide lists of related sites/pages from the query that was provided, and thus look for the listings of the possible sites which you can download the music. I can probably say that this method is correct but with the information being updated almost daily this type of method is outdated.

Today, downloading music is just one simple code away from the search engines. If you are familiar with blogging through blogger.com or multiply.com then you know what I am talking about. Most of these blog sites offers file storing for files such as music, pictures and other forms. So now you ask me “What are you talking about?” What I am saying is download of music is easy. From Google Search Engines just type in “Song + download + blogspot.com or multiply.com” this query will provide results with a download link from the favorite song that you wanted.

By browsing one page from the results page came from the search engines, you can see that the song that you wanted can be download easily. So I’ll explain to you the download process. Downloading MP3 song is not hard to follow, upon seeing the link for the favorite song that you wanted make sure that it is in MP3 format being hovering over the link and looking at the status bar below the web browser (e.g. Internet Explorer, FireFox) once you saw and extension file of mp3 upon hovering then the link is ready for download. If you are using Internet Explorer just right click over the link and select “Save target as”, if you are using FireFox, again just right over the link and select ” Save link as”, just as easy as that ang you can download you favorite mp3 song.

But with downloading mp3 songs, you must be responsible enough to use this for your own purposes and not for commercial use

As Neil Diamond sang in his song Song Sung Blue “Me and you are subject to the blues now and then…” Awe the blues! Those feelings of joylessness, hopelessness, and blahness. They usually occur after a happy event, on the occurrence of something sad or simply for no other reason than it’s winter and we’re tired of it. They can also be brought on by a nostalgic trip down memory lane especially at Christmas or New Years. When we remember with fondness the ” good old days” and remain too long with our memories we run the risk of a bout with the blues. I always say that the past is a wonderful place to visit but a dangerous place to stay. Whenever the blues come they can suck the joy out of life and give new meaning to the word “down”.

Here are five ways to effectively combat the blues and win every time.

1. Put the blues in perspective.

It helps to remember that the blues are merely feelings – feelings that flow from our dominant thoughts and just like any other feelings, they pass. When we feel affectionate it passes. We don’t feel affectionate all the time. When we’re angry, the anger passes. The same applies to the blues. You’ll find that they pass more quickly if you don’t dwell on them. Just relax and wait for them to pass. While waiting here are a few effective strategies you can apply to ensure their quick passage.

2. Thought Replacement

If the blues come from our negative thoughts and we are able to control the thoughts we have then whenever we have a fearful, disturbing, lonely, or depressing thought visualize it leaving your mind and being replaced by a happier more enjoyable one. Create a bank of happy, pleasant thoughts to use as replacements.

3. Forget yourself in the service of others.

I think it was Tennyson who said “We must lose ourselves in action lest we wither is despair.” He was suffering the loss of a dear friend and found that serving others helped him forget his grief for awhile and helped him heal. There is nothing more effective than forgetting yourself in the service of other to banish the blues. “I had the blues because I had no shoes when upon the street I met a man who had no feet.”

4. Learn how to relax.

Frequently the blues make an appearance when we are stressed and over-extended. Physical and mental relaxation help restore calmness and peace to our frantic lives and in the process enhance our resistance to the blues.

By the way laughter is an excellent way to cut stress in half and promote healing relaxation. It is impossible to worry when we laugh and worry is one of the major stress inducers.

5. Look for the comedy in your chaos.

Funny things happen to us everyday. When they do most of us give a brief chuckle and move on with life. In my books I teach the art of “Mining the Moment” whereby I encourage my readers to extract every ounce of humor from the funny things that happen to us daily. When you do this and give yourself permission to laugh heartily and enjoy fully you reap the many therapeutic benefits laughter provides. It helps to constantly recall that life is just too serious to be taken seriously.

As the song says, the blues come to us all now and then. They are just part of the human condition. The next time you have the blues try some of these suggestions and experience how you too can combat the blues and win.

One of several top genres in metal music news should be power metal. Using the quickness of today’s style of music as well as the traditional way to play fits the power community. Speed metal was really the start of power in America. Using the different styles and alternations of methods, this was something for the music news community to analyze. This style was a calmer and more melodic sounding.

The Structure of the Music

Clean vocals and growling are a common feature in power metal. Often times there are growls or screams that you would also find in black or death metal. Vocals certainly are a big part of what power metal is all about. Michael Kiske (ex-Helloween), Michele Luppi (Vision Divine), Timo Kotipelto (Stratovarius) and Ralf Scheepers (Primal Fear) started to push this style to their music.

Most bands that do incorporate this still included a fictional idea or feeling with it. Artists like Symphony X, 3 Inches of Blood, DragonForce and Hammer Fall. Lost Horizon, Helloween and Gamma Ray sang a lot about positive situations.

Technique and Instruments of Power Metal

Bass, drum and guitar are the most familiar elements in power metal. Power usually uses a slower pace for their chord progression than other metal music. The bass sits in the back of the music that is often not heard due to the loudness of the electric guitars.

Drummers will use a dual bass drums or double bass pedal on their sets in their music. You will find a lot of this in heavy metal music. You will hear the double bass “running” or quick beats in between other elements. This style is no different than other type of heavy metal.

This type of music genre has been known to use keyboards inside their music. You can incorporate more elements with a keyboards or include full melodies.

Other Aspects of Metal Music

There isn’t many differences of power metal between American and European. More distortion and a higher pitched vocal singer for most of American power metal. To get a taste of it look into Manowar, Savatage and Iced Earth.

European metal put more melody within their music. Folk metal inspirers a lot of metal bands. This is the reason there are more of a melodic feel to their music. Clean vocals and less distortion within their music is a more European type of power metal. This has grown to become one of the most popular genres. For further European bands check out Stratovarius, Helloween and Sonata Arctica.

Indian dance has a very rich tradition. The tradition of Indian classical and folk dance has been thoroughly discussed in Natya Shastra, the oldest surviving text of the world on stagecraft. In the earlier days of the theatre, dancers mimed the story and the singers sang the dialogue with the instrumentalists accompanying them. Though the singers and the instrumentalists played significant roles, it was the dancers who occupied a central position. Traditionally, most of these dancers were attached to the Indian temples. Even today, a number of the themes of Indian classical dance are mythological in nature.

Being a vast country, the different areas of India have given their own color to this ancient classical tradition. Some of the acknowledged classical styles include Kuchipudi of Andhra Pradesh, Bharatnatyam of Tamil Nadu, Odissi from Orissa, Kathakali of Kerala, Kathak from Pakistan and north India, and Manipuri of Northeast India. There are some other styles like Mohiniaattam from Kerala and Sattriya from Assam. All these classical dancing styles have a strong regional connection. However, none of them can be called the representative of the entire subcontinent.

Kuchipudi: This Indian dance form is from the state of Andhra Pradesh. It has derived its name from a small village of Krishna district, where the resident Brahmins practice this traditional dance form. The movements of this form are rounded, scintillating and quicksilver, and fleet-footed. It is performed with classical Carnatic music. The specialty of Kuchipudi is Tarangam, where the dancers perform upon a brass plate, placing their feet upon its raised edges.

Bharatnatyam: This dance form is accompanied by classical Tamil music and is inspired by the ancient sculptures of the temple of Chidambaram. The techniques of this Indian dance include abhinaya or natya, which is the dramatic art of story-telling; nritta, the pure dance movements; and nritya, which is a combination of nritta and abhinaya.

Odissi: This classical dance form existed from the traditions of Nartaki, a dance that took place in royal courts; Mahari, who were Orissan devadasis at the temple of Jagganath, Puri; and Gotipua, where young boys were dressed as girls. This dance consists of Mangalacharan, Battu Nrutya, Moksha, Pallavi, Abhinaya, and Dashavataar.

Kathakali: It originated from a style of dance-drama called Ramanattam. This dance also follows some of the techniques of Krishnanattam. Kathakali derived its name from two Malayalam words meaning story and performance.

Kathak: This dance form originated from northern India and traces its history to the nomadic bards called kathakas. It has derived its name from the Sanskrit word katha that means “story”. The styles and techniques of this dance vary depending upon the major gharanas or schools.

A Tribute

What degree of influence does your mother have in your life, is it partial or total? During my teenage years, I have obeyed and resisted my mother’s rules. I have pleased and displeased her. Some of my decisions disappointed her but some made her proud. My mother made me experience life by being beside her. We talked, argued, laughed, played the piano and sang together!

My mom is my constant companion. We traveled a lot and she showed me many fascinating places. I don’t remember a day that goes by without her addressing my faults and mistakes. When it’s time for the “lecture”, her teachings will be based on reality. She uses the phrase “look at that” or “see what has happened”. She guided me with patience. Looking back at the years gone by, I realized she made herself a steadfast presence in my life.

She claps loudly during my “achievement day” and cheers me on! Her encouraging words is like a pill that fuels my desire to do better. In return, I wanted to please more my # 1 fan.

Silent Hero

My mother taught me her wisdom by example. I believe it is the hardest way to teach a child. She does what she says. I learned many lessons from her – respect, kindness, humility, resourcefulness, forgiveness, charity and perseverance. She taught me resilience, patience and strong-willpower. Her value of education is priceless. You cannot also break her unwavering faith up to her last days.

In her prime, she gave up the lucrative career in Law and Accounting to spend time caring for me. I am her priority. Although I am abundant with her continuous love and care, I knew for a fact that her life was not perfect. Right before my eyes, she endured many trials and tears. But despite everything, she kept our family together.

Our relationships at home should be within her standards. No bickering, no grudges. There’s warmth during cold day and food on the table. I almost lost her in the 80’s from toxic goiter. It was undetected for many years and was slowly eating her weight away. Considering all the odds of her health, it is a miracle she survived the medical ordeal.

She succeeded to engrave her life long lessons in my heart. Without her, I will be nothing. She a daughter’s best friend and my best teacher. I should say her influence in my life is total.

So you are all set for a grand Christian wedding? As you are working on all major preparations, you should not ignore a small but very essential element of a Christian wedding – songs and music. Like all Indian weddings, song and dance play a very important role in a Christian matrimony. Let’s look at some of these popular songs so that your guests have an enthralling experience.

Songs for the Church Wedding Ceremony

When God Made You: This song by Newsong, featuring Natalie Grant, reminds how God has predestined marriages. Especially, the lyrics “When God made you, he must have been thinking of me” form an emotional connect with the couple as well as the guests.

I Will Be Here: Sang by Steven Curtis Chapman, this beautiful song is a reassurance for the bride that her husband will be with her through both good and bad times. The song has some beautiful lyrics like “If in the dark we lose sight of love, hold my hand and have no fear.”

For You: Another popular number, For You by Michael Smith is similar to Chapman’s I Will Be Here. The number can be comforting for the bride and reinforce that her partner will always stand by her.

Household of Faith: Steven Green’s popular number represents how a couple builds a household of faith together. Lyrics like “Now to be a family we’ve got to love each other at any cost unselfishly” remind the couple and the audience about the role of faith and selflessness in building a strong family.

Other popular church wedding songs include Avalon’s By Heart, By Soul and I Can Only Imagine by Mercy Me.

Songs for the Wedding Reception

I Will Call Upon the Lord: While a spiritual number, this song by Disco Saints is high energy and can liven up the entire environment. The lyrics “I will call upon the Lord who is worthy to be praised” serve as an excellent reminder of the power of God.

God Bless the Broken Road: This number by Rascal Flatts shows how God planned the meeting of the couple and how they found each other. Lyrics like “You’ve been there you understand, it’s all part of the grander plan that’s coming true” can be a very good reminder of God’s plan.

With Arms Wide Open: This emotional song by Creed nicely captures a man’s feelings on the wedding day. The part “Well I don’t know if I’m ready to be the man I have to be” catches the imagination of both the groom and other male members of the audience.

Wherever We Go: A high tempo song by Newboys, it’s a good song to energize the crowd and make them dance along with the couple. With lyrics such as Throw your hands up high, the audience is made to follow certain moves, thus livening up the entire atmosphere.

Some other songs played in the wedding reception are Strong tower by Kutless and Lifesong by Casting Crowns.

Conclusion

While these are some of the popular numbers, there are many more songs which are played in a Christian matrimony. Truly, music makes the event really memorable.