Your Aging Brain Will Be in Better Shape If You've Taken Music Lessons

Studies are showing that learning to play an instrument can bring significant improvements in your brain.
Are music lessons the way to get smarter?

That's what a lot of parents and experts believe: Studying an instrument gives children an advantage in the development of their intellectual, perceptual, and cognitive skills. This may, however, turn out to be wishful thinking. Two new randomized trials have found no evidence for the belief. The IQs of preschoolers who attended several weeks of music classes as part of these studies did not differ significantly from the IQs of those who had not.

But that does not mean that the advantages of learning to play music are limited to expressing yourself, impressing friends, or just having fun.A growing number of studies show that music lessons in childhood can do something perhaps more valuable for the brain than childhood gains: provide benefits for the long run, as we age, in the form of an added defense against memory loss, cognitive decline, and diminished ability to distinguish consonants and spoken words.

Not only that, you may well get those benefits even if you haven't tickled the ivories, strummed the guitar, or unpacked your instrument from its case in years. And dividends could even be in store if you decide to pick up an instrument for the very first time in mid life or beyond.

The reason is that musical training can have a "profound" and lasting impact on the brain, creating additional neural connections in childhood that can last a lifetime and thus help compensate for cognitive declines later in life, says neuropsychologist Brenda Hanna -Pladdy of Emory University in Atlanta. Those many hours spent learning and practicing specific types of motor control and coordination (each finger on each hand doing something different, and for wind and brass instruments, also using your mouth and breathing), along with the music -reading and listening skills that go into playing an instrument in youth, are all factors contributing to the brain boost that shows up later in life.

Musical Training Grows Your Brain:
You can even map the impact of musical training on the brain: In a 2003 study, Harvard neurologist Gottfried Schlaug found that the brains of adult professional musicians had a larger volume of gray matter than the brains of non musicians had. Schlaug and colleagues also found that after 15 months of musical training in early childhood, structural brain changes associated with motor and auditory improvements begin to appear.

The Longer You Played an Instrument, the Better:
More research is showing this might well be the case. In Hanna -Pladdy's first study on the subject, published in 2011, she divided 70 healthy adults between the ages of 60 and 83 into three groups: musicians who had studied an instrument for at least ten years, those who had played between one and nine years, and a control group who had never learned an instrument or how to read music. Then she had each of the subjects take a comprehensive battery of neuropsychological tests.

The group who had studied for at least ten years scored the highest in such areas as nonverbal and visuo spatial memory, naming objects, and taking in and adapting new information. By contrast, those with no musical training performed least well, and those who had played between one and nine yearswere in the middle.

In other words, the more they had trained and played, the more benefit the participants had gained. But, intriguingly, they didn't lose all of the benefits even when they hadn't played music in decades.

You Can Start Now
It's not too late to gain benefits even if you didn't take up an instrument until later in life. Jennifer Bugos, an assistant professor of music education at the University of South Florida, Tampa, studied the impact of individual piano instruction on adults between the ages of 60 and 85. After six months, those who had received piano lessons showed more robust gains in memory, verbal fluency, the speed at which they processed information, planning ability, and other cognitive functions, compared with those who had not received lessons.

Sure, your friends might laugh when you sit down at the piano, but your brain may well have the last laugh.

source:nationalgeographic.com

Stories of innovation: Radio

Radio may not seem as cool as the internet or television these days, but when it was first introduced more than a century ago it changed the face of global communication forever. Here’s its story

What: Radio

Who: It's complicated... Nikola Tesla and Guglielmo Marconi both have viable claims to be considered the "father of radio" and it's unlikely either of them could have made their breakthroughs without the work of the other. The US Patent Office couldn't even decide, awarding and stripping patents off both of them during the peak of their bitter scientific rivalry.

When: The existence of radio waves was first discovered in 1873, and by 1901 long-distance radio communication was possible. The 1920s saw the radio become a popular household appliance in the US.

The radio story: The theory of electromagnetism, which found that sound among other things could travel long distances instantly via electromagnetic waves, formed the basis for the invention of radio in the late 19th century. Italian Guglielmo

Marconi used a spark-generator based on Heinrich Hertz's original design to send the first radio signal across a room in 1894, before transmitting a message across the English Channel in 1899. But Marconi's technology incorporated a device invented by Nikola Tesla, who then went to the US Patent Office to secure the sole right of the "Tesla Coil", putting Marconi on the back foot.


Marconi, with the backing of his wealthy family and connections, formed a business to continue pursuing his dream and sent the first radio transmission across the Atlantic in 1901. Surprisingly, perhaps due to Marconi's popularity and power, the US Patent Office stripped Tesla of his patents and awarded Marconi with the rights to the invention of radio. Radio became popular in the early 20th century for entertainment, the mass spreading of information, and international relations. In 1943, Marconi sued the US Government for patent infringement during World War I but the Supreme Court avoided the lawsuit by simply reverting the original patents back to Tesla who had died a few months earlier.

Impact and legacy: The radio was the first technological form of entertainment to be available to the masses. Families in the 1920s would socialise by sitting in front of the fire place and listening to the opera. Advertising on the radio waves was introduced not too long after, and governments began to communicate with their citizens directly. Communication between countries became infinitely easier and,in times of war, allowed commanders to give orders miles away from the battlefield. The radio is not obsolete despite massive technological advances in the past century, highlighting its place as one of the most important innovations of all time.



source:http://www.idealog.co.nz

The gTar-The App Enabled Smart Guitar

  

 There's nothing like the thrill of playing a real musical instrument. Unfortunately for most, learning can be a frustrating and time-consuming experience. That's why gTar was created.

The gTar is a fully digital guitar that makes it easy for anybody to play music, regardless of experience. All you have to do is dock your iPhone in the body (using the modular dock), load up the gTar app, and an array of interactive LEDs along the fretboard will show you how to play.

You may be asking yourself what it means for a guitar to be "digital." While most guitars have pickups to amplify the sound of vibrating strings, the gTar has none - instead, the creators have designed the gTar with sensors that detect exactly what you're playing in real-time and relay each note to your iPhone, which then produces the actual sound. This makes it possible for us to do all kinds of exciting things, so let's get into it!

Multi-Touch LED Fretboard
The gTar's interactive fretboard is the most advanced thing you've never seen on a guitar before. It knows the exact location of your fingers before you even play a note, so not only can the full color LEDs illuminate in different ways to show you where to put your fingers, it can track how well you're doing in real-time as you play.

Smart Strings
To detect notes, the gTar has a set of smart sensors located in the bridge that pick up even the most subtle string movement. You can play the gTar with a pick, your fingers, or with our SmartPick, a new kind of conductive pick with an internal accelerometer that acts as an advanced stylus for the gTar.

 Authentic Guitar Feel
While the gTar doesn't have any pickups, the physical layout and feel is the same as an electric guitar, so all the songs and chord shapes you learn on the gTar are transferable. It's built with a rugged basswood body, maple neck, and uses standard electric guitar strings, so they're easy to replace. But remember, since the gTar is a fully digital instrument, you don't need to worry about keeping the strings in tune.

Fully Hackable
For advanced users, the gTar's USB output and LED input can be hacked in countless ways to create and perform music. The gTar has plug-and-play compatibility with almost any DAW or VST that supports USB-MIDI and for interested developers.

Compatible with Many Apps
Since the gTar outputs CoreMIDI data, it's compatible with dozens of existing apps on iOS, allowing you to learn, create, consume, and everything in between.

Music is, and has always been, a universal language capable of bringing people together. Dissuaded by steep learning curves and an image-driven industry, relatively few of us have the courage to truly express ourselves through music. By empowering anybody with the tools to enjoy, create, and perform music naturally and intuitively, the creators of gTar seek to keep music core to the human experience for everyone.

source:www.incidentgtar.com/

Welcome to our second outlet @ Gopalan Signature Mall(Opp RMZ Infinity) ,Old Madras Road

It was a desire to live by the code, “I’m glad I did” instead of, “I wish I had” that served as the final impetus to take the risk and start our venture Cafe Idly.
The risk of being labelled a social reject in case you fail,the risk of not being to lead the same kind of lifestyle we were used when we were working for a big corporation..etc.etc..

But at the end of it all what matters is that you've got one life and you gotta do what you gotta do.
It fills us with immense excitement and satisfaction to be able to say we have opened our second outlet @ Gopalan Signature Mall, Food Court (Old madras Road) .

Wanna thank you all for all the love and support and those encouraging words that has been a source of inspiration and kept us going all this while.

keep all the love and support pouring in ..thank you guys :)

AirPiano Touch-Free, Sensing Gestural Music Controller

The unveiling of an instrument is quite a rare event in the twenty first century.But there are always exceptions..A revolutionary concept in music technology, the AirPiano is nothing like the familiar set up
of a keyboard instrument. It draws on computer technology for inspiration and is sometimes
referred to by its nickname, ‘the magic plank’. Invented by Israeli musician and engineer Omer Yosha,
the AirPiano was developed in Berlin by Kesem Design and is built from walnut wood, dark red acrylic glass and RoHS compliant components.

The instrument is an innovative MIDI and OSC controller which allows the performer to trigger invisible keys and faders in mid air. There aren’t any actual piano keys so fingers are redundant. Instead hands ‘hover’over the plank, which consists of a set of 8 upward-facing proximity sensors that pick up the distance of a player’s hands from the base unit, sending info to a computer and producing pre-programmed sounds. The sensors create up to 24 virtual keys and 8 virtual faders and the 40 LEDs provide easy orientation and visual feedback. According to the AirPiano website the instrument is ‘the first musical interface to introduce an intuitive and simple touch-free interaction’.

The AirPiano is championed by a Scottish musician and composer Jo Hamiliton. Jo, a multi-instrumentalist, is the first artist in the world to work with the AirPiano. She released her album Gown in September 2009 to critical acclaim and now demonstrates the AirPiano around the world. ‘I am not a particularly tech-minded girl’ she says, ‘I’ve always thought of it as a grid of buttons that hover, invisibly, above this…. plank’. ‘Playing is almost dance-like. You have to think about the choreography of a piece’. ‘What appealed to me first was the simplicity of it, the fact that you were literally plucking sounds out of the air’ says Hamilton. Observing the ‘AirPianist’ in action seems reminiscent of futuristic sci-fi TV programmes like Star Trek. Good spatial awareness seems necessary as does refined limb control and movement.

The instrument produces no sound on its own; it has to be linked up to a computer and it isn’t for the inexperienced beginner. Musicians who enjoy experimenting with different sounds and concepts will love this idea. It certainly has a novelty value and is an interesting and innovative addition to the music technology scene.


source:morethanthemusic.com and www.airpiano.de

UK Band name called Karnataka?

UK Band name called Karnataka?,yes you heard it right,there is a UK(United Kingdom)band named after our beloved state.

Karnataka were formed in 1997 by founding members, Ian Jones (bass/acoustic guitar), Jonathan Edwards (keyboards) and Rachel Jones (vocals). The band started as a project to record songs in Ian’s home studio, that had been written and performed by Jonathan, Rachel and Ian in earlier bands. The project was augmented by additional musicians, Paul Davies (electric guitars) and Gavin Griffiths (drums), who had played with other members of Karnataka in earlier bands.
At the end of the recording the decision was made to continue the project as a band. The name Karnataka was chosen by the band, from a suggestion by Ian, following his trips to that region of India.

The five-piece recorded what would become their debut album, Karnataka in 1997. In the beginning, the band had no thought of actually releasing the album — they made the recording for their own pleasure. As they started to play live shows in their new configuration, however, word of mouth ensured that an increasing number of people started asking for copies.

It was recommended to the band that they send a copy of the album to Martin Hudson at the Classic Rock Society. Martin gave the band their first break by positively reviewing the album in the society’s magazine, and then offering them a gig for the Classic Rock Society in Rotherham, supporting the Genesis tribute band ReGenesis in 1999. The show was a success and Karnataka were offered another support with Jump in October 1999. Encouraged, the band had already started writing the material that would eventually appear on their second album, The Storm

Since then they have released two more projects 'Delicate Flame of Desire' (2003) and 'The Gathering Light' (2010) and live album called Strange Behaviour (2004)

Karnataka were recently voted 2nd in the ‘Best Of 2012 Live Acts’ category on the Get Ready To ROCK website !.

Here is one of the famous tracks 'The Storm'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fdw-EanLja0

For more info on the band you can visit their website
http://karnataka.org.uk/home.php

Karnataka's facebook page link:
https://www.facebook.com/KarnatakaOfficial

Listen to their songs
http://www.last.fm/music/Karnataka

Absolute Essentials For Your Band’s Website.

These days having a web site with a user friendly platform like WordPress is as simple as paying for hosting and following the instructions. And yet, many bands and artists do not present themselves well on their websites. A site doesn’t need to be fancy, it just needs to tell your story as fully as possible and let people know how to get in touch.


Here are 10 things every band or individual musician’s web site needs:

• Homepage: Ever go to a band’s website and find yourself in the middle of a tour blog or a six-month old item on a festival gig, or a full-page photo and bio of the bass player, or a year-old list of dates? The message this presents is that the band is careless, lazy or disorganized, and possibly all three. Your web site should always open to a homepage that is a map of your site, with a great, representative photo, headlines that convey your essential message, something folks can read and a variety of buttons with titles like “music,” “video,” “store,” “tour dates,” “press” and the like, that will take visitors to that information with the click of a mouse.

• Bio: Nothing tells your or your band’s story like the story of you or your band. Write an exceptional bio or have one commissioned, and either give it a dedicated page or put it under an obvious category, like “press.” Fans want to know about you, but more important, so do journalists who might write about your band or agents who are considering hiring you for shows. Those professionals don’t want a mystery; they want information, fast.

• Gigs: Update your gigs regularly — weekly, if they are being constantly added to your schedule — and list them all, even if they are private events. (Listing the latter lets people know you are available for private events, which are typically more lucrative than club shows.) A full schedule also sends the positive message that you are a working band or performer and tells fans when you are visiting their region or simply playing next, so they can put your shows in their calendars. Few things puncture your credibility as much as a list of expired dates or no dates at all.

• News or blog: This can be a blog that lets fans know what you’re up to, or the place that tells the world at large about new albums, tours, endorsements and other news. Real bands and musicians have active careers with things worth writing about. Those things should be trumpeted.

• Contact information: Let people know how to reach you. Fans like to contact the artists they follow, and you might find that engaging regularly with people who want to know more about the music and gear you play and love via email is rewarding. Also, people who want to book your band or contact you for other business reasons need your email address or phone number. If you’ve got a booking agent and manager, include their contact info, too.

• Videos: Having a video page is important. Today, most booking agents want to see a performance video before they will consider hiring an unfamiliar band. Don’t let YouTube be your curator. Present your favorite videos on your own page.

• Downloadable photos: On-line and print media publications that write about you or your band will often need band or artists photos, and possibly a jpeg of your latest album cover. It’s important to have these readily available to be downloaded at a moment’s notice. You never know when the listings section of the local paper is going to find a hole to fill when it’s about to go to press, or when an editor working on a story past midnight will decide he or she needs a photo. So be sure you have a selection of downloadable high-resolution jpegs available.

• Music: This, like video, is crucial. You can offer downloadable MP3s if you want, but all that’s essential is streaming files of your music. Everybody needs to know what you sound like.

• Merchandise: You can set up a comprehensive store — CDs, shirts, coasters, mugs, baseball caps, whatever — on your website by partnering with companies that specialize in providing custom shops, including ebay. If you’re just selling CDs, at least install a link to Amazon, CD Baby or some other source that’s selling your discs online. By the way, online sales of downloads are essential, although if you’re in a market that caters to an older audience, like blues or Americana, then making physical CDs available is also a requirement.

• Social media: As important as it is to have your own website, it’s also important to have a presence on popular social media. So place links to your Facebook, MySpace, etc., pages on your website, too.

Credit: http://www2.gibson.com/News-Lifestyle/Features/en-us/10-Absolute-Essentials-For-Your-Band-Website.aspx