Functions of the Keyboard

Functions of the Keyboard

Q1)
Grand pianos have three pedals. The left also called the 'Una Corda' this is the soft pedal and is used on a grand piano to soften the sound although the timbre and tone are effected by this pedal also. The way this works is when the pedal is pressed all the keys are shifted to the right moving the hammers across so where as before they would hit across all three strings the hammer will now only hit one of the three strings. This gives a lighter and softer sound. 

The middle or sostento pedal was the last pedal to be added. This pedal when played only sustains the strings that you have played simultaneously to pressing the pedal. This means that you are free to play the rest of the keys without them being affected.

The right or sustain pedal holds the notes across the whole piano until you release the pedal. When you play a note it would normally be dampened. This pedal lifts all the dampeners and lets all the strings ring together. The great advantage to this is that sympathetic resonance can occur. This is where the notes in the harmonic sequence of the note that is played are going to vibrate. As well as this having a string vibrating right next to another one is going to cause the strings close to it to resonate because the energy will transfer across to the adjacent strings. The sound board of the piano is there to predominately amplify the sound of the strings and its because of the sound board that the sympathetic resonance across the strings is so great and this is what puts the grand into grand piano along with its size.   

Q2) 
The grand piano and upright piano have quite a few differences the first one mainly being the size. A large concert grand can be about 9 feet long but an upright are specifically made to give the biggest sound but take up as little room as possible. The upright piano has a small sound board but its also positioned vertically where as in a grand the sound board is positioned horizontally making the entire piano much much bigger and louder.
Another difference is the middle pedal. On a grand piano this is the sostenuto pedal. The equivalent pedal on a upright piano does the same thing just it uses a different mechanism to do so. On a grand the sostenuto pedal sustain the notes that you play while pressing the pedal meaning you can be free to play other notes that will not be sustained. On an upright this softer sounds is created by a felt cloth coming down in front of all the keys meaning the hammers don't have a direct contact resulting in a softer sound. On an upright piano this pedal is called a practise pedal.

The left pedal on an upright moves hammers in a position closer to the strings.

Another difference between the grand and the upright is the lid and I feel that this has such a big effect of the overall sound that the piano produces. The lid on a grand piano is very large and cover the whole body including the strings and soundboard. A grand piano has 2 setting for the lid, either fully open or slightly open. This changes the tone of the piano completely and having this option can give the piano player some control over the tone he wants. On an upright the lid is very small, it can be opened but it doesn't have a huge effect on the sound of the piano. As the lid only opens a small amount from he top and doesn't open up all the sound from all the strings and sound board like the grand piano you are never going to get the tone like a grand piano gives with the lid open. This is a very big difference as the lid effect the sound of each piano as a whole and because of the uprights much smaller lid and configuration and positioning of the sound board and strings inside it will never give the true sound of a grand. 

Q3)
A MIDI is made up of samples that the manufacturer as produced and the quality and detail of these samples determines how good and realistic the midi sound is. The MIDI controllers have control over a few of the major parameter of a piano sound but some are just to complex to recreate. A MIDI controller can usually control the velocity of a note and the length of the note being held. It can also control sustain with the addition of a pedal. These features combined give a somewhat realistic sound of a grand piano but there are many elements missing.

Q4)

Area of the Industry | Chloe Herington

Areas of the Music Industry

I have been asked to give a special report on four key areas of the music industry. Record Companies, Artist Management, Music Publishing and Live Performance. I am going to talk about the good and bad points for all of these as well as what they do and how they work.

RECORD COMPANIES

a) A record company is an organisation that take on artists that they feel can be successful and hopefully make money. There are several different deals a record company can offer to an artist some bigger than other but it is just an investment that they believe will make them money back. Record companies will sometimes give you money in advance to make a record and then they will sell it for you. Record companies will market your record among other things just depends on the deal that an artist of offered. The point of a record company is to almost brand your artist name under a bigger company that has power and money and the means of getting your music made and then sold. Getting your music sold on a large scale of very hard without a record company and would cost more money that your average artist has when they start making music. The way the record companies make money are by selling your music and within the deal will be a percentage of how much they are going to take from the profit of the sales. within the deal they will provide you with the funds to make the record but it does depend on the deal.
Large record companies such as the majors Warner Bros, Sony and Universal do provide all services such as distribution and publishing but depending on the deal is how much they will invent in you. Good record companies will give you worthwhile deals but some can seem good at first but leave you worse off. One thing that record companies sometime control again depending on the company and the deal they will sometimes take ownership of the music. The three major companies will give you a huge advance on your record to spend on making a great record but then they will take control of how the material is released and they will own you and your music after the contract has been signed, whether or not you stick with the deal. This is some of the problems with signing to a major label if you are not going to me MASSIVE!
You can also get record deals with independent Record Companies such as Domino, XL and Brew. These companies are self funded and will not have as much power like the majors but give artist a more worthwhile deal.
you can also get subsidiary record companies that are almost in the middle and are partly independent but are overlooked by one of the majors. a good example would be Island Records, they are a subsidiary record company that are also owned and overlooked by Universal who have a say in everything that Island do. They will also have some right to your music usually. Personally I would much rather be offered a record deal from an independent record company because although they wont have the funds like a major you are given a bit more freedom and say over your music and more times than not you keep the right to your music. This can also lead to the label selling you onto someone bigger who wants to make you successful with more power. From what I have observed the independent companies like to support and push artists that have a passion about the music that they are making despite if it is going to a no1 hit and they care more about the music than the money. Obviously they do make money especially the big independent companies but that comes from having a good A&R department that choose good accomplished musicians that look like they can bring something new and exciting to the industry.

ARTIST MANAGEMENT

b) An artist manager is the body that works closely to the artist and keeps their career running smoothly and that they are where they need to be at the right times. This could include meetings, studio times, tour dates, time for personal life and photoshoots. The artists manager is very hands on and works more personally than the other workers in the industry that are linked to the artist. Artist management is very crucial part of the music industry for an artist as if you have a good manager it could be the difference between being successful and not. The reason an artist will get a manager is because they can't handle everything that is going by themselves and it is starting to affect them as a working artist. Maybe it's because they have had a few deals come in and they don't quite know what choices to make and if they agree they wont be able to pursue the way they currently are. If an artist is being approached by large companies who want to work with them and make the successful such as record companies, PR, distribution or publishing deals the artist may or may not know the best choices to make of they are allows as well as not having any time to deal with things properly because they need to be practising for a upcoming tour. A manage is great because once you go from handling everything yourself to having to do nothing you have much more time to rehearse, write music and more importantly play gigs.
Another thing the artist manager is the one who represents the artist on big decisions that the artist doesn't have time to deal with because they are too busy performing and being an artist.
Having a manager is all very good but they have to be good otherwise they will be not use to you and they won't make any money. The general agreement with management is they will take 15 or 20% of everything the artist makes which can be a lot or nothing at all. This is why its in the best interest of the manager to do everything he/she can to make the band money. A good manager will also know all the top people across the industry and this will help you become more successful. This is one way you can determine whether a manager is any good. You can also look at there history and find out how many bands they are currently working with as well because you might not want someone who is also managing two other bands and only has a 3rd of their time for you. You are also going to want use a manager who has already bought a band or artist to success already, one that has a good reputation for big tours and selling lots of music.
You do not want a manager that is untrustworthy and doesn't care where your career is heading. There has to be a lot of trust between an artist and manager because their whole career as an artist is in their hands as they will be making a lot of decisions for you.
There are a lot of consideration when getting a manager you might even think you need a manager when you can already handle things alone and this can loose you money but then you could also loose out on opportunities of you are trying to do everything yourself and you never have time to take the advantages of a manager. This could mean you save money but you also don't have any time for rehearsal or playing gigs.
I think if I was looking for a manager I would be interested in what a manager has done previously and where up the industry ladder they are and whether they are going to be useful. I think it would b important top make an estimate  and over look the number of hours a week you are spending doing the things a manager would do then see if it is really worthwhile. If they are going to be taking a fifth of everything you earn they need to be good and worthwhile. So paying someone £200 a month for doing something that you could do if you could be bothered is not a worthy investment. 

MUSIC PUBLISHING

Music publishing is almost the next step after a record company has released an artist's record. What a publisher does is makes a song marketable and then sells it. You see bands releasing songs as singles usually the most catchy one that the majority of the people are going to like, it is often the one that the album is named after. Music publishers sell the artist's songs to television companies and get it played on tv and anywhere they can, even featured in films. You manager will be heavily involved with the publisher as they will be involved with contract. Different companies will offer different publishing deals for so many years etc. The publishers job can also be to work with a record company and deciding what songs will be most popular, which ones should be played when and where and matching it with the release of singles and album releases. It is a form of advertising where they will try to get as many people as possible to hear your music and then hopefully buy it. Way in which publishers will sell your music is through adverts, television getting it played on youtube as an advert and featuring in as many different places possible. The more the songs are sold in this way the more people will hear it and want to buy it. This then leads to people following you online, hearing about a new tour under the name of their favorite song or album and paying money to come see you live in a town near them and then hopefully buying a T-shirt as well.
Music publishing is such a huge part of the music industry and it can even be seen in forms such as telling radio editors how to edit a song for the radio that will play as much of the choruses and as little of the 'boring' bits of a song to make marketable on the radio and on TV.
Getting a publishing deal can be a very good thing and it can also push your career very far forward and resulting in lots of music sold and
Publishers are only interested in the music that will sell, this is the only way they make money. If they don't feel that your music won't sell enough copies to match the efforts that put in to get your music heard they are not going to give you a deal. Getting a publishing deal can be very hard work but very rewarding. This is why you need a good manager to use their contacts and good persuading skills to push their artist to success.


LIVE MUSIC

Live music is a very important part of the industry because you can be achieving the best in all the other areas, you could be signed to a massive record label, have the best manager in town and have publishers putting your music everywhere but if you are not playing live gigs you are never going to have any fans that will buy your music and you will never have a chance to play your songs to a real crowd. As well as being a part of the industry that can make a lot of money it is also a lot work for everyone involved. The importance of playing live is its something that needs to be regular. If you never play live your fans are going to think you are dead. Playing shows are a great way to personally talk to the people who like your music. Playing live gives you material to talk about on social networks, if you never play live shows you will have less to talk about to your fans online to keep them interested. If you haven't released an album for two years and you are supposed to be touring but you aren't playing shows people will wonder what you are doing. Shows make money. It is an opportunity to sell merchandise and sell your music to fans. This like limited edition posters or vinyl singles are great products to sell only at live gigs. This attracts people to spend money at your shows as well as paying for a ticket. Playing your music over the country is so important when it comes to expansion, you never know who might just walk into a venue and hear your music. The main reason why artists spend so much time playing gigs of anytime is to let people hear your music from places that might have never heard of you as well as the places that you are very popular to maintain a reputation. it is the job of your artist manager to book tours and depending on how good your manager is the bigger the shows they will get you onto. Another great way to get your name out especially to new crowds is to support larger bands this way you are exposing your music to new people and to the fans of other bands. This is commonly done by artist from the same record label and they will play together almost to help each other.
There are so many reasons to play live shows in as many places and as consistently as possible this is how you build fans and this is what record companies and publishers are going to be interested in and will choose someone who has played in many cities and build a fan base compared to someone who has almost no fans. This way they give themselves a bit of headroom while working with the band.
It is common for an artist to take breaks from touring and to separate their tours as you can brand a tour name under an album name or song name which can then go on t-shirts and any kind of merchandise. Separating tours also gives the artist time to work on new material and prepare new stages shows for different sized venues or countries.


All four of these parts to the music industry are just as important as each other. One leads to another and they all can all lead to success. It takes a lot of hard work to get to push all of these areas but you almost need all of them to some degree for your career to boom.
You will need a good manager predominantly to get the other three things working. You will need a record company to want to fund your record before you can play live shows and have any sort of publisher to sell your music. You can bypass this one and produce you record yourself and still play live shows and get a publishing deal without having a record label. Once you have your record you can start to get it published all over the world and build fans by playing live music. To prosper in the music industry you have to understand that all three of these are very important and you have to do as much work for all of them.

Hedley Marks

BIBLIOGRAPHY___________________________________________________________________

Web Pages
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Record_label 3rd December, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page, Record Labels