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It's hard for a parent to say "no" when everything our children see in our culture today promotes "yes." Advertising companies make and spend billions of dollars every year to get us to say "yes." Our classroom teachers, who have been trained to say "no" in a variety of acceptable ways, have been replaced by Hollywood writers, video game producers, the music industry and other business cultures promoting "yes."

Yes Is In and No Is Out

Unless you and your family live in a home built in a remote part of the country, where there are no billboards, televisions, radios, Internet, mail and other modes of advertising, your children will be exposed to hundreds of promotional ads each day. In fact, each year the average child in the United States will be exposed to over forty thousand ads on television alone. Ads promote the words, "Yes, you can!" Credit card ads sell the idea that parents can "buy it now" for their children even when it's not in the family budget.

Does this sound familiar?

"There are some things that money can't buy, for everything else there's..."

The purpose of this credit card ad not only promotes the ideals centered on giving your child whatever he or she wants, it sustains the "yes" culture that our children have become accustom to living in. Living in this culture is not difficult. In fact, for parents it's often easier to say, "yes" than it is to say, "no." When a parent says "yes," the word often leads to:

GETTING A DESIRED ITEM = FUN = HAPPY LIFE = EASY LIFE!

What parent would not want this for their child? We want our children to be happy. But, does giving our children what they want lead to a lifetime of happiness? You do not need to read another research study that tells you that giving your child what she wants will not lead to life-long happiness. You already know that's true. You already know that instant gratification is not gratifying. You already know that your child needs to hear the word, "NO!"

How to Say "NO" and Survive?

Before you begin using the word "no" more often, consider the following helpful hints:

Use the words "I love you" with your child as many times a day as they ask or want something. This caring phrase does not to be used as a response, but should be used several times per day.

Turn television time into reading time. The average child in the United States watches over seven hours of television per day. Replace promotional ads with the promotion of literacy.

Make an effort to listen to your child. Eat at least one family meal together each day. This promotes family time. This promotes listening time. Another idea: Turn family television time into family game time.

Keep track and, if necessary, reduce some of your child's activity time. Many children are stressed! Stress often leads to addictions. Addiction leads to a need to have something. That something requires a "yes." Be mindful of your child's stress levels. Many children (and parents) today are doing too much. Slow down! Begin saying "NO!" to more activities.

Keep a list on the refrigerator of items that you buy for your child. Have the child keep a list of all the times they ask you for something beyond the basic needs (food, shelter, clothing). Contrary to popular teen opinions, a cell phone is not a basic need.

Finally, sit down with your child and hold a discussion on this topic. Your child will most likely be a parent someday. Sharing this article with your child, especially your teenager, will help him or her become a better parent someday. When your child sees that you are doing the right thing by saying "no," the child will learn to become comfortable with this word too.

Scott Wardell is a counselor who created ScottCounseling.com to provide parents with hundreds of free parenting articles and an online e-mail counseling service.

Visit ScottCounseling.com today!

# posted by videos19419 : 10:42 AM  0 comments

Cat Stevens songs are a favorite among guitar players of all ages. It's hard to imagine a party or campfire sing along without a couple of Cat Stevens songs being played on acoustic guitar.

With songs like Father and Son, Moonshadow, Morning Has Broken, Peace Train ... in your repertoire you simply cannot go wrong.

Cat Stevens are popular for number of very important reasons: 1. the melodies are easy for the public to remember / 2. the guitar chords are not very has to play and most importantly. / 3. Cat Stevens songs sound good with a solo acoustic guitar.

In recent times, studio effects have become a part of the overall finished product. The end result is that while a particular music production may sound interesting and be visually stimulating while watching the video clip it is extremely difficult to re- create that piece of music without and enormous amount of lighting, amplification, audio effects etc.

The original role of the recording studio was to capture the event, since 1957 however in many cases the studio has tried to "create the event", by adding studio effect such as reverb, echo, distortion in an effort to make the piece of music more interesting.

The problem with this approach of trying to "create the musical audio event" is similar to watching a movie that has been created primarily to "showcase" or "showoff" the latest visual effect ... the problem is often a weak story line.

Cat Stevens songs do not require anything more that an acoustic guitar, that is because Cat's songs are structurally strong and stand up without any electronic props or tricks. That's the acid test of a good song ... does it stand up on it's own merits?

Only a small number of artists like, The Eagles, Creedence, Cat Stevens etc, have the craftsmanship to write sound material that sounds great with one guitar.

Here's three tips to help you play Cat Stevens songs:

Tip 1. Learn to recognize musical intervals

Musical intervals measure the distance from on note to the next, just as a builder must have a system of measurement to measure the length, width and height of their building materials a musician must be able to recognize the "sound" of an interval.

Listen to the introduction of "Peace Train" for a good example of the interval of a sixth. On the first hearing it may appear that only one single note is being played, subsequent listening sessions will reveal that a harmony note is being played also.

When you listen to "Peace Train" the first notes you will hear are: C - D - E - E - D - C , these notes are played on the second string of the guitar, a second note is played beneath each of these melody notes.

The harmony notes; E - F - G - G - F - E are played on the forth string. It's a good idea to play the introduction with you right hand fingers (for right handed players).

If we measure the distance from the low harmony note (E) played on the fourth string to the melody note (C) played on the second string we will discover the distance is six E=1, F=2, G=3, A=4, B=5, C=6, hence the naming of the musical interval.

Tip 2. Understand how relative minor chords function

Each major chord has an related minor chord that represents the opposite musical effect, for example if we say that the major chord represents = bright then it's relative minor chord would represent= dark.

Further examples:

major chord = happy / minor chord = sad // major chord = male / minor chord = female.

Musical examples: C major = A minor / G major = E minor / D major = B minor / A major = F# minor / E major = C# minor etc

Cat Stevens often substitutes the relative minor chord in place of the major to develop his musical story. Listen to "Father and Son" notice how he changes the second chord in each verse.

Verse 1: G to D/F# verse 2: G to Bm (relative minor to D major) verse 3: G to D major.

Tip 3. Learn to read music standard music notation

Although many artists do not read music if you wish to play a variety of music being able to read standard music will help to research and understand where many of the popular artists get some of the material from.

For example, Cat Stevens popular hit "Morning Has Broken" was originally a traditional Gaelic melody by Mary MacDonald written in 1880.When it was translated into English by Lachlan Macbean in the 1888 book "Songs and Hymns of the Gael", the translator gave the melody the name "Bunessan".

Cat Stevens understands that a song is a 3 minute story and Cat knows how to tell that story.

Mike Hayes develops systems and products to help you succeed in your guitar playing. Find out more about how to learn guitar fast with his popular free ecourse, available at:=> http://www.guitarcoaching.com

# posted by videos19419 : 7:32 AM  0 comments

As a former engineer, I constantly ask myself: "What is the best way to learn guitar?" (or more specifically "What is the best or most efficient way learn a musical instrument?". This is especially true after I went back to college at age 36 to study jazz guitar. With pretty good technique from being an 80's shredder, and with a good work ethic (from Master's Degree in Engineering, and Diploma in Object-Oriented Programming) people were telling me I'd have no problem learning jazz - I just needed to "learn the theory" since I already had the chops. Boy was this a wrong assumption!

In Classical music, in which I don't claim to be an expert, musicians spend a lot of time playing songs. These are scores by Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Paganini, etc and these composers usually have written many etudes. This means 'study' in English and provides a means to develop one's chops, but in a musical manner. Sure these musicians also practices their scales. When you go to see a classical concert, the performer has undoubtedly spent countless hours playing and replaying the piece until it is up to speed and perfect. While no one really understands how learning works exactly in the brain, the usual comments are that this practice builds up muscle memory in the hands and head. I doubt any musician could play a challenging piece at full speed the first time it is placed in front of them. There are stories of famous jazz musicians who couldn't solo over songs like Giant Steps at first because of the unusual chord progressions - these are people who were excellent musicians, knew all their scales and theory but were frozen. I view improvisation and the spontaneous combination of pre-rehearsed ideas, not as mysterious as many artists would like to project. Even Charlie Parker was quoted as saying "Learn the changes, then forget 'em". I interpret this to mean "learn what works over the progressions, get them into your ears so that you hear them and reproduce them without much thinking".

When I think back to how I learned guitar, I spent most of my time trying to learn songs. This was because I was inspired after hearing a song. I needed to be able to play that tune! The challenge was that often these songs were so far beyond my technical ability at the time. And they usually incorporated way too many techniques in just one solo - bends, slides, hammer ons, pull-offs, two-hand tapping, sweep arpeggios, economy picking, legato playing, pinch harmonics, you name it! When this happened I had to isolate the issue (sweep picking) and get this working before adding it back into the main song.

Music is a language - the way we learn a language is by imitation. Early on ,we learn words and phrases without really understanding what we're saying, then we assimilate the information and eventually innovate or improvise in daily life when we speak sentences to each other. Learning a style of music like rock or jazz should be the same way. Most of us never learned all the technicalities of the english language but we picked it up by listening, reading, speaking and making mistakes and being correct by our parents or teachers. Learning music should be the same.

There are many components to being a well rounded, professional musician, especially when improvisation is required. You need to learn scales, intervals, triads, arpeggios, chords, sight reading and ear training to name a few. These things as practice items themselves should be a smaller percentage of your overall practice time (say 20%). You need to have at least the basics down -such as the ability to alternate pick, hammer on, pull off, chords, etc. I had top marks in courses like jazz theory, put in tons of practice time, but still wasn't happy with my improvisation ability. Most times it felt like a deer in the headlights.

I recently was lucky enough to find Jazz Sax Etudes by Greg Fishman from Chicago. He teaches differently than most, using tunes to inspire and teach students, and focusing on the songs. His instructions are to first get the tunes up to full speed BEFORE diving into all the theory.

So in summary, my point is that the best way to learn guitar in any style is by learning songs you love. Songs you love will inspire you to keep practising and to get better. These songs will teach you the techniques you need to learn. Transcribe the songs, slow them down, buy a book to get the correct tab, do whatever you have to do to get the song down on paper. Remember that at slower speeds any song is playable by anyone! I use software called "Amazing Slow Downer" to slow down tunes and then I play along with the slowed down version. Play it slower at whatever speed you can play it perfectly, then slowly increase the speed until you have it at the actual tempo. If you have problems at speeds of 50% or less, isolate the problem areas until they match your ability with the rest of song.

Will Kriski is a guitarist, songwriter and teacher. He can be reached at wkriski@hotmail.com or via his website http://www.willkriski.com Will gives out many free songs and video lessons on youtube with tab.

# posted by videos19419 : 4:21 AM  0 comments

HDMI is High Definition Multimedia Interface. This is the newest interface for home theater systems and High Definition television. The cable has 19 wires in a single cable and is similar to a UBS cable. It is able to carry 5Gbps bandwidth. This provides more than twice the bandwidth needed for multi channel audio and video transmission. HDMI is an uncompressed digital signal which does not require the signal to be translated into an analog signal and then translated back into digital. These translations may degrade the signal. TV broadcasters are required to turn off analog signals in February 2009 and broadcast all digital after that date.

HDMI was founded by seven founder companies. These are Sony Corp., Toshiba Corp., Hitachi, Ltd., Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Royal Phillips Electronics, Silicon Image, Inc. and Thompson, Inc. The following is taken from the HDMI web page "HDMI is fully backward compatible with PCs, displays and consumer electronics devices incorporating the Digital Visual Interface (DVI) standard. Both HDMI and DVI were pioneered by Silicon Image and are based on TMDS, Silicon Image's powerful, high-speed, serial link technology. HDMI supports standard, enhanced, or high-definition video, plus multi-channel digital audio on a single cable. It transmits all ATSC HDTV standards and supports 8-channel digital audio, and with 5 Gbps of bandwidth, HDMI can accommodate future enhancements and requirements. Because HDMI was designed specifically for consumer electronics applications, it offers an array of additional consumer enhancements. As digital content can manifest itself in a variety of sizes, resolutions and formats, HDMI-enabled systems will automatically configure to display content in the most effective format. In addition, HDMI enables a single remote point and click, allowing manufacturers to deliver home theater systems that automatically configure from a single command from a remote control -- turning on or off the components necessary to view a DVD, listen to a CD, or watch cable or satellite TV". This format is also supported by Hollywood. One could ask why? The answer lies in the fact that it was designed to prevent copying of copyrighted material. The industry is trying to design anti copying systems in the chips. In my opinion, they have done a very good job with this technology.

The latest version is HDMI 1.3 which delivers billions of colors for HDTVs and doubles bandwidth over the plain HDMI. The HDMI 1. 3 seems to be more for the professional rather than the home user but we know that the home user will be using the applications for the HDMI 1.3 before very long. HD movies and advanced computer platform for games will be using the latest version very soon. The HDMI interface was designed for consumer electronics which would indicate more use for the home user. HD-DVDs, games and HD movies moves the envelop forward to the 1.3 format. This virtually removes all limits on color selection. It also incorporates an automatic audio/video synching capability.

Uscoe J. Fitts is a retired Mechanical Engineer. I have worked with computers from the beginning of the IBM PC

Author: Uscoe J. Fitts BuyThe-World LLC

Web Sites http://www.sharpix-electronics.com

http://www.buythe-world.com

# posted by videos19419 : 4:02 AM  0 comments

Violin The word brings such vivid images to my mind. A slender and graceful soloist performing on stage, her eyes closed with delirious ecstasy. The mysterious, dark, gaunt figure of Paganini, his long thin fingers racing up and down the fingerboard with demonic, preternatural speed. Tartini reclining in bed while handing the violin to the devil himself. Sherlock Holmes playing a tune in his small flat on 221b Baker Street.

The sound which comes forth from the violin stirs different emotions deep within my soulsublimity, sweetness, passion, sadness, fear. Sibelius concerto is dark and mysterious; Beethovens is spiritual and noble; Brahms is earthly and passionate; Tchaikovskys is grand and dramatic.

Its curious how, unlike other instruments, the violin seems to possess a dark, sinister quality. Surely no other instrument in history has been the victim of such lore and legend. The violin is light and darkness. It has two faces, two personas. This is what makes the violin so intriguing. At the same time, it is associated with the feminine. Im not referring to the shape and sound of the violin, but to the feelings it evokes on their owners. Ive read that men violinists see the violin as a female companion, while women see it as an extension of themselves.

Another thing Ive come to realize is that most people have intense emotions about the violinthey either love it or hate it. Interesting enough, for someone who hasnt an affinity for music, the violin can be the most horrific, tortuous instrument to listen to.

I was a late starter. I began taking violin lessons in my mid thirties. Just as Elle Woods in Legally Blonde woke up one day and decided to become a lawyer, I woke up one day and decided I wanted to play the violin. For somebody like me, who had never had any kind of musical education, it was a great challenge. Four years since then, I can only say I dont know how I could have lived without my violin for so long. A wonderful new dimension has opened in my life. Enveloped in music, surrounded by etudes and books, I wallow in the daily practice of this magnificent instrument, this marvel of ingenuity. But, most strange of all, this new dimension has extended to my writing as well. The violin has stirred my imagination and unleashed my creativity in ways that I never experienced before. A little orphan girl who wishes to become a violinist begs me to write her Christmas story; amateur teenaged violinists whisper in my ear that they wish to be the protagonists of my new mystery; a fragile, mentally unbalanced young violinist shares with me her horror tale, assuring me that her story would make a bestseller

Always near my computer, my violin beckons me to hold it when Im stuck in a scene or passage, as if only one embrace, one stroke, are enough to lift the dark cloud from my mind. And always in the background is the violin music, my muse and inspiration. I hope this gift will continue to be bestowed upon me for many years to come.

Mayra Calvani is an author and book reviewer. Vote for her story, THE DOLL VIOLINIST, and be eligible for prizes! Details at http://www.MayrasSecretBookcase.blogspot.com

# posted by videos19419 : 12:50 AM  0 comments