Charlo Music

Did you know that music is based on natural “laws” — like gravity — and by learning to understand how those natural laws work we can actually understand what we are doing when we play — we don’t have to be at the mercy of what someone else has written on a piece of music?
How many of these facts do you know about music & piano playing? Test yourself and then check the answers at the bottom of the page:
Did you know that by learning just 3 chords you can play hundreds of songs?
Did you know that there are only 12 major keys you can play in, but you only really have to master one key to play most popular songs?
Did you know that it is possible to easily match any melody note (tune) to a chord, so you can harmonize any note?
Did you know that Beethoven’s Fur Elise and the blues song “Summertime” uses the exact same chords for the theme of the song?
Did you know that it is quite possible to predict what chord comes next in a song with accuracy approaching 85%?
Did you know you can use the same chords … Read more

There are probably ten million people online, looking for downloads at any given time. Of course, a lot of them could be looking for pornography or free software but still, reaching a minimum on a million people on any given day does offer some rather intriguing possibilities. People like using file services to download music for two simple reasons, they’re free, and there is an incredible selection. The fact is Pandora’s Box has been opened. In Napster’s wake, other quasi-legal services quickly emerged… a lot of them. Even if they are closed, others will succeed them. Major record companies would like to thing otherwise but they are never going to stop file sharing. Net users are file sharers…plain and simple. Long before the Internet came into being, people made cassette tapes of their favorite music for their friends…cd burners are so much easier and faster. So how can you use this to help your viral marketing campaign along? Think about this. Once someone downloads your MP3 files and those files are available on that listener’s hard drive, viral marketing begins. After two users start sharing your files, suddenly, your music is on the hard drive of a second computer…then a … Read more

Some of the best musicians in the world had deafness problems. If you think that is not possible, here are a few names you have probably heard of. The first is Ludwig van Beethoven. You know, that classical German composer and pianist. At the age of 26, he began to lose his hearing since he suffered from a severe form of tinnitus which made it difficult for him to perceive and appreciate music. Although there was no high tech gadgets back then to help with his problem, he used a special rod which he attached to the soundboard on a piano that he could bit so the vibrations would then transfer from the piano to his jaw. This was just one of the many hearing aids he used even when he was almost totally deaf. But this did not hinder Beethoven from composing. To this day, musicians and music lovers alike still appreciate his work as a talented composer and pianist. Let’s go forward almost about 200 years and surely those who are reading this are familiar with the group the Beatles. Sir George Henry Martin who is a British record producer, arranger and composer also had hearing problems. He … Read more

If you are planning a European tour, you should consider the Amalfi Coast and the city of Sorrento in the Gulf of Salerno. These tourist attractions so popular with the jet setters and many others are part of the Campania region of southwestern Italy on the Tyrrhenian Sea. Tis area is by no means undiscovered. Don’t miss our other articles on Campania destinations in this series describing Campania’s capital city Naples, the historic ruins east of Naples, the area west of Naples, and finally the Isle of Capri.

We’ll start at the coastal city of Salerno and go west along the shore to Salerno, Amalfi, then Ravello which is just north, and continue along the coast to Positano and finally to Sorrento across the Bay of Naples from Naples.

Salerno, population approximately 150 thousand, was settled well before Roman times. Its Schola Medica Salernitana (Salerno Medical School) is said to be the oldest university in Europe. By the Eleventh Century it was considered the center of medical knowledge in Western Europe but by the Thirteenth Century it was on its way down. Napoleon’s brother-in-law Joachim Murat closed the school. The University of Salerno went public in 1968. It includes a … Read more

What are the requirements to become a good piano player, or a piano wizard? Many people say that you require the gift of talent, others say passion, desire, patience, etc. I myself believe that it is a combination of all those, but most importantly; practice, patience and love for music in general. This year the world celebrates the 250 anniversary of the birth of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, a true genius and piano wizard. He had the talent, but mostly he had the love and respect for music, and decided to follow this path to let the world know of his feelings, which were expressed through his music and wonderful compositions. Definitely, this world would be better off if more people would engage in expressing feelings and love for each other through the art of well-composed music that enhances our spirits and reaches our souls, then having these feelings resonate and reach the rest of us. That is why, I believe more people should take advantage to learn to play the piano or any other instrument for that matter. There are ways that we could use technology so that time could be well spent by learning and acquiring new interests and … Read more