live music venue

Somewhere between a concert style listening room and walk-in recording studio, Mike’s Music Exchange is a great place for live music and arts. At Mike’s Music Exchange the music always comes first. Our 1400 sq. ft. performance space is acoustically engineered for sound clarity; our 200 sq. ft. pumice filled bloodwood decked stage is designed to highlight the artist and to provide the best sounding stage in New Mexico. We also have video projection capabilities for full 1080p projection on our 12′ wide screen. We can accomodate up to 150 people seated and/or 80 people with tables, or a combination of the two as required. The venue is rentable for both private and public events.

guitar shop

Mike’s Music Exchange is also a custom guitar shop with the best products and services on boutique guitars in Northern New Mexico. We are the exclusive dealers in this area for Line 6, The Heritage, Rainsong, The Loar, VHT, and many other products, and we offer guitar repairs and custom work on any kind of guitar you can bring into the store. Our lead technician is a 30 year veteran of guitar repair and customizations and a factory authorized repair technician for Taylor, Martin, and more.

recording studio

Mike’s Music Exchange is also an affordable full service digital micro-recording studio that specializes in live stage recordings. We also have multi-room isolation booths for multi-tracking. We work on a flat low cost hourly rate to help turn your musical vision into reality. Our recording services utilize state-of-the-art direct to digital recordings, which allow limiteless remixing and remastering to tune your recording just the way you like it. In our studio, you are the producer – we are the engineer, and if you’re new to the process, we’ll help you get just the sound you envisioned when you first heard the song in your head.

New Directions has fallen on hard times and teacher Will Schuester has taken the task of restoring the glee club to its former glory. With an unlikely group of students including a couple of football players, a few cheerleaders, a male soprano, a potential diva, and the girl who believes she will be a star, the glee club works to perform at first the sectional then the regional competition. The show has included plot lines ranging from teen pregnancy, to angst over sexual orientation, to the clique driven world of high school, to the separation and divorce of Mr. Schuester.

While the story arcs and characters are well written and well acted, the real star of the show is the music. Each week, the show includes jaw dropping musical numbers ranging from Lady Gaga to KISS; from Les Miserables to Journey; from Madonna to “The Lady is a Tramp.” The cast moves from song to song and from style to style with ease and continuously provides excellent music with a dramatic twist. Whether the song is classic rock, Broadway musical, funk, or modern rock, the cast shows their musical chops by performing each song in an exciting and well done manner.

The show has been a ratings success for FOX and has spawned five music CDs featuring the cast and numbers from the show. These albums have included compilation volumes from the shows, and one album dedicated to the show’s “The Power of Madonna” episode. The most recent album release is “Glee: The Music, Volume 3.”

This most recent release continues to feature the cast and musical numbers from the sho. This CD includes “Hello, Goodbye,” “The Lady is a Tramp,” “One,” and others focused on the cast. It also includes special appearances by Olivia Newton-John with “Physical,” Kristen Chenoweth with “One Less Bell To Answer/A House Is Not A Home,” and Neil Patrick Harris on “Dream On.” The album does a good job including songs and talents of a wide range of cast members ranging from Lea Michael (Rachael) to Mark Salling (Puck), Amber Riley (Mercedes), and Chris Colfer (Kurt) among others.

This album is available in two different versions, the standard and deluxe edition. The deluxe edition includes six additional tracks over the standard edition.

Launching a website alone won’t guarantee your success within search engines and the ability to drive customers to your website; you will need to implement search engine optimization to gain free traffic to your

 site.

How does one implement SEO into their website? The following article will share three of the main factors which determine your success in search engine placement.

Element #1: On-page optimization

From the ground up to website launch your website should use standard html and css practices to ensure your website ranks well within search engines. Search engines desire efficient code in order for it to be read correctly by search engine spiders.

Next, you will need to determine your main keywords each page will be ranked for. Keywords are what people type into search engines to seek out results – using these on your web pages will help make sure you appear at the top of the list. Use free keyword tools such as the one provide by Google to find the right keywords for your website.

Finally, always make sure that your website uses correct html tagging and optimization throughout the entirety of each page on elements such as: title tag, description, anchor links and heading tags.

Element #2: Creating great, shareable content

The second largest factors to ensure you have great search engine optimization for your website is by creating great content that people actually want to share online.

Writing off a quick post that doesn’t add value will be just that – it won’t have value to the readers and search engines. Try to put all of your effort in creating great content such as tutorials, reviews, product documentation and service listings (with benefits) to ensure people reading your content will not only find it valuable but will be likely to be passed off to friends and family.

Element #3: Building backlinks to your website

The third and final essential factor for great SEO is building backlinks. Backlinks are indications that your website is relevant to the information you provide; it helps you rank well within search engines because it tells it that others find your website valuable.

E-book readers such as the Kindle and Nook have become popular thanks to the convenience of carrying an entire library’s worth of books on one device. But if you don’t have room in your budget for a Kindle, fret not: Your Android phone can serve as a capable and pocket-size e-reader in its own right. Google has joined the e-publishing fray with its Google Books service, and now the Google Books app for Android brings the vast Google Books catalog to your phone.

The app hooks into your Google account, so your Google Books library will automatically sync as you add books to it. You can save the books to an SD Card to free up device memory. If you don’t have a Google Books library yet, the app will start you out with Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, and Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. These classics and millions of other books are available for free because of expired copyrights.

You can also purchase new e-books using Google Checkout, a shopping service associated with your Google account. For your first purchase you must enter your credit card number and other data; but since subsequent purchases reuse your stored information, the transactions are very easy to complete.

The app is pretty limited in features. Some out-of-print books exist only as scans, photographic representations of the original. These books can be difficult to read and navigate–but on the other hand, they probably offer the only feasible way to access certain rare or out-of-print titles. Other books may have a functional table of contents and easy-to-read type; it just depends on the book. The more famous works of literature seem to be better supported in navigation and font clarity.

You can add to your library by pressing the Get ebooks button. Browse by category, or do a search by title, author, or keyword. I was surprised at the poor quality of the search results, given Google’s Web-search expertise. I often had to do quite a bit of digging to find what I wanted, even when I supplied the author’s name. Hint to Google: If I run a search on an author’s name, it’s a safe bet that I want to see books written by that person, not a bunch of random junk that may contain an incidental mention of the person’s name.

Unlike Amazon’s Kindle app (which has improved a lot since I first reviewed it), the Google Books app does not let you bookmark or annotate pages, nor can you select text and look up its definition. In fact, the Kindle app provides a superior interface.

The main draw of the Google Books app is its seamless integration with your Google account and Google Checkout. That’s a nice convenience, but Google Books doesn’t compete well with other e-reader apps when it comes to features. I expect more of Google, and I’m hoping that this app will improve with updates.

What’s the best e-book reader for Android? Contact Brent W. Hopkins on Facebook or on Twitter.

You might also like other articles by Brent W. Hopkins.

8eva – an octave higher

A tempo – resume the normal speed after a diversion

Accelerando (accel.) – gradually becoming faster

Adagio – slowly, leisurely

Ad libitum – at pleasure, quite freely

Agitato – with agitation

Allargando – broadening out, often with an increase of tone

Allegretto – moderately fast; slightly slower than allegro

Allegro – lively and reasonably fast

Andante – at an easy walking pace

Andantino – a little slower (or a little faster than Andante)

Animato – with animation

Arco – (for string players) with the bow

Attacca – go on at once

Ben marcato – well marked

Brilliante – sparkling, brilliant

Brio – vigour

Calando – getting softer and slower

Cantabile – in a singing style

Capo – the beginning

Con anima – with feeling

Con brio – with spirit

Con forza – with forza

Con grazia – with grace

Con moto – with movement

Con sordini – with the mutes

Crescendo (cresc.) – gradually becoming louder

Da Capo (D.C) – from the beginning

Dal capo al fine or D.C. al fine written under the last bar of apiece of section – the music is to be repeated right from the beginning until it reaches the word ‘fine (the end).

Dal Segno – from the sign ; the music is to be repeated from where the sign occurs earlier in the piece, then carrying on to the end.

Decrescendo (decresc.) – gradually becoming softer

Diminuendo (dim.) – gradually becoming softer

Dolce – soft and sweet

Forte (f) – loud

Forte-piano (fp) – loud then immediately soft

Fortissimo (ff) – very loud

Forzando (fz or sfz) – with a strong accent

Giocoso – gay, merry

Grave – very slowly

Grazioso – gracefully

Largo – slowly and stately, broad

Larghetto – slower than Largo

Legato – smoothly

Leggiero – lightly

Lento – slowly

Loco – at the normal pitch (generally after playing an octave higher)

Maestoso – majestically

Main droite (M.D.) – right hand

Main gauche (M.G) – left hand

Marcato – marked, accented

Meno mosso – slower, less movement

Mezzo forte (mf) – moderately loud

Mezzo piano (mp) – moderately soft

Mezzo staccato – moderately short and detached; shown by dots covered with a slur

Misterioso – mysteriously

Moderato –at a moderate speed

Molto – very, much

Morendo – dying away

M.M – Maelzel’s metronome

Opus – a work or group of works

Ossia – or (an alternative version)

Ped. – depress the sustaining pedal of the pianoforte

Perdendosi – dying away

Pesante – heavily

Piacevole – pleasing

Piano (p) – soft

Pianissimo (pp) – very soft

Piu mosso – quicker

Pizzicato (pizz.) – plucked (in string music)

Poco – a little

Poco a poco – little by little (gradually)

Presto – very fast

Prestissimo – extremely fast, or as fast as possible

Rallentando (rall.) – gradually becoming slower

Risoluto – with resolution, boldly

Ritardando (retard.) – gradually becoming slower

Ritenuto (riten. or rit.) – immediately slower or hold back

Ritmico – rhythmically

Scherzando – playfully

Sempre – always

Senza – without

Sforzando (sf) – a strong (sudden) accent

Simile – in a similar manner

Sostenuto – sustained

Staccato – detached, short; note sustained for half the written length (shown by a dot above or below each note)

Stringendo – gradually faster

Subito – suddenly

Tempo – the speed of the music

Tenuto (ten.) – hold

Tranquillo –quietly, calmly

Tre corde – release the left, soft pedal of the pianoforte (with three strings)

Troppo – too much

Une corda – depress the left, soft pedal of the pianoforte (with one string)

Vivace – lively

Vivo – lively

Signs:

– accent; give prominence, play with force

[Respectively, strong accent marcato, normal accent, and tenuto]

– the music or passage between the dots is to be played again

(fermata) – musical symbol placed over a note or rest to be extended beyond its normal duration

– tie or bind, indicating that the note being played or sung sustained, unbroken, through the total time value of the notes

– slur; a group of notes are played under a single bow stroke (string), or without retonguing (wind), or in one breath (singing), so that the notes move smoothly with no perceptible break

– metronome mark, indicating the speed at which a piece is to be played; 60 crotchets to the minute

– up-bow (bowed instrument – bow is pushed across the string); up-stroke (guitar – the string is plucked with the hand moving upwards)

– down-bow (bowed instrument – bow is pulled across the string); down-stroke (guitar – the string is plucked with the hand moving downwards)

- a less strong accent placed above or below the note meaning that it is to be stressed but not as strongly as when marked as > or

written by Janet Yun from www.shinemusic.com.au teachers of piano, saxophone, violin, singing, drums, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, flute and clarinet