Well, not ALL my time is devoted to surfing the NET...... Music has always played an important role in my life.

My taste in music covers just about everything, with very few exceptions... What strikes people as being odd is that I like ( and KNOW! ) songs that were big hits LONG before I was born... I guess one has to re-think the possibility of inheriting your parent's taste in various things..

I am a self-taught keyboard (organ, Synthesizer )player, and play most of my repertoire by ear...If there is something I really regret, it's NOT taking music lessons back when I was 5.... so, KIDS - next time your mom tells you to PRACTICE - JUST DO IT!! Anyhow - it was my sister who had music lessons, and we rented a small organ for her. Well, to make a long story short - she gave it up after a few weeks, and I took over... At first I used to play all her exercise BY EAR, and then moved on to playing songs I heard on the radio.... as they say - the rest is history......

During my military service, I was, among other things, a member of our base's band. I did most of the arrangements for the band, as well as building the harmony for the vocalists. It didn't take long for me to leave my place behind the keyboard and move to the front of the stage... Since I needed to show the singers how I wanted them to sing the harmony, they all agreed it would be best if I did it myself.... Oh well - if you want something done right......

We had a really GREAT time in that band, and I really do miss those times... Since then, whenever I see a band performing live, I get this 'itch', just wanting to jump up there with them...

O.k - enough history... You know what they say about mixing Business with Pleasure ? well - I did just that... I found the perfect way to combine computers with music, in the form of writing 'MIDI' music. I'm sure many of you know what that is, but for the rest of you.... :

Musical Instrument Digital Interface, or 'MIDI' , is a way for modern musical instruments to communicate with each other and with computers. It consists of a MIDI BUS or MIDI CABLE that runs all the necessary lines between the various instruments, and a MIDI LANGUAGE or PROTOCOL which lays out all the different commands, operations and data types that travel on the MIDI BUS. A MIDI FILE is a file containing all the instructions to any given musical instrument (or several at once) for generating a musical piece, just as if someone would be playing it live! A MIDI file contains no sampled SOUND (WAVE) and is thus quite small. MIDI files hold information for several instruments simultaneously whether they are played on the same device (synthesizer) or several separate devices. This way, and by combining multi-track recording & editing , one can create a complete orchestration of any given musical piece, and depending on the quality of the reproduction device, the outcome can be as good as the real thing! In fact - some modern performers and recording studios use MIDI instruments and computers in the creation of their soundtracks!

I really do enjoy writing MIDI music, first because the end result is so fulfilling, and second, because it allows me something I always wanted but couldn't do before.... - it allows me to play ALL the instruments of the band.... Drums, violins, trumpets, the works - and all from the convenience of my chair in front of the computer! I record the various parts on my YAMAHA MIDI keyboard track by track, and then manipulate them in the computer. I use several programs to do that, but mainly CakeWalk PRO/Audio for windows. Other programs, such as RealOrch allow me to create KARAOKE files (with lyrics) which are great fun to play and sing with!

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