Whisky Christmas

Please take a listen to this Christmas song that Angela and I wrote for y'all. We hope that this little offering will get you in the Christmas spirit. It’s the perfect accompaniment with eggnog and even better when served over ice! Let us and 'Whiskey Christmas' be the first to wish you the Happiest of Holidazes!

Click on the link below to hear 'Whisky Christmas.'
Whisky Christmas

Jim Duff Store @ ReverbNation

Do you need help with your Christmas list? Click on over to the Jim Duff Store provided by ReverbNation and check out all the gifts we have to offer. We have everything you will need to complete your Christmas list. From Lincoln Pride T-shirts and Grubsenyaw T-shirts in sizes for both men and ladies to hats, mugs and tote bags.

And, of course, we have lots of music.

So click on over and check it out!

The Jim Duff Store

Is Music and Education Important

Music Education is an important part of every child's learning experience and is older than high schools sports, yet high school sports are increasing while music education may be soon demised.

Education, and particularly mandatory education, is an effective agent in the formation of an individual's tastes, preferences and value systems. Schools try to focus on the more important academic classes because of the high testing standards they must now meet.

However, music education is an important aspect of student growth and is not a luxury, but a necessity to all children. Music education is a broad-based discipline, using words and phrases from many areas of study, including psychology, sociology, physics, anatomy, philosophy, research, technology, and general education.

Music education is vital to a well-rounded education and is an investment of time, effort, and money, which can result in a lifetime of enjoying music. Music has the ability to facilitate language acquisition, reading readiness, and general intellectual development; to foster positive attitudes and to lower truancy in middle and high school; to enhance creativity; and to promote social development, personality adjustment, and self-worth.

Music also helps with math and science and also brings higher thinking to our children. Music and education have always gone hand in hand. Music influences all areas of our lives, and as each student masters the skills and discipline used in music he/she will also build greater confidence, poise, and sense of accomplishment that will pervade all aspects of life.

This education reinforces all other curricula by connecting concepts and processes to everyday life. Music, we say, provides so many benefits that are applicable to the more traditional academic subjects, that it is a basic.

Music study teaches the value of sustained effort and it's positive impact on learning is becoming well known, and one of the groups trumpeting that message is NAMM, the International Music Products Association. NAMM can help provide support for your school's music cirriculum.

Music Education is vital to a well-rounded education. It develps the intellect and music education has long been anecdotally linked to increased intellectual ability.

Students, particularly high-risk students, do well in arts education classes yet suffer when confined to learning through a more traditional curriculum. Students learn to count, keep a steady rhythm, and how to multiply and divide (to figure out how long each note is).

Students also use science to help them discover what sounds good together and what doesn't. They also need science to understand something called the "overtone series," which Pythagorus came up with around Medieval times.

Students learn to understand a little bit of Italian in order to interpret the markings in their music. They also learn an incredible amount of coordination through music -- it isn't unlike being an athlete. Students that study the arts learn to think creatively. Learning to play an instrument may also keep children out of trouble by giving them something to do after school.




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Guitar Is A Good Instrument To Learn To Play

Playing guitar is an incredibly fun and rewarding hobby that never gets old. It is fun and rewarding, but it is important to pay attention to your wrists and hands to avoid carpal tunnel syndrome, tendonitis and other painful conditions.

It is a physical and mental skill as well as a creative one, and your body will take time to learn to create the sounds you can hear in your head. Playing guitar is as much about moving to a new position as holding down a chord.

It is artwork, therefore, you need to practice and perfect the craft. Playing guitar is never boring, you can always learn something new. It can be actually really easy, as long as your fingers are long enough, which is why it is one of the most popular instruments on the planet.

This is a much-loved hobby that both stimulates the mind and allows for individual expression. Playing guitar is a highly intellectual process and is an amazing skill to have. Playing guitar is an awesome release, a creative outlet and hey, it's just plain cool.

It is a very rewarding experience. Most people start out trying to learn to play the guitar with some songs from their favorate bands, but most people seem to always have trouble learning the chords and notes.

Playing guitar is an art that requires hands-on learning and practice, and everyone needs to learn at their own pace and level. It is fun, rewarding and a great introduction into the world of music.

It is an art form and can take years to master. Playing guitar is supposed to be fun and if you find it hurts your fingers then you must have been doing it the wrong way.

Playing guitar is a great way to have fun, make friends, increase confidence and self esteem, improve concentration and motor skills and express your creative ideas and emotions.

Guitar lessons can be obtained through a number of ways, including professional one-on-one tuition, online lessons, classes through music schools and self-teaching through music books, online guides and tutorial videos.

Guitar tutors teach good habits and correct bad ones from the very first lesson. These tutors have many advantages over the self-teaching and online lesson methods.

Chords have names like "C Major" or "A minor". Learning the melody (including the most prominent chords and harmonics) is important, as the melody will act as a 'road map', which tells you where you are in the song during your learning process, where you have to go, and how far you have come.

Building Your Music Collection the Easy Way

In a world where the internet presides as the number one means of communication, there are a great deal of other things the net is great for too. Music, which is certainly considered to be one of the most significant ways by which we communicate across all cultures, is one of them. The extent to which music is available over the internet is enormous and you only have to do a simple search to discover a whole new world of tunes you never even dreamed existed.

Using the fantastic resource that is the internet for finding new music is an excellent way to discover new tunes you'd never have the chance to hear otherwise, and it's also a really good way to work on building your music collection into the extensive library you've probably been dreaming of. Many people claim to be big music fans, but how many have a collection that matches just how much they say they love music? Thanks to being able to buy music online, it's now far easier to get to that stage than it ever has been before.

Past incarnations of recorded music, such as on records, cassette tapes and CDs, were each more innovative than the last in many ways, but you still had to go out to the shops to buy them. Even when CDs became available online, it was a fantastic thing - but you still had to wait for them to arrive. Now, however, technology has increased to the extent that you can buy MP3s straight from the internet and have them on your computer in an instant. This can be as quickly as a few seconds for a second or minutes for an album if you have a decent broadband collection and, best of all, prices are dropping all the time.

In a bid to remain competitive, many companies offering MP3 downloads across the net are slashing their prices to garner more market share than their rivals, meaning the customers reap the rewards. So not only do you get fantastic music arriving on your hard drive in astonishing times, but you could be saving a huge amount when compared with buying the physical CD of the music, too.

There are a great number of benefits to be had when you buy music online, whatever your tastes - and even if you have the most eclectic tastes, music online opens up a world of different styles to even the most discerning fan - so you could find yourself gaining new favourites faster than you think

Kids Music - The Magic of Music for Kids

What’s so great about music? We all know that music can make us want to jump, dance, and tap our feet. But did you know that music has been linked to math scores, brain development, and anxiety relief? During the critical young ages of learning while the brain is still developing, the impact of music is at its greatest level. But even beyond the younger years, music can still play an important role, providing instruction for pre-teens, anxiety relief for adults, and even therapy for Alzheimer patients.
Psychologists and Educators are just beginning to uncover the many benefits that music provides for our mental health. While we all may be somewhat familiar with the idea that loud and fast music makes us feel different than quiet and slow music, research is showing that the predictable ways that music can influence us goes beyond altering our moods. Some studies show that we can predictably alter many of our mental states, and even heal damaged brains. Another study has found that students with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) were able to improve their focus, given neurofeedback results while listening to background music.

There are many genres of music, and for a student wanting to benefit from the motivational and instructional elements of music, the first step is to appropriately align their age and interest with a particular music genre. Parents and teachers know that pre-teens are not going to be caught listening to music that kept their attention as a toddler. But while there are many genres and songs to choose from for the very young and for adults, there are fewer selections for those in the middle, who could benefit the most from the educational value of music.

Educational music for kids can be influential for teaching values, instructional for memorizing the alphabet, for example, and motivational for wanting to learn more about a topic. Some teachers play “welcoming music” as the children are entering the classroom, which captures their attention and desire to learn more about the subject of the educational song.

Kids are hard-wired to want to learn, and the teaching approaches that work the best are aligned with the natural learning process and interests of the learner. Music for kids is a powerful way to connect, motivate, and teach young students, in a method that is not forced, but yet aligns with their interests and natural desire to learn.

NEW RELEASE

We finally have the song ‘Nanny Lou’ recorded and it is available exclusively at the Jim Duff Music Store. If you would, Click on over to www.jimduff.com and take a listen.

So many of you have asked me for a copy of this song but I never could manage to get it recorded the way I thought it should be. The tune is about my 5th grade teacher, Nanny Lou Isaacs. I began recording this song a couple years ago while living in Nashville. My plan was to put it on the Lincoln Pride CD, but, once back in Kentucky, I couldn't find the master files. Eventually, I found the files, remixed and mastered the recording. My hope is that you will enjoy it as much as I do.

‘Nanny Lou’ MP3 downloads and ringtones are available at the Jim Duff Music Store furnished by the good folks over at ReverbNation.com. ReverbNation provides lots of great tools and resources for independent artist and I am very grateful to them for all they do. Also, you can find
the ‘Lincoln Pride’ CD for $10.00 along with MP3 downloads for only .99 cents in the Jim Duff Music Store.

“Nanny Lou”
Written by Jim Duff
Guitars and vocal – Jim Duff
Bass – Jim Duff
Drums – Troy Jones
Recorded at Duff Productions Studio Nashville TN and Danville KY
Produced by Jim Duff
Engineered by Jim Duff
Copyright 2009 Dubber Doo Publishing (BMI)

Why Learn to Play the Bass Guitar?

The main reason why people should learn to play the bass is because you should be different, what I mean by this is in a typical band the bass is the most overlooked instrument, the guitar being the most popular, followed by the drums.
So, why does no one pick the bass then? There are many reasons and everyone will have their own reason why. The two main reasons are: People think the bass guitar is too easy and the guitar is just way cooler to play.

The bass guitar is as hard as you make it, it can be an easy instrument to learn, but it is very hard to be able to master. There are so many bass players and basslines out there, all varying in difficulty. Compare these two basslines: "Blink 182 - First Date" and "Rancid - Maxwell Murder" Two very completely different approaches, the first song just follows the root note while the other song follows more of a scale and also contains a bass solo.

So, why actually play the bass? As the bass guitar is the least thought of instrument in a band it is easier to find a band that needs a bassist, for every bass player there will be around 10 guitar players, so with many more guitar players there are always bands that need a bassist.

If you know a friend who plays the guitar or even the drums then you could buy a bass and then you could jam together, either learning cover songs or making your own up. The drums and bass go very well together so playing with a drummer is always the best.

Have a listen to your favourite band, or song. The bassline may be way cooler than you thought. There are many songs out there that are based around the bassline and taking that away would make the song incomplete and less compelling to listen to. This point alone can get more people picking up the bass guitar to give it a try.

Bands need a bass player without one the song would sound very empty and incomplete and the bass helps to fill the gap between the drums and the guitar.

The bass falls into both categorise of being a hard instrument and being and easy one. If you want an easy instrument to start and learn then great, you can play very simple bass lines that sound great and everyone will recognize in a matter of days, in fact, with some people in a matter of a few hours to learn.

If you want a challenge then the bass can also offer that, there are many basslines out there that require years of practice to master and there is also new material and styles to learn.

Slap bass is a very unique style that is played on the bass guitar and no other instrument can get that unique sound. There are many funk bassists out there that have mastered this technique and have brought a whole new approach to playing the bass guitar.

I would encourage anyone that wishes to learn an instrument to try and learn the bass or at least look more in to it rather than crossing it of their list of instrument that they could learn to play.

Scott Thomas





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