Ping Ping King

It is morning, and 21-year-old Elly Jackson - or La Roux, arguably the biggest new pop star of the year - is on the Eurostar to Belgium, where she is heading to appear on a TV show. She is grateful for the coffee her press officer has bought her, but wonders if anything stronger is available. “Have you got my gak as well?” she laughs.

The hit singles and No 1 album have, evidently, not made her clam up for fear of adverse publicity. Within minutes of our meeting, she has dismissed Take That as “gaylords” and compared today’s chart acts unfavourably with their 80s forebears.

“George Michael wrote Careless Whisper when he was 17,” she says. “I didn’t see Tinchy Stryder writing a song like that when he was 17, but he still gets the same praise.” She blames a culture that shuns criticism for the drop in standards. “It’s the media,” she says. “Everything is ‘amazing, brilliant’.” Radio DJs, she contends, are “not allowed to slag anything off”, and any negative opinions are kept private.

She says she doesn’t want to “start a hate war” with anyone, but she does wish she could be more truthful about other artists. “I can’t possibly like everything - how ridiculous is that?” she says, reasonably enough. But still people recoil when she speaks her mind. “They’re like, ‘Really, Lady Gaga’s not your thing?’ Have you listened to my album? Of course it’s not my thing!”

She’s aware that honesty comes at a price. “One woman thought I was being anti-feminist because I said I preferred girls with keyboards to girls with guitars,” she says. “So she messaged me on MySpace to tell me she wasn’t going to play my record any more even though it was her favourite. That’s so dumb.”

Aware that her outspokenness is proving increasingly polarising, Jackson draws a distinction between the artist and their art. “I’m still going to listen to Gary Glitter’s records even though he’s a kiddie-fiddler,” she says. “Don’t let his problems ruin your life. You’re not buying their personality, you’re buying their music. Of course it’s never nice when you’re into an artist and you discover they’re horrible, and, yes, it would be disappointing if I suddenly found out that Annie Lennox was racist. But you’d still love the music. It wouldn’t matter what I heard about Michael Jackson or Prince - you can’t just stop liking a song.”

If your family likes music, then maybe you could
think about taking private violin or piano lessons. A respected guitar
school in Chicago likely has talented teachers that will personally
help you learn to read and play in many types of genres and sounds.
You don’t have to look very far to find a Chicago music school
offering personable and talented piano or guitar masters.

We’llstart with the obvious: guitar lessons. You know, the piano is
a wildly hot music-making tool (right next to the accordion). These
learners instruments are versatile enough to play almost any song. A
thoughtful guitar teacher would guide you through an entirely rocking
sound that’s worth the effort. Much better than the all-too-typical
lukewarm piano lessons, new Chicago schools of music are the trendy
up-and-coming way to learn the skill by playing the music you
love.

Who cares whether you just jumped in or you are an old pro, jamming
for less than a year–quality violin lessons can help musicians master
the music that you sing in your heart. Consider these href="http://www.backbeatmusic.net">Chicago piano lessons, Father
and Daughter guitar instruction, primary music classes for kids and
also accoustic music lessons. Naturally, pinny pinching friends may
take a firm stand that you perfect your guitar tabs, piano scales, and
percussion beats before moving onto fun violin songs you love. Just
wait, they’ll sign up with you when you blow their minds with
music,

Many musicians are acquiring a completely different approach.
really there are mountains of various methods! However, the biggest
piece of info to recall is that piano lessons, and music lessons of
all types should be played. You can’t go wrong loving music, because
a wrong note you play, can be made to belong by the next. Piano
lessons make such an impact in your rate of retention.

Learn to play piano on a train station? Let me show you what you
can learn about piano playing as you wait for your train!

Well, all people seem to go by car these days but we might have
had the privilege to go by train and this experience can teach
us a lot about piano playing:

1. You want to go somewhere by train. In piano playing this is
the wish you have to learn something on the piano.

2. You go to the train station trying to find a suitable train.
Before you can know if you are taking the right train you have
to decide where you want to go. When learning to play the piano
this is the goal you want to reach.

3. Before buying a ticket to the right train you have to decide
when you want to arrive. When you learn to play piano this means
when your goal is to be accomplished.

4. When you know these things it is much easier to find the
right train. In piano playing this means that when you know what
you want to accomplish as a pianist and when you want to have
accomplished it it is much easier to select a proper method to
use to reach your goal.

5. Now you can buy a ticket to the right train. This is when
your decision becomes a commitment. Learning to play the piano
can involve money but the most important investment is your work
and motivation. Through a commitment you gain momentum to
accomplish the piano playing goal.

6. After having bought a ticket most of the job is done. Left is
only to find your train and your seat and then relax. In your
piano playing this means that when you have decided what you
really want to accomplish it is much easier to progress. You
know where you are in your piano skills, where to begin your
work and you don’t have to waste your energi by wondering what
to do.

Do you have to take the right train?

Some unusual people might think it is okay to take any train and
travel for the fun of it with no thought about the destination.
If you feel that way about your piano playing and are
comfortable with it it’s okay I guess.

Let me share some thoughts…

The reason why I started to be very interested in computers way
back in the late 80’s was because of what I believed that
computers could help me with. I was very interested in composing
music and had used pen and paper so far.

I tried to write nice sheets with music but it took a lot of
time and if I wanted to change something in my compositions,
which I often wanted then and even now, it was difficult.

The notation programs back then were difficult to use but I
perused the manuals because I had this great goal before me that
computers and notation programs could help me with my creative
endeavors.

The goal was actually to compose music and the means was
computers and notation programs.

Computers have become much easier to use and notation programs
more sophisticated since then and I feel that I have reached the
goal to become more effective as a composer through the use of
computers as a means for my music composing.

Some of my friends have used computers the opposite way. They
have been interested in computers and have aimlessly installed
and uninstalled programs and changed os or messed around in the
Windows directory and so on.

I guess we could say that their goal was to have fun with
computers, even if they haven’t expressed it that way, and I
think they also reach their goal.

What I wanted to say with this is that it is much easier to
select methods to use and to be really motivated when you learn
to play the piano if you know what you want to accomplish.

Take the right train and enjoy your journey into piano land!